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Thunk. The crumpled-up ball of cellophane bounced off the wall of the trash bin. The girl on the sofa murmured a faint cheer, proud of herself for hitting the shot all the way from the other side of the room while lying down. A few moments later another thunk would be heard but this time, the cellophane ball would, unfortunately, launch out of the opening and come to a stop just outside the bin at its base, eliciting a disappointed groan from the other person in the room sitting opposite the girl.
“Hee hee! Better luck next time, Banana-chan.” Mahiru popped the last bite of melon bread into her mouth with a satisfied grin.
“Aww…” Nana would do the same as Mahiru. “Mmm… this actually tastes pretty good for what it costs! But why did you buy so many?”
Usually, the Seisho girls had dorm-cooked meals courtesy of Nana for Friday supper, but having come from an exhausting practice session that lasted all day, she ended up taking a long nap instead of cooking. So per Karen’s request, Mahiru made a visit to the convenience store to buy something to satiate everyone’s hunger left by practice. Consequently, this led to her returning home not only with take-out dinner but also a bag full of “dessert”: unsold pastries from that morning enough to feed the group of nine with some left over.
“Well, they were fifty percent off—”
“You know, you didn’t have to buy everything left on the shelf! Everybody ate one, Karen-chan ate three, and there’s still like, five of them left in this bag! And they expire tomorrow!"
“Eheh, I guess I was just too hungry to think about that…”
Staring at the piece of bread in front of her however seemed to give Nana a burst of culinary creativity, which she was not able to exercise that night. “Hmm… I know there isn’t much you could do with a melonpan, but I could think of a couple of ideas to make this more delicious.”
“Oh?” A curious look formed on Mahiru’s face.
Suddenly, Nana stood from her chair and rushed to the dorm kitchen, closing the door with a very audible bang. Wondering what her friend was up to, Mahiru got up, stretched her arms and legs, then calmly followed her there. When she arrived, she found Nana standing in front of the countertop, gazing into a mixing bowl with flour already inside, alongside other ingredients such as sugar, milk, and butter sitting next to it.
“What do you have in mind, Banana-chan?” she asked, now joining Nana in staring at the ingredients.
“I’m going to make… ice melonpan!”
“Ice… melonpan?”
“Yes! It’s going to be lightly toasted, and then there’s going to be ice cream sandwiched in the middle! We still have the leftover vanilla ice cream from last week that nobody ever bothered to finish in the freezer, right? That’s what gave me the idea!”
“Oooh, I think I saw a stall sell something like that near here.”
“Yeah— wait, what?” Nana frowned; so much for culinary creativity. “That exists?”
“Mhm! Karen-chan actually mentioned recently that she wanted to try one next time we go to the shopping district.”
“A— I didn’t know that…”
Nana cut a few pieces from the stick of butter and placed them into the bowl, deep in thought. She wanted to make up for their missed homemade dinner with a delicious, unique dessert nobody has ever tried, but unfortunately, that idea was crumbling. What other new sweet could she make with the available ingredients on hand? Suddenly, as she looked at Mahiru who was just standing there staring at her silently, another idea popped into her head.
“W-Wah—!” exclaimed Mahiru as the breeze left behind by Nana swiftly running to the refrigerator blew her hair sideways. “What are you doing now?”
“Then I’m going to make… special ice melonpan!” The containers inside the fridge clattered while Nana searched intently for anything she could use to spice her dessert up. “Hey hey, Mahiru-chan! Do you want to help me make the best dessert ever?”
“Me?” There was a moment of confusion from Mahiru.
“Yes! We can call this the ‘Nanahiru Special Ice Melonpan’! It is here where we combine forces to make a wondrous spectacle the melonpan world has never seen before!” A light twinkled in Nana’s eyes, showing the return of her enthusiasm.
Even if she knew she was never the best in the kitchen, the mild-mannered girl definitely could not say no to her offer. “I can try to help!” she replied with a nod. “Although I don’t know a lot about baking…”
“That’s fine! You can be my assistant instead. She would return to preparing the bread dough as quickly as she finished that statement. “Oh, could you please help me get the rest of the ingredients that are listed here?”
“Alright!”
