Blackout

For those of you who still care about this series, I apologize for the long hiatus. I have been busy at the Second Tempest Contest. Now that it's finally over, I can come back and finish up this series. I'll start with the 3rd place since I'm a jerk. Anyway, please enjoy.

   ‘Maybe we could try adding breaded shrimps inside the bread. With some sweet curry.’ I suggest.

   ‘Nah. They won’t stay crispy if they were soaked inside the curry for too long.’ Iseri-senpai disagrees. ‘How about we make pudding bread?’

   ‘Don’t you mean bread pudding?’

   ‘No no. We make breads while using ingredients meant to make pudding.’

   ‘First of all, the so-called bread will be too squishy and soft. Secondly, we have to use something that we normally eat as part of our meal, remember? Specifically, Japanese food like pork cutlet.’

   ‘Drat, you’re right. Man, this is so difficult.’

   Gouda-san comes inside the baking room where Iseri-senpai and I are.

   ‘How’s your brainstorming going?’ he asks us.

   ‘Not so good. And it’s not helping that Iseri-senpai here keeps on thinking of ideas by fusing her favourite food with bread, even though it clearly doesn’t work.’ I tell him.

   ‘Hold on, how did you even know that I like pudding?’ Iseri-senpai asks.

   ‘Senpai, you can never convince me that it was coincidence that you thought of adding pudding into bread five times in a row.’

   She averts her eyes guiltily.

   ‘Well you tried to add fried shrimps every chance you get!’ she tries a weak attempt at firing back at me.

   ‘At least it’s somewhat feasible. And it matches the criteria. Unlike yours.’

   ‘Urgh.’

   ‘Now, now. No fighting, you two. You still have plenty of time, so you can take it easy and think things through slowly.’ Gouda-san steps in.

   ‘By the way, Gouda-san. Is it really okay for you to be in here? Someone has to man the shop, right?’ Iseri-senpai asks.

   ‘No worries. It’s not like there’s any customers outside.’

   All of us hears a bell ring. The bell was placed on top of the entrance to the bakery so that anyone inside are being alerted to the fact that someone just went inside the shop.

   ‘...Or not. I’ll be right back.’

   For those of you who are wondering what am I doing at the bakery Bittersweet Loaf, it all started at the fund-raising event that Koikana Shrine hosted. Apparently, the owners of the two establishments somehow tasted the products of the other and loved them immensely. And they had been talking about doing a collaboration. It has been delayed for several months since they never had the time to actually sit down for hours and discuss things together, particularly Gouda-san. And that’s when Iseri-senpai and I come in.

   ‘Here’s the thing Bandou-kun. You’re supposed to come up with an original recipe that has both pastry and Japanese food in it.’ my boss Uekawa-san told me when he first brought it up to me.

   ‘And how long do we have to come up with it?’

   ‘There isn’t any deadline. Just try and do your best.’

   I figured that if we’re doing this, we need to do this when both of us are on our off day since I don’t fancy getting a pay cut for this. Iseri-senpai and I agreed on a date to take the same off day from our job, and now here we are. We’ve been at this for almost two hours now, but we still couldn’t come up with a single decent idea.

   ‘This might take forever…’ Iseri-senpai mumbles.

   ‘No kidding. I was hoping this would only take a single day, but I guess that’s not happening.’

   Gouda-san comes in once again.

   ‘Why don’t the two of you go outside and look for inspiration? Who knows, you might get a good idea or two.’ he suggests.

   ‘True. There’s no point in sitting around for the entire day.’ I agree. ‘What say you, Iseri-senpai?’

   ‘...Sure.’ she gets up a bit reluctantly.

   While we’re wandering around aimlessly, Iseri-senpai is keep on looking around like she’s hiding from loan sharks or something.

   ‘Is something wrong, senpai?’ I ask her.

   ‘I’m fine. It’s just that I’m watching out in case any of my friends are around.’

   ‘You mean those that kept on misunderstanding that the two of us are going out?’

