Inside one of the Culinary Arts classrooms, the many herbs and spices emitted a faint scent into the air. Students were hunched over their mortar and pestles, working on a new individual class project.

Per Professor Barlowe’s instructions, they were to craft a spice blend of their own. Their marks here would then carry over to Flavor Chemistry subject later in the day.

Aya’s mind, however, was so out of the room that she wasn’t even grinding down her spices efficiently.

“Mizu and Raveena… how am I supposed to get them to at least tolerate each other?” She thought before shaking her head softly. However, her right hand slipped and…

Flick!

A pinch of crushed pepper and coriander sprang up and dusted her cheeks.

“O-Oh dear!” Aya squeaked, quickly grabbing her handkerchief just in time for a sneeze.

“Ahh… hhhtschhhuu!”

A few students looked up from their flavorful projects. Aya bowed her head in embarrassment and dabbed furiously at her nose.

“Dear crumbs… what should I even do…?”

“Aya?”

She blinked and looked up to see her hen-folk friend Aimee Heartfield scooting over from the station beside hers. “Are you alright? You almost never space out like that.”

Aya gave an awkward smile. “Mm, I’m fine, I promise… just… distracted.”

“Distracted? Ooh, by what?”

Aya sighed, lowering her pestle. “It’s just… two of my friends don’t exactly get along. I don’t know what to do about it. I can’t force them to like each other, but… it feels like they wrote each other off too quickly. They never even gave themselves a chance.”

Aimee tapped her chin thoughtfully. “Maybe it’s just… friendly rivalry? You know, that kind of thing.”

“Rivalry? No way! They don’t even have anything to be rivals about. They just… started hating each other right away. Well, one of them did.”

Aimee’s ear feathers ruffled as realization struck. “Wait. You’re talking about Miss Vesper, aren’t you?”

“And Mizu,” Aya added with a small frown.

“Ohh…” Aimee deadpanned. “Right. I forgot Miss Angel already made it back from… whatever crusade she’s been running around the Wonderforest for.”

Aya nodded softly. “She came back a few days ago.”

The hen-folk groaned. “Ugh… her roaming the academy freely is such a terror. She scares everyone.”

“Really? But… she’s really sweet to me, though?”

Aimee’s face scrunched in disbelief. She even made a faint gagging noise, imagining the academy’s cold-blooded Cheshire Cat slinging an arm around Aya and cuddling up. “Yeah, no. No way we’re talking about the same Mizu Angel. Sweet? That word’s allergic to her.”

“But she is!” Aya insisted, puffing her cheeks a little. “Anyway, that’s all I’m worried about. I just… I just hope Raveena and Mizu can find a way to get along. I love them both, so I don’t want to lose either of them.”

Aimee’s jaw dropped for a moment, surprised. “…Wait. You love them?”

Aya nodded innocently. “Yes, why?”

Slowly, a smug smile appeared on Aimee’s face. “Ohhh. I see. Timing it for Happy Hearts Day, huh?”

“Huh?” Aya gave herself a moment to think about what Aimee’s talking about.

After a bit, her face immediately flushed scarlet, and she flailed her hands wildly as soon as she realized the implication of her own words.

“N-no, that’s not what I meant! Not like that! I meant love as in friends, friends! You know, friends who are… special! Uh, not special special, but important special! Oh crumbs, why did I even say it like that?!”

“…Uh-huh,” Aimee slowly nodded, still smug. “Don’t turn into a rabbit now.”

Aya tried to calm her heartbeat, pressing her hands to her chest. “I just meant… Raveena’s had such a rough start here, and Mizu’s only just come back from her travels. I just want them to find some peace, that’s all.”

Aimee sighed, shaking her head before shuffling back to her own station beside Aya’s. She picked up her mortar, dumped in her spice mix, and began grinding briskly while standing. “Well, I don’t know how you’re gonna pull it off,” she said, “but if you really want my advice… maybe talk to them one-on-one? Figure out what those two cats actually feel about each other.”

Aya brightened a little, nodding. “Mm. That… might be a good idea. Oh! Right, Mizu? You agree with that, don’t you?”

She turned her eyes toward the neighboring counter.

Aimee followed the look and frowned. “Huh? Where? Miss Angel? What are you talking about? She’s not even—"

“Tsk. That’s definitely not a good idea,” Mizu’s disembodied voice answered out of nowhere.

But then, right where Aya was looking, Mizu’s outline began to appear into existence, piece by piece. First, they saw her eyes, then her hair and cat ears, until at last they could fully see her entire body perched neatly on the counter, legs swinging, and with a lifeless expression.

Aimee yelped. “H-how?! She wasn’t there a second ago!”

The cry drew the attention of half the class. Even Professor Barlowe looked up from his notes in the corner, squinting over his spectacles at the sudden commotion.

“Ah,” he said mildly, “Miss Angel. So you’ve returned from your travels.”

“Yeah,” Mizu answered. “What of it?”

Barlowe adjusted his glasses, unbothered. “Oh, nothing. You can do whatever you like. But may I ask you to keep it down for the rest of the class? The others are working on their spices.”

Mizu pointed towards Aimee without even turning her head. “That was the hen-folk, not me.”

Aimee slapped her hands over her mouth as she let out a mortified gasp.

“Right. Miss Heartfield, please keep it down,” Professor Barlowe told her.

“…Y-yes, sir,” Aimee answered. And the professor gave a satisfied nod as he went back to his scribbling.

Aimee turned to Mizu, cheeks puffed. “That was uncalled for!”

Mizu tilted her head. “What was?”

“Ugh! Never mind!” Aimee groaned, spinning back toward her counter and began pounding at her spice mix with extra force, grumbling under her breath.

