*
"Without a moment's hesitation - I never knew, I was dealing with a demon,"
**
Botanical Garden - Temperate Zone
"Oh, right, the chestnuts!" Grim yelped, widening his eyes in realization, completely missing Ace's words about Y/n's bruise. "We gotta gather those chestnuts so I can get my tart on! We'll fill 'em in on the crazy groundskeeper while we forage," he says.
**
Meanwhile, two students were hiding from view, witnessing everything that happened to Y/n. It was the Leech twins, tasked with watching the crown princess. "How dare he...should I squeeze that stellar sea lion?" Floyd asked with a pissed off expression.
"No, Floyd," Jade shook his head. "It would be wise to report this to Azul first instead of doing anything rash," he advised.
**
Ace and Deuce lead Y/n and Grim to the spot in the Botanical Gardens where chestnuts were present. While collecting the chestnuts, Grim began explaining what happened earlier that led up to Y/n's now healed up bruise. "...And then he peaced out!" Grim says, finishing the explanation.
"Yeah, no way was that guy the groundskeeper," Ace says, his voice having a hint of venom.
"Y'know, now that I think about it, he WAS wearin' the golden vest of that Pajama-clog dorm," Grim stated, obviously butchering the name.
"Yeah. Pajama-clog dorm," Y/n nodded, obviously forgetting the name.
Y/n's mispronunciation with a straight face caused Ace and Deuce to let out a chuckle. "Pajama...clog? You mean Savanaclaw?" Deuce asked, chuckling. "You know, I'm starting to think that there's an awful lot of delinquents here at Night Raven..."
"All right, that sound be enough chestnuts," Ace says, putting the last chestnut into his bamboo basket. "Let's get these baskets over to Trey!"
"Myahaha! Now that we're all gassed up, it's destination: Flavortown, baby!"
*
Kitchen
The group arrived at the Cafeteria kitchen, placing the bamboo baskets filled with chestnuts in front of Trey, who was waiting for them. His eyes widen from the amount. "Whoa. You guys sure picked up a ton," Trey says, quite amazed.
"Now we can make one HUUGE tart!" Grim says excitedly, drooling on the counter with stars in his eyes.
"Well, the bigger the tarts, the harder it'll be to peel all these nuts, so...good luck with that!" Trey informed as he removed his jacket along with Ace, Deuce, and Y/n who removed her kimono jacket. They all placed them to the side away from the main area and rolled up their sleeves. Since Y/n had her hair out, she took out a ribbon from her pocket and tied her hair in one braid. (Like Raiden Makoto's braid)
"We have to peel all of these...? Suddenly the whole room is spinning..." Deuce mumbled in shock.
"Preparation is the key to good baking," Trey stated.
"Yeah, yeah, I know," Ace grumbled. "We're come this far. We're not giving up now!"
**
"The basics: How to Make a Mont Blanc Tart" Trey began giving them instructions.
1. Boil the chestnuts
Y/n filled the large pot with hot water and placed it on the stove, turning on the burner. Ace, Deuce, and Trey all helped each other to pour in the chestnuts until each pot was filled to the brim as Y/n placed down more water-filled pots onto the stove until all the baskets were empty.
*
2. Once cooled, peel the chestnuts
Y/n placed her bare hands on the boiling hot pots, causing them to sizzle from her ice-cold skin coming into contact with hot temperatures. The boys freaked out a bit as Deuce grabbed one of her hand to inspect them, but was caught off guard from how her hand wasn't burned. Y/n had convinced them that she was 100 percent okay as winter spirits like her can touch hot things without getting severely burned due to their cold touch.
Ace and Deuce watched curiously as the boiling water now began to cool from her hands, small ice cubes forming inside. To have the chestnuts cool down faster, Y/n blew her icy breath in each pot. Afterwards, they all began peeling the chestnuts.
*
3. Bring the chestnuts, some milk, and sugar in a pot on heat and simmer
Grim began stiring the mixture with Y/n's supervision, making sure he didn't hurt himself as the others did their own pot.
*
Puree the chestnuts
The boys tiredly whipped the mixture, pureeing them. After some time, all the chestnuts have been perfectly pureed. "There! Finally got 'em all pureed!" Ace says, rubbing the sweat from his forehead from all the arm work.
"My arm is killing me..." Deuce groaned, moving his shoulder in a circle to stretched them out.
"It wasn't that bad. Better than training until you vomited blood," Y/n bluntly says, causing Ace and Deuce to widen their eyes in shock.
"Vomiting Blood?!"
