[Author's Note] Hello!
I'm not done with Salvation Sanctuary yet, in publication I mean, but here I try to publish another new story.
Basically this story is not too different with Salvation Sanctuary, the background is still a school, and the main characters are students. Some characters' traits might still be similar as well. But I try to bring something new in this story, which is the four points of view.
Although there are four, in chapter 1 and 2 there is still only one because as the opening chapters I want to use a girl's view. Well, I've been enough bored with boy's view in Salvation Sanctuary, yet even so the rest three points of view would be boys'.
Well, I'm going to stop here before I spill too much. This first chapter is only a beginning, and since the story is still under process, I plan to upload the next chapter not in the near time. Besides, I want to see whether readers expect this to be continued or not. LOL nope, just kidding. 80% serious though.
Now enjoy your sweet sugary time with Alicia!
Wordplay © Jason Mraz
The Raid Saga © PT. Merantau Films
The clock had just ticked at 8AM. Nearly half students of St. Infinity Baking Academy had appeared for their morning classes. Some of them greeted Bangun, the rector who had just entered the campus gate, and he greeted them back.
St. Infinity Baking Academy was a small baking college consisting of a few students in each year, which was located in a remote area in South Jakarta. The campus was built a little far from the downtown, yet it was still built in a big city to give access for its students to explore as many sweets as they could find. Being handled by experienced patissiers and patissieres, the campus had successfully produced many talents, including some of its lecturers. Even Bangun, the rector who was also the owner of the academy, was a certified professional patissier who owned some well-known patisseries.
Meanwhile, one of its students was sitting desperately on the floor in one of its kitchens.
"Sigh…why am I never sure?" she pitifully talked to herself. While on the table that she had just used, there had been three vanilla pound cakes. She yawned.
"Alicia!"
The kitchen door was opened right when another student appeared there. He sighed and walked in before he pulled up the girl to make her stand on her feet.
"Are you going to skip chocolate class or what?" he asked impatiently.
Alicia, that girl, rubbed her sleepy eyes. Instead of responding to the question, she looked at the table and took one of the cakes and a fork before she gave it to the boy.
"Try this one," she said. The boy sighed impatiently.
"Al, come on," he said, "How many times are you going to repeat this? If you want to give your cake to Chef Bejo, just-,"
"Just try this first, Uco!" Alicia begged.
Uco, the boy, exhaled heavy breath before he cut the cake with the fork and put it in his mouth. He chewed.
"It's good," he said as he chewed, "Well, still rough in some places, but-,"
"SEE?!" yelled Alicia desperately as it shocked Uco, "How can I give my pathetic cake to someone as skillful as Chef Bejo?! It takes me a thousand years of training, Brother!"
"Ugh, stop being drama queen, Idiot," Uco flicked Alicia's forehead as she ouched, "Your cake is not that freakin' bad. Now take off your apron and clean everything up, I don't want to come late and being snapped by Chef Andi."
Alicia pouted. She sighed before she took off her apron and cleaned the kitchen.
Alicia looked at the white board and took some important notes on her textbook with sleepy eyes. She was sitting on the nearly last row, so that her furious lecturer in advanced chocolate theory class, Andi, could not scare her much. She glanced at her left side, where Uco was sitting and fixing his eyeglasses as he wrote some notes on his textbook, before she sighed.
Her twin brother's comment about her vanilla pound cake ensured her that her baking ability was as terrible as she thought. She had studied making sweets since she was in elementary school and as she grew up she realized that baking cakes was her passion. But she started to doubt her ability since she first met Bejo.
Alicia's mind was blown into the ninth month, right one year ago when she and Uco had just finished their high school periods and started their study as future patissier and patissiere in St. Infinity Baking Academy. She was in basic flan baking class when she first saw Bejo, the lecturer in charge, and tasted his custard pudding that he made as an example during practice hour in the kitchen. She never tasted such a well-made pudding in her entire life, the one with balanced mix between the milk and the sugar that turn the pudding caresses her tongue perfectly.
"Hey, wake up," said Uco as he nudged his twin sister's left arm, woke her off her reverie.
"Sigh," she whined, "I'm tasting Chef Bejo's custard pudding, you know."
