"I remember it's lighting the fire first, heating the pot, then adding oil…"
Kiana carefully tried to cook a meal for Mei.
Since Mei said she would go find the ingredients, Kiana definitely had to do the cooking herself.
Although she knew a little, that was before; now, there might be a Kaslana debuff hanging over her head.
As for Mei… after seeing Kiana intended to cook, she leaned against the window again, looking outside with her usual aloofness. Wasn't she cold?!
What was so good about looking outside?! A pile of ruins created by Honkai beasts smashing through!
Better to look at her!
Ugh… maybe not, otherwise Kiana felt she would easily imagine Mei looking at her like an idiot.
"Wuwuwawa!"
As soon as Kiana poured oil into the pot, it immediately splattered and crackled, splashing onto her hand, and she instinctively let go.
Then…
Whoosh!
The violent sizzling, coupled with the splashing oil, the spilled oil, and the overflowing oil, made her completely afraid to approach.
Great, she wasted a whole bottle of oil.
"..."
Needless to say, she already felt Mei's gaze, as always.
"Heat the pot until it's dry before adding oil."
Surprisingly, Mei even offered advice this time.
"Ah, okay."
But that one was clearly unusable; thankfully, Theresa had repaired quite a few, so she could switch to another.
"But that wasn't my fault just now, I just didn't expect my body's instinctive reaction, it was like a conditioned reflex."
Kiana felt it might be a bit embarrassing to be like this in front of Mei, so she explained.
After setting up again, she chopped the cabbage, and threw…
Boom!
For some unknown reason, the fire suddenly intensified, and so, on the high-heat stove, the cabbage… burned.
This is unscientific!
"...The oil temperature is too high."
Mei seemed to have noticed something amiss; she finally moved away from the window and cautiously looked over.
"Ah haha, I'm still not quite familiar with the flame size, let's wait a bit longer for that! I'll definitely be able to make an edible dish!"
Kiana's goal had already dropped to the standard of 'edible'.
She started the process over, and then… her hand trembled, oh, she added too much soy sauce, and it was all black again…
"...Enough. I'll do it myself."
It was as if an expert gamer, fed up with a noob's clumsy play, finally couldn't take it anymore. Raiden Mei grabbed Kiana and set her aside.
"Sorry…"
Kiana had made a mistake, so she had no confidence at all.
"It's okay, Kiana. There's nothing wrong with not knowing how to cook. It's just a bit of a shame… you missed a chance to gain some favorability."
Theresa proactively comforted her. She knew what Ziegfried was like, so it was normal for Kiana not to know how to cook.
Boom!
Just as Kiana thought Raiden Mei would swiftly prepare the meal, an unexpected sound rang out.
She turned her head and saw that Raiden Mei seemed to have made a mistake too; the fire was too strong, sacrificing the cabbage.
It didn't feel like the Raiden Mei she remembered, who was known as the "Cooking Wife."
"Uh… at this point, shouldn't the fire be low first?!"
Raiden Mei didn't respond to her, but from her actions, she seemed to have taken it to heart.
Before long, another accident occurred, this time another cabbage sacrificed.
"...It's been a long time since I cooked."
After two consecutive failures, even the aloof Raiden Mei couldn't help but explain.
But soon, she suddenly realized, did she need to care about this person's opinion? Why… was she explaining?
"It's okay! Me too! Uh… let's cook together!"
Seeing the somewhat clumsy Raiden Mei, Kiana immediately felt their distance lessen significantly.
"I've already had Ai-chan search for various recipes! It seems Raiden Mei isn't very skilled! You two help each other!"
Theresa hadn't expected another chance to gain favorability, so she decisively had Ai-chan find recipes to help, providing remote support.
There were no options to choose from at the moment.
"Cabbage… my cabbage."
"Ai-chan, you don't need cabbage anyway. I don't understand why you like cabbage… it's better to use it as a work item than to leave it to rot."
Theresa said, seeing that Ai-chan seemed out of sorts.
However, it was useless.
"I don't quite understand either, but Ai-chan does like cabbage a lot. I threw away a bunch last time."
Himeko also whispered to Theresa.
"But according to my judgment, she probably sees them as companions. Maybe they all look alike."
"Companions…"
Theresa felt that must be it. Even if she had lost most of her memories, Ai-chan would still remember bits and pieces of the past.
"Ah, Ai-chan, actually, cabbage doesn't just leave. It just transforms from one state to another, and if it's cooked deliciously, maybe they'll like it even more! It's like going for a better job!"
Then she had a way to persuade her.
"Really?"
"Of course, it's true!"
"Hmm…"
In the end, Ai-chan did help. Kiana received intelligence support from the Hyperion, which allowed her to cook better with Raiden Mei.
"Here, you should… add more water."
"Hmm, lower the fire!"
"One spoon of seasoning… right?"
Finally, with the cooperation of the two, they managed to complete their first meal in this apocalyptic world.
The cost was a pile of cabbage.
"…"
Poor cabbage.
Because cabbage was easy to practice with, Kiana and the others naturally started with it, and once they finished practicing, it was gone.
Theresa felt… she should pay Ai-chan some salary.
"The Honkai Energy concentration within Raiden Mei has decreased again, Kiana, you did very well."
As for them… well, they were useful too! After all, they supported Kiana this time!
"Ah~ ! It's finally done! It smells so good! Raiden Mei! Let's eat together!"
Kiana felt a bit emotional, not expecting that Raiden Mei wasn't very good at cooking at first either.
Coupled with her theory…
Hehe~!
They completed a meal that looked incredibly delicious!
"How wonderful it is to have a warm meal after a busy day of work!"
Especially since she had put in so much effort, having to listen to Theresa's instructions, and now she could finally settle down.
"So delicious! Raiden Mei is amazing! Raiden Mei, cook for me in the future too! I can hire you!"
As for herself… uh, it was the same steps, so why were there always some small problems? This must be the Kaslana debuff.
"Hmph…"
She originally wanted to say she could do it easily, but Raiden Mei thought that she probably couldn't manage it alone, so she just hummed lightly as if nothing happened and sat down to try the food.
It was indeed quite delicious.
However, she somehow felt that more than the food itself… she preferred watching that person eat it?
Looking at Kiana's somewhat chubby, hamster-like face, filled with happiness, Raiden Mei suddenly realized this.