(Tuesday – Second Period)
Once again the students of Gohan's homeroom had found themselves carted off to another class, this time for a more relaxed session of education. As listed in their respective schedules, this was a home economics class and, after being given a rundown on the subject that they would be covering in this lesson as well as the procedures, the students were then divided up into pairs and sent off to complete their task by their teacher. The activity itself seemed like an incredibly simple process. But in truth, the students felt like they were a little out of their depth.
As per the routine that they'd established, Gohan's group had broken off into their respective pairings. The demi-Saiyan had taken a table alongside Videl, Touya had gone with Sharpener, and Erasa was paired up with another friend of hers from their homeroom. The five of them had taken up stations and stoves closest to one another, where they could see the ingredients up on the board and were able to run through it just as they were taught.
This was turning out some interesting results between each of the pairs as they diligently applied themselves to the roles chefs.
The meal for the day was tempura prawn with a side serving of string beans in oyster sauce and chicken rice. This seemed like a pinch with the right ingredients. But as soon as the timer started ticking, things started going awfully wrong for a lot of people across the board, ranging from instructional complications to messy cutting boards.
While most of the class was coping fairly well at their desks, some of the other less adept cooks weren't, chief among which were Gohan and Videl. Almost as soon as they got started, the two young warriors found themselves standing by their chopping board with their notes spread out between them, white aprons tied securely to their persons and puzzled looks slapped across their faces
Scratching his head, the half-Saiyan glanced over at his girlfriend, who was huddled up close to him with a similarly bewitched expression in play. "Got any idea how this is supposed to work?"
The tomboy bit her bottom lip, "Uhh… nope. To be honest I'm just as unsure about this recipe as you are."
"Well it can't be as complicated as putting a drain pipe together or assembling a box of legos. As long as we have the instructions, I think this might turn out alright."
"The only difference is that we get to eat the thing we make afterwards," Videl murmured, squinting at the notes before turning to look up at the boy next to her. "It'd be pretty problematic for us if we miss a step and screw the whole thing up."
"I guess we better take extra care then," Gohan replied, switching on the stove before then pointing across at the plastic bowl next to them. "Get the flour, baking soda and corn starch ready. I'll pre-heat the wok and tend to the fire."
Clearing her throat, the raven haired girl placed a hand on her hip and gave her crush a funny look. "And what makes you think you're qualified to use this household appliance?"
The spiky haired young male blinked at the teen in surprise, staring at her in silence for several moments before opening his mouth. "Umm… I'm not?"
"Uh-huh. That's what I thought." Videl shook her head in amusement and, with a cool look on her face, rolled up her sleeves. "Step back, Mr. Hero. I'll be taking command of this ship." Nudging the boy aside, she then took hold of the wok and gathered up the cooking oils. "Remember the last time you tried to make something by following the instructions in a book? You nearly set the whole house on fire."
Giving a sheepish laugh at his friend's brief recount, the boy scratched the back of his head. "I got a little careless with the oil, that's all."
"Exactly. A task like this requires a delicate touch… something that I understand you're considerably lacking at the moment," the raven haired teen exclaimed cheerfully, at the same time smirking at her teammate. "You take care of the mixing and I'll take care of the cooking. That way we can split up the responsibilities and keep things from getting out of control. How does that sound?"
Acknowledging her instructions, Gohan beamed pleasantly and moved over to where his girlfriend had previously been standing. "Alright. We'll do it that way."
A very sneaky smile then popped up on the girl's angelic visage. "You don't have anything to say in your defense?"
"No. I trust you enough to be able to handle yourself," the Saiyan teenager answered with a wide grin, which quickly turned cheeky as he leaned in to whisper in her ear. "But just in case you overlook something and end up going full potato, I'll be here to help you out."
Clicking her tongue and narrowing her eyes, Videl then turned around and threw a few jabs into her boyfriend's arm. The hits she managed to connect landed hard and heavy. In spite of this, Gohan ended up laughing the last two blows off due to their playful execution. "You ass," the girl growled, grinning all the while as the boy held his hands up in a sign of surrender.
The pair's laughter filled the room, drawing the attention from several of the other students and a certain blonde haired girl stationed at the desk across from them. As the tomboy playfully threw punches at the demi-Saiyan, Erasa, adorned in the same apron as everybody else, watched the pair quietly from the sidelines with mixing bowl in hand. Able to hear and see their antics loud and clear, the cheerful blonde remained standing as still as a statue, with a curious look framed on her face that slowly transformed into a desponded one as she observed her two friends fooling around with each other from a distance.
When she saw Videl flick some baking soda at Gohan's top and watched the boy wiped the stuff that managed to get on her nose away with a tissue, all Erasa could think about was them and the demi-Saiyan messing about with her childhood friend.
As she did, it caused a knot to tighten in her chest, leaving her frozen in place.
"Gohan-kun…"
Unfortunately the girl wasn't given enough time to be alone with her thoughts. While her eyes remained fixated on the pair, the sound of her name being called soon drew her attention back over to her partner.
"Hey, Erasa," a girl with short brown hair, wearing a white shirt and a blue skirt spoke up, craning her head to look at her teammate's face. "Are you done mixing those ingredients yet?"
Realizing she was being addressed, the blonde looked over at her teammate with a start before shaking her head. "Oh… uhh…" Panicking a little, she then glanced down at the plastic bowl in one hand and the stirrer in the other. "S-Sorry, Nagisa. Not just yet. Just give me a few more seconds." She then continued mixing the ingredients as quickly as she could, making a damn mess of it in the process.