After being handed Nana’s phone, Mahiru got to work, searching for and collecting the listed items from the fridge as well as the overhead cabinets. Once she found them all and placed them on the countertop, she then mixed the ingredients for the dough for the melon bread’s outer layer, which was essentially the same process as making cookie dough, while Nana formed the main dough into several balls with her hands, setting them atop a metal tray afterward. Of course, the chef would naturally guide her assistant, letting her know and correcting her if she was making any mistakes. Together they would then encase these balls with the finished outer dough once Mahiru was finished making it, sticking them tightly together before coating them in a thin layer of flour. Though when Nana began cutting the signature criss-cross pattern into the pre-baked melon bread, Mahiru noticed something contrary to what her friend wanted to achieve.
“Banana-chan, how is this melonpan going to be ‘special’ again?” she asked, which caused Nana to pause. “This just seems like we’re making normal melonpan… like, it doesn’t scream ‘Mahiru-chan and Nana-chan made this’.”
“Oh.” She glared at the tray, where half of the dough balls on it were already waiting to be put in the oven. “Y-You’re right… ahaha—”
“Maybe we could add something else to the dough? Like an ingredient that will make the bread taste more flavorful!”
“Oh, like banana?”
Mahiru giggled. “I knew you would say that first… we could try! I know banana bread exists, but I’ve never seen it in melonpan form!”
“How about you, Mahiru-chan? Do you have any ideas?”
“Uhh…” She placed a finger on her chin. “Potato?”
“Potato?” There was an initial tone of disagreement in Nana’s voice at first, but in the culinary arts, any combination of ingredients, whether seemingly unfavorable or not, is considered feasible unless proven wrong. “A potato banana melonpan… that sounds interesting! Alright!”
The two returned to the mixing bowl, with Mahiru taking some bananas and a box of potatoes fresh from her farm and setting them atop the counter. With the last batch already good to go, they had to redo the dough-making process, though this time they made sure to add their two signature ingredients: chopped slices of banana into the outer cookie dough and diced potato into the main dough. Once that was done, they set their finished product on the baking tray, sliced in the grooves on top of each piece, and placed the tray in the preheated oven, giving themselves a high-five as they waited for their creation to bake.
“Ah, I can’t wait to taste this!” Nana blurted out, stretching her arms upward. “Our ‘Nanahiru Special Ice Melonpan’ is going to blow everyone away!”
“Mhm!” nodded her assistant, standing next to her with a smile on her face.
Ding! The oven timer finally counted down to zero, and a pair of oven mitts carefully pulled out the tray of freshly-baked melon bread… at least, they were supposed to be. Instead, the chunks of banana in the cookie dough caused the outer layer to suffer severe cracking. What should have been a uniform spread with a clear pattern became chunks of over-baked crust scattered over unevenly baked dough. The rest of the bread, meanwhile, didn’t cook too well either. The potatoes added too much moisture that instead of properly rising, the bread remained flat. After they cut it open, the lack of air pockets told the entire story: the loaf failed to hold its shape and turned into a sad, dense mess.
“This is…” Mahiru examined their newest product, her joyous expression fading away almost as quickly as it formed.
“...not how I expected it to go,” Nana said, finishing the thought that the both of them had.
“Maybe we should’ve pureed the potatoes and added it to our wet ingredients instead.”
“Or blended the bananas into the dough rather than add them in pieces as you do with chocolate chips.”
“Uhuu, we can’t even slice this properly to put the ice cream in…” Mahiru placed their attempt at a perfected melon bread on the counter. After simply staring at it in defeat while it cooled down, a long, exasperated sigh broke out of their mouths almost simultaneously.
“Hey now, maybe this might still taste good? You don’t judge books by their covers, after all.” Nana quickly shrugged her shoulders, a forced smile plastered on her face. “Look on the bright side: this was our first time making this! Our execution was maybe just a bit flawed!”
“Hmm, true! And it doesn’t smell bad either…” Mahiru tapped her chin in thought. “But we would still need an unbiased tongue to determine that.”
Almost on cue, a silhouette passed by the kitchen entrance, and given her walking style, Nana was quick to decipher Claudine’s presence. She patted Mahiru on the shoulder signaling her to follow. Mahiru quickly grabbed the tray before they left the kitchen.
“Kuro-chan!” The two shouted in unison.
“Hu—huh? Is something wrong?” The French girl flinched at the sudden approach of her friends as she sat on the sofa. Her startled state quickly turned into one of confusion upon seeing what Mahiru had in her hands; however, once the smell in the air had hit her it was replaced with a look of curiosity. “Ooh, are the two of you cooking something? Mind if I get a taste before the others?”
“Fufu, well you’re in luck because you have now become the new dedicated sommelier for our baking!” grinned Nana.
“Here!” Mahiru handed a small plate that contained a sample of their creation to Claudine. “Why do you try it out?”
