Class 2B.
The Classroom buzzed with chatter as the door slid open. A man walked in, dragging his feet. His long hair in addition to the dead eyes were his key features to notice.
Who's this guy, you ask?
Mr. Tanabe.
Homeroom teacher. Age: 26 (no one cares tho). Height: 5'11(no one knows why he uses foot unit) Energy level: negative five.
He yawned so hard mid-sentence that it sounded like a dying walrus.
"Alright… class… cooking… today…" he mumbled, waving a stack of papers like a white flag.
The room fell silent for a second.
"Wait, what?" someone whispered.
"You'll cook something, two at a time." He dumped the papers on the desk, then flopped into his chair like a dead fish.
"Yo teach! I didn't catch that" Taiga yelled.
"I didn't throw that." Tanabe replied.
"What?" Taiga yelled again, bringing his ears closer mockingly.
"School trip next week canc-"
Kaito grabbed Taiga and threw him outside the window.
"Is he okay?" Hikari, turned to Haruto and asked.
"Don't worry, we put out a trampoline for this exact moment" Haruto reassured, his cheeks glowing a slight pink.
After hearing the announcement, Shun widened his eyes and immediately turned towards hana.
Her eyes already sparkled like she'd just been handed the keys to a romcom kingdom.
"This… this is divine intervention," she whispered dramatically.
Riku froze in his seat, turning slowly toward Mei.
"…You've gotta be kidding me."
Mei sighed, and turned her head towards him.
"I really wish we aren't in the same team."
Mr. Tanabe scratched the back of his head like organizing things was a personal attack.
"Ugh… don't feel like reading names. Aika, you do it."
"Huh? Me?"
"Yeah. You're loud enough." He yawned and collapsed into a chair, pulling out his phone.
She got up from her chair, went ahead and grabbed the papers and came back to her seat before standing there. She glanced at the paper and began reading casually.
"Okay, pairs are… Riku with Daichi. Mei with me, Taig-"
Hana's face turned pale like someone just spoiled the ending of her favorite drama. She shot up from her chair so fast it nearly fell over.
"Wait, WAIT, time-out!" She practically slid over to Aika, whispering like a conspirator.
"Aika, listen. Listen. What if—hear me out—you switch partners a little?"
Aika raised an eyebrow. "Why?"
"Because destiny! Fate! Look—Mei and Riku have… unfinished business. And you with Daichi—don't act like you wouldn't prefer that."
Aika's ears turned the tiniest shade of pink. "W-What are you talking about?"
"Come on," Hana smirked, leaning in like a villain. "You and Daichi… cooking together… isn't that cute?"
Aika hesitated. "I mean… I guess it's fine…"
"Perfect." Hana winked.
Aika cleared her throat and spoke up, "Uh, sorry! I read that wrong. Riku with Mei. And Daichi with me."
Daichi froze mid-stretch, nearly falling off his chair. "What?!"
"Yes? Any problem?" Aika asked innocently.
"None at all" He said with a straight face.
Aika continued her speech "Taiga with Daiki..again? Ahem. Hikari with Haruto, Arisa with Yuto, Sora with Noa, Hana with Shun, Reika with Kaito, Rin with Ayane and Takumi's alone."
"What!?!!" Takumi slamed his hands on his desk and yelled.
Across the room, Riku's soul left his body.
"…You've gotta be kidding me."
Mei sighed and turned towards Riku.
"tch!" she murmured, already getting up to head to the Home EC room.
"Huh? What was tha-" Riku grew angry.
"Nothing" She replied.
"...."
---
They were now all inside the EC room, a number of little kitchen tables were placed in row and columns.
The last person to enter was of course Mr. Tanabe.
Hikari raised her hand and asked "Teacher, what should we cook?"
"Something edible" He replied.
Everyone just stared at him.
"That's… super helpful," Haruto muttered under his breath.
Tanabe stretched like a cat that regretted waking up.
"Use… your imagination… or whatever. Just don't burn the school down,optional."
He sat at the teacher's desk in the corner and opened a can of coffee like this was a personal vacation.
"Imagination? I barely passed boiling water," Taiga said, cracking eggs into a bowl like he was summoning demons.
---
At Riku and Mei's station…
The silence was so thick you could spread it on toast.
Riku adjusted his apron, and glanced at Mei.
Mei tied her hair back, calm as a monk, but her eyes screamed don't talk to me unless you want to die.
'Ponytail...' he thought before shaking his head.
"So… what do we make?" he asked carefully.
"Something you can't ruin," she shot back.
His eyebrow twitched. "You should compete against Dio for being the biggest hater."
"Who?" She side-eyed him.
Mei's tone was flat, but that one word hit Riku like a truck.
He blinked. "Who…?"
"You don't know Dio?" He looked at her like she just admitted she'd never seen the sky.
"Nope." Mei grabbed the whisk and started mixing like nothing happened.
"You don't know Dio. You—" Riku clutched his chest. "Mei, do you even live on this planet?"
"Planet Reality. You should visit sometime," she said, cracking another egg effortlessly.
Riku narrowed his eyes. "Wow. Harsh."
He reached for the milk carton. The exact same moment she did.
