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"Good morning, Kushina! There you are!"
Kushina took her seat in the classroom next to her friend Sakichi. The sun was already shining into the brightly decorated room and tickled her nose.
"Good morning!"
She was in good spirits. Even if she had been running a little bit late. But she had a good reason for it today.
"You seem cheery! Did something happen?"
Apparently, her good mood didn't go unnoticed.
"Something like that. It's my mother's birthday today."
"Oh, that's lovely! Do you have a gift for her?" Sakichi interrupted herself with a gasp and turned her whole body towards her. "Is there gonna be cake?"
"I do!" Kushina talked about a good luck charm of beads she made and gave to her mother this morning. Which was also why she had left the house a bit late.
"But she has to work. I'm not sure if we can make a cake. And..." She pondered for a second. "I don't know if I can make one on my own in time." She thought about the baking. It was a nice idea! But she had never done it much before.
"I can help you! Together, it will be no problem!" Sakichi beamed at her full of optimism. "You can't have a birthday without a birthday cake!"
Kushina looked at her with big surprised eyes. "You would do that?"
"Of course! What does she like?"
"Hmm..." She thought for a second. "She likes chocolate a lot!"
Sakichi's face lit up. "I know the recipe for a delicious cake with chocolate and banana! Do you think she would like that?"
"Oh, I'm sure she would! But i don't think we have bananas at home, we'd need to go shopping after school first."
Sakichi grinned. "No problem! I have the recipe right up here!" She tapped her finger against her own head. "We can buy everything we need after school."
She had it memorized? How impressive, Kushina thought. It seemed like there was nothing standing in their way.
"Then let's do it!"
A couple of hours later, the two friends were standing in Kushina's kitchen.
"Eggs?"
"Right here!"
"Butter?"
"Check!"
"Okay, that should be everything then..."
Kushina was filled with confidence as she looked at the kitchen table packed with ingredients. As it looked, they hadn't forgotten anything on their shopping trip.
It would be a perfect additional present!
Kushina turned to her friend. "So, what comes first?"
"First, we're making the base. First, we'll put the butter and 60 grams of sugar!"
"Alright!"
Kushina took the bag of sugar from the small kitchen table and made sure to carefully pour the substance into the bowl on the scale. So far so good! While she added the sugar, Sakichi did the same with the butter.
"Next up are the eggs!"
Ah, eggs. Kushina wasn't very good at cracking them. But she would try.
She took one of the eggs and a mug. She pondered for a second too long apparently.
"I can do it if you want!", sounded Sakichi's cheery voice next to her. But Kushina insisted. She wouldn't give up before even trying. "No, no! I want to do it..."
She just needed to crack it on the edge of the mug, not too much, only a little. And then open it all the way with her hands.
She took a swing until she felt the impact of the edge. The crack wasn't big enough. Another try. Yes! Much better!
As she tried to take the two halves apart above the mug however, the shell crumbled too much. A lot of pieces made it into the liquid.
She grimaced in disappointment, which Sakichi seemed to notice.
"It's fine, we'll pick them out."
"Right! It's why i put in a mug first after all...!", Kushina reminded herself.
Sakichi started picking out the pieces while Kushina weighed the cocoa. Afterwards they switched again - Kushina cracked the next egg and Sakichi mixed the batter. They made a good team!
The second egg went similair, but this time Kushina picked out the pieces herself.
It was fine. She was okay.
With two people they were making good progress and would surely be done in time! Cutting the bananas, finishing the different layers - it all went well enough!
Sakichi placed her hand on her hips. "Alright!", she declared. "All that's left now is adding some whipped cream for decoration - if you want to."
Kushina looked at their result so far. She was so happy with how it turned out - whipped cream would make it perfect. "I think we should add some!" She smiled.
They got the cream ready. Sakichi showed Kushina how she would need to stir it.
Kushina took a deep breath. She understood how it was supposed to work. Now she just needed to do it. That was the hard part.
She struggled trying to do the circling motion fast enough. She frowned. At this rate, it wouldn't work.
But before she could think about changing her strategy, Kushina's worries were interrupted. "Hey, do you have an electric mixer?", Sakichi asked. "It's gonna be easier with one!"
Kushina's heart sank for a moment. "Y-yeah, we do..."
It wasn't that she didn't think it was a good idea. But she was a bit sad that she had struggled so much that it was visible enough to suggest an alternative. She wanted to be able to do it... But a mixer was the better idea. She knew that.
They got the mixer from the cupboard and Kushina tried again, turning on the machine. That was... Easier than doing it by hand. A lot easier. She watched as the cream turned into a more solid mass. She smiled. She couldn't believe how well it worked. And why she wouldn't prefer this over doing it by hand.
"Aaaand stop!", Sakichi ordered. "That's perfect! You won't want to overodo it!"
Right, Kushina realized. She smiled. The cream looked really good!
"Now, where did you put the - ah, there it is!" Sakichi grabbed the cream bag. Carefully, they put the freshly whipped cream inside and the decorating began.
A couple of minutes later, Kushina and Sakichi proudly looked at their accomplishments. They had decorated the cake with cream, chocolate, and banana pieces. It looked so much better than Kushina had hoped. And from what they had tried so far, it would taste just as great.
She looked at Sakichi whose face was beaming with delight. "I hope your mom will like it!"
Kushina couldn't stop her smiling either. Without warning, she wrapped her arms around her friend. "Thank you, Sakichi."
As she returned the hug, Kushina sank even more into it.
"Of course! I love to help."
It was only now really that Kushina realized how grateful she was to have a such a great new friend.
They let loose and Sakichi looked around. "Weee should clean this up before your mother gets home. Might be less of a pleasant surprise if she finds the kitchen like this."
Kushina chuckled. "Yeah... Yes, let's start!"
As she started taking the ingredients to put them away, she realized how her clothes had gathered a lot of four and other substances. And it was okay. With help, she could do anything with ease. Even if she got a little messy in the process.
She knew that the next time, she would struggle again. She knew that her body wouldn't remember much of it. But she also knew that it was her mind that would remember this precious day that she spent working hard and having fun with her friend. And that was more than enough for her.