Aya, meanwhile, shuffled a little closer to the counter where Mizu sat and asked quietly. “So… um, how can I help you?”

“It’s time for an experiment,” Mizu replied.

Aya blinked in surprise. “An experiment? I’d love to but… I still have class! Can this maybe wait?”

Mizu’s looked down at Aya’s station. “What else do you need to do?”

Aya picked up her pestle sheepishly. “W-well… I still need to grind this a bit more, then add in some toasted cumin and fennel seeds. Maybe a pinch of clove, too. After that, I’ll grind it down smoother before bottling for Flavor class later.”

Mizu sighed. “Skip it, then.”

Aya smiled weakly, rubbing her cheek with the back of her wrist. “I… can’t. I really need these extra points.”

Mizu stared at the mortar, then looked back to Aya. “Your project, do you know the steps? Where you’ll get the rest of your ingredients? The entire process?”

Aya nodded quickly. “Mm-hm! I told you earlier the steps I needed to do! As for where the ingredients are, I can just grab them from the spice rack by the window.”

Mizu nodded. “Okay, then.”

Then Aya tilted her head curiously. “Why do you ask?”

Mizu stared at the mix, then at Aya again. “…Heck of a spice blend you’re making.” She shrugged, as if dismissing her own words. “Whatever. Lean closer.”

“Eh? Closer?”

“Did I stutter?”

“O-Okay…” though confused, Aya leaned in and let their faces close some space between them. Aya’s eyes couldn’t help but tremble under Mizu’s steady stare. This felt too out of nowhere that she couldn’t figure out what the cat-folk will do ne—

Prick!

“Ow!” Aya yelped softly, her ears shooting up.

“Good,” Mizu muttered.

They both drew back. With Aya rubbing the top of her head. “Wh-what was that?”

“Nothing,” Mizu said as she held up a small strand of pastel-pink hair between her fingers. “Just needed this.”

Aya’s mouth fell open. “M-my hair? What are you going to do with it?”

Instead of answering, Mizu extended her hand toward Aya’s station. “Give me the container you’re using for presentation.”

“H-huh? Why?”

“Just hand it over.”

Still rattled, Aya obeyed, passing Mizu an empty spice bottle. “Mizu… what are you even doing?”

“Watch,” the cat-folk said.

In slow and steady motions, Mizu moved her finger. It didn’t take long before magical runes appeared mid-air one after another, hovering a few inches above Aya’s countertop, faint enough that only the two of them could see.

Aya leaned closer. “…That’s not basic magic, is it?”

“No,” Mizu answered. “This is timework. Normally, taboo. But… the Wonderrealm tolerates it if the scale is small,” then she glanced at Aya’s strand of hair, which she levitated and placed by the runes. “And with this, your steps, your knowledge, your ingredients, it all gets carried forward.”

“W-wait… forward? Like skipping ahead?”

“Precisely.”

The hair eventually dissolved itself so the magic could absorb it, and as soon as it was completely gone, the runes slightly changed and moved. Aya gasped quietly as her mortar and pestle moved on its own. Seeds cracked and toasted fennel fell in as if plucked straight from the rack across the room. Cloves also appeared, and the pestle broke down and mixed them with the other ingredients seamlessly.

It was like watching her own process, but sped up and compressed into a few quick moments.

The finely ground and fragrant mixture finished itself in moments, and the magical runes that Mizu had activated disappeared. Then, with a flick of Mizu’s wrist, the spice poured from the mortar and into the bottle Aya had given her, tightly sealed at the cap.

“I… what? That’s… my project? But I didn’t even…”

Mizu let out a breath, brushing stray sparks from her fingertips. “You would have. The spell only walked the path you’d already set in your head. Time folded, nothing more.”

Aya stared down at the finished bottle. “That’s… bizarre. No one even noticed?”

“Did it quietly that only you and I saw it,” Mizu replied. “That’s all that matters. Now, shall we go?”

“W-wait, can I check it first?”

“…Fine.”

Aya carefully uncapped the bottle and leaned in to take in its contents’ scent. Cumin, fennel, clove, all balanced with the spices she’d already started with.

“Just what I pictured,” she thought.

Normally, she’d fret over the taste, but… she trusted Mizu’s magic. And her nose told her enough.

Once done checking, she sealed it again. Aya then fished a ribbon from her pouch and tied it around the bottle’s neck in a bow, tucking a small handwritten tag beneath the knot. On it, she’d scribbled: “Ribbuns’ Special Spice”.

Aya smiled, clutching it with both hands. “Perfect! Thank you, Mizu. I’ll just hand this to Professor Barlowe, then I’ll come with you!”

Mizu nodded. “Make it quick.”

Aya nodded back and walked over to Professor Barlowe’s corner with her bottle. She placed it gently on his desk and said, “Here’s my submission, Professor. Also… um, may I be excused? Mizu needs me for something.”

Barlowe adjusted his spectacles, looking past her and toward the counter where the cat-folk sat down again. Mizu raised her only visible brow at him, almost daring him to question it.

“…Fine,” he said at last, setting the bottle aside. “You’re excused, you can find out your grade for this project later.”

Aya bowed happily. “Thank you, sir!”

She skipped back toward Mizu, who hopped down from the counter and began leading the way.

“Aimee?” Aya quietly called as they walked by Aimee’s area, then she tapped the hen-folk’s shoulder. “I’ll see you in the next class, okay?”

Aimee looked up at them. “Wait, what just happened? Where are you two goi—"

“None of your business,” Mizu answered quickly before she continued to lead Aya out of the room. As soon as they were outside, the cat-folk used her magic to push the classroom door closed.

Inside, Aimee glared at the door and huffed in disbelief.

“That cat…”