Yumeko felt the atmosphere just changed right after Mrs. Mori gave the signal to start. Everyone became serious as none of them were talking and had started moving their hands, including Yui. Seeing it, she became even more nervous. However, her strong fighting spirit was there and that no matter what happened, she had to accomplish this task. As of the moment, she was only thinking about her father. If she would do great, her father would be proud of her—it was her only motivation.
“Yosh! Let’s do this!” she thought to herself.
The procedure was written on the blackboard. A young heart with the whisk started to bake; she tried to faithfully follow the steps one by one.
Yumeko put on one cup of milk, and yeast in a bowl and mixed them. She continuously read the procedures.
“Okay, next, add two and half tablespoons of sugar. Tablespoon? What is it?” Yumeko asked, not knowing what a tablespoon looked like.
She checked the tools on her table, and she saw different kinds of spoon such as teaspoon, tablespoon, serving spoon and a dessert spoon. With her puzzled mind, she just chose the one she was familiar with.
She was indeed a girl who never touched or visited a kitchen her entire life.
“Okay, maybe this is it. I will make seven buns anyway, so I need a larger spoon,” said Yumeko as she picked the serving spoon. It was almost twice larger than a tablespoon written on the guide. Without looking, she dipped the serving spoon into the salt container, instead of the sugar. It was as if the two ingredients looked the same for the young heart.
She added two and half serving spoons of salt and mixed it with milk and yeast until frothy.
“Do we really need this much? I think anpan isn’t healthy at all,” she commented, while mixing.
“Then next, add flour and one and half teaspoon of salt. Teaspoon? Why do we have to choose a lot spoon in baking?” said a frustrated Yumeko trying to do her best.
She thought it would be the smallest one because it might be used for serving tea. She was right and added another one and half teaspoon of salt. At this moment, her anpan would have zero sweetness.
She mixed it in slow speed for five minutes and then added the butter. She let the dough rise. She put it in a warm place for the dough to double in size and waited.
She was full of questions about today’s tasks, as she sat down and watched the dough rose more.
After two hours, she shaped the dough into a supposed to be round balls. And yet, Yumeko could not get the proper technique of making a smooth circle and hers appeared to be disoriented. It was full of her finger prints. She gently put one tablespoon of azuki in the center of each dough circle.
“Oh no! It’s almost time! I have to be quick. Why do we have to wait for the dough for two hours, but we could eat an anpan in a minute! Why is baking so complicated?” She complained as she continued her work.
Lastly, she needed to put it in the furnace oven, until the tops turned golden. She got a little confused and she heated the buns for almost twenty-five minutes instead of twenty minutes.
“I almost spent three hours just for seven anpan, I would die in hunger if I do this every day. I hope I can marry a guy who is good at cooking, or someone ready to starve with me,”she continued, in tired and helpless tone.
Not knowing that her anpan would turned out to carry saltiness that would linger to whoever ate it.
This was a really taxing task for her. A few minutes before twelve-thirty, everyone took their baked anpan carefully from the oven and placed them on their own tables. They arranged the anpan prettily on some porcelain plates. Most of them looked palatable breads with golden brown glaze on top and azuki in the middle. However Yumeko’s looked like something else. Her anpan appeared to be over baked and its texture was crinkly.
Yui saw how Yumeko’s expression changed as she saw the difference of her anpan from the rest of the girls.
“The look doesn’t matter! It’s the taste!” Yui tried to cheer her up.
“That’s right! It’s the taste that matters! You cannot judge a book by its cover!” she exclaimed trying to calm herself and stay positive.
“But I hope someone who doesn’t have taste buds would really come! Please, please, gods.” she thought as she shut her eyes while putting her hands together, praying.
“Alright. Everyone! Cooking time is over. It is now judging time. As I have said earlier, I have invited guests from Shibuya Men’s High School to judge your creations today,” Mrs. Mori reminded them.
“Now, let me call the judges for today. Gentlemen, enter.”
Faint squeals were heard as they entered. Indeed, these girls were excited to see them in their school. They only see ladies every day and this was a new experience for them.
The fifteen gentlemen all looked smart and presentable. They really carry the name of their prestigious school that would produce lawyers, doctors, teachers, and writers in the future.
One of them really stood out for being the tallest and having a fine-looking appearance. He had a black hair with bangs longer than his forehead. His amber eyes were very captivating. He had broad shoulders and looked so neat in his gakuran. As the ladies saw him, they all blushed. He was a head turner. They were all speechless and in awe seeing such a handsome guy.
“Hey. Isn’t that Higuchi Kengo?” one said.
“Oh my gosh, that’s really him! He is so handsome!”
“Oh no! What should I do? I think I’m going to faint!”
Meanwhile, Yumeko, who was still praying for a guy with no taste buds did not hear any of the murmurs until Mrs. Mori cleared her throat.
“Ahem!” She signaled the girls to stop with their antics. She felt a little bit embarrassed of some of the girls’ reactions.
