Chapter 14
TL: Scaramochi
***
The apron of the person you love. It's a sacred armor that we, as students, cannot worship in our normal lives.
Rinka, the girl I have a crush on who wears such armor, is now standing beside me.
Clearly, outside of the girls who surround me.
The girls around me, and me too, are wearing aprons.
Yes, it's a home economics cooking class that starts now.
It sucks.......
I was already regretting the fact that this is a legitimate opportunity to see Rinka in her apron, and cooking at that.
Looking down, all I see is a black and white striped apron. I've brought a lame apron with me.
Unlike me, Rinka's apron, with a faint heart mark on her chest, is, needless to say, cute. If there were no girls around, I fear the boys in my class might have jumped on it.
I would post a message of love as soon as possible, but I don't have my phone here.
So.
"Cute, cute, cute, cute."
I mumble a message of love so that people can't hear me.
Thanks to this, my bewildered heart is transformed like a cloudless sunny day.
"Ah?!"
A hand is placed on my right shoulder from behind.
A right hand that signals the end of my school life.
Terrified of it's owner, I turn around fearfully.......
"You're not only on back account, but you're even voicing it?"
It's Igarashi who calls out to me.
It' also Igarashi, who's clearly in a foul mood.
Let's take a break from the fact that my school life don't end for a moment.
"Are you listening to me? "
"I'm listening. Don't be so loud. My classmate will see my lousy apron."
"They'll know at first glance........ Why do I have to be in the same group as you?
"That's because we're both leftovers, that's why."
"You're the one who's a leftover. I and Kujo are gods who reached out to the poor lamb left all alone, so you should respect us more, you idiot."
"Thank you so much."
I bow deeply at this.
Hashimoto was my only hope, but when that group became full, I felt despair as if I was falling off a cliff with no bottom in sight.
So I can't thank the two of them enough for helping me out of that despair.
"Now, everyone take your seats! I'm going to show you what we're going to make today!"
The home economics teacher calls out, and we take our seats.
Three of us. So one of us will be seated without a neighbor.
I'm sure I'm going to be next to Rinka.
"Why are you sitting next to Igarashi?"
"It's no wonder. I thought I would be sitting next to Rinka. I don't care if you get bullied."
Igarashi gives a rough snort and looks away from me.
I had been so excited about getting to know Rinka that I had completely forgotten that such things don't matter at school.
Igarashi is a caring guy.
What a nice guy.......
***
The cooking lesson is to make cookies.
I heard that if you make a mistake in the distribution of anything, it could be fatal.......
"I heard you make cookies. Have you ever made them, Yanagi-kun?"
Rinka, perhaps not paying attention to her surroundings, speaks as usual, the exact opposite of the advice Igarashi gave me.
Unlike Igarashi, I want to have a relationship that will eventually satisfy those around me, so I reply without timidity.
"No, I don't. I don't cook cookies, or even cook at all."
"Hmm. Perhaps, Yanagi-kun, you're the type of person who doesn't care about distribution when it comes to cooking and thinks you can get by on a hunch?"
"Yes, that's right. I see."
"Fufufu. There was a time when I thought like you too, Yanagi-kun.......Would you like to play to see who can make the cookies better this time?"
"--I hope so."
I'm not so much interested in who can make better cookies.
What I'm interested in is the cookies made by Rinka, which I can eat when we compare cookie tastes.
I never thought I'd be able to eat homemade sweets at a time like this.
"Hey you two. You can't be blind to the surroundings, can you?"
"Of course. Igarashi is such a worrier. Yanagi-kun doesn't care about that, does he?
"Yes, yes. Of course. Compared to my love for Rinka, this level of jealousy is nothing."
"Damn it. If you say that, I don't know you anymore."
Igarashi starts baking cookies by himself, still as grumpy as when he first came to talk to me.
It's amusing just to watch the gaping spectacle of an angry wolf frantically making cookies.
"Hey you! Did you just look at me and say I'm funny?"
He turns to me with a piquant, veiny face.
He's no longer a wolf, but a demon.
"I didn't think it was funny......."
"Hey, Yanagi-kun. Igarashi is making cookies while he's angry. Pfft.... Cookies while angry....... Igarashi~ You have a cute side."
Rinka is using baby talk to agitate me.
If she did this to me, it would be a treat.
"Kujo....... Tsk. Hurry up and make cookies, you guys."
Igarashi backs off, surprisingly quickly, when Rinka gets involved.
"Well then, Yanagi-kun. Shall we make them too?"
"......Yes!"
After many deadly battles, the cookies are somehow made.
"?"
No, are these really cookies?
