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Ichigo looked incredulously between her notes and the chalkboard.
How was it possible for her to write down every single word the teacher was saying and still not understand a thing…? Learning French was already bad enough, now she had to deal with Chemistry?!
She sighed, the elements written on her notebook seemed to mock her, the chemical equations made zero sense. Why does she even need to learn such convoluted chemistry when she just wanted to make sweets? This was on a completely different level compared to the science courses she took at her old school. Why did they have to go so in depth into everything?
With an internal groan, she put her head down on the table, only half paying attention to the words of Mr. Antonelli. Desserts and chemistry, chemistry and desserts. Ichigo could hear them saying something about NaCl, “Otherwise known as salt.” She lamented in her head, the only other one she knew was H2O!
She looked to the side at her notebook. Redox… Reduction and oxidation. Reduction and oxidation. The strawberry pen that she used for notetaking stared back at her. Reducing sweet strawberry sauce into a thick and rich jam to fill the beautiful flaky crust of a galette. Folding dough over and over to oxidize it into rising to the perfect height. Would powdered sugar be good here? Maybe fresh fruit on top too?
Closing her eyes, she began to imagine the buttery exterior that would pair perfectly with the strawberry sauce and the burst of fresh blueberries to ensure that the flavor wouldn’t get tiring. It would be perfect for afternoon tea.
Galettes paired with cucumber and salmon sandwiches and scones spread with homemade jam and clotted cream in a beautiful flower garden. Cherry blossom season was almost here, and the weather would be just right for afternoon tea with earl grey. She could almost imagine it, the fresh breeze carrying the scent of budding flowers with the warm flavors of the galette and earl grey combining into a comforting and soft afternoon out.
Ichigo put a hand to her stomach to stop it from growling, “I wanna eat that galette…” she pouted under her breath.
She could feel Vanilla wiggling out of her pocket, “Ichigo! You have to focus on your lesson, the teacher said that he’s giving a test next week! Hey! Ichigo…! Are you listening?!”
Apple galettes, peach galettes, raspberry galettes, images of beautiful pastries floated around in her mind. After the practicals today maybe she could stay behind and make some… Afternoon tea with galettes, she could pack some up for the girls at the dorms and maybe for the sweets princes too. The stickers on her calculator whirled around in her brain, sweet, sweet, honeycrisp apples.
How many types should she make? At least two… three for variety? Strawberry, apple, and… She paused, are raspberries better or peaches better? The peaches would be so nicely sweet and tart, but the raspberries would offer a nice acidity…
“Amano Ichigo!” Mr. Antonelli suddenly yelled from the front of the classroom.
“Yes!!” She jumped up from her seat so quickly that the legs screeched along the wooden floor.
She could hear the hushed snickers from classmates around her as her cheeks flushed with embarrassment. The instructor gave a long-suffering sigh before repeating his question, “Can you answer this question?”
“Eh…” She tilted her head to the side to get a better look at the problem. After a few silent seconds of reading the prompt, she concluded that she wouldn’t even know where to start. Clearing her throat, she whispered a humiliated, “No…”
The teacher, clearly having expected this answer, shook his head, “Everyone, please be sure to pay attention. Although you are studying to become patissiers, becoming familiar with the sciences is fundamental to your knowledge of how different ingredients interact and form the beautiful sweets that you want to make,”
“There is no use in knowing how to make sweets using only recipes that have already been tweaked to perfection. You have to understand how to innovate, and to innovate, you must understand how the chemicals of the ingredients work together to make the perfect pastry,” He looked back at her, “Ichigo, you may sit.”
A breath of relief escaped her as she plopped back into the hard wooden seat. When she pressed her palm to her face, it was scalding hot. The heat of embarrassment was probably all the way up to her ears, but she comforted herself, at least it was over now.
Ahhhh…! How had she been able to space out again?! She had specifically warned herself not to do it in chemistry! In any other class, it was okay to do a bit of self-study to catch up again, but chemistry felt like an entirely different beast…
Ichigo sighed internally, forget French! Chemistry was a whole new language altogether.
Mr. Antonelli took a sweeping glance across the entire classroom, “Is there anyone that would be willing to work this problem out for the class?”
He waited for a few moments for a volunteer, but it was in vain. The mood of the entire classroom had plummeted and Ichigo could feel a few glares being shot towards her. With each second that the silence stretched on, the frown forming on the instructor’s face deepened further and further.
“Have none of you been paying attention?” He said severely. Ichigo lamented in her heart, at this point, even if anybody actually had been paying attention they’d be too scared to say anything! With a huff of anger, Mr. Antonelli walked over to the class list on his desk with heavy footsteps, tracing his finger down the paper with a vendetta until it stopped decisively on a name.
“Makoto Kashino, show us how it’s done.”
The sound of a chair scraping the floor filled the silent class.
“Yes, Mr. Antonelli,” Kashino replied. As soon as he picked up the chalk, he began writing with a confidence that put the rest of the class at ease. Phew, no more lectures.
With that, the teacher seemed to be placated, however, after a moment of thought, he began to write another question on the other side of the chalkboard, one that seemed infinitely harder.
He cleared his throat, “Amano, come up here.”
Ichigo felt her heart sink. So she hadn’t got off the hook yet. With an inward sigh, she obediently walked up to the front of the classroom where Kashino was already halfway through the other problem. She sulked in her head, how is it possible for him to understand everything so easily? As she approached the front of the classroom and met Mr. Antoneli’s eyes, she already knew that she had done something wrong.
“Miss Amano, can you tell me what the negative log of 3.1x10^-4 is?” He looked at her disapprovingly.
“Uhm…” She tried her best to avoid his gaze, “No…?”
“Then why didn’t you bring your calculator?”
Ichigo jumped, whipping her head over to Kashino, who did, in fact, have a calculator in hand, plugging away numbers with dizzying speed. Ahhh… How could she have forgotten something so basic?
“Sorry, Mr Antonelli…” She said with an embarrassed smile on her face.
With a sigh, Mr. Antonelli reached over to his desk where his own calculator sat, handing it to her with a resigned, “Remember next time.”
Nodding, Ichigo finally looked over at the question that she was meant to solve.
‘In the titration of 25.00mL of 0.100 M HCl with 0.100 M NaOH, what is the pH of the solution after 15.00 mL of the standard NaOH solution has been added?’
Titration… that word had been used in the reading that Mr. Antonelli had assigned them, but she didn’t really understand what it was trying to ask… They hadn’t even learned the material yet! The reading was supposed to just be a preview of future subjects, she didn’t know a single person that has actually learned anything from the reading… urk…
She tried to think back to the example from the textbook, HCl should be a strong acid, and NaOH would be a… strong base? That’s what the hydroxi… hydroxide… meant. She remembered that they had to multiply and then subtract something… uhm… wait was it addition or subtraction?
