Minoru and I were sitting on the steps of the school, just talking about different things. Just trying to kill some time, more than anything.

- Oh, man.. I'm hungry.. Is it close to lunchtime already?

Minoru then asked. I reached for my phone which didn't have that much use these days, other than being used as a camera.

- Yeah, it's getting close,

I told, and Minoru jumped up.

- Awesome! Let's go see how Aoi's doing with the cooking,

he suggested. I stood up after him.

- Sounds good, although it's not just her in there anymore.

- What do you mean?

Minoru asked, blinking in confusion.

- You didn't hear about it yet? Ryo's there too, helping Aoi,

I told him. That made him chuckle.

- Now this I have to see! Come on, Takuma, let's go!

He ran into the school building and I followed.

Minoru wasted no time in getting to the cafeteria door. I was right behind him.

- Wait, hold up,

Minoru whispered, pressing his ear against the door. That was a little extreme, even without such measures we heard the muffled voices of Aoi and Ryo coming from inside.

- Man, you weren't kidding. Come on, let's go in.

Minoru promptly opened the door and we headed in. He stopped right at the doorway, though, causing me to bump into him.

- Takuma.. look at that,

he said, his body shaking a little from held in laughter. I got myself back in balance and looked over Minoru's shoulder. Aoi and Ryo were pretty busy working on preparing lunch. It wasn't that weird, really, because Aoi always took care of feeding us. But of course I knew that it was the addition of Ryo that Minoru found so funny. It almost looked like Ryo and Aoi hadn't noticed us yet because they actually were caught up in a casual conversation. Labramon was being a good little helper, carrying bowls of vegetables or whatever Aoi needed help with. Kunemon was there too, although he wasn't doing that much of anything. At least not when compared to Labramon. Kunemon was seated on a chair from which he acted as a moral support.

- Kew, kewww!

he often said. I wasn't really sure what those sounds translated to, but I already knew that Ryo really seemed to understand his partner. Maybe right now Kunemon was just impressed that other half was so good in the kitchen.

- Labramon?

Aoi's kind voice said.

- Could you bring come help me a little bit?

she asked. Labramon was eager to assist.

- Of course, Aoi, anything!

she responded as she ran over, wagging her tail a little.

- Kew!

Kunemon then said all of a sudden, causing Ryo to stop whatever he was doing and look right at the door.

- Oi, what are you two doing, just standing there and laughing?

the guy asked, giving Minoru a brief death stare. Minoru, though, wasn't fazed and had a response ready.

- Takuma told me that Aoi's got a new little kitchen helper here, so I just really had to come and see it for myself! Takuma's tagging along because we're super tight,

he said with that bright, wide grin on his face.

- Hmph.. I know, I've heard you two talk..

Ryo mumbled under his breath, and then turned to Aoi as he just thought of something.

- Aoi. We should put those two slackers to work,

he told her.

- They got time to stand there, so they're not exactly busy with anything else.

Aoi thought about that for a brief moment, and nodded in agreement.

- You're right. Minoru, you could peel and chop those vegetables. Takuma, you come help me over here,

she said, giving orders in her calm, almost motherly manner. Minoru blinked, looking at me. This wasn't what he'd planned.

- Wait, what?!

I grinned sheepishly, and said:

- It doesn't look like we have any other option.. Let's just help them with what they need.

Labramon had appeared behind us, heard our words and said firmly:

- That's right! Aoi is working hard every day to make sure no one goes hungry. She is always so kind and thoughtful. Now you can start to pay her back.

- Man...

Minoru groaned.

I got started with assisting Aoi. I didn't have that much experience in cooking, but she was patient in showing and telling me what to do. As I worked next to her, I kept glancing in Ryo's direction, learning something new about him. He didn't need any guidance and seemed to be quite at home in the kitchen. It really seemed like a second nature to him. I was secretly impressed. I didn't have much time to keep an eye on Minoru because I wanted to be sure that I was doing everything right. I didn't want to undo the hard work of Ryo and Aoi. And speaking of Minoru.. he was slowly chopping the vegetables, looking quite unimpressed and even bored. His mind was clearly somewhere else.

- Man.. Takuma, this sure is boring...

I heard him groan. After this a brief silence fell over us as we worked. This silence though was broken maybe about thirty seconds later when Minoru let out a blood freezing shriek, probably giving everyone in the room a heart attack. He dramatically dropped the knife on the table, holding his hand tightly. Aoi got scared that he'd really cut his hand, and already made a run for the first aid kit. I was naturally worried, too, but soon started to suspect that this was just an act. Because Minoru wobbled over to where I was stationed and basically threw himself against me, leaving me to catch him.

- Takuma... help me, I'm.. everything is going dark...

he wailed pretty convincingly. He sure had Aoi and Ryo fooled. Myself as well, although I started to catch onto him. This was all an act to spice things up. For a couple seconds I wondered what to do. And then.. I decided to play along.

- M..Minoru, hang in there! Help is on the way!

I yelled, somehow getting just the right amount of worry and horror in my voice. I was still holding Minoru as he rested in my arms.

- It's too late, Takuma.. You're going to.. have to bury me.. Don't forget that I.. always loved you, man..

I could feel his body start to shake. Was this the next part of the show? No.. I very soon realized that he was holding back his laughter. Although he wasn't successful for very long.

- Hey, what the hell?!

Ryo angrily demanded an answer as Minoru burst out laughing. Just in time for Aoi to return with the first aid kit.

- M..Minoru?!

was all she could say. Labramon was far from amused.

- How dare you do something like that? That's a cruel trick to pull on someone as nice as Aoi!

she growled, almost looking like she wanted to pounce at Minoru and drive him out of the cafeteria. Unfortunately Minoru's laughter was contagious, and I was now laughing, as well.

- Kewww...?

Kunemon said, looking in Ryo's direction. Ryo himself looked like he'd had enough of Minoru's tricks for the day, because he marched straight to us, towering above us in a pretty threatening way. Minoru had tears in his eyes because of all the laughing. Ryo pulled us both on our feet and started to push us towards the door.

- Ryo, hey, what are you-?

Minoru exclaimed but was cut off.

- Get out,

Ryo growled at us both.

- Wait, what?!

Minoru tried to have a word in, but Ryo wasn't having it.

- Get out of the cafeteria, you goddamn punks!

Ryo straight up pushed us out of the room and shut the door in front of our faces. Soon afterwards we heard him complain to Aoi:

- I think Takuma's a good leader and I respect him for it, but that featherbrained sidekick he's got with him..!

- Well, that is Minoru for you..

Aoi was heard to respond as she had mostly recovered from her near heart attack. Minoru turned to me and chuckled, saying:

- Hey, Takuma. I think we really spiced things up in there, what do you think?

- You could say that again. Although I don't think we're welcome to help them again anytime soon.