Chapter 2
Teaming up! Rivals already!?

Judy was accepted. She could finally call herself a real ninja…
Although, ninja-in-training was probably a better description. Before, all Judy had available was old textbooks and scrolls from the library that she'd study with abandon, but now she would get actual training from real shinobi. The teenage doe could hardly contain her excitement.
"This calls for a celebration!" Her aunt Adeline beamed as she broke their hug. "I'll cook up some kaisennabe for the occasion."
Judy's smile faltered slightly upon hearing this. Her aunt's cooking wasn't exactly horrible, but the grey doe had unofficially taken over kitchen duties almost as soon as she had moved in.
"Uh, you don't have to do that, Aunt Addy," she nervously responded. "I mean, we can go out to eat instead."
"Judy, as tempting as that is, I want to show how proud of you I am," the cream-coloured bunny insisted. "So I'm making supper tonight, okay?"
Before Judy could make another argument, a bell faintly chimed from downstairs.
"Oh, a customer!" Adeline exclaimed. "Judy, would you mind handling that while I check to see if we have everything for the nabe? Thank you!"
Her aunt was out of sight without giving a chance for the doe to stop her, leaving Judy to hang her head in defeat.

As Judy came down the steps into the shop, she immediately spotted the large cheetah browsing the shelves. With his back to her, she saw that his gi had the kana for Pisces scrawled on it.
"Excuse me, can I help you?" She asked the customer.
"Yeah, actually, I was wondering if you sold any Anpan here," the cheetah asked as he turned to look at Judy, his face lighting up when he saw the bunny. "Hey, I know you! You were at the entrance exam! Wait, do you work here?"
Judy blinked a few times before recognizing the face and voice.
"Not really," she shrugged with a smile. "My aunt is letting me live upstairs for now, I just help out from time to time. I'm Judy by the way, Judy Hopps."
"Benjamin Clawhauser," he replied. "But you can call me Ben."
"Sure thing," the bunny beamed.
"Now about that Anpan?" Ben asked again.
"Oh right! Um, I think they're over this way," Judy said as she led the way towards the far end of the shop. "So why are you looking for Anpan, Ben?"
"To celebrate my entrance into the Academy," the cheetah casually dropped.
"Wait, you got in too?!" The doe blurted in disbelief.
"'Too'?" Ben stopped for a second before realizing. "Then that means you-"
"Yes!" Judy exclaimed.
"Then we might be classmates!"
"YES!" She repeated before hugging the cheetah as they laughed in celebration.

"What's going on down here?" Adeline asked as she turned the corner to find her niece being twirled around in a rotund cheetah's arms.
The two friends immediately stopped their celebration and separated themselves with slight embarrassment before Judy introduced her new friend.
"Ben wanted to celebrate his acceptance into the Academy by treating himself to some Anpan," she explained.
"You got accepted too?" The older doe questioned with a raised brow as she studied him. "I had a feeling Judy would get in, but seeing you… Honestly, I did not see that coming."
"I guess that'll make me the perfect ninja," Ben chuckled, leaving Judy to facepaw at the poor joke.
"Well if it's all the same, I was going to be making some kaisennabe to celebrate Judy's acceptance, so you're free to join us if you want," the cream-coloured doe offered.
"Really?" He asked as his face lit up. "That would be great…"
His eyes shifted towards Judy standing right behind her aunt, her arms crossed in an 'X' and shaking her head furiously.
"But… I had already had asked Judy to join me for some Anpan," Ben added with a nervous smile.
"Oh," Adeline simply replied before turning to her niece. "Well I guess the nabe will have to be for another time then."
"Yeah… Too bad," Judy uneasily chuckled.
"But the least I can do is let you have the Anpan on me," the older doe smirked as she hopped onto the shelf and tossed them a couple of the pre-packed pastries. "And I would also recommend some green tea to go with 'em."
Judy was stunned at the sudden shift in her aunt's demeanor, having been pretty adamant about cooking not ten minutes earlier.
"Are you sure, Aunt Addy?" She asked as she chased her aunt through to the store. "We can pay for these, you know."
"My shop. My rules," her aunt stated as she gave them each a can of green tea before pushing them outside. "Have a nice date you two!"
"DATE!?" Judy and Ben exclaimed before Adeline shut the door.
"Ah, young love," she smiled before heading back upstairs.