The more she tried to visualize the textbook page in her mind, the foggier it became. Even as she held up the stick of chalk to start writing, nothing came to mind. With a defeated sigh, Ichigo could only write down the only thing that seemed certain.
“HCl + NaOH → H2O + NaCl”
By the lack of an immediate rebuttal from Mr. Antonelli, she breathed a sigh of relief knowing that at least that was correct. Next would be multiplication… Maybe multiplying the mL and the molarity? Was that it? She quickly plugged in the numbers on her calculator and wrote down the respective number of mols below HCl and NaOH.
Ichigo sneaked a glance towards Mr. Antonelli, still no frown. So far so good… And now she has to subtract something… but what? Her hand once again stopped hovering above the chalkboard as she tried her hardest to remember which–
“Done.”
She jumped. Beside her, Kashino slipped the case for his calculator back on with a decisive click.
Mr. Antonelli took a peek at the circled answer and gave a nod before asking, “Mister Kashino, would you mind telling everyone what is wrong with what Miss Amano has written so far?”
She jumped, what had she done wrong?!
Kashino looked over at what she had written, entirely ignoring her in the process, even as she desperately tried to meet his eye. After a moment, he spoke, “It should be mmols, not mols.”
Mr Anontelli nodded, “And why is that?”
“For it to be mols it would have to be the molarity times liters, not milliliters.”
Ichigo looked at Kashino with an incredulous expression, as if asking how did you know that? This, finally, seemed to catch his attention. He looked back with his own questioning look, as if saying, you didn’t?
“Perfect. Miss Amano, do you know how to solve this problem?”
Ichigo really thought that it should’ve been obvious by now, but even so, she dutifully said, “...No.”
The teacher nodded, “Mister Kashino, do you know?”
“I do.”
“Go ahead.”
He walked right up to her with an expectant expression. For a moment, she stood in a wronged dazed, staring at the St. Marie crest embroidered into the lapels of his uniform. A second passed before she heard from in front of her a quiet, “...Amano.”
Her eyes snapped up to meet Kashino’s and she suddenly became all too aware of how closely they were standing together. Her heart jumped for a moment before she realized that he was holding out his hand for her to give him the chalkstick she still had in her hand.
Hastily, she pressed it into his, trying not to think too hard about how pleasantly cool his palm was.
“First, you would multiply the mL amount and the molarity of HCl to get 2.5mmol, and then 15mL and 0.100M to get the 1.5mmol for NaOH,” he wrote down the numbers with a quick flourish of the chalk.
Kashino took a quick glance at her, almost as if he was making sure that she was paying attention to his explanation.
“Then you have to subtract 1.5mmol from each chemical on the reactant side of the equation and add to the product side the same amount.”
Mr Antonelli interjected, “And why is that?”
“There is only 1.5mmol of NaOH that can react with HCl and when that reaction occurs, it would produce the same amount of mmol on the product side of the reaction.”
“Perfect, continue.”
“After that, you would divide the remaining mmols for HCl by the total volume of mL to get the molarity which would be…” Kashino took a moment to press a few buttons into his calculator, “ 0.025M and at this point you can use the molarity of the remaining HCl to calculate for the pH of the solution by using the -log of 0.025 to find the pH which would equal 1.60.”
The more he spoke the more the words got scrambled in Amano’s mind, like an overcooked choux a la creme. Mols and logs, and molarity… how do you keep them straight? Just looking at Kashino solving it was making her tired…
On the chalkboard, he circled ‘pH=1.60’ with a confident swipe of his wrist.
“And Mr. Makoto, why would you not use the 1.5mmols of NaCl?”
“Because the effect that it would have on the pH would be negligible in comparison to the HCl which is a strong acid.”
“Spot on,” He turned towards her, “Miss Amano, please study hard from now on, if you are ever confused, I’m sure there are many seniors that would be willing to help.”
Just as Ichigo prepared to reply affirmatively, the bell to switch classes echoed throughout the room. Without a second glance towards her, Mr. Antonelli began to pack up his things for his next class, “Please remember to complete your chapter homework to be turned in by the exam next Thursday, I will not be extending the deadline.”
The class replied in unison, “Yes, Mr. Antonelli!”
~~~~~
“Don’t worry too much about it, Mr. Antonelli is renowned in the school for being cutthroat to transfer students,” Andou said as he wiped down the counters of their station, “It’s his way of trying to get them up to speed.”
The arched windows of the practical classroom illuminated them with the faint glow of dusk.
Hanabusa turned to her with a smile, “You know, general studies at St. Marie's Academy is ranked within the top 10% of all schools in Japan,” he winked, “It would be strange if you didn’t struggle at first.”
Ichigo really didn’t know whether to think of that as him trying to comfort her or insult her. She tried her best to just focus on the textbook questions in front of her, but no matter what she did, she couldn’t figure out what the next step would be. After an entire evening of practicals, she just couldn’t seem to get her mind back into the atmosphere of chemistry… or any other general studies course for that matter. She could feel her pencil digging into the skin of her finger uncomfortably.
“I just wanted to make cakes…” she whined, slamming her forehead into her notebook. She could feel the French homework nagging at the back of her mind from her backpack.
Andou laughed, “Well it can’t be helped, a portion of the graduating students actually don’t go on to become professional patissiers, a lot of them use what they learned here as a base for other professions where they’ll need a college degree,”
“To ensure that the reputation of St. Marie is top class within both vocational and academic circles, they have no choice but to make the courses here rigorous.”
“That’s right,” Hanabusa agreed airily, “So please work hard Miss Amano.”
From the corner of her eye, she saw Cafe floating over with a porcelain cup, with a gentle voice, he set the cup down in front of her, “A cappuccino to help you focus!” Reluctantly, she shifted in her stool to have a sip.
The rich flavor of the coffee spread throughout her mouth, at once bitter, but the moment that she swallowed, a pleasantly sweet aftertaste lingered that made her want to go for another taste. Instantly, her expression brightened, “Thank you Cafe!”
“Aucun souci!”
She felt better as she slowly enjoyed the warmth of the cappuccino and began to look through the problems with a bit more patience.
Caramel landed on top of her textbook, and began to read the problems, “If 0.37M… whats M?”
Ichigo was thankful that she at least knew the answer to this question and said, “Molarity!”
“What’s molarity-desu?”
Uhm… what was the term for molarity again…? She couldn’t remember it was something to do with moles and milliliters?
As she stalled, the looks on Hanabusa and Andou’s faces became exasperated.