"What?!" Uco furrowed his eyebrow, "How come you're daydreaming about a real thing?"
"It's not about that!" protested Alicia, "I know it's real, but the first time I tasted it-,"
"Aw, come on," Uco chuckled impatiently, "Just visit Le Ciel and your problem is solv-,"
"Are you going to shut your mouth or to let me drag you two out of my class?"
Alicia was shocked, and Uco did either. All her drowsiness went away as she heard Andi's firm voice snapping at them because apparently they talked too loudly.
"I-I'm sorry-,"
"Once again I heard your crybaby voice, I won't hesitate to drag you out, Alicia, and you too, Uco," Andi pointed at Alicia and Uco alternately, "I'm not giving privileges even to Rector's successors."
"Tck, I never seen such a cocky lecturer all my life," Uco was still mumbling since advanced chocolate theory class ended, "He's acting like the owner of this campus."
"Stop it, Uco, we were indeed being noisy," said Alicia, "And it's not the first time you take his class, no?" she opened her locker to exchange textbook for the next class. Uco snorted before he opened his locker to exchange textbook as well. They both were standing before the locker row while some students sometimes glanced at them as they chuckled timidly.
Alicia was a beautiful nineteen year-old girl with fair skin and soft wavy hair, while Uco was an undoubtedly handsome one with the same fair skin yet his hair was straight, and he sometimes wore eyeglasses during class. These twins had stolen everyone's attention since their first year in St. Infinity, not only because of their good look but also because they were Bangun's daughter and son. As Andi said in the class, they were the rector's successors.
St. Infinity consisted of four majors, namely pastry department, sugarcraft department, bread department, and chocolate department. Although they took the same morning class, Alicia was actually a student in pastry department, while Uco was in bread department. Advanced chocolate theory was a required class for all majors, which Alicia and Uco were lucky enough to take in the beginning of their second year because the class was usually crowded.
"Hey, Al, Co, how's your class?"
Another student who was not less handsome than Uco, but with darker skin color and lower height, suddenly appeared and greeted them casually. Alicia closed the locker door and smiled enthusiastically at him.
"Eka!" she walked towards the boy, whose name was Eka, to give him a light hug, "I haven't seen you at home lately, I miss your fruit pancake, you know!" she punched Eka's arm lightly and laughed.
"What, so you miss my fruit pancake only?" Eka pouted before he chuckled.
"Sixty percent for your fruit pancake," Alicia giggled cutely that makes Eka could not stand not to caress her hair, "How are you? Where did you stay overnight?" she asked.
"I was in Chef Goto's house, like spending some nights with Ryu and Kei," replied Eka, "It's closer to Fruitful and Delight, so I can save more time for both training and studying."
Eka was a third year student in sugarcraft department of St. Infinity. He was an orphan who was sort of adopted by Bangun, and he functioned like a caretaker for Alicia and Uco since they were all in middle school. He spent his last college year by studying in campus and being professionally trained as novice patissier in one of Bangun's patisseries, namely Fruitful and Delight, a store which was focused on selling fruit desserts.
Yet instead of a caretaker, Alicia deemed him more as her another brother.
"Oh, so you spent nights with Ryu? Tell me how it was," she nudged Eka's arm many times as she teased him. Eka chuckled timidly while Uco did not look too pleased since he showed grumpy face after banging his locker door and left. Alicia was surprised while Eka only shrugged.
"His mood seems terrible today, sorry Ka, I have to go," said Alicia.
"Today?" teased Eka, "When is it not terrible?" he chuckled. Alicia could not stand not to giggle, but she ended up waving at Eka before she walked away to chase after Uco. She had no choice but to laugh at Eka's words since Uco was indeed a short-tempered person.
"Hey," she said as she aligned her steps with her brother's, "What's up?" she asked.
"Nothing," Uco snorted as he was slowing his walk to match his sister's. Alicia breathed out.
"If it burdens you, why don't you just confess to him?" she asked and shocked Uco.
"Wh-what?" asked Uco as his cheeks started to blush without he could control, "What the hell are you talking abou-,"
"Aw, come on," said Alicia, "Are you trying to hide from your own twin sister that you've been in love with Eka since high school?"
