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Niki wasn’t as air-headed as a lot of people liked to make him out to be. Sure, he couldn’t even begin to comprehend all the complicated jargon Rinne and HiMERU were always using, but to be fair to him, neither could the child in their unit!
…That probably didn’t help his case, not to mention how often he got distracted by food… Speaking of food, what was he going to cook for dinner? Actually, forget dinner, he'd probably die if he didn’t have a snack! Oh, yep, that was definitely his legs giving out from under him and the pavement meeting his face. Maybe if he wasn’t monologuing in his head, he would’ve realized what was happening sooner. And that was why he always reserved his brain for the essentials, high school education be damned! Guess I’ll just hafta bake in the summer sun…
“S-Shiina-san?”
Niki pulled his face off the ground and tried his best to grin. “Mayo-chan~! Just in time!”
“W-What are you doing on the ground!?”
“Just a bite…” the starving chef groaned.
“A bite? Of what!?”
“I don’t care. I’ll take anything…” Niki salivated as he reached out toward Mayoi’s suddenly very appetizing leg.
“AIEEEEEEEEEEE!?” Mayoi screeched as he sidestepped Niki’s desperate lunge for survival, tripping over his own feet and falling into one of Gardenia’s flower beds…
Flowers.
Flowers taste good, right? They smell nice, and they are plants, so they couldn’t be that disastrous for Niki’s health, could it? Only one way to find out— “Mmph!?” Niki chewed on the crunchy root that’d been shoved into his mouth. “Mm… Tha thastes goo!”
“I-I gave you a carrot! Ahhhh, how am I going to explain to Gardenia that I s-stole one of their plants and f-flattened their flower bed!?”
Niki’s vision cleared as his hunger-filled haze dissipated, though he was still too shaky to stand. “Dunno, but I’m gonna need some more of where that came from.”
“I-I’ll get some help!” Mayoi then vanished into thin air before Niki could even think of a reply.
Only a couple of agonizing minutes later, Hinata dropped a handful of sweets into Niki’s mouth. “Feeling all better now?”
Niki leapt up and wrapped his arms gratefully around the ginger. “Gwah! You’re a lifesaver, Hinata-kun! You too, Mayo-chan~! What’re ya doing here anyway?”
Mayoi’s face flushed a subtle pink. “T-Tatsumi-san and S-Shino-san invited me to FLAVOR’s tea party, so I came early to watc— ah, w-wait for them. I-I couldn’t turn down an invitation from either of them, of course. H-How can someone like me deny such pure beings!?”
Niki huffed. “I’m a pure being, so why didn’t ya give me your leg to chew on!?
“W-Well, ingesting any part of my body would taint anyone’s purity…!” And then barely above a whisper, Mayoi muttered, “A-And it would be difficult performing Lives with part of my l-leg missing…”
“Nyahaha~ Good point!”
“Shiina-senpai!” Hinata chimed in. “What the heck happened to the flower bed!?” He indignantly gestured to the damaged greenery.
“Oh.” Well, there goes my pre-lunch break. “That’s definitely my fault, so I’ll help ya clean up. Mayo-chan, save a couple treats for me from your tea party, ‘kay?”
“R-Right…!”
Poor guy looks like he’s gonna topple over… Must be from the fear of watching me almost die… I’ve gotta make it up to him!
Niki slammed the dojo door open. “MAYO-CHAN!”
“EH!?” Said idol toppled over from where he stood, in the center of the practice area. “S-Shiina-san!? W-What are you doing here!?”
The chef blinked in confusion. “What’re ya doing standing in the middle of an empty room?”
“T-Training…” Mayoi sighed, standing up. “A-And I already f-failed…”
“Whaddya mean?”
“He means…” a voice from behind Niki answered. “This!”
“HUH!?” Niki nearly dropped the package he was holding as a short figure somersaulted over his head. “GHOSTS!?”
“Nope! It’s Sengoku Shinobu, de gozaru!” The giggling ninja flashed a peace sign. “We were practicing stealth training, de gozaru.”
Mayoi chuckled darkly, his eyes brightening as his cheeks flushed rosily. “Fufu, I’m not the only one whose been compared to a ghost. I’m getting closer to Shinobu-kyun everyday…”
Niki raised an eyebrow. “That’s a real scary look you’ve got, Mayo-chan… Anyway, I came here with a gift!” He proudly presented what he’d been working on. “Food! Obviously.”
