"My discount..." Fie mourned miserably as she and her classmates followed Rean down East Street towards the center of Crossbell.

Juna was teasing the silver-haired girl, but Rean did feel kinda bad about it. He was supposed to be the teacher, after all! "Sorry about that, Fie. If she accepted mira I would have bought the strap myself, but since Neinvalli operates on a bartering system..."

His apology must not have been successful as the girl let out a scoff, "Please. Neinvalli has always been flexible with their deals. For something as lame as a Mishy strap-"

"Hey! Don't call Mishy lame!"

"...You probably could have bought something from one of these stalls and traded that!" She finished, ignoring Juna completely.

Humoring her Rean paused to glance at the nearest stall, "I seriously doubt a weapon dealer would trade their merchandise for dried salmon."

"Shows what you know." The confident way in which Fie replied almost made him doubt himself. But there was no way... right?

"Alright, alright," He held up his hands in surrender, "I promise I'll make it up to you."

His words caused her to glance at him with interest, "...I want those electromagnetic grenades she had on display. At least a dozen of them."

He sweatdrop nervously, "I-I don't think that would be a good idea." Sure Thors was a combat school, but buying illegal arms for his students was probably not the best look for him, "How about I buy lunch instead?"

She seemed to consider his words for a second, "Just for me, right?"

"Hey!"

"I refuse."

"...That doesn't seem very fair."

Unsurprisingly her classmates had their own opinions on the idea. "Haha... I was planning on buying lunch for everyone-"

"Nope." Fie crossed her arms petulantly, "Wouldn't be much of a reward to me if you're doing it for everyone, would it?"

On one hand she did have a point, but buying food for just her and not her classmates was out of the question. He knew just how unruly they could be when any of them felt slighted. Thankfully for him an idea came to mind that would allow him an escape from this mess, "How about I buy lunch for everyone, but only you can get a dessert?"

"Can I take my time eating it while the others are forced to watch?"

Wow. She was feeling really vindictive today, wasn't she? Altina, Juna, and Kurt all stared at him, clearly expecting him to refuse that terrible idea, "...Sure."

Their looks of betrayal would surely haunt his dreams that night, but at least his decision caused Fie to perk up. With a happy smile the silver-haired girl began moving with a little extra pep in her step, quickly taking the lead just as the group entered Crossbell's center.

In all honesty a part of him was grateful for Fie's shenanigans as it kept Juna's attention on her classmates and not the bleak situation in Crossbell. He was still worried about her, of course, but through the first few hours of their Special Operations missions he had had little to complain about, so that was encouraging.

The teacher had especially been concerned during the meeting with Rufus and the elevator discussion shortly after. In a way Lloyd Bannings was the physical representation of a free and safe Crossbell, so the news of his status as a fugitive had definitely not set will with Juna. Fortunately she had been able to reign herself in before any terrible ideas about chasing after the former police detective had gotten into her head.

A part of Rean wondered if his concern for Juna was genuine or if he was simply using it to distract himself from his own contributions to the current status quo. The reminder of his own encounter with Crossbell's hero and his role in the occupation still lived fresh in his mind. Randy had told him that few Crossbellians actually held resentment towards him, but even still...

"There's Captain Kate! C'mon guys!" Heh. Here he was thinking that Juna was the one needing a distraction when it was her who was currently distracting him. It was odd how fate worked at times. With a small smile the teacher followed after the excited girl as she led the group towards the police officer who was now waving cheerily at the group.

And who knows? If a situation arose in the immediate future where either of them needed a distraction perhaps he could turn towards Fie? As weird as it was for him to say, his student's new lackadaisical attitude and dry humor was a vast improvement over the previous month. Hopefully that attitude would be enough to get them all through the next couple days.

...His wallet and sanity might suffer, but he was pretty sure it was worth it.

The silver-haired jaeger listened with half an ear as their client described the task she had for them. Since it didn't involve violence or cute animals she wasn't really interested all that much. Instead she glanced around and took a good look at Crossbell's center.

After hearing constantly about the greatness of Crossbell from Juna over the past week she couldn't help but feel a little... disappointed? In her eyes this place was pretty much just like every other city she had been in. Sure it didn't have the pompous hot air that filled most of Erebonia's noble cities, but at the core it was just a busy placed filled with all kinds of opportunity and danger for anyone who knew where to look.

Oh... She paused in her observation. That cart right across the street seemed kinda interesting.