   ‘Yup. They’re nice and all, but this is the one part that really get on my nerves. The last thing I want is being seen by any of them and cause more misunderstanding.’

   ‘Why don’t you just find yourself a boyfriend?’ I suggest.

   ‘Easy for you to say! Ever since the incident with Kou, I don’t know who to trust anymore.’

   ‘Don’t you have any males classmates whom you’re close with?’

   ‘I don’t. And I think all the boys in my class are secretly afraid of me.’

   ‘Did you do something to make them fear you?’

   ‘Not at all. I think it’s because of my old conducts.’

   ‘You mean while you were still the Ice Queen?’

   She winces like I’ve touched her sore spot, which I guess I did.

   ‘Don’t bring up that name, okay? It’s embarrassing!’ she demands.

   ‘Ice Queen (lol).’

   ‘Stop that! And what’s with the (lol)?’

   She put her hands around my neck and starts shaking me.

   ‘And why do I have to put in all the effort? You should also get a girlfriend yourself so that those rumors about us can disappear for good!’ she demands.

   ‘To be completely honest with you senpai, it’s not that I haven’t try. On the contrary, I’ve been rejected 16 times.’

   She stops shaking me at once. She also let goes of me.

   ‘...Let’s do our best, huh?’

   ‘Yup.’

   It was then we pass by a bubble tea shop. She points at it with her index finger.

   ‘Tell you what. As an apology for opening up your old wounds, I’ll buy you one of those.’ she tells me.

   ‘There’s no need for that, really. The wounds aren’t that severe to begin with.’

   ‘Oh, just go along with it, won’t you? I’m buying yours too cause I’m feeling generous.’

   ‘Well, if you insist…’

   We bought the same kind: basic milk tea with tapioca pearls with them. As Iseri-senpai is drinking hers, she’s looking at the cup thoughtfully.

   ‘Say, Bandou-’

   ‘It’s not going to work, senpai.’ I interrupt her before she could finish her sentence.

   ‘But I haven’t even told you about my idea!’

   ‘You want to use tapioca pearls, right? The idea might work on desserts, but it’s nowhere near Japanese food.’

   She hangs her head.

   ‘Right. My bad. Let’s finish this up and go to the next place.’

   ‘Agreed.’

   We pass by a takoyaki stall next.

   ‘...That’s Japanese food, right?’ Iseri-senpai asks.

   ‘Yes. It definitely is.’

   ‘Do you think it would work?’

   I think about it for a while.

   ‘Hmm, it’s hard to say. There’s already a yakisoba bread, so a takoyaki bread might work. Then again, it’s not really original.’

   ‘Yeah. Plus even if I like takoyaki as much as the next guy, I still wouldn’t want them on my bread.’

   ‘Yup, and they’re too big to be stuffed inside the bread.’ I agree.

   Even if we gave up on the idea, we bought a set of them. To be more exact, I bought them, since I can’t have Iseri-senpai treating me twice in a row. When I try to take out my money, however, something fell out of my wallet. Iseri-senpai is quicker to pick it up.

   ‘What’s this?’ she asks as she’s staring at it.

   ‘It’s a pair ticket to a water park. I’ve completely forgotten that I had those.’

   ‘You planning to go there with someone?’

   ‘Do I look like I do?’

   She giggles.

   ‘Nope.’

   ‘Tell you what, I’ll go with you.’

   ‘...I beg your pardon?’

   ‘You heard me. You don’t want to waste them, do you?’

   ‘Like I said, I’m willing to give them to you-’

   ‘Even though I don’t have anyone to go with, either? Come on, let’s just go together.’

   ‘...I guess that’s the only solution.’

   ‘It’s settled, then.’

   ‘I would prefer it if we go after we’re done with our assignment.’

   ‘Naturally. I can’t enjoy myself if something is stil at the back of my mind.’

   I continue to pay for the takoyaki. We then share the content among the two of us.

