Because Mibuchi's hobby is to make sweets.
"This is a workshop for making Valentine's Day chocolate," Atsushi said dubiously, eyeing the sole man in the group.
"I wish to make Valentine's Day chocolate, is there a problem?"
"Not really, I guess. But I don't want complaints," Atsushi drawled, sending a look at the five other students. Everyone was trying not to look at them, good enough.
"I guess I'll start the class then. Everyone find a workstation." All the women immediately chose a station as far from the two men as possible, leaving the sole male student – Mibuchi Reo according to his attendance list, as it was the only gender neutral name – to take the workstation immediately in front of Atsushi's.
Moving back behind his own workstation, Atsushi looked down at the notes Murochin had prepared for him. "Um, I guess I'll introduce myself. I'm Murasakibara Atsushi, nice to meet you."
"Nice to meet you, sensei," the class mumbled, except for Mibuchi who said it calmly and composedly the way he had laid out his case before. He reminded Atsushi of Murochin in fact, though Mibuchi didn't seem to have the same emotional backdraft waiting to explode onto the surface at any opportunity that Murochin did.
"Oh yeah, on your sign-up sheets it should have said that you all need a certain level of ability in handling chocolate because I won't be explaining everything. If you thought this is a class for beginners, you should probably leave." Atsushi looked around, it didn't look like anyone was paying attention – except Mibuchi – and he wondered if maybe the whole class was still half-asleep. He would certainly like to go back to sleep himself – it was 7 in the morning and far too early to have to run a volunteer cooking class because, according to Murochin, it was 'good publicity'. But Atsushi did feel a bit sorry for making that food critic almost pop a vein on TV, which was why he was actually here and not hiding in his bed. It certainly had nothing to do with how stressed and tired Murochin had looked when he'd scolded Atsushi. Or how scary he had looked.
"We'll melt the chocolate first. Since everyone should know how to do that, you should all get started. Only use one of the bowls, and utensils are in the top drawer." It was the first time Atsushi saw a sign of life in the class as everyone bent to the task. Wandering around, Atsushi could see that everyone was melting the chocolate competently, even if most were not up to pro standards, and he felt completely guilt-free in going back to his workstation and opening a packet of chips to eat.
"Sensei isn't going to join us?" Mibuchi asked as he stirred his chocolate with just the right amount of force.
"No, I'm teaching you guys. As long as you can do it, it's fine."
"But what if we need you to give us a demonstration?"
"Then I'll use yours as an example." Atsushi shrugged. He poured the remaining chips into his mouth.
Mibuchi tried to raise an eyebrow at him, but Atsushi had already moved on to frowning down at a mixed bag of Maiubo and was pretending he hadn't noticed.
When he judged the chocolate had had enough time to melt, Atsushi stood up again. "Okay, this part is tricky because you need to brush the chocolate over the moulds in a thin layer otherwise it won't taste as good, but if it's too thin it'll collapse, so be careful when you're brushing the parts of the mould that's curving in," he said, moving over to Mibuchi's station. "Here, this is how you do it."
The either class didn't seem to find it odd that the teacher was using another student's chocolate as an example or they'd just gone back to being half-asleep again. Atsushi didn't care; he simply painstakingly brushed the chocolate over the moulds, making sure that the whole class could see because he didn't really want to do this again.
"And you put it into the mini fridge under your workstation when you're done," Atsushi said, suiting the action to the word.
He went back to his workstation while the rest of the class finished their moulds, rummaging around for more snacks. Mibuchi, who had nothing to do with his moulds already in the fridge, leaned forward closer to Atsushi. "Sensei really seems to like snacks," he said, eyeing the bag of popcorn Atsushi was now eating, "but you don't seem to be eating any sweets even though you're a patisserie?"
"I eat sweets too," Atsushi said shortly. He looked around the class, it seemed like everyone was done. "Now that the moulds are chilling in the fridge, we can start making the filling. The ingredient list should tell you which ones are for the filling, put it into the clean bowl and start mixing."
Fulfilling the minimum of his duties and making his way around the class once to make sure that everyone knew how to read and which ingredients to use, Atsushi went back to looking for more snacks stashed in his workstation.
Mibuchi, who was once again the first to be done – though this time on his own merits, leaned closer to Atsushi yet again. "You don't mind that the class are intimidated by you? I think they find your height a bit daunting," he said in a confidential whisper.
"There's nothing I can do about my height," Atsushi grunted. He turned to the rest of the class now that they've all finished mixing their filling. "You can take the moulds out now. The chocolate should pop right out. Just be careful since the coating will be thin if you've done it right."
Atsushi watched as Mibuchi perfectly slid his chocolate out of the moulds then started adding the filling without needing to be told.
"Add the filling to each one, then put the chocolates that're supposed to be the lids on top, it should fit perfectly. Those that want to decorate the lids with the remaining filling can do so, there are decorating bags in the middle drawer you can use. The gift boxes for the chocolates are in the bottom drawer when you're done."
Atsushi made sure to walk around more carefully this time, correcting the ones who didn't fill their bags correctly or held it wrong. Finally making it back to his workstation, Atsushi made a final sweep around the room. "We're done. You can leave now."
The five female students slowly straggled out of the room, sending curious looks at Mibuchi – who had stayed at his station with no sign that he was leaving anytime soon – as they did so.
"Well, what do you want?" Atsushi asked impatiently once they were the only ones left. "Why is a well-regarded patisserie coming for lessons on something he already knows how to make?"
"To thank you," Mibuchi said, picking up the box of chocolates he had made perfectly without a single mistake. "You stood up for me even though we've never even met before. Also, I heard that you got in trouble for your smack down of the critic that badmouthed me."
"He said bad things about me too," Atsushi mumbled, "and besides, you're a perfectly good patisserie whether you like men or not."
"Thank you." Mibuchi smiled warmly. "Would you like to eat my chocolates then? Since you said such nice things about my skill."
"Okay." Atsushi looked down. He could feel a blush making its way up his neck. "I like your sweets."