"I'll have to thank your aunt the next time I see her," Ben said as he happily ate his Anpan.
The two friends had found an empty bench nearby and were currently enjoying the free food. Or at least, Ben was. Judy, for her part, was hiding her face behind her ears in sheer embarrassment by what had just happened.
"I can't believe she thinks we're on a date," she groaned.
"Hey, maybe she was joking," the cheetah suggested.
"Ugh. Anyway, thanks for saving me back there," Judy smiled as she opened up her pastry and began eating. "Aunt Addy's cooking is lethal sometimes."
"Anything for a friend, Judy," Ben chuckled before raising up his green tea. "Here's to new friendships."
The doe raised her own can as well.
"And here's to becoming ninjas!"

Judy was practically jumping in place from where she was waiting, standing at the front steps of the Academy. She had made a promise with Ben to stay and wait for him, but it was getting harder to do so every minute that he wasn't there. She almost didn't notice the familiar form of a hare walking past her towards the Academy, his gi a sombre black.
"Jack?" She stopped him. "Wow, congratulations on getting in!"
"I take it that you also made the cut?" He calmly asked.
"Yeah, I'm just waiting on a friend, is all."
"Well I sure hope it's not that sore excuse of a mammal," Jack frowned as he gestured past Judy.
The doe looked behind her to see Ben heaving as he made is way up the steps.
She looked back to Jack with her face contorted in anger.
"You jerk!" She spat before running up to her friend. "Ben, are you alright?"
"Hey… Judy… Sorry I'm… Late…" The cheetah gasped between breaths.
"Let's just hope that the over-sized dumpling doesn't get a heart-attack during training," Jack smirked before he turned tail.
Anger bubbled inside Judy as she watched the hare walk into the Academy. She hated bullies more than anything and wished just as much that he wasn't going to be in their class.
As the two friends came up to their classroom, having figured out days ago that they were in the same class, they found themselves looking into a pretty sparse group of mammals. Some wolves, a tiger, an elephant, a few weasels, a couple of porcupines, a spotted hyena; in short, the group wasn't as diverse as during the entrance exam.
"Looks like a lot less mammals passed than we thought," Judy muttered.
"And yet I'm still amazed by how the dumpling passed," a voice that made the doe ball her fists rang out.
She turned to find none other than Jack sitting down in front at a desk appropriate to his size, his feet propped up with almost no care at all.
"He passed because he deserved it!" The doe defended.
"Really? You expect me to believe that this over-weight cheetah passed the entrance exam?" Jack frowned. "Especially considering he was bent over trying to catch his breath not five minutes ago?"
Judy slammed her paws on his desk, glaring daggers at the hare.
"He passed and that's all that matters," she pressed between grit teeth.
"We'll see about that during training," he said as he returned the glare.
"I'll kick your butt during training," the doe threatened.
"I'd like to see you try."
"If you two are done, then would Miss Hopps take a seat so we can get started?" A gruff voice called out from behind the teenager.
Judy turned to see the same towering water buffalo from the entrance exam standing behind the desk with his arms crossed, his nostrils flaring. The bunny quickly made her way to a free desk at the other side of the room, far from Jack.
"Now that I have everyone's attention, I think I'll start by saying that every mammal in this room deserves to be here," he said with an obvious glare towards Jack, a fact that had Judy smiling behind her paw. "However, whether or not you all deserve to be ninjas remains to be seen."
The buffalo turned towards the blackboard and began writing his name.
"My name is Adrian Bogo, but you will either refer to me as Bogo-sensei, Sensei, or Sir for the duration of my time instructing you," he said in a commanding tone before turning back to the class. "Have I made myself clear?"
Everyone in the class nodded, not wanting to disturb the intimidating teacher.
"Good, let's get started."

