“What the hell were you thinking!? We’re going to lose the contest because of you!” Natsuko yelled.
Pechorin was as stoic as ever. “I hadn’t thought of that.”
“You didn’t think grabbing a bitter pumpkin would be a bad idea?” Daisy asked, genuinely confused.
“I must fulfill my archetype.”
“Oh, fair enough," she replied.
“No! Not fair enough! Very unfair and—” Natsuko paused, trying to think of the antonym for the word “enough,” “—Sofiane what’s the opposite of “enough?””
Sofiane picked up the pot of bitter pumpkin puree and dumped outside the wagon. “Not enough.”
“Unfair and not enough! That reward—” Natsuko suddenly had visions of Daisy telling her that the prize money was no big deal and that she’d be happy to give Natsuko some money if she needed, “—the reward of seeing something through, knowing that we came together to overcome adversity…”
“And the money,” Sofiane said.
“That’s all down the drain now!”
Daisy tapped her chin. “Hmm, you said, “coming together to overcome adversity.” Is this not the adversity we’re overcoming?”
“No, that was the lack of aprons. This is a catastrophe,” Natsuko said.
“Why can’t we just go find another, sweeter pumpkin?” Daisy asked.
Sofiane sighed. “We’re already running low on time, I don’t know if we have time to puree and then bake it if we go out looking for another pumpkin.”
Natsuko snapped her fingers. “We can steal one!”
“No stealing!” Daisy said, crossing her arms over her chest in a big X. “We made a solemn promise to that little trash panda that we would win fair and square!”
“How are you supposed to get a pumpkin without foraging or stealing one?” Sofiane asked.
The four of them racked their brains for what to do but nothing came to them. They were all aware of the time ticking down which made them even more anxious which made it difficult to concentrate on a solution.
“Can we— what if we made some kind of pumpkin substitute which tastes like pumpkin puree…” Sofiane said.
“But then we wouldn’t be able to call it a pumpkin pie,” Daisy said.
“Damn…”
It was around then that Shuixing stopped by their food wagon. “Hello everyone. And, um, person I have not met.”
“Daisy!” Daisy said, thrusting her hand over the serving counter.
Shuixing delicately folded up her robes’ sleeves and shook it. “Shuixing. You’re a Hero I take—”
“No! No time for introductions! We have to think gods-dammit! Think!” Natsuko said.
“About what?” Shuixing asked.
Sofiane sighed. “Our first pumpkin was too bitter to use, but we don’t have time to go forage for another one, and we are electing to hold ourselves to the highest moral standard and not borrow one from one of our competitors.”
“Why don’t you buy one?” Shuixing asked.
Daisy clapped her hands at the splendid idea. Sofiane slapped his forehead. Natsuko groaned. Pechorin brooded introspectively about the self-betraying ways of the thinking mind of man.
“Why didn’t we think of that?” Sofiane said.
“In my defense, I forgot you can buy things other than alcohol,” Natsuko said. “The rest of you have no excuse.”
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“Let’s go buy another pumpkin then!” Daisy said, hopping out of the food wagon.
Sofiane jogged after her. “I’m picking it this time! I am the pumpkin picker.”
After they left, Natsuko leaned an elbow against the counter. “Sure you don’t wanna join, Shui? I mean, most of the work is done already but…”
Shuixing shook her head. “Sorry, Natsu, I actually came to root for the professors,” she said, waving to the Mage’s College’s team from across the square. “I can’t divide my loyalty.”
“Traitor!” Natsuko said in mock offense. “You would root against your own friend’s success? You would condemn her to a life of poverty?”
Shuixing put her hands together in a gesture of apology. “Yeah.”
“Heh, that’s alright. We’re gonna win anyway cuz we’ve got the most heart. We’re the peppy underdogs,” Natsuko said with a grin.
“Over the group of little girls?” Shuixing said, glancing at the food wagon where the team led by Eve the accessory shop girl was hard at work baking pies.
“Just because she’s nine doesn’t mean Eve isn’t ruthless competition! Actually, should they be using an oven without supervision?”
