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nA side view of a modern kitchen. Sleek stainless steel appliances. A clean marble countertop. And warm lighting, paired with an open space.

nStanding in the middle of that kitchen was a beautiful young woman with silver hair and sharp blue eyes. The face of a cold beauty that didn’t take any nonsense. One that wouldn’t look out of place from an old samurai movie as a female swordswoman.

nExcept she wasn’t a swordswoman. Instead, she was a chef. A fact made clear from the signature white chef shirt and plain black pants.

nMiya Musashi. Or rather, the young woman who would eventually become known as Miya Musashi. At the moment though-

n“Show us your stuff, Yuri-chan!” Jenny’s voice echoed from off-screen.

n“Miss Jenny!” Shu’s voice echoed and she said, “It’s Miya right now!”

n“Oh! Right, right. Show us your stuff, Miya-chan!”

n‘Miya’ clicked her tongue and said, “Are you guys trying to mess me up on purpose?”

nChihiro’s voice echoed. “That’s the point of the rehearsal, Miya. Unless you want to risk slipping up live when you’re being watched by tens of thousands of people?”

nMiya’s face turned red and she said, “You don’t need to remind me! I got it, sheesh.”

nShu’s voice echoed and she said, “No pressure, Miya! Just pretend we aren’t here!”

n“Kind of hard to do that, Shu- I mean… Kuromi. Right, it’s Kuromi.”

n“No.” Chihiro’s voice echoed and she said, “It’s Kronii.”

n“Wh-What?” Miya’s eyes widened and she started to panic. “I-I could have sworn it was Kuromi!”

nJenny giggled and said, “Stop teasing her so much, Davinki-chan.”

n“Ugh. Can we not call me that? Rhea’s a much better name. Davinki is too cutesy.”

nMiya huffed and then crossed her arms. “So are we doing this or not?”

nChihiro spoke up again and said, “If you’re getting this frustrated with just us, wait until the real deal where you’re dealing with the horny guys in chat. Considering you’re Anime swordswoman waifu material…”

nMiya rolled her eyes and then walked over to the kitchen. As she did, she paused and said, “How do we even know this is working?” She stared at the camera and said, “I don’t see any lights or anything. Is this thing even on?”

n“Don’t worry, Miya-chan~!” Jenny called out and said, “I set everything up to stream to a private account! We can see you just fine~! Trust me!”

n“Guess I’ll have to. But…” Miya tilted her head and said, “How does this thing work? Does it follow me around?” To test things out, she started walking in a circle.

nThe camera moved with her, keeping her in the center of the frame.

n“Huh.” Miya crossed her arms, staring at the camera with a thoughtful expression. After that, she looked off screen and said, “Are you controlling this, Jenny?”

n“Nope~! Titor’s fake future tech makes it all work like magic! If you tell it what to do, the drone should listen. And it’ll learn too! I think.”

n“Well, whatever.” Miya spun around and walked back towards the kitchen. “Just don’t get in my way, camera bot.”

n*beepbeep*

nMiya paused.

nShu gasped and said, “That’s adorable!”

n“Note to self,” Chihiro said. “Ask Titor to give me AI drawing assistants…”

nMiya looked off to the side and said, “Don’t you have any shame ‘Rhea?’ DaVinci was a master because he did everything himself, wasn’t he?”

n“He was also someone who would appreciate getting with the times. And aren’t you supposed to be practicing?”

nMiya clicked her tongue and said, “Fine. But stop talking. It’s distracting.”

n“Again, Mimi. If you can’t handle this-“

n“Pft.” Shu laughed and said, “Mimi…”

nMiya groaned and looked at the camera. “Alright, camera bot. I’m going to pick out ingredients so fly close and get the best shot.”

n*beep*

nAfter hearing that, Miya walked over to the fridge and opened it.

nThe camera moved to over her shoulder and revealed the fridge’s contents.

nShelves lined with fresh vegetables. Cartons of eggs and milk. Various cuts of meat on the bottom shelf, and then blocks of cheese on the rack attached to the door.

nMiya hummed and said, “Let’s make something simple.” She grabbed the carton of eggs and some broccoli out of the fridge.

nThe camera zoomed out, moving back to show the whole kitchen.

nMiya walked back to the counter in silence and put down her ingredients. After that, she walked over to the pantry and started rummaging around.

nAs she did, the camera moved back over her shoulder to reveal the inside of the pantry.

nPacks of instant ramen, cup noodles, boxes of spaghetti, packages of oatmeal… and a bunch of other random instant foods lined the shelves.

