Chapter 1.1 - Ruckus + Teacher

Sumeryu doesn't let the teachers stand up until they've made nice. She's assigned herself a mission and she will succeed.

"Stop provoking each other and starting fights when you're supposed to be working, please. Kurumu-sensei, Mizore-sensei, applogize to each other. Show us what friendship is like. You clearly care about each other."

She doesn't know that Hibana is disappointed by the existence of boys. She would share the sentiment if she did.

"Hello, Hibana-san," she greets the tiny fire fairy warmly.

Ibuki give Kurumu the stare as she sighs

"Well as it seems that both teachers seem to have taken their sides and have made this a contest I suppose it falls to me to arbitrate, as such I vow to Bishamonten to be an impartial judge and as such I shall not allow any foul play. Not that I'm implying anyone here would resort to that right sensei" Ibuki closes her eyes as she smiles and holds out her hand as if expecting something

Hanami crosses her arms as she looks down on Mizore. Her eyes are hidden by the shining glare of her glasses. "Oh, how the tables have turned... Heh!"

Hanami probably would've joined Kurumu's group, if only to teach Mizore a lesson. However...

She's really cute when she begs, actually... She's easily won over by Mizore's miserable submission. It simultaneously tugs at her heartstrings and excites her.

"Hm... Fine, I'll join your group!" She declares, her cheeks flushing considerably. "O-Only 'cause you look so pathetic, it's unbearable. Don't think you can slack off while we do all the work though, or I'll zap you to next week. You will also refer to me as Hanami-sama for the rest of class," she adds cheekily.

She puts on an apron and swaps her witch hat out for a pink bandana wrapped around the top of her head. "What shall we make?" She asks Mizore and everyone who happens to be in their group.

Hibana is instantly won over by Kumuru’s attention. She blushes and giggles—but she does not choose a side.

"What fun! I’m not sure how much help I can be, but I’ll probably learn a new way my fire can help!"

Wait. Wait! Sumeryu could have done that all along?! Curses! She'll have to make up for lost time soon. The classes will never know how extremely tempting it is for the dragon girl to kidnap Kurumu and Hibana both at the same time and run away to frolic and engage in entirely wholesome activities, such as cuddling, watching movies, and otherwise occupying what might be called a "lair" in a "castle."

Definitely not thinking about naughty things. Nope.

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Once in the Cooking Zone, Sumeryu surveys the terrain and opposition. Naturally, Sumeryu will be joining Kurumu's side, since she was there to start with and, more importantly, Kurumu had already gotten to her with her lovestruck fangirling earlier in the week. The dragon girl puts on an apron and chef hat, the former green and the latter the same red as her hair, both stitched with the kanji making up her personal name.

"Kurono-sensei, please don't put love potions in the waffles." Her tone is imperious as usual, but there's a hint of indulging a cute younger sibling in there.

There will, of course, be waffles. With powdered sugar and fresh strawberries.

"Hibana-san, please help me cook them. If you use your fire to heat the irons, I'm sure they'll be nice and toasty."

The giant girl had several old fashioned waffle irons with that don't use electricity, which she had brought in herself. They were all on individual stands with the handles pointing upward, conveniently allowing Hibana to provide the pre-heating and probably the regular heating too.

She mixes the batter: flour, butter, milk, eggs, salt, vanilla extract, and wildflower honey. She goes slowly and with surprising dexterity and delicacy for someone so large, letting anyone who is curious watch her and learn or even help with the process.

Hibana gladly accepts her duty! She tries her best to heat the waffle iron.

"This is probably my first time cooking!" she says excitedly, yet mindful of her extreme memory loss. (Even if she had cooked before, it feels new!)

"No! Those are low effort breakfasts!" Hanami karate chops the top of Mizore's head. It only takes one look at the opposing team to see that they're making waffles, which seem like they're going to turn out very tasty. "Damn... If we want to defeat Kurono-sensei's group, we'll need to give it our all."

She thinks about what to cook for a moment. "Hm... I've got it. We'll combat their waffles with some delicious french toast! Yeah!" She was drooling a little, but she wiped it quickly.

"And we'll pair it with our secret weapon... Freshly made ice cream." She keeps her voice down so Kurumu's group doesn't hear. "Typically, that'd take far too long since we'd need to prep it in the freezer for a few hours, but your ice powers will speed that process up," she says to Mizore. "We're going to split the work between two sub-teams. I'll head the french toast squad, and you will head the ice cream squad."

Hanami sets out the ingredients. The french toast squad is working with milk, heavy cream, eggs, vanilla extract, ground cinnamon, brown sugar, clarified butter, and a few tall stacks of inch-thick bread slices. The ice cream squad has whole milk, vanilla extract, heavy cream, granulated sugar, and a small amount of salt. There's also chocolate and strawberries so they can try to make flavors beside vanilla.

