Exposed

"Wh-what are you doing here?" His pose struck Kosaki in fear. While he was always a cold individual, even towards her. Anadama never placed much wraith her way outside of snide remarks. Though now his eyes sent chills down her spine as she had to contend with what seemed to be his rage towards her.

"For starters, I do live here." He answered her nonsensical question. There would be no reason for him not to be in the kitchen on a day off. "I can go wherever I please, but right now I should be asking what you're doing in here?"

"In here?" It was a simple question and all the potential answers were simple. Yet Kosaki hesitated as she struggled to find the words. "I was just… Doing some practicing." There was nothing wrong with her doing so, yet it seemed like she had gotten in trouble for doing exactly this. "My exam comes up soon."

"I know that, seeing as I am the one grading it." He quickly spoke up, continuing to hold tightly onto his control of the conversation. "And I can see you've been doing a lot today." He walked closer to her, putting his eyes on the mess she left all over the place.

"I was going to make sure I cleaned everything." She took steps back from him. Kosaki misunderstood what his problem with her was as she attempted to apologize for as many visible transgressions as possible. "I'm really sorry, I'm not trying to be a snob. And I'm sorry if I was hogging the kitchen. If you needed to use it, I would've gotten out of the way."

"There's nothing wrong with using the kitchen." He answered. The main kitchen at the school was out of commission for some renovation, so it made sense. "What I do think is wrong, is that cake right there." Anadama pointed to the cake standing all on its own.

"The cake?" She took a moment to look at it as she slowly came to the realization on why there appeared to be a piece missing. "Wait, did you…"

"Yeah, you could say that me and George had a bit of you… Baking…" To call it that was an insult to everything that Anadama had believed when it came to baking. There had to be another word for what she had created which now sat on the stove.

"It's not good?" She tried her best to salvage the situation by playing dumb. "O-oops, I guess it's been a little stressful lately. So I might've messed up the proportions or something." If breathing was called natural for her, then her ability to lie was on the complete opposite end of the spectrum. It was a surprise she even kept her feelings for Raku a secret back in the day.

"Yeah, you're lying." He was quick to call her out on it. "You really such at that, but I don't even need to believe you or not to find the truth." Anadama explained. "You see, no one can trick my taste buds. And what my tongue is telling is that you're a fraud."

"Uhh…" The accusation would've had more weight on her were she not immediately confused by his description of his skills. It didn't seem different to her ability to taste things, hence why she was the family taste tester. "I'm not." She defended herself poorly against his words.

"You really are an honest girl." He said, getting closer to her once again, cornering the girl against the counter. "That's why you're such a terrible lair. So I'm going to have to ask again, are you a good baker or not?" Anadama topped his bad cop routine by noticing the dirty mixing bowl behind her on the counter. He pushed it off, which caused it to create a loud bang when it landed on the ground.

"I'm not!" She got too scared to keep up her weak defense any longer. Kosaki confessed to him that she truly had no clue how to bake at all. "I'm sorry, I really am a fraud. I don't know what I'm doing and I always mess up when I bake."

"I didn't need to know all that." He stepped back, content with his skill in getting the truth out of her. "But that doesn't make any sense. I tried your stuff back in Japan and it was amazing. So how did you trick me back then?"

"I wasn't trying to…" She meekly admitted to him. Kosaki then went on to explain what she was sure what had happened. That his dad, and then later himself, would try out what her family had on display. Since her baking was considered awful, she wasn't the one who created what they had to sell outside of the part where she decorated them. "My sister and my mom are the ones who do all the baking."

"Wow, I should've taken your sister instead." He commented upon getting the full truth. "You mom is on the older side, but really is never to late to master one's skills in baking."

"It's over for me though, isn't it?" Kosaki slumped back onto the counter. The reality of the situation hit like a truck. She believed herself to be in a nightmare, praying to wake up from the mess. "You're going to kick me out, and I'll have to go back to Japan, right?"

She struggled to say the words as tears formed in her eyes. She didn't want to go back home as a failure. She'd be letting everyone who believed in her down.

"Last time I checked, you haven't done your exam yet." He had no reason to expel her. "It does seem pretty hopeless though." Anadama didn't have much faith she'd be able to turn around her terrible skills into mastery in the course of a couple days.

"I don't think I can do it." She expressed her concerned as she slowly slid down the side of the counter to sit down on the floor. "I'm hopeless, miserable." Kosaki couldn't contain the tears she began to cry. Her quiet, but very audible sniffles were plain for him to hear.

"You really do need to figure something out." He stared at her in this state. The man took a long while to think before making a move, which was to step out of the kitchen before he made a decision he was confident he'd regret.

