Making Some Pizza

"That was awesome, fuck!"

"Yeah, Mako never disappoints!"

"Remembering how he dodged all those attacks, it's just.... Ah!"

After witnessing two more pro-bending bouts, it was finally time to leave the arena. The excitement was still palpable in the hearts of the three boys, who were talking while trying to mimic the moves their eyes had witnessed. Liu, on the other hand, walked hunched over beside me, holding a hand to his mouth to cover a long, stretched-out yawn.

It wasn't that he hadn't enjoyed the show, he was simply tiring fast. In fact, ever since we had met, he had always been present with me at the fights, either sitting next to me or watching me. Besides, night had definitely fallen on us, increasing the feeling of fatigue.

"Psst, Liu, don't worry, we'll go home by taxi."

Liu blinked and then looked at me.

"Really...?"

"Sure thing."

Soon, a silly smile formed on his lips, he looked like a child.

"... Great."

Then, I turned my gaze to Chieko, who had a calm expression and eyes fixed on her brother and his friends. I noticed a hint of curvature on her lips.

"It was good, wasn't it, Chieko?"

Chieko seemed to be so focused on what was in front of her that it took her a while to realize I had spoken to her.

"Oh, yes, yes, it was truly entertaining and refreshing, how shall I put it? it was exciting and something I will remember! And that's why..."

Chieko looked down as her voice lost strength.

"And that's why, I don't know how to repay you."

Her voice was barely an audible whisper.

"You know... I was planning to pay for my ticket, I brought money for that, but when I heard the price I almost gasped. Besides, before I came, I considered telling Nobuo to turn down your offer, that that wasn't the right thing to do. I mean, since when is the employer the one who has to search at all costs for the employee? We're expendable, you could go find someone else even if I asked you to, but when I saw Nobuo this excited, I just couldn't. I..."

However, I stopped her by bringing my right hand to her head, stroking her hair.

What can I say, I like stroking people's heads and more so if it's a girl's.

"Relax, you don't need to give me anything else, you've already paid me with your presence and those delicious sandwiches you prepared. Besides, I don't think you, your brother or his friends are expendable."

There were expendable people, but these people definitely did not belong to that group.

Her quivering eyes still showed some resilience, but she seemed more relaxed by my touch.

"I'd never turn down a good kiss, though."

Chieko's cheeks tinged a light peach color and her gaze dropped again. I smiled wildly at that reaction, like an animal seeing the weakness of its prey, and, in turn, I felt Liu's eyes fixed on me. Then, I whispered to him.

"Did you get a good look at it? That's how it's done, Liu."

I noticed how Liu swallowed saliva from the movement of his throat and then nodded shyly.

"By the way, Chieko."

My hand left her head and rested on her shoulder, she shivered.

"Why don't you come over one of these days and see how your brother works and try out what I'll show him? It would be nice to have you there."

"Wha...? Oh, yes... yes, I'll come."

I squeezed her shoulder and finally broke away from her to turn my gaze to the front.

"Okay, it's cooked then, now let's all go home."

Finally, after finding a taxi for each group and an awkward goodbye from Chieko, we set off for home.

In that course, as I quietly watched the moving scenery from the window, I thought of my car, which must still be crossing the sea on a cargo ship. I already wanted to hold the steering wheel between my fingers, but it would be here any minute.

...

Then, the third day arrived and, with it, the sun began to make itself known again in the east. Winter was just around the corner, so that was the reason why it was taking so long to make its presence known despite the hour.

I was on the rooftop, standing on the edge and leaning against the surrounding wall, looking down and hoping to see some familiar faces. Being a commercial street, there were many faces coming and going, glancing at anything that caught their eye.

Soon, I noticed a group of three guys going through the crowd of potential customers for business. I smiled, they had arrived on time.

I walked down to the top floor hallway, then stepped outside and, turning my head to the left, saw Nobuo, Hui and Saburo at the other door. Nabuo was knocking on the door, Hui and Saburo were looking through the window that overlooked my Lorenzo's.

"Hey, Nobuo, you're going to hurt your hand if you keep hitting like that."

Then, the three of them trembled at my sudden entrance and then turned to me with shrunken pupils.

"Damn it!"

Nobuo cursed as he raised his fists.

"Don't do that!"

Saburo backed up until he slammed into the window.

"Where did you come from?"

Hui adjusted the glasses that dangled dangerously from his nose. With my thumb, I pointed to the door leading to the rooms where Liu and I slept.

"From there. For someone who wears glasses your eyesight is failing you, huh? Anyway, I must congratulate you guys, you got here on time."

I walked up to the door, pushed the giant Nobuo aside smoothly, snapped the key and finally stepped inside my prized Lorenzo's.

"Welcome to my grand and magnificent Lorenzo's."

With a smile and a slight bow, I welcomed my new employees. The three guys filed into my business; maybe I should consider changing the door to something bigger...

"Wait, you named it after yourself? How arrogant..."

Hui asked me with full curiosity, then whispered something and, for some reason, Saburo nudged him lightly.

"Of course, although, sadly, the store sign hasn't reached me yet."

I closed my eyes and shook my head sadly; I missed seeing my cartoonish version, which grossly exaggerated my chin and white-toothed smile.

"But forget about that, why don't you two better check out the kitchen?"

The three of them nodded and followed me into the spacious kitchen. Finally there, they looked back and forth with curious eyes.

"This place looks nothing like where my big sis works. Damn, so bright..."

Nobuo's mouth hung slightly open.

"Yeah... I've helped my father at the factory several times and the machines there do everything but shine like this."

Saburo was bent over and looking closely at the various machines that adorned my kitchen, he seemed to view them as if they were sacred objects that should not be harmed.

"This... this looks too expensive, where did you get the money for this?"

Hui gave one last overview and asked me.

"These muscles are not for nothing, guys."

I stretched my arms out to my sides, bent my elbows up and my biceps swelled solidly like two watermelons.

"What do you mean?"

Then, I began to strike different bodybuilding poses.

"I'm the earthbending champion of the 'Impenetrable City,' Ba Sing Se. And I'm the one who challenged the respective champions of much of the other cities in the Earth Kingdom, sweeping the floor with them."

In fact, somewhere between my first and second attempt at becoming a world boxing champion, I seriously considered competing in some bodybuilding tournament.

My body was amazing, a man's body! How could I not compete against guys who couldn't throw or take a punch!

I had been practicing in a dedicated way. However, when I asked questions here and there, I was told that it was somewhat implicitly mandatory to dope to actually compete in the big leagues. Mickey then said that, if it was, it wasn't worth it.

"Since I touched the sky, I wanted to venture into something new. And that new thing is this business."

I took the advice of my beloved coach, but I also did something else, I sponsored and advertised the championship of a natural bodybuilding organization.

"So, now that you three are well aware of how awesome I am, let's do some classic pizza."

I smiled at the puzzled faces of the guys, I extended my arm and then my finger, pointing to the long table that was attached to the wall, on this one were the things we would be using.

"It will be easy, even my little sister is able to do it without my help."