Mayoi recoiled from the parcel as if it were a bomb. “I-I don’t recall doing anything I could ever do that would be worth t-thanking for. A-Are you sure you didn’t mistake me for a-anyone else…?”
“Nope!” Niki confidently pushed the package into the club soldier’s hands. “How could ya forget saving li’l ol’ me!?”
“W-Well, I think H-Hinata-kun could have just as easily taken credit since he was there too… A-And he’s the one who gave you the sweets…”
“I already gave him something for helping me out! We’re roommates!” Niki gifted Hinata a strawberry tart that morning, and he also gave Hiiro a couple strawberry macarons because, why not?
“O-Oh… Um… Thank you so much… D-Do I really deserve this…?”
“Well, I already cooked it, so it’d be a waste if ya didn’t take it, wouldn’t it?”
“I suppose… Uh, what exactly…?”
Niki proudly propped his hands on his hips. “Open it at the end of the day when you’re all tuckered out. It should still be warm ‘til then, and it’ll cheer ya right up!”
Sengoku hummed as a bit of drool leaked from the side of his mouth. “It smells so good though, de gozaru! Can you really hold out for that long, Mayoi-dono!?”
“I-If Shiina-san says I should, t-then I will!”
“It’s not an order, Mayo-chan~♪” Niki shuddered at his recollection. “I’m done with orders after last time. Not being able to eat food with flour was as painful as someone burning all the pans in the kitchen!”
Sengoku raised an eyebrow. “…Didn’t Tetora-kun—”
“PLEASE, DON’T REMIND ME!”
Shiina Niki: MAYO-CHAN!!!
Shiina Niki: did u eat it yet????
Ayase Mayoi: Why are you texting me at one in the morning!?
Shiina Niki: ur also up anyway so y does it mater??
Ayase Mayoi: I suppose you’re right…
Ayase Mayoi: And to answer your question, I did have it for dinner. The noodles were some of the best I’ve ever had! I wasn’t expecting the grapes, but they were also amazing.
Shiina Niki: AHA!! new youd love it
Shiina Niki: ur also way chiller over text then when u talk mayo-chan
Ayase Mayoi: This is actually Mashiro Tomoya, his roommate. Ayase-senpai started freaking out when you texted him, so I’m answering for him as he stutters out all his replies.
Shiina Niki: oh ur also awake??? does anyone here sleep??
Ayase Mayoi: Yup, I’m reviewing play scripts, and Hibiki-senpai is being A PAIN IN THE ASS ABOUT IT (don’t tell him I said that). I know Mitsuru and Hajime get a normal amount of sleep, but Nii-chan is probably up doing college assignments right now.
Shiina Niki: guhhhh just thinking bout college makes me glad i stopped at middle school
Ayase Mayoi: You’re in the 2% of Japanese kids that skipped high school? Why would you skip out on your education like that???
Shiina Niki: ehhhh its a long story
Shiina Niki: maybe i could make us some food and we can talk about it!! if ur free
Shiina Niki: ask mayo-chan if he wants to tag along!! the more the merrier
Ayase Mayoi: Ayase-senpai said yes! And I’m free too! I’ll get on my own phone and we can work out the details. Uhh, but I really need to get back to work. Have a good night, Shiina-senpai!
Shiina Niki: gn!!!
As Niki trudged his way back to his dorm after a session of torture that Rinne liked to call “dance practice”, he noticed a change in the air. That smell can only belong to one person… The astute chef looked straight up. “Mayo-chan?”
“A-AH!?”
Thuds resounded throughout the ventilation shaft above him before a purple mass fell down and crumpled onto the hallway floor.
“Are… Are ya good?” Niki tentatively prodded the body with his foot.
“I-I’m fine,” Mayoi groaned. “N-No need to worry about scum like me…” He nervously smiled as he pulled out a plastic container, bestowing it with open palms as he crouched over on the ground as if in prayer. “A-Accept this offering!”
“I’m not a deity, yanno?” Niki reluctantly took the container and sniffed it. This heavenly smell… “Ya really can bake well, Mayo-chan!”
“H-How did you know it wasn’t store bought!?” Mayoi asked, face still planted in the ground.
“Hmph! A chef’s nose can’t be fooled! Especially one as experienced as me! Even without seeing it…” Niki pressed his nose to the lid and took a huge whiff. “It smells like a simple pastry! Ya managed to make it fluffy and crisp, and there’s definitely honey in here! I don’t think I’ve made this one before yet. Oh, also, ya can get up now.”
