Chapter 84: Cooking Practice

The sound of the bell rang.

At the same time, the math teacher left the classroom, and the fourth class period was over.

Finally, it was time for lunch break, and the classroom became noisy all at once.

Suddenly, Asahi looked around and saw Hinami running out of the classroom.

Soon after he heard, “No running in the hallways!”, so it was easy to imagine who it was.

With a dumbfounded smile on his face, he looked at the intended seat and saw that Fuyuka was in conversation with her classmates.

‘I think it’s someone she’s recently become friends with. Are they gonna have lunch together?’

Asahi was happy about it, but also a little sad.

He was used to such days, and at the same time he felt frustrated with himself for having gotten used to it.

‘It’s not that I don’t want to act right now, but rather I can’t.’

Asahi looked down and opened his lunch box.

Inside were leftovers from last night, such as beef and green peppers stir fried and grilled eggplant with cheese, as well as side dishes that he had prepared lightly this morning.

“Hey, is it okay to eat that much?”

 

“It’s fine, it’s for lunch, after all.”

 

Without checking who it was, he replied a few words back and Chiaki sat down across the desk from him.

With a somewhat dumbfounded look on his face, Chiaki opened his own lunch box and urged Asahi to look at it.

“This is the best I got.”

 

“That’s quite… a lot. Or not, normal, I guess?”

“Well, I usually eat a lot more.”

 

When Asahi made a dubious face as to what he was trying to say, a smile appeared on Chiaki’s face this time.

“We have cooking class, right? You need to stay hungry.”

As Chiaki said, they had a cooking class coming right up during the sixth period today.

Students said that cooked rice was too heavy after eating lunch, and that it was hard to reduce lunch in anticipation of the sixth period. There were a lot of complaints about the last cooking class.

However, there seemed to be rather a lot of positive feedback today.

What they were making were cookies, which at most would fill their little stomachs. Most of the students looked forward to them, as they were just the right amount of sugar for their study-weary brains.

And in the special space that was school, there were always hype stories.

“Ryoma, look forward to the cookies!”

“Thank you, Asuka. But please go easy on the sugar. Coach might get mad.”

“Of course! Don’t worry about it!”

Overhearing the exchange coming from the hallway, Asahi took a bite of his omelet.

The egg rolls, which were made with just a little less sugar, were a little hard, as if the heat had not been transferred to the pan.

“You know it, don’t you, Asahi? Today is like a petite Valentine’s Day.”

“What’s that? That’s new to me.”

“Appealing to the person you care about with homemade cookies! You know?”

“So there will be a petite White day.”

“Yeah, yeah, actually, Wait no! That’s not the point!”

Chiaki made a light flirtatious comment and immediately moved towards me. It was accompanied by his usual grin and hateful smile.

“Don’t you think you will get some from that person?”

“Well, that’s…”

 

Who that person referred to inevitably led to a certain someone.

The person that Asahi loved, Himuro Fuyuka.

“But we’re limited on ingredients, and I’m sure we’ll only have enough for one person.”

“…What are you trying to say?”

“If you don’t get some, don’t be discouraged.”

At these words, Asahi couldn’t help but choke up.

However, he quickly calmed down and opened his mouth.

“You’re being very provocative today.”

“It’s just you.”

“You’ll definitely get it, how unfair.”

“I’m just telling you to hurry up and get into a relationship.”

Chiaki then gave a nasty smile.

The lunch break was over, the fifth period had passed, and soon the sixth period of home economics class arrived.

Students moved to the home economics room with the aprons and bandana they brought with them.

“Now then, each group, please follow the instructions and begin cooking.”

After listening to the teacher’s explanation, the signal to start was given.

Then Asahi was grabbed by his elbow and he turned his head to the side.

“We’re in the same group.”

His heart jumped a little as Fuyuka giggled.

For hygienic reasons, Fuyuka looked fresh and pretty in her light blue bandana and flowery apron.

No wonder she was surrounded by a large number of classmates and raving about her before the class started.

“Don’t s***w it up, alright? I’m not gonna tell you what to do.”

“Grump. You don’t have to worry about that, because a certain somebody taught me a lot.”

As they whispered back and forth, the eyes of the people around focused on them.

Fuyuka didn’t seem to mind, but Asahi found it bothersome and painful, so he left it at that and moved on to cooking.

And in no time at all, the dough was ready.

“I’ve been thinking for a while now, Kagami is a good cook.”

“I know, right? He has this air of a veteran.”

Feeling a little better after being told such a thing by his male friend, Asahi turned his attention to the seat facing him.

Fuyuka, who showed the results of her practice to the fullest, finished cooking without any noticeable mistakes.

The other side seemed to be happy being praised by her friends.

“As expected, Himuro-san can do anything.”

“Really, it’s so amazing to be perfect in studies, sports, and cooking.”

Feeling funny inside about such compliments, Asahi went to the microwave oven when the well-timed microwave alarm rang.

“Looks great.”

 

The perfect amount of charring and the savory smell of the food that would entice appetites.

All he had to do was let it cool a bit and take it to the table, but he heard small footsteps, probably caught by the smell of cookies.

“Wow, it looks really delicious.”

Fuyuka, with her eyes sparkling, stood next to Asahi.

Fuyuka told him all sorts of things, such as that she made the mold for this one, and that she made that one a size larger.

Then Fuyuka, who looked like she had more to say, opened her mouth.

“I wanted to thank Tachibana-san, so I’m glad it went so well.”

“…Tachibana-san is your housekeeper, right?

“Yes. The housekeeper that I’ve been in debt to for a long time.”

Fuyuka looked at the heart-shaped cookie and continued to speak.

“I’ve never been able to express my gratitude, so I thought I’d take this opportunity.”

It was a very nice motive, typical of Fuyuka.　

At the same time, Chiaki’s words came to mind, and he punched that grinning face inside his brain to keep it from laughing.

Asahi was filled with embarrassment at himself for feeling like he could get some.

He couldn’t help but chuckle when he thought of the same thing that happened on Valentine’s Day.

“I hope she’ll like it.”

With that, Asahi returned to the table where his friends from the same group were waiting.

Some eat it themselves, some give it to someone else.

Fuyuka was of course the latter, and was working on the wrapping.

After cleaning up, the class ended and everyone was dismissed.

Asahi was about to quickly return to the classroom, when he was again discreetly poked in the elbow and he turned around. Standing ahead of him was Fuyuka, who had reapplied her blue hair ornament and had returned to her normal attire.

“Here, Asahi-kun.”

 

The transparent wrapping that Fuyuka offered him was the one he had seen just a few minutes ago.

Inside were the cookies that they made together.

‘But she said she was going to give it to her housekeeper.’

“Aren’t you supposed to give this to the housekeeper?”

“I still have some to give to Tachibana-san.”

According to her, she asked her friend to make more.

“Thank you. I’ll eat it carefully.”

When Asahi smiled, Fuyuka followed suit and smiled too.

Looking closely, he saw that the cookies that were handed to him included a beautiful heart shaped one.