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"First step. Take three large bananas, peel them, then mash them in a bowl."
"Sounds easy enough," Junna mumbles to herself, setting out a clean bowl and taking out three bananas from the fridge, while Nana stands sits at the counter. She watches her closely, keeping an eye out for anything dangerous she might do but otherwise not giving her a hand until she explicitly asks.
To be honest, when Junna first asked her for help making her signature banana cake, Nana wasn't sure she heard her right. Junna had never shown an interest in cooking; not this year, not the last, and not the 70 repeated years before that.
Since then, Nana came to understand why Junna wanted to do it. She wanted it to be a good luck charm, before their last performance at Seisho. A little bit of nourishment, for a different kind of emotional support from their beloved class president.
Nana smiles thinking about how much Junna has changed, from the moment they first stepped forward to become class president to today. She really has bloomed as a stage girl.
That same Junna, who nearly shouts out an expletive when her unstable mashing nearly caused the bowl to topple over.
Well, stage girls are one thing. As a functioning adult, Junna still has a ways to go.
"Do you need some help?" Nana asks, a rare hint of mischief underlying her tone, one she uses only because she knows it's the best way to fire up Junna's competitiveness.
"I got it! I got it... Next is the butter, right?"
"Right. Do you know how to use a hand mixer?"
Junna looks at the equipment in her hand, clicking the switch and watching how the mixer spun quickly in response. "It seems pretty clear to me. I just have to mix the butter a lot, right?"
Nana nods, but her feelings of confidence quickly turn to panic when she sees Junna lift the bowl in her arms. "Junna-chan, I think you sh-"
Her voice is quickly drowned out by the motor in the hand mixer, and her fears are quickly proven right when Junna shows her control of the equipment isn't quite as good as she thought. With the bowl rapidly shaking against her arms, she struggles to get a grip, and almost immediately drops the bowl on the counter. At least nothing spilled, right?
"...you should put it on the counter and use both hands for the mixer."
"... thanks." Junna sighs. Nana can hear the frustration in her voice. Not towards her, but towards herself. That's just the standard Junna holds herself to. With that piece of newfound knowledge, Junna goes for her second attempt, this time finding it much easier to control.
After about a minute, Nana peaks over the counter, checking how the butter looks. "I think that's good. Next you just add the other ingredients. One by one, then mix, then add. Easy, right?"
"Easy." Junna's words are like self-affirmation. If she says it's easy, then it'll be easy. Of course, reality isn't so simple. Whereas Nana can quickly and efficiently add ingredients while still mixing, Junna has to stop, toss in something, and then start beating again. It's slow, and Nana considers helping her--this sort of thing is just tedious work, it's not a big deal to get help here.
But the sight of Junna's determined face keeps her seated. She understands that Junna wants to do it for no one but herself, to prove she can do it. Nana can't help her forever...
For some reason, the thought brings a pain to her chest that she does her best to hide.
If nothing else, the sight of Junna doing her best is sparkling. (or maybe that's the sweat dripping down her face).
But finally, with countless pauses, Junna completes her mixing. The batter looks good, too, and so the pair pour it into a baking pan and let it cook. Junna seems insistent on waiting for it to cook, and Nana takes the chance to save the memory of Junna's first cooking attempt in her gallery, but when she discovers it will take around half an hour, she finally leaves the kitchen and allows herself to relax after a 'grueling' cooking session.
Of course, she insists on taking the cake out of the oven herself, and proceeds to nearly burn her fingers off if not for Nana reminding her to use oven mitts.
And finally, Junna's first banana cake is complete; a product of her efforts and Nana's secret family recipe. Simple, lacking in anything interesting like whipped cream or extra toppings, but as the taste tester, Nana finished every bite.