The red-haired girl looked puzzlingly at the platter, still curious why her club member was so insistent they spend the evening at a seafood restaurant.

"Y'know, for the longest time, I thought the shell was actually edible. Those commercials on TV growing up really made it look delicious."

Her friend across the table took this information in stride, but didn't offer a response besides a simple hum. Instead, she grabbed the poor red crustacean before violently twisting it unceremoniously in half.

"Holy sh-dude, what are you doing?!"

The brown-haired girl's arms froze where they hovered, the two halves of the lobster still in her hands.

"Well, I'm currently separating the abdomen from the carapace. After that, I plan to do the same for the coxa, carpus, and the walking legs. Finally, I will remove the tomalley after removing the carapace from the rest of the body. After that, it's bon appetit for us, Yonome-san!"

The shy tsundere could only gaze in astonishment at how technical the Hokkaidoan's was being, and how nonchalant she seemed to look doing something that grotesque to what was basically a sea bug. Well, at least Shiki wasn't here, or there were sure to be a rare amount of fireworks from her best friend.

"I take it you must've done this a lot back up in your home town huh…"

"Ever since I was young, yes. I'll admit I was very grossed out when I did it the first few times, but I got more used to it over the years. Not only that, but I'd like to think I've mastered the art of preparing all sorts of seafood."

"Woah, really? That's uh… actually kinda cool for someone like you." The red-haired girl spoke a bit too casually, raising her hands apologetically. "Wait, I didn't mean it like that."

"Haha, don't worry about it. I don't really stand out in any way, whether in grades, looks, stamina, hobbies, but I've never let that bother me." Kinako began removing the lobster's claws from its body. "I like myself for who I am, and all of you seem to too, so I'm okay with being normal."

"You're definitely not normal though."

"Really?" The brown-haired girl questioned curiously. "What makes you say that?"

"Okay well for one, you literally live in a log cabin in the middle of nowhere. Then you decide to come all the way to Tokyo to study and become a school idol after being talked into it by our dear leader. And now, I'm finding out that not only can you snap a damn lobster in half like it's nothing, but you can probably do the same for eels, octopus, and pufferfish."

Kinako could only giggle as she ripped the walking legs off the crustacean. "I actually haven't detoxified a pufferfish yet, but thanks for the reminder."

"See? You say that so casually like you could learn it in a day..." The red-haired girl raised her hand before her friend could reply. "Regardless, yeah. You're definitely not normal, Kinako."

"That isn't a bad thing though, right?"

"Are you kidding? Of course that ain't a bad thing. I mean, just look at our other members. None of them are normal at all."

"Like Wakana-san?"

Mei couldn't help but hold in a laugh. "Y-yes, like her, and it's those quirks about them all that really brings us together as both friends and as Liella! You get me?"

The brown-haired girl peeled the meat out of the lobster's shell, dipping it in the tomalley before letting out an innocent smile. "Not really, but I'll take your word for it!"

The red-haired girl could feel her soul slowly dying inside, as Kinako handed her a cracked open claw of meat to feast on.

"Here you are. I bet all that talking made you even hungrier, because it definitely did for me. I'm almost tempted to order seconds already!"

Chuckling before taking the juicy-looking claw, Mei gave one of her many abnormal friends a slight squint before digging into the seafood. It was delicious, and while she couldn't properly see the Hokkaidian across from her, she seemed to look pretty happy she was enjoying the dish.

Just another reminder that Mei desperately needed to get her eye prescription updated.