It’d been about a week since Axel rejected me. And while I’ve been able to clear my head a bit, his words still resonate in my head.

“...Until you can say for certain that you can survive without having to cling to me, I can’t return your feelings.”

I had considered that he might reject me, but it still hurt when he pointed out that I still had to deal with that flaw. Even if it was true.

Looking into my mirror, I had just finished putting on my school uniform. And while the chest area was a little tight on me, it worked fine for what it was. Thus, I decided to live with it and once I was certain I looked good to go, I left my room and headed out of the dorm.

Reaching the entrance of the school building, I glanced at the people around me who seemed to be enjoying themselves as they talked about everyday things. Something I wish I could do. However, since I spent so much time with Riko, I never really attempted to interact with anyone else. Reminding me once again of some stuff Axel had told me in the past.

But leaving that be for now, I headed into the school building where I was immediately met with Riko who appeared to be waiting for something.

And when he noticed me walking by, he held his hand up in an attempt to greet me. However, I simply walked by and ignored him.

It wasn’t easy, but I knew that if I went back to spending all my time with Riko, I could find myself in the same position as before.

That’s why I had to leave him be for now.

Moving through the halls, I reached class without much thought and sat through the lesson until it was time for the break period.

While this would normally be a chance to grab some lunch, I wasn’t really interested in eating. So I just walked outside to get some fresh air.

Looking out at the sky, it was shining a bright blue as white clouds moved across it like little animals walking through a grassy terrain.

Trying to look at all the shapes of the clouds, I was able to notice some had weird shapes to them.

Like how one appeared to have a head with spiky hair, and another was shaped like a set of succubus wings, and then there was one that looked like a heart…

“Okay that’s enough looking at the clouds,” I muttered.

I wasn’t sure if that was just my eyes playing tricks on me, but I’d rather not think about it.

Thus, I spread out my wings and flew to the top of the school and landed on the roof before letting out a small sigh.

“Hey there! Is everything okay?”

Startled by a voice that came out of nowhere, my eyes went wide as I turned toward where it came from.

What I saw sitting there was a girl with orange hair tied up into pigtails and her body was covered in a mix of pale skin and crimson-red scales that were noticeable on the parts of her that weren’t covered up by her school uniform.

For some reason she had a wide smile on her face that was a bit weird to stare at. Causing me to look away.

“Er…Yeah. Everything's fine.”

I tried to answer and leave. However, the girl got up and moved in front of me before I could get away.

“May I help you?” I asked. The confusion in my voice all too obvious.

“No I’m good. Actually, I’m wondering if you may need help yourself?”

“W-What do you mean?”

“Well going off the bags under your eyes, lack of any form of make up, and an overall slumped figure, I’d have to say you give off the air of someone who isn’t okay.”

“I-Is that so?”

I mean, she made a lot of good points. But I wasn’t exactly in the mood to agree with her.

Putting her hand to her chin, the girl muttered to herself as if she was deep in thought before pointing her finger upwards as if she just came up with an idea.

“Say, would you come by my club later?”

“Your…club?”

Why would I do something like that?

“Yeah! I don’t know if it can help you that much, but I might have just what you need to cheer up.”

“You think so?”

“Of course!”

“Why?”

“Hm? What do you mean why?”

“....”

“What?”

Either this girl was quite confident she could cheer me up or she was a complete idiot.

As to which I honestly couldn’t pin it down. Though since she had stars in her eyes as she talked about her club, I was willing to bet on the latter.

“Look. Just be there okay? I promise you won’t regret it!”

After saying that, red scaly dragon wings appeared behind the girls back and she began to fly off.

“Hey wait a minute! You never even told me the club's name!”

“Hm? Oh yeah! It’s the Interspecies Cooking Club! We usually start an hour before school begins and come back after classes when they're done. So be sure to show up later! See ya!”

Finished talking with me, the girl flew off.

Lost on what just happened, I scratched the back of my head and let out a sigh.

I had no idea who that girl was, so I wasn’t really obligated to go to her club.

Though considering I didn’t really think about clubs at all since I figured I’d spend all my time with Riko, I guess checking one out couldn’t hurt.

Thus, with a small shrug of my shoulders, I decided I’d take a look at this Interspecies Cooking Club

Once classes ended for the day, I asked for instructions on how to get to the club that girl mentioned and before long, I found myself standing there staring at the door.