   ‘So, do you have any more ideas?’ I ask while we’re wandering around aimlessly.

   ‘Nope. I’m spent. I think it’s high time you started contributing instead.’

   ‘It would have been easier if there’s a night festival around, what with the food and all-’

   ‘-but the season for them has already passed.’ she ends the sentence for me.

   ‘We could go to the supermarket if we really don’t have anywhere else to go.’ I suggest next. ‘I sometimes go there just to look at ingredients and hope that an idea for a new recipe might pop up.’

   ‘Sure. Let’s go.’

   We take our time and walk at the different food sections of the supermarket. Iseri-senpai’s eyes widen when she saw some chicken thighs that were on discount. It’s the type of discount that’s basically reserved for stock clearance. In other words, there’s no time limit for it.

   ‘Wow, they’re actually on discount? I thought you can only get discounted ingredients at shopping districts after a harsh round of bargaining!’ she exclaims to no one in particular as she picks one up.

   ‘They offer sales and discounts every once in a while, though you wouldn’t want to be nowhere near a place with sales unless you’re really desperate for money.’ I explain.

   ‘I never knew that. And the part where you described the sale sure sounds like a battlefield.’

   ‘Believe me, it totally is. And you would have know all these if you have a habit of coming out and do the shopping.’

   ‘I can’t help it, okay? My mother’s the one who always does the shopping and cooking.’ she rants.

   ‘Yes, because you can’t help her every once in a while.’

   She doesn’t have a single thing to say to that.

   She takes out her phone and stares at it for a while. She then puts it back without doing anything with it.

   ‘Is something wrong, senpai?’ I ask.

   She shakes her head. ‘No, it’s nothing. Don’t worry about it.’

   Her depressed expression tells me that something is definitely up.

   ‘Normally, I would just leave it at that. However, there’s no way you could help out with the new recipe if you have something on your mind. With that said, I insist that you tell me.’

   She looks at me for a few seconds, as if deciding on whether to humor me. She then sighs.

   ‘Let’s bring this outside. I prefer it if we sit down somewhere.’

   ‘Sure. Right behind you.’

   We got outside the supermarket and sit down outside a coffee shop.

   ‘Do you want to drink something?’ she asks me.

   ‘No thank you, senpai.’

   She goes inside and comes out with a cup of coffee.

   ‘It’s no big deal, actually. My father loves to eat teriyaki chicken. I just remembered about it when I saw the pack of chicken thighs.’ she explains after taking a sip from the cup.

   ‘And you took out your phone because?’

   ‘I wanted to tell my mother about the discount. But then, I also remembered that we’re not really talking to each other.’

   ‘Did you had a huge fight or something?’ I ask curiously.

   ‘Yup. You see, I’ve always wanted to be a baker, but my parents were against it. They wanted me to have a more stable job like an office work. We barely spoke to each other after that.’

   ‘Why did you want to be a baker in the first place? If you don’t mind me asking, that is.’

   ‘It was over something small, actually. I got separated from my parents at a street when I was 7. I was so scared all I could do was cry. An old baker saw me crying from inside his shop. He then gave me a bread in order to calm me down. The bread was so delicious I broke into a smile immediately. I could never forget the taste of it even until now. After the incident, I have a sudden thought that I also want to be a baker that could spread smile with the pastries I made.’

   She chuckles.

   ‘Pretty childish, huh?’

   ‘Not at all. I think that’s pretty sweet of you.’

   ‘Well, too bad my parents don’t agree with you. Even after I took up all my courage to talk to them about it. That’s why I snapped. It didn’t help that the old baker has passed away one week later after we met.’

   ‘Ouch.’

   ‘But I didn’t waver. I decided to follow my dream and took up a part-time job at Bittersweet Loaf. And I’m having lots of fun. I have a certain annoying junior to thank. He advised me to throw away my facade and be myself, so I did just that.’

   ‘I’m sure the junior would like to be thanked in a more concrete way. A meal, for example.’

