Chapter 153: Are Those Balls of Dough Sleeping?
"Hey, Sis!"
Miko's strange little outburst happened to be witnessed by her younger brother, Yotsuya Kyousuke, who had come out to get some juice.
He immediately called out suspiciously.
"Eh?! K-Kyousuke, what is it?"
Miko tremblingly turned around, yet in an instant, her expression returned to perfect normality.
Mm.
After acting opposite all kinds of evil spirits again and again, Miko had become remarkably good at controlling her expressions.
"What do you mean, 'what is it'?"
Kyousuke looked his sister up and down.
"What happened to you just now? Did you screw something up? You were flailing around like crazy."
Miko's shoulders jerked.
"Nothing happened! I'm going to bed!"
She raised her voice slightly in denial.
"Something definitely happened!"
"Nothing happened~"
Miko rubbed her little brother's head.
"More importantly, you're about to sleep and you're still drinking juice? Be careful or you'll get cavities."
"I won't."
"How wouldn't you? Finish the last of that juice and go brush your teeth!"
Miko pushed her brother into the bathroom and ordered him to brush his teeth.
Kyousuke stared suspiciously after being shut inside.
His young mind was filled with a single conviction—Something definitely happened!
...
Luke, meanwhile, was supposedly doing homework.
In reality, he was mostly slacking off and playing with his phone.
Kasumizuki had already verified the fountain pen he delivered and transferred the agreed commission into his account.
It was a respectable amount of money, so Luke simply divided it evenly between Miko and Yuria.
"Eleven already."
His phone displayed the time, while the television had entered the more adult-oriented late-night programming block.
Since staying up late was bad for his health, Luke decisively shoved all his unfinished homework into his school bag.
As for Miko's photo—And her request that he fall asleep thinking about her…
That was asking the impossible.
After getting a message like that, how was he supposed to fall asleep?
'Stupid Miko.'
...
Another dreaded Monday arrived.
Luke endured mathematics, classical Japanese, world history, and assorted other classes.
He ate an uninspired lunch.
Then he dealt with Hiratsuka Shizuka asking about his unfinished homework by explaining,
"I was doing homework until eleven, and late-night programming is unhealthy for students."
After all that—Luke sat in the Service Club room with the teacup he had brought from home long ago, slowly sipping warm black tea.
Although the weather was hot, drinking something warm during summer was not necessarily bad.
And he had to admit—Yukino's tea-making skills seemed to have improved again.
"Ugh~ This weather is killing me! Aaaaah!"
Luke did not even need to look up to know who would enter with a line like that.
"Eh? We don't have to close the clubroom door today?"
Yui walked in carelessly and looked curiously at the wide-open door.
Hiratsuka-sensei did not appear to be around either.
"The weather has been too hot lately. Keeping the doors and windows open helps with ventilation."
Yukinoshita Yukino lowered the paperback she was reading and explained.
Even Yukino could no longer endure the oppressive heat at this point.
She had tied her hair up, leaving the pale back of her neck exposed to help cool herself down.
"Mm, it really is hot."
Yui had also dressed lightly for the season and fanned her face with one hand.
"Oh, right! We're unusually free today. Want to make cookies?"
"Sorry. I have something to do."
Luke put down his teacup, pocketed his phone, and prepared to go home.
"Not happening!"
Yui immediately grabbed him.
Luke turned his face away from the scent of either perfume or body wash drifting from her and spoke without hesitation.
"But I genuinely don't want to eat cookies anymore."
Ever since Yui's cookie request several months ago, and especially after she joined the Service Club, teaching her how to cook had become one of their default activities whenever nobody had a request.
In other words—Luke had eaten a horrifying number of Yuigahama Yui's signature hell cookies.
Sometimes, while contemplating his life, he would genuinely wonder what terrible sin he had committed to deserve such suffering.
"But Yukinon already said my cookies are at least passable now!"
Yui raised her face, puffed out her cheeks at Luke, then glanced toward Yukino by the window.
"That is true."
Luke reluctantly admitted it.
"You have improved, and they are technically edible now…"
Thanks to Yukino's excellent cooking skills and patient instruction, even someone as hopeless in the kitchen as Yuigahama Yui had gradually learned to produce edible cookies.
However—
"I never liked hard sweets like cookies much to begin with."
"And after eating so many lately, I'm starting to feel sick just looking at them."
"Ugh… Is that so?"
Yui obediently released his arm.
"Then forget it."
"If you dislike cookies, what about cake?"
Yukino suddenly spoke.
"Cake?"
Luke paused.
Cake itself was fine.
But for Yui, who was still a beginner, wasn't cake a little too difficult?
So Luke immediately suggested,
"Wouldn't cake be rather unfriendly to a beginner?"
"Bread should be easier. Once you understand how much water your flour absorbs, learn your oven's temperament, and properly control fermentation, you're basically set."
"Why does an oven have a temper?"
The idiot tilted her head.
"Not that kind of temper. It means… Forget it."
Luke could not be bothered explaining.
"It's fine."
Yukino closed her book and placed a cat-patterned bookmark between the pages.
"I wasn't planning to let Yuigahama-san make it herself today."
"She can simply stand nearby and take notes."
"Besides, tea is generally better when accompanied by dessert, isn't it?"
That did sound pretty good.
Luke had complete confidence in Yukino's cooking.
Yukino smiled faintly at the two of them.
"And Yuigahama-san mentioned last week that she wanted to perform a final test with her cookies."
"So I left some dough in the school freezer to rest. We should use it soon and free up space for everyone else."
"Oh? Rest?"
Yui blinked.
"Are those balls of dough sleeping?"
"That is merely an expression, just like the oven's 'temper' from earlier."
Yukino patiently explained once again.
"So, unless either of you has something else to do, today's club activity will mainly involve making cake."
Luke and Yui both nodded in agreement.
As long as Luke did not have to eat some newly invented Yuigahama recipe, he was fine with anything.
There did not appear to be anyone coming with a request, so Yukino prepared to hang the "Closed" sign outside the door.
Then—Knock, knock, knock.
A girl's voice came from the hallway.
"Even without bothering these people, I can…"
"Come on, come on. I'm not particularly good at this either."
One voice carried a familiar sharp edge.
The other sounded friendly, yet had a subtly forceful tone.
"Eh? The door's already open."
A familiar head peeked around the doorway.
It was that fujoshi, Ebina Hina.
"May we come in?"
…
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