“ Mon dieu! ” Just at the first sight, Claudine winced at whatever food item she was just given. “ Pardon, but what is this?”
“Bread…?” Mahiru replied through a forced smile.
A bunch of burnt chips sitting atop a sad-looking lump were definitely not the first image she had in mind for bread. “Alright…” Claudine’s shaking hands lifted the piece closer to her mouth. What say does she have without trying it, though? It might taste better than it looks.
But one small bite was enough to prove that thought wrong.
“How does it taste, Kuro-chan?”
“It tastes—”
“Bananice?”
“No.”
“E-Eeeh?!”
A slew of criticisms spoken in a foreign language soon followed, ending with an angry “ Bonne nuit! ” as Claudine laid down on the living room couch, turning her back towards the pair with her arms crossed.
“W-Well, at least we got feedback…” Nana laughed awkwardly. “At least, I think that’s what Kuro-chan said?”
“That just means we’ll have to try harder next time!” Mahiru replied.
“Okay, we still have lots of time to make another batch before bedtime! This time, let’s make sure to take into account what we said a while ago.”
“Mhm!”
Back into the kitchen they went, ready to start making their second, hopefully successful, attempt. As Nana tossed the rest of the old bread into the trash, she suddenly heard a loud yelp and a thud from across the room, and when she turned to see what happened, she found Mahiru lying on the ground next to the broken mixing bowl with its contents now strewn across the floor and all over her clothes.
“Mahiru-chan!” she exclaimed, rushing over to check if her friend was okay. “Are you hurt? Did you hit your head? Is it painful over here?”
“I-I’m okay, don’t worry!” she replied, lifting herself off the ground with Nana’s help. “I broke my fall just in time with my hands, but…” Her gaze turned to the shattered pieces. “Sorry about your bowl…”
“It’s alright! So as long as you’re okay and unharmed!” Nana flashed Mahiru a smile before noticing the large flour stain on her shirt. “Right, I think you need to change now, hm— Oh no! I-I completely forgot to give you an apron to wear! How forgetful of me…”
“Ehehe, I was actually wondering why you weren’t wearing one too, earlier…”
“Really?! Agh, I was too excited for this, wasn’t I?” she chuckled, rubbing the back of her head.
As Mahiru returned to her room to change, Nana cleaned up the mess left behind, to find out that she had slipped on a banana peel that somehow ended up on the floor. Such a cliché happening in the real world made her question herself; this would have never happened since she was always careful to practice proper kitchen etiquette whenever she cooked or baked. Somehow her concentration this evening was off, and she could not think of a reason why.
“Here you go!” Mahiru caught something thrown towards her by Nana as she returned: a long yellow apron with a frog character in front. She was also wearing the same kind. “There we go, now let’s get back to work!”
The blender and stand mixer roared many times for the next half hour (something that poor Claudine did not enjoy). Nana and Mahiru were hard at work fixing any mistakes they had previously made. This time, the banana was now evenly distributed throughout the outer dough in a homogenous mixture. An amount of water was now substituted by an appropriate mass of mashed potato to ensure that the dough remained at perfect moisture. Their hearts then beat nervously while watching the oven door, waiting impatiently for the results of their labor. Finally, once they heard the ding of the timer and opened the door to find perfectly risen buns, Mahiru and Nana couldn’t help but hug each other out of sheer bliss from their newest victory. Though once they realized what they had just done, they giggled at each other and broke their embrace shortly after.
“Hee hee, it’s so fun baking with you, Banana-chan!” Mahiru smiled, taking the tray out of the oven.
“Aww, thank you, my lovely assistant!” Nana returned the compliment. “You in your apron look so cute together~”
“Eeehh?!” she blurted out, a dash of red immediately forming on her cheeks. “But this apron doesn’t fit me at all! It’s more your size…”
Nana grasped the end of her own apron which reached the top of her knees whereas Mahiru’s practically covered them. “Fufu, exactly! It looks so big on you that I can’t help myself but… laugh…” She then erupted into a laughing fit.
“Uuu, Banana-chan!” Mahiru thought of a counterattack to this ongoing relentlessness. “W-well, I think your height makes you more beautiful!”
“W-What did you just say—?!”
Mahiru and Nana continued to tease each other before the much more sumptuous smell of their bread wafted towards them. Just to verify that their recipe was indeed performed to near perfection, Nana cut one of the melon bread in half, slathered in a scoop of vanilla ice cream, and gave the whole thing one big bite. Her thrilled expression made Mahiru practically snatch it from her hand to try it for herself, and her reaction was exactly the same. Banana and potato did pair well together in bread; this was definitely the true “Nanahiru Special Ice Melonpan” they were looking for.
