Kenkyo, Kenjitsu o Motto ni Ikite Orimasu - Chapter 186

Chapter 186

After I cleaned up the rest of the seven-herb congee it was finally time to make the sweets .

I put on the apron I brought from home .

“Hmmmm, the utensils are here and the flavourings are over here . As for the recipes it’s right here in this book,” said Wakaba-chan as she showed me her notebook .

“Did you come up with these yourself, Takamichi-san?”

“Dad taught me some of them, and some caught my eye in recipe books . A number I heard from other people too . ”

“I see . ”

My cooking was usually wherever my inspiration led me in the moment so I didn’t have much regarding recipes .

Not that any of my creations were worth recreating with a recipe .

“Let’s break out the ingredients then . First we need cream cheese, chocolate, and eggs . ”

“Eh?”

I found a familiar jar in her fridge .

“This is…”

“Hmm? Ohh, that . I got it as a souvenir from someone else . It’s actually amazingly good! Do you wanna try some, Kisshouin-san?”

There was no mistaking it .

It was the very same maple syrup that I got from Enjou and Kaburagi .

“Could it be that you received this from Kaburagi-sama?”

“Eh-, how’d you know!?”

“I received some as well . To be honest my preferences lean towards honey, but this was so good it beat out everything in my honey collection . ”

“So that’s why! It was so delicious that I couldn’t bear to make stuff with it so I’ve just been eating it a bit at a time but everyone finds it so delicious that there isn’t much left . And it’s sooo good on vanilla ice cream . ”

“That does sound good!”

Putting it on ice cream, huh .

It was a bit cold for ice cream, but maybe I could try it after my next bath .

“But man, it sounds amazing going to Canada for a skiing vacation . I’ve never been overseas before . ”

“You have the shop after all . ”

With so many family members and the cake shop too it couldn’t have been easy to organise an overseas holiday .

…Hm?

Aahh! I’d almost forgotten!

“Passport!”

“Huh?”

“Takamichi-san! Do you have a passport!?”

“A passport? No?”

At Suiran our high school trip was obviously overseas .

And at Suiran it was almost a matter of course that everyone had a passport .

It was actually a plot point in the manga that she didn’t have one .

In the end she just managed to get one in time, but everyone mocked her for not having one to begin with .

“You know that we will be going to Europe for the field trip, no? Almost everybody at Suiran has a passport already so nobody mentions passports until it is almost time to go . ”

“I see . ”

“I think it would be best if you applied for one soon . It takes times to gather the documents and the photos, and it takes another 10 days after that to receive it . ”

“Oh okay . I hadn’t thought of that at all! Thanks for letting me know, Kisshouin-san! I’ll go get one soon!”

Ahh, thank goodness I remembered .

She had been pretty ashamed in the manga .

It had been over 15 years since I last read it so it was hard remembering all the little episodes .

You did well reminding me, Kaburagi’s maple syrup!

Although I wonder when he even gave it to her .

“All right then! Shall we begin?”

“Okay~”

Under Wakaba-chan’s instruction I began making the chocolate cheesecake .

I mixed ingredients as I followed the recipe .

Wakaba-chan was really particular about it .

“You really need to follow the amounts that the recipe says . ”

“Yes . ”

“Ah… Just now you put in the cream cheese without measuring, didn’t you . ”

“I thought it would be nice with a little more…”

“It’s going to clump up . ”

“A few lumps gives it character, no?”

“No . Mix it in properly . ”

“Okaay . ”

You’re pretty strict, Wakaba-chaan .

“I’m home!” called an energetic voice .

Her oldest younger brother had just come back .

“Welcome back . ”

“Welcome home,” I said as well .

“Ah! It’s the cornet girl!” he said, pointing right at me .

“Kanta!” chided Wakaba-chan, “Her name isn’t cornet girl, it’s Kisshouin-san! And don’t point at people!”

“Yeah, yeah . ”

“Answer me properly!”

“Alright, alright,” he waved her off as he headed off to wash his hands .

“Sorry about him,” she apologised .

“No worries . It must be rough being an older sister . ”

“He’s been so full of himself since entering middle school . He doesn’t listen to anything I say . Geez,” she muttered as she began mixing up the bowl again .