“Jeez, she doesn’t even know that?” from the station across from them, Chocolat’s voice could be heard as she peaked her head out of Kashino’s bandana. Kashino didn’t give the slightest indication that he had heard their conversation at all, hands still moving smoothly as he tempered the chocolate into a beautiful luster. Occasionally, the sound of the metal palettes scraping against each other would echo throughout the room.
Vanilla poked her head out of Ichigo’s jacket pocket angrily, “If you think it’s so easy then do you know Chocolat?”
“O-Of course not! That’s not something that a sweets spirit needs to know… b-but Kashino knows! Right Kashino?!”
Finally prompted into voicing his thoughts, Kashino struck an earth shattering blow, “We’ve been using molarity for two months, only idiots wouldn’t know what it is.”
Ichigo felt a sense of despair descending upon her soul, “I don’t even know what I don’t know!”
Vanilly flew out of her pocket up to her face, “Don’t worry Ichigo, as long as you work hard you’ll be able to pass the exam!”
“Don’t look so down Amano, if you’re in a bad mood even studying won’t help you retain the information,” Hanabusa said sweetly, “In any case Andou and I are more than willing to help tutor–”
The clang of the scrapers being set down on the marble slab rang out through the room. He turned towards the group of them with a hard look on his face, “You guys are too soft on her. She’ll never be able to keep up like this.”
He returned to looking at his perfectly tempered chocolate but did not stop speaking, “What’s the use in tutoring her over every little thing if she’s unable to learn new information by herself? At this rate her grades are being propped up by our effort and not her own.” He began to transfer the glossy chocolate over to a prepped bowl that had been specifically adjusted to be the temperature of the chocolate.
A sinking sensation opened up in Ichigo's chest… was that what they had been thinking of her this entire time? But no! She has tried her best, every day! She’s been so diligent in trying to catch up to everyone, that wasn’t all for show!
Kashino continued, speaking but never losing concentration on his craft, “Are you guys more worried about her grades or your own? She needs to fail to learn why she needs to study herself. So what if she fails the exam next week? If she fails it’s her own fault for not studying enough–”
“Kashino! That’s enough!” Andou interrupted, frowning.
Even still, he continued, “Amano, have you been paying attention at all?”
She tried to plead her case, “I have!”
Only to be swiftly cut down, “If you have then you should know at least the very basics of chemistry. If you don’t even know that then it’s proof that you haven’t been taking your classes seriously.”
“No, I promise I’ve–” She suddenly hesitated.
“Everyone here has been chasing after their dreams wholeheartedly and giving in their full effort. Everyone also has to go through these exams by studying their hardest, do you think that we haven’t struggled either?”
“That’s not–”
“Yet here you are complaining about going through something that everyone has to go through and placing your burden onto other people. Have you ever tried going to after school office hours or asking seniors to tutor you?”
“I…”
“With an attitude like that you’ll never be able to succeed in St. Marie, let alone become a patissiere!”
“Kashino, I said that that’s enough!”
Hanabusa put a comforting hand on Ichigo’s shoulder, “Kashino, you’re being too harsh, jumping from a second rate school to a first class school is harder than you’d think.”
“Exactly, she’s trying at her own pace, even if she’s dragging down our grade we should be encouraging her to work harder!”
Despite the words meant to defend her, they somehow made her feel like they were subtly insulting her.
Kashino still hadn’t deigned to even look at them. With careful precision, he poured the tempered chocolate into molds of various shapes, “You guys can keep babying her if you want, but just know that you’re setting her up for failure.”
“And,” he continued, “None of us had such good-natured seniors that would be this attentive towards what we struggled with. We learned it on our own because we knew that it was important to achieve our dreams, that alone should be enough incentive.”
“If it isn’t,” He finally turned to look her in the eye, “then maybe she doesn’t want to become a patissiere as bad as she says she does.”
Ichigo’s expression fell. Sullenly, she lowered her gaze onto the textbook in front of her and the chemistry journal that she used to keep track of notes in class. The margins were full of doodles of desserts and designs while the body of the page was…embarrassingly sparse.
It would be no wonder if they thought that she wasn’t taking her classes seriously.
While Ichigo’s head was still lowered, the two boys shot a look at Kashino.
Andou tried to ease back into the conversation, “...Ichigo, don’t take him too seriously, we all know you’ve been working hard.”
Hanabusa chimed in, “And we are more than happy to help such a beautiful girl.”
Together, the two of them seemed like the perfect safety net of guaranteed academic success. Their voices were so kind, and Ichigo could perfectly imagine how patient (if exasperated) they would be with explaining formulas and concepts to her as they all practiced together throughout the week. All she would have to do was just agree.
She looked up at the two of them. The understated and noble calm that Andou carried and the charismatic charm that Hanabusa embodied suddenly lifted her mood. In this moment, she thought that they really did deserve the title of the Sweets Princes. They were like a fairy tale come to life. …Except the curse placed on the princess was chemistry and the wicked witch was Mr. Antonelli.
The mental image of Mr. Antonelli in a robe and pointy hat brewing up a green cauldron of test questions finally snapped her out of her daze. She couldn’t stop herself from letting out a small giggle.
“It’s okay everyone, Kashino’s right, I need to learn how to study on my own! I’ll prove it with the next exam.”
Cafe let out a noise of anticipation, “That’s wonderful Ichigo! What marvelous motivation, what score are you going to aim for?”
She pondered this question for a moment, “Uhmmm, I’ll aim a little higher…. 75%?”
Suddenly the entire group choked out a sound of disbelief. Delicately, Andou spoke first, “75%... Ichigo, are you sure that’s not too low?”
She turned her head to him with a perplexed expression, “Huh? But I got 58% on my last chemistry exam.”
A moment of stunned silence passed through the entire group. Kashino’s shocked expression bordered on the edge of disgust. Andou was again the first to break it, “...In that case I think 75% would be a good score to aim for.”
~~~~~
No matter what people say about Ichigo, one thing that they could never accuse her of was lack of motivation. If that motivation translated into results though, that was a different story.
The next day had passed normally with only a few passing comments from the three boys about her new resolve to (hopefully) be decent enough at chemistry to avoid failing the class. She always completed the homework, and usually with a little more prompting she’d be able to remember what sequence of steps would come next, but the moment that the test paper was in front of her, her mind would freeze.
What’s worse is when she would second guess her answers to the simple questions. How was she supposed to remember which side of the equation heat would be going if it was endothermic or not?! It was so unintuitive…
Sitting in an empty practice room, this was all she could think about. Despite the scent of baking sweets that would usually make her mood shoot up to the sky, the thought of thermodynamics brought it all the way back down, and then down again with every practice question that she got wrong. The sound of pencil on paper echoed through the entire hall. If she had been working on a sketch for the design of a dessert, it would’ve sounded soothing, but now it was as if it was mocking her for even trying.