"Mhm," Y/n nodded meekly. "After all, demons and evil monsters roam around. Magic is useless against them, so you must train your physical abilities until you feel like you're gonna die...because at the end of the day, that really is all you can do..."
The boys shuddered in fear, feeling grateful for the peace they have now. After all, there are some secret organizations who specialize in exterminating these demons and monsters.
"N-nice work," Trey praised, sweatdropping nervously. "It'll be all the sweeter for your pain!"
"The smell along already has me droolin'..." Grim says, drooling again from the sweet smell.
"Stir in the butter and sugar to the chestnut paste...And finally, add a suitable amount of our secret ingredient - Oyster Sauce," Trey revealed.
"Oyster Sauce?!" Ace and Deuce exclaimed in shock as Y/n stared at the bottle of oyster sauce Trey took out.
"Yep," Trey nodded. "The umami of the oysters give the cream a deep, savory flavor. I use this one here: Walrus-brant Young Oyster Sauce. Famous patisseries stock it," he explained.
The boys gulped, sweatdropping slightly. "Really? But isn't oyster sauce like, super salty?" Deuce asked, a bit hesitant.
"Some folks put chocolate into curry, don't they?" Ace asked as Y/n looked like she was witnessing a murder right in front of her upon hearing that people put chocolate in their curry as she scrunched up her face in disgust. "Maybe it's the same idea,"
"Trey is lying. His heartbeat gave it away," Y/n bluntly exposed.
"Huh?!"
"Pffft...Ah ha ha ha!" Trey burst out laughing. "As Y/n says, I'm totally lying! No one in their right mind would put oyster sauce into a pastry," he says.
"What?! So you were just yankin' our chain?" Ace shouted in anger. "What's with you?! I thought you were for real! I was gonna add some!!"
"Ah ha ha!" Trey continued laughing. "I mean, if you'd used your brain, you'd have realized how ridiculous it was! Let that be a lesson to you. Don't believe everything you hear,"
"This guy's a smooth liar for lookin' so nice..." Grim grumbled.
"Next, take the whipped cream...Ah!" Trey yelped.
"What's wrong, Trey?" Y/n asked, tilting her head to the side.
"You guys gathered so many chestnuts that we may have overdone it with the chestnut paste," Trey says. "Now we're about out of whipped cream to mix it with,"
"I'll go and buy some more," Deuce offered. "Do they sell it at the campus store?"
"They sell pretty much everything, so...probably," Trey nodded. "Can you get some other stuff while you're there? Jot it down," he suggested. Deuce nods and took out a small notepad and his magical pen. "I need two cartons of milk, two packs of eggs, aluminum baking cups, and five cans of fruit..." he says as Deuce wrote it down.
"I don't think I'll be able to carry all that back," Deuce mumbled before turning over to Y/n. "Y/n, could you come with me?"
"Of course," Y/n nodded.
"Then I'm comin' too!" Grim yelled in a desperate manner. "I'm getting dizzy from all this stirrin'. I need a break!"
*
Mister S's Mystery Shop
"Hello, can I get some he- Whoa," As soon as Deuce walked into the store with Y/n and Grim, he was immediately in awe from how unique the interior of the store was. "This shop is wild. They have crystal skulls, grimoires, taxidermied...Uh, I don't even know what animal that is!" he observed.
"You think they sell cream here?" Grim asked, very skeptical.
"This looks like a sundries shop in here," Y/n mumbled as she looked around.
"Greetings, my stray imps and Yuki Onna, How fare you today?" A voice called out to them. It was Sam, the owner of the unique shop. "Welcome to Mr. S's Mystery Shop. What among my humble selection interests you?" he winked toward them in glee. "A talisman from some unknown land? The mummified remains of an ancient king? Maybe some cursed tarot cards? Anything and everything is..."
"In Stock Now!"
"Myah! I wasn't expectin' this kinda selection," Grim yelped in surprise.
When Sam made his appearance, Y/n couldn't help but stare at the odd eccentric man. "Looks like we found the shopkeeper," she says.
"Um..." Deuce approached Sam. "We wanted to buy all the items on this list..." he says, showing the list to the shopkeeper.
"Ring up two cans of tuna while you're at it!" Grim demanded.
"No, Grim! We're not here for tuna!" Deuce scolded.
"We have more than enough...you don't need more," A dumbfounded Y/n stated, crossing her arms.
"What's this? Cream and eggs and..." Sam muttered, reading the list. "Quite the sacchariferous list! I'll get everything for you," he nodded before turning around to get the things they need from the back.
