Sophia and Ari kept getting sidetracked in the kitchen of the blonde’s mansion because they found one topic to chat over after another. When they finally started preparing for the cooking lesson, the jaguar found out that the blonde’s scared of insects and how whole shrimps aren’t that well-liked by her, either. Thankfully, Sophia then decided to pull through it because she was doing all that for Maya, and there existed little better motivation for her in the world. Any world in her case, actually.

“C-Can we start with shelling the shrimps…?” Sophia’s face was almost as white as the box Ari had brought along with them inside. She really wasn’t looking forward to that part.

“Getting over with the worst first?” The jaguar had a rough idea of her motivation.

“Y-Yes… What do I have to do…?”

“Alright,” Ari urged Sophia to wash her hands while doing the same before she opened the box with shrimps. Afterward, she took one out and playfully waved it around in front of the tiger’s face.

“S-Stop that!” She retreated a few steps while her tail puffed up in response. “Keep that sort of teasing to your princess!”

“You really are scared of them…” The jaguar put back the shrimp for the time being. “A girl that went to war… A scaredy-cat...”

"I-I'm a tiger!"

"You were the one who said that there's no difference."

“Urgh..." She just wanted to complain a little and not being hit with her own feline observations. "L-Let me be…”

“Okay, I’ll be more serious.” She needed a moment to stop smiling, though.

“T-Thank you…” Sophia got closer to the black-haired girl again. “C-Could you show me how to shell them…?”

“Of course. Come here next to me.” The jaguar pointed at the empty spot to the right of her in front of the counter.

“Yes…” While she looked very reluctant, the blonde still did as told.

“Good girl.” Ari jokingly praised her. Afterward, she grabbed the shrimp again and held it with both hands. A moment later, she cleanly snapped off its head by twisting her hands.

“Urgh…” Sophia noticed that some sort of orange or yellow goo had been squeezed out of the shrimp and spilled a bit over the jaguar’s hand. This sight had caused her to shudder and even gag a bit while she instinctively hid herself behind the other girl while also clinging to her back.

“Wow…” Her heart ached a bit. “You’re a bit too adorable right now. If you continue like that, I might want to keep you as a little sister.”

“Uuh…” Some tears had formed in the corners of the blonde. “Stupid insect-like seafood. Stupid disgusting goo… Also, a little sister? T-That’s a new one…”

“Better than awakening some other types of feelings when seeing how cute you can be, right?”

“Y-Yes… But also… S-Shut up!” The color of her face turned from white to red. “I totally hadn’t expected you to be this frank… You really warmed up to me, huh?”

“Yep~.”

“I’m happy about that, but… it’s also a mixed kind of feeling…” Sophia still wasn’t sure how to feel about Ari secretly being so proficient in the fine art of teasing.

“Once again, I blame Anna for making me like this.”

“Poor princess, once again being framed for something she most definitely has no relation to.” The tiger was recovering quickly and eventually let go of the jaguar’s back again.

“Err…” She wasn’t sure how to reply. “Anyway, back to the shrimps.” Ignoring her, she put it on the cutting board before cleaning her hand with a paper towel. “It’s just some innards, nothing to have such a reaction over.”

“T-That’s not helping!” Sophia got loud. “It’s disgusting! Also, on an unrelated note, I applaud your ability to get the attention away from you.”

“Thank you very much. I worked hard on that skill ever since I was little. I fail from time to time, but I’m generally fairly proud of it.”

“Ahaha.” The blonde had to laugh at that.

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“Okay, back to the shrimp.” The topic was fully over.

“Yes…”

“Good. So, we don’t need the head anymore because we only use the tail part.”

“And that’s a good thing.” The worst things for her were the eyes and tiny legs, but those weren’t of importance anymore.

“Hehe. Going on, you peel off the shell segments until you reach the tip of the tail. You pinch that and pull out the meaty part with your other hand.” While explaining the procedure, Ari finished shelling the shrimp.

“It’s starting to look like food…”

“Because it is… We’re still not done, though.”

“S-Seriously?!” Sophia didn’t like the sound of that.

“Don’t worry, the only thing that’s left is removing a little vein going through the meat.”

“That sounds plenty bad, though!” The fur on the blonde’s tail stuck up again.

“Calm down… All you have to do is to make a little cut with a knife along the back of the shrimp and pull it out…” While saying so, Ari did just that. “With that, once you give them a quick wash, the shrimps are ready.”

“A-Aren’t there any ready-to-cook type of shrimps one can buy…?” It was one of the times where Sophia missed the convenience of her old world.

“No, they stay fresh for longer with the shell intact, and that’s pretty important, after all. Some even sell them still alive.”

“I see…” Her hope was crushed once again.