She looked around her station for something else to do, anything else, but all the menial tasks had already been in the other half a dozen times she had gotten distracted. The bowls had been washed, dried, and put away. The surface was cleaned, the ingredients put back in their place, and the cooling rack had already been set out, just waiting for the “ding!” of the oven. Even the final plates for the pasteis de natas had already been set, forks and all.
With a sigh she looked back down at the spayed out pieces of paper in front of her. Scrape paper, the periodic table, her notes, a calculator, and a printed out version of practice problems.
She clasped her hands together in a prayer towards the Queen of the Sweets Kingdom, “Please please I don’t want to study anymore..!”
A few seconds passed with no answer from the portrait and she could only sigh in disappointment, hands falling to her sides. With plop, she laid her head on the table, eyes closed. Beside her, she heard the telltale sound of Vanilla flying out of her pocket.
“Ichigo! You said that you would study until the next batch of pasteis de natas were done baking! You’ve only been working for 10 minutes! You still have 20 more to go!”
“Vanilla, let me rest for a little while…”
The sweets spirit conjured her spoon into her hand, “Nuh uh, no can do Ichigo!” With a large swing, she whacked the spoon right in the center of Ichigo’s forehead.
She jolted up, yelping as she clutched her forehead, looking accusatorily at Vanilla.
For her part, the spirit looked up at her righteously, “Remember Ichigo, you told me yourself just this morning that I could do that if you ever lost motivation!”
She scrunched up her face in defeat, “Alright I get it!”
20 minutes later, the ding of timer went off and Ichigo was finally able to get some reprisal from the grasps of chemistry.
When the oven was opened, it flooded the room with the smell of pasteis de nata that left Ichigo’s mouth watering. Signature spots of browning on the top came out beautifully in irregular patterns that reminded her of the spots of leopards.
Blowing on them to help them cool down, she marveled at how differently this batch came out when compared to the previous one that was done in the Hong Kong style. Instead of a perfectly glossy sunny yellow top for the custard, the color was slightly darker, especially the spots where the custards had burned slightly just on the surface.
When they were finally cool enough for her to bite into, she let out a sound of amazement.
“Delicious!”
She looked at the cross section that had been left in the wake of her bite. The custard was more runny than the Hong Kong version, and being fresh out of the oven, was still steaming. There was a richness that made it much sweeter, owing from the heavy cream and vanilla extract that had been added.
Resisting the urge to eat the entire thing then and there, she rushed to the other table where she had the batch of Hong Kong style egg tarts still sitting, taking a big bite. The Hong Kong egg tarts had now been completely cooled, yet amazingly, they still tasted superb! She didn’t even know if she preferred them hot or cold!
As she kept chewing, she found even more differences. The Hong Kong version had a flakier crust where the Portuguese crust had a texture more reminiscent of that of a puff pastry.
“Ahhh, as expected the Hong Kong style is more fit for the eastern palette,” she said as she ate the rest of the tart. It had a taste that would never become too rich. Light, and refreshingly sweet that didn’t weigh down the stomach or palette the way the Pasteis de natas had the potential of doing
.
Truly, it was a food that you could eat hundreds of and never get tired of the taste. She shuddered, how dangerous for her.
She returned to the Portuguese tarts, finishing the one that she had been eating with relish. Both were still so good… if possible she’d want to eat both everyday for breakfast.
“Vanilla, have a taste,” She said aloud to the empty room. The little fairy peeked out from her chef's hat and Ichigo lifted the plate of the pasteis de nata to her to swipe her finger through. The moment the custard reached her mouth, Vanilla’s eyes lit up, “Delicious! The vanilla blends so well with the sweet custard, I’m in heaven!
Ichigo resolved to only bring back five egg tarts from each batch to her dorm, carefully packing the rest of the egg tarts individually in plastic packaging to give out to her friends. With that done, there was only the depressive embrace of studying to run back to…
She sat back down in her stool with dread in her heart. No matter what, she had to prove that devil Kashino wrong about her! With this thought cheering her on, she forced herself to continue studying.
~~~~~~
She woke up to the sound of a whisk hitting the sides of a metal bowl.
The first thing she was aware of was the crick in her neck, the second was the banging of the whisk against the rim of the bowl.
With a start she shot up in her chair, momentarily terrified that class had already begun. That fear eased when she processed that it was pitch black outside.
A thump sounded behind her and she turned to see a jacket on that floor. She thought about the warmth of her back, the lingering scent of sandalwood… She whipped her head around, who was—
“Hey, I’m gonna have to wash that jacket now!”
The sound of a familiar voice synced up with the image of an even more familiar blonde boy.
“Kashino?!” She yelped, “What are you doing here?”
He scoffed, “What does it look like?”
She gave a huff, looking around at the mess of papers that covered every square inch of the work table, right, she was studying chemistry, “What time is it?”
“2 AM.”
“EH?! Why are you even here?!”
“I couldn’t sleep,” He said while folding in whipped cream with egg yolks, “I had been lying in bed for three hours already, so I thought I could be doing something better with my time.”
Ichigo slowly lost the shock in her posture, “Oh… Is Chocolat here too?”
“No, she sleeps like a pig, exactly like you,” He looked to her work station where Vanilla was out cold, using a few pages of notes as her blanket, “and your sweets spirit.”
“Hey, I’m not–!”
“And for goodness sake, pick my jacket up off the floor!”
She jumped again, looking behind here where the jacket was still slumped pathetically on the floor. “Sorry, sorry!” She said with an apologetic smile, picking it up and trying to dust off any dirt that could’ve got on it.
Folding the jacket as best as she could she laid it down beside the stack of packaged egg tarts, “Kashino, could you care to try my egg tarts? I have two different kinds.”
“Pasteis de natas and Dan Tat?”
“Dan Tat?” Ichigo repeated with a confused tilt of her head.
“Hong Kong’s name for Pasteis de natas,”
“Oh! Yes… how did you know that?”
He fixed her with a gaze that screamed ‘seriously?’
With a sigh, he continued, “When I was younger my family went on a vacation to Hong Kong and I had egg tarts then so I learned what it was called then,” he set his spatula aside and gave a stir to the pot of strawberry preserve that had been reducing on the stove, “This is basic information.”
He lifted the spatula from the preserve and, apparently not satisfied with the consistency, turned up the heat a bit more on the stove. Reaching to his right, he started setting up to melt– Ichigo squinted from her side of the room-– white chocolate.
“I wasn’t trying to practice baking this time though, it was just something to pass the time.”
Kashino glanced up momentarily, “Chemistry?”
She nodded affirmatively.