Rean and her classmates were still busy listening to Captain Kate's request and not looking at her, so she took the brief opportunity to slip away and conduct her own little investigation. An investigation that bore quick fruit as Fie soon found herself sporting the spoils of victory. Even better, she made it back to the others before any of them realized she had been gone.

Of course it wasn't as if she could actually hide her prize as it dangled above her. As soon as the conversation with the police officer finished and the others turned to face her all eyes were slowly drawn to the two objects in her hand, "...Why do you have two balloons?"

"'Cause the guy over there was handing them out?" Fie answered like it was the most obvious thing in the world. Which it was, "Only need one of em, so here you go."

Altina stared blankly at the string in her hand before slowly allowing her gaze to shift upwards. The stoic girl gave an experimental tug of the balloon before nodding her head, "Thank you."

"Hey! How come you didn't get me one!?"

"You're a local. I'm sure you've gotten plenty of them already." Plus she could only convince the guy to part with two.

Juna opened her mouth to respond, but paused. She furrowed her brow and tilted her head thoughtfully. A heavy frown adorned her face, "You know... In all the time I've lived here that guy has never once offered me a balloon." Indignant rage took a hold of her features before she turned to their final classmate, "Kurt! Go get us balloons!"

"Why should I do that?"

"Cause he knows me! It would be weird! Now c'mon, let's go!" Fie wondered if Juna realized that by shoving Kurt towards the balloon guy like that she was making them look to be a romantic couple on a date in the city. Knowing Juna? Probably not. Already she could hear a few giggles and amused whispers from pedestrians.

Balloon guy must have made a comment along those lines cause when the two returned Juna was about as pink as her hair as she looked everywhere except at her classmate. Even the normally calm Kurt looked about as uncomfortable as he had during their initiation test. At least this time he didn't get slapped for his efforts.

On the plus side all of Class VII were now holding onto balloons.

"Honestly you guys..." Rean tried to play the role of authoritarian leader, but the amusement in his voice was as clear as day, "If we're all finished playing tourist perhaps we should get started on our request?"

"Sounds good." Fie decided to toss him a bone by agreeing, "...So what was the request anyways? I kinda missed most of it."

Rean stared at her blankly before shaking his head and looking away. She just barely caught some of the words he was muttering to himself, "...take it back. She's not worth it at all."

The silver-haired student had no idea what he was talking about, but that sounded kinda rude to her.

"Please try and listen this time." Fie shrugged at his words, offering little in the way of promise, "We need to visit that orbal shop over there, a business association building on East Street, and the noodle cart in the harbor. After that it's up to the owners to fill out some business questionnaires for us to return to the captain."

"Huh. Neat. We should probably finish our other request and then backtrack so we can end at the Harbor District. Plus it's closest to the RF building whenever that request is finally available." Noticing all the looks sent her way Fie let out a small shrug, "What? I can be useful too, you know?"

"Huh..." Was it really all that surprising? She was good at more than just fighting! "W-Well, whatever. Let's hurry up and check out Genten! Hopefully Wendy is working there today!"

The Wendy that Juna mentioned was indeed working inside the orbal shop as an engineer. Since the entire concept of a business audit was both entirely foreign and extremely dull sounding, Fie contented herself to let Juna and Rean handle the encounter. It took only a few minutes for the woman and her friend at the counter to fill out the questionnaire, and another few for Wendy to provide a little tune-up for their ARCUS IIs.

What really annoyed the students, however, was how the engineer challenged their teacher to a game of Vantage Masters and he accepted without hesitation, "Wasn't he the one complaining we needed to be more professional?" Kurt groused.

"...I hope he loses."

Sadly for Altina and the rest of them, Rean didn't lose. Instead they followed the annoyingly chipper instructor out of the shop after his victory. Having Juna around was helpful as she provided helpful commentary on all the important locations in the area. The bell. The Department Store, the fancy Restaurant, the Weapon Shop.

The only odd thing about the tour was when she pointed to a very old and nondescript building tucked away in the corner of the area before allowing her hand to fall with a heavy sigh. Whatever was up with that building definitely bugged the girl. That Rean seemed to know about it wasn't surprising, but it also meant that Altina probably knew. Fie would need to pry the younger girl's brain open when the chance arose.

As they passed the Central Square into West Street Fie noticed an adorable cat sleeping peacefully on a bench next to a little girl. Maybe she should try and catch a fish later for it?

West Street was a residential district. Of greater interest to Fie was that it was also apparently Juna's home. It was a nice enough area, Fie supposed. She was definitely looking forward to meeting Juna's family.