"Whoa...He really does stock that stuff, huh?" Deuce mumbled, quite impressed.
Soon, Sam came back to the front with a few backs of their groceries. "Here you go. It's pretty heavy...Are you sure you can carry this?" he asked as he gave the bags Deuce and Y/n each carried two bags in each hand. "Luckily for you, our 1/100th size flying saucers are 30% off today. Perfect for carrying groceries!"
"Ooh, lemme see! That sounds awesome!" Grim exclaimed, his eyes sparkling.
"We're fine, thank you," Deuce politely declined.
"Let's just go, Grim," Y/n ordered.
"Myah! I didn't realize today was National No fun Allowed Day!" Grim exclaimed.
"Very well. Then until next my little imps and Miss Yuki Onna! Do come again! Ciao!" Sam waved goodbye as they walked out of the store.
*
Main Street
"That store was amazing," Deuce sweatdropped as he looked behind him while they walked down the path to Main Street, heading back to the campus.
"Yeah, and you're amazingly cheap," Grim grumbled.
"Who are you calling cheap?!" Deuce asked, hearing Grim's grumbling. He then looked down at the heavy bags Y/n was carrying. "Hmph. Y/n, looks like you got the bag with all the cans. That must be heavy. Let me take that one. I've got a little trick for carrying heavy bags," he offered.
"Don't worry Deuce. This is nothing," Y/n says reassuringly. "You're quite the power shopper, aren't you,"
"Yeah," Deuce nodded. "My mom always used to stock up at sales, and the bags would get ridiculously heavy. I was the only man in the house, so I got to do all the heavy lifting, and-" he smiled before he paused in realization.
"Oh, sorry. I didn't mean to monopolize the conversation," Deuce quickly apologized when he caught Y/n staring at him.
Y/n was indeed staring at Deuce, completely impressed. She noticed how happy Deuce looked when talking about his mother. "It's great that you helped out around the house...And it sounds like you took good care of your mom," she gently smiled.
"No, it wasn't like that at all. The truth is, I-" Deuce says, frowning slightly. But suddenly, a student bumped into Deuce, causing him to fall onto his butt with a thud. Y/n widen her eyes in surprise when she heard the eggs in Deuce's bag cracking. "Owww!" he whimpered slightly.
"Myah! The eggs!" Grim panicked when he heard the eggs breaking.
Deuce widen his eyes upon realizing that the eggs were broken as well. "T-the carton of eggs is totally smashed! And now the bag's dripping egg good everywhere," he panicked.
"That hurt!!" The Delinquent student that bumped into Deuce shouted, causing the boy to look up at the student. "Watch where you're going, dude!"
"You're the ones who jumped in front of us," Deuce stated as Y/n helped him stand back up.
"What? You sayin' it's all my fault?" The Delinquent Student asked in a threatening tone.
"I am," Deuce sternly says as stepped over to the delinquent student. "Reimburse me for those eggs. And then apologize to the chickens,"
"Haah? You sure are makin' a big deal outta some stupid eggs that ain't worth fightin' over," The delinquent student responded.
Something inside of Deuce snapped. "What?" he asked with widen eyes.
"They didn't even splat or anything, so they're edible, right?" The delinquent student says, patting Deuce's shoulder. "Hahaha...We just saved you the trouble of crackin' em is all,"
Suddenly, Deuce grabbed the delinquent's shirt, gripping him tightly, causing Y/n and Grim to widen their eyes.
"Do you see me laughin'?! Huhh?!" Deuce snapped.
"His switch went and flipped again!" Grim yelped.
"You don't get to call my eggs stupid. You don't get to call ANY eggs stupid! It ain't your place to decide what's a big deal or not!" Deuce shouted. "Those eggs may not have gotten to be chicks, but they were gonna make some amazing tarts! Do you get it yet? DO YOU?!"
"What is with this guy all of a sudden?!" The Delinquent's friend yelped in surprise.
"You owe me six eggs. If ya ain't gonna pay me for em..." Deuce began to say before he smashed his fists together, cracking his knuckles.
"I'll hafta slug you six times instead!"
~To be Continued~
*
Modern Era Secrets:
~ Y/n and her kind are capable of putting their bare hands in hot oil without getting burned. (People irl can do that for some reason and it amazes Author-chan)
~ Author Chan can never. When working with oil, she somehow hurts herself with splashing oil or accidently touching the hot pots or even burn her mouth when not cooling down the food enough. It's the same with the airfryer. She burnt herself twice.