   ‘A cup of milk tea is all I’m getting for him. If he wants something more, he should spit them all out first.’

   ‘What a devilish person you are.’

   She finishes the rest of her coffee in one gulp and gets up from her seat.

   ‘Now let’s continue with our journey to look for inspirations. We’ll be finishing this in a single day!’ she declares.

   Naturally, it’s easier said than done. It’s true that there’s inspiration all over the place, but we can’t just mash up random ideas and hope they would work. By the time we realize it, it’s already dinnertime.

   ‘Do you want to head over to Yamamoto Canteen for dinner?’ I ask Iseri-senpai.

   ‘Sure, we might thought up of something while we’re there.’

   And so, we head to the Yamamoto Canteen. My cousin Miiko is working there today, and so is the Miyako-san who’s five months pregnant. The rest of us wanted to forbid her from entering the shop completely, but she was too stubborn to bulge. In the end, we compromised by giving her the position of cashier.

   Once we got a seat, I got the attention of Miiko so that we could order our dinner.

   ‘Get me a curry rice with breaded shrimps, Miiko.’ I tell her.

   ‘One yakisoba, please.’ senpai, on the other hand, orders.

   ‘One order of curry rice with breaded shrimps and one order of yakisoba, coming right up. Please wait patiently as we take care of your orders.’ Miiko tells her in a real professional manner.

   ‘I still have a hard time believing that kind, well-mannered girl is actually your cousin.’ senpai mumbles once Miiko is gone to take care of our order. ‘Are you sure one of you isn’t adopted?’

   ‘I’m pretty sure. The thing is, Miiko grew up in a healthy environment. Hence, she’s not as messed up as I am.’

   Miyako-san comes over and have a chat with us.

   ‘How’s the brainstorming coming along?’ she asks us.

   ‘Not good at all. We can’t think of anything at all.’ I tell her.

   ‘It’s not like we can’t. Rather, we don’t have any feasible ones.’ senpai says.

   ‘Well, just take your time. We received some puddings and cheese tarts from a customer just now. Would you like some?’

   Senpai’s eyes bright up at the mere mention of pudding.

   ‘Yes please!’ she says without a single hesitation.

   ‘All right. I’ll go and get them right away.’

   I quickly get up from my seat.

   ‘Oh no no, please sit down. I’ll go get it.’

   ‘Geez, Bandou-kun. You’re seriously being melodramatic.’

   ‘Someone has to. Now please take a seat and let everyone else do the hard labor. Where did you store them, Miyako-san? Inside the chiller?’

   ‘Yes. The one on the left.’

   I go inside the kitchen like this is my own house and took out and two puddings and two cheese tarts from their containers.

   ‘I’ll be taking these, Uekawa-san.’ I tell Uekawa-san as I leave with the stuff.

   ‘Sure, help yourself. You two working hard on the recipe?’

   ‘We are. But we probably need more time.’

   ‘Just take as much as you need.’

   As I go back to my seat, Miyako-san and Iseri-senpai are chatting away. Iseri-senpai is very interested in Miyako-san’s unborn child.

   ‘I’ve always thought that it’s an absolute marvel that a child can be nurtured inside such a tiny space.’ she says as she’s gently touching Miyako-san’s belly. ‘Isn’t it tough?’

   ‘It can be at times. But once the child is born, all those hard works are suddenly very worth it.’

   ‘I can’t imagine going through the same thing myself.’

   ‘You will one day, if you found someone you love from the bottom of your heart.’

   I let out a snicker before I could stop myself. Iseri-senpai glares at me as I put down the tarts and the puddings on the table.

   ‘Perhaps you would like to share your thoughts with us, Bandou?’ she asks me frostily.

   ‘Nope. You wouldn’t want to know. Here’s your share.’

   Our food didn’t take very long to arrive. Miyako-san goes back to the counter so that she doesn’t interrupt us from having our meal. I look at senpai critically as she’s eating her pudding before finishing her noodles. She notices me staring and stares back.

