During another break time, Suzu goes to visit Nagano, and I have to go along since she wants me to piggyback her again. Nagano was absolutely dumbfounded to see Suzu wearing Jindai High’s uniform.

   ‘Why didn’t you say a thing that you’ll be transferring here?’ Nagano asks her.

   ‘Cause I wanted to surprise you~. You’re surprised now, right?’

   ‘You’re damn right I am! Although it’s a pleasant one though. But why did you chose his class instead of mine?’ Nagano asks while pointing at me.

   ‘Well, it would be very troublesome to call him here every time I need him him to piggyback me. And if we’re in different classes, what would poor old me do if we have to go to the science lab or something?’

   ‘Um, you walk by yourself?’ I suggest.

   Suzu gasps in horror at the mere thought. ‘That is an absolute nightmare~.’

   ‘Anyway, you’re joining the Love Consultation Club, right?’ Nagano asks her.

   ‘Hmm? Sure. It’s not like I have anything better to do.’

   ‘Finally. Another member that’s actually useful.’ I say in relief.

   ‘Hey, I’m trying my best to help out, you know!’ Nagano protests.

   I decide to stay quiet right there. No point in dragging out the argument.

   ‘Well, see you at lunchtime, Aiai.’ Suzu tells Nagano before we head to our classroom.

   ‘Yeah. Let’s have lunch at the club room together later.’

   ‘Sure thing~.’

   I have to piggyback Suzu on the way back. I don’t really mind. She’s light and easy to carry around anyway. While we’re passing by the staircase, Iseri-senpai happens to come down from the upper floor with her friends. Our eyes meet for a second, and I continue on my way like I didn’t saw her.

   ‘Wait a minute!’ she tells me while quickly getting down to the same floor as we are.

   I slowly turn around as if I saw her for the first time.

   ‘Oh, hello there Iseri-senpai. I didn’t see you there.’

   ‘That’s a lie and you know it!’ she accuses me.

   ‘You wound me, senpai. There’s no way I would ignore you on purpose.’

   ‘Have you looked in the mirror? You have a look of a person who saw whom whom they definitely didn’t want to meet.’

   ‘Was I that obvious? My apologies. I would be sure to polish my poker face before the next time we meet.’

   Iseri-senpai sighs. ‘Why do I even talk to you?’

   ‘Because you wanted to tell me something?’ I prompt.

   ‘Oh, right. My class is doing maid café. Be sure to visit us.’

   I stare at her in surprise. ‘A maid? You, senpai?’

   ‘Why do you look so surprised?’ she demands.

   ‘I can’t for my life imagine you as a cutesy maid.’ I answer honestly.

   ‘Well, me neither. It’s not like I was planning to. They told me that I can just act like myself, and that’s exactly what I’ll be doing.’

   ‘So, a maid who treats her customers coldly?’

   ‘What? No! I’m way past that, remember?’

   ‘Are you?’

   ‘Grrr, why are you so annoying?’ she growls.

   Her friends who had followed her to this floor and had been watching our exchange burst out in hearty chuckles. I notice that all of them are different girls I saw from yesterday. So she has more than a few friends. Good for her.

   ‘Shouldn’t you be more honest with him, Ayano?’ one of her friends asks her.

   ‘I am honest with him. What are you talking about?’ Iseri-senpai asks back in confusion.

   They were probably about to tease her when they saw her genuinely confused expression. They then sigh in disappointment.

   ‘Come on, Ayano. Let’s not disturb them any further.’ another says to her.

   ‘You know, you might get anger issues if you hang out with him for too long.’ she tells Suzu who’s still on my back.

   ‘I don’t mind. Being near him is fun, after all.’

   ‘Well, don’t say I didn’t warn you.’

   She didn’t even ask why am I carrying Suzu on my back like it’s the most normal thing to do. I guess it’s better that way since I don’t have to explain.

   Lunchtime arrives, and the three members of the Love Consultation Club is having lunch at the spot Nagano and I first ate lunch together. Suzu has a surprisingly normal food inside her modest lunch box. I was expecting to see caviar and French cuisine. While we’re eating, Suzu mentions to us that she handed in her registration form to join the club, so she’s an official member now. She also tells us that she couldn’t find Shimada-sensei at the teacher’s office, so she handed it directly to Chairwoman Seki instead, who’s also in charge of the students’ after-school curriculum.