“Come on, while I admit that it’s not my favorite ingredient to prepare either, it’s not that bad. You’re just exaggerating.”

“I-I’m not doing that on purpose, okay?!” The tiger was screaming a lot today.

“Yes, well, everyone has some things they aren’t good with.” While Ari didn’t share the tiger’s fear of insects, or somewhat insect-like beings, she could understand where she was coming from. “I get scared from getting attention by people I’m not acquainted with, after all.”

“Not helping!” Once again, Sophia started complaining. “I have that issue, too!”

“Tough luck, girl.”

“Hey!”

“Anyway, here.” Ari grabbed another shrimp and handed it over to the blonde. “It’s your turn now.”

“E-Eh?” She didn’t like this development, either.

“We’re doing all this for you to learn how to cook, after all.”

“R-Right…” The blonde turned a bit paler again.

“Just do as I showed you, and it’ll be over in a flash.”

“F-Fine…” She resigned to her fate. “Alright, eyes closed and get over with it…”

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”

“Huh?”

“If you don’t look at what you’re doing, you might twist off the head at the wrong position, and the gooey innards will end up all over you.”

“Urgh…”

“He.”

“Y-You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?!”

“T-There’s just no way I would!” Ari crossed her arms in defense. “That much.”

“I heard that!”

“Okay, grab the tail part with your right hand while you use your left to clutch its head. Afterward, you twist your hands counter to each other until you hear a satisfying crunch.”

“There’s nothing satisfying about such a sound!” Sophia hadn’t even noticed how the jaguar had changed the topic once again. “Y-You know, now that I think about it… I totally forgot… Maya’s actually a vegetarian… A-All of this is totally pointless…”

“Grab the shrimp and twist its head off.”

“Y-Yes…” The tiger hung her head. She hadn’t really thought it would work out, either, but she had to try it. “Uuh…” Doing her best to remember how Ari did it before, the blonde, very reluctantly, grabbed the shrimp and clumsily ripped its head off. “U-Urk! Disgusting!” Unfortunately, she had used a little too much power and created a bit of a mess. Sophia managed to crush the head of all things, and a generous amount of goo had coated most of her hand. “I-I think I might throw up…”

“Get a grip…” While Ari also grimaced a bit over the sight, she didn’t want the situation to go from bad to worse. Trying to help her, she grabbed another paper towel and gently cleaned the hand of the slightly trembling tiger. “There, better than new.”

“There’s the big sister again, huh…? S-Still… W-What about the nightmares I’ll see whenever I look at my hand from now on…?”

“That’s for you to figure out yourself, miss drama queen.” She could only roll her eyes.

“I had thought as much…”

“Okay, while the head has seen better days, the tail’s still good, and that’s all we need, anyway. Just continue as I showed you.”

“What about my heart? It’s broken and needs healing!” Sophia had to prove her position as a drama queen, after all.

“Think about Maya’s smile when you surprise her with a home-cooked meal.”

“Alright!” She sounded very motivated all of a sudden. Her heart, thankfully, heals very quickly.

“That’s the spirit!” Ari smiled at her. “Now, peel that shrimp!”

“Yes!” The blonde needed a few tries because her fingers kept slipping off the slick shell, but she eventually managed to free the meat inside the tail from the rest of it. “I-I made it…” Instead of being proud, the girl seemed somewhat exhausted, though.

“Good job!” The jaguar earnestly praised her. “See, it wasn’t as bad as you thought it would be, right?”

“Yeah…” Sophia nodded. “It was much worse.”

“You…” She rolled her eyes again. “Okay, here.” She handed the tiger a knife. “Time to get rid of the vein inside.”

“Urgh…” She’d almost forgotten about that part. Reluctantly, she took over the knife and tried to get the vein out of the shrimp. In the end, she ended up cutting the shrimp in half, though. “Ah…”

“Well, it happens. Don’t mind.”

“Yeah…”

“So far, fear of insects aside, your biggest problem when it comes to cooking is to misjudge your own strength… You’re doing much better than I thought. At least when it comes down to the skills themselves… That fear and aversion to gutting and the likes need some serious work, though…”

“I know…” Sophia hung her head once more. “Not that I want to get better at gutting…” She only mumbled those words to herself.

“Well, for now, just focus on watching your strength, and I’m sure you’ll be able to cook a wonderful dinner for your cat.”

“Really? You think so!?” Her face lit up again.

“Yep, with some more training, training we’re going to do, it’ll definitely be a success!”

“Yay!” She sounded genuinely happy.

“Okay, to keep the momentum going, there are still 23 shrimps left to prepare in the box. Get on it, tiger!”

“E-Eh…?” Hearing that, and seeing all those shrimps, Sophia needed a little break to mend her broken heart.