Alicia entered a kitchen on the second floor of pastry department building for advanced pie baking practice class. Her heart kept thumping since she stepped in because the lecturer in charge was Bejo and she knew he would bake a pie for a sample. White chef trainee coat and pants, black waist apron, and a red neckerchief, had replaced floral sackdress that she wore for morning class, and her long hair had been tied into twin tails. She walked to one of the tables as she nervously squeezed her white chef hat.
"Alicia!"
A girl with a small bun on her hair suddenly came and hugged Alicia's shoulder.
"Phew, Dwi, you shocked me," Alicia exhaled relief breath before she pinched her friend's left cheek. That girl, whose name was Dwi, giggled mischievously without noticing that some boys were glancing at her since she looked stunning when she laughed.
"You're just too nervous, you know," she said, "Chill, Chef Bejo would worry when he sees one of his students shivering like in a haunted house," she laughed. Alicia could not stand to hold her laughter. Two laughing beautiful students stole all the attentions right away.
Dwi was a second-year student of pastry department, who came from the same high school with Alicia as she was also her best friend since high school. She was another beautiful student in St. Infinity who had fair skin, medium straight hair, and a small frame which makes people hard to believe that she had sweet tooth.
"What makes you nervous now? Did something happen?" asked Dwi.
"Well, I…baked some pound cakes for Chef Bejo," replied Alicia as she rolled her eyes.
"That's good," said Dwi, "Have you given them?"
Alicia shook, "I can't," she whined, "I'm not sure. Even Uco said it was still rough."
"Ugh, I can't believe you," said Dwi impatiently, "I've tasted your cakes since we first became friends and there was nothing wrong. It's normal for pound cakes to be a little rough, it's not a sponge cake, just give it to him!"
Alicia shrugged. She knew Dwi was right, but she was never confident enough to believe that she could bake a proper cake to be gifted to Bejo. She put on the hat right before Bejo stepped into the kitchen and made her heart pounding again. He was wearing gray chef jacket, black pants, and black beanie, which was the lecturer uniform for Monday practice class.
Bejo was a junior lecturer in St. Infinity, but he had also been a certified patissier who owned his own patisserie named Le Ciel, which was focused in selling tarts, flans, and original chocolates. He ran the shop together with Andi as his partner and chocolatier, yet he spent more time in the campus since he had just been assigned as coordinator lecturer for pastry subjects in St. Infinity. He was a charismatic well-respected lecturer.
"Today we're going to bake peach pie," said Bejo, "Not the one with canned peach, but the real peach instead. It's easy, you can do it in a blink…," he said, and the students murmured, "After you passed some intensive practices, I mean," he joked.
The class laughed, including Alicia and Dwi. One of some reasons why Alicia admired and grew feelings on Bejo was that he always encouraged everyone by saying that baking is easy. The other reason was his high level ability in baking puddings.
"Chef, can we get your peach pie in Le Ciel? Just in case we can't get enough of it," asked Keiichi, another student who stood across Alicia and Dwi's table. The other students chuckled.
"That's a good question because the answer is no, we don't sell pies," replied Bejo lightly, "But that can be a good idea, Keiichi, you're going to grow my business. Too bad, you're not legally allowed to own the shares yet. Still too young," he set a serious face before he chuckled.
The class laughed again, but in the middle of such joy, Alicia's phone was buzzing. She pulled it from her pants pocket to receive a text from Eka, which was sent for both her and Uco at the same time.
'al, uco, pls gather after class. new man attacked our ppl.'
Alicia and Uco both walked quickly to chocolate department building after they finished class. Uco chuckled when he glanced at his sister, who was still busy chewing, on his right side.
"Now what?" he asked, "Let me guess…peach pie?"
"Mm," replied Alicia within her chewing activity. Her mouth was full and there was still a bitten slice of peach pie in her hand, which was a leftover of her peach pie that she has not finished eating.
"You look totally dumb," teased Uco as he snatched Alicia's pie from her hand and put it all in his mouth. He chewed as he pressed 'down' button between two elevators on the first floor of chocolate department building. The elevator door was opened in a second, apparently nobody used it.
