(a/n: i had a two day break before my exam so i decided not to make you wait anymore......enjoy)
I look at the white apron in front of me, I then turn back and saw our male classmates sitting at the back as they observe us. excitement and amusement is written on their faces, well aside from one man who had his whole attention to the book he's reading, everyone seems to be excited about the class.
It had been a week since the opening ceremony, and some manga plots had been progressing smoothly. Like in the manga Monique and Ryuuji joined the archery club together with Aoi, as for Rin she followed me in the karate club while Kana joined the tennis club. Another manga moment that had progressed is that Monique and Aoi is steadily getting closer.
"you girls might be wondering what this class is?" I look at the small kitchen station in front of me, then at the tray of fresh produce on the side. Last week this two hour class were still not in implementation, when someone asked, they were given a vague answer so technically this is our first meeting. "the school director had gone and visit some school around the country to look into any interesting new knowledge that could be added in our curriculum. The ideas were presented to the board and this class came out as the winner"
"why do I feel like she's talking about home ec" Rin murmured beside me, our station is close so I could faintly hear her. In my head I was already confirming Rin, everything inside the room screams of home economics, relatively this subject is present in our past life however since this Academy caters to the rich and famous such subject is bound to not be in the curriculum
"this subject will divide the class in two, the girls will be learning a thing or two about dishes and pastries with me while the boys will be having a technical crash course in another room. Of course today is an exception because the boys will be watching your first performance...." The teacher, a woman in her late twenties wearing the standard white blouse and black skirt, started lecturing on the general knowledge involving food, nutrients and balance diet. "well then, I supposed every one of you knows how to use a stove. So today I will be giving you a short test" she paused for a second "in order for me to know where to start" she walk and stopped in front of the trays of ingredients "using the ingredients here, I want you to cook something" she smiled when the majority of the girls groaned in protest "you can utilize the cook books if you want, I won't hinder you. I don't care what kind of food you'll make me, as long as you serve me one, that's okay. because the purpose of this test is for me to know how shall I approach this class. You have an hour left so you all can begin" with an excited and anticipated look in her eyes the teacher then sat on the sideline and watch as most of our female classmates crowded on the side where the ingredients are.
"great! Aside from melting chocolates, i have no idea anymore" Kana grumbled
"I only know how to heat water" I look at Rin in disbelief, Kana is understandable since for some reason or another she's a kitchen jinx.
"didn't you know how to cook back then?" I asked Rin
"nope, I only know how to heat things in the microwave and heat water, that's the extent of my culinary knowledge" I gave out a sigh
"c'mon, let's see the cook books and find something for you two" while I look for simple recipes for the two of them, one by one, those student who had knowledge in the kitchen head back to their station and started their prep, of course one of them is the protagonist, Monique.
Kana and Rin decided to just cook porridge since according to them it's pretty easy, with that I just left them on their own and I started gathering my ingredients. I choose to cook omurice per my two friends request. According to them they miss it already so I must compensate for that and cook it for them.
"Miss Kana, what are you doing?" I just turned on the rice cooker when I heard our teacher, I look in Kana's direction
"cooking porridge"
"you need to put water in there" Kana nodded and she poured in water "you need to wash the rice grains first!"
"why? The rice grains looks clean" I shake my head then I look at Rin and saw her heating up something on the pan.
"miss Kana you don't put flour on porridge!"
"of course you put one ma'am how would the porridge be so sticky if you won't put flour" I face palmed.
"I'm done!" Rin confidently announced, making us look at her in surprise, fifteen minutes just passed and she's done? Miss Florence, head to Rin's station and look at the food cooking on her pan. And I stopped myself from running to her side when I saw that she had the fire on the highest setting
"miss Rin, the rice's not cooked yet, and the water is still in the boiling stage"
"precisely! The water's boiling so it's cooked already"
"no, it's still being cooked. Wai...." Miss Florence stopped when we heard a tud tud sound. All of us look at where the sound is coming from and I almost faint in place when I saw Kana cutting some vegetables. It's like she's cutting firewood "miss Kana!!!!!!!"
"what?" Kana asked innocently
"you go to the side right now!" Kana pouted but before she left she scope the mangled vegetables and was about to put it in her pan "stop! What are you still doing?"
"putting the vegetables in"
"stop murdering those poor vegetables, they already suffered enough!" Kana scratch her head "apologize to those poor souls right now!" Kana looked at miss Florence as if she's looking at someone who's lost her mind "apologize!"
"I'm sorry" miss Florence nodded her head.
"okay, you have some foundation......good........you need a little more practice" miss Florence checked each dish, from plating to taste. "good" miss Florence look at the maki rolls that are neatly arranged on the plate "looks like you're more advance that the others, considering that you've managed to create this sides" she point at the flowers that are made out of carrots that adorned the dish
"I'm still a beginner" Monique bashfully said
"now the taste" miss Florence took one and judging from her expression, the food taste good "it's delicious, with this you can even skip some of our lesson in the future and still make it" Monique gave a small smile. Miss Florence moved on next and it's on Rin. "miss Rin"
"yes?"
"did you just boil the rice?" Rin raised a brow, as if telling, it's so obvious do you still have to ask? Miss Florence sighed and just ignore her dish. "Miss Catherine" I gave her a smile "omurice?" she inspected my plain plating and nodded "looks plain" I almost want to remind her that she only wants to test our knowledge in cooking so she shouldn't expect us to give her a five star worth of food . she grab her spoon and scoop some as she proceed to taste my food. "delicious!" she exclaimed, she gave me a wide smile. "well then, to the boys at the back, this girls had made a lot so you can eat your shares". One by one the boys came and took some tastes. While miss Florence went to her table and started writing on her note.