The phantom idol slowly rose to his feet, shuffling his hands nervously. “I-It’s a French pastry, s-so that’s probably why you haven’t made it. I-I wanted to make something good for the Sweets Fan Club, a-and we always try to bring new things to the table every meeting.”
“Ya really like your French pastries, huh~? If the smell is anything to go by, these’ll be just as good as your butter sablés!” Niki’s mouth watered just from remembering the taste. “Do ya mind if I devour these on the spot?”
Mayoi violently shook his head.
“Thanks for the food!” Niki cheered before blacking out in a rampage of deliciousness.
Huh… maybe if I give him some more dishes, he’ll gimme more pastries! And he really seemed to like my stuff, so he probably wouldn’t mind if I gave some test recipes to him. HiMERU-kun and Kohaku-chan can only take so much. Niki shifted gears as he changed his focus to cooking his own dinner and a meal for Mayoi the next day at the same time.
“S-Shiina-san, if you wouldn’t mind, I-I felt too guilty about not repaying you, so I made a-another desert…!”
“Nyaha, ‘course not, Mayo-chan~” Mission success!
“Would ya mind trying this dish out, Mayo-chan? ♪”
“N-No! I-I’ll be glad to h-help!”
Niki wasn’t exactly sure when it happened, but at some point, it felt like he and Mayoi had come to an unspoken agreement to keep exchanging food. The expert chef would try a new recipe, and Mayoi would return with a desert or sweet that he had rarely, if ever, seen. There was something exhilarating about seeing what the two of them could come up with next. Although…
“A-Another dish? I-I’ll do best!”
Something feels funny about the way Mayo-chan responds to me giving him food… Maybe I’m just imagining it…
“Are ya good, Mashiro-kun?” Niki finished placing the last couple filled plates on the dining table in the Seisoukan Common Room. He figured that it’d be enough for him, Mayoi, and Mashiro to finish, though the other two insisted it looked more like a five-course meal.
Mashiro slumped over onto the table. “Yeah… I’m done with reviewing and revising stories… I’m ready to just hear and enjoy one without needing to scrutinize it.”
“Fufu… And yet here I thought you enjoyed working with plays~”
“ACK!” The young rabbit hopped out of his seat, startling Mayoi, and he pointed accusatorily at his fellow stage artist, who’d just entered the common room. “YOU! What are you doing here!? I already handed in the reviewed scripts!”
“And you did Amazing ☆ But…” A conniving expression washed over Hibiki’s face. “I know what you said about me, Tomoya-kun~♪”
“W-What!?” Mashiro turned to Niki with a betrayed expression. “You said you wouldn’t say anything.
Niki raised his hands. “I didn’t say anything! I swear!”
Hibiki suddenly appeared behind his junior. “Fufu, so you did say something after all! Would you mind sharing what that something is? I’ll only ask nicely once.”
“DAMN IT! I FELL FOR ANOTHER ONE OF YOUR TRICKS! GET AWAY FOR M— GWAHHHHHHHHHHHH!” Mashiro’s cries were barely audible above the flapping of all the doves that surrounded him and picked him up, tossing him around the common room like an egg yolk dancing in a skillet.
“Oh, by the way, Mayo-chan, I got another dish for you! Ya can eat it tonight since we’re gonna be eating soon anyway.” Just as he always did, Niki shoved his gift insistently into Mayoi’s arms.
“A-Ah! W-What did you cook this ti—”
“…?” Niki observed his friend’s expression, which was suddenly frozen in what almost looked like horror. Oh my gosh, did I mess up!? “D-Do you hate this kind of food or something…?”
Mayoi was still frozen, staring at the clear container with wide eyes.
“Uhh, Mayo-chan…?”
“…”
“SOMEBODY SAVE ME!!!!” Mashiro screamed from somewhere in the background.
“Mayo-chan?” Niki stepped toward his motionless friend, lightly poking him in the cheek.
“I-I’m sorry! I-I CAN’T!” Mayoi suddenly vanished into a puff of smoke.
“W-Wha— ack…!” Niki coughed out the gray fumes. I can’t follow his scent! The fumes are messing everything up!
Hibiki chuckled. “A classic magician’s trick. Or perhaps a ninja trick? Phantom-san really does make good on his name. However… unfortunately for him, I’m all too familiar with this technique.” With a wave of his hand, the doves released Mashiro, who faceplanted on the hardwood floor with a pained groan. “Tomoya-kun, call his phone.”
“A second to breathe, please!?”
“One. Okay, call him now.”
