Seven finished his drink amidst his thoughts.
“Although taste doesn’t matter for Ai, it is a concern for us. The most important thing is to barely pass Ai’s judgment while being appealing enough to the audience, but that only matters to less than half of us”
Kyel’s group composed the majority of the subjects, and it was safe to assume that all of their choices would be controlled by him.
“Kyel should possess 12 people if there are no other loners besides Natalya. He can save up to 3 people besides himself, and if his line of thinking went the same way as mine, he won’t waste those on his people. No matter what they have to hide, it’s not in Kyel’s interests to protect it, he has perfect control over them... He will either use his advantage to bring people to his side, or manipulate the votes to determine the ones who lose and take the punishment”
Down to the core, the game was a majority vote. Unless someone screwed up so hard that a person ended up fainting after trying a meal, the game was in Kyel’s favor.
“Should I collaborate with him?”
It was a bad idea no matter how much he thought about it. Kyel was a walking incognita.
Regardless, Seven made the call.
“I have no important secrets, either way, there is little risk involved”
Reaching the next floor, a fresh gust of wind blew on his hair, making it float in the air. There was the feeling of stepping on something fluffy, but the floor was steady and invisible. Through it, Seven saw a small dot directly beneath him, miles away – it was the restaurant. The sea was a bit farther, encroaching the tear-shaped landmass and extending to places where the clouds blocked the view. The thing he felt was cotton dispersed into fog once people got close to it, taking minutes to return to the original shape.
A kitchen in the clouds.
Seven covered his eyes from the sun and walked forwards.
Despite the unusual scenery, the utensils were quite standard, with exactly 21 white kitchen stands neatly arranged into three rows and a large gate at the far back that led to piles of boxes with all kinds of ingredients and appliances.
Heading towards Kyel, he didn’t think that he would be approached first.
-Yo, number bro! Came to discuss business, I see! Smart choice, indeed - his voice was kept so that only the two of them could hear the conversation – so, do you come to bargain your pass?
-That would be ideal. But what I want is for Natalya to win.
-Hehehe, no can do. I can let you pass~ but not Natalya!
“Predictable”
He didn’t mention his true purpose because it would elicit Kyel’s interests. In his mind, Kyel wouldn’t let Natalya win regardless of the situation, so it didn't matter that he said the opposite of what he wanted. If Kyel agreed, though, it was enough reason to be suspicious about the deal.
-...That’s fine, I suppose.
-So, what is your offer?
-What do you want?
-Tsk, tsk, tsk, disappointing! That’s not how you conduct business at all, you know? - he pouted.
-Bargaining won’t work to my benefits, so why should I waste my time with it?
-How boring... Alright, I won’t state my price right now, but you owe me a favor~ You honor your promises, ri~ght? - he said menacingly.
-Hm – Seven nodded and headed towards his counter, but his thoughts were not aligned to Kyel’s words.
“If a simple word holds so much weight in a conversation, I will naturally use it to my advantage, but that’s all there is to it. Promises are nothing but empty words”
He also knew that Kyel didn’t put any faith in what he said, the context was that of a threat, not a vow, but it still made him wonder about people’s morals.
Seven’s eyes darted towards Natalya, at the farthest corner.
“Would you make any promises that you cannot fulfill?”
Empty words or not, the answer to this question said a few things about someone’s character. He cast his eyes downwards while skimming through the recipes Ai had given him.
“The Natalya I believe in would keep her promises, because her words are rarely spoken and not to be taken lightly... Still, she wouldn’t mind breaking her promises if they stood in the way...”
The end justifies the means.
“Chivalry and personal interests, I want to delve into that for a bit”
He closed the recipe and pulled the book out of his bag, picking his pen and writing slowly, not because he was patient – on the opposite, his mind was brewing ideas endlessly – but because he was still not accustomed to his left hand. For anyone who saw it, though, his writing speed looked fast enough for Seven to appear possessed by a demon.
The new chapter would be a chapter of rest, of exploring new possibilities in a destroyed city of hopes and shattered dreams that the main character chanced upon. Rather, it always existed there, hidden in plain view. The world was full of unexplored possibilities, all his character needed to do was open her eyes and extend her hands – towards a future she would shape.
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It was the turning point of his story, one single line of text that turned false hope into actual hope, if for only a brief space of time. A moment when she understood that what she brought wasn’t change.
She, herself, was the change.
“Creation, preservation, destruction, an unending cycle. Tie the loose ends of this blemished reality”
A small chapter that refreshed the novelty of the story.
Seven sighed, a mix of satisfaction and sorrow filling the void in his heart.
“I want to read a good story... I need to work harder to finish this”
Unknown to him, more than an hour had passed and he hadn’t even started on his dish.
“I should pass regardless, because of Kyel”
He didn’t want to miss the opportunity of learning new things, though. It was a fair point that they would need to cook to survive in the wild, no one battled with an empty stomach.
He carefully studied the mutant ant. The blood had a fair nutrition value, but most of it was lost regardless of the method used to prepare it, due to the high amount of toxic substances that should be purged.
“It’s better to dissect the ant and dry the blood entirely...”
There was a way to make the blood drinkable if necessity demanded it, but it wasn’t nutritious, it was only a means to obtain water indirectly. Besides, the taste was something one shouldn’t talk about.
“The carapace is too hard, if I add other ingredients and boil it, can I turn it into a soup or broth? It’s way too filthy, though, I would need to clean it properly... As for the tissue, maybe a dry snack would be ideal?”
