Hospitality Comes with a Soufflé 2
“Well, we’re all short of money as well, so we can’t lend you money right now. But we’ll ask you later if we really want to eat them.”
“Alright, got it. If you cover the cost of the ingredients, I’ll take as many requests as you have, so don’t hesitate to ask.”
“Eh, really? Let’s see… It’s October, so maybe Halloween? Wouldn’t cookies shaped like black cats be cute?”
“Halloween, huh? I was just looking at some Halloween sweets recipes and thinking about making some. Very welcome, very welcome.”
“Right—. Ichinose, why don’t you come with us if we have a Halloween party?”
Wakui said this half-jokingly.
“The party will be held with all the girls here, right? Do you mean to tell me I’d be included in a girls-only party? I don’t have the guts for that, so I’ll pass.”
“Surprising. You’re always diving into groups of girls to hand out sweets. The first time I saw that, I thought, ‘This guy is seriously awesome.’ “
“That’s because there’s a need for it. Besides, knowing you, Wakui, you just want to use me as your on-call patissier.”
“Ah, did I get caught? I think I’d get super excited if someone kept making fresh crepes and hot tarts on the spot for me.”
Wakui laughed without any remorse, so he snatched the second chocolate stick too.
“Well, I’m seriously counting on you for the Halloween sweets. I’ll invite you to the party just in case you want to come.”
“Got it-got it. Leave the sweets to me. As for the party, if I feel like it.”
Waving at Wakui and the others, who continued munching on sweets, he finally left the classroom.
It was the peak of lunch break, so it was surprising there were few students in the hallways.
He walked through the almost deserted corridor, heading for the school store on the first floor.
“Kind of feels like I’ve been dodging the truth and telling convenient lies all the time.”
Reflecting on the conversations with Shōhei and Wakui, he fell into a slight self-loathing.
Although he wasn’t concealing or lying out of malice or harm, still, as someone who prides himself on being honest, Sōma found it somewhat uncomfortable.
“Since the person I wanted to hide it from the most has found out, I think it would be better to just tell the rest of the class now so there won’t be any weird misunderstandings later on.”
That being said, he could understand her feelings of wanting to keep it a secret from everyone.
If the classmates were to find out, it wasn’t hard to imagine that it would cause quite a stir.
He wondered if there was a way to somehow manage a soft landing.
While pondering such things, someone called his name from the top of the stairs as he descended from the second floor to the first.
“Sōma-san!”
When he stopped and looked up, Chika, who had been fussily attended to by the girls until just a moment ago, was hurrying down the stairs.
Miki was sticking close with a sulky and displeased look on her face behind her like a bodyguard.
“Ah, um, how was your lunch today?”
As soon as she reached the first floor, Chika eagerly asked.
“What, you chased after me just to ask that?”
“Because I’m really curious!”
Sōma and Chika had a relationship they kept secret from their other classmates.
Chika had a more sensitive sense of taste than the average person. Furthermore, with both her parents being patissiers, she had an abundant knowledge of Western confections.
There couldn’t be a better candidate for tasting sweets. Therefore, Sōma begged her to become his taste tester.
In return for accepting Sōma’s request, Chika had a favor to ask as well.
Just like the lively exchanges in the classroom, Chika was very much adored by those around her.
Spoiled by parents and friends alike, someone would inevitably do it for her whenever Chika tried to do something on her own.
She believed that this wouldn’t lead her to become an independent adult, so she wished to become capable of doing various things. But when she tried to challenge herself, she would become scared.
She needs courage. She thought that it would be reassuring to have someone by her side during such times, and so she asked Sōma to ‘watch over’ her.
Sōma agreed, and thus, a somewhat unusual cooperative relationship was established as the ‘taster’ and ‘watcher”.
Today’s lunch was also part of this arrangement, stemming from Chika’s request to ‘please taste this because I want to be able to make bento.’
Strictly speaking, this was different from ‘watching over’ her, but since he received plenty of taste tests himself and just idly watching over her felt somewhat awkward, he was happy to cooperate in this way.
“Forty points.”
“Red marks!?”
When he honestly expressed his thoughts, Chika was shocked to find that the score was much harsher than she had imagined.
“It was a little disappointing overall.”
“No way… I woke up early and tried so hard.”
“I recognize the effort, though.”
He can understand that she tried hard. But even so, the quality wasn’t enough to warrant a passing grade.
“Um, how should I put this…”
As I pondered, he began to mention the points that caught his attention one by one.
“The first thing I noticed was the butter. I think the butter spread on the bread was too thick.”
“It’s necessary to prevent the moisture from the vegetables from transferring to the bread.”
“But that’s still too much butter. A sandwich is about eating bread and fillings, but it felt like I was eating bread, fillings, and butter. The presence of butter was just too strong.”
“No way…”
“Also, despite saying it’s to keep the vegetable’s moisture away, the lettuce was watery. That made the mayonnaise seem diluted.”
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“That might have been because I rushed to finish it before school started…”
Chika becomes disheartened, her shoulders drooping in disappointment,
“Making sandwiches is surprisingly difficult. My mom usually whips them up quickly, and they’re really delicious.”
“That might be your biggest problem, underestimating sandwiches like that.”
“Maybe so…”
She becomes even more disheartened.
“Cheer up. The lunch you made the other day was really tasty, and if you keep practicing, you’ll get better at it eventually.”
“I wish that were the case. But it seems I’m not very good at making Western food. I’m not so bad at Japanese food though.”
“Is there really such a difference between skills needed for Western and Japanese food?”
“The way of thinking and the methods are fundamentally different. You wouldn’t treat Western sweets and Japanese sweets the same way, would you, Sōma-san?”
“That’s a fair point.”
While talking, I remember the picnic from the other day.
The potato salad and marinade in the bento boxes at that time could be categorized as Western food, but they were simply dressed with mayonnaise and marinade sauce respectively.
The rest of the menu was all Japanese dishes.