Chapter 415 - The First Day (III)...
[Class 1-B]
\'So, how are we doing this?\' Fleur heard Nat\'s voice inside her mind.
\'You heard him… he has no problem if we help each other so we will be doing it the usual way\' Fleur returned with a shrug.
Nat didn\'t say anything and picked up 8 potatoes from the crates and brought them towards their stations, while Fleur brought the Swiss cheese from the freezer.
Both of their stations were side by side so they won\'t be having any problems coordinating with each other.
Andreas Caminada quickly noticed that Fleur and Nat were helping each other but he didn\'t do anything. He was really surprised too when he saw the two of them working so seamlessly.
It was like the two of them have worked together for decades!! The two of them were functioning like two limbs of the same body.
\'Nat, prepare the potato slices and remember that we need thin slices. I will shred the cheese\' Fleur said and Nat immediately started to peel the potatoes.
Only after a couple of minutes, Nat was slicing the potatoes. Fleur didn\'t even need to examine the slices as she had full confidence in Nat and kept shredding the cheese. It took them a few more minutes, but both of them were done.
\'Fleur, get the chicken broth, I will preheat the oven\' Nat said and Fleur was already heading towards the freezer.
Nat quickly leaned down in front of the oven and turned it on… every student had their own ovens but they were going to need only one because the oven was big enough for both of their dishes.
Nat set the oven to 425° F as she started to grease the baking dish. Fleur returned after a minute and started to help Nat. As soon as they were done greasing the baking dish, they started to place the potato slice in the dish.
\'Only half of them\' Nat\'s voice rang out in Fleur\'s mind when she was about to continue placing more potato slices. You needed to place only half of the potato slices.
\'Thanks\' Fleur thanked Nat as she started to season the potatoes with salt and pepper. Then Fleur even spread one and a half cups of shredded cheese over the potato slices. Nat was also doing the same.
After that, the two of them started to spread butter over the cheese. As soon as they finished dotting with butter, they repeated the layer and poured the chicken broth over the top.
Both of them placed the baking dish inside the oven as Fleur set the timer to 45 minutes. They sat down and noticed that none of the students were fast like them, even Nakiri Erina was still greasing her baking dish and she was one of the faster students.
Both Nat and Fleur sat in complete silence waiting for the timer to reach zero. \'He has been paying rapt attention to us since the beginning\' Nat pointed out.
\'Yes, I have noticed… he was simply curious about our coordination\' Fleur replied calmly.
Just like that the two of them kept chatting about various topics inside their minds. The timer finally hit zero and the two of them pulled out their baking dishes.
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Fleur and Nat calmly placed their dishes on plates for better presentation. Both of them noticed that they were getting odd looks from the other students. Nakiri Erina may act aloof but the two of them have caught her too while the former was staring at them from time to time.
Fleur was the first one to approach Andreas Caminada, she stopped in front of his table and placed the plate. "...I have noticed that you and your friend\'s coordination. For how long have the two of you been working together?" he asked curiously.
"Since we were small" Fleur replied with a polite smile on her face.
"Ah… It\'s good then. Now, let\'s see how your dish is" Andreas Caminada said and picked up a knife and fork. He quickly placed a small portion of the potatoes in his mouth and his eyes grew wide in surprise.
"Fantastic!!" Andreas Caminada exclaimed and continued to eat more. Nat was patiently waiting behind Fleur with her own dish in her hand.
After a couple of minutes, Andreas was finally done so looked up at Fleur and gave her a bright smile. "The dish was simply marvelous… I am already looking forward to this school year" Andreas said and gave Fleur an A.
"I am glad that you liked it" Fleur said with a small smile on her face and returned to her station.
After a few minutes, Nat also returned with an A, and with that they were finally done with their first day but the two of them decided to wait… they wanted to see how Andreas reacted to Nakiri Erina\'s dish.
This was a good chance to check what kind of opponents they were going to face down the road if they continued attending Totsuki…
[Class 1-C]
"At least I have you with me or it would have been rather awkward with all these glares" Momo muttered under her breath.
"Yeah… it\'s kind of getting on my nerves too…" Ororo said with a wry smile marring her face.
