What a Nuisance (2)
Chapter 51: Episode 25 - What a Nuisance (2)
'Those high school guys are jerks! How could they say such a thing about Hanabusa's cake, especially when he's still working on it?! They're insensitive pricks. But… I wish I could be of more help to Hanabusa…'
When I thought about what Hanabusa told me about Mom saying that I knew the recipe for her rose cake, she probably didn't even know that she'd die so soon…
"It's been so long, Mom… I can't help him… I don't even know the recipe…" I muttered to myself as my hands were still clenched in a fist. "I want to be of more help but I can't recall it… If you were still here, I could've asked you and probably be able to help him…"
'But how…? How did you die? I can't even remember the scene well even though I was right there…'
"How did you die? What happened that day?!" I raised my voice and scrambled my hair in frustration. "I can't do anything! I can't even remember!"
I was so caught up in my world that I clenched my fists even tighter and my hands turned white. I hadn't realized that my fingernails were piercing the palm of my hand.
"Keiko, you're hurting yourself!" Fraise hollered at me though I hadn't realized how dazed out I was, focusing my attention on my own thoughts. When I came back to reality, I hadn't realized that my fingernails were piercing the palm of my hand and blood was oozing out.
When I turned my head to meet Fraise's gaze, I also saw the Sweets Princes and their sweets spirits in front of me. They looked at me in shock and concern as blood dripped onto my legs from my hands.
"What… happened?" I asked confusedly.
"We followed you here and we saw you sitting on the grass, muttering to yourself," Kashino responded bluntly though I became troubled.
"Muttering… to myself?" I asked and thought about it.
'I thought that I was thinking to myself in my head… Did they hear what I said?'
The look on my face grew to concern and I looked up at them seriously.
"What did I say?" I asked them, wondering if they heard everything.
"You asked yourself how did someone die, what happened that day, and started spouting that you couldn't do anything or remember," Andou summarized and I sighed.
'Well, at least I didn't say any more than that…'
"Okay, that's good," I said quietly but their looks turned to irritation.
"How is that good?! You're bleeding!" Kashino pointed out my hands that were covered in blood.
"Oh, this?" I looked at the palm of my hands and saw the cuts made by my fingernails. For some reason, I didn't feel any pain. "I guess I hadn't realized it, but I'm fine."
I shrugged it off but Fraise waved her wand around to have band-aids appear. She applied it on my hands so that the cuts would stop bleeding.
"This is only temporary but you should visit the nurse," Fraise suggested and I nodded my head.
"Michiko... What did you mean when you said all of those things?" Hanabusa asked worriedly but I still didn't feel like answering completely.
"I don't know either… before I knew it, I was already spewing those things out…" I said but Hanabusa didn't seem to give up just yet.
"Were they… about your mom?" Hanabusa asked carefully but I didn't know how to answer it. Andou and Kashino looked at us in suspicion, figuring that something happened.
'I'm still not ready to tell them… I can't even recall the scene of Mom dying…'
They remained quiet and didn't question me further about the subject.
"Anyways, why did you leave so quickly?" Andou tried to change the subject and I focused my attention back on them.
"I… was angry. That 'Ichimatsu' didn't have to say those things about the rose water… since that's Hanabusa's father's treasured perfume." I gritted my teeth angrily as I thought back to what happened in the cooking lab. I clenched my fists tightly again and blood oozed out of the band-aids.
"Keiko, stop! You're doing it again!" Fraise said worriedly as I looked down at my hands again and unclenched my fists.
"It's irritating!" I voiced out in anger and everyone was surprised at my outbreak.
"... I get it now. That perfume is Hanabusa's father's memento. That's why he wanted to make a rose cake," Kashino analyzed as Hanabusa gripped the rose water bottle tightly in his hand.
"Sorry… I know it's a risk but I want to make it no matter what," Hanabusa said, holding the rose water to his heart.
"Hm…" Andou pondered before speaking. "Rose… it's certainly an idea that draws the eye."
"It's better than making something similar to your seniors," Cafe admitted.
"That's right, you're all young so you have to challenge yourselves," Fraise gave us an encouraging smile.
"Miss Fraise, you sound like an old lady though you're the same age as us," Caramel giggles.
We could see on each others' faces the temptation to make something better than our seniors.
"Interesting, let's make it, a rose cake. We can all try it if we think we can make it for sure," Kashino suggested with a smirk and we all looked at him in surprise. "Of course, we'll make it so the other cakes won't lose to Team Ichimatsu."
"Yeah," we all agreed in unison, small smiles appearing on our mouths. "We'll definitely win this!!!"
We all went back inside the cooking lab and we noticed that Ichimatsu and his team had already left.
'Good, now I won't have to put up with them now.'
A relieved sigh came out of my mouth when I didn't see the opposing team in the cooking lab anymore.
We went back to our station and started coming up with ways to make a good rose cake, working separately on the cake.
The sweets spirits analyzed the bottle from nearby as we made our different rose cakes.
"This rose water has a very good aroma but it seems the aroma flies away when it's used in baked goods," Caramel said.
"Hanabusa's dad left behind something really confusing," Chocolat admitted as she read the contents of the bottle.
Unexpectedly, the door to the cooking lab opened and we could hear many footsteps.
"H-hide!" Cafe announced to the sweets spirits and they quickly found a place to hide with Caramel clumsily tumbling to their hiding place.
We could see that many girls entered the kitchen and I was caught off guard.
"Keiko, how's it coming along?" Rumi and the other girls came running to my side to observe me.
"Oh, Rumi!" I acknowledged, a small surprised smile forming on my face.
"The first round of the Grand Prix is coming up, so we came to cheer you on!" Rumi explained as I noticed a lot of the girls from our class came along as well.
"The middle school division's stars will finally get to shine," one girl said to me with a smile.
'I didn't realize that everyone from our class came to cheer us on… I never felt this encouraged before…'
Some girls gathered around the sweets princes in admiration as they experimented with their version of the rose cake, but unexpectedly, most girls from our class surrounded me and they had smiles of anticipation.
"Oh, Michiko, is this your cake?" One girl had asked me, pointing to my completed lemon-blueberry pound cake.
"Yeah, it's ready. Would you all like to try some?" I offered to them and they willingly nodded their heads.
"I really want to taste what the Ice Princess made!"
"Her pound cake looks amazing!"
I smiled and cut them all a slice to taste.
"I'm pretty sure you have to make 4 kinds of pound cakes, right?" Rumi asked and I nodded my head.
"That's correct. Mine is a lemon-blueberry pound cake, Kashino's is a cocoa pound with nuts, and Andou's has a green tea pound with sweet natto in it," I explained to the girls as they grabbed a bite of my cake.
"Wow, it's delicious!"
"The lemon and blueberry work really well together!"
"I like the taste and decoration of it!"
"It tastes super good! The sweet aroma of the lemon-blueberry shows and the aroma is nice," Rumi and the other girls complimented.
"Really? Thank you very much," I gave them a warm smile and bowed my head gratefully. "Since the theme for this round is "family" we made it so that kids and even the elderly can enjoy it."
"You definitely won't lose to the high school team with this! Do your best!" Rumi encouraged and I gave her a smile.
"I heard that one of the high school guys on the opposing team kissed Michiko's hand in front of everyone. Is that true?" One girl had asked and I stopped whatever I was doing to see that everyone's gaze fell to me.
'Ugh, this again?'