What a Nuisance (1)

Chapter 50: Episode 25 - What a Nuisance (1)

The next day, the Sweets Princes and I met up at the cooking lab. Hanabusa had already made his first trial of his rose cake and we would help give constructive criticism. Hanabusa offered us each a piece of his first rose-pound cake.

"Would you be willing to try some? Though, it's still in the trial stage," Hanabusa explained but we didn't mind. We grabbed forks and took a small bit off before eating it.

"Doesn't it stink of perfume a bit too much…" Kashino pointed out though I quickly interjected.

"It's edible and it has a natural aroma," I defended as I stood next to Hanabusa.

We took a bite of the pound cake and pondered the flavor for a bit before responding.

"It's a rose cake but there's no rose aroma at all," Chocolat and Kashino said in unison while Andou and Caramel had their eyebrows furrowed as well.

"You're right," Hanabusa noticed and I did as well. "Because this is a baked good, the aroma disappeared because of the heat."

"What if you put in more perfume?" Caramel suggested.

"Eh, no way, it'll just be lost," Chocolat turned down.

"Let's try using the school's rose oil essence," Cafe brought up and so Hanabusa decided to try that idea.

When Hanabusa made the rose cake with the rose oil essence, a heavy aroma spread throughout the cooking lab.

'It really smells like roses…'

We all noticed that it was too much, but instead of saying anything, we heard the cooking lab's door open up and we turned our attention that way.

"Uwa, what the heck? This place stinks of perfume!" A guy's voice said as he entered.

We saw that Ichimatsu and his team members walked into the middle school division's cooking lab unannounced and they all plugged their noses.

"What's Ichimatsu and his team doing here?" I asked them and then they all turned their attention towards me.

"Oh, so the Ice Princess is here? We came to visit you for a bit," Ichimatsu teased but I remained indifferent.

"Huh, is that so." I faked a smile and turned my head away from them.

"Just kidding. We heard that the first round will take place here so we came to check out the ovens."

Ichimatsu and his members walked towards us and noticed the rose cake.

"Is it this that's stinking up the room? Judging by the smell… a rose cake?" Ichimatsu took a closer look at the cake. One of his guys picked up Hanabusa's treasured rose water.

"The perfume is intense. Where's it from?" The guy observed the rose water to only have it snatched away by Hanabusa.

"It's from Paris," Hanabusa answered with an emotionless look on his face.

"Geez, calm down kid. I only wanted to see it." The guy backed off though Hanabusa shot him a glare.

"Anyways, what's the Ice Princess going to make?" Ichimatsu and his team emphasized, bringing the attention back to me but I could tell the Sweets Princes weren't pleased in the least.

"I thought you came to check out the ovens, not question us," I pointed out with a fake smile.

"Hoho, I like your feistiness. But I'm curious to see what you're going to make since I already know that one of you is making something for a toilet's aromatics store," Ichimatsu mocked but I furrowed my eyebrows in distaste from this remark. The Sweets Princes also seemed agitated from his words.

'Geez, what's wrong with this guy? I could barely tolerate his flirtations, but now, I'm starting to get angry.'

I turned my head away from them and faced toward the direction of the exit.

"Go ahead and check the ovens. I won't bother you." I clenched my fists as I turned away from everybody and made my way towards the door.

"Nice going, Ichimatsu. Now you got her annoyed," one of his guys scolded him.

"What? I didn't think that I'd annoy her!" Ichimatsu said flusteredly.

"Go after her! She's already leaving!" One guy pushed Ichimatsu forward.

"Hey, wait!" Ichimatsu called out to me but I'd already left the room.

~

Ichimatsu walked in the direction of the door but the Sweets Princes stopped him from following Keiko.

"What are you doing? I'm trying to go after her!" Ichimatsu roughly explained to the Sweets Princes but their faces were still angry.

"It'd be best if you didn't go after her," Hanabusa said with an irritated look on his face.

"What do you know, brat? After my team wins against yours, she has to go on a date with me," Ichimatsu smirked at them condescendingly along with his team members who stared the Sweets Princes down, though Kashino, Hanabusa, and Andou didn't feel the least bit intimidated.

"That's 'if' you win, but we won't allow it to happen," Kashino defended, a cold look on his face.

"If anything, when we win, you'll be forced to apologize for your actions and leave her alone," Andou plastered a snarky smirk.

"You brats are annoying! Let me go see her!" Ichimatsu said in annoyance though the sweets princes didn't back down.

"Go view the ovens. We'll go after her," Hanabusa said and the sweets princes walked out of the cooking lab, leaving the high school boys irritated.

The Sweets Princes quickly went after Keiko who made her way towards the rose garden that Hanabusa usually tended.

They could see a beautiful girl sitting in the grass in the middle of all of the beautiful rose bushes. The color of the flowers varied from white, pink, and a deep crimson red that made the girl stand out even more in the stunning scenery.

The look on her face was clearly conflicted as she was deep in thought. Her teeth were gritted in anger and her fists were clenched. Though nobody ever really saw Keiko this angry before, it was the first time that she'd put up a visibly angry face. They could tell that what Ichimatsu said to Hanabusa clearly bothered her as she muttered quietly to herself, not even realizing that the boys were there.