Even though most of the students seemed to be glaring at them… Some looked interested and wanted to talk but no one approached them for now.
"That silver head in a Nakiri" Ororo pointed out and Momo nodded her head. The silver head was pouting while arguing with a black-haired teen… The black-haired teen looked like he was about to fall asleep.
"I think our instructor is approaching…" Momo said as the instructor opened the door. Momo had super senses because she kept nourishing her body with the energy of the sun.
It was a woman in her mid-seventies… the woman was walking with the help of a cane, the woman silently approached her desk and sat down. "Ah… forgive my old bones" the woman said and chuckled. Then her eyes moved towards Momo and Ororo.
"...You must be the transfer students I keep hearing about. My name is Harumi Kurihara (OC)…" the woman trailed off in a gentle and polite tone. Then her eyes moved towards the rest of the class.
"Now that the introductions are out of the way… let me tell you about today\'s assignment. You" her eyes snapped towards a nervous boy in the front. The boy nervously pointed at himself and Harumi nodded her head. "Yes, you. Come here" Harumi said and the boy nervously approached the woman.
Harumi handed him a list "This is the list of your groupings… please write them down on the board" Harumi said and the boy hurriedly wrote down the list of groups.
"All of you will be working in a group of five… you will be making a Japanese style three-course meal… I leave the options to you, surprise me" Harumi said and leaned back in her chair.
"Looks like we are working with Nakiri" Momo said dryly as she read that she was in a group with Nakiri and her aide as the two of them seemed to be approaching them.
"Hello my name is Yuki Yoshino, it looks like I am in your group too… please take care of me" All of a sudden an orange-haired girl jumped in front of them and introduced herself in a cheerful tone.
"Oh my… see Ryo-Kun… we are the last ones. How many times have I told you that I don\'t like to be late?" Nakiri Alice finally arrived and started to scold her aide.
"I have lost count, my lady" her aide said in a dead tone.
"Hello, my name is Momo Yaoyorozu, all of you can call me Momo if you want" Momo extended her hand towards Yuki Yoshino and shook her hand.
Yuki nodded her head in excitement. "Hello, my name is Ororo Munroe, all of you can call me Ororo" Ororo said introducing herself.
"It\'s nice to meet you Ororo" Nakiri Alice said while looking towards Ororo, then she turned her head towards Momo. "Momo… I am Nakiri Alice, you can call me Alice if you want" Nakiri Alice said while introducing herself with a mischievous smile on her face.
"It\'s nice to meet you once again Yuki Yoshino… we already know each other from middle school… would you mind if I call you Yuki?" Alice asked and Yuki somewhat nervously shook her head.
"Kurokiba Ryo" Alice\'s aide said in a dead tone. Alice immediately pouted and started to poke her aide.
"Ryo-Kun, you should show more energy… you are ruining my name" Alice said while poking Kurokiba Ryo.
"Sorry, my lady" he uttered in a similarly dead tone. Alice hmphed and stomped her foot on the floor. The scene was pretty amusing but they had to cook a three-course meal.
"*ahem*" Momo cleared her throat, getting everyone\'s attention. "Now that we are done with the introductions, we should start cooking…" Momo spoke and everyone nodded their heads.
"...So, what are we going to make?" Yuki asked nervously.
"I say we go with seaweed salad, curry rice and for dessert… Mochi ice-cream" Momo offered and everyone contemplated for a few seconds.
"We could have done better but we don\'t have time to argue… leave the ice cream to me. Ryu-Kun, you go on and help them" Alice said and skipped away.
"Alright, my lady" Ryu said in a bored tone and he didn\'t even notice that her lady was already gone.
"...Ok… I will be preparing the salad…" Momo said.
"Momochi, I will prepare the meat" Yuki exclaimed excitedly. Momo nodded her head and she didn\'t even bother about the nickname she just got.
"I will prepare the rice" Ororo declared and everyone\'s eyes finally turned towards Kurokiba Ryu.
"I will help with the ingredients for curry" Ryu said in a bored tone. Momo and Ororo didn\'t know anything about Ryu but he must have good skills as he was Nakiri Alice\'s aide…
"Then let us surprise Harumi Kurihara" Momo declared and everyone went to fulfill their tasks...