The French Toast Squad

"First step, mixing the custard! Follow my lead! Not too slow or too fast!" She pulls out her wand and wraps it in a spell, turning it into a multi-purpose cooking utensil that shifts to meet her culinary needs. The end of the wand transforms into a whisk, which she uses to combine the milk, cream, eggs, vanilla, cinnamon and sugar.

Hibana likes the sound of all the different toppings. Ice cream might not be her thing, but she isn’t about to ruin that for others.

"I do like to nibble at a strawberry, though I couldn’t possibly eat a whole one.

"But you know what I can do? I can melt chocolate over the strawberries!"

The fairy isn’t even concerned about winning—only making the best use of fire and heat! Still, she is playing to win. She probably can’t do that with skill, so ideas and fire is what she brings to the table.

"Not just sweets, Kurono-sensei. Get the rest of the class together and make some eggs and bacon." She just gives her teacher orders, which would be supremely disrespectful for a typical Japanese student, but for Sumeryu comes off as completely natural. Something about majesty, charisma, and being 7 feet tall, obviously athletic, and devastatingly good-looking.

By "eggs" she of course means the rolled omelettes typical of a Japanese kitchen.

With the few students helping her plus Hibana to make waffles, she sets out the irons one by one as Hibana heats them. There are several. She's used to using her own fire to heat them, but Hibana is just as good at that. Maybe better, even. She demonstrates the process of making batter and waffles with a hot iron once and makes sure everyone copies it correctly, pointing out mistakes if there are any, and then having them start over. It takes her much longer to make the waffles that way, but it becomes clear that she is actually a gifted teacher. Her stern demeanor might actually help.

Meanwhile, Hibana offers to melt the chocolate, as well as heat the irons.

"You're doing a great job with the waffle irons, so that seems like a good idea," the dragon girl replies to Hibana.

She points at another student and then at the supply fridge. "Ichihara-san, there's confectioner's chocolate in the fridge on the second shelf. Get out two kilos an put it in that pot." Said pot is part of a nested arrangement that allows the chocolate to be heated evenly in a water bath.

She then inspects the strawberries that had been prepped by Masaki Igarashi, tells him he did a good job, and spears one of said berries with a toothpick, which she then holds out towards Hibana. "Can you hold this up?"

The tiny fire fairy is smaller than Sumeryu's hand. Said giant girl also makes the strawberry seem tiny.

Ibuki having been handed the love potion will go to sit at the front of the class having arranged a judges table, she was half expecting kurumu to be joking about the love potion so having it actually exist is something she is unsure how to react to.

"So this is an actual love potion, the essence of temptation, the blood of mara herself... i suppose i should not have expected less from actual demons"

Lín Jìng mostly tries to blend with the crowds of pupils, following anyone's instructions to avoid having to give out any, and thus avoids calling too much attention to herself. When nobody is looking, she casts small spells to help others in her group, which the more canny pupils can notice due to the occasional mudra and opened third eye.

Hibana holds up the impaled strawberry as if holding a bulky parasol. She rests the shaft of the toothpick on one shoulder.

"This could get messy, but I have a very quick way to clean up!" she says with a mischievous giggle.

Lín Jìng finds a moment when her teacher is less busy (which given the current activity level takes a bit of time), approaches timidly, and quietly asks?

"Um, shifusensei, I've been thinking, maybe I can reach out to the global unconscious of those in the building, and try to pick up some knacks and tricks for you to use in the contest to be better at it?"

The other students in Strike Team Waffle are a bit too intimidated by Sumeryu's size, intensity, and physical perfection to be a ton of help, but they do at least make good omelettes and bacon with her directions. On the other hand, Kurumu is useful, clearly experienced in the kitchen, and Hibana is an excellent assistant. The waffle irons are heated to exactly the perfect temperature each and every time, and the strawberries are given just the right amount of thin-but-tasty chocolate coating before going into the fridge.

Platters of omelettes and bacon under the warming lamps are soon joined by plate after plate of gorgeous, gleaming gold waffles, delightfully crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside. Just the right hint of sweet and savory to host powdered sugar, genuine maple syrup, butter, or all three, which have their own containers for diners to partake from. And to top off the final boss breakfast, clusters of cool, chocolate-covered strawberries.

Somewhere, a Michelin inspector is deprived of the chance to feast upon the bounty and faints.

Ibuki stares at the sheer amount of absolutely decadent food Sumeryu is plating up as she wonders what she singed herself up for. This one meal looks like it would be her quota for self indulgences for her whole lifetime however looking at the absolute look of pride one sumeryu's face Ibuki will just smile keeping her screaming on the internal side as she turns to look at how the other team is doing