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Regular classes and practical classes, or two regular classes.

There were only two classes before lunch time, but this was enough to make the new students’ stomachs growl.

Therefore, students who had finished two classes from various places such as the main building, playground, and practical training grounds were all heading to the cafeteria, and among them were Arin and Kana, who had become close during the regular classes.

“Kana, today’s classes were quite good, weren’t they? We were able to learn things we hadn’t learned before.”
“Yeah, it really felt like Lua Academy.”

As their practical class, swordsmanship, was after lunch time, Arin and Kana, who had finished their regular classes, were walking towards the cafeteria while chatting cheerfully.

The classes they had taken were somewhat boring ones called and , but since both of them liked studying, it wasn’t a problem.

Kana nodded in agreement with Arin’s words about how the classes were quite good.

As Arin was sociable and Kana had a shy personality, the conversation mostly flowed with Arin taking the lead, and as they were walking, Arin suddenly asked Kana as if she had just remembered something.

“Come to think of it, Kana, you said you entered the academy because you wanted to learn cooking, right?”
“Huh? Ah, yes…! I did learn swordsmanship to enter the academy, but I’m not really talented at it… I wanted to learn cooking from the chefs working in the academy’s cafeteria…”
“Ahaha! Why are you shrinking like that? I won’t look down on you for learning cooking, so don’t worry.”

Arin had brought up the topic remembering what she had heard during the regular classes, but seeing Kana scratching her head more shyly than she had expected, Arin patted her shoulder.

Certainly, most people enter Lua Academy with higher goals and to achieve those goals, so Kana might feel embarrassed about her goal of just learning to cook, but Arin didn’t care about such things at all, so she comforted Kana with a smile.

After all, whatever goal she had, it didn’t change the fact that Kana was a good person.

Kana seemed to have cheered up a bit from Arin’s comfort, raising her head again and walking side by side with Arin, and after walking for a while, they both exclaimed in admiration as they suddenly arrived at the cafeteria building.

“Ooh…”
“Wow…”

Looking around, the seniors seemed to be entering familiarly, but the new students were letting out small exclamations like Arin and Kana.

Well, anyone would react that way seeing such a huge cafeteria.

Of course, they couldn’t just stand there gaping in admiration forever. Arin and Kana quickly gathered their wits and entered the cafeteria.

Buzz buzz───

Inside the cafeteria, which was already bustling with about half the seats filled. Arin looked around and then led Kana to the three or four counters visible at the very front.

“I guess that’s where we buy meal tickets.”
“Ah, you’re right. Let’s hurry.”

Arin and Kana hurried to line up, worried that others might get in line first. Since it was a place to buy meal tickets, not to order, the line moved quickly, and when it was their turn, a woman in a neat suit greeted Arin and Kana.

“One meal ticket is 1 silver.”
“Here you go.”
“One for me too.”

At the woman’s words, Arin and Kana each took out 1 silver from their pockets and handed it to the woman. As expected of Lua Academy, they could order any food they wanted for just 1 silver.

The two inwardly marveled as they paid 1 silver and bought their meal tickets, then headed to the menu board near the counter.

“I guess we can choose any dish from here?”
“Yeah, it seems so. What are you going to eat, Arin?”
“Well… I should look first and then decide.”

There were five menu boards in total. It seemed that each booth had its own menu board, as five boards with the names of the booths were lined up.

In order from the front, they were labeled ‘Bread’, ‘Noodles’, ‘Meat’, ‘Vegetables’, indicating the types of food each booth was in charge of, and the menus written below were exactly as their names suggested.

‘Hmm…’

Somehow, they all lack individuality. Arin had high expectations for Lua Academy’s cafeteria, but she inwardly sighed at the below-expectation ordinariness.

Arin turned to Kana for agreement, but Kana, who had come to learn cooking, seemed to be seeing something different from her, as she was intensely scanning the menu boards with shining eyes, so Arin swallowed the words she couldn’t bring herself to say and turned her gaze to the last menu board.

And then.

“Hmm?”

Arin narrowed her eyes, feeling a slight interest in the unique, even overflowing with personality, name of the last menu board.

[Food that makes you stronger]

“‘Food that makes you stronger,’ huh.”

Intrigued by this name that couldn’t help but pique her interest, Arin stroked her chin and called out to Kana beside her.

“Kana, what do you think about the dishes here? I’m drawn to this one.”
“Huh? Where… Food that makes you stronger? It’s certainly an interesting name, but… huh?”

At Arin’s words, Kana turned her head to the menu board Arin was looking at, and after scanning it, she tilted her head and let out a questioning sound.

“What’s wrong?”
“No… The foods written on this menu board. I’ve never seen any of them before…”

When Arin asked about Kana’s inexplicable behavior, Kana answered while slightly twirling her hair.

Although Kana had been immersed in the food industry for nearly 7 years, she had never seen any of the foods listed on the “Food that makes you stronger” menu board, which is why she expressed doubt.

Compared to the dishes from other booths which she had all seen at least once, she couldn’t even tell what ingredients these dishes were made from or how they were made.

And at her words, Arin felt something suddenly occur to her.

“Could the cook sibling Professor Aria mentioned be the person at this booth?”
“Ah, that could be it!”

Although it was close to a wild guess, Kana nodded at the words she couldn’t help but agree with.

Given how full of personality and charisma Professor Aria was, she was half convinced that the cook sibling she mentioned must be this person.

Perhaps it was because they felt a sense of kinship with someone special, different from ordinary people in a good way, or in a bad way, a sense of kinship with someone who seemed a bit eccentric.

However, of course, there’s only one way to confirm a baseless guess.