The cookies manage to keep their original shape, but the surface is burnt black. When I crack them open, they're not crispy and are squishy, as if the ingredients had been mixed incorrectly.
It smells...... burnt.
"Phew!"
I taste a little, but there's no cookie sweetness whatsoever. This is nothing more than a cookie-like ghetto.
"Phew."
Igarashi, sitting next to me, turns up his nose and shows me the cookie.
Wrapped in a parcel, the cookies are as beautiful as if they were sold in a candy shop.
They are so different from mine.
"How did you do that so well......?"
"Unlike you, I had experience making cookies. If you want to hate me, hate yourself for ignoring the ingredients and making it just right."
It's true that I got lazy and made them just the way I wanted them.
So, I can't argue with Igarashi's righteous argument.
The cookie-making contest with Rinka.
Even if I don't know what kind of cookies I made anymore, my defeat is obvious.
"Wow, I made it too......."
Rinka sits in the front the seat, her eyes glued to my cookies.
"I wasn't any good at all," I say. I say with enthusiasm, "I wish!" What a thing to say, but I'm sorry for making such burnt and scorched cookies."
"If you say that, I'm the same way."
As I'm about to bow my head, a black object, not so different from mine, is held out in front of me. It's a cookie.
Rinka sticks out her tongue.
"Appropriateness is something you should never do when making something, right?"
"Didn't you say something similar before we started making the cookies?"
"I did, I did. Well, but you know how they say people make the same mistakes over and over again? This is...... probably the fifth time I've failed! It's called experience."
She proudly says, "Fifth time!" But is that really something to be proud of?
Rinka is puffing her chest out as if she had said something good, so it's probably wise not to ask.
"No, you can't say that after failing five times. At least, you can only say that after two or three failures."
Igarashi speaks for my feelings.
"You're probably right."
Rinka thinks that's true in her heart.
These two are childhood friends and seem to know each other well.
Not that of a couple, but like they trust each other.
I wonder if one day I will be able to have the same kind of trusting relationship with them.
Yes, I will.
Because you can't be a couple without trust.
"Well, let's have a quick taste test to see who is more deserving of being the winner of the cookie baking contest. Mmmm."
"Wait!"
Rinka takes a mouthful of my round burnt, cookie-like ghetto.
At first, she's skinny and didn't change color, but gradually she falls apart.
Her brows furrow, her eyes glaze over, and finally, with a shudder, she gulps down the cookie.
She hurriedly pours a glass of water down her throat.
"It tastes good."
Rinka is concerned about me.
If this happens, it would be unfair if I don't eat it too.
Or rather, I really want to eat anything Rinka makes, even if it's not cookies.
"Then I'll have some too. Bon appétit."
I thought the bitter taste of burnt taste would give me a tingle......, but it's not a taste like a ghetto.
Of course there's a bitter burnt taste.
But the sweetness of the sugar that drowns out the bitterness takes over in my mouth.
It's like grabbing a handful of sugar and eating it straight from the bowl, so much so that it would be no exaggeration to say that it tastes like a sugar cookie.
"Rinka wins."
"Eh? A lie. Did it taste good by any chance?"
"Yes. It was a taste that will stick in the mouths of people who like this kind of thing."
"Fufufu.......... Then I'll compare them too!"
The result is the same for Rinka as it is for me.
In the end, my cookies has to be discarded.
But it's a mistake to eat my cookies...... at the end. If I could go back in time, I would gladly discard my cookies.
***
The fun and exciting cooking class is over, and it's already after school.
Usually, I would go home with Rinka, whom I ran into by chance, but today, I'm entrusted by the teacher to organize the handouts.
It takes me about an hour to finish sorting through them.
As I'm walking down the unpopular hallway, stretching out,
"Hey, can I talk to you for a minute?"
A woman with a clear voice stands in front of me.
Short-cut black hair.
She's a face length shorter than me.
But for some reason, I get the vibe of an adult woman from this woman.
"Huh."
She looks at me as if she was licking me with her eyes that are entranced despite her appearance.
Who is this person?
"Oh, I'm Ran. No, no. Would it be easier to say Kujo Ran?"
"Kujo Ran?"
"Yes. My twin sister is your favorite Kujo Rinka."
"Oh......."
I knew that Rinka had a twin sister.
But why is she talking to me?
I have no idea why.
But I think that Rinka's sister is holding a smartphone in her right hand.
Now I know the reason why she's talking to me, and I don't like it.
"I know that you have been posting weird things about Onee-chan on your back account. If you don't want the whole school to know about it, do as I say. Okay?"
Those are the words I fear most when Rinka's sister, Ran, say them to me.
She takes advantage of my weakness and I can't say anything back to her.......
"Yo, I'd be happy to......."
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