CHAPTER 7

Hikaru's words have proved to be prophetic.

A month in, they've instituted a system that enables all of them to operate like parts of a well-oiled machine. The twins have a policy of varying their menu like fashion designers; each collection is paraded for the span of a season and is promptly discontinued, never to be available for order again regardless of how many customers beg for it.

Haruhi has seen tears, tantrums and threats, all of which Kyouya-san handles with sensational sangfroid.

Kyouya-san is a far better boss than she had anticipated. Yes, he is ruthlessly fastidious and an incurable slave-driver but he is also undeniably protective of them, his employees. He assumes the responsibility of throwing out the multitude of hapless suitors and jilted exes of the twins – a task which, let Haruhi assure you, is neither seldom nor easy.

Another thing that Haruhi had swiftly come to realize is that Kyouya-san can't actually cook to save his life. It's not that he is inept, but that he doesn't participate. His role is supervisory only – the resident judge and connoisseur – the process goes this way: they create the menus, he approves them.

She secretly suspects that Kyouya-san likes spending time with them behind the scenes, away from the customers.

When Kyouya-san joins them in the kitchen, he perches on a high stool at the far-end of the central rectangular island. That breadth of the table is his, directly opposite Kaoru who generally occupies the space near the door leading to the café. Kaoru is the unofficial team leader, the chef de pâtissier, by reason of the facts that 1) he is the most successful of the three of them at navigating his way around Kyouya-san, 2) he can persuade and control Hikaru, and 3) he has far more extensive commercial experience than Haruhi.

With increasing frequency, Haruhi finds herself laughing and enjoying herself. Against all odds, this kitchen is fun.

Her favourite time of day is the preparation before the shop opens at 12 PM. They can be as crazy as they want, something the twins take full advantage of, and there is something powerfully enriching about observing her peers slaving away at their craft. The twins are in the habit of feeding their inventions to each other, a practice that has spilled over to include Haruhi.

Haruhi loves food, hence it does not take much to cajole her into letting them spoonfeed her. Alas, this has cultivated a sense of expectation within her that she will be abundantly supplied with delicacies.

Fresh out of the oven, a batch of colourful macarons lies on the benchtop innocently. Discreetly, Haruhi takes one when Kaoru goes to check on his mille-feuille aux fraises.

Hikaru throws a handful of flour at her playfully; she is his most accessible target because their workspaces are parallel with the other's. Hypocritically, he then steals one for himself.

Haruhi feels her eyelids flutter shut when she bites into the macaron. She coats her tongue in it, reveling in the crisp rose-flavoured biscuit shell and the contrasting delicate violet filling.

There can be no doubt that Kaoru is destined to be a master.

He has all the qualities of one: highly organized, detail-oriented, staggering creativity. He has, in short, the heart of a born designer. Hikaru, too, is a veritable spring of originality.

As a pastry chef, Haruhi concedes that she is not sufficiently visionary to make it to the pinnacle of the profession. More so than for any other type of cooking, pâtissiers need an artistic flair that she quite simply lacks. She is, however, extremely diligent and unfairly well-educated about the scientific principles in relation to food, nutrition and the human physiology – therefore she excels in other areas of cooking.

Kaoru comes back and rages at them after scanning his trays. Hikaru and Haruhi are chased around the kitchen island – Haruhi has the good sense to take cover at Kyouya-san's while Hikaru elects to provoke Kaoru further by offering unsolicited critique.

Kyouya-san's lips twitch, though Haruhi notices he never properly smiles or laughs. He never tries any of their confections either, very peculiar for an owner of a cake shop. His knowledge of ingredients and methodology is extensive, easily a match for Haruhi and the twins; he appraises the fruits of their labour through a number of criteria which funnily enough does not include taste. Haruhi is the only staff member to have the privilege of having the owner eat her food on a regular basis – even then Kyouya-san strictly sticks to her savoury pies and bread rolls, never cupcakes or doughnuts.

Kaoru had mentioned in passing that Kyouya-san doesn't like sweet food, something that Haruhi can tell frustrates him because he wants Kyouya-san to love the products of his hard work. He won't make pastries, Hikaru says, because he's not dumb enough to pit himself against Haruhi.

Hikaru is correct: Kaoru definitely has a thing for their boss. It's the little things that give him away: he always – always – knows where Kyouya-san is, completely loses track of time when they are discussing run-of-the-mill management matters, and most of all because this oft impudent person goes out of his way to ensure that he doesn't push Kyouya-san too far.

After all, Kyouya-san is a person of boundaries and Kaoru is capable of showing immense consideration towards others.

Both Kaoru and Hikaru seem like intensely lonely individuals to her. Arms slung around each other, they would insist that they aren't. Really, isn't it that they wouldn't feel compelled to always stay by each other's side unless they were deathly afraid of being alone?

When she'd bluntly asked them that question on her fifth day on the job, they'd given her a look of such outrage and betrayal that Kyouya-san had fired her on the spot with a glacial coldness that revealed he wasn't doing it merely to protect his business interests.

Too stunned to beg for leniency, Haruhi had been one foot out the door when Kaoru inexplicably intervened to save her; miracle followed miracle as Kyouya-san actually yielded to the request.

After, Kaoru and Hikaru had changed their attitude and treatment of her. Haruhi doesn't think it's a big deal that they have fears and vulnerabilities like all humans; she thinks it makes them interesting and relatable.

That whole episode still confuses her.

"It's almost eleven," Kyouya-san reminds them. Today, they are starting an hour early to accommodate the needs of a super-special customer, the legendary Haninozuka Mitsukuni-san. As this VIP had been in England and America to negotiate a takeover of the toy-making giant Letti's, Haruhi has not made his acquaintance.

Presumably he is arriving with a party of friends, for they have prepared enough for twenty.

"All done," Kaoru assures him, putting a crown of spun-sugar glass on his passionfruit chocolate brownie cake. The layers of passionfruit milk chocolate ganache, passionfruit mousse, hazelnut dacquiose and crumbly brownie base are drool-worthy. With a flourish, he presents his cake to Kyouya-san.

That's another thing he does constantly – trying to impress Kyouya-san. Kyouya-san has yet to be tempted into a consuming a slice.

Kaoru knows better than to get his hopes up. Upon Kyouya-san's refusal, he calmly sets about loading the items onto a cart to wheel out to the display shelves, Hikaru leading the way with his own trolley of treats.

"It wouldn't hurt to try some," Haruhi remarks when she is satisfied that the twins are out of earshot.

Kyouya-san gives her a look that makes her rethink the wisdom of saying anything.

In the distance, a bright and bubbly voice rings out. "Kao-chan! Hika-chan!"

"Honey-san!"

As the commotion outside becomes more and more animated, Hikaru darts back into the kitchen. Beckoning to her, he cackles, "Get ready for an eye-opening experience, Haruhi."

For the next hour, she watches in unfeigned disbelief as Haninozuka-san, a diminutive and cheerful blond male, demolishes the lot single-handedly.

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09/04/2013