Continuing the practiced motions of setting up the bowls and thermometers for the melting, he let out a small sigh, “You can’t be so distracted all the time,” a beep of the thermometer signaled that it was on, just as the twist of the knob on the stove gave life to a blue flame, “If you want to do something, do it right, focus your whole attention on it without any distractions.” He finally added the finely chopped pieces of white chocolate into the bowl.
Ichigo grumbled under her breath wanting to say something, but at this point, if she talked back there would just be more lectures to come.
“Please still try them for me, I made them for you guys!”
Kashino had started to slowly stir the white chocolate that had begun melting, “My hands are full,” he took a look at the clock before giving her an order, “Take the pastry out of the oven.”
She glanced over towards the ovens, and sure enough, one was lit up in an orange glow.
“Oh!” Hurriedly, she donned two pairs of oven mitts, carefully taking out a pan of a perfectly golden brown pastry sheet and setting it to the side to cool. By the time that she had taken off her oven mitts, Kashino had already taken the white chocolate off the heat and gone back to stirring the strawberry preserve.
“Please just try a bite, it’ll just be a second!”
“And stop my mille feuille from being the best it can be?”
Ichigo went quiet at this, until, “I can just feed you!”
Kashino’s whole body jerked to a stop for a moment before resuming a stirring motion, “What nonsense are you talking about…”
“No, really!” She rushed over to his work station with a package of both versions, ripping up the plastic seal on the Dan tat and lifting the contents to his mouth. He turned his head away immediately, almost as if cringing, leaning to the side to try to be as far away as possible.
His voice was muffled as he tried to open his mouth as little as possible with the egg tart blocking it, “You can’t be serious! What are you doing?!”
Ichigo frowned, “Just eat it!”
With an expression of difficulty, he finally opened his mouth and Ichigo shoved half of the egg tart inside. She watched his expression earnestly as he chewed, but his expression betrayed nothing.
“You made two types right?” He asked. She nodded, “Let me try the other one.”
Intently, she unsealed the Pastel de nata and broke off a piece for him, carefully putting it to his lips to try. He chewed for longer this time around, looking as though he was thinking deeply.
Finally, he opened his mouth to speak, “Where did you get the recipes for these?”
Ichigo thought for a moment, “I got the one for the pasteil de natas from the St. Marie guide but there wasn’t a recipe for the Hong Kong version so I looked it up online.”
“Who was the patissier that created the recipe?”
“Eh? I don’t know…”
“It was just a random one that you saw?”
“Well the instructions were similar enough to the recipe from St. Marie, so I thought…”
Kashino turned off the fire for the preserves with a click. “The Pastel de nata was up to the St. Marie standard, but the dan tat was average, at most just above average. I was wondering which patissier would let this recipe be attached to their name, but it looks like you just got this from some poor home baker that’s had no training.”
The clock ticked loudly in the silence. He turned to her with a serious expression, “Home bakers have all the right to be average because they are not trying to be professionals, but we don’t have that luxury. We need people to be willing to buy our sweets with their hard earned money. That means our pastries have to be exceptional.”
He picked up the bowl of cooled melted chocolate and poured it into the whipped cream and egg yolk mixture, scraping to get all of the melted chocolate out. Ichigo, for her part, just stared at the remaining pieces of her egg tarts, thinking earnestly.
Once he folded in the white chocolate, he added the egg whites with more whipped cream, carefully folding once again with a spatula, stopping in the middle of the process to add lemon zest. His movements were calculated and efficient, he didn’t have the grace of Hanabusa or the minimalistic zen of Andou, but somehow, it was impossible to tear your eyes away from him. Ichigo looked at the bowl and then back to her egg tarts, lifting the half eaten dan tat and shoving the entire thing in her mouth.
This drew a noise of shock from Kashino who now stopped folding the cream, “Are you crazy?! What did you, why did you— I just bit th–!”
Before he could finish a coherent thought, she said, “I think it tastes perfectly fine, thank you!”
He paused, then rolled his eyes, “Tsch, think whatever you want, you’re the one that wanted me to try it.”
She turned around, taking a bite of the Pastel de nata and sitting back down in her stool. Somehow even chemistry made a better partner than Kashino did. Did he not know how to do anything but lecture her? She had made the effort to try out both versions and he’s just shot everything down!
Though she had picked up her pencil to start studying again, she couldn’t help but look up to study his figure who was now transferring the cream into a piping bag.
Absent-mindedly, she took another bite of the Pastel de nata. Using a prong, he removed something that looked like a stick from the strawberry preserve. She opened her mouth to ask what it was, but then closed it before she actually said anything. No! She was going to focus on chemistry instead of that devil!
Determined, she focused singularly on the practice problems in front of her and reading over notes again and again. Vanilla shifted in her sleep slightly, and Ichigo’s back was beginning to protest, but she couldn’t let Kashino know that. The sweet and tart smell of strawberry preserve wafted over, as if trying to tempt her out of her focus, but she (for once) held on strong to her resolve. Calculating pH was way more interesting than a beautiful, wonderful, delicious mille feuille with crispy, flaky pastry puff skin, and a smooth cream and and— wait!!!
She shook her head to try and clear it of the thoughts of pastries. The next 30 minutes went remarkably well for her focus, only ever looking up if she was thinking about how to solve something, which, admittedly, did happen a lot. However, for the most part, she only thought about how the pOH was equal to the negative log of the concentration of OH.
She was in the middle of thinking about buffer solutions when a glass jar of strawberry preserves was placed firmly in front of her. The sound of glass on metal reverberated for a moment, making her startle from her concentration. Vanilla frowned in her sleep before resuming her quiet snores.
She looked up at the boy who had placed it in front of her with a confused look, “What’s this?”
“Can’t you tell? Strawberry preserves. You saw me make them.”
Ichigo blinked, “For me?”
Kashino sighed in annoyance, “Who else would they be for? I made too much so I’ll give the leftovers to you and the rest of Team A. I’ve found that they’re pretty good paired with scones or crepes in the morning.”
At the thought of breakfast, Ichigo’s eyes lit up, “Ehhhh?! Really?” She took hold of the jar in her hand with a distinctively brighter air about her, “Ahhh, it’s still warm too!!”
Without warning, she unscrewed the cap in one swift motion and stuck her finger in to get a sample, immediately bringing it to her mouth.
Kashino yelped, “Wait! I just sealed those you idiot! You’re supposed to leave it sealed for a day!”
The flavor of strawberry bursted in her mouth, sweet with a slight sour edge that made it even more delicious. As the flavor traveled, her eyes closed, there was a rich creaminess that didn’t seem like it could come from the strawberries… what is it…?
She opened her eyes, wanting to taste it again to see if she could figure it out, but then she laid her eyes on a particular spirit named, “Vanilla!!!”