“I think I’m more worried about you than the little girls.”
That almost didn’t sound like a joke to Natsuko’s ears. The other thing that stood out to her was how excited Shuixing looked. For Shui that meant a barely-contained smile, but for anyone else it was the equivalent of jumping up and down for joy.
“Have a breakthrough?” Natsuko asked.
“Oh, you could say that,” Shuixing replied with a mischievous grin. That was all she was giving away right now. Whatever breakthrough she’d had was apparently a big surprise. Rather than pressing, Natsuko decided to let her friend have her secrets. Not long after Shuixing left for her scholar friends, Daisy and Sofiane returned with a much smaller, cuter pumpkin.
“Isn’t he just adorable?” Daisy said excitedly, cradling the pumpkin in her arms like a baby. “I’m gonna be so sad when we have to bust him open!”
Natsuko hopped out of the wagon to get the oven ready. Conjuring a spectral flame sword in her hand, she slashed at the magical oven which roared to life and belched smoke from its chimney. If she knew anything about skill challenges, it was that you had to use flashy abilities. It made the food taste better.
Returning to their little kitchen, Natsuko asked, “hey Daisy, what’s your class and element? Just curious.”
“Hmm? Gosh, I haven’t been asked that in forever! Welp, I’m a Summoner of Earth. I make all kindsa fun lil’ guys outta dirt, like my bird, Peng” Daisy said.
“Huh,” Natsuko said, leaning against the counter. “Can’t really think of anything flashy with that. That’s what you gotta do for skill challenges, right? Use combat skills in unconventional ways?”
Sofiane, Daisy, and Pechorin all nodded and murmured in agreement, since that was what you were supposed to do for skill challenges.
“Want me to conjure a golem to mix the puree?” Daisy asked.
“Will it fit in the food wagon?” Sofiane said.
Daisy frowned. “Darn. I can only make ones that are 12 feet tall.”
All of a sudden, Natsuko squinted suspiciously. “Does it seem chilly in here to you all?”
“No colder than my tormented heart,” Pechorin said.
Sofiane, having a far less tormented heart and thus one more sensitive to changes in temperature, held his hand to the oven. “There’s no heat…”
“No heat? I slashed it with a flame sword, what do you mean no heat?” Natsuko said.
“I mean the oven isn’t on,” Sofiane said, stomping out of the wagon and around to the firebox where wood was supposed to be burning. Everyone followed after him. Sure enough, the metal chamber that should have been full of burning wood was cold and empty.
“Whoops,” Daisy said. “Can’t start a fire without any wood in there, can ya?”
“There was wood!” Natsuko said.
Daisy threw her arm around Natsuko’s shoulder. “That’s alright, Natsu, we can all be forgetful sometimes. One time, I was…”
The other three stopped and waited for her story.
Daisy snapped her fingers. “Shoot! I forgot the rest of the story.”
Ignoring her, Sofiane wicked a finger against the grill of the oven. “Water. You didn’t forget, Natsu. Someone doused it and stole our wood. This is sabotage.”
“Bastards!” Natsuko said. “And I think we all know who it was. None of the Non-Heroes are crafty enough to sabotage another team. It has to be Harald's team. Is one of them a Water Elemental?”
“Margaret is fire, Harald is metal, Faisal is… wind I think?” Sofiane said.
“What about that raccoon girl?”
Daisy crossed her arms in an X again. “We are NOT going to cheat! Absolutely not! If they decided to behave in an unsportsmanlike manner that's their decision, but we shall win this competition fair and square!"
Natsuko and Sofiane shared a look.
“Alright,” Natsuko said. “You and Pechorin go find some wood to build the fire with. Sofiane and I will stay here to guard our other ingredients.”
“Sounds good! Off we go, Pech! May I call you Pech?”
“If you do not mind my undying enmity," Pech replied.
“Plum!”
As soon as they walked off to smack some logs out of a tree, Sofiane turned to Natsuko. “So… we’re gonna go sabotage them, right?”
“Duh,” Natsuko replied.