There was nothing special about it, and honestly, I wasn’t sure what I was even doing here.

Still, I guess since I was already at the door so it would be a bit awkward to just leave.

Thus, I began reaching my hand toward the door handle.

“You made it!”

Just as I was about to push the door forward, it swung open as the girl from before greeted me with a smile. Causing me to jump in surprise a little bit.

“Er…Yeah. Thank you for inviting me.”

Nodding as if she was satisfied with something, the girl ushered me inside.

As she did, I was greeted by a mix of different smells.

From the scent of freshly baked cake, to juicy steak, as well as what I assumed was eggs mixed with cheese. The whole thing caused my stomach to growl a little bit.

Placing me down at one of the tables near the front of a blackboard, the girl giggled a bit to herself as she walked up to said blackboard and started writing on it.

While she did that, I took a look around.

As the name of this club suggested, tons of species were sitting in this room.

From slime people, to centaurs, and even regular old humans. They really had a variety of people that seemed to get along with each other.

The room was massive and had a total of twenty tables set up along with several windows that sent the scent of the food flying outside.

Each table was nailed into the ground and was large enough to fit at least six people. Though considering there were creatures like half-giants in here, I guess some of these tables would only fit one or two in the end.

The whole thing was a bit overwhelming, but I tried my best to calm down and relax.

Finished with writing, the girl turned back to everyone with a smile on her face.

“Hey there everyone! We have someone checking out the club today, so be sure to treat her right, okay?”

As the girl said that, she pointed at me and everyones attention turned in my direction.

“Um…Hi there all of you,” I said. Feeling a bit awkward about the whole thing.

“...”

After I spoke, there was a rather heavy silence in the room before finally-

“Hey there! Nice to meet you!”

“Wow! You’re beautiful! Are you a model or something?”

“So how long have you been cooking for? Or are you new to it all?”

-I started getting bombarded with questions which made it difficult to get a word in.

“Hold up everyone! You’re clearly making her uncomfortable so please give her some space,” said the girl as she went back to writing something else on the blackboard.

Listening to what she said, the other members of the club backed off and let me catch my breath.

“Phew. They sure are a chatty bunch,” I muttered to myself.

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Not that I mind at all. Honestly, it was kinda nice having so many people talk with me. I just wish it was easy for me to talk back.

“Now then, since this could be a chance to bring in a new member, how about we try something simple today? I’m thinking of omelets. Does that sound good to everyone?”

The club members around me immediately started cheering.

“Yeah! That sounds great!”

“Awesome idea! That should be easy to make for even the newest of cooks!”

“Brilliant work club president!”

It seemed everyone was on board with this. Well, I didn’t really have much of a say on it, so I guess I’ll just do what everyone else was doing.”

As if reading my thoughts, the girl next to the blackboard glanced at me and then spoke up.

“Actually, on second thought, let’s try something more interesting.”

“Hm?”

What did she mean by something interesting?

Walking up to me, the girl suddenly pulled ingredients out of what seemed like thin air and plopped them down in front of me.

“What the-!?”

“I think we should have a cooking competition! That should really show off our club's spirit!”

As the girl made that proclamation, everyone else nodded their heads.

“A cooking competition? Sounds fun!”

“Count me in!”

“Hmph. I suppose I could participate.”

It seemed like no matter what this girl said, people were gonna agree with her.

“Alrighty! With that settled, who should we have as the judges?”

“Ooh! Me!”

“Me too!”

“Please pick me!”

Four to five people immediately raised their hands.

In the end, though, only two of those hands were picked as the girl decided to include herself among the judges.

And it seemed things were about to get much more intense than how I thought it would go.

“Alright! Are you all ready for this!?” shouted the girl as she and the other judges sat down in front of everyone. Looking like she was the most excited one to be there.

“Yeah!” shouted everyone in unison as they gathered their ingredients and prepared to cook.

Meanwhile, I found myself pondering what I should make.

Honestly, I wasn’t someone who baked stuff too often, so I didn’t know that many recipes. This means my choice of things I can make is extremely limited.

“...Guess I’ll try and make a red velvet cake then,” I muttered.

