Henry wandered the halls in search of a club. Walking past the empty classrooms, his footsteps echoed slightly as he pushed on the soft wood that made up the narrow, Tibetan style bridge leading to a minor wing of the school. He was hoping that the main reason he hadn't found Gimei was that he had only checked one out of the four buildings that made up the school complex. If all of the subsidiary wings and basements came up empty, he had planned to put up missing person posters asking for her club.
He walked down unknown hallways, which weren't that much more unknown than the hallways next to his class considering this was his first day, trying to find either a club or a face that he could recognize.

He stopped. A very unusual detail caught his attention. He was standing now in front of a closed door. But, there was no other way around it, the door was evidently painted on. It was a very realistic painting, with all the details and shading necessary, but nonetheless it was as fake as it was two dimensional. Using an actual photo would have probably helped, but alas, on the thin sheet of solid cardboard was the drawing of a door.

Henry was unsure on how to deal with the fake door, but after looking at it for some seconds, he decided to knock on it. It didn't make a lot of sound, considering it was made of paper and not of wood, and also wobbled a bit. There was no answer. Before looking behind it, Henry decided to knock a second time.

"Occupied!" A muffled voice answered from behind the door.

"It's a bathroom?! Wait a second, I recognize that voice!"

"Ah!"

Henry grabbed the side of the door and pulled it away, revealing that Hajime, the "kuudere" of his class, was holding up the cardboard.

"What are you doing?"

But instead of answering, Hajime threw the fake door at him and ran away.

"Agh! Wait, I want to ask you something!"

Henry wasn't the most athletic person in the world, but also barely managed to reach the average student's athleticism, and despite that, he was very weak. Spending most of your middle school years on a gaming chair will do that to you. Hajime, however, was just as bad muscle-wise and couldn't run fast, but we won't question what she did with her middle school years out of respect. Henry could reach her with ease. But for some reason, Hajime's run also consisted of swinging her delicately closed hands left and right at shoulder height. This slowed down her run even further, but also made her look "cutesy" and "girly" and "not human-like". For this reason, Henry decided not to catch up to her, on purpose, just to see her run a bit longer.

This slow-paced chase ended when Hajime turned to open a door, at which point Henry stopped her by grabbing her arm.

Hajime answered by letting out a loud scream.

He immediately let her go, and the two stood there in silence for a second. 

"You're a lot shyer than I thought." Whispered Henry.

The door burst open, and a small group of students came out.

"What was that scream?"

"Hajime! Are you ok?"

"What did you do to her?!"

Three girls surrounded them, and as one took Hajime to safety, the other two pointed sharp blades at Henry.

"W-wait a second, there's been a misunderstanding!" Henry raised his arms. "H-Hajime and I are from the same class and I'm a new student so I just wanted to join a club but I don't really know how to do it and I also just don't know what clubs are in this school maybe there is a board or a list somewhere anyway the thing is that I just wanted to join a club from someone in my class and I've talked with Hajime before so I just wanted to ask her if she was in a club but she just started to run away for some reason and I grabbed her arm but just to stop her but she screamed and I don't know why and I'm sorry!" Henry said.

"Wow... I didn't understand a word of what he said." One of the knife-wielding girls said.

"He said club a lot. That and the word just."

"Do you want to join our club?"

"Yes, that's what I was trying to say! Wait, I'm a bit scared to ask but, what is this club?"

"Cooking."

"Oh. That's a lot tamer than I imagined. Based on the other two clubs I've seen I was expecting either a fire eating club or an accounting club."

"If you're looking for the fire eating club it's in the east wing."

"Is there really no anime club?? No, never mind. Can I try out the club? The cooking club, that is."

The three girls turned to Hajime, who had her eyes wide open and was furiously shaking her head left and right.

"What did you do to her?"

"I didn't do anything! I swear! She's just... very shy around me."

Everyone was looking at Henry with suspicious eyes. Everyone except Hajime. She was looking at Henry with desperation and disquiet.

"I know what we can do!" One of the girls went into the room and quickly returned with one of those bells you usually find at the reception of a hotel. "You can try out the club, but if you do anything that makes Hajime upset, she will ring the bell and you will immediately be kicked out!" The girl explained as she handed her the bell.