So, for the sake of their curiosity, the two unhesitatingly presented their meal tickets to the menu board of the booth called “Food that makes you stronger.”

The chef’s skill. 『Cooking』.

This skill with such a simple and straightforward name was indeed the main skill of a cook.

In the game, it was a skill that created buffed food by choosing one from predetermined dishes, but perhaps due to reality correction, it had now become a skill that could create dishes with buffs as desired, and I was quickly moving my hands in the kitchen using this skill.

Sizzle── Chop.

“Good, that’s three more plates done.”

Forty pans, ten pots, and various other equipment like ovens and fryers – I was using all of these alone, but completely at ease. I pushed the three additional plates that had just come out onto the waiting board in front of the booth and rang the bell to indicate that three plates could be taken.

Ding dong, as the bell rang, students came to take the plates after a moment. I watched the students take the plates with words of thanks, and then immediately resumed the cooking I had briefly paused.

“Hah, there are so damn many orders. It’s not bad to be popular, but the non-representative characters should restrain themselves a bit…!”

I had made the name on the menu board unique to attract the attention of the representative characters and used items from the streets of Korea in my previous life for the menu items, but perhaps because it attracted too much attention, orders were coming in non-stop.

Roughly twice as many orders as the other booths. Of course, there was no difficulty in processing them all, but it was still a bit frustrating to have no break time at all.

But I couldn’t tell them to stop ordering either.

Until just now, some representative characters, including Shati, Pina, and Fran who had received tickets from me, had taken my food, so I couldn’t stop cooking now that the plan was being successfully implemented.

Chop── Chop── Chop── Chop── Chop──

In a brief moment, I made the dishes for the topmost order, plated them, and immediately tossed them onto the waiting board.
And as I rang the bell, I looked at the completed dishes with wide eyes once again to check the effect.

《Hawaiian Pizza

All stats permanently increase by 1 (stackable).》

Alright, the buff effect is definitely applied. Considering that the average stats for a level 100 character are 10,000 for main stats and 5,000-6,000 for other stats, eating this consistently for just 5 years would increase all stats by 1,250.

What? You’re bothered by the dish name? What’s wrong with pineapple pizza? Warm and mushy pineapple is delicious. You taste-ignorant bastard.

Ding dong──

Anyway, now that I’ve confirmed the effect, I’m done with this dish. I rang the bell for the person who ordered the dish to come get it, and turned to look at the pan I had put on the fire.

There was still a mountain of dishes left to cook.

“Haah… this is annoying, so annoying.”

After working non-stop in the kitchen for 1 hour and 30 minutes, I finally finished all the work and was able to take a break, coming out to the back of the cafeteria.

“Oh my… if I keep doing this every day, there won’t be anything left of me.”

Of course, I’m talking about mental strength. My body wasn’t a problem at all, but my mental strength was being chipped away, so it seemed I needed to find an easier way to work.

For example, distributing tickets exclusively for my booth only to representative characters, or only accepting those with good grades.

It seemed that everyone had come to know the taste of my food, so there probably wouldn’t be a problem doing that.

“…Ah! Here you are!”
“It’s true! Thanks, Arin! I found her thanks to you!”

“Huh?”

As I was thinking about quite a devious method while sitting on the stone floor taking a break, a voice suddenly caught my attention.

Turning my eyes, I saw Arin and Kana standing where the voice came from. I remembered them because they had come to my booth earlier to get food, but why are they here?

I was taking a break in a place where no one, including cafeteria staff, came on purpose, so why are these two here? I wondered for a moment, but hearing their words, I realized they had come looking for me.

“Um… You’re Professor Aria’s sister, right?”
“Ah, what’s this about. Did Aria tell you?”

Kana approached me hesitantly. As she asked, I roughly grasped the situation and gave an appropriate answer.

Damn it. To think I’d refer to myself as “Aria’s older sister” with my own mouth.

Although it was unavoidable as I had to give an answer that fit the situation, I rubbed my arms at the goosebumps rising on my body as I stood up from where I was sitting.

Kana, the representative character of the cook job class. And I was the cook vouched for by Aria, Kana’s homeroom teacher. If so, there was no need to ask why Kana had come here.

“Seeing that you came after hearing from Aria… Well, do you want to learn cooking from me?”
“Huh? Y-yes!! Um… I was truly amazed by the food you made! So, if I could learn cooking, I’d really like to!”
“Is that so? You, what’s your name?”

Was it because I was in Yeonhwa’s body? Seeing Kana’s eyes sincerely addressing cooking, I smiled involuntarily and asked for her name, which I already knew.

The swearing that used to come out like a passive skill wasn’t coming out, so it seemed Yeonhwa’s body quite liked Kana.

Of course, being an original character, there’s no way she wouldn’t be liked.

And at my straightforward question, Kana stiffened her body like I had seen in the classroom yesterday and shouted at me.

“I-it’s Kana!”
“That’s a nice name. I’m Yeonhwa. As you said, one of Aria’s younger sisters. The youngest among them, in fact.”
“I-I see…!”

Kana looked up at me with sparkling eyes at my words. It seemed that in Kana’s mind, I had already been elevated to the position of her master.

Seeing her cute appearance, I let out a chuckle and opened my mouth.

No, I was about to open my mouth.

“Damn it… Is this the right place?”
“Yeah, I’m sure! According to what we investigated, this is where there’s no people movement…”

Two students crawling out, parting the bushes right in front of where I, Kana, and Arin were.

The three of us turned our heads towards them at the same time, and the two who had crawled out seemed to see us too, as they immediately shut their mouths.

“…”
“…”

As everyone closed their mouths, an awkward silence flowed between us.

The first to break that silence was, needless to say, me.

“What the fuck are these now?”