   ‘Kumi-san was asking about you, Takkun.’ Suzu informs me.

   Seki Kumiko. Take out the ko from her given name and you get Kumi.

   ‘She was? What for?’

   ‘She asked me whether you’re properly doing your job so far.’

   ‘And what did you tell her?’

   ‘I said you are so far. All she did was just nod. She also looked kind of scared when she brought you up.’

   ‘Well, that’s what happened when he threatened her the first time they met.’ Nagano recalls.

   Suzu widens her eyes at that.

   ‘Wow, Takkun. You actually threatened the chairwoman of a school~? Impressive~!’

   ‘Don’t encourage him, Suzu!’

   I’m supposed to go work today after school ends, but I had to call Uekawa-san and have my timetable rescheduled since I have to help my classmates with the cultural festival’s preparation. He said there’s no problem, so here I am still stuck inside my classroom even after school hours.

   One of my classmate’s parents own a western café, and the uncle of another runs a porcelain shop. This saved us lots of trouble since we don’t have to buy tablecloths, porcelain tea cups and plates that we’ll only be using once. That only leaves the clothes for the costumes and ingredients.

   ‘My grandpa owns a huge warehouse, so we can buy lots of ingredients and store them there until the day of the festival itself.’ Masato tells the rest of the class.

   ‘Is it really alright? Won’t we be intruding on his storage space?’ Kazuki asks.

   ‘He said it’s fine when I asked him.’ Masato assures us.

   ‘What’s the catch?’ I ask Masato.

   ‘Well, we’ll have to clean up the place for him if we want to use it.’ Masato answers a bit hesitantly.

   ‘I knew it would be something like that.’ I grumble.

   I’ve met Masato’s grandfather a few times, and let me tell you, he’s one hell of a cunning fox. He would often guilt you into helping him to do favors. If you refuse for any reasons, he can let out tears from his eyes so that you’ll feel guilty. I’ve been had the first time he did it. I’m happy to say that it was the first and last time.

   ‘Well, Masato’s gramps can be ignored for now, since there’s still some time before the festival.’ I propose. ‘For now, I’ll make some prototype sweets. Everyone can vote on what we’ll actually be serving on the day itself.’

   ‘Sounds good.’ Masato agrees. ‘Just make sure you make enough for us.’

   Someone raises up her hand. It’s a female student called Kanae Rika.

   ‘I propose, Bandou-kun, Yoshinaga-san and myself to buy the ingredients!’ she suggests enthusiastically.

   ‘Um, no.’ I object. ‘You aside, there’s no way I can carry the bought ingredients while I’m giving a piggyback to Suzu.’

   ‘Oh, don’t worry about little ol’ me~. I can walk just fine.’ Suzu informs me.

   ‘Wait. Are you saying you don’t have any problems with stamina or worse, your legs?’

   ‘Nope. None at all.’

   I stare at her for a few seconds.

   ‘Right. You’re not getting anymore piggybacks from me.’

   Suzu gives me a look of pure despair. ‘Whaaaaaaaaat~? You’re so mean, Takkun~!’

   ‘Shut it! I’ve been spoiling you while thinking you have some health problems. I should have asked you upfront. Now come on, let’s go.’

   Suzu gets up from her seat while still looking dejected. Meanwhile, Kanae gets up from hers excitedly like a grade-schooler who’s going to her first field trip.

   ‘Remember to keep the receipt.’ Kazuki reminds me on our way out.

   ‘Got it.’

   The nearest supermarket we have take us a twenty-minutes walk. Suzu and I are walking side-by-side. Kanae, on the other hand, is a few steps behind from us. Aside from keeping her distance, she’s also making sure that she’s not acting suspicious so that she gets called out.

   ‘Why isn’t she walking together with us?’ Suzu asks me curiously.

   ‘The thing is, Kanae is a huge shoujo manga enthusiast.’ I explain. ‘She loves to read shoujo manga, she loves to draw shoujo manga, and above all, she just loves seeing shoujo situation in real life.’

   I should add that she was the one who was asking Suzu all the questions about our relationship. She was also the one who squealed the loudest when Suzu told the class that she prefers to hang out with me more than Nagano.