Hajime profusely rang the bell the second she received it.

"...you should at least give him a try."

"Fine!" Hajime stormed inside the room.

Finally, Henry was allowed in. His eyes widened, surprised by the amount of people crammed inside the room. Every table was in use, saturating the air with a mix of both sweet and savory (and umami, since they're in Japan) smells. Students would roam from cheap oven to cheap oven with hands gloved in oven mitts as wiggly lines floated over whatever food they were carrying.

"The cooking club is really popular!" Henry approached Hajime, who turned the other way.

"It's the second most popular club in the school." Answered the girl acting as Hajime's bodyguard.

"What's the most popular one?"

"I don't know. I just keep getting told this is the second most popular one."

"Oh. Then I guess I'll get to cooking." 

Henry approached a microwave but was immediately stopped.

"What are you doing?" A boy in a stained apron put himself between Henry and the oven. He didn't even get to hear Henry's voice and yet he already looked fed up with him.

"I wanted to make some pasta!"

The boy looked at him with disgust. "Are you new here?"

"How'd you guess?"

"This side of the room is not for the newbies."

"Who are you to decide what I get and don't get to use?"

"Age Doutoshi, the club president." Said Age, pronounced not age, but aɡe.

"Well, you got me there... Still, why can't I use the microwave?"

"Other than the fact that you shouldn't need a microwave to make pasta?"

"Yes, other than that."

Age sighed.

"There are a lot of people in the club, so I— We… have decided to separate everyone into two groups."

He explained to Henry how, thanks to the popularity cooking had in Kanzen High, the people of the club had to be split. On one side, the best of cooks, those who had a real passion for cooking and who needed high grade equipment to make complex dishes. These were “the experts”. On the other hand were the students who simply wanted to cook for fun and didn't want to make a competition out of their hobby, meaning they could make do with regular equipment. They were “the normal people”.

"You look like you should fit perfectly with the second group."

"I've never got anyone to call me normal before and I won't start now! I'll show you I can cook something amazing!"

"Microwave pasta won't impress me."

"I-I knew that! And don't worry, I won't be alone. Hajime will help me!" Henry pointed to the other side to the room, where a startled Hajime was minding her business.

"President, I'm quitting the club." She accepted Henry's proposal.

"Oh, a challenge? And what do I get if what you make isn't good?"

"I will join the club!" Henry screamed.

"But I don't want you to join the club. We've got enough people as it is."

"Then Hajime won't quit!"

"She's not a bad cook, but still nothing like the experts. I don't mind if she leaves."

"What?!" Hajime cried as she approached the club president. "But I have perfect attendance!"

"We prioritize the quality of the dishes here, and yours are just average."

"See? I would treat you better than him." Henry butted in.

"That's it, I'll show what I'm really made of! Let's—" Hajime turned to Henry and flinched. She looked at him for a second, then turned around to her bodyguard. "Hanyou, let's get cooking!"

"She'll warm up to me sooner or later." Henry lied to both Age and himself. "But I have to ask. As the club president, shouldn't you encourage cooking, even if it isn't high quality? Not to be blunt but, why are you being a rude meanie?" Henry was as family-friendly as he could.

"I've had a poor upbringing."

"Ah, I see. Right."

Not knowing how to respond, Henry decided to leave and get to helping Hajime.

"Gaikan, preheat the oven to 180 degrees." Hajime instructed to her friend, "Hanyou, get me flour and eggs." Her bodyguard was ready to cook. "I'm going to make a salty cake so good it'll blow his clothes away." She got to work.

"Alright, I'm here! How can I help?" Henry interrupted her.

"By leaving the room." Hajime answered without looking away from the vegetables she was cutting.

"Oh, you and your shyness. C'mon, just give me a task and I'll help you out."

Hajime looked at him. She walked to the fridge and came back holding a yellow bell pepper.

"What do I need to do?" Henry curiously asked.

Hajime handed him the, technically speaking, berry, gave him a thumbs up, and returned to cutting her vegetables. 

"W-what... What do I do with it?"