The following month was filled with lectures and training drills on basic ninja strategies, techniques and equipment maintenance, all of which Judy relished in participating in. The only rain on her parade was Jack. While she respected his skills as they seemed to be a match to her dedication, she absolutely hated every interaction she had with him.
"… If I have to see that stupid smirk one more time, I'm kicking his teeth in!" Judy flared as she headed to class with Ben.
"Judy, calm down," the cheetah beckoned. "Sure, he's a bit cold, but he's mostly harmless."
"Harmless?!" She objected while stopping in her tracks. "I've seen him laughing whenever I mess up a jutsu and he's always pointing out how round you are. That's bullying and you know it!"
Ben couldn't help but sigh.
"Judy, have you ever thought about just ignoring him for a bit?" He suggested.
The doe was speechless for a moment.
"How can I just ignore him? He's obviously doing it on purpose!" She pointed out.
"Look, even after all that training, have you noticed anything about me?" Ben asked.
"Not really, you seem the same as when we first met. Why?" Judy innocently asked.
"That's exactly it," the cheetah chuckled. "I haven't. Even after all that, I'm still as round as ever and cheerful as ever. Do you know why?"
She simply shook her head.
"Because I don't care what he thinks," Ben smiled. "I'm training to be a ninja and I've got you to back me up."
"Oh…"
"So just try and ignore Jack for a day, maybe you'll feel better," he suggested. "Now let's get to class before Sensei is on our tails."

"Now before we end our session today, I have an announcement for all of you," Bogo declared as he wiped the blackboard clean. "For most of you, this will be the last you see of me."
Judy's ears perked to attention as she heard this and murmurs around the classroom had her on edge. Was someone getting cut? Was SHE going to get cut?
"Settle down," Bogo frowned. "Before any of you ask, NO, none of you are being expelled."
Judy let out a breath she didn't know she was holding.
"You are, however, being separated into groups of three for the rest of your training," the buffalo continued. "Each group will be led by a qualified ninja and they will be your instructor for the remainder of your time at the Academy."
With this, he picked up a sheet of paper and began listing the new squads. Many of her classmates cheered as they got paired up with friends, while others sulked as they paired up with new faces.
"… Chelsea Cocuta, Eric Hystrid, and Kyubei Hystrid," Bogo called out.
"YES!" The female porcupine shouted out in triumph from the back of the class.
The buffalo's nostrils flared at the sudden outburst.
"You three will be with me," he declared.
The porcupine's face encountered her desk in defeat as a muffled 'no' could barely be heard.
"Benjamin Clawhauser, Judy Hopps…"
Judy's heart swelled as she found that she was being paired with her best friend.
"And Jack Savage."
Her smile instantly vanished. She blankly turned to look at the hare, who was holding his head up with his paw in boredom. Jack returned her look with disinterest before rolling his eyes. Judy was so shocked by the turn of events she had missed who their squad leader was.

"Nicholas Wilde."
"Dawn, please, just Nick is fine."
The sheep wasn't amused by his banter. She had called the fox to her office to discuss some important matters, but he just stood there giving a smile that looked like it had no care in the world. Even the way he was dressed seemed to give off the same attitude, half-wearing his crimson kimono so that the right sleeve just hung to the side, revealing his dark green gi underneath.
"Do you know why I called you here?" She asked.
"Because you can't resist my charm?" Nick smiled.
"Because of your last mission," Bellwether corrected. "Because of ALL your missions, lately."
Nick raised a brow.
"Really? Because according to what I can tell, I've executed every single mission flawlessly," he dismissed.
"I'm not talking about your success rate, I'm talking about the complaints we've been getting from our clients," the sheep growled.
"Complaints?"
"Your attitude with everyone you come into contact with," Bellwether specified. "They've been saying that you act like you don't care at all for what the mission is about. That you openly divert the conversation to other topics that have no relation to the mission. That you are untrustworthy."
At this, Nick frowned.
"I knew it," he grumbled.
"I'm sorry?"
"They don't see a ninja out to help them, all they see is a fox," he told her. "I try to act friendly and they don't buy it. I try to get information and they don't spill. I'm not trying to undermine my own duties, Dawn, and you know that! So if all they see is a fox, then that's what they're getting!"
The sheep remained unfazed by his rant, and left him vent for a moment before speaking up.
"I don't doubt your abilities, Nick, but there's still the question of whether or not you can continue acting the way you have and still maintain our credibility," Bellwether informed. "The more complaints we get, the more our Academy gets tarnished and the less clients we can attract."
With this, she grabbed a folder off her desk and made her way around to the fox.
"So for now, I'm giving you a new mission," the sheep said as she gave him the folder.
"I thought you just said that I was tarnishing the Academy?" Nick asked with apprehension as he opened up the folder.
"I did. Hopefully, your new pupils will not follow in those footsteps," Bellwether declared.
"You've got to be kidding me."