Kurokiba Ryu calmly pulled out his red bandana and slowly put it on… immediately his whole aura changed, eyes grew sharper and it was like he was a completely different person now.
Both Ororo\'s and Momo\'s eyes grew wide in surprise when they felt the change… they weren\'t even looking towards him but they still noticed the change.
The change was more than impressive… he quickly gathered the necessary vegetables while scaring away everyone near him. Kurokiba Ryu returned and stood beside Yuki as he started to chop the vegetables angrily.
This wasn\'t the first time Yuki had seen this but no matter how many times she had seen this she was still unable to get used to it… her whole body was shaking in fear and she was unable to prepare the meat.
"Do you need any help?" Ryu asked angrily when he noticed that Yuki wasn\'t making much progress with the meat.
"Eeekkk" Yuki shrieked in fear and jumped back.
"Ryu, why don\'t you continue preparing the ingredients while I help her with the meat?" Ororo asked from behind.
"He…" Kurokiba Ryu\'s words stuck inside his throat when he noticed Ororo\'s eyes… he could swear that he saw literal lightning eyes crackling in her eyes. Ororo\'s eyes were dead serious… Ryu gulped and nodded his head.
"Yuki, let me help you" Ororo said politely and her demeanor was back to normal. Ryu once again swore inside his mind… he has never been scared so much in his life.
"Yeah sure Ororo… sorry for bothering you" Yuki said nervously. The whole scene was somewhat surreal. She gathered back some of her courage when she noticed that Ororo cowed Kurokiba Ryu with just some words.
As the three of them got busy with their own things, Momo was busy preparing the salad on the other side of the table. She saw the whole scene but didn\'t say anything… \'Is this something like a split personality?\' Momo thought as kept soaking the seaweed.
After five minutes she was done soaking the seaweed, she gently squeezed the seaweed to rinse out the excess water.
After that, she started to mix the seaweed with vinegar, sugar, soy sauce, sesame oil, ginger, and garlic. Then she added some carrots and cilantro with the seaweed… finally she sprinkled some sesame seeds from the top and voila she was done.
Momo quickly took the salad and placed it near Ryu. "Keep an eye on it… I am done with the salad, I am going to check if Alice needs some help" Momo said and Ryu simply nodded his head.
Momo quickly found Alice who was working on some advanced machine. "Do you need any help?" Momo asked and Alice was slightly surprised that Momo came to help her.
"No… I am almost done with the ice cream, how is the salad?" Alice asked and Momo simply smiled.
"I finished the salad and asked Ryu to keep an eye on it" Momo said and Alice nodded her head in understanding.
After a couple of hours, the whole group finally approached Harumi Kurihara. "Oh… you are already done? Then show me what you have made" Harumi said in an excited tone as the group placed the plates on the table in front of her.
Kurokiba Ryu was the one who uncovered the dishes, finally revealing them to Harumi. Harumi\'s eyes glittered in excitement. "They smell absolutely brilliant" Harumi said and picked up a chopstick.
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She picked up some seaweed and put it in her mouth… "So fresh" Harumi said as her face brightened and a pink tint appeared on her cheeks.
"This salad is brilliant!!" Harumi exclaimed but she then moved towards the curry rice. As she had to taste all the dishes, she refrained from finishing the salad, though she seemed to be rather reluctant.
She picked up a small portion of rice along with a piece of meat and started to blow air so that she could cool it down.
Slowly she placed the portion inside her mouth and Harumi found herself inside a lush forest… There she was continuously assaulted by the flavors of the vegetables, rice, and meat.
When she finally returned to the real world, she felt younger and stronger. The whole group smirked when they saw Harumi\'s reaction. With shaking hands, she picked up the ice cream…
She was unable to hold back her anticipation. She finally picked up a piece of ice cream and placed it inside her mouth and once again she found herself in a land filled with flavors.
Harumi was unable to stop the moans that escaped her lips.. After a few minutes, she was finally able to calm herself down. "I have no words to explain how delicious your dishes were… I am truly surprised" Harumi said with a bright smile on her face…