Summary: The Student Council undertakes managing a bake sale. However, they soon find out that when you throw together sugar, spice, and everything nice, you don't always end up with a sweet result.
Disclaimer: Not mine. Nor will it ever be.
Icing on the Cake
As Machi approached the student council room, the loud din of arguing teenagers reached her ears. Pausing at the door, she creaked it open to reveal a somewhat comical scene. There was her idiot half-brother, his face full of—cookies, was it? Pouting, Kimi stood before Kakeru, and from what Machi could tell, the black-haired beauty was the one causing all the ruckus.
"Nooo! Those were Yun-Yun's cookies, Kakeru!" she complained, letting out a whine. "Kimi made them especially for him!"
"But Kimi, you said I could try one," Kakeru added, his voice barely audible through his face full of food.
"Kimi said one, not all of them! Give them back, you meanie!"
"…I thought the point of having a bake-sale was to actually sell the desserts, not eat them," Nao muttered, glaring darkly at the two. Machi entered the room silently, not really caring one way or the other about her half-brother's plight. She sat herself down beside Naohito and began to un-straighten the pile of papers on the desk. Something about the perfectly organized files irked her, and she couldn't help shuffling them up a bit.
"Gerroff me, Kimi!" Kakeru begged as she began to pry his mouth open with her fingers. "It's too late to save the cookies!" Of course, no one could understand what he was saying, so it didn't matter all that much.
And, at this very awkward moment, Yuki stepped in.
The president eyed the scene with a bizarre contentment, as if by now he expected the Student Council to be full of nothing but utter chaos. There was Kakeru and Kimi, arguing—no surprise there; Nao was complaining like usual, and Machi was making a mess.
Yuki sighed. Yup, just a normal day at the Student Council room.
"Yun-Yun!" Kimi squealed as she let go of the unfortunate Kakeru and ran towards the president. "Did you bring sweets for Kimi?"
"…I brought goods for the bake sale, but nothing for you, Kimi," Yuki admitted. "I thought that we were supposed to be raising money with the treats we baked."
"Finally!" Nao exclaimed. "Someone knows what a bake sale is!"
"Chill, Nao, would you?" Kakeru groaned, rubbing his jaw gingerly. "So Yun-Yun, where are the goods? You didn't sleep in and forget, did you?"
"No," Yuki replied, somewhat annoyed. "I thought we were putting them in the home ec room for later. They have a fridge if we need it."
Everyone shot Kakeru dirty looks.
"Geez, you forget one little detail and suddenly the whole world is against you," he sighed. "Lighten up, would you guys?"
"How could you forget that?" Nao accused. "What if we had something that needed to be refrigerated? Then we'd be in trouble! What kind of vice president are you?"
"Chibi-suke, for starters, nothing had to be refrigerated, so why worry about it?" Kakeru shrugged. "And second, we can just carry them over to the room. No biggie."
Kakeru's relaxed attitude did nothing to calm down poor Nao. "But who's going to file all the papers for the bake sale?!" the secretary insisted. "If someone hadn't put them off until the last minute, we'd be done by now!"
"I have a bright idea," Kakeru replied with a cocky grin. "If it's so important, then why don't you stay behind and file them?"
"Maybe I will!" Nao huffed, turning to Machi and yanking the papers from her grasp. "Kuragi, what are you doing?! I had all those sorted!"
"…Why don't we split up?" Yuki suggested. "Half of us can stay here with Nao and sort papers and the other half can come with me to the home ec room."
"Fine!" Nao relented. "But make him stay here with me! He's caused enough trouble as it is."
Kakeru groaned as Yuki agreed to Nao's demand.
"He's an underclassman, Yun-Yun!" the vice-president complained. "You shouldn't be listening to him!"
"Nao's done more work than the rest of us put together, though," Yuki reminded him.
"Thank you!" the secretary exclaimed. "Someone realizes all the work I do around here!"
"Chibi-suke, you're so whiny," Kimi commented, crossing her arms. "Kimi thinks you should be nicer."
"Excuse me?!"
Sensing a stirring conflict between the two, Yuki quickly intervened. "Alright, Kimi and Machi, come with me."
Machi looked up briefly before getting up from her desk in silence. Kimi clapped her hands excitedly.
"Will do, Yun-Yun! Kimi loves to help!" she giggled. "Oh, could you carry this for Kimi, please?"
"Alright," Yuki sighed, taking the plate of cookies from her. "Now let's go—"
"This one, too? Pretty, pretty please?"
The president managed to balance a box of cupcakes in his other hand without dropping the plate in the other.
"Oh, oh! And this, too--!"
"KIMI!" Yuki shouted, his head barely visible from behind the cookies, cupcakes, and pineapple upside-down cake.
She jumped a bit, then smiled cutely. "Oh, Yun-Yun, is that too much for you? Why didn't you say so! Kimi doesn't mind helping."