Judy, Ben, and Jack were all waiting in the classroom, having been notified that their new squad leader would come and meet them there, much like it had been with all the other squads. Theirs was running a little late though.
"This guy better be good if he's making us wait so much," Jack stiffly complained.
"I wish we were waiting on the training grounds," Judy voiced automatically. "At least I could get a few practice drills in."
"You know you could always try improving your jutsus in the meantime," the hare suggested.
The doe glared at him from across the room.
"You know what? I think I will," she declared as she got up. "And I'll show you just how much better I've gotten."
"Whatever makes you happy," Jack responded with a yawn.
Pushing him out of her thoughts, Judy brought her paws together and concentrated on bringing her body's chakra to her center. Then with a few quick pawsigns, she directed the energy outward in front of her.
"Clone Jutsu!" Judy exclaimed.
A large cloud of smoke filled the area around the doe, slowly dissipating to reveal an identical dummy of her just a few paces away.
"Ha! See? I can pull it off just fine now," she smiled proudly.
Without a word, Jack pulled out a kunai and threw it at the dummy. The target dispersed in a cloud of smoke before the weapon embedded itself a few inches into the wall behind it.
"A real clone would've ducked, at least," he commented. "All you managed to make was a scarecrow, at best."
"You're a real pain in the tail, you know that!? Can't you be at least a bit more supportive?" Judy suggested in frustration. "For better or worse, we're supposed to be a team now!"
"Well at least it looked like you, this time," Jack pointed out.
Judy's balled fists shook with frustration as she was reminded of her last public attempt, her "clone" having looked nothing more than a lump ragdoll image of herself.
"Well I thought it was very good, Judy," Ben chimed in, trying to ease the tension. "I'm pretty sure it could still be used as a distraction."
The doe let herself go slack before returning to her seat, a simple 'thanks' being muttered as she slumped onto the desk once more.

A knock on the door brought the group's attention towards the fox that had just come in. Despite his different attire, Judy immediately recognized him as the same fox that had thwarted her attacks during the entrance exam.
"Excuse me, am I interrupting a club meeting or something?" He commented.
"No, we're waiting for our squad leader," Jack quipped back.
"Well, guess that means I found the right classroom," the fox frowned. "My name's Nicholas Wilde and I have unfortunate opportunity to be your instructor."
"Well I sure hope your teachings will be more impressive than your timing," Jack commented.
"Keep up with that attitude, Stripes, and I'll be sure that you prefer that I didn't show up," Nick shot back.
"Sensei," Judy called out, eliciting a groan from the fox.
"Please, don't call me that. Just Nick is fine," he beckoned while facepawing.
"Sensei, when are we gonna start training?" Judy asked, ignoring his plea.
The fox raised a brow, just slightly put off by her eagerness.
"Right now," he told her. "But first, you three will have to meet me at the tournament arena."
"But Sensei, that's all the way across town," Ben objected. "Can't we train just outside on the Academy grounds?"
Nick chuckled.
"For any other teacher, that would probably be the case," he said. "But I prefer working out of sight of other mammals, and I know that the arena isn't being used by anyone right now."
"I... Guess that makes sense," Judy reasoned.
"Great! I'll go on ahead, you three try and get there as fast as you can," the fox called out as he made to leave. "Oh! And try not to be seen on the way."
With that, he disappeared into the hallway leaving the students a little baffled at what he meant.
"That fox is up to something," Jack muttered to himself as he got up from his seat and checked his gear one last time.
"What do you mean?" Judy frowned, having heard him. "He's probably just gonna set up some targets or something like that."
"He could," the hare shrugged. "Or he could be setting us up."
"Wilde-sensei is our instructor, Jack. He has no reason to be mean to us. Not yet, at least," she defended.
He simply shrugged again before leaving the classroom as well.
"I really don't like him," Judy muttered between her teeth.
"Maybe Wilde-sensei will put him in his place," Ben suggested. "Come on, let's see if we can get to the arena before Jack does."
The doe smirked at the thought.
"Oh, I'd love to rub that in his stupid face."