Vanilla’s eyes momentarily opened for a split second before turning over and going back to sleep.
Ichigo turned to Kashino, “You added vanilla to the preserve right?”
He nodded “Yes, I added the paste and the pod while it was boiling down and then removed the pod before jarring.”
Ichigo smiled, satisfied with the answer and ate another fingerful of the preserve.
“If I had known you wouldn’t wait I wouldn’t even have had to bother boiling yours…” Kashino grumbled.
WIth her pointer finger still in her mouth, Ichigo replied, “Boil it?”
He nodded, “If you boil the jar that the preserves are in and then let it seal for a day then they can last for up to three years as long as they’re set in a dark and cool place. I have different fruit preserves stored in my room.”
As she stuck her finger into the jar again, he looked on in amazement and disgust at her gluttony. She thought for a moment as she savored the flavor yet again, “Honestly Kashino, I don’t know how you could do that… I think I could finish this entire jar in a week… hehehe…”
She blinked, stalling in her movements, “Wait, Kashino, does this mean that you finished your mille feuille?”
He nodded, using this opportunity to screw the cap back onto her jar, “Of course, I wouldn’t be talking to you if I hadn’t finished.”
Ichigo’s eyes sparkled, getting up from where she was sitting to walk to his work station. Kashino’s mille feuille! Even if he was the devil, he was a devil that made really tasty and cute sweets, she had to go take a look!
As expected, it was beautiful. Carefully chosen pieces of the puff pastry and a cream filling topped with strawberry preserves that was decorated with halved strawberries facing outward. At the very top were two elegant chocolate curls that arched up into the air and crossed each other. Right below the cross of the chocolate laid a glazed strawberry, all topped off with a light coat of powdered sugar.
She slowly turned to Kashino with a pleading expression spread through her face, “Can I have a bite…?”
As if expecting this, he merely sighed with an acquiescing nod, “I made it for you, who else would be crazy enough to be eating sweets so late?”
Ichigo’s eyes widened, “Really? For me?!”
“It looked like you were actually taking your studies seriously for once, so the only reward possible for a cake pig like you would be sweets.”
“Uhm… Do you have to be so mean when you’re praising me?”
Kashino merely looked away.
When Ichigo sank her fork into the pastry, there was a light crunch, the tell-tale sign of a perfectly cooked pastry sheet. The flavor of the first bite came to her in layers, at first the buttery yet flaky pastry, then the cream that balanced perfectly between light and heavy. The rich taste profile of the cream spread around her mouth, and almost imperceptively was the taste of white chocolate, adding more depth and interest while never becoming overpowering. The sour and sweet tang of the strawberry preserve hit her palate next, cutting through the fattiness of the pastry and cream before ending off with the clean taste of fresh strawberries that made sure it wouldn’t become too sweet.
As she chewed the flavors melded together in a beautiful harmony, tasting better and better with every second that passed.
A perfect bite. Ichigo felt like she could melt to the floor. Instead, she turned to Kashino, “Was this the only one you made?”
He frowned, “Yeah, why do you ask?”
Ichigo felt her stomach drop with a deep sadness, “I think I could eat 20 in one go…”
Kashino choked on his own spit, “Idiot! I made this as a reward, not as an all you can eat buffet!”
She couldn’t help but complain, “But it’s so good! Here, try a bite!” She pushed the plate towards him.
He sighed, “I was the one that made it, I know what it tastes like,” yet still he picked up a clean fork, lifting a small portion to his mouth.
Despite himself, he could feel his mood lifting as he chewed the pastry. He placed the fork down on the plate again.
Ichigo took another bite, letting out a small sound of delight, “It really is so delicious!”
Kashino studied her for a moment “Listen Ichigo, do you really like the mille feuille that much?”
She nodded enthusiastically.
“You really want to have it again?”
Yet again, she nodded vigorously.
“Well in that case,” He smirked, “I’ll only make it for you again if you get 80% on your Chemistry exam.”
Something within Ichigo’s mind short circuited. Did he really say 80%? As in eight and zero, eight tens added together 80%?
“Wha…?”
Kashino took another bite of the mille feuille, the very mille feuille that Ichigo could see the chances of her tasting ever again becoming slimmer by the moment, “You heard me, you’ve been studying hard right? Then it should be no issue.”
Ichigo’s neck creaked down to the mille feuille…. no issue…?
He pointed the gold fork at her with an appraising gaze, “You’ve been dragging our entire group's grades down for months now, an 80% is the bare minimum.”
She felt like lighting had struck her heart, the bare minimum?!?! 80% Was a pipe dream to her!
“No, it’s impossible! Eighty percent on a chemistry exam is not possible for me!”
Kashino frowned, “Why would it not be? You’re gonna get nowhere with that attitude.”
“All the grades I’ve had in that class have been horrible… nevermind 80% on an exam, a 70% on a regular assignment is already good for me,” she pouted.
She could feel the cold air of the room begin sinking into her skin more and more as she thought of this possibility. Maybe she’ll be able to improve her skills as a pastissiere, but as a student, she’d always been hopeless. No matter if it was academics, piano, or art, nothing seemed to help.
Kashino paused, blinking down at her, “Why would you not think that you’d be capable of an 80%? You were horrible at making sweets when you first came here, yet now you’re at least passable.”
Passable… leave it to the devil to still insult her while trying to encourage her.
He continued, “I’ve seen that you’re actually trying, that’s already better than a lot of people,” he looked around the room, “How many times have you seen people in the practice room after school hours who weren't part of our group?”
She answered tentatively, “A few?”
He nodded, “That’s for a reason. We’re only considered Team A because we go out of our way to try harder than anyone else. And you,” he looked at her directly now, “are doing the same thing with chemistry, staying up to study, making use of every second of downtime.”
His slender fingers, though coated with calluses, took hold on the plate of the remaining mille feuille, “I’m taking this away now since you obviously need the encouragement, don’t underestimate yourself.”
Ichigo blinked for a moment before she processed what was happening, “Hey wait! That mille feuille is mine!”
“Too late! Get back to studying!”
~~~~~
The week leading up to the exam became an endless cycle of class, practice, studying, and sleeping.
Without fail, every late night in the practice room would mean Kashino slipping in and checking on her. Hours would be spent helping her go over practice problems, a process that seemed to frustrate him endlessly. There was one point where Ichigo thought that he had finally had enough, yet the next day he still came back as if nothing had happened.
“I thought you said that I should stop relying on you guys for help,” she said aloud one day. Her eyes were still focused on the papers in front of her, yet the comforting scent of chocolate floating through the air coaxed her into speech.