"Help…would be nice," he sighed. "Could you carry one of these, please?"
"Of course!" Kimi chirped. She turned to the first-year behind her and said, "Machi, could you carry one of the boxes for Yun-Yun?"
"Kimi, you're being rude--!"
But Machi took the box of cupcakes without protest.
The three student council members started towards the home ec room in a steady procession—Kimi leading as she skipped along the corridor, her arms swinging emptily by her side.
In the back, Machi and Yuki were carrying the last of the baked goods. For a while, neither spoke, but Yuki occasionally glanced her way. She never made eye contact.
"So…" Yuki began, clearing his throat. "What did you make for the bake sale, Machi?"
She lowered her head and mumbled something.
"I'm sorry?" Yuki replied, straining to hear her.
"I said brownies!" she snapped, then as she made eye contact her cheeks turned red and she looked away hurriedly in embarrassment. "Just…brownies."
"Oh, really? I haven't seen any brownies."
"…I smashed them. Against the kitchen table."
Yuki sweat-dropped. "O-oh. That's…too bad."
Machi didn't care to reply.
"We're heeeere!" Kimi exclaimed, stopping in front of a classroom door. "The home ec room!"
Machi and Yuki waited outside the door as Kimi stood there obliviously.
"…Kimi?" Yuki began. "Could you, um, open the door?"
"Yun-Yun, don't you know anything?! Ladies first!" she announced. "You should open the door for Kimi and Machi!"
"My hands are kind of full…" the president sighed.
"Meanie," Kimi pouted as she opened the door. As she entered, the girl twirled about and breathed in deeply. "It smells so good in here! Yun-Yun, where's your food?"
Yuki put the plate of cookies and the upside-down cake on the counter. "It's over there," he gestured vaguely. "Under the tin foil."
Kimi bounded over to a cake covered in said tin foil and unwrapped it eagerly.
"Kimi, it's for the bake sale!" Yuki protested. "Don't look at it now!"
Of course, she ignored him. "Oooh, it looks so pretty, Yun-Yun!" she gushed, staring at the confection covered in white icing, complete with strawberries.
"Does it?" he asked, walking over to the cake. "Honda-san had to help me a bit with the icing…My cousin said I was making too much of a mess in his kitchen as it was."
"I bet you're a really good cook, huh, Yun-Yun?" Kimi smiled.
"Er…I wouldn't say that…"
Machi leaned against the counter, eavesdropping now that she had delivered the cupcakes. As Kimi began to ramble on about something random, Machi stared idly at the cake, and suddenly found a familiar urge rekindling itself within her.
The perfectly round shape, the perfectly spread icing, the perfectly placed strawberries—it all screamed of flawless beauty. Machi detested perfection. No, she abhorred it—loathed it—it simply irritated her to no end.
But no, Machi would not release her frustration on the cake. It was, after all, the president's creation, and she would not lay a finger on it. She was a reasonable human being; she could control her emotions. Though that cake…that cake, it just…it bugged the heck out of her!
Without realizing it, Machi began to step towards the dessert. Yuki and Kimi were both oblivious to her advance, but Machi's hands began to tremble as she approached the overly prefect confection. Before she knew it, she was standing right in front of the despicable thing.
Her hands tightened into fists.
"Machi?"
She froze at the sound of the president's voice. Thankfully her back was to him, or else he would have seen the mortified look written upon her face.
No…no, she couldn't ruin the cake. Despite its perfection, she would just have to deal with it. Nothing was worth the embarrassment it would cost her. Turning away from the sugary treat, Machi started to walk towards Kimi and Yuki—when she slipped, fell, and crashed onto the once-whole cake.
If Kakeru were there, he would have burst out laughing.
"Oh my goodness, what a mess!" Kimi exclaimed shrilly.
"Machi?! Machi, are you alright?" Yuki insisted, helping the treasurer up. She blinked at him from under a layer of icing and licked the remnants of the cake from her lips.
"It's…" she began, her eyes widening. "It's disgusting."
"Excuse me?"
"The cake…the cake, it's…like ash in my mouth," Machi explained, somehow overjoyed at this discovery. "Not perfect…at all."
Yuki shrugged helplessly. "What can I say? I suppose even with Honda-san's help, I'm still a lousy cook. But look at all this icing…Kimi, why don't you take Machi to the restroom to clean her up?"
"Will do, Yun-Yun!" Kimi smiled, dragging Machi along with her.
However, the treasurer's thoughts were elsewhere. All the perfection that she had been dreading, that sickly sweet perfection—it had all been an illusion. Deep inside, under all the layers of icing, was a real flaw—a real mistake.
Perhaps...under all that icing...he, too, was hiding a mistake.
And yet, Machi preferred her cake that way.
End Note: I'm not Japanese. So, if the desserts you find in here wouldn't be found in a Japanese bake sale, I'm sorry. If anyone would like to suggest alternate dessert choices, please do so. I'm not afraid of criticism.