Editing Apocalypse Witch:Volume3 Chapter2 (section)

===Part 5===

“Heave ho, heave ho.”

Sophia Firenze, a teacher with long flaxen hair kept her voice low as she carried a large pot in both hands. She was wearing a tight skirt suit, but it had the fresh-on-the-job look of someone’s cheap first suit. She was like a puppy on two legs. She gave off an aura that inspired worry in everyone who saw her.

She was apparently preparing food for everyone.

They had the entire international airport to themselves, but she was dragging the cooking equipment out of one of the restaurants. By combining that restaurant equipment with the shelter’s outdoor equipment, she was remaking one corner of the airport into a campground cooking area. After all, there were more than 1000 students between the middle and high school. Using a whole restaurant kitchen might not be enough to cook for that many at once.

Kiyosawa Hadome, a muscular gym teacher in track pants and a tank top, called out to her.

“Firenze-sensei.”

“Oh, Kiyosawa-sensei!”

Sophia’s face lit up while still carrying the large pot.

During the battle at Crystal Beach the other day, they had been fighting against the lack of infrastructure for food and shelter. Sophia had learned a lot from that clash with the decoy Threats in an Arctic blizzard where tomorrow’s food was never guaranteed. For one, she had learned that wielding a weapon was not the only way to fight.

“At times like this, it’s best to cook a large quantity in a biiiig pot! The standard would be curry rice, right? Or would a hearty beef stew be better? Oh, but we could also skip the pot and grill the meat.”

“Each child’s condition is unique and the stress will affect them all differently too. You should probably have vegetable smoothies ready for the students with upset stomachs.”

“Oh, you’re right. That would fill them up and be decently nutritious! What a great idea!!”

Kiyosawa was generally feared by the students, but he always grew more polite when around Sophia. He knew it was a bad habit of his, but he could not stop himself.

He glanced over at the President moving by on her wheelchair a short distance away before providing more advice.

“It would also be helpful if you took down notes of the ingredients and cooking methods used when making something to feed a large group of students. You don’t want to find out later that you can’t remember what secret ingredient you added.”

After all, Grimnoah gathered people with rare talent from all around the world. It was not uncommon for students to have dietary restrictions due to allergies, religious reasons, or being a vegetarian.

Sophia seemed motivated, so he left the cooking to her. Maybe this outdated way of thinking made him an old-fashioned sort of gym teacher, but if those overly energetic brats could have the home cooking of a muscular male gym teacher or a young female teacher, he could guess which one they would choose.”

“Darjeeling, hm?”

Kiyosawa Hadome himself checked some of the tea leaves found among the cooking equipment and ingredients scattered about. Those tea leaves were so well-known and ubiquitous that it was hard to judge their quality, but as an international airport, the leaves inside the rectangular canister looked fairly high quality to him.

Tea was wonderful. You could drink it as is or you could use it to flavor a dessert. It was an elegant thing but also contained caffeine, so it could help boost morale a little on the battlefield. He found it more useful than coffee.

“Wow.” Sophia tilted her head. “You do that quick, Kiyosawa-sensei. Is this a specialty of yours?”

“I do live on my own. Although I will admit I gained these skills from a former classmate of mine who tended to boss everyone around when it came to cooking.” The muscular teacher sighed. “Also, if any students say they aren’t hungry, try recommending some stretches before giving them any digestive medicine. Hunger is a biological signal, so if you get your organs back on the proper cycle, you will feel it soon enough.”

“Eh? Even though everyone’s exhausted after fighting on the front line?”

“The muscles used for track, swimming, and martial arts are all different. You only focus on your lungs when exercising, so it is fairly common to forget all about your other organs while working so hard to move your arms and legs. Something as simple as changing the way you breathe can stimulate muscles you rarely use, so a single 10-minute yoga session can get your organs in order and really change how you feel.”

“I thought you would be a lot stricter about food.”

“If you aren’t on an extreme diet or trying to lose weight before a match, you can eat most anything in moderation.”

A tremor ran through the air.

Some boys and girls in crystal armor had gathered in the air just outside the airport’s large window as they prepared to head out to the front line. The students were quickly taking charge during this fight. Kiyosawa Hadome hated that, but there was nothing he could do to change that on his own. The local people had evacuated, but they still needed to protect the city from the Threat.

“This is all we can do for the students as they fly to a deadly battlefield without a single complaint,” he muttered to himself with the tea canister in hand. The look on his face was one he would never let the students see. “Don’t you die, brats.”