Judy ran through the crowd of mammals, dodging footfalls and skirting under legs, painfully aware of the group in pursuit of her; a pack of wolves shouting for someone to stop the bunny. She had no idea why they were chasing her in the first place, but she had to lose them before she got to the arena. The teenage doe ducked into an alleyway between a couple of merchant stalls, taking advantage of the small space to gain some distance before leaping up to the rooftops.
From up above, Judy observed the small pack barge through the alley, her scent fortunately masked by the garbage bins that lined the wall. The result lead to the wolves passing right underneath her and off to the next street. The doe heaved a sigh of relief as she rolled away from the edge, finally at a point where she could wonder why they were chasing her.
As if to answer her prayers, a slip of paper flew by on a gust of wind. Judy recognized a photo of herself on it as it landed next to her and picked it up to learn more. To her horror, she found that it was a wanted poster; a bounty of 100,000 Zen for her capture on it. Judy stuffed the poster into her gi and made sure to keep to the rooftops as she made her way towards the arena.

"Well look who finally decided to show up."
Judy glared at Jack as she dropped down into the arena. Looking around, she saw that aside from him, Ben, and her, the entire space looked pretty empty.
"It's not like I wanted to be late," she replied as she pulled out the wanted poster. "I was being chased by a pack of wolves because of this stupid bounty!"
"You too Judy?" Ben exclaimed in surprise as he fished out his own wanted poster.
"I told you guys we were being set up," Jack repeated as he revealed another wanted poster.
"Jack, will you quit trying to pin this on Sensei!" The doe growled.
"I think it's even more obvious now!" He shot back. "Have you even looked around?! He's not here!"
The sound of someone clearing their throat had the group turning their heads. Laying down on a lawn chair, holding a cup of iced tea, was Nick Wilde, not even ten feet away from where they were standing.
"Might want to take a better look next time, Stripes," he quipped. "Oh, and Fluff? Your boyfriend's right, I did set you three up."
Judy's ears burned in embarrassment at the thought.
"H-he's not-"
"Alright, fox, what is this? Some kind of joke?!" Jack shouted while waving his poster. "Are you trying to get rid of us or something?"
Nick stood up and walked up to the hare, using his height to stare him down.
"I never asked to be a teacher," he calmly explained. "So I'll take whatever chance I can get to make the experience amusing for me, even if it means seeing you three get in trouble while I teach you."
Nick yanked the poster out of Jack's paws and waved it in front of his face.
"This little stunt?" He continued. "This was but lesson number one, of which you all barely passed. I told you to get here without being seen, but you did."
Nick tossed the paper away as he made to go sit back on the lawn chair.
"Um, Sensei? Where were you?" Ben suddenly asked.
Nick stopped in his tracks and groaned.
"Okay, rule number one about being a ninja: always keep your presence hidden unless you want it to be known," he explained with a frown. "Which is exactly what I've been doing and what you three seem to not understand."
The fox gestured to the open space of the arena with outsretched arms.
"Forget the cunning strategies and the powerful jutsus, hiding in plain sight is a ninja's greatest achievement," he declared. "Everything else is just icing on the cake."
Nick stared down his three students.
"Mammals nowadays use three things to see the world around them," he explained. "Their eyes. Their ears. And most importantly..."
He pointed towards his snout.
"Their nose. Do you get where I'm going with this?"
"That we have to blend in as much as possible, right Sensei?" Judy guessed.
"No," The fox frankly responded. "You need to practically disappear from everyone's senses."
"That's impossible," Jack dismissed.
"Oh really now?" Nick replied with wide eyes. "Then explain to me how I just sat here as you three stumbled in without having any of you know I was there."
The hare almost answered, but caught his tongue before embarrassing himself any further.
"Nothing?" The fox asked with a raised brow. "Spots? Fluff? Any ideas?"
The two friends just looked to each other, shrugging and shaking their heads. Nick facepawed at the lack of responses from his students.
"Looks like you all need a hint," he sighed.

