"I've been in this cooking room since I came in, by the way. Since you're here, why don't we just form a team?" After getting along for so long, Shiraki was roughly used to how to communicate with Erina, and sure enough, after he said this, Erina immediately hesitated for a moment but finally agreed to the invitation to form a team.
Only Hisako Arata, standing behind, was left to look at Erina with a tearful expression. But obviously, her efforts were in vain, and there was no longer any sign of her in Erina's eyes, who was immersed in talking to the person in front of her.
Erina-sama, have you forgotten that this guy was playing tricks on us yesterday?
Hisako Arata wanted to rush up and say this, but now that the groups had been divided, she could only stare at Erina with longing eyes from the side, hoping that Erina would change her mind in time. If it were the usual Erina, she would have definitely noticed it right away, but at this moment, Erina's eyes were completely focused on Shiraki. Although she didn't notice, their behavior was quite obvious.
"That's... Hisako Arata, are you alright?"
The girl who had been assigned to the group with Hisako Arata looked at the frustrated girl hunched over at the cooking table, as if she had lost everything, and was a little worried whether Hisako Arata would be able to pass the course smoothly given her current state.
"Hey, is that transfer student actually in a group with Erina-sama?"
"Isn't it? Hasn't Erina-sama always been in a group with Hisako?" (Hisako Arata Critical hit +1)
"The two seem to have a good relationship..."
"Damn, damn transfer student, when did he get Erina-sama's attention?"
"You wait for me!"
The sound of some boys gritting their teeth was heard nearby from time to time. Shiraki's hatred value was very high, and coupled with Erina's attitude toward him, it suddenly made Shiraki the most eye-catching person in the entire cooking room. You must know that Erina was the strongest in the first year and also one of the Ten Masters of Totsuki. In the eyes of ordinary students, she was an unattainable existence. Usually, no one dared to approach her due to her oppressive presence. But after seeing someone take the lead, the strong jealousy that erupted was no joke.
"Huh... That person is a transfer student."
In everyone's eyes, as if they were going to shoot through him, a silver-haired girl in the back row suddenly tilted her head, looking at the two people in front of her who were chatting with curiosity. From her point of view, her cousin, who had never smiled, was actually blushing with embarrassment and seemed very eager to regain her dignity. But no matter how she looked at it, she seemed like a little girl, which was quite rare.
"Oh, that's interesting, isn't it?"
The girl with short silver hair suddenly seemed interested and covered her mouth with a sly smile. Her eyes had a very beautiful outline, dazzling like jewels. The short silver hair looked heroic. Plus, the chef's uniform of the Totsuki Culinary School outlined her figure, which was not lost to Erina at all. The girl in front of her actually resembled Erina somewhat.
"Miss... It's almost time for class."
A weak-sounding voice came from behind the silver-haired girl. The person speaking seemed to have thick dark circles under their eyes, short black hair, and long bangs in the front. They exuded a decadent aura but had a tall frame, and standing behind the silver-haired girl gave them a bodyguard-like presence.
"Okay, okay, I know. Liangjun doesn't know what fun is at all!"
The silver-haired girl puffed out her cheeks and turned her head angrily, while the black-haired boy she complained about just tilted his head, confused about what she meant by 'fun things.'
"Forget it, Kurokiba, you're really boring, but... I had a hunch that something very interesting was going to happen in this class."
The silver-haired girl looked at the cooking tables in front of her, at the man and woman standing behind one of them. She wasn't sure whether the 'fun thing' she was referring to was about the lesson or about herself.
Soon, a woman with curly brown hair, about the same age as Lecturer Roland Chapelle, walked into the classroom. She was the instructor for this class, Noriko Maki.
"Everyone's here, right?"
Noriko Maki, holding a stack of materials in her hand, didn't look as serious as Lecturer Chapelle. She smiled kindly as she looked around the classroom and saw that everyone was already standing behind their cooking tables.
"The content of this class is very simple. Please make a pastry in a group. As long as it's a pastry, you can do anything. Then, when you're done, please hand it in for me to taste, and I'll give you the corresponding results. The time limit is one hour. Everyone can start now."
As soon as Lecturer Maki's words fell, everyone immediately began to think. This time, it wasn't a prescribed menu, so each group had to decide their own dishes first in order to go to the back and select ingredients faster. Shiraki's group was no exception.
"Pastry?" Erina nodded secretly when she heard this. Lecturer Maki's course was similar to what she had imagined, but she didn't know what requirements Shiraki had for the dishes.
"I said... Erina." Just before Erina was about to ask, Shiraki suddenly leaned next to her and said, "It seems that since we met, I haven't eaten your food yet, right?"
"W-So what? And don't get so close. I can hear you clearly!"
Erina reflexively jumped three steps away, stammering as she pointed at Shiraki.
"Well, actually, I mean, why don't you take this opportunity to show me how you cook?"
Shiraki spread his hands. Seeing that she reacted so strongly, he decided it was not good to continue teasing her.
"Hmph, I thought something was going on. Was that all?"
Erina, realizing that she had just lost her temper, pretended to clear her throat. She walked back to her place with graceful demeanor, as if she had regained some of her dignity. She said lightly to Shiraki, "Since you said so, I'll let you see my cooking."
Although she said this, when she thought of the food Shiraki had made, Erina still felt a little lacking in confidence. Even though she had gone through devilish training in private after their last meeting, it was still far from reaching Shiraki's level. But she still forced herself to maintain her usual cold tone to cover up her lack of confidence. After all, she couldn't admit that her cooking was worse than Shiraki's, could she?
The interaction between the two was naturally seen by the other students in the classroom. Looking at Erina with a shy expression and shrugging his shoulders, it seemed that Shiraki was not cold toward Erina after all, and all the boys had only one thought in their hearts:
Sure enough, this transfer student is simply an eyesore!
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