Tales From The Kronos

Sepide and Remiel stood next to each other with the leader keeping an eye on them, waiting for Neige. They all waited silently until Neige arrived, it didn't take him long before noticing the tension between Sepide and Remiel.

"What happened? You act like someone died."

"I don't know, Sepide has been like that since Remiel arrived."

The leader and Neige looked at Sepide, who was pouting and turned her head around.

"Why is the robot here? I'm sure we don't her for whatever we're doing."

"I doubt it." Answered Neige "Polyetta decided that we would all spend time together. Remiel is still new so we need to spend time with her."

"I didn't need to be carried around like a child though." Sepide answered, still not looking at Remiel.

"I may be a child, but I do not need to hide my face on the internet because of my appearance."

Remiel talked in a light-hearted tone, a smile on her face. Everyone was shocked to hear that, especially Sepide who finally gave attention to Remiel by staring at her with anger.

"You think you're better than me? I'm the reason you even exist, I can prove I'm better than you. I challenge you to anything you want, I'll show you how humans are better than robots!"

"Very well. As you have experience in cooking, we should see which one can be the better cook."

"Alright, I'm ready for that."

Sepide left toward the kitchen under the amused eyes of Remiel. Neige immediately went toward the robot, trying to understand what happened.

"Why did you insult her? It only made things worse!"

"Isn't it how people show affection? Emely and Silva merrily use insults to show their love."

"Don't learn from them... I'll convince Sepide to stop and I'll talk to her privately."

"So we will not cook together?"

Neige was surprised to see Remiel's saddened expression. He turned toward the leader but she didn't seem to understand either.

"You... Still want to do it? You know she's doing that to prove she's better than you, right?"

"It does not matter. It will be an amusing activity and provide us with a challenge as rivals."

"Rivals? I think Sepide sees you more like an enemy."

"I am sure she does not. Humans have complex ways to show their feelings, it is merely her way to show her love to me."

Remiel left to join Sepide in the kitchen. The leader went next to Neige, concerned about what was about to happen.

"What should we do? I just wanted them to talk and get along, not fight each other in a culinary duel."

"I guess we can only help them for now. Maybe they'll feel closer after that."

Poleytta wasn't as sure as Neige but still followed him to join Sepide and Remiel.

The two friends arrived in the kitchen to see Ina being harassed by Sepide and Remiel. When the cook noticed them, she hurried toward them with relief.

"Leader, Neige! They are asking me to use the kitchen but I can't take care of them, I need to do something."

"Don't worry, we're here for that. We'll take care of them."

Ina smiled at Neige's answer and bowed in gratitude.

"Thanks, it's not that I don't trust them but I would have preferred someone to keep an eye on them."

The cook immediately left the room. Neige and the leader went toward the two girls before they could argue. The leader wasn't sure what to say, so Neige decided to talk first.

"We should make teams. Me and Sepide against Remiel and Polyetta. The goal is to make the best meal, what do you think?"

"I'm okay with that." Sepide looked at Remiel, waiting for her answer.

"I will not lose!"

The two rivals split and prepared everything they needed. Sepide acted with confidence like she already knew what she was doing. She glanced shortly at Remiel before turning toward Neige.

"You know how to cook? I never saw you cook before."

"I know a bit. I just wanted to talk with you alone actually, Polyetta sucks too so it's basically just you and Remiel."

"I see, I better not lose then. We'll cook lasagna, I'm sure a robot can't win against that!"

Sepide started working under the curious gaze of Neige.

"You know, Remiel is a robot. She has more knowledge and skill than you, it's just a fact. You shouldn't take it personally, she was made to be better."

"I was made to be better too."

"It's different, you're closer to a normal human being. I mean, you don't have a rocket launcher."

Sepide stopped in her steps to look at Neige, with a gaze of disbelief.

"She... Has a rocket launcher?"

"I don't know, I suppose. Emely is the one that created her so I wouldn't be surprised."

Sepide focused back on her meal, working the best she could on it.

"Weren't you the one that wanted Remiel? I don't remember the name but it was because of another robot... Ariel?"

"Uriel." Immediately answered Sepide "They're different, Remiel thinks she's better but she's far from human."

