"Captain, I'm so sorry for the trouble my idiot husband and knuckleheaded daughter has caused."
The woman apologized to Rhia's mother as her husband and daughter stood beside each other like two sad puppies.
"I thought I heard your voice. Ray, what are you doing here?"
Exiting from their mother's office, waking up from his nap, Adrain yawned.
"You can blame my little sister and dad for that! What's up?"
The boy who came with his mother had spiky black hair worn in a low ponytail resting over his shoulder and glasses, and seemed to have recognized Adrain as Rhia watched the two bump fists in a greeting.
"Damn it, you two, it's getting close to rush hour, and you decided to run off! I swear you two are in so much trouble when we return home! Ray! Let's go! See ya later, captain~!"
Rhia watched as the woman dragged her daughter and husband by the ears, ignoring their yelps and pleas for forgiveness as she dragged them out the door.
"See ya tomorrow at school," the boy, Ray, said to Adrain before running after his mother.
"Adrain, who were those people?" Rhia turned to her brothers for answers.
"That's Ray's family. He's my best friend, and for some reason, his dad and our mom got a rival relationship. Don't take it too much to heart, as that little girl was his little sister. They run a restaurant that's a few blocks down. I'll take you to it one day."
Adrain ruffled her hair, and Rhia pushed his hand away, upset that he had messed up her hair.
Rhia turned to her mother and asked,"But momma, why did that lady call you captain?"
"Me and Sharon go way back! It's a little nickname she picked up during our friendship. Don't worry about it!"
Rhia accepted her mother's response and turned to Alex.
"Sorry to have our evening ruined, but I promise to make it up to you!" Rhia grabbed Alex's hand and apologized.
"You don't have to apologize, besides I had fun with the time we had with each other."
Alex's reassurance calmed Rhia's worries, who mentally shed tears and called him an angel despite being a demon.
—
A new day had arrived, and Rhia was in the middle of her Home Economics class as the teacher told them to form groups of three to do a simple baking lesson.
Rhia's group consisted of herself, Naomi, and Alex. Rhia had turned her back away for a second to grab the sugar, only to scream in horror when she saw Naomi holding the salt shaker and was ready to add it to the cookie batter.
"Absolutely not!"
Rhia snatched the salt shaker from Naomi's hand and grabbed the cookie batter, and she clutched it to her chest protectively.
"What? Isn't salt a necessary ingredient?"
Naomi asked cluelessly but felt annoyed when Alex sighed and shook his head.
"Not in this case! We're making sugar cookies!" exclaimed Rhia.
The group had caught the attention of another girl.
"Hmm, since when were those three close?" asked Satsuki.
"Satsuki, stop adding pepper to the batter!" cried Haruko.
Rhia was loading the cookie dough onto a tray covered with baking paper when a familiar figure barged into the room. Ignoring the berating words from the teacher, she scanned the room with her eyes until they fell on Rhia, and marched over.
"Oh no." Rhia had a bad feeling.
"Rhia, isn't that the girl from the other day?" questioned Alex.
"Huh! Other day? What are you two talking about?" Naomi did not like being left out of the loop.
"You! I, Devona Lionel of the Lionel Family, challenge you to a Blood Cooking Duel!"
What Devona did next terrified and shocked Rhia. She watched the young girl grab a knife lying on one of the tables and slashed the palm of her hand.
"Why on earth would you harm yourself?!" Rhia watched the blood ooze from Devona's hand.
"Never mind that! Rhia, she just issued a Blood Duel!"
Alex's words triggered Rhia to remember what a Blood Duel signified amongst demons living in the Shadow Kingdom.
A Blood Duel could be anything, but what's most important was that one could not refute it. Refuting a Blood Duel brought great dishonor to one's family and could even get them outcasted from their home.
"Is she crazy?! Only knights and hunters do Blood Challenges nowadays!" yelled Naomi. What she said was true, seeing how Blood Duels were connected to one's honor.
No sane person would issue a Blood Duel, but obviously, this girl was crazy.
"You gotta accept the duel. There's no way out of this."
Rhia heard the voice of Lucia beside her ear and whipped her head towards the creature.
"Can you please stop popping out without alerting me first? Look at the mess you're adding to the one already created!" Rhia pointed to her classmates, whose eyes were glued to the floating creature beside her head.
"What kind of devil beast is that?" questioned Satsuki, appraising the fluffy ball with her eyes.
