Notes – Written for a kinkmeme request that wanted Flora to meet Cooking Mama. I just couldn't pass up something that looked so much fun. A crossover set in the Layton universe sometime after the first game.
"Don't y' think this is a bit mean, professah?"
"It is… necessary, Luke. Quite necessary," Layton assured him firmly. He knew this charade couldn't go on.
"But 'oo is she?" Luke pressed, looking up from a picture of a smiling brunette lady wearing a pink shawl over her head that Layton had provided him with.
"Admittedly, I don't know her name. But she appears to just go by the title of Cooking Mama, or Mama for short. And I believe she's exactly the sort of influence that Flora needs," Layton confirmed.
'Cooking Mama', Luke thought, a bit like Granny Riddleton then. He could live with that. But then he could live with anything that would get Flora to stop serving them anymore cake that had fish inside of it.
The lady arrived, smiling, almost creepily so, in the same way she had looked on the picture the next day. The professor answered the door and let her in, both Luke and Flora watching from the hallway.
"Who is this, professor?" Flora asked curiously. She hadn't been informed of their plan.
"This is, um, Mama, and she's here to help you with your cookery skills," Layton replied awkwardly.
"There's nothing wrong with my cooking! Or do you… not like my cucumber sandwiches?" said Flora. It was hard to tell from her expression if she was going to cry or explode with rage.
"Of course I do, my dear! We both like your sandwiches just fine," he lied quickly, "But we thought that Mama could help to broaden your horizons and provide you with lots of new recipes to try."
This seemed good enough of an answer for Flora.
"All right, I'll show you to our kitchen then, Mama," she replied, leading the quiet lady through to the other room. When they were gone Layton and Luke exchanged glances and sighed with relief.
It all seemed fine for the first fifteen minutes – they could hear a lot of Flora's singsong voice as she threw ingredients together and occasionally Mama provided input. But after that it all started to go down hill.
"Don't worry, Mama will fix this!" they heard, in a thick Japanese accent, causing them both to jump and rush to the door.
"Don't come in!" Flora yelled as the door handle was turned, "I-it's quite a mess in here and Mama says that she doesn't want anyone to see until it's ready."
Reluctantly, they left the two girls to carry on. The rest of the day was filled mostly with the sound of 'don't worry, Mama will fix this' as if this was some sort of catchphrase for the famed chef. The tone however, grew more and more annoyed to the point where Layton and Luke were wondering if there was really any hope for Flora's cooking at all.
Back in the kitchen, after the twelfth scone had come out of the oven charred black and smoking heavily, Flora collapsed onto a chair, put her head in her arms and wailed.
"I just can't do this! I just can't cook, Mama…" she cried.
Walking over to her, Mama put a sympathetic hand on Flora's shoulder and smiled.
"You gave it your best effort."
Mama had taught many people to cook over the years. She was quite possibly the best cookery teacher in this day and age. But something about Flora was just impossible to teach. The simplest of cookery tasks, even with Mama's supervision, seemed to fail drastically as soon as Flora got her hands on them.
But she wasn't one to let a poor girl feel defeated.
That night Layton and Luke were served one of the best meals they'd ever eaten, much to their surprise. It wasn't until the day after, when the true chef was well on her way to her next student, did the two of them realise that Flora had not been the person to actually make it.
Flora may have come out of the lessons with all of Cooking Mama's spirit, but she had obtained none of her skills.
They were just going to have to get used to cucumber sandwiches.