The cooking class

“So? The cat-human here was trying to chase that bird-boy? Tell me more. I’m curious.”

I get annoyed and completely forget about Camille as I cross my arms over my chest, turn my head away from Limer, and say,

“No, I wasn’t. It was just some awful instinct. It’s not for your amusement.”

As I say this, I turn my head to Camille and say, looking stressed by the whole situation,

“If you and Cali agree that I’m being too picky, I’ll do the first thing you suggest and try whatever it is.”

Cali and Camille look at each other, and then Camille says,

“Well, I was thinking of showing you what I usually do. I still have the classes I used to go to at my old school if you want to try.”

I simply nod, and she takes my hand, guiding me through the hallways again. Cali and Limer are following right behind us. I hope this ends soon. Why did I agree to this?

“Here we are. This is the cooking classroom. I used to come here to learn about culinary arts.”

As Camille says this, Cali, who arrives just a moment later, says softly,

“Robots can already make perfectly balanced foods with palatable tastes, so being a chef is mostly a hobby. Want to try it out, Layla? It can be fun.”

I look at Cali for a moment, considering my options while humming a little. I really don’t want to do something I’m not used to.

“I don’t know. Food isn’t something to play with. What if I make something awful?”

As I say this, Camille enters the classroom and calls out for the teacher. I wasn’t expecting that. My ears and tail tense in surprise, and as I’m about to say something, a metallic, slimy substance falls from the ceiling, quickly transforming into a robot with the form of a purple-haired woman in a black apron. Her eyes shine with a yellow light as she turns her head to look at us, scanning each of us before turning to Camille and saying,

“Oh, hey, Camille. Are you ready for another cooking class? Or did you just come to show off your abilities to your friends?”

I’m stunned for a moment by her beautiful and mature appearance. Robots are always naturally beautiful, but I’m still not used to their appearance. Cali touches my shoulder, pouting and looking jealous of my reaction. It’s only natural since every robot has such perfect attributes. Sigh.

“Okay, I’ll try the class for a bit, but don’t get your hopes up. I don’t know if I’ll stay with it or not.”

“Johan is here for the lesson with the rest of the class. Sorry for the lateness.”

Johan says as he appears behind us at the door. It looks like he just followed us, unsure of how to proceed with this school. I can’t blame him. He looks sweaty. He probably ran here right after finding out where we were. Everyone looks at him but seems to ignore his apology for being late. No one expected this class to be so sudden.

“So, everyone wants to take a test drive in our kitchen?”

The robot teacher says, clapping her hands and changing the classroom to accommodate one cooking station for each of us. She looks at everyone, smiling slightly, as she says,

“Oh, this is amazing! It’s rare to have so many people in this class. This is wonderful!”

Cali raises her hand and says,

“Oh, oh, oh, I want to make ice cream!”

The teacher looks at Cali and says,

“Oh, you’re a robot as well, Miss Cali. You can do that whenever you want. Why don’t you let the students decide what to do instead? Let’s see what you guys like.”

Cali simply mumbles, crossing her arms and pouting,

“Oh, that’s not fair. With Layla and Camille here, they’re just going to make fish.”

I look at her and say, already annoyed,

“I already told you that I don’t like fish that much, and don’t treat me like a cat! My favorite food is cake and any sweet with chocolate is even better.”

Limer walks toward me and, with a hand on my shoulder, simply says with a smirk,

“And I prefer meats, the spicier the better.”

Then Johan says, entering the room and positioning himself at one of the cooking stations, already putting on an apron,

“Food needs to be nutritional and fill stomachs. That’s all. It doesn’t need to be tasty at all.”

Camille, on the other hand, just looks at me and says as she prepares to cook,

“Well, I do like sushi and fish, but I won’t make anyone prepare what I like. What do you suggest, teacher?”

The teacher looks at all of us and giggles as she takes my hand and moves me, Cali, and Limer to a specific station. When she returns to the center of the class, she sets up her own equipment with the same metallic slime from earlier and says,

“Well, there’s a huge variety of options here, so since almost everyone here is just starting to learn about cooking, let’s play a little with something simple first. Since everyone has different tastes, I suggest we make eggs. They’re highly nutritional and are the base for most of the food we can make in this class. If you want to continue in our class, we can even improve your abilities until you’re making a cake on your own.”

With a snap of her fingers, a tray emerges from the station’s desk within a cold mist. As the mist dissipates, there’s an egg carton in the middle of it, and she continues,

“First, I want to teach you how to prepare a fried egg, the simplest recipe for now. In future classes, I might teach you how to…”

The teacher’s speech is cut off as she looks at Limer, who has taken an egg, turned on the oven, put the whole egg inside, and is leaning against the counter, saying,

“Okay, that was easy. I want the next lesson, please.”

The teacher gets startled and runs to her desk, turning off the oven and taking the egg out, saying desperately,

“No, no way! Don’t do things without listening first, okay? Here, let me show you, and don’t touch anything before I allow it, okay?”

She takes the egg from the oven and goes to her desk. As soon as she’s there, she starts to explain how it’s done. A small hologram screen appears on each desk, showing her hands and each tool she’s using.

“Okay, eggs, pan, light one of the stove tops, and put a pan on it to heat up. Then, you can crack the eggshell and put it in the pan. You can also put oil or butter in the pan beforehand to help it not stick to the bottom. After that, just add seasoning of your choice: pepper, salt, or anything else you like. Everyone understand so far?”

She turns her head to look at us. Camille seems to be preparing hers while the teacher explains. Limer seems to be removing a burnt egg from her pan. How did she already burn one? Johan seems to have a well-prepared egg already, but it looks somehow dull, as if he just broke the egg into the pan and fried it for the perfect amount of time. As I look at all of them, I’m still trying to break an egg without getting any shells in it. Why is the yolk all broken this time?

“Ugh, why can’t this break properly?”

As I say this, Cali takes an egg and breaks it perfectly onto my pan. She was at my side, watching everything. I was thinking she wouldn’t help me. She just looks at me with a small, proud smile.

I get angry at Cali, but despite that, I can’t say anything bad. She’s just trying to help me.

“This was supposed to be simple? I can’t even break it properly.”

Despite that, I finally manage to finish the egg. It’s all crusty with salt in all the wrong places, but it looks edible.

Sigh. “I hope they like it at least.”