Their fingers brushed.
Time. Froze.
Both of them froze too.
Riku felt his ears burn.
Mei snatched the milk without a word, acting like nothing happened—but her ponytail swished a little too fast.
---
Across the room…
Hana was watching like she was front-row at a romance drama premiere.
"Shun."
"Yeah?"
"They touched hands."
Shun's jaw dropped. "No way."
"Yes way."
"No, I am asking how the hell did you even see that."
Hana smirked, tapping the side of her head. "Romcom sixth sense, baby."
Shun squinted. "That's… not a real thing."
"Tell that to destiny," she whispered, eyes still locked on Riku and Mei like a sniper.
---
Meanwhile at Aika and Daichi's station…
Daichi stared at the mixing bowl like it owed him money.
"Aika… how much sugar did you just dump in there?"
"...Enough."
He leaned in. That's not enough. That's a flood.
"You trying to make cookies or crystallize the entire school?"
Aika turned bright pink. "S-Shut up! I like it sweet!"
Daichi started at her, and thought.
'i will die from diabeties. Either from her sweet cuteness or cute sweet".
---
Back to Riku and M- hold up.
"Yuto, What the hell is that!?" Takumi, being the loner, had nothing to do except gawk at others work.
What he saw wasn't something normal, even abnormal was too little to say about it.
There was a statue, of a dragon. Made out of chocolate. In just 5 minutes.
Everyone turned towards the attention. They too were shocked.
Arisa, who had seen that man doing that was even more surprised. "Uh... Good job..?"
"Thanks." Yuto scratched the back of his head, thinking he was a shoujo ML. (He was)
---
Back to the pancakes..
Mei flipped the pancake. It was burnt.
She quickly took it out of the pan and tossed it on to a plate, turned the burnt part under and the cooked part above.
"I saw that" Riku said.
Mei froze for a split second.
"No, you didn't."
"Yes, I did."
"No, you didn't."
"Mei." Riku leaned in, smirking like he just solved a murder case. "You're a fraud."
"And you," she said coolly, "are still single."
"You are, too." He countered.
"Well, I don't need a partner. I have already experienced that it's stupid to like someone." Mei said, turning her head away."
"Awww. Someone's heartbroken." Riku mockingly placed a hand over his mouth.
Mei didn't reply.
"Cats or dogs." He said, and tossed a golden pancake on the plate, the pancake did five backflips before landing perfectly on top of the previous one.
Mei, held herself back from yapping about her liking. She loved cats. Riku knew that. He knew that very well.
For a moment, the silence between them stretched like melted cheese on pizza. Mei kept her eyes on the bowl, whisking like her life depended on it. Riku, though, had that smug look plastered all over his face—the kind that said I know something you don't want me to know.
"Still not answering? Wow." He leaned closer, voice dropping to a playful whisper. "You're really bad at lying, you know that?"
Mei's grip tightened on the whisk. "And you're really bad at shutting up."
Riku grinned wider, but before he could clap back—
---
BOOM.
Every head in the room snapped toward Taiga and Daiki's station. Smoke billowed out like someone opened a portal to hell.
"THE PAN IS ON FIRE!" Daiki screamed, and then tried to blow out the fire by blowing with his mouth.
"THEN PUT IT OUT!" Taiga yelled back.
"I AM DOING THAT!"
"USE WATER?!"
"RIGHT!! WHERE'S THE WATER?!"
A flash of fire shot up, and the sprinkler system immediately activated.
---
Cue chaos mode.
Cold water rained down on everyone. Hana shrieked like a banshee.
"My hair!! Do you know how long it took me to curl this?!"
Shun: "You were born for disaster."
Hana: "I was born for love stories, not this!!"
Mr. Tanabe didn't even move from his chair. He just cracked open another can of coffee.
"Ah…it's raining," he mumbled.
---
Aika yelped as the sugar mountain on their table turned into sweet soup.
"Aika, that's not cookie dough anymore—that's a crime scene," Daichi said, shielding her with his jacket like some drama lead.
She turned crimson. "Y-You didn't have to do that…"
"Well," he smirked, water dripping down his bangs, "it'd be bad if you melted, too."
Hana saw that from across the room and let out an unholy squeal.
"SHUN. SHUN. THIS IS PEAK CINEMA."
Shun: "Kill me."
---
Meanwhile, Yuto stood there completely dry, chocolate dragon in hand, like some untouchable anime prince.
Arisa blinked at him, drenched and done. "…How the hell are you not wet?"
"Main characters don't get wet," Yuto said, dead serious.
---
Back at Riku and Mei's table…
Water dripped from Riku's hair, trailing down his jawline. He wiped it off with the back of his hand, glancing at Mei—who was just as soaked, ponytail clinging to her neck.
Their eyes met. For a second, everything else blurred. The chaos, the screams, the fire alarm—it all went silent.
"…Guess the pancakes are ruined," Riku said finally, voice low.
Mei let out the tiniest laugh. Just a small one, but real.
"You think?"
Riku grinned.
"Hey, cats or dogs," he asked again, softer this time.
Mei hesitated, then muttered, barely audible over the sprinklers—
"Cats."