Chapter Text
The first thing Nene does when she buys a new bag of candy is pick through and pull out all the lemon flavored ones. The Mokke hate lemon, and Nene knows if she leaves just one piece in, they’ll find it. They often bring her the pieces they snatch from other students to trade for different flavors. She leaves them in the candy bowl in the kitchen for her father to take to work, and sometimes she takes them to the little boy next door since he loves them.
She and Aoi make lemon bars and tarts for a family friend of Aoi’s, and Nene can barely contain her giggles at the Mokke’s betrayed expressions. They stay huddled nearly out of sight as she and Aoi bustle around the workspace, sad little comments floating up every time Nene passes by.
They finally get everything packed up, and Nene waves her friend off before she can get to the dishes. ‘I’ve got it,’ she says with a smile, ‘I want to do something else too, so you go ahead and I’ll take care of this.’ She has a bit of time before Tsuchigomori-sensei will come and kick her out.
Nene dumps everything that has lemon on it into the sink and hurries to find the big sheet pan that Aoi had pointed out earlier. It's easy enough to whip up a batch of plain cake mix, and now the Mokke have migrated to the counter tops to see what she’s doing.
She shoves the pan in the oven, and sets the timer before tackling the dishes. Everything is washed and stacked neatly by the time the timer goes off, and the Mokke bound around her feet as she checks the cake and settles it on the counter top to cool.
Another pan goes into the sink and she drags the heavy cream left over from earlier from the fridge to whip up. The Mokke huddle around as Nene cuts the cake into neat little squares, a dollop of whipped cream on each piece. She settles three pieces on paper plates and tucks them into the fridge for later.
Everything else is transferred over to a piece of parchment paper so all she has to do is crumple it up and toss it on her way out. Bright eyes follow her movements, and Nene can barely contain her smile as she gathers up the dirty dishes and gestures to the cake with a soft, ‘Go ahead.’
The Mokke turn glittering eyes on her, a squeaky chorus of thank you’s echoing through the room as they descend. She’s put the last pan away and tossed the trash out when the door to the home economics room opens and Tsuchigomori-sensei pokes his head in.
He takes in the sight of the Mokke, covered in whipped cream and cake crumbs, and promptly ignores them. Nene shoves her apron into her bag as she grabs the plates from the fridge, settling one into Tsuchigomori’s hands with a bright smile and a thank you before taking off to the girl’s bathroom.
He watches her hurry off for a moment before turning his attention to the cake. The Mokke have roused themselves and are staring longingly at the plate in his hands. Tsuchigomori, knowing what they’re capable of, turns quickly with a ‘No’, and shoves the cake in his mouth as the Mokke jump at him.