"oh, looks like your king prefers the Heroine's dish more than yours" I went to Kana's side while the others stayed on their station. When Ryuuji, stopped at Monique's station I notice how she smiled in delight.
"don't mind hi....oh my god!" we turn at Rin when she suddenly exclaimed
"what?"
"I need a camera" she whispered excitedly as she focused to the side, when we follow the direction she's looking, Kana and I shake our head. A few meters from us, two of our male classmates are sitting there while enjoying Monique's maki roll. One of them had a rice stuck on their cheek so the other had helped him took it off "moe!" Rin said excitedly, she even had a wide grin on her face while breathing heavily. She practically looks like a pervert
"hey calm down! You have an image to protect" Rin just brushed off Kana as she continue to observe the two.
"what's with image when this is a golden opportunity! Something magical is about to happen, I must record it in my mind and revisit it again. Hehe judging from that guy on the left he's seme material with his look and how he handle that rice just now"
"if the paparazzi could hear you they could break your career" I reminded her
"I'm super rich, I don't care about that" we decided to just let her be, so long as she doesn't do something out of her character. "d*mn it would've been better if he licked the rice of his face" Kana and I just pretend that we didn't hear anything.
"can you wrap two for me" I heard Ryuuji and when I look at their direction I saw him pointing at the two types of maki roll on Monique's' plate
"s-sure" Monique said excitedly while Ryuuji just stood there.
"what?!"
"what's going on?"
"why is the king doing that? miss Catherine's dish is just there" I heard the girl near us whisper at each other while the other girls in the class just look at the two in shock.
"looks like the plot is progressing just like as you want it to be" I look at Kana in daze before looking at the Ryuuji and Monique.
"cat" I glare at Ryuuji before walking away from him. For some reason I don't want to see his face right now
"Catherine!" I saw president Jansen coming to me, while Ryuuji is just behind me
"let's go!" I grab president Jansen's arm and drag him away. I know it's unfair for president but really, I just don't want to see Ryuuji.
"eh...eh....what's this you're suddenly taking me away" when I heard his word I immediately stopped and let go of his arm
"i-I'm sorry" president just smiled and pat my head
"it's okay, I kind of have an idea why you acted like that" I look at him in confusion but he just chuckled "guess if you gave me that look I still have a chance. Anyway, do you want to come to the student council office with me?" I gave him a suspicious look "hey! I swear I won't do anything"
"look's like someone got your cat" I look at the silver haired girl on my side
"what do you want Rin?" she's my brother's fiancée and judging from my brother's reaction he doesn't want her. She'd also managed to integrate herself on Catherine which makes me see her as someone suspicious. If she does anything to cat, I would drag her name down the mud and make sure it stays there.
"nothing, I just want to see your reaction. Well I guess Catherine's better off to someone who's more dedicated to her than some guy who could confidently brush her fiancée off in front of her face" I just gave her a cold look before heading off.
"which do you want to taste first?" I look at the tray of different sweets in front of me while trying to uphold a dignified posture even though I am mentally salivating at the presence of such decadent and indulgent sweets. "can't choose one?" I blushed at president Jansen's words and he just laugh
"here tea!" I look at Carol, the student council vice president when she unceremoniously dumped the tea on the table, she even glared at me before she went back to her desk.
"don't mind her, she's just shy" I gave president Jansen a blank look when I heard him. Really? Shy? The heck she's radiating jealousy!!! President you're so dense!!! "anyway, I heard you cooked during home economics class" I nodded "do you still have anything left?"
"I'm sorry it's already been eaten by my classmates" after giving my friends their share, our male classmates immediately devoured what was left on the plate. I was keeping Ryuuji's share but since he did not even bother to went to my station I just feed it to Kana. Guess he like's those maki roll.
"how about you cook me something in the near future?" president hopefully asked
"about that....." I could feel a death glare directed at me "how about you ask your vice president to cook for you" so dangerous
"eh?" my hands started to feel clammy when the feeling of being glared at intensifies
"you know, before asking me why not ask senior Carol, isn't she the daughter of a five star Michelin chef, I'm sure senior Carol's foods is better than mine"
"Carol?" president Jansen who is a known foodie look at Carol
"ahm.....y-yes?"
"let me have a taste of your cooking one of this days okay?" president gave Carol a mega white smile and the poor girl just bashfully lowered down her head and nod, her red ears did not escape my vision. I look at president Jansen who is so oblivious to what is happening to her vice president. Somehow looking at him makes me want to hit him with a mallet. This dense guy.
"so you really went with him" I almost jumped in surprise when a voice suddenly speak up, when I look to the left I saw Ryuuji standing there with his arms folded in his chest while giving me a cold look, somehow I feel guilty for some reason I don't know.
"......."
"I'll forgive you this once, but the next time you run away from me and go with him, I'll punish you"
"I'm sorry" why do I feel like as if I was caught cheating by my husband, what the heck is wrong with me?! and why did I say sorry? I didn't do anything wrong! "wait! I didn't do anything wrong!"
"oh? running away from me and going with Jansen is not wrong?" he asked in an interrogating tone
"that....that......I don't know" I said the last words in a low voice because I really can't figure out why I just don't want to see and talk with him back then, I just feel annoyed at him.
Ryuuji just stared at me and when I can't stand it I slowly lowered than my head. When I heard him sigh and hear him walking closer to me I immediately stiffened up.
"Cat" he put his hands on my chin and tilt my head making me face him "what do I do with you hmm?" he asked softly.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Catherine: it's really hard to deal with dense people makes me want to whack them to cure them from their denseness
Kana: (holding a mallet) can I whack you too? (whispers from Catherine's back)
Authot: violence is prohibited
Kana: tsk!!
~Ö~
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