   ‘I’ll finish my dinner properly, so don’t you start nagging like you’re my mum!’

   I let out a sigh and decide to keep my mouth shut. As I’m eating my curry, my eyes falls on the plate with the curry and the breaded shrimps, the pudding senpai is eating, and the cheese tarts. A metaphorical lightning suddenly strikes on top of my head.

   ‘Say, senpai. Bittersweet Loaf doesn’t only sell bread, do they?’ I slowly begin.

   ‘Well, yeah. We also sell doughnuts, cakes, and other things.’ she confirms.

   ‘Then the new product doesn’t necessarily have to be a bread, does it?’

   She stops eating her pudding.

   ‘What do you have in mind?’

   I tell her about my idea.

   ‘That might just work!’ she says excitedly.

   ‘Okay then. Let’s head back right now.’

   ‘Right. After we’re done here.’

   We ate everything on our table so quickly we almost choked. I then head inside the kitchen one more to get the stuff I need.

   ‘I’m taking some stuff from here, Uekawa-san.’ I tell my boss.

   ‘Go ahead. Since you look so excited, I take it that you managed to figure out something?’

   ‘Yes. But we still need to actually make a prototype.’

   ‘Either way, good luck.’

   Here’s my idea: curry pudding filled tart and with a breaded shrimp on top. Instead of the usual sweet tart, this one will be savory.

   We try our hands on making a curry flavored pudding the moment we’re back at the Bittersweet Loaf. There’s no point in making the rest if this tastes bad.

   First, we prepare the liquid filling which uses curry powder, egg yolks and sugar. Once the mixture is prepared, we bake half of it like how we would bake creme brulee. We pour them on ramekins, then poured some water on a metal tray before putting the ramekins on top of the tray. The whole thing is then placed inside the oven. After they’re done cooking, we take them out and begin the taste-tasting.

   ‘Wow, this actually taste quite good.’ senpai says in surprise.

   ‘I’m surprised too. I thought it would taste really weird, but it’s kind of decent.’

   ‘Well, now that the taste of the pudding is verified, let’s finish up the rest of the parts.’

   ‘Right.’

   Iseri-senpai begins to work on the tart shells while I prepare the breaded shrimps. We then combine everything together. They turned out splendidly.

   ‘I can’t believe it, we actually did it.’ senpai says in awe. ‘Great job for coming up with such an insane yet workable idea, Bandou.’

   She pats my shoulder repeatedly.

   ‘Well, all I did was combining the food we love. You deserve as much credit as I do.’

   ‘Now you’re just being modest. Now that these are finished, let’s have everyone to taste them.’

   ‘Yes.’

   We ask Gouda-san to come and try one of them first. He loves them quite a lot as well.

   ‘Wait here. I’ll get you some paper boxes so that you can let the people of Yamamoto Canteen try them as well.’

   After we’re done with the cleaning up, we put all the tarts inside the paper boxes and head to Yamamoto Canteen next. We distributed out all of them, but I kept one box to myself.

   ‘I’ve never tasted anything like this before. They would definitely sell!’ Miiko tells us.

   ‘I agree with her. Well done you two.’ Uekawa-san says.

   ‘Thank you. We couldn’t have done it without Bandou’s inspiration, though.’ Iseri-senpai says modestly.

   ‘What are you saying, senpai? You helped out, too.’

   ‘In any case, the two of you earned some well-deserved rest.’ Miyako-san tells us.

   Since our mission is complete for today, we finally get to go back home. As we’re leaving Yamamoto Canteen, I hand senpai the bag I kept just now.

   ‘Bring them to your parents so that they could try them, senpai.’ I tell her.

   ‘But, what if they don’t like it? What if they still want to object to my dream?’ she asks hesitantly.

   ‘Then convince them until they don’t. And please remember. Talk it out with them calmly.’

   She nods with a firm resolve and takes the bag. She then inhales deeply.

   ‘Wish me luck, Bandou.’

   ‘Good luck, senpai.’