Sitting in the middle of the back seat of the small SUV, Mina Hongo leaned forward to look between the boy who was driving and the girl in the passenger seat, and gawked at the massive truck taking up a third of the parking lot in the abandoned shopping mall. The cab looked like an oversized fighter cockpit mounted on top of an amalgamation of several trucks, and she didn't know what to make of the two-story tall trailer.

She said, "What the - that's not it, is it?"

The girl, Shiho Kazami, said, "They have a mech. They have to keep it somewhere. And this is where he told us to meet him."

The boy, Hayao Ichimonji, added, "He told me, 'Think as big as you can and go bigger.' That is pretty big."

"But I thought-" Hongo broke off as Hayao slammed on the brakes. "Hayao, what - is that a pothole?"

"No," Hayao said, surveying the paired sets of depressions crossing his path. "Footprints, I think."

Hongo sank back into the seat as Hayao slowly navigated across the footprints, then stepped on the gas on the other side. 'What have I allowed Kyo to get mixed up in?' she thought.

As they got closer to the … whatever it was, a door near the cockpit slid open and a girl came down the steps. She looked to be only a little older than Hayao, but with short white hair and, incongruously, red eyes. But what shocked Hongo the most was how immodestly the girl dressed: A bare midriff between some kind of halter top, stockings held up by a garter belt, and a bikini bottom, with red chaps graced by what could be white gun holsters, and red boots. 'What the -those can't be real holsters!' Hongo thought as the girl directed Hayao to park near the steps and then stop. Fear twisted in Hongo's stomach. 'What is going on here? Is this a kiddie porn studio?' She remembered what Shiho had said Kyohei had said over the phone about 'putting equipment away' and hoped it was just a reference to a mech.

As she got out of the SUV, holding the bag containing her students' chef uniforms, Kyohei tumbled out of the vehicle with three more…Hongo thought the politest word she could use was "females:" One girl, who looked like an American to be as old as the white-haired one, but with long red hair. She wore a cowboy hat and a yellow teddy, yellow chaps, a bikini bottom and had a black collar around her neck. A much younger girl came down, dressed in pink, her hair in pigtails, and she was carrying a teddy bear. She had more clothing on than the others, but still had her belly exposed. But most alarming off all was the young woman who accompanied them: Although her dark hair was in a bun in a conservative Chinese style, her white halter top barely covered the upper two thirds of her large breasts, and her pants barely hung onto her hips, exposing a perfectly flat stomach from her solar plexus to only a few inches above her private area. Hongo's first instinct was the tell the kids to get back in the truck and tell Hayao to get out of there as fast as he could, but she feared having a mech pursue them down the highway.

Kyo came over with a smile on his face. "Hey, you guys made it! Have any trouble getting here?"

Hayao high-fived with Kyohei. "No, man, your directions were precise. But you've been holding out on me, Bro. You did not tell me you were surrounded by such lovely ladies."

The red-haired girl threw back her head and spoke in English: "O Lord, give me strength." Then she turned to Kyo and spoke in fluent Japanese with a hint of an accent: "Kyo, I take back every bad thing I've ever said about you."

Kyohei started making introductions: To his teacher and fellow students: "Guys, this is Sei, Meg, Jo, and Amy." And to his…other associates: "And this is Shiho, Hayao, and Ms Hongo."

Bows and greetings passed around, except for Jo who just nodded and grunted.

Shiho said to Meg, "I think I remember you from that night."

Meg nodded. "It was kind of crazy, even for us."

"Where are you from? I mean, in America."

"Brooklyn - New York City."

"I thought I heard an accent. Why are you dressed like a cow girl?"

"Oh." Meg cringed. "Um…it's a long story and I really don't want to get into it right now."

"I understand. Your Japanese is very good, by the way."

"I always wanted to travel the world, so I taught myself a bunch of languages. Sei's the only one who speaks more than me, though we'll be even when I finally get around to Arabic."

"Thank you for coming," Sei said to Hongo. She seemed friendly enough.

Hongo decided the best thing to do under the circumstances was to be polite. "I suppose I should thank you," she said. "Not many employers would allow us to conduct a test on their premises, and I wouldn't go these lengths for many of my students."

"Kyohei is a talented chef," Sei said, "and - at the risk of embarrassing him - he has become an indispensable part of our little family. But I keep irregular business hour, and this has placed more demands on his time than…more traditional employment would. I'm only too happy to help him with his cooking test." She turned to the other girls and barked orders with the authority of a military commander: "Guys? Let's get everything Kyo and his friends need inside."