“Hey, Cornet,” called Kanta-kun while I was looking at the notebook .

“Yes?”

“Look at this! Neechan got it from some guy!”

Kanta-kun was holding a teddybear .

“Kanta! You went into my room again, didn’t you!” fumed Wakaba-chan .

From his face, Kanta-kun didn’t seem too bothered .

“He sent it to her on Christmas!” he revealed .

“Could it have been from…”

“Ah, well,” she said awkwardly .

Kaburagi, huh .

“Isn’t it kind of childish to send her a doll though?”

“Kanta!”

“This teddybear is a limited edition Christmas product from Germany,” I noted .

“Really?”

“So it’s not just some bear?” Kanta-kun asked .

“Well, it certainly is a teddybear,” I conceded, “but I would feel bad for it if you lumped it together with the others . It comes with a serial number too . A very respectable teddybear . ”

Buying her this, huh .

Despite making fun of me for liking limited-edition products he went and bought one himself .

“I accepted it because it was just a stuffed toy, but don’t tell me this is expensive…?”

Wakaba-chan seemed almost afraid to ask .

“Just a few tens of thousand yen, I recall . ”

“Tens of thousands!?” she cried .

“That’s freaking expensive!” baulked her brother .

Both siblings seemed horrified at it .

“You’re freaking expensive for a doll, aren’t you!”

“What do I do . It was a doll so I was just like ‘yeah, thanks’!”

While the two of them kicked up a fuss, I didn’t really see the big deal .

“Why not just accept it? You know, this is actually rather cheap for a present from Kaburagi-sama . ”

“Holy shit . ”

“A doll that costs tens of thousands of yen…”

While the two of the were reeling from shock, I took the change to continue making the cheesecake .

Oh, maybe I could add some liqueur for extra flavour .

Here we go .

“Ah!? Kisshouin-san! What are you doing!?”

“Hm? Adding some liqueur . ”

“Why are you adding it to begin with? The recipe doesn’t list it, right?”

“Well, I thought it might taste better . ”

Both Wakaba-chan and Kanta-kun stared at me speechless for a while . He was still holding the bear .

“…I’ve been thinking this for a while now, but could it be that you’ve always been cooking like this? Adding things however you want, I mean . ”

“Well, perhaps not however I want . But sometimes inspiration just strikes me . Every meal should be a unique experience, and all that . ”

“My god…” she muttered .

Off to the side, Kanta-kun took a spoon of the mixture to taste .

“Urgh!” he grimaced . “What the hell is this supposed to be!? It’s sour! And bitter!”

“So you added enough liqueur to make it bitter, Kisshouin-san…”

“You’re exaggerating, Kanta-kun! I only put in a little!”

“Even the aftertaste is bitter! As the son of a baker I can’t accept this! If you’re baking a cake then always follow the recipe!”

“That cannot be…”

“I think Kanta’s right…” said Wakaba-chan . “When it comes to making sweets you need to be exacting with the amounts . This might be why your cooking hasn’t been as good as what you’ve bought…”

After that, Wakaba-chan adjusted the batter while Kanta-kun guarded me from doing anything unnecessary .

Eventually we somehow managed to make the cheesecake .

“Yummy!”

It was probably one of the best two things I’d ever made!

This was huge!

“This isn’t good at all…”

“Yeah…”

The verdict of the siblings was harsher though .

They went back into another lecture on how important it was to follow the recipe .

Then her dad showed up and repeated it again to me . How important it was to measure the ingredients properly .

I felt enlightened .

So unlike regular cooking, the knack to making desserts was following the recipe .

I vowed to improve .

*

*

When it was time to leave, Wakaba-chan came with me to the station .

Since we had the time, I asked her about Christmas again .

“Ummm… Well, when we were about to close up the store, Kaburagi-kun appeared and said that it was a Christmas present . ”

“I see . ”

“He was wearing this jet black coat and seemed more mature than usual . And the streetlights seemed to make him shine so I was like, whoa, this is a real Emperor!”

“Hmmmm~”

So that damned Kaburagi slipped out from his family’s party to hand this to her?

Apparently quite a few things were happening without my knowledge .

I decided to ask him next time .

“Well then, goodbye for now . ”

“Yeah . Stay safe!”

I passed through the ticket barriers as she waved goodbye .