Kashino was making hot chocolate for both of them, something that had unknowingly become a habit. The nights had only gotten colder, and somehow, almost magically, a shared hot chocolate almost always warmed them up from the tips of their toes to the top of their heads. He looked up from where he was topping the drinks with whipped cream, “Explaining everything to you so many times actually helps me remember it clearly too, it’s called active recall.”
She hummed, “If you say so Kashino, or maybe you’re just a hypocrite and you actually wanted to help me.”
He set the cups down carefully before flicking her forehead, “Idiot, get back to work, the test is tomorrow.”
She almost yelped, but settled for a wounded, “Ow…” at the sight of the hot chocolate. Despite his words, he didn’t complain when she reached for her drink first.
The first sip was always the best. The warmth of the drink settled in her stomach, radiating outwards through her entire body. She looked up at Kashino, somehow she could never make hot chocolate as delicious as he did. Perhaps it was the perfect blend of spices that he used, it always seemed as though he knew exactly what she was in the mood for.
Today she was feeling nervous. She felt prepared, yet at the same time wholly unprepared. Something in her gut told her that she was going to freeze up, but her mind told her that she had already tried her best.
She snapped out of her contemplation when she realized that Kashino was staring at her, holding her gaze. Ichigo felt herself heat up as each second passed, why was he staring so intensely? A beat passed, but his eyes never wandered.
Finally, she couldn’t take it, “What? What is it?”
He tilted his head, and she couldn’t help but notice that his eyes had glittering flecks of pure gold in them, “You know…”
She was holding her breath now, “…Yes?”
“How do you always get so much whipped cream on your face?”
Huh?
Huh?!?!
Her face blushed bright red as she hastily wiped her mouth with her sleeve, “Why didn’t you tell me sooner?!”
He looked taken aback, “How did you not feel it?”
She tried to look at her blurry reflection on the work table before pushing herself closer to Kashino, frantic in her embarrassment, “Is it all gone now? Is it?!”
Kashino flinched back, suddenly aware of the very small distance between both of their faces, “W-What the— Ichigo calm down! It’s just cream!”
As she wiped her mouth, with a napkin this time, Kashino watched her silently, replaying the moment in his mind. So close, and her mouth still had whipped cream on it, he wondered if it would be sweet if he kissed—-.
His eyes widened and his entire body flushed. Absolutely not. Absolutely not! He had better things to think about than her of all people.
Like… like chemistry!
He downed the rest of his own hot chocolate, steeling himself to study for the next few hours with no distractions. He could not let his grades slip because of Amano Ichigo of all people.
At midnight, they called it quits. After all, a good night's sleep was still required to do well.
As Ichigo drifted off to sleep, between thoughts of equations and chemical laws, the comforting feeling of hot chocolate warming her entire body permeated her mind.
~~~~~
She woke up before her alarm. She couldn’t believe it. She could still sleep for a good 2 hours before waking up, yet as she laid back down, the anxiety in her gut wouldn’t let her sleep. Finally, after making sure that Vanilla wasn’t awake, she crept out of her dorm room and down towards the grounds of the school.
It was a bright, dewy morning that held the remains of the chill at night. Without truly knowing where she was going, she found that she ended up where she had been standing just a few hours beforehand.
She pushed open the doors to the kitchens, expecting for it to be empty and serene, a sight that she had seen time and time again, yet never grew bored of. What she found was something arguably better.
The Sweets Princes were gathered around a work station, clearly making something.
“Guys…?”
All three of them froze at the same time.
Hanabusa turned to face her with a difficult expression, “Ichigo? What are you doing here so early?”
She looked at them in confusion, “I couldn’t sleep… What are you guys doing here?”
The three boys looked at each other, trying to communicate to each other with only their eyes. Finally, it was Kashino that spoke, “Just sit down and don’t ask questions.”
She looked at the other two, and seeing them all in agreement, promptly did just that. It didn’t seem like they were making sweets… it almost seemed like… a breakfast?
Soon enough a plate of a western style breakfast was set out before her, piled with scrambled eggs, sausage, potatoes, and bacon. Around it was a large variety of Japanese staples, with rice, seaweed, and tamagoyaki shaped into the image of chemical compounds.
She looked up at each of them, a smile across their faces, stunned.
“We heard from Kashino about how hard you’ve been working,” Andou said, “It’ll be hard to take an exam with just sweets as your breakfast, so we decided to take matters into our own hands.”
Hanabusa smiled knowingly, “But don’t think we forgot about dessert.”
He set down what seemed to be a mont blanc, with the topper being a large chocolate 80%!
Ichigo looked at the mont blanc in awe. Kashino walked over with a cup, “Cafe helped me make a caffé mocha to keep you energized. Don’t fall asleep in the middle of the exam.”
Cafe appeared behind Kashino with a smile, as did Caramel. Chocolat landed next to Ichigo’s hand, “Where’s Vanilla? She was the one that was supposed to wake you up for this!”
“Vanilla?” She asked. As if on cue, the sweets spirit flew into the room in a frenzy.
“Guys!! Ichigo is gone! She disappeared! We have to go find her, she’s gonna miss the—“ Vanilla took in the scene in front of her.
“Nice of you to finally join us, Vanilla,” Chocolat smirked.
Vanilla frowned, “This was the agreed time! I woke up right when I should have!”
Caramel flew between the two of them, “No time for fighting-desu! Exam today-desu.”
That, at last, seemed to calm everyone down.
As all the boys brought their own plates over to sit with her, she finally dug in. Looking at all the people around her as she ate, she couldn’t help but feel an overwhelming sense of happiness. This was what she worked so hard for, she couldn’t let them down after they had gone out of their way to help her!
This was the thought that she carried into the exam room, belly satisfied and heart full.
~~~~~
Amano Ichigo… Amano Ichigo…. Amano Ichigo…
She was bracing for her name to be called any moment. Around her, the class was in a silent state of chaos as half of the class had already received their scores, including all three of her teammates.
Of course, all three scored at least in the 90s with Kashino snagging a baffling 100%. The results were to the surprise of no one as the other students watched on enviously as the three walked up to collect their papers. Mr. Antonelli gave each a small smile as he handed their papers back, a sign of approval that only came once in a blue moon.
The students sitting closest to her had had a rough time with the exam, judging by the downcast and gloomy looks they were shooting each other. The student that had just been called up gasped as they saw their score, and as they sat back down, Ichigo could see them fold up the paper as quickly as possible to prevent anyone else from catching a glimpse of the number scrawled in red.
Ichigo’s palms were sweaty with nervousness, and practically jumped out of her seat when “Amano Ichigo,” was finally called.
The exam, she thought, was deceptively doable. That was the only word she could use to describe it. It was difficult, and she got stuck several times, but after thinking long and hard, she would realize how to solve it, even if there was a chance she remembered wrong. As she compared her answers with the rest of the group directly after the exam, her heart would sink with every answer they all got the same where hers differed.
