Orochi scratched the surface of her table in her shared dorm room. A few days ago, her room was so bare, but now it had a computer table, a shelf, and many plushies scattered around her bed, shelf, and computer table.

That side of the room was a lot pinker than it was before. She wondered if Tame would take offense to it… knowing her roommate’s wallflower attitude, Orochi doubted it. Orochi saw on a chair and scratched her computer table.

The sound of metal scratched echoed through the room. Normally, Orochi would be bothered by the sound, but her heart raced with uncertainty and feelings she never felt before.

Hiro liked her. He liked liked her. She didn’t know how to act. Hell, she was never prepared for this kind of situation. Her father tried to give her prep talks about what she should do if a boy approached her, the common fatherly protectiveness.

Those prep talks did nothing to help her now. Orochi never expected a guy to ever like her, sure, Inigo tried a year ago, but it was merely a try. He chased after every single skirt in the school at that time.

‘Was this how you felt back then, Inigo?’ Orochi wanted to scream at the four winds, unleashing all of her happiness in a sonorous cry. She would explode with happiness if it was possible.

She was happy, but how should she act on those emotions? Three intrusive voices joined her thoughts.

(You should feed him. Men should like being fed)
(Makeup! MAKEUP! MAKEUP!)
(The dumbass on my far left is right. Cook him something)

One sounded as if she was feeding a pig for Christmas. Orochi stared at their middle hydra, which rested its head over her shoulder. It didn’t want to help Orochi at all.

It wanted to play with Makeup stuff.

At least one gave good advice. “Alright. Time to cook.”

“Cook what?” Orochi almost jumped out of her chair. Tame stood behind her. Orochi chewed on her lip and inflated her cheeks.

“Don’t stand behind me like that. It’s not cool, Tame.” The android girl blinked a few times, before she placed her left hand over her mouth, muffling a small laugh.

“Sorry, Orochi-san. I will keep that in mind.” Tame smiled at her roommate. “So, what you are planning to cook?”

Orochi scratched her cheek a little bit. “Well, I was thinking of cooking something for Hiro, you know?” Orochi didn't spare a single thought about the no-dating rule, not anymore. Honestly, some people broke it more blatantly than she ever could.

What was making chocolate for someone compared to any antics Inigo can pull off?

Tame looked at Orochi from top to bottom. She could sense that Orochi had never cooked before. Although this was a baseless assumption, something about her roommate's cooking seemed off.

“Hm. I think I can help with that. What about chocolate It is easy to make, and a delicious dessert. It certainly will please Hiro-san.”

Orochi looked at Tame as if she was the genius of the century. A big, goofy grin spread across her lips. “That is it, Tame!! I will be cooking chocolate!”

A shiver went up Tame’s mechanical spine. She didn't know she could feel a chill like that. It was an ill-omen. ‘What have I done?’

(...)

Tame gave Orochi the instructions to make a fairly simple chocolate bonbon. Orochi looked proudly over her confections.

“It was so easy! I didn’t even break a sweat!”

Tame looked at the bonbons. Their appearance was… average, pending to the ugly side. Orochi took one with her claws. “Hey Tame, would you mind doing a taste test?”

Tame instincts screamed at her to refuse, but one glance at Orochi’s smiling and proud face told her Orochi would be sad if she didn’t take at least a bite. She picked the bonbon and bit it. She felt as if she swallowed a gallon of acid. Immediately, many error screens jumped before her eyes.

(Lethal dosage of poison detected. Internal parts damaged. Initiating life support systems-
Headstrong hydra Quirk activated)

Tame couldn’t even taste it properly before her systems auto-activated life support. She closed her eyes. ‘Atsushi-san… WHAT did you put into those chocolates?’

Tame was there the whole process. It shouldn’t be anything other than normal chocolate. Yet it managed to activate her life support mechanisms. “Orochi-san. Let’s melt those bonbons and try again. There is something wrong with them.”

The glimmer vanished from Orochi’s red eyes, but her smile didn’t. She understood what Tame said, but couldn’t fathom what went wrong with her chocolates. Tame, on the other hand, was too polite to say that her friend’s chocolate was a life hazard.

“Orochi, let me handle the tempering of the chocolate.” Orochi walked away, her cheeks red with shame. Tame threw in the chocolate over an improvised double boiler.

Tame threw the chocolate back on the improvised double boiler and saw how it melted. her stomach turned on the knot as a silhouette similar to that of a snake appeared on the melted chocolate. It even had eyesockets.

“hiss…”

Tame picked a wooden spoon and hit the “snake” to death. “Die. Die. Die. Die” She muttered under her breath. There was no way it was a hallucination or her mind playing tricks on her.

Orochi noticed the chocolate abomination too, but stepped aside, ignoring its existence, much to Tame’s dismay.

“Orochi, you need to learn how to cook properly, otherwise it will be a health hazard to let you in the kitchen."