Merry belated Christmas! I finally decided to get up to updating it- but forgive me if the characterizations are starting to become off- I've kind of moved out of the Yumeiro Patissiere fandom- and thus my writing motivation for this story has declined. That is also why you haven't heard from this in over a month- and high school is utterly brutal. (And I should probably be working on my English paper)
-Rejecting and Rebelling-
"What?" Andoh and Ichigo react the same way- wide eyes. Ichigo presses on to say: "But- they can't! That's not fair!"
Kashino looks up from across the room, a wry expression on his face. "I'm not sure if anyone's told you, Cake-Pig. But life isn't fair, and neither are my parents."
"Don't call me Cake-Pig! I'm not a Cake-Pig!" She's momentarily sidetracked until she processes the rest of his sentence. "But still-"
"There's something you just don't seem to understand, Amano-san." Andoh is quiet, visibly upset, but his voice is calm. "Kashino-san- that is, Ma-kun's mother, has never really played fair when it comes to something she wants. While Ma-kun's sister has stopped pressuring him to become a doctor, this does not extend to his parents."
Kashino glances out of the window, scowling. "Most certainly not. Now if you have time to complain, you have time to practice- your macaroons still need work." He doesn't tell them that his parents have required him to see them the next day. Instead of tuning out her complaints of how he was evil, and cut no one any slack as usual, he listens. He knows full well that it could be one of the last times he hears them. This makes him slightly melancholy, but he shoves it to a dark corner of his mind. He needs to temper now.
-Rejecting and Rebelling-
Saturday morning dawns placidly, with clouds gliding through the sky in streaks. He dresses quietly- if not, the idiot Rose-boy will wake and tip the other two off about him leaving. Kashino eases the door shut, letting out a sigh.
Inside the room, Hanabusa sits up in bed, staring at the door. Andoh and Ichigo had informed him of the situation yesterday evening. However, his mind is hazy, still half in his dreams. Where is he going? To temper? He settles for this as the most likely option, and succumbs to his slumber again.
The morning is fairly crisp, and Kashino draws his dark gray peacoat more tightly around himself. He was... more calm, than yesterday. Showing any sign of weakness to his mother was unforgivable, a mistake he could not afford to make if he was ever to stay in St. Marie Academy. It was a dangerous game he was about to play, one that reminded him overwhelmingly of a siege, of war. He remembers when he was small, and before cherishing a dream of being a chocolatier, he had, like every young boy, played at war and being a hero. However, unlike a game, he was placing everything on the back of a risky gamble.
Fortitude. He tells himself. Courage in the face of adversity. He reflects on this, getting on and riding the bus to the nearest place to the Kashino manor.
He draws in a deep breath, staring at the gates. Fortitude. He repeats to himself. Then, Muraoka notices him, and the black gates open. He enters the lion's den, and raises his head high as he does. I can't lose this game. The prize, the gamble, is too important to me. He opens the door to the place he once called home, squaring his choulders, and fixing a blank look to his face. I've fought too much and too hard for this dream. I've always forged my own path. I'm not going to start backing down now.
-Rejecting and Rebelling-
"Makoto. Come in." The voice is high, cold steel, and Kashino is hit by a momentary panic. A Group. Chocolate. He reminds himself, and he walks into the living room.
"I hope you have reconsidered?" Kashino Rin is well suited to her name, Rin meaning cold, severe.
"I have not." He's blunt, honest as he always is. "I never will. And you know that."
The room seems to get colder, and his mother's brow creases just the smallest amount. "Then I'm afraid we have reached a disagreement."
"We have." There is tension between them, but he manages to wonder idly where his father and sister are.
"Your father will be here in 10 minutes. Something came up at the hospital. Your sister is finishing a paper for her medical school." It was frightening. Kashino Rin was a good reader of people, and she seemed to be able to probe his mind with the most irritating ease. He glares defiantly at her. In this, he is safe, and they both know that.
"How irritating. Why do you even want to stay in that school? Why make pretty cakes for the rest of your life when you could be such a brilliant doctor? Is cooking better than helping people?" The words sting. They sting because all of those questions are questions that, at one point, he had asked himself. But its also because of that, he has an answer for his mother.
"I-"
-Rejecting and Rebelling-
Cliffhanger. ^_^ *runs away*
Many thanks to all of my reviewers, and the patient people who waited for me to update. Please don't kill me, and review!
(See, I gave you a longer chapter this time. And this chapter's important.)