Looking across at her friend apprehensively, the girl carrying the bag full of prawns nodded in understanding and, sporting a small smile, turned back to their station. "Okay. Just make sure all of the ingredients and powders are blended together."
"Right-O."
As the two girls continued to work, Erasa couldn't help but spare a few furtive glances over at Gohan's table, where she saw the loving pair had stopped messing around long enough to get their affairs in order. Despite starting out late, the two Z-fighters were quickly getting back on track and catching up with the rest of their peers.
Over on Sharpener and Touya's station, things weren't going so great.
Due to the fact that both had little to no experience with cooking acceptable dishes, the pair of sportsmen was struggling with some of the more remedial tasks. Stirring the ingredients ended up with both of them covered in batter and all of the chopping that they'd done so far had left an even bigger mess. All in all, their efforts weren't exactly yielding the tidiest results. But after about fifteen minutes of grinding and hardcore perseverance, the pair found themselves coming up to the final stages of cooking their prawns.
After failing to pick up a couple of the slippery sea creatures with his chopsticks a decent three times, Touya then prepared to put them over the wok and show them the fire. It was just as he was prepping his chopsticks for the dip that he was stopped by the timely concerns of his partner.
"Hang on a second. Are you sure the batter is ready to be used?" Sharpener asked with a worried look on his face as he stood directly beside his friend. Peering into the bowl, the blonde narrowed his eyes on the questionable mixture. "It looks a little bit stringy to me."
Eye twitching at having the man's voice blaring in his left ear, the glasses wearing teen turned on the taller kid with a growl, "Of course it's ready. I didn't spend the last ten minutes dumping crap into the base and mixing it all together for it not to be ready."
"Hey, I'm just asking. I was so busy trying to get the stove setup that I wasn't able to pay attention to what you were doing," the jock replied with an equally brash tone. "Geez. No need to get all snippy with me, darling."
A sour look crossed Touya's expression due to his partner's teasing jabs. "Let's just focus on getting this done." After speaking his part, the boy then dipped the prawn into the batter and, after lathering it about for a solid second, slowly pulled it out into the open. Hand held under it as the excess dripped into his palm, the young sportsman then turned his attention to the wok and the flames burning beneath it. "Okay… here we go."
Gritting his teeth together, Sharpener took a step forward. "Careful, man. Try not to splash the oil over the hot top."
"Oh, stop worrying, mum. I know what I'm doing," Touya stated, rolling his eyes before slowly approaching the wok. As soon as he was close enough, he then lowered the prawn into the mix…
Only to realize too little too late that there was too much oil in it. Misjudging the distance to the base of the wok, the prawn suddenly slipped out of his chopsticks and splattered hot oil onto his hand. A loud hissing sound was followed by a loud yelp from Touya as he stumbled back waving his arm, only to inadvertently bump into Sharpener and knock the man into the desk behind them.
The blonde jock yelled out when he fell over, reaching out to try and grab hold of something. He ended up catching a chopping board and knocking half a cabbage flying into the air and, with almost perfect aim, into his partner's wok. The students scattered around the surrounding desks moved out of the splash zone just in time to watch the utensil catch fire, with the orange flames reaching halfway up to the ceiling. This drew a startled cry from everyone standing nearby and had everyone stop whatever it was they were doing.
Panic ensuing, the teacher quickly rushed over to the burning stove. "What the hell are you guys doing? Get the fire extinguisher!" the red haired woman in the chef's uniform shouted, pointing at the students who were just standing around and gawking.
"Don't worry! I got it! I got it!" a male voice came in from the side, moments before a student edged his way onto the scene with fire extinguisher in hand. Managing to step around Sharpener and Touya, both of whom were gawking from wherever they were lying or standing respectively, the attentive young man in the blue shirt and jeans blasted the fire with the red cylinder and put it out. Moments later, the flames had been doused, leaving several surprised students in their wake and two stunned sportsmen with slightly singed bangs.
As the flames were snuffed out, Gohan and Videl stood watching from the sidelines over their own work, with the former sidestepping over to the bench out of concern. The young Saiyan ended up standing beside Erasa, a position that allowed the two of them to watch as the chaos over by the central cooking station was mended. Upon seeing white smoke rise from the wok in the wake of the extinguisher's use, the entire class breathed a collective sigh of relief knowing that the situation had been successfully averted.
"Alright students. The fire's been put out. No need to evacuate. Everyone back to their stations," the teacher announced and quickly ushered everyone away from the area.
Exhaling deeply, Gohan shared a look across at the blonde haired girl clutching the wooden spoon next to him. However, as soon as their eyes met and he tried to smile at her, Erasa suddenly stiffened, glanced in the opposite direction and quickly moved back over to her desk. This action had the demi-Saiyan recoil in surprise as he watched the teen return to work alongside her teammate.
Finding her reaction puzzling, the young warrior was about to follow her with a question, only to have his gaze turned around when he felt a tug on his sleeve. Looking down, he saw Videl looking up at him inquisitively.
"Is everything alright?" the raven haired girl asked while tilting her head up at her boyfriend.
Hearing her question loud and clear, the young man put on a smile and nodded, "Yeah. I'm fine."
Acknowledging his response, the crime fighter shared a fond look with her partner and returned to their desk. Gohan lagged behind a little, taking a moment to spare a glance back at Erasa. Concern filling his expression, the teen hesitantly moved to rejoin his partner and to continue on with their task.
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