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“Hand over the cream, Ame.”
“Over my dead body.”
That grin is being faced towards her now. “Oh? Well, I guess that can be arranged.”
“Mhm. We don’t need blood in our cake, Shiori. Keep stirring.”
“Aye, aye.”
Amelia sighed to herself as she stood by the kitchen counter, watching as Shiori stirred the cake mix fervently. She wasn’t even sure why she was here, and she certainly wasn’t sure why she had agreed to do some out of the blue baking with Shiori Novella of all people. The food disasters this girl produces on the daily was known by everyone, after all…
Yet, Amelia found herself saying yes to the archiver’s proposal. Her brain was currently going into overdrive trying to think of any answer as to the “why” this problem presents, while dodging some of the more obvious ones. For now, she’s chalking it up to boredom.
In the meantime, Amelia’s focusing on the instruction booklet on the counter. The reason they’ve survived for this long. “Stir for around 5-10 minutes, then we should be all good for the next step.”
“5-10 minutes? Goodness, my arm might fall off by the time we’re done here. You want that to happen, Ame?” Shiori asked, that teasing tone Amelia hates present in her voice.
“Keep being dramatic, and I might.” The detective answered with a scoff, walking through the kitchen to grab some icing for their “masterpiece.” “Besides, if I touch that cake I may perish. Hence why you’ve been giving stirring duty.”
“I figured that was the reason, detective.” Shiori responded, stopping her stirring for just a second to glance over, yellow eyes piercing into Ame’s blue. “No need to fear imminent death for now, I did make sure to get a gluten-free mix after you agreed.” Then, she just continued stirring.
Like she hadn’t just dropped a bombshell on Amelia, who was now stunned into silence, a bag of icing just frozen in her hands. “You, actually thought of that?”
“Of course I did! Consider it me owing you for agreeing to cook with me, at all, and especially on such short notice. Besides, if I did want to poison you, I would do it in a much more typical way, you know? Like, slip some poison in when-”
Shiori’s rambling would be cut off when she realized Amelia was still standing on the other side of the kitchen, essentially frozen in place as the detective’s brain attempted to process the situation. It gave the Archiver a chuckle. “Your face is as red as our cake here, Ame. Makes you look more delectable, honestly.”
“Oh, shut it!” That seems to have gotten her back online, shaking her head fervently to physically get the red out of her cheeks, throwing the bag of icing onto the table, though who knows what she was really aiming for. It’s hard for her to focus when Shiori’s laugh is invading her ears. “Are we making this cake, or not?”
“I’ll continue stirring, then.”
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“…How is it?” Amelia asked, leaning against the counter as she watched Shiori take a bite. Honestly, the fact that the two of them were able to make something edible after all of this was an accomplishment in it of itself.
“Hm…“ Shiori hummed, rubbing at her chin to add dramatic flair, before turning to Amelia with a grin. ”It’s pretty tasty, and it’s not poisonous, so overall, I think we’ve done good work today, detective.“
“Really? That’s shocking on both fronts.” Amelia didn’t start this endeavor with the belief that she’d actually eat what they made, but considering its glowing review, and the fact Shiori made sure to get it gluten-free…
Before Amelia knew it, she was grabbing the knife and cutting herself a slice.
“Aww, not gonna let me cut it, huh?”
“After watching you somehow manage to with scissors? I’m good.” Amelia scoffed as a reply, before taking a bite of her slice. The way Shiori was looking at her with anticipation made her worried for a second that it was poisoned, but no, the only thing she was tasting was the rich flavor of red velvet, along with that icing.
Oh my god.
“So, what’s the verdict, sweetheart?” The sudden nickname would cause Amelia to nearly choke on the cake, but she won that battle in the end.
“Apart from it being a choking hazard, it’s…pretty good. A solid 8/10, y’know? I’m sure we could sell the rest, and not get sued.” Amelia remarked, as the two looked on upon the rest of their creation.
“Fantastic! I’ll be leaving the rest to you then, Ame.” Shiori said with a clap of her hands. Amelia is unsure as to what “the rest” could even begin to entail, but before she could question her on it, she realized that Shiori had begun to stare at her, intently. Silent, as well.
…
“What?”
“Icing. You’ve made a bit of a mess, right around here.” Shiori stated, pointing at her own face as a guide. Amelia attempts to wipe at her face with her sleeve, only to earn a giggle from the archiver.
“Wow. I’m impressed with how off the mark you were there.”
“Shut it, you’re not the one having to do this one-handed.” Amelia tries again, and Shiori giggles again at her misfortune. How cruel.
“…Here.” Shiori whispered, and then there was a cold finger tracing over Amelia’s cheek, a touch that sent shivers down the detective’s spine, and caused her breathing to accelerate for a brief second.
Then the next thing she knew, the icing was off her face, and Shiori licked it off her finger. “Man, that icing is delicious…”
Amelia contemplated throwing her half eaten slice at her.