It was always my Mom’s favorite dessert, so maybe if I followed the recipe she told me, I might be able to win this thing.

Checking the ingredients in front of me, it seemed I had everything I needed to bake one, so I separated those from the rest of the ingredients I didn’t need as the girl raised her voice again.

“Alrighty then! You have one hour. Get ready…Get set…Go!”

As the girl said those words, I got to work on cooking as fast as I could.

Starting with the cake flour, I poured it into a bowl along with cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt as well as set the oven to preheat to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

After that, I mixed everything into the bowl together and once that was all mixed together, I put it to the side to get started on the next thing by grabbing the handheld mixer and grabbing another bowl which I tossed the butter and sugar into.

Once inside, I started mixing them together before adding egg yolks, oil, vinegar, and vanilla extract.

I stirred everything as rapidly as I could and before I knew it, the whole thing had turned to mush.

Pouring the contents of both bowls together into a new bowl, I then added some red food coloring into the mix and stir it once more as the batter started to take on a red texture.

After everything looked good, I grabbed two cake pans and poured the batter inside both until they were filled to the brim.

Once I was finished with that, I checked the oven and it looked like it was ready so I put the cake batter inside and waited for the food to cook.

While I did so, I glanced at the club members nearby who were working on their own dishes.

One person seemed to be making melon bread, while another appeared to be creating a mini pizza.

There were a few other people who, like me, were trying to make cake, while there were some people cooking cookies and cupcakes as well.

And while stuff like cooking was a grueling endeavor, the smiles on everyone's faces made it clear that while it was tough, it was fun.

And as I turned back to my own cake that was currently cooking in the oven, I’ll admit, I was kinda having fun too.

It really helped me get my mind off my problems when I simply just spent some time cooking something for no reason at all. I did because it was fun to do. And nothing more.

Eventually, my cake was finally cooked and as I glanced up at the time, it seemed like I had just about ten minutes to wrap everything up.

Thankfully, while I waited, I made the frosting by mixing butter and cream cheese together and after a couple of minutes added vanilla extract, sugar, and a hint of salt.

Once that was all creamy, I added a bit of confectionery sugar and before I knew it, the frosting was done.

And since I took the time to make it while the cake was cooking, it would be easy enough to simply apply it.

Thus, with ten minutes left on the timer, I placed the cakes on two separate plates before placing them on top of each other.

Now, normally, at this point, you’d shove the cake in a fridge for a while to let it fully take shape. However, I didn’t have time for that.

So instead, I walked over to the specialized freezer the school had and placed the cake inside.

After that, I set a timer on the freezer to speed up one hour to five minutes. Which was the fastest the device could freeze something and then waited patiently for it to be done.

So with six minutes on the clock, I impatiently tapped my foot while crossing my arms until five minutes later I heard a loud DING and opened up the freezer to find a perfectly baked red velvet cake.

Knowing there wasn’t much time left, I took out the cake and placed it on a fancy plate before cutting it up into nice, neat slices and finished it up with some berry flavored syrup and a small strawberry on every slice.

Once it was all finished, I could hear a ringing sound in my ear and turned to find that the girl from before had cast some sort of alarm spell to signify time was up before standing on her feet.

“Time’s up everyone! Let’s see what you all made!”

So with that, everyone began showing off what they cooked.

As they were presented with all sorts of treats and dishes, the judges ate them one after the other.

“Hm. It’s good, but I think it needs a bit more sugar,” one judge would say.

“I think you need a bit more cheese,” another would reply when asked how it tastes.

And then there was the girl who had started this whole thing.

“I know you tried your best, but this definitely needs a bit more work. Be sure to see me after club activities are over and we’ll go over some ways to help you improve.

Despite telling the competitors the truth, she tried her best to be as kind as possible and worked her hardest to give a good opinion that could assist everyone's cooking in the future.

It was quite a sight to behold.

“Alright. You’re up next!” shouted the girl pointing at me.

“Huh? Oh! Right!”

Having got lost in the moment, I recollected myself and approached the judges. Presenting my red velvet cake to the three of them.

Then, with a smile, the girl moved a slice to each judge's plate and they all lifted a piece from their plates before sticking them into their mouths. And then…

“...”

Nothing. Just silence. Was that a good or bad sign? I had no idea!