She wondered how it would feel to be like Kashino, the one who was basically being used as the temporary answer sheet by the entire student population.
As she walked up, she tried to study Mr. Antonelli’s face for any sign as to her fate, but he was as inscrutable as ever.
Taking a deep breath as she reached the front of the class, she turned the paper over to look at the number. Her breath caught, eyes darting up to meet Mr. Antonelli’s.
Quickly, she folded the paper in on itself and walked back to her desk, barely able to contain her emotion. From the corner of her eye, she could see the other three exchanging glances.
The moment that class let out, she bolted out of the classroom into the hallway, leaving the three boys to try and catch up to her.
“Ichigo!” She heard Andou behind her, “It’s okay if you didn’t get what you wanted!”
“We’re sorry for putting pressure on you,” Hanabusa consoled, “It’s alright, don’t worry about it.”
Kashino didn’t say a word, walking up to her with a frown on his face, “What did you get?”
Ichigo turned around slowly, taking her time unfolding the paper in her hand, “I got 83%!!”
She beamed, shoving the paper into Kashino’s face.
The others all stopped in shock, but Kashino just smiled, almost disbelieving. Cafe bawked, “You had us thinking you failed!”
Chocolat flew out from Kashino’s pocket, “You were acting so weird!”
Ichigo laughed, holding the exam paper up to the light as she jumped in delight, “I thought I was going to die from happiness! I could barely contain myself from yelling out loud! Mr. Antonelli nodded at me! He nodded!”
She looked between the rest of them, “This is something I’m going to celebrate for the rest of my life! We need to do something tonight! I’m going to eat all the pastries I want today!”
Immediately, she made a b-line towards the Salon de Marie, “Strawberry shortcake, ice cream sundae, choux a la creme, tiramisu, creme brulee, tarte tatin!”
Kashino sighed, looking at her retreating figure, “All that over 83%…”
Andou laughed, “It’s good that all her hard work paid off.”
“Ichigo is truly a wonderful girl,” Hanabusa said, amused, “She brings a lot of character to our team. Don’t you agree, Kashino?”
A nod was all the answer that he gave, watching as Ichigo disappeared into Salon de Marie.
~~~~~
It was to Kashino’s surprise that Ichigo was already there when he arrived with all of the ingredients. It turns out that Ichigo had wanted to cash in on his promise as soon as possible, which is why he was now lugging in all the ingredients for a mille feuille a mere day after they had found out about her 83%. .
The smell of something baking was clear in the air, and from the outfit that Ichigo had on, it was likely her doing.
He decided to ignore that and get to work fulfilling his side of the bargain. Just as he finished sorting everything, he could feel a presence in front of him.
“Can you teach me the recipe?” Ichigo asked.
He hesitated, “It might not taste the same if you help me.”
She nodded, “It’s okay, I just want to learn your recipe.”
He instructed her clearly on every step, pausing occasionally to demonstrate how exactly to perform the steps necessary. It took almost twice the amount of time it would’ve taken him to do everything himself, but as he watched her passion concentrated on his instructions, something in his heart squeezed together.
The ringing of an alarm sounded from where her work bench was, and with a look and a nod, he took over stirring the strawberry preserve as she gingerly took a tray out of the oven, every available spot covered with Hong Kong Dan tats. Kashino blinked. Interesting.
She took over stirring again as he looked over her work. The white chocolate curls used to decorate were the only thing that he had to take over completely for. While he worked on that, she plated an egg tart.
In the end, she was left with one mille feuille, and him with an egg tart. She looked from him to the Dan tat expectantly. He took a careful bite, chewing slowly.
Ichigo waited for a moment in silence before she couldn’t take it anymore, “So how is it?”
He moved his gaze from the tart in his hand to her, “It’s… good.”
Good. Ichigo let out a sigh of relief. Good isn’t great, but it’s an improvement. All of those afternoons weren’t for nothing after all.
She smiled, “I’m going to try the mille feuille now.”
The mille feuille was as delicious as she remembered, yet something was different. She pushed the plate over for Kashino to try too.
He took a single bite and set the fork down, “You added more sugar to the strawberry preserve than I did, why didn’t you bring your jar instead of making us make more today? Or we could’ve just used my jar.”
Ichigo looked from the mille feuille to Kashino and back again, feeling a little sheepish, “Oh? Uhm… I finished mine already…”
“What?!”
“…”
Kashino looked at her in disbelief before ultimately letting out a sigh, “It’s okay, I’ll give you the jar that I have. You did well Ichigo.”
Her head snapped up again.
“Making these sweets and the exam. You did a good job.”
Kashino had put down the rest of the tart now and had moved on to avoiding eye contact with her. It was as if he thought paying her a compliment was the most embarrassing thing in the world, yet instead of irritating her, the almost shy look on his face was endearing. As she studied his face trying to control his emotions from leaking out, the only thing that she could think was that… It was so cute.
Happiness flooded her body, she looked at the sweets in front of her and then back to the boy beside her. Even though she had called him a devil countless times in her mind, he kept on showing up to help her, kept pushing her to do better.
She thought about how he made hot chocolate night after night for her, even after he himself probably got sick of making it and drinking it. Sacrificing his own study time just to help her reach a goal that she didn’t even believe in. The only one that actually believed that she could do it was him.
Even now he had spent hours of his time teaching her how to make the sweets that she loved, which was itself originally made specifically to her tastes. Those sweets had made her so happy. Kashino had made her so happy.
Overwhelmed, she set her fork down and did the only thing she could think to do, placing her hand on the other side of his face, she leaned in to kiss his cheek.
He physically startled, looking at her with shock evident in his eyes. His face was flushed a bright red as he pushed her down into a stool, stunned.
She watched as his eyes flickered nervously from her eyes to her mouth, face getting redder all the way. He locked eyes with her, and, as if asking permission, tilted his head.
Ichigo gave a barely perceptible nod, and before she could register, he had kissed her.
When he pulled back, she knew that her face was likely as red as his.
Kashino, for his part, could only think that it really was as sweet as he thought.
Ichigo brought a hand to her lips. Nothing felt like it had changed, yet she could tell that everything had shifted.
She looked up at Kashino with a small, shy, smile, “So… Does this mean that you’ll make me more mille feuille?”
He paused before breathing out a breath of laughter, “That’s what you’re thinking right now?” he shook his head indulgently, placing his palm on her head, “Sure, I’ll make you mille feuille whenever you want.”
Ichigo thought for a moment, “And hot chocolate.”
“Hot chocolate?”
She nodded, smiling, “It always tastes sweeter when I drink it with you.”