Just as soon as he finished speaking, Judy's nose was overwhelmed by the presence of a new smell wafting through the arena. It was a pungent aroma of a spiced earthen nature that reminded the doe of a scent she had almost forgotten. She felt her heart start to race and unknowingly clutched at her green scarf as she tried to recall the memory…
Judy's thoughts were brought back to the present by the outcries of her squadmates. While the new scent didn't seem to bother her all that much, it seemed to be far too much for the two males.
"Oh for the love of all things sacred, will you turn that off!" Jack exclaimed while covering his nose up.
"Turn what off?" Nick asked with a smug mask on his face.
"That smell! It reeks!" Ben cried out.
"That's just my natural musk," the fox shrugged.
"I don't care, just hide it like you were before so we can breathe!"
"And there we go!" Nick exclaimed.
The scent faded away almost as instantly as it had poured in.
"As Stripes has so cleverly figured out, I've been hiding my scent from all of you using my chakra," he explained. "Couple that with some good old-fashioned silence and diversion, and I might as well not even be here. Us mammals rely a lot on our sense of smell; so if you can manage to keep your scent to yourself, then you'll have the advantage."
With his lesson given, Nick once again made to go sit back on his lawn chair. But Jack, having recovered from the assault on his nose, decided that enough was enough and made a sprint towards the fox.
Judy, seeing the anger in the hare's eyes, leapt forward, tackling him and pinning him down to the ground.
"Get off me, Judy! I've had it with that mangy fox!" Jack snarled. "He even said it himself; he doesn't want to be our teacher. All he wants to do is sit there drinking tea until the moon comes up!"
"Will you just stop, Jack!?" Judy shouted as she pulled at his collar. "Sure, his methods are weird, but he's still our Sensei."
"Have you forgotten that he set bounties on the three of us!?" He reminded her. "You even said that you were chased by wolves!"
"If Wilde-sensei really had it out for us, he would've set a trap for us here instead of having tossed posters around!" The doe objected.

As the two rabbits traded verbal blows, Nick walked over to where Ben was standing watch.
"Are those two always at each other's throats?" he asked.
Ben shook his head.
"Not like this. It usually dies out pretty quick, but this is the first time Judy actually made a move against him," he explained.
Nick sighed. Whether he liked it or not, he was their Sensei now and they all had to be able to work together to be effective.
"I guess I have no choice then," he reasoned.
The fox stepped forward until he was staring down at the pair. Having progressed from verbal abuse to physical, yanking at each other's fur and ears while rolling about, they didn't notice Nick until he cleared his throat.
"You two seem to have a lot of steam that needs to be burned off. What do you say we put it to good use?" he suggested. "Now, you can either go pound some mochi together or… You can spar with me."
Jack and Judy looked at each other. An exchange of glares was all that was made before they separated and got up, now staring at their new opponent. Nick smiled as his students took up fighting stances against him.
"I'm just going to let you know that I was considered the best of my class when I was attending the Academy," he said as he stretched out his arms. "I even managed to knock out Buffalo Butt on my first day."
"Yeah, right. And I'm from the Moon Kingdom," Jack sarcastically replied. "I'm going to kick your tail, you old fox."
"I would like to see you try," Nick smiled before quickly pouncing forward.

Ben sat in bewilderment as he watched Judy and Jack fly around the arena, throwing kicks, punches and kunai at their opponent. Bewilderment, not because of their skills, but because their supposed opponent was actually sitting right next to him.
"Genjutsu," Nick answered his unasked question. "The art of creating illusions for your opponents to see."
The fox reached into his kimono and pulled out a little cloth bundle which he began to unwrap.
"Rule number two about being a ninja: Don't engage in a conflict if you can avoid it. Rice ball?" Nick asked as he offered one to Ben.
The cheetah's face brightened up.
"Yes please."

AN: This chapter was originally written as part of a collaboration project with Cimar of Turalis WildeHopps. Be sure to head on over to his profile and browse the other amazing stories spawned in his 'What If? Collaboration'.

And now, more short descriptions of Japanese words!

Nabe/Kaisennabe: The Japanese equivalent to a slow-cooked pot-roast. Kaisennabe specifically implies that the dish includes seafood as the main ingredient.
Anpan: Translated very often to 'Red Bean Bun' in anime, it's a popular somewhat-sweet-tasting pastry made with red bean paste in the center of a bun (don't get any ideas).
Sensei: Literally meaning 'Teacher', it's the title given to teachers of any medium and often used as an honorific when appended to the teacher's name.
Kimono: The traditional Japanese robe that is often associated with Japan and its culture.
Jutsu/Genjutsu: Translated as 'Art' or 'Technique', Jutsus are often associated with romanticized flashy ninja moves. Genjutsu specifically translates to 'Magic' while it's implied to conjure illusions in the story.
Mochi: A Japanese rice cake made by pounding rice into a paste before cooking it in its desired shape.

See you in the next chapter!