Thus, I continued awkwardly standing there. Waiting to hear what they had to say.

“T…This is…” said the girl. Leaving everyone in suspense.

Finally, all the judges spoke out at the same time.

“It’s so good!”

To my relief, they seemed to like my cake as they finished the slices they were eating and turned to me.

“Say, now that I think about it, I never got your name,” said the girl.

Well, that was random. But not wrong.

“Oh. Really? It’s Xara. Xara Femishito.”

I didn’t have any problem introducing myself now, but it was indeed quite strange that I didn’t mention my name up until this point either.

“I see I see.”

As she said that, the girl nodded her head before standing up on her chair.

“That’s it! I’ve decided on our winner! And that goes to Xara Femashito!”

“W-What!?”

Can she really just do that!? I thought the three of them were judges who had to give their fair opinions!

“Congratulations Miss Femashito!”

“Good job!”

“I’m so happy for you!”

Despite thinking that, it seemed everyone else was just rolling along with it while the girl walked up close to me.

“Sorry if all this is leaving you confused and all, but your cake was really good. Honestly, I’d love to have someone like you in this club. What do you say?”

As she asked that, the girl gave me a delighted smile and while I still wasn’t a fan of how that whole competition went, it was nice being able to interact with different people who moved at a different pace the me.

In fact, it was actually rather refreshing.

“Was this what Axel meant when he told me I should get more friends?” I thought to myself as the smallest of smiles slipped onto my face.

“Yeah. I think I’d like to join,” I muttered. To which the girl’s grin grew wider before holding up her hand.

“Attention everyone! Xara has officially agreed to join the Interspecies Cooking Club!”

When she announced that, cheers rang across the room.

And as I stared at all the happy faces, I couldn’t help but grin.

While it wasn’t the same as hanging around people like Riko or Axel, it was still really nice and I think I could get used to enjoying it.

Thus, I signed up for the club and officially joined with a sense of happiness welling up from inside me.

“Good morning everyone!” Xara shouted as she waved out to her fellow club members!

“Xara! Welcome in!” shouted the girl who had brought her to the club.

“Hi, Club President!”

“Please. We’re friends now. Just call me Valentina.”

“Heh. You got it!”

The president of the interspecies cooking club, Valentina Dragorth, greeted the club's newest member with a smile on her face while Xara made her way to her spot in the club.

Soon enough, the place was done filling up and Valentina walked to the front of the classroom and began writing on the blackboard.

“Alright. Today, we’ll be learning how to make red velvet cake like the one Xara made a couple of weeks back. That means Xara will be taking over for today. Does that sound good with you everyone?”

Nodding in response, all eyes turned to Xara who walked up front and waved to everyone.

“Okay. Today I’ll be going over the red velvet cake recipe that I used during that competition. So be sure you all pay attention. Now then, let’s get started.

As she said that, Xara began writing on the board with a big grin on her face.

It was bizarre to think that just a couple of weeks ago, she’d been completely down in the dumps.

But now, she was beaming with pride as she had finally started to understand everything Axel was telling her.

And with the way things were going, Xara knew she could make her way on her own. But even so…

“Even if it’s not right now, I promise that my love for you is real. And I’m gonna prove it!”

While those determined thoughts flowed through her mind, Xara continued to happily teach her clubmates how to make red velvet cake.

And as Valentina watched in the corner, she found herself grinning from ear to ear.

“You’ve really gotten used to this club, haven’t you Xara?” she muttered as she recalled how Xara had been before she joined.

And yet now, she was teaching those around her how to cook. It was crazy to think about.

But even so, it was a nice change of pace. And Valentina was confident that with a little more time, Xara would improve as a person. She had no doubt about that.

Thus, Xara’s days at school continued onward. Just what would await her in the future? Only time could tell.

Sitting in his office, a man looked at a flyer he had been handed for a school-wide event set to start in the coming weeks.

“Hm. So the Hunter Games are about to begin, eh?”

As he said that out loud, he turned to look out the window of his office with a grin on his face.

“I’m curious how you will perform out there…Axel Savoncho.”

Keeping his voice low as he said that, the man leaned back into his chair with a small chuckle before returning to his work. Finding himself getting excited about how things were going to turn out once this event finally got started.

But that’s a story for another time.