The methods used to cook with fire basically ruined the flesh, and since he already went with butchering the parts and drying them, he thought neutralizing the poisonous substances with herbs was the way to go, hopefully eliminating the nasty smell. He didn’t expect the flavor to be good, but the first bite should be bearable.
It wasn’t impossible to make a good meal out of an ant. The biology of the mutant ant was vastly different from that of a normal ant on Earth, only their behavior was mimicked faithfully.
With a few ideas in mind, he grabbed the utensils and started to dissect the beast.
Seven placed the knife in front of a wide hole which suggested how the creature’s life ended and carved his way from there. Like a sculptor chisels at a stone block with a clear image in mind, his hand paved the way to the finished piece.
He wasn’t used to handling a knife, but the feeling of slipping past walls of muscle tissues like cutting through butter was oddly satisfying. Only, whenever he needed to take U-turns and sudden 90-degree changes in pathing, it would take a bit of effort since he couldn’t properly balance himself. Sometimes he had to push deep and make a feel for the surroundings before slicing.
“Well, it’s mostly knowledge about dismantling and biology, so the correct use of the knife is a small detail compared to the rest”
By the end of the ordeal, his clothes were tainted a thick brown and the smell of pungent insect blood permeated him. It wasn’t a big deal since, as soon as he set foot inside, his clothes again changed to a chef’s uniform.
Seven wasn’t aware of any cooking methods to make his dish. Whenever he read cooking books, he was more interested in the reviews and opinions compared to the actual recipes and techniques, so he never got to absorb any of it. However, the recipe contained detailed information on all the methods and he simply had to go by numbers, choosing what fit his criteria in terms of time, flavor, texture, nutritional value, amongst others, and following the recipe to the best of his capabilities.
“No one can become an accomplished cook in three hours, this much leisure is to be expected...”
He finished all the preparations for what he planned. The pieces were bigger than what he pictured, as he had to do everything with one hand, but the result was satisfactory. Regarding the leftover parts or those that he wouldn’t use, he fried them.
“Since they’ll be disposed of anyway, I might as well make something tasty with it”
He had read before that in some places ants were eaten fried, thus why he chose this method.
The blood was discarded. He didn’t need to try so hard as to make it into something palatable, if it was even possible to do so.
Staring at the glass clock hanging in the air, it was already 12:15.
“I only need to wait for the broth”
Finally disconnecting himself from the world of cooking, he looked around to see what the other people had done.
“...”
“...”
“... This is quite strange”
He wasn’t surprised by any of the plates, but he noticed that almost everyone from Kyel’s group was finished with their dishes. They didn’t look like anything special, nor did they follow any of Ai’s recipes that would maintain a good balance between nutrition and flavor.
“... What is he aiming for?”
Seven paid more attention and noticed that some plates were gone, which meant a few dishes had been served.
“Ai only mentioned that we had three hours to finish, she didn’t say anything about eating before the allocated time was over...”
Naturally, there would be people whose recipes would take longer to finish, and those that would try again to obtain a better result, but those that wholeheartedly worked on the task would be able to finish it with some minutes of leisure so as not to fail.
There was something off going on and he couldn’t quite grasp what it was.
“Kyel... I can’t say he’s not one to do things without reason, but there should be an explanation to his actions...”
A few minutes later, he noticed that one guy did the exchange of servings with Kyel’s people and quickly accomplished the 4 dishes quota.
Since he was waiting on the broth, he observed the exchanges and quickly noticed what was wrong.
“The guy from outside of Kyel’s group who did the exchange is someone already under his wing... If one doesn’t pay attention, it looks like they struck a deal and are just completing it... But that’s not all, what else?”
Minutes flew by as people outside of Kyel’s group finished their dishes and quickly made the exchange.
“...”
“...”
“Ah, the broth is done.”
He prepared the plates at the last minute and went back to thinking.
“Their dishes... They are all the same”
He didn’t think this detail would matter, but it was the only thing he could find out that looked strange.
“I didn’t see anyone near Natalya’s stand... Her food doesn’t look good either way, it was unnecessary of me to worry”
Since Natalya would reveal a bit of information if his assumptions were correct, there was nothing to lose. At worst, the punishment was a group activity and he wouldn’t complain about spending some time with her.
[It is now 13:00, stop cooking. Those that did not have their meals must finish them at 14:00]
There were 4 who didn't eat yet, Seven amongst one of them.
At that point, it didn’t matter what he chose to do, so long as he didn’t go to Natalya’s.
“I don’t want any extras to pass the test on Kyel's group, so I'll choose someone from the other 8"
He ate his food and went to Kate’s for a meal. He quite disliked her choice of including the blood he decisively eliminated from his cooking before, and concealed so well, too, but there was nothing to be done about this.
When everyone was finished, Ai’s voice rang once again.
[All data has been collected. Head downstairs in under five minutes for the results]
Following the instructions, they descended the stairs and Seven grabbed the opportunity to order another drink to wash out the flavor of Kate’s catastrophic experiment, but the words that left Ai’s mouth made him choke on it.
-The subjects who passed this test are the following: None.
Seven subconsciously looked towards Kyel, who hummed a happy tune with crescents for eyes. He opened them slowly and smiled mischievously.
-Thank you, everyone~ Your dumbstruck faces are my greatest source of pleasure!