"Mm? Mm... she cooked a lot, but usually fairly simple things," he said, concentrating on the onion to make sure the slices were as even as possible. "She, ah..." He hesitated, frowning at the onion and then glancing at Riku briefly before returning to his task. "She was sick a lot," he said, his voice quieter now. "Not... not like terminal or anything, she just got sick a lot." His eyes flicked to Riku again, then back. "Kinda like you do."

He cleared his throat awkwardly, then swept the rest of the onion into the pot before reaching for the next one and pulling at the flaky outer layers.

"My old man worked a lot, so it was mostly just ma and me," he went on, slicing through the middle of the onion and grimacing as his eyes stung again. Somehow this made the whole conversation more awkward. He chuckled lightly then, pausing in his chopping efforts, a wistful sort of smile on his face. "Her favorite thing to cook was ah... pancakes, actually. She would make 'em from scratch." He shook his head, chopping again. "I never figured out how to do that--I could only make 'em from the mix."