nMiya grabbed a few packs of instant ramen and then closed the pantry. After that, she walked over to the counter again to drop off her ingredients. Then she started rummaging around for a pot.

nAll the while doing it in complete silence.

nChihiro let out an exasperated sigh and said, “Oh come on, Riri. You’re Chef Miyamoto’s granddaughter, aren’t you? Don’t tell me you haven’t seen how his shows go.”

nMiya blushed and looked off to the side. “I-I forgot, okay! It’s my first time streaming anything like this. I’m not a crazy person who’s used to talking to themselves outloud!”

n“Right. You’re just a crazy person in general.”

n“And you’re suffering from middle school syndrome!”

n“I’d rather be a chuuni and rich than a normie and poor, thank you very much.”

nMiya pursed her lips.

nJenny giggled and said, “Don’t worry, Miya! Awkwardly cooking in silence has its own charm when you’re beautiful.”

n“Yeah!” Shu spoke up and said, “Miya looks super cool like this, doesn’t she? And she’s supposed to be a samurai too, so quietly preparing food matches the setting.”

nChihiro hummed and said, “True. But Mimi’s real personality isn’t like that. Won’t people be too shocked when she starts talking?”

nMiya stomped her foot on the ground and said, “Stop calling me weird names!”

n“See?”

n“Ah. I see what you mean, Chi-chan…”

nMiya blushed and then pulled out a pot from a drawer under the countertop. After that, she cleared her throat and looked at the camera. “For today’s meal, we’ll be preparing something simple. Since most of you are probably poor, it’s important to cook something nutritious but cheap.”

n“Way to flame your audience.”

nMiya’s eyebrow twitched.

nJenny giggled and said, “You are having way too much fun teasing Miya-chan.”

n“Can’t help it. She’s too easy to tease. Though I can see why Alfi and Hana like teasing Aoko so much now.”

n“Just ignore them. Focus on your job.” Miya muttered under her breath and walked over to the sink. After that, she started filling the pot with water before turning back to face the camera. Smiling, she said, “The longest step in this meal is preparing the broth, so we’ll get the water boiling first before preparing the other ingredients to add in.”

n“Huh?” Shu spoke up and said, “You’re supposed to boil the water separately?”

nMiya paused and looked over at Shu in shock. “D-Don’t tell me that you just dump everything in at once…?”

n“Well, yeah. There isn’t anything that will make you sick if you overcook it, right?”

nMiya groaned and lifted the filled pot over to the stovetop. After turning on the heat, she glanced over to the side and said, “How have you been eating until now, Shu?”

n“Well… Mostly handouts. School and rent is expensive, so I usually eat instant ramen or cup noodles unless there’s leftovers. Oh! One time when I worked at a Chinese restaurant, there was a big catering order where the customer cancelled after it was cooked. My boss let me take everything home instead of tossing it, so I got to eat a lot.” Shu let out a content sigh and said, “That was a good month…”

nMiya opened the ramen packs and pulled out the sauce packets. After that, she grabbed a knife and cutting board to chop up the broccoli. “You should have told me, Shu!”

n“Eh. It’s fine. My body’s pretty tough, you know? I’ve even gone a month without food before, so it’s not a big deal.”

nMiya frowned. “Even then…”

n“So,” Chihiro said. “Are you planning on practicing after all, Mimi? Or are we just hanging out? I’m fine with either, but I’d like to set proper expectations, you know?”

nMiya’s ears turned red and she cleared her throat. “R-Right.” She turned back to the camera and said, “Now instant ramen usually isn’t very healthy. The sauces that come in the packs have a lot of salt, so you want to balance that out. Fresh veggies like broccoli are good, but you want to make sure to cut them thin.”

nSilver flashed, and the dark green broccoli suddenly fell apart into thin slices.

n“Like so.” Miya scooped up the slices to place in a bowl and then said, “You want the veggies to cook at about the same rate as the noodles, so keeping them thin and light is important. It also helps get that freshness into the broth faster to balance out the salt and preservatives from the sauce packets…”

n“Boooring.” Chihiro yawned and said, “I can see the Z’s in the chat already.”

nMiya’s eye twitched and then she glared at Chihiro. “Yeah?! Well, why don’t you show us how it’s done then, Miss Genius DaVinci wannabe?”

n“Oh I will. But finish cooking first. I want some ramen.”

n“…How do you like your eggs?”

nJenny gasped. “Oh my! Miya-chan!”

nMiya blinked. “What? I just-” She paused and then turned a deep red. “PERVERT!”

nShu laughed.

nChihiro sighed.

n_________

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