   ‘She draws manga, you say? Do you know her pen name?’

   ‘Um, I think it was…’

   I turn around to look at Kanae.

   ‘What’s your pen name again, Kanae?’

   ‘The Sakura petal that falls on the branch of youth! How many times do I have to repeat it to you, Bandou-kun?’

   ‘Well, excuse me for forgetting such a long pen name! Would it kill you to pick a shorter one?’

   ‘I can’t help it! Blame the incident that started my career!’

   While we’re still arguing, Suzu takes out her phone and search for Kanae’s work online.

   ‘Stop looking at your phone while you’re walking, Suzu! Do you know how dangerous that is?’

   Suzu helds out her empty hand to me while staring at the screen of her phone. I sigh and grip her wrist.

   ‘Bandou-kun, you’re supposed to hold her hand!’ Kanae growls between gritted teeth.

   I ignore her and continue to guide Suzu so that she doesn’t trip on something and falls. She eventually stops looking at the screen and turns around.

   ‘You draw some good stuff~! You just earned another subscriber~!’ she tells the author.

   ‘Yay, thank you for your subscription!’

   When we reach the supermarket, Kanae and Suzu go and got us a pushing cart together. They became friends all of a sudden, and Suzu even went so far as to call Kanae Ri-chan. They keep on talking about mangas and other otaku stuff and completely forgotten why we’re here in the first place. Thankfully, I didn’t. I just left them at a spot and go grab what I need while pushing the shopping cart.

   I got lots and lots of bags of glutinous rice flour, a can of baking powder, a bag of glutinous rice, red beans, black sesame, kinako powder, soy bean powder, sugar, a bottle of shoyu, green tea powder, a bottle of red coloring, a few pack of strawberries, a few bunch of bananas, a few bars of bitter chocolates, a carton of eggs, three cartons of milk, three cartons of cream, and some packs of vanilla Oreos.

   They were still talking when I got back. Kanae remembered our goal here the moment she saw some ingredients that don’t really belong in Japanese sweets.

   ‘Bandou-kun, aren’t we serving Japanese sweets?’ she asks me.

   ‘We are. But I didn’t say anything about only serving traditional ones. I’m going to make Oreo dorayakis, and mochis with chocolate-banana fillings.’ I explain.

   ‘Oh, a fusion I see~. Nice thinking there, Takkun~.’ Suzu compliments me.

   Kanae suddenly gasps.

   ‘What’s wrong? You’ve forgotten something?’ I ask her.

   ‘I sure did! I’ve been so focused on talking to a new reader that I forego the chance of seeing the two of you choosing ingredients like a newly-wed couple!’ she cries in anguish.

   ‘Uh-huh.’

   I decide to just ignore her and push the cart to one of the emptier counters so that we could pay for our stuff. After they’re being put into plastic bags, we divide the load between the three of us and leave the supermarket. Along the way, Kanae apologizes for her earlier outbursts.

   ‘I just can’t control myself when I see a boy and a girl being close with each other, even though they’re not going out. I was that desperate to look for ideas so that I could draw my mangas.’ she explains.

   ‘It’s fine, Takkun and I are indeed close. It’s no wonder you misunderstood.’ Suzu just brushes off Kanae’s apology.

   ‘Hey, don’t you dare make things even more complicated.’ I quickly tell Suzu.

   ‘More importantly, Ri-chan. I’m kind of curious of your unique pen name’s origin. Can you tell us the story?’ Suzu requests Kanae.

   I honestly couldn’t care less, but I hold my tongue from stopping Kanae just in case some of you might want to know. You guys owe me big time, you hear?

   ‘I guess I could tell you if you want to know. But it’s nothing that spectacular, you know?’ she warns us.

   ‘It’s fine, just tell us~.’ Suzu urges her.

   ‘Okay, if you insist. It happened during the second day of my high school life. I didn’t know anyone in our class since my hometown is all the way in Kyoto. As a result, I had been going to and fro from my apartment to Jindai all by myself.’

   I honestly missed those days. Back then, Kanae was a quiet girl who kept to herself. Once she got used to the rest of the class, well, let’s just say things got way livelier than I would have liked.

