"Here you go, Sekimori-senpai," Eda put a small pouch into Sekimori's hands.

The five first-year High-schoolers had their bags and their utensils in hand, ready to leave for the training camp from hell. A few of the other dormmates have woken up early to see them off on the way.

"What's this?" Sekimori asked, "it smells nice."

"Ah, no fair! Sekimori gets a present from Eda-chan?!" the other lunged at him.

"Chan?!" Eda squeaked, dashing behind Shinomiya, "ah-- there, there's enough for everyone! Just... just share..."

The other senior bonked his pal on the head, "stop bullying him!"

"Cookies!" one of them realized, "organic cookies! I saw him making those last night!"

"What?? Eda-chan's cookies!"

"Cooookies!"

Sekimori pulled it away immediately. "Not until we're on the bus!" he warned, "oh god, you made the right choice in giving this to me. These guys would finish it before we even leave."

"Good luck!" Eda said.

And they waved their seniors a hopefully temporary goodbye.

-

"Eda-chan, I found what you were looking for!"

Shiomi's covered in some brown dust and there's a crease on her cheek that means she fell asleep on her desk again. But her eyes are bright and her entire demeanor radiates energy that shouldn't be there for five in the morning.

The two youngest were in the field, and some of the seniors were coaching them through the dos and don'ts of caring for the vegetable farm.

Upon Shiomi's interference, though, Eda jumped in surprise. Shinomiya barely caught the flying watering can before it landed on a particularly beautiful head of cabbage.

"You found something?"

Eda made his way past the farm with an excited smile on his face, pawing off his gloves clumsily. The sun hat sits awkwardly oversized on his head, and he pushes it to rest on the back of his head as he nears the senior.

"Yeah!" Shiomi raised a tablet in her hands. "This much is a cinch for me!"

"Thank you, Shiomi-senpai!" Eda beamed.

"Ah yes, praise me!" Shiomi huffed, hands on her hips in a show of status.

"Stop making a ruckus and show us the information already," Shionimya groaned at them, snatching the tablet away (to the whine and chagrin of their senior) and setting it at eye level so he and Eda could look through it together.

It's a display of all culinary research societies.

Shinomiya scrolled through it curiously, Eda leaning over his shoulder to get a closer look. It was arranged by membership, with Chinese, Italian, and French sitting near the top of the rankings.

There's a filter for the genre, and Shinomiya let Eda select the dessert option. There weren't many, but there's a handful-- from chocolate, to Candy Appreciation, to Japanese Sweets.

"There aren't many, huh?" Eda said, slightly disappointed.

"They're all small clubs too, except chocolate," Shinomiya observed, "I guess dessert just isn't popular compared to the other cuisines. Let me check the French one, c'mon."

"No, I'm the one that asked for this information. No stealing," Eda grinded his teeth at the taller boy, snatching the tablet away.

"Now you two, no fighting. Look through it together."

Shiomi cleared her throat, recomposing herself.

"As I've said before, the difference between the junior high and high school research societies is that the junior high ones are headed by volunteer teachers and chefs, and high school ones are led by the students themselves."

"Which is why you can challenge the high school research societies, but you shouldn't challenge the junior high ones," Eda said, remembering that detail very clearly. "I think we learned that in class, too."

"But it's not impossible, right?" Shinomiya asked, "it's just a little harder."

"No, that's not the problem," Shiomi chided, having traumatic flashbacks, "I mean, it's part of it. But those advisors are necessary volunteers. If you make them leave, you should have a replacement advisor ready."

"A replacement advisor?" Shinomiya asked, "if we're taking over a research club why do we need a replacement?"

One of the seniors laughed at that. "Have you never been in a club?" He said, without any intention to offend but Shinomiya made an insulted noise anyways, "all clubs need advisors, just to make sure it actually does work instead of fooling around all day."

Shinomiya hummed confusedly, "like a babysitter? Is that why the high school division research clubs don't need one?"

"Yeah, because in high school, other research clubs will keep you in check," Shiomi said, a confident smile teasing the corners of her lips, "it's a club activity down here, but a warzone up there."

Eda chewed on that information.

"The high school section sure has a lot of privileges," Eda said, "training camps, autumn elections, research societies without advisors..."

"Eda-chan, people usually see those as the exact opposite of privileges," Shiomi responded, slightly exasperated, "they're hell."