"Good," said Uco as they both walked in and he pressed 2-1-3-1-5 in a row, "High savour as expected from Rector's daughter, but your pie is still too soft, it breaks easily when I snatched it," he stroke Alicia's head. Alicia pouted as the elevator moved down and deeper.
"Is that how you speak to someone whose pie you stole?" she mumbled. Uco laughed.
"Ryuuichi is good in pie stuff, he can teach you," he said before he suddenly turned annoyed, "Tck that bastard."
Alicia giggled when she saw the sudden change in her brother's face. Before she ever teased him, the elevator stopped moving and the door was opened. They walked out and headed to dual big iron door right across the elevator. Uco walked to a touch screen panel next to the door and tapped the same numbers that he pressed in the elevator. The door was opened and they both walked in.
Behind the door there was a big room which was decorated simply using the best furniture made in the country combined with shades of Japan on its walls, like some paintings and hangings. There was Bangun sitting relaxed on one of some couches, yet his eyes looked a little tense.
On the other couches there were Eka and two other men. One of them was Goto, a Japanese senior lecturer who served as head of bread department and worked as patissier for some hotels in Jakarta as well as he was being a patissier in charge for some of Bangun's patisseries. Next to him there was Ryuuichi, his son, a third-year student of bread department.
"What's that around your mouth, Al?" Bangun pointed at his daughter's face. Alicia was startled before she giggled.
"Eheheh…some peach pie leftover, I guess," she blushed as she wiped her corner mouth.
"Peach pie? Bejo's class, I bet," said Goto, "How was his own peach pie?" he asked.
"It was heavenly!" replied Alicia impulsively and enthusiastically, "Each piece of the pie was soft but I don't know why it didn't break easily, and…and we all used the real peaches, not canned, but the one on his pie was like made in heaven because it's sour and sweet at the same time in a perfect way!"
Everyone in the room could not hold not to chuckle after listening to Alicia's answer as they watched her talking. Alicia spoke very enthusiastically happy as if she was a little girl who just got a doll that she always craved for. Besides, her hair was still tied in twin tails, so that it increased the cuteness on her face when she spoke energetically.
"So I made a right decision by assigning Bejo as coordinator for pastry subjects, right, Bangun?" asked Goto. Bangun shrugged.
"So far, yes," he replied, "But we're not gathering here to talk about class. Please be seated, Kids," said Bangun to Alicia and Uco and they both took a seat in an empty couch. Everyone looked at each other without talking until Bangun broke the ice.
"I'm not fond about this," he said, "I can't even remember the last time our people being defeated, until suddenly this new kid hospitalized them."
"Kid?" Uco was surprised, "What do you mean, a kid attacked them brutally? By what? Voodoo and curses?" he asked.
"Lower your head, Uco," replied Bangun, "We may think that we've trained everyone until their best, but it turned out that their best was nothing compared to some people," he said firmly.
"Dad, we take control of this city and you ask me to lower my head? So that anyone else can look down to us the way that 'kid' brought our people down?" asked Uco impatiently.
"Sssh," Alicia pinched Uco's arm to calm him. She sighed as she had been too lazy calculating how many times her brother and father got carried on useless quarrels because they both were totally alike in being stubborn and bossy.
"Menteng area is no more secure," said Goto, "We need people with better ability to take care of it, Kids-,"
"Nooo," Alicia whimpered as she leaned against the couch, "I don't want to do that anymore, I'm just an ordinary girl-,"
"Alicia, we need you," said Bangun as he stared straight at her eyes, undoubtedly showed how desperately he needs her. Alicia sighed again.
This was not the world she wanted to live in. Not anymore.
The clock had just ticked at 7PM. Alicia tied her long hair into a ponytail as she stood and stared at the mirror in her bedroom at the family's house in Tebet area. She had already wearing a white sackdress covered with black leather jacket, while black leather boots covered half of her fair legs. She glanced at two claw hammers on her dressers before she stared at the mirror again.
She remembered how she entered St. Infinity with a big hope of a new life of being a totally ordinary girl who would have fun with her girls, to study baking in order to be a patissiere or even a wife, and to get a boyfriend that she rarely get in her previous life. When she finally reached her second year peacefully, even she had found someone to admire, she was suddenly pulled back to another side of her life.
It was the underworld.