“Hmm, would Kuro-chan forgive us if we fed her this?”
“I think she’s still unhappy that we tried to feed her something inedible…”
“It wouldn’t hurt to try, though…”
The two looked around the corner towards the living area where their previous victim was sitting. A period of silent staring and faint whispering between the two commenced for a full minute before Nana cleared her throat. This finally got Claudine to notice the awkward smiles coming from her friends in the kitchen, and in response, she let out an annoyed groan.
“Nana. Mahiru. Let me be clear.” Claudine placed her phone down on a nearby table and glared at the two. “I will not be the lab rat for your food experiments anymore.”
“Are you sure? But this time—” Mahiru tried to suggest, before being interrupted.
“I’m not falling for that again.”
“What if we offer a—” This time, it was Nana that was cut off.
“I still won’t.”
“Even if we—”
“No. Non. Nem. ” Claudine rejected the idea in three languages, which meant she was serious. The French girl ignored any more attempts by either baker to grab her attention, her eyes and ears remaining affixed to her phone.
“So who are we going to ask to taste-test for us, then?” Nana wondered, which made both her and Mahiru gloom.
Thankfully, an opportunity presented itself at the perfect time. The door to one of the rooms opened, letting out a bright flash of yellow that dashed into the dining area. “Do you guys have some snacks here or something?” the newcomer asked. What confused the other girls about this sudden arrival was that this person did not even go to their school, much less stay at their dorm.
“Aruru-chan?” Mahiru inquired. “Why were you in Junna-chan’s room?”
“Window was open. Ooh!” Before Mahiru could press further, Aruru had already squeezed between the two bakers. “Melonpan with ice cream? Wow, can I try?”
“Sure! It’s our own—” Nana was not even halfway through her sentence before she noticed that Aruru was already halfway through eating one of the melon bread. “Erm… so how does it taste?”
Her question was answered with a loud gasp.
“Oh no… I knew it! The combination of ingredients is just horrible!” Nana cried out which elicited a confused reaction from the other blonde.
“What? I thought it tasted wonderful!” she beamed as she took the last piece, licking her lips that were covered with ice cream.
“R-Really?!” Her eyes pointed at Mahiru while a big smile formed on their faces at the same time. “I knew it! The combination of ingredients does work!”
“How did you guys make this bread? Because it doesn’t even taste like a normal ol’ melonpan anymore. It tastes… special! Yeah, like a special melonpan!”
“Oh, let us tell you all about it!” The two girls then stood in front of Aruru, clearing their throats before waving their arms in the air.
“Fresh and ripe bananas, mix them in the dough!
Yummy mashed potatoes, in the bowl you go!
Toss it in the oven, and bake it not too slow!
Then out comes the hot buns! Give ‘em all a blow!
Add in the ice cream, don’t forget the plan!
Last’s a dash of love, then done is the melonpan!
Nanahiru! Special! Ice! Melonpan!”
This goofy cheer, which they thought about during the dough-making and even rehearsed while waiting for the bread to finish baking, was performed so perfectly that it left them both laughing heartily, unable to believe themselves. Even Aruru was so amused at this that she was clutching her stomach unable to stop laughing.
“I love it! I love it so much!” she cheered, giving them a round of applause after finally regaining her composure. After a small burp of satisfaction, she then beckoned Mahiru and Nana with her finger to move closer to her. “Although… I do have a suggestion on how to make this taste even better…”
“Oh? What would that be?” Mahiru asked, tapping her chin.
Aruru held a hand up before pulling something out from her bag and placing it down on the kitchen counter: a troop of shiitake mushrooms. “Oooh!” The other two girls immediately expressed their interest and excitement at this new, even more unique, idea. Once more, they began running around the kitchen to grab their ingredients and baking tools for a new batch; this time, they had a third set of hands to assist!
“Hey hey, Mahiru-chan! You look really cute in that apron, you know?”
“But it’s too big!”
“Bah, who cares? Size doesn’t matter! And with Nana-chan wearing the same thing, you two almost look like a couple!”
“Uwaaa—?!”
Off to the side stood their dorm mate. Claudine had her face shaking in disappointment and buried in her palm, clutching her phone tightly with the other. “Merde…” she whispered to herself. Maya was out for a walk around the campus; why did she not choose to tag along with her instead?