   ‘I was walking on the road to my apartment as usual. I was just minding my own business when a branch from a cherry blossom tree fell in front of me. If I was one second faster, the branch would definitely hit my head. As I was just standing there feeling lucky, I notice a man standing right opposite the branch just like I was. He too, was looking at the branch. He then raises up his head to look at me and smiles.’

   Kanae then sighs dreamily like the incident happened just yesterday.

   ‘That was a close one, huh?” he told me. I couldn’t even form a coherent sentence to reply him since I was too mesmerized by his smile. I remember clearly that a petal from one of the trees landed on the branch as my heartbeat increased like crazy.’

   Hence, that pointlessly long pen name of hers.

   ‘Before the incident, I was always fine with staying at the sideline and watching the love of others blossom. After the meeting with him, however, I suddenly had the passion to draw romantic scenarios. That’s how I started my career as a manga artist while still being a high school girl.’ she concludes.

   ‘Did you ever saw the guy again?’ Suzu asks.

   ‘Yes I did. In fact, we’ve bumped into each other more times than we could count. At one point, we even exchanged phone numbers and went out together a few times.’

   Oh boy. I don’t like where this is going.

   ‘I was so in love with him that I wanted to be his girlfriend. The only problem is, he’s a college student who’s studying medicine in Tokyo-U. He told me that he’s going to Moscow to continue with his studies once he’s done here, and he’s in his final years this year. In other words, we could only spent time together for a few months. Even so, I put up my resolve and confessed to him. He warned that our relationship wouldn’t last long due to his plan, but I didn’t mind. So we became lovers and spent our times with each other as much as we could. A few weeks earlier, it was finally time for him to go to Moscow. We broke up peacefully and went our separate ways. I haven’t heard from him ever since.’

   She has a distance look when she’s done. She probably still loves the guy. Now I’m starting to feel bad for making that wish of mine.

   ‘Well, that’s it from me! Sorry that it got moody towards the end.’

   Her expression is cheerful once more, although it looks kind of forced.

   ‘Don’t mind, Ri-chan. Maybe you could go visit him one of these days.’ Suzu tells her.

   Kanae shrugs. ‘Maybe. Maybe not. I don’t want to distract him from his studies, so there’s a high chance that I won’t go.’

   Once we’re back to Jindai, we head straight to the Home Economy classroom to make the samples. Luckily, the place is empty, so we could use it to our hearts’ contents.

   ‘Do you know how to cook, Kanae?’ I ask Kanae.

   ‘Sure do. I even made some sweets before, so you can count on me!’

   ‘Alright then. Let’s do this.’

   ‘Hey, Takkun? Aren’t you going to ask for my experience?’ Suzu asks me while pointing at herself.

   ‘What for? I could just tell that you have zero from the way you laze around.’

   ‘That’s just mean~. but you’re right in the fact that I’ve never cooked though.’

   ‘It’s fine, Suzu-chan. I can teach you. Besides, making sweets aren’t as difficult as regular cooking.’ Kanae assures her.

   And so, Kanae and Suzu are to make the traditional sweets like ohagi, dangos and mochis. Meanwhile, I’m making the fusion dorayakis and mochis.

   Dorayakis are basically two pancakes with the filling sandwiched in between. The pancakes are made with blended cookies, milk, eggs and baking powder. The filling is made with the hardened cream I got from the Oreo plus more cream.

   As for the mochi, I got the base from those that Kanae and Suzu made. I made the filling by caramelizing bananas with sugar and dip them into molten chocolate.

   We didn’t make a lot as these are just prototypes, and they can just share the halved ones. When we go back to the classroom, some of our classmates are gone since some went to borrow the sewing machine form the Sewing Club. We wait patiently for them to return before taste-testing. While waiting, I hand Kazuki the receipt so that I could claim the money later. Also, he needs it for calculating the cost of the products.

   The sweets are well-received, particularly the fusion sweets I made. Everyone agree that all of them should be added to the menu. Now to teach the recipe to those who are going to work at the kitchen just like me. Which will be left for tomorrow since it’s getting a bit late.

   Before Kazuki let us go home, he gave us a schedule that we have to follow so that we could make it in time for the festival. He also handed us the work schedule that Takeuchi had made. As she had promised, the schedule is quite fair, so no one has any objections in following it.