The other side of a glass tank - Octavinelle (& Twisted Wonderland) X Reader

Chapter 30 - Hatchling

"All right, that should be enough chestnuts. Let's get these baskets over to Trey!"

After gathering a whole lot of chestnuts near the woods behind the school, you and your group headed to the cafeteria's kitchen to meet up with the green haired junior.

"Welcome back. Looks like you got plenty! And it's nice to see you here as well, professor." Said third year greeted with a smile as you put all the stuff on the counter and reciprocated kindly.

"Now you can make us some massive tarts!" Grim grinned widely as he jumped over Yuu's shoulder.

"Well, the bigger the tarts, the harder it'll be to peel all of these, so... good luck with that!" The Heartslabyul vice housewarden said with a slight laugh as he crossed his arms, and Deuce clumsily grazed his temple.

"We have to peel all of these...? Suddenly the whole room is spinning..." The blue haired boy mumbled and the older student patted his shoulder.

"Preparation is the key to good baking." The latter commented.

"Yeah, yeah, I know. We've come this far. We're not giving up now!" Ace said with a sour expression as he rolled up his sleeves.

"You seem a tad bit worried, dear. Are you not good around the kitchen, perhaps?" You asked the dual skinned prefect as you also readied yourself to start.

"Oh, no. I may not be the best cook out there but I'm actually pretty decent at baking. I really like sweets, after all... I was thinking about something else." The shy fellow retorted quietly as they washed their hands.

"It being?" You inquired further and the magicless human frowned softly.

"It's just... back during lunch time-"

"Mya-ouch...! Darn this prickly stuff!" The dark blonde didn't manage to finish their sentence as the fiery creature yelped in pain, after trying to sneak a chestnut for himself.

"Those ain't for you, so that's what you get, you glutton!" The ginger scowled as he picked the small monster by his scruff.

"Ah, please. Let's do this peacefully..." Trey sighed as he stopped the collared freshman.

After that, you all began what turned out to be a long session of peeling and pureeing.

~~~~~//$\\~~~~~

Apart from Yuu and Ace, everyone used their magic to get the work done, and after a couple of hours, it was actually over with. Now, you were going to start on the cream. Trey had actually begun to prepare a small extra cake too, so that all of you could taste the result.

Everyone looked pretty ragged.

"There! Finally got 'em all pureed!" The collared ginger sighed wearily.

"My arm is killing me..." Deuce mumbled with a pained expression.

"Nice work. It'll be all the sweeter for your pain!" The green haired junior said with a smile while Grim stared at the result with big eyes.

"The smell alone already has me droolin'..." He said in a dragged voice.

"Now, I just need to add butter and sugar to the chestnut paste, and a sensible splash of oyster sauce- that's my secret ingredient!" Trey exclaimed and everyone looked weirded out.

"Oyster sauce?!" The Heartslabyul freshmen jumped in surprise.

"Yep. The umami of the oysters gives the cream a deep, savory flavor." The third year with glasses continued. You frowned a bit in disgust and the magicless prefect beside you quietly gagged.