It probably wouldn't be nearly as awkward as when Fie was forced to introduce her family to her classmates last month.

But before they could do that they all unanimously agreed to complete the mission request in this area. That the request came from a bakery that was letting out an absurdly delicious smell contributed very little to that decision.

While munching on some tasty and still warm bread given freely from Juna's friend Oscar, she and the rest of Class VII listened to the request from the baker's daughter, Bennet. According to her there was a baking competition each month to decide on which bread will be put on display and every time she loses to Oscar. Given how tasty the bread they were eating was... Yeah. Fie could believe that.

Bennet's plan was to try a bunch of different unique dishes in hopes of finding inspiration to use in her own work. Unique dishes like what a bunch of Erebonian students could come up with. It probably wasn't the worst plan, even if Fie had no idea how eating food would actually inspire someone to make better bread.

That being said, at the moment she had more important things to worry about than that. Things like the collective gazes of her teammates all focused solely on the only member of the Cooking Club. Suddenly Fie found herself more nervous than she could recall being in a long long time – Fighting things was easy, but having to use her fledgling cooking skills for an actual request? Scary.

There was one question that was important enough to pierce through her doubts and worries, "So do we have a place to cook our food or were you expecting us to be carrying around a bunch of stale dishes in our pockets?"

"I-" Bennet's face rapidly paled as her eyes widened in horror. Clearly she had thought the latter for some reason, "F-Father's using the kitchen now and I wouldn't want Oscar to know what I'm doing in the first place... Argh!"

On a side note, Fie thought she had been getting better at understanding people, but Bennet really threw her for a loop. Either Oscar was her hated rival to be crushed at all costs or she was madly in love with him. Both options seemed equally plausible. Could it be both? That seemed like a mutually exclusive combination to her, but maybe she still didn't understand enough.

"Um... I have an idea." Juna had an exceptionally pained look on her face as she suggested that, making everyone realize the next things out of her mouth would probably be quite embarrassing, "I-I'm sure if we ask my mom she'll let us use our kitchen for a while..."

"Are you sure?" Rean asked in concern, "I wouldn't want to inconvenience you any more than we already are."

For some reason Rean's honest words caused Juna to scrunch up in frustration, "Of course it's fine! I wouldn't have suggested it if...!"

The former jaeger tilted her head thoughtfully. Speaking of people with confusing human reactions, Juna's weird relationship with their teacher was another oddity. The nicer he was the angrier she would respond. Sure the guy could be overbearing and obnoxious when he wanted to, but still...

Either way their destination had been decided and with dread in her heart over the upcoming task she followed the pink-haired girl to the apartment complex not far from the bakery. Mentally she was hurriedly trying to think through all the recipes that Sandy and Tita had been teaching her and sorting out which of those she was comfortable enough to serve to a complete stranger. The list was small, but hopefully it would-

"Relax." She had been so caught up in her thoughts that she hadn't noticed her teacher until he placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder, "Just because you're in the Cooking Club doesn't mean you need to do everything yourself. I and the others will gladly offer our help."

His words did actually make her feel better... Slightly, "Do the others actually know how to cook?" Thinking about it Juna probably did. Kurt seemed likely too. That just left... "Altina isn't gonna kill us all, right?" Basically all they had been doing during the few cooking classes in school was following whatever instruction Towa had for them. Bennet wanted unique dishes, not standard stuff! What was Altina's definition of unique?

Rean opened his mouth to answer, but paused before grimacing to himself, "...She's an intelligent girl who knows how to read instructions."

"In other words, you've got no idea." His words weren't inspiring confidence!

"At least I cannot imagine her being as bad as Millium. Did you know she was in the Cooking Club when I was a student? I just can't imagine Altina ever getting sugar and salt mixed up."

Their attempt at entering Juna's apartment complex were put on hold as a tiny silver girl blocked the way, "...You do know I could hear every word you said, right?"

While the teacher laughed nervously Fie merely shrugged with little remorse, "So how about it? Can you cook?"

There was a long pause, "...I can follow instructions?"

Yep. No confidence inspired.

"As funny as this is, can we please hurry up? This is already super awkward for me and I'd rather just get it over with." Juna's pleas were enough to rouse the three from their conversation as they followed the girl down some steps and to a door at the end of the hall. After taking a deep breath the girl knocked.

"Coming!" After a brief moment the door opened to reveal someone who could only be Juna's mom, "Who is it-" The woman's eyes widened in surprise as she took in the group, "Oh... Juna?"

"Hi, mom."