“Now, gentlemen, please go around and try some.”
Everyone started looking around, examining every anpan the girls baked and tried them when they think it looked delicious except the tall guy. He only stayed at a corner, resting his back on the wall looking indifferent and disinterested. While some girls were multitasking glancing at him and entertaining the judges who would go to their tables.
As Yumeko looked around, she saw the judges were already doing their job and got even more nervous, hands together, praying intensified. She took a look at each and every one of them and tried to see if someone she was praying for would be there until she locked gazes with the tall guy everyone was squealing for earlier.
She already saw him somewhere, but she was not sure where.
“Ah! Now I see!” she thought as her pupils dilated in surprise. It was the guy she always saw by the window—the guy she never wanted to see anymore. She was not only reminded of the humiliating scene but also her task today had become at stake.
“This is the worst,” she was depressed. Strength had left her knees as she stoop down. Yui, who was next to her, helped her up.
Mrs. Mori went around and observed. She saw that the judges were only passing by Yumeko’s table and no one dared to try her anpan. As she went closer, she figured out why. There were thin dark smokes dancing on top of her anpan. They looked unappetizing and unappealing. She then walked away and moved to another row to observe the other girls.
“Say, Hosokawa’s anpan looked like just unearthed potatoes,” a girl whose table was near the corner meanly said.
“Exactly. Who would ever want to try those? They look gross,” one next to her replied. Both of them giggled.
The tall guy who was in the same corner heard it all.
“No one’s coming,” Yumeko said worriedly.
She took a quick glance at the boy and wondered why he was just at a corner.
“Yelling at him ‘stupid’ before, I am sure he would not come to my table and try these,” she murmured to herself.
“Who would ever try these crinkly roasted anpan?” she added looking at her creation, heart almost shattered. Then suddenly, a hand grabbed one of her anpan.
“Itadakimasu,” said by a silvery, pleasing manly voice.
As Yumeko looked up, she was frozen. It was the same guy that kept appearing in front of her eyes. He was eating the anpan she made. He did not say anything but just continuously munching the crunchy anpan. Her jaw dropped when she saw him taking one after another. Yumeko’s eyes would follow the crumbs as they fell on the table and would look up at the tall guy again as he grabbed bites on the anpan. And in a speed of light, five anpan found missing on her table. The handsome guy had gobbled them all up. Yumeko was very shocked of what she saw and before she could say ‘thank you’ the guy was already gone. She never thought that the guys she never wanted to see anymore was the same guy she prayed for.
Everyone saw it all and in unison they said, “Ehhhhhh!?”
Yumeko missed the chance to say her gratitude as all of them left after lunch. The girls were sad too knowing their eye candy already left.
After all the girls had their lunch and were back for the afternoon session, Mrs. Mori came in.
“Dearest young women, you’ve impressed me every time. I witnessed the childlike noise shifted into women of poise and focus as the task began. The anpan you’ve baked flaunted on how well you controlled and balanced each of the ingredients. Its taste was fairly determined by the gentlemen. No doubt that they tastefully savored each of it. And for the final result… Congratulations everyone passed todays’ activity.”
Mrs. Mori proudly applauded the girls as she saw them turning over a new leaf day by day.
“And of course, I will be sending special reports to your households. Class dismissed.” she added.
Yumeko and Yui happily glanced at each other, for overcoming something they thought would be a mess. Yumeko was really relieved that although her anpan did not look good, she still passed. That was all thanks to her neighbor.
“Why did Kengo managed to eat those most unappetizing anpan I’ve seen in my entire life,” one student asked.
“I’ve put every beat of my heart, every drop of my sweat for the perfect anpan for him, and yet... ”
“It’s okay most of them are good-looking too, I closely watched their lips as they chew the anpan I baked te-he,” one added.
“Kengo was just being kind to that person who’s in the brink of failing,” Marika bluntly added.
The I’m-not-bothered-with-negativity Yumeko heard it all and thought of the same way,
“If he didn’t eat it, I would have failed today. Therefore, I should express my gratefulness! Yes, that’s the best thing to do. He’s just a few footsteps away from my house, anyway.”
Yui talked loudly with the intention of letting the other girls hear,
“Let’s have more messy success together, Yumeko! For me, your anpan is the hardest and crinkliest, even if it falls, it never breaks!”
“Oh thank you Yui, and yours was the cutest, with those sakura toppings!”
The two young hearts always see the most beautiful things in every gloomy scene. It was becoming more of a wonderful habit.
Meanwhile, Marika and the others were speechless thinking how the two girls came up with such thoughts. They were getting used to that kind of vibe and energy from them everyday. All they could do was to give cold stares, that did not bother the two young hearts at all.
Yui and Yumeko cheerfully hummed their way out of school with them were two pieces of anpan for their family to taste. They bid a genuine goodbye to each other. Yet, Yumeko was off to another task.
To be continued.
End Notes
An - general term for beans
Azuki - red beans
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