Hongo held back and was last in line as Kyohei, his fellow students and…other associates filed up into the vehicle, carrying shopping bags full of ingredients; and she found herself in a well-appointed living space. On the one hand, she was relieved she didn't see anything like movie equipment. On the other-

"Wait a minute, wait a minute," she said as she looked over the small kitchen area. "Kyohei - here!?"

"Yes," Kyohei said.

"But it's not a professional kitchen."

"We can do this. Trust me. There isn't anything you can assign us in school that I can't do here."

"All right, but this … I mean, this isn't their home, is it?"

"It is, 24-7."

"But you can't control access to the space."

"I can. Not only have they agreed to stay out of it, but as an added bonus, Jo is going to make sure no one but the four of us have the kitchen."

"How's she going to do that?"

"You really want to know?"

"I should."

"Ok." He turned to Hayao and Shiho. "Guys, could you stand by the wall? And Miss H., could you go over by the door? Thanks. Jo, without doing anything, could you please pretend Ms. Hongo is an unauthorized person trying to get to the stove and show us how you'd handle it? Whenever you're ready, Miss H."

Hongo nodded and tried to walk towards the stove. But Jo suddenly appeared in front of her, a silver handgun in the teacher's face. Hongo froze, feeling her heart in her throat.

Kyo said, "Thank you, Jo."

Jo nodded, holstered her gun, and returned to standing guard at the edge of the kitchen's floor space.

Kyo turned to the teacher. "This kitchen is ours until Sei or I say otherwise."

"Yes, well…" Hongo regained some composure. "Still, uh…."

"Miss H.," Kyo said, "we can do this. We have all the ingredients we need, I know this kitchen like the back of my hand, and I know what Hayao, Shiho and I are capable of. This will work. All you have to do is give the word."

"Well, I…fine. Get changed. Test starts in five minutes sharp."

Kyo, Shiho, and Hayao dashed for the living section of the trailer. In less than five minutes they were back, standing at attention before Ms. Hongo. She gave him their instruction. "Hai!" they said. Then Kyohei pulled a jar out of one of the bags, and said to it, "You've entered a whole new world. Welcome to hell."

Jo smiled slightly and wiped it away in a second.

The three students went into action like a well-oiled machine, while Sei and the other girls looked on. Ms Hongo watched the young chefs closely, but also noted how Sei followed Kyohei's every move. She sidled over to her.

"Impressive, isn't he?" Hongo said causally.

"I had no idea," Sei said. "He's usually very shy and nervous. I guess when he's in his element, it's a different-"

Shiho broke in: "Oh, crap! Kyohei, we've got a problem."

He was at her elbow. "What?"

"This. There isn't enough." She opened a jar. "Eeyuh! And it's gone bad."

"Oh, man," Hayao groaned, "we are hosed."

Kyohei wrapped his knuckles on the counter. "Wait a minute. We're using that for a little bit of spiciness, right?"

"Just a little," Shiho said.

"Then we can do this," Kyohei said. "We just apply Jo's Law: When in doubt, add hot sauce." He grabbed a bottle.

Shiho said, "Kyohei-no-that's too spicey-"

"Not if we dilute it," Kyo said. "A dew drops in a cup of water…stir…taste…" He sipped his spoon. "Perfect."

"Are you sure, Kyo?"

"If you have a better idea, Shiho, now's the time."

"Fine."

Sei leaned over to Meg. "If he fought as well as he cooks," she whispered, "I wouldn't need you and Jo anymore."

Meg chuckled. "Good one, Sei."

Sei didn't laugh.

"Uh…" Meg said. "You were kidding, right Sei? … Sei?"

Sei and the girls hovered around the edge of the space, watching Kyo and his fellow cooking students; time melted away. Then Kyo and his friends were standing at attention by the table, their dishes on it; Sei and the girls found themselves holding their breaths as the teachers closely examined the finished products, tasting here and there.

"Well," Hongo said, "I can think of a million things wrong with this: It wasn't in the kind of setting I expected, and you had to substitute an ingredient, and that's just for starters. But you thought on your feet and adapted to a real world emergency, which I now think I should have more exercises on; and the results taste great. In fact, I can't even notice the hot sauce. What the hell - you all get A Pluses."

Applause broke out in the camper as the young chefs relaxed. Kyo got a hug from Meg, a handshake from Sei, and a shoulder squeeze from Jo. Miss Hongo took some pictures of her chefs together, and then got a couple of group pictures of Kyo with Sei and the others.

