The Ranch

Miscalculation 2x (3)

"Hey kid, it's already pretty late. You should head back to your dorm and get some sleep." Instructor Kane tells Tih. Tih looks at the man one last time before walking out of the colosseum. His figure flits in and out as he walks back to his apartment in a matter of minutes.

He walks into the room to see Kai snoring peacefully on the bed. Tih slips under the covers of his own bed and falls into a dreamless sleep. Tih is very familiar with this occurrence. Ever since he was born, Tih has never had a dream. He closes his eyes to darkness and wakes up to the light of the sun seconds later.

Tih gets out of bed and wakes up the happily snoring Kai. Kai groggily gets up and after getting ready, they both head to the cafeteria. Tih puts his hands in the pocket of the hoodie he refused to part with.

"I wonder what the options are going to be today! It's nice, having choices, especially since it's all delicious and really well made. I wonder how much the cooks are paid? Oh! By the way, Tih, I don't know where you went last night, but you forgot to put all your clothes away. I know I'm pretty messy myself, but I can barely see the floor. Plus! If you just leave them all there, they'll wrinkle. If they were my size, I'd probably take them and wear it for myself. There's probably enough clothes there for a month without washing any of them. When are you supposed to wear all of that? But I have to say, that guy has good taste. Ah! But if he does anything that crosses the line, just tell me and I'll punch him in the face for you. Although...you would probably be able to do a better job of that yourself...." Kai blabbers during the entire walk to the cafeteria. Tih always slows down to Kai's pace, so he has to listen to Kai talk for upwards of twenty minutes. But, after the thorough continuation of hearing him talk non-stop for the past couple days, Tih has gotten relatively used to it, and doesn't mind it as much.

One silent newbie and one chatterbox enter the first floor of the cafeteria. They look at the menu, when out of nowhere, shouts can be heard from the one side of the cafeteria.

Although the two are fairly far from the source, they can still hear the one-sided arguing. Kai, curious, walks over to check it out. Tih, naturally, follows along.

The come across a scene of berating,"You absolute Imbeciles! Do you have bread stuffed in your brains?! This was supposed to be delivered hours ago! Now I have a multitude of impatient instructors waiting for a meal that I haven't even started yet!! Do you realize who's going to take all the blame for this matter!? Me! It's Me!!" A familiar face is reprimanding a group of soldier carrying in crates of fresh ingredients.

The leader of the group steps up,"I'm incredibly sorry Instructor Raphael. There was a mixup at the farm and-"

"And what!? Do you think you're excuses will fix everything?! I don't have enough time or workers to prep-...Tih! My lifesaver! My knight in shining armor!" After spotting Tih in the crowd, the instructor dashes to his side to start begging," Tih I need your help! Instructor Maddox came to my fifth floor for breakfast today. The man is an incredible stickler for the rules. He's already furious we're making him wait and his patience is running thinner the longer we make him wait. I...I cant pay you..But! I can give your free meals for a week..no, a month!" He looks at Tih with pleading eyes.

Kai calculates some things before whispering to Tih,"That's a really good deal. I heard the meals on the top floor are of a better quality and more expensive. Not only that, not anyone can go up there. It's an unspoken rule that only instructors and others with important positions can dine there. You should accept, you'll get free meals at a better quality."

Hearing Kai tell him to agree, Tih nods his head at Instructor Raphael. Instructor Raphael claps his hands in content," Perfect!" He asked this of Tih, because of his previous actions of cutting all those potatoes at an insanely fast speed and speed is exactly what he needs right now.

"I'm putting you in charge of prepping the raw ingredients." He looks towards the couple of workers that he brought with him,"Chop Chop, let's get all of this in the lift."

"C-Chef! There's no way the mezzanine lift will be able to carry all of this..." One of the workers explains with a hesitant expression.

"Can't you do multiple trips?" One of the soldiers that brought the ingredients says.

"Idiot! Do you know how long that'll take!" Instructor Raphael yells. He paces in frustration before turning to the crowd on the first floor. With a booming voice he offers,"For anyone that can carry a single crate to the fifth floor in under five minutes, I will personally make them a meal!"

Hearing this attractive offer, many of the soldier that were eating and watching the commotion get up and rush over, trying to claim a crate before anyone else got to it first.

Not given time to explain how heavy the crates are, the soldiers that brought the food watch as the soldier struggle to pick up the large crates. Some manage to lift them, while the majority fail to even bring it an inch of the ground, but it can be seen that even the minority that are able to carry them are struggling. There's no way they can climb to the top floor in that state.

The soldiers are not stupid. They eventually decide to partner up in twos ant threes, agreeing to split the meal between them. It has to be said, Instructor Raphael is a famous chef on the island for his "god hands". It is said that anything he makes will taste better than a world-renowned chef's, even if it's hastily put together.

The buff looking soldiers partner up and cautiously carry the crates up the flights of stairs. The rest of the crates are stuffed into the lift and when Instructor Raphael believed everything was back on track, he realized the lift was over maximum capacity.

He felt his heart drop. There was no longer anyone else that could carry any crates. Don't even mention him or the other workers he brought along, they spend most of their time in the kitchen, perfecting their skills. They're not weak by any means, but compared to the musclebrains in the fighting professions, they're weaker. They just saw two to three of those musclebrains struggle to carry the crates, how were they supposed to?

In the midst of despair, Instructor Raphael watches at Tih walks over to the lift and plucks up one of the crates with his bare hands. The lift closes and starts moving up, as it's no longer overloaded. Tih proceeds to effortlessly carry the crate up the stairs.

Shocked, Instructor Raphael hears Tih's friend chuckle," Aren't you in a time crunch? Shouldn't you also be heading up there?"