What followed after was a scene of pure pink, as after the older woman hugged her daughter Juna's two younger siblings appeared to do the same. Sure Fie had seen the picture in their room, but it was such an absurd amount of bright color that she found herself wanting to look away.

...Or maybe she wanted to look away for a different reason? From everything she knew Juna's family was the textbook definition of a normal one, but it all seemed so abnormal in her eyes. Neither Boss nor any other member of Zephyr had ever been so affectionate or exuberant with her.

Fie had never found herself longing for the attention of a normal family before, but seeing it in person was uncomfortable for the little jaeger.

Thankfully for her the scene didn't last long as Juna's mom seemed to realize they were all standing outside of their apartment before hurriedly ushering them in. The place appeared to be like every other apartment she had seen in person, but there was an air of homeliness to it that she hadn't noticed in the other places. All in all she was pretty comfortable.

"We have plenty of seats. Please, relax while I prepare some tea and snacks for you all."

"Actually mom, we have a weird request... Can we use the kitchen? Bennet wanted us to make some stuff and-" Juna being able to form a reply while being swarmed by two mini pink creatures was kinda impressive, all things considered.

"Say no more." The older woman let out an amused giggle, "I take it this is one of your Special Operations missions you wrote about? Go ahead and do whatever you need."

With permission granted Fie rose from her seat to investigate the kitchen area. While it wasn't as big as the one back at Thors, it was more than plenty for her to make a few choice dishes for the baker, "Cool. Thanks. Can one of you go to the store to pick up some ingredients? All I need is-"

"Nonsense, dear." Juna's mom cut her off, "We have plenty of ingredients in the house. Feel free to use whatever you need."

"M-Mom!? We can't possibly-"

"I insist."

"But-!" The back and forth between the two Crawfords was kinda funny, but Fie had a sinking feeling that it might never end without intervention. And since the others were too honest and polite to come up with a solution it fell to her slender shoulders to do it. Not wanting to get caught in the middle of the debate she pulled out her ARCUS and typed her response.

'Just accept it and we'll leave the mira when we go.' Bennet had provided them plenty of cash for ingredients before they left the bakery, after all.

There was a pause in the argument while Juna glanced at her orbment before her eyes widened in realization, "A-Alright. You win, mom."

"Haha! Juna loses again!"

"Go mom!"

"Why you two...!"

The interactions of that family were entirely too hilarious to Fie, but it also caused her to feel a pang of... something. She had never cared to think about her biological family before, but watching the Crawfords interact left her feeling something unpleasant inside of her. Was this how a normal family interacted?

Could she possibly imagine living a life like that?

Realizing that those thoughts were both depressing and pointless the silver-haired girl did her best to shake free of them to focus on the here and now. Already Rean was approaching her and she had a feeling that both Kurt and Altina wouldn't be far behind. If Juna ever managed to fend off her younger siblings – a battle which she was currently losing badly – Fie could probably count on her support too.

"What do you need me to do?" The teacher questioned the student.

Fie hummed in thought. Truth be told she hadn't really considered what she wanted Rean to do, "You any good at cooking?"

"I have some experience." He replied humbly.

In other words... "Is there anything you aren't good at?" She didn't mean to sound bitter about it, but it was kinda annoying. Fighting. Piloting a mech. Fishing. Vantage Masters. How come this guy who was only two years her senior was so good at everything!?

"Haha..." And of course he had his stupid humble laugh.

Still, as aggravating as it was, this also made her life a lot easier, "Honestly? Just do your own thing. Bennet only said she wanted three dishes but I get the feeling she'll want a lot more. I've got some things for the others to do, but anything you add onto the pile would help."

"Got it."

"And how about me?"

Unlike Rean she actually had a plan for Kurt, "It's time for you to use those sword skills in the ultimate trial." Kurt stiffened in surprise at her serious tone. That lasted until her next words, "...I want you to chop these veggies like the swordmaster you are!"

"...Very funny." Still, the fact he took the offered veggies from her hands and began chopping them – with a knife and not his swords, sadly – gave her confidence that he would get the job done.

Next was Altina. The younger girl was glaring at Fie, probably still remembering that earlier comment. The former jaeger gave a mental shrug at that while she focused instead on mixing a handful of ingredients into a large bowl. Once that was finished she turned to her classmate, "I need you to whisk this until everything is blended nice and smooth."

Wordlessly Altina complied, but Fie found herself frowning. She was whisking, yes, but it was a slow and dull whisk. Fie needed high intensity! To fix that she leaned in close before whispering, "When I asked how he got so good at headpats Rean told me that Millium was his favorite and he practiced lots with her."