"You're really going to leave her alone like that?" Right as he stepped out, there was George waiting for him. "I understand you're unhappy with the academy, but-"

"But what?" He cut him off. "She's an adult, I'm sure she'll figure something out."

"I was actually making a different point." George spoke again to clarify. "I was going to ask if you planned on making this public. After all, your father did make a mistake." Her being allowed into the school would be a blemish. There were a lot of capable bakers around the world who much more deserved the opportunity over her. "It would be quiet scandalous and embarrassing for your father."

"I never took you to want to do anything to harm his reputation." Anadama was taken aback. Not only had he not considered this method as a means to get back at his dad, but that it was his own butler to come up with the idea.

"I wouldn't." The older man straightened his tie as he responded. "I do wonder if you would though." His tone and glare hit Anadama hard as he felt the aura of a man who's loyalty knew no bounds. "I'd hate to have to make a choice, you know." Without saying specifics, it was evident he had send a threat his way.

"I'm my own man." He replied with no fear. "It's not like it matters anyway. She's pretty much already…" Anadama turned to look back into the kitchen to see her as an example. However the sight he received was a shock. The man had expected her to still be sitting and crying like a girl who had given up on life. But instead, Kosaki had stood back up, during the short moment he took to see her, she had slapped both cheeks simultaneously to hype herself back up.

Kosaki couldn't give up now. She knew this as she gathered all her courage just to stand back up and face the challenge. Even though she was always the scared, shy girl, and still mostly was. She also knew that she couldn't give up. Even back when she was afraid to be open with her feelings. Kosaki still held out hope she'd be able to one day be like the others, confident in herself.

"I see at least one person in this household doesn't give up on themselves." George spoke professionally, with the hint of arrogance as he gave his young master a smile.

"Oh hush." He responded snidely as he continued to watch her. Kosaki had quickly cleaned up her mess of a cake and began looking at all the mixes once more to bake another one. "She really is like a persistent fly, isn't she?"

This girl truly had been nothing like anyone else he had met before. For someone who acted like a meek deer, she surprisingly had a lot more fight inside of her. As if she were a fly one simply couldn't swat. It wasn't just her baking attitude either. She had continued to interact with him despite all his clear signals that she should stay away.

"She looks like a normal girl, but something tells me she's seen a lot in her short years on Earth." Said George. His time as a servant had allowed him to meet a lot of different people from any walks of life. So he considered himself a good judge of character, even if he had made mistakes along the way. "Honestly, the school could use more students like her."

"The school doesn't need any students at all." Anadama remained adamant in keeping his poor opinion over his father's academy. However, he sighed know he was about to do something he'd likely regret moving forward. The man walked back into the kitchen, rolling up his sleeves.

"Hmm? Huh!?" She had been deeply focused on her measuring that it wasn't until he stood right besides her. "Wh-what are you doing back here?" Kosaki asked nervously.

"Like I said before, this is still my kitchen." He answered, organizing all the tools he'd need to bake a cake of his own. "I'm free to do whatever I want, and I want to bake a cake."

"Yeah, I guess you are." She was too dense to realize what he had done. Which was good for the man, since he didn't want her to have a clue. Though George couldn't help but chuckle when he looked over them. He knew exactly what it was, but couldn't say it out loud or else he'd lose his job.

Even though she now had his watchful eye to see what it was she had been doing wrong. Kosaki couldn't help but get even more nervous now that they were in the same room once again. At the end of the day, he was still her teacher in a sense. So it was like having one look over her homework at all times.

"You know, just saying that it's not a bad idea to see what a real master can do." He spoke in an indirect manner, though it was still directed towards her. Anadama showed off a bit by taking an egg in each hand and cracking them at the same time to quickly drop them onto his flour.

"Wow." She was impressed with his finesse, talent, and speed. He truly was on another level compared to her. The man certainly would destroy her own sister even, and that was one of the best bakers she had ever known.

"Don't just watch, try it too." He said, not taking his eyes off his handiwork. "You know what they say, good artists copy, great ones steal."

"That sounds like a bad thing though?" She responded, taking a couple eggs for herself. "I don't want to be a thief."

"How about we just say I'm giving it to you." He replied in typical fashion. Were he a more legitimate teacher, then one would say he was terrible at his job. "Would that make you feel better?"

"I-I'll do it, don't worry." She nervously shook as she put an egg in each hand to do exactly what he had done. Kosaki hit them both on the counter to crack them, but with her anxiety she ended up hitting them too hard as they both shattered on the counter, leaving a goopy mess. "O-oops."

"You really have a lot of work to do." He sighed, already regretting his decision.