"You're a bit harsh, imagine that she's like a child. Sometimes she says weird stuff but it's not with a bad intent. Don't you want to give her a chance at least?"

"I will when she stops being an entitled pretentious."

"Maybe you do spend too much time with Silva... Why do you even think that?"

"She always acts like she's happy for no reason and that she can be more than the reason she was created for."

"Sepide, are you... Jealous of her?"

Sepide pretended to be too focused to answer. Neige took a deep breath and glanced at Polyetta and Remiel, who seemed to have some difficulties.

"You can find your own path too, you know? Don't try to compare yourself with a robot. Actually, don't compare yourself with anyone, you're unique."

"You've heard of Aristotle?"

"I did, Kairo was pretty into him."

"He said humans are happier when they do the thing they were made for, and that humans are made to reason. I'm different, I'm made for one thing and so is Remiel. It's... Vain to fight against it."

Neige took Sepide's arm to stop her from cooking and forced her to stare at him in the eyes.

"When we fought Kairo, you said you were more than what you were created for. Doesn't it mean anything to you? Do you not believe it anymore?"

"I do... And it hurts. I wish I could just go back to what I was before, something that had a purpose, and obey it."

Sepide freed herself from Neige's grip and continued working on her food. Neige looked at Remiel and saw the smile on her face as she tried her best to cook with Polyetta.

"You enjoy your V-tuber thing and cooking, right? And you weren't made for that. Don't listen to old guys from other worlds' philosophy, you can still find happiness beyond what you are."

Sepied silently put her meal in the oven without looking at Neige once. She grabbed her wrist with her other hand and closed her eyes, confused about her feelings.

"Thanks... Neige. I'm glad that I'm not alone."

Neige smiled softly at Sepide and rubbed the top of her head.

"You'll never be alone. I should bring everyone to taste what you did, we'll see who won in the end."

Sepide turned toward Neige, trying to make a smile despite her sad feelings, and nodded her head.

Everyone was waiting in the cafeteria to try the meals of the two cooks. Sepide put her lasagna on the table while Remiel put a cake on it. No one commented on it but it was obvious that the cake stayed in the oven a bit too long. They decided to try Sepide's meal first, and all took a part of the lasagna. Before anyone could say anything, Gwyn ate and gave her opinion on it.

"It's alright, not too sweet, not too salty."

"I don't think you can make lasagna too sweet, Gwyn." Ina said with a perplexed smile.

"I didn't even notice it was lasagna."

"Don't listen to her Sepide!" Emely said cheerfully "It was really good!"

"Yeah, I'm glad to have a friend that can cook so well!"

Sepide was glad to hear the compliments from Silva and the others. It was now time to eat Remiel's cake. The leader stood proudly next to her, announcing to everyone,

"Me and Remiel worked hard on it! I taught her all I could!"

Remiel started to cut the cake with some difficulties. The food was so hard that she needed to use a lot of strength to just cut one slice. Silva seemed more than annoyed by the sound, grimacing at it.

"Who's cutting stone?"

"That's not stone Silva... That's the cake."

Upon hearing Emely's words, Silva focused more on the sound and shook her head with vigor.

"If that's the cake, I'm not eating it."

"Come on, Remiel did it and she's like my daughter. You could at least try."

"I will if you try it first."

"Eh!? Well... Of course, I will."

While the two were arguing, Sepide took a slice of the burnt cake. It reminded her of the first time she cooked and how half of what she did ended up in as bad of a state. She stared at it for a moment until she was taken out of her thoughts by Silva's voice.

"You told me it was edible! I can barely break a piece of it!"

"I couldn't with my teeth, but if you break a bit of it on the table, then you can swallow the smaller parts."

"Emely, that's not what I'd consider edible."

Remiel laughed happily at the two girls' interaction before talking to the rest of the group.

"I know that I lost, there is no need to eat it. I have limited knowledge in this domain, I am just glad I was able to play with Sepide."

Sepide felt bad to treat Remiel so harshly. She couldn't help but think about Neige's words, maybe she was jealous of Remiel. But despite what her mind said, her heart still couldn't accept Remiel.