Yup. That was some furious whisking alright. Mission accomplished.

"I'm here..." Came the dead voice of their final classmate, catching Fie off guard. She hadn't expected Juna to extricate herself from the two children so quickly.

As a matter of fact, she hadn't. Both twins were still wrapped around her legs. That Juna was able to mostly ignore them while approaching her classmates was kinda impressive. Either she had the patience of a saint or they had thoroughly broken her. It could have been either, maybe both?

"Need me to do anything in particular or should I copy Instructor Rean and make something on my own?"

Through the endless despair that came with siblings a gleam of life came to her eyes. She sounded confident in her words. That made her decision easy, "Go wild."

Despite the small apartment kitchen limiting what they could do, their progress with three cooks and two assistants was great. Fie could feel her confidence growing with each dish as everything seemed to turn out just how she imagined it. While Kurt and Altina put the finishing touches on her other dishes the girl focused on her masterpiece as it came out of the oven.

"What's that?"

She had noticed the mini-Junas watching her for the last few minutes, but given they had been silent she had elected to ignore them. Now that they had opened her mouths Fie was ready to answer, "These are my special Meringue Cookies."

Originally the recipe Tita had shown her had been for a Chiffon Cake, but for reasons Fie wasn't even entirely sure of herself she had altered it into a more compact – but no less delicious – form. The end result was something entirely unique to her and thus it was currently her favorite recipe.

She wasn't sure if it was saying the word 'cookies' or the two kids actually laying their eyes on the dessert for themselves, but either way Fie could tell they were positively enthralled by the treat. Were she not a complete stranger in their house she was sure the two would have either been asking for one or plotting a theft attempt by now.

The Zephyr member smirked to herself. While it hadn't been her intention, she had made quite a few cookies. More than enough for their mission. With over-exaggerated motions she slyly glanced around before leaning towards the kids, "Y'know... The girl I usually have test these for me is out of the city right now. Know anyone who would be willing to try these for me?"

"Yes!" Her faux attempts at being stealthy were naturally ruined by the two excited children. Still, seeing them cheer in delight as they each grabbed one of her snacks was a nice feeling. A tug on her uniform drew her gaze away from them and towards Altina, who remained silent but was staring at her Meringue Cookies with great intensity. Behind her Kurt was trying to act cool, but the way his gaze kept lingering on her creation...

"Haha. Go ahead. There's plenty for everyone."

When Fie joined the Cooking Club it had been almost entirely because of obligation. It was the best in a bunch of unimpressive choices. Personally the little jaeger thought the entire concept of clubs was pointless.

But as she stood there watching her teacher, classmates, and classmate's family all taking the time to enjoy something she had made with her own two hands?

Yeah. She was beginning to understand it now.

Fie was looking forward to telling Tita and Sandy about her success the next time she was back at camp. And after that she would continue studying under them. Because seeing the happiness of her friends had given her a new goal:

Before the year was over she was going to cook an entire meal for her friends.

Once Rean and Juna put the finishing touches on their own projects the three of them pooled their work to see that they had definitely made enough variety of food to appease the weird baker. With Rean declaring their mission as complete the group of five announced their departure from Juna's house, much to the sadness of the two munchkins who were doing their best to prevent their big sister from leaving. This time, however, Juna was quick to pry them off, albeit with a look of reluctance upon her face.

The walk back to the bakery was a quick one, and as expected Bennet was absolutely delighted by the amount of dishes they brought her. Fie didn't really care about that, however, as both her eyes and nose had been drawn to something in particular that Oscar was just bringing out of the kitchen.

In a rush she tugged on Rean's sleeve before pointing to the object of her affections, "I want one of those honey bagels."

"...Didn't we just eat sweets?" The teacher asked her tiredly.

"Don't care. You said you'd buy me a dessert, right? Well there it is."

"But..." He was grasping at straws, "It'll be lunch soon. Wouldn't you rather wait?"

She shook her head, "Nope. This is for research. Need to try it so I can make it for myself."

"...I'm fairly sure you can't figure out a recipe just by trying the dish once."

"Wanna bet?" His resistance to her idea was unsurprising, but if there was anything Fie had learned over the past two months it was that her teacher was a total sucker. She just needed to keep pressing him and she would get her way sooner rather than later.

And after that she would take her time to enjoy the tastiest looking bagel ever while her classmates could only look on with jealously.