After glancing at the new students, she strode her way to Megishima. Tomoe gave him a look and said, "Good morning."
"Hmm, good morning," Megishima replied.
That was the end of their conversation; they remained silent while the room filled with whispers of students talking to each other.
Tomoe had been rather uncomfortable for a while now; she had been feeling a tickling sensation behind her back.
Trusting her instinct, she gazed back at the abyss.
Her eyes met with the red-haired girl; she instantly waved at her, excited. A mischievous smile hung on her face.
"Rindo Kobayashi! MY NAME," Rindo said it out loud enough for Tomoe to hear. Panicked, Tomoe looked ahead. Picking up the vegetable, she let her eyes be glued to it, checking every tiny detail possible.
Her eyes would occasionally try to look back.
She heard footsteps coming towards her, closing the gap every second. It finally stopped.
"Hey," a voice yielded out to her. Tomoe's eyes froze before they flickered; she kept looking at the vegetables.
Gulp
Tomoe's throat was aching; she felt dehydrated. With each passing second, she became hyper-aware of the surroundings.
"Hey!" Once again, the same voice, but this time, in her field of vision, a girl's head popped out.
It was Rindo.
She sighed and replied, "Hi."
"Um, I told you my name. In exchange, how about... yours?"
Rindo said, her gaze curious.
"Tomoe, you can call me Tomoe." She gave her a look before she started going through the vegetables. Her eyes didn't wander back; neither did Rindo say anything.
Why is she still here? Tomoe could still feel her presence beside her. All right, one last time.
She looked to her side, Rindo's face close. Tomoe didn't back down, stood there, and looked at her.
"Be my friend!" Rindo said.
"W-what?" She stepped back, looked at Rindo, this time carefully.
Taking her silence as a no, Rindo said it again, "Be my friend." And again, "Be my friend."
She repeated it like a mantra until Tomoe gave in.
"Okay, okay, I will be your... friend," Tomoe replied, straightening herself.
"Yeah!" Rindo raised her hand, a high five. Tomoe raised her hand slowly as Rindo clasped it.
The door opened, which prompted Rindo to go back to her position before promising a meet after the end of the class.
With a rhythmic symphony, the professor and her two assistants came in. Taking her seat, she smiled and took a quick look at everybody.
"Hello! I'm Mischele. Nice to meet you all. I will be your teacher for this class," she said, waving her hands.
"So, today," she took a pause. "Any vegans here?" Mischele raised her brows, her expression serious, glaring at the students.
Everybody shook their heads.
She chuckled. "Today, your butchering skills will be judged not once but... twice." She ended it with a devilish smile.
"You will butcher the animals I have prepared, and both the partners will judge each other's skills and give marks out of 100."
Mischele got up from her seat while strolling around the room. "I will also be judging your skills and giving you marks, and if your marks are off by more than 5, you will get an E."
" There is no B or C..." Mischele finished her speech, leaving most of the students flabbergasted.
Tomoe looked at her partner; he was, as usual, completely uninterested and unbothered. Or is it the absolute confidence he had in his skill?
Mischele clapped, getting everyone's attention. But soon everyone's gaze fixated on the door.
People with chef dress started coming in; they brought whole skinned rabbit for everyone and distributed it evenly.
"30 seconds, 30 seconds is all I can spare. Now get going!" Mischele said, as she kept walking, eyeing the students' skills.
Her demeanor had changed a lot; Tomoe glanced at the professor before focusing on the rabbit.
She laid the rabbit on its back and located one of its hind legs, gently pulling it outward. Her fingers brushed against the hip joint, feeling for the socket.
Once she found it, she carefully guided the knife into the joint, separating the leg with a precise cut.
Tomoe glanced at everybody, a quick look, especially at their cutting boards. She looked at hers, the meat still there, screaming at her to cut its body apart, and made it an art.
Not now. She tapped the meat, light and gentle.
And she started doing her butchering, her hands slow and careful, as if she were savoring every inch of its body.
But that cost her; she was barely done in 30 sec.
Escaped by a sliver of a second.
The door opened again; assistants started entering the room; this time, they brought skinned ducks.
Just like before, they divided it among the students.
It had the same premise, 30 sec. Students had to be done with the butchering in 30 seconds.
"Professor, I am done," Rindo chirruped. She gave Tsukada a shrug.
"You lost!" Rindo kept laughing.
After a few seconds, Tomoe was also done with her butchering. She looked to the side; Megishima was one of the top contenders right now, along with Rindo, Tosuke, the scar guy and Momo.
Well, Momo was barely holding onto her life; she kept crying while butchering the meat, mumbling, "Cute rabbits—cute rabbits are being killed."
"Now for the final level... it will be—" The door opened again, same people, same dress, but the animal. It was different.
******
Author's note.
I wrote a lot of this chapter five months ago and ended up ditching it. At that time, I usually wrote shorter pieces, but my style has changed a bit since then. The upcoming chapter will also be short, but I will definitely make them longer once I start writing new chapters. Again, I am so sorry!