The small kitchenette was a flurry of activity. Riou had never considered himself much of a cook, and acting as Hai Yo's assistant had always been awkward, to say the least. Of course, the fact of the matter was that he was a better cook than Nanami, and in turn one of the few people that could replace the famed cook for the competition.

Viki, on the other hand, had volunteered to help in the kitchen. And no one had the heart to tell the teleportress 'No.'

So there they were. Riou decided to give Viki the simple task of washing the fish while he prepared the vegetables for a sauteè.

And then he heard the strangest sound ever. It sounded like a dying cat yowling.

And then he felt a significant weight on his head.

And all went black.



When he came to, Riou was told quite blandly by Shu that Viki had put the fish in a strange contraption with glass and blades and activated it. Apparently it was one of many items that appeared when Viki used her Blinking Rune to teleport items onto enemies.

The fish shot out, slapping the young leader in the head as it came down to earth.

Hai Yo, on the other hand, thought that the find was tremendous and extremely useful. He used it on all of his future cooking matches with remarkable results.

He dubbed the device ... the blender.