"Really? I think they might be fun."

"It's hell," she repeated. And in a very 'oh, guess I can't help it' manner, she pulled on her lab coat and produced a whiteboard out of nowhere, "now, let me explain just exactly what goes on in those events."

Everyone immediately tuned her right out. Shiomi could go on for days on just talking alone and they all knew that already.

Eda hummed, face scrunching up in contemplation. He folded his arms together, and Shinomiya rolls his eyes at the side, setting the watering can down at the side.

"Don't be intimidated now," a senior assured them. Holding a basket of fresh vegetables, she cheerfully handed everyone a tomato. "Youngsters like you should keep their spirits up around here, ya know?"

"Youngsters, say," Shinomiya looked at the tomato incredulously, "why's ya speakin like grandma?"

"There it is, Miyamiya's country accent," she teased, pointing at her with a tomato-holding hand before depositing the fruit into Eda's hands. Shinomiya sputters, and she giggled.

"Don't call me that!" Blushing, he turned away and angrily crunched into the tomato--

--and his entire face lit right up.

"What's this? It's so sweet." His house always traded for tomatoes instead of growing their own, so he'd never had the opportunity to taste one so freshly plucked.

"Oh, that's a nice smile," a senior holding a camera smiled, "that's one for the books."

"Is it just me or you're taking more pictures now than last year?"

"Well, I feel like we're watching out kids grow, y'know? We haven't had someone so young in the dorms in the while."

"What are you, our mom?!"

"Yummy, right?" the senior grinned proudly at Shinomiya, "our Polar Star veggies don't lose to the ones you find in the boonies, eh?"

"Don't call'em the boonies," Shinomiya sneersed. Turning to the boy who was still wearing his sunhat for some reason, he gestured at the tomato in his hand, "hey, Eda. don't just hold that now. Take a bite."

Eda turned contemplatively to the tomato in his hands.

Instead of eating it however, he smiled a little sadly at it. "Fresh veggies always taste better than store-bought, of course. It'll obviously taste better."

"Just eat it," Shinomiya repeated, and the other seniors looked expectantly at him.

"No," he stuck out his tongue. Pulling off his sun hat with one hand, he snatched the tablet from Shinomiya and grinned, "I'm gonna go scout out enemy territory, so I'm keeping this as a snack. Thanks, senpai!"

Shinomiya fumbled for a second upon losing the tablet.

"Enemy terri-- hey, you're going to the research societies?" Shinomiya gawked, pulling away the bandanna around his head. "Then wait for me, I'm going too!"

The seniors waved at them as they raced each other back toward the dorm. Today was an off day for classes, so they definitely had plenty of time to scout research societies like the curious teenagers they were.

"Remember to hose yourselves down first!"

"Be careful, kids!"

A camera flashed, and all eyes turned to the senior with the camera again. With a smile, he simply said, "that's one for the books, too."

-

Shinomiya was climbing up the floor to peek into the window of the second floor-- the room they assume was the Western Cuisine research society-- so Eda took a walk around the empty hallways where the science labs were.

On an impulse, he decided to take a bite into the tomato he was given.

For a second, he honestly enjoyed the crisp, cold crunch of the first bite.

Then his face scrunched right into an unpleasant grimace as he held back the urge to spit the morsel of fruit right back out.

It was tough in the fleshy parts, gooey in the seeds-- he was sure the pure sweetness and faint sourness that should've been there would've made it pleasant.

He was sure these were pleasant textures, but he could only force himself through the bites, the tomato bitter on his tongue and registering only as-- rubbery. Rubbery, and--

"Gross," he whispered, covering his mouth, swallowing it slowly and resisting the urge to openly gag.

It's rude, he knows-- but the tears were already in his eyes from the effort. He already knew he couldn't make it through the rest of this tomato.

Internally whispering a string of inherent apologies to his seniors, he tossed the tomato into the trash.

No one saw him do it.

He dusted his hands, taking a drink from the water fountain, and went back to where he'd left Shinomiya a few minutes ago.

"Oh, you ate the tomato?" Shinomiya asked him, having just made his way down from the second floor banister.

"Yeah," Eda lied, a hand rubbing at the burn birthmark around his wrist as he pulls off a flawless smile. "It was really sweet."