“Ghhh…” Mashiro pulled out his phone and pressed a few buttons. “…I don’t think he’ll answe—”
Bzzt. Bzzt. Bzzt.
Hibiki smirked. “Amazing~☆”
Niki homed in on the source of the sound. The cabinet in the kitchen!? He wrenched it open to see—
“H-How did you know!?” Mayoi cried.
Hibiki playfully tsked. “I thought you would have learned after our time at Dead End Land, Phantom-san. There’s nary a trick that I would not know.”
“The worst part is that he’s right,” Mashiro sighed, dusting himself off as he stood up. “But why’d you try to disappear, Ayase-senpai?”
“Ya can just say that ya don’t like Peking duck, Mayo-chan…”
Mayoi wilted under Niki’s gaze, somehow cramming himself even further into the cabinet. “I-It’s not that… I j-just didn’t want to disappoint you with how much effort you put into your dishes…”
Niki’s small brain was only getting more and more fried. “What are ya talking about…?” What could be so bad that he’d want to run?
“W-Wasn’t the Peking duck supposed to be an inadvertent marriage p-p-proposal!?”
Everyone in the room froze.
Mayoi sobbed. “I-I…”
“…Mayo-chan.”
“I-I’m sorry…”
“Mayo-chan… WHAT IN THE CANDY APPLES ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT!?”
“AIEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! I-I DIDN’T MEAN IT! I M-MEAN, I DID, BUT…”
Niki wrenched the shrieking phantom out of the cabinet and shook him by the shoulders. “MAYO-CHAN. WHY…?” He took a deep breath. “Why would ya think I’m proposing? I know I’m stupid, but I’ve got more tact than doing something like that by food, yanno~? Also, Rinne-kun would have my head.”
“B-But… In Chinese culture, Peking duck is associated with marriage… Well, it’s often served at marriage receptions, and…”
“But we’re not Chinese! And we’re not at a wedding! And how do ya even know this stuff!?”
Mayoi anxiously twirled his fingers through his locks. “I-I did some research on foods and their meanings… I figured that since you were g-gifting me food, with your knowledge, I was s-sure that they must have been representative of s-something. After all, y-you gave me more food than you gave t-to even your unitmates…”
“And how do ya know that!?”
“…I-I pay attention.”
“Huh.”
Hibiki chuckled. “A classic misunderstanding. Phantom-san, it seems you’ve overthought yourself into a corner.”
“I-I’m so sorry for causing you all trouble!” Mayoi weeped.
Niki sighed. “It’s okay, Mayo-chan. But yanno, I’m not the kinda guy that likes to think too much about things. If I wanna tell ya something, I’m gonna say it to your face, ‘kay? Have ya been doing this for the entire time we’ve been exchanging food?”
Mayoi slowly nodded. “I-I’m sorry…”
“No harm done, so I don’t see the point in apologizing!” Niki chuckled. “Actually, I think it’s sweet that ya’d put so much thought into the food ya gave me. Maybe ya can run me by some of the things that your food represented after I’m done telling my backstory.”
“Oya~? Story time?”
“You were not invited,” Mashiro seethed.
Niki patted his junior on the back. “The more, the merrier, Mashiro-kun! Uh, but I don’t wanna get feathers in all the food.”
“That would be no issue,” Hibiki assured. “All my doves are very well trained.”
Mashiro rolled his eyes. “Yeah, they might as well be remote controlled by your brain with how well they’re able to do exactly what you want.”
“That settles it!” Niki tugged Mayoi back to the dining table with him. “Let’s eat before the food gets cold!”
The door to the Ayase-Mashiro dorm violently swung open, followed by a, “MAYO-CHAN~!”
Despite how often Niki called out to Mayoi like that, the recluse still jumped at the sound with a small squeak, falling off his bed with a resounding thud. Without missing a beat, Mayoi got back up and peeked at the intruder through his disheveled hair. “S-Shiina-san! U-Um… d-do you need—”
“You to try this out?” Niki finished. “Yup! I’ve got another dish for ya! Since ya went of your way to make French dishes, I decided to try one too! This one is called… drumroll please… Grape Clafoutis! It represents peace and not having to think too much! To just relax and go with the flow!”
“A-Ah, really…? A-All that?”
“Nope!”
“E-Eh!?”
“But… that’s what I decided I want it to mean.” Niki grinned widely.
Mayoi’s confused expression dawned with understanding, turquoise eyes glowing like diamonds. Slowly, he returned the grin with his own shaky smile. “I-I think… Next time, the dish I will give you is going to represent… hope for an everlasting friendship.”