"I don't know, but it's so adorable and fluffy, like cotton candy!" gushed Haruko.
"A magical beast, huh? It still is nothing compared to my Raion, but that's not the point! Let's get ready to duel!" yelled Devona.
"I feel a lawsuit coming on," Rhia said with blank eyes. Left with no choice, she shrugged her shoulders and accepted.
Minutes later, the rest of the students stood on the sideline as spectators. The teacher had turned into a referee, watching over Rhia, and Devona occupied a station.
"Wimpy boy, you think Rhia's got a chance of winning?"
Naomi asked, watching Devona, who, despite her rashness, seemed to know what to do as she took out various ingredients, mixing them in her bowl, working with ease and confidence.
But when she glanced at Rhia, the poor girl looked stuck.
"Rhia can handle it. I trust her!"
From beneath the bangs that shielded them, Alex's eyes beamed with trust.
Rhia was praying for inspiration, racking her brain for any ideas, when she saw Lucia chowing down on some strawberries and saw the residual ingredients that were left around her and got an idea.
"And it seems Rhia has got an ideal inspiration. Despite the delay, will she make it by the end of the buzzer? What are your thoughts, Satsuki?"
The two best friends, Haruko and Satsuki, had turned into announcers for the duel.
"Where did all this sound equipment come from? Nevertheless, it seems the crazy chick is halfway finished and is already putting something in the oven. Curious to see what that hothead cooked up."
Satsuki easily got into her role.
Devona was placing her cake batter in the oven when she saw Rhia cutting up strawberries.
"I will not lose to you," she vowed to herself.
Approximately an hour later, the two competitors were finished. They placed their desserts in front of the judges who would taste each of the two creations.
The judges consisted of their teacher and the two spokes girls. On the right side were Devona's cookies while on the left were Rhia's.
"Rhia, what is this dessert that you made?" asked the teacher, marveling at the creation that came from the young girl.
"Strawberry Mille Feuille. The idea occurred to me when I saw my devil beast Lucia eating some of the strawberries we planned to use earlier," Rhia explained though Lucia disliked being called a devil beast. She was a Spirit Advisor to the great goddess Lilith! Not some lowly beast!
"Though I must admit I'm a little nervous as this is my first real attempt at making it. I hope you enjoy it," explained Rhia, filled with anxiety as she watched the group pick up their forks and take a bite of the tasty-looking dessert combined with its sweet aroma.
Alex and Naomi watched with the same amount of worry but relaxed when they saw the twinkle of joy dancing in the judges' eyes.
"My, what a marvelous dessert!" praised their teacher.
"I feel like a young girl going on her first date. Ah, the sweet joy of first love~!" swooned Haruko with a hand pressed against her cheeks. Her compliment confused everyone.
"Not bad."
Satsuki's reply was bland compared to the first two, but that was mainly because she wasn't a big sweet person.
"You haven't won yet, shorty!"
It was now time for the judges to sample Devona's desert, yet seconds after each took a bite, their faces turned green with disgust. Satsuki was the first to spit it out.
"What the? Why is this cookie made out of meat?!" shouted the furious raven as all eyes turned to Devona, who stood there proudly with her arms folded across her chest.
"Because meat" —cue pause for dramatic effect— "is life!" Cue everyone falling over backward due to Devona's crazy declaration. Obviously, the winner of the duel was Rhia.
"I lost fair and square. You did good, rival!" Rhia was shocked to see Devona accept her loss easily though she didn't know how to feel about being called the other's rival.
The two girls shook hands, and Devona grinned.
"I wanted to defend my dad's honor. He's the true patisserie chef in our family." Rhia oddly disliked Devona's disheartened image and wanted to offer a few words of goodwill.
"You were fighting for your family's honor. That's amazing and shouldn't be looked down upon. Family is important."
Devona stood amazed at the other girl's words. Having sensed her sincerity, a wide grin spread across her face.
"I like you, shorty! But I won't lose next time, rival!"
Rhia did not want to be anyone's rival. The sound of a door slamming open made both girls flinch.
"Devona, what's this I hear about you issuing a Blood Duel!? Are you out of your mind?!"
Rhia watched as the younger girl made a break for the window, trying to escape her older brother's wrath.
"Just what did I get myself into?"
Rhia watched Devona jump out of the window that was at least four stories in height and land cleanly on her feet as threats rang from her brother's lips.