"And? And?" Meg prompted.

"Ok!" Kyohei said. "I promised Leo earlier I'd save some for him."

Shiho said, "I'll put a plate aside for him now."

"And?" Meg prompted.

"I'd like to thank my boss for allowing me to do this," Kyo said. That got a smile from Sei.

Meg almost gnashed her teeth. "*And?*"

Sei chuckled. "Kyohei. Stop torturing Meg."

"All right," Kyo said. "Let's eat!"

It didn't take long for everyone to be splayed around the living area, sitting on couches or on the floor, eating the test results. The congeniality did nothing for Hongo's unease, though.

"I gotta tell you, Miss H," Meg said between mouthfuls, "whatever grade you give him isn't good enough. I used to be an avowed junk food junkie. Now that I have my own personal gourmet chef, I can hardly look at the stuff. The best part of coming back from a job is the way this place smells when he's been cooking up a storm. Isn't that right, Jo?"

Jo nodded.

Meg cleaned off her plate and burped. "'Scuse me. My one regret is I have never had any of these cookies he brings us. I have heard legends of his cookies. Virgins have been sacrificed to these cookies. Yet in six months I haven't had one." She glared at Amy. "Someone who may not live to be twelve keeps eating them all!"

Amy giggled.

Kyo said, "Yeah, that's terrible, Meg…" (Sei turned and wandered towards the cockpit with exaggerated casualness.) "…Don't you think it's terrible, Amy? Wouldn't it be great if Meg's gourmet chef had made extra cookies for her and slipped them to his boss for her to hide in her safe until later?"

"Yeah," Amy said, "it-HEY!"

Sei returned from the cockpit with a plastic bag full of Kyo's animal cookies. Meg jumped to her feet and clapped her hands while Amy stewed

"Yes!" Meg squealed as she took the bag. "Thank you, thank you! See Amy, being nice to the chef helps once in a while."

"Really, Meg? Then why's he helping you?"

"That was so funny, Amy, I forgot to laugh." Meg took a cookie out of the bag and looked at it lovingly. "Ah, cookie, after loving you from afar, at last we meet." She took a bite out of the cookie. "Mmm…MMMM… Oh, my god. That's a cookie." She finished the cookie and ate another one. "MMMM! Jo, you have to have one of these cookies."

Jo took a cookie and gnawed it thoughtfully. "Ok. Little dry." She picked up the hot sauce, put a drop on the cookie, and ate it. "Better."

"Jo you trog! You don't put hot sauce on - why do I bother?"

Kyo laughed, then his phone chimed. He smiled as he opened the text window and started typing.

Shiho asked, "Is that Eriko?"

Kyo nodded.

Amy giggled. "They're sexting."

"Shut up, Amy!" Meg said. "Ok, so we all give Kyo a hard time, but we all like him, even you, Amy. He's a quality guy and it's about time he met a nice girl. Let him have some fun away from our insanity. Yeah, it's weird it's all online, but if she really likes him, then good for him, I say." She popped another cookie in her mouth and closed her eyes in pleasure as she chewed it. "Mmmmmmmfuhgedaboudit!" She swallowed. "Almost better than sex. Kyo, I want you to know I'm still glad you've found someone, but if Eriko's hoping to marry you and take you away from us, she'd better forget it because I'll murder her. I am not losing my favorite chef to some anonymous tramp in cyberspace."

Kyo nodded, engrossed in his phone.

Meg decided that A+ or no A+, she was going to get Kyo's goat. "In fact," she went on, "everyone? I have an announcement: Kyo is running away with Jo and me. We'll move to the south of France where he'll work in a bakery and live with us in a menage a trois. Won't that be great, Kyo?"

"Yeah, right," Kyo said. He looked up from his phone. "Huh?"

"'Huh?' 'What?' That's how you speak Kyo." She laughed. "I'm just raggin' on ya, pal. You know I love you." She blew him a kiss. "And if I don't get an engraved invitation to the grand opening of your Paris pastry shop, I will kill you."

"I thought you just said you loved me, Meg."

"I'll make it quick and painless, Kyo. What are friends for?"

Kyo returned to his phone. "How does that American saying go?" he grumbled. "'With friends like you, I don't need any enemies'?"

Meg hadn't quite caught that. "What was that?" she said as she ate another cookie.

Kyo's eyes flicked up at her. He smiled. "Just raggin' on ya, pal."