Author Note: For Asahar4.
Enjoy the chapter and thanks for reading!^^
Chapter 11
L'Hermite
Minato was the greatest traitor of the century.
"I'll kill you, Minato," she muttered darkly, gripping the thin cards on her hands with enough force to break.
The teen who bowed until his forehead touched the coffee table in seiza position snorted a nasal laugh, his shoulder shaking in an effort to stop laughing. "I'm very sorry, Sensei. I'll bring you a cake to the Faculty Room as compensation."
"Ehh! You'll bake? I want your Mont Blanc cake!" Minako piped in cheerfully from her position to Minato's upper right. The four of them sat forming a square formation on the sitting room of the second floor. Her brother sneezed and sniffed politely after taking another sheet of tissue, throwing it like a professional basketball player to a half-full trash can near the vending machine.
Swoosh, two points for Minato.
"Ugh, anything other than Mont Blanc." Ms. Toriumi crossed her arms. "I'll expect three cakes on Monday,"
Minato broke a sweat, "One"
"Three! You've skipped school for three days." she insisted.
"Two, then." Minato said as he mentally calculated the raging price of the ingredients.
"Deal," their homeroom teacher agreed with a smug smile, as if she hasn't got a Wild Card +4 and was forced to forsake her turn. Minato sighed and called out "Blue card," with a quiet, surrendering tone. His wallet, which got even thinner after Minako begged for a new naginata, was done for.
"I wonder why you received a home visit when I didn't," Junpei complained with a pout. Imagine his surprise when Ms. Toriumi was knocking on Minato's room with Minako by her side. He was about to get the twins to play Uno with him, too.
"If you're repentant and become a model student, Sensei will visit you too when you're sick, Iori."
"Hell no. Studying is saved for a few days before exam." He said as he discarded a Blue card with 5 printed on it to the growing pile of cards.
"Thanks, Junpei-kun! You're my hero," Minako threw a card loudly, discarding a Yellow 5. Minato groaned and drew the top card from the deck while Junpei swelled with pride, only finding another yellow card after the stacks in his hands reached the same amount as Ms. Toriumi's.
There goes his chance for declaring 'Uno!'
"Karma is a bitch, amateur."
Minato drank his vitamin water, "For the record we're going to keep, I've won three times out of four sets."
"And for the record we're going to keep, you're the one who wanted to play another set when I won," his twin –bless her mischievous soul- winked girlishly.
Junpei cracked a grin and snaked an arm over her shoulder.
"You're my new bro from now on, Minako."
The undefeatable Field Leader sulked and muttered something under his breath.
"Sore loser~" the two singsonged.
They ended the games with three wins for Minato, four wins for Minako and two wins each for Junpei and Ms. Toriumi. Seeing that the last stretch of sundown has disappeared from the horizon, Ms. Toriumi excused herself after appointing Minato some home assignments which Junpei had never felt any luckier that he never get sick.
The honor student went to his room to put the books away and the remaining Junpei and Minako took Ms. Toriumi to the front door, bidding her good night and 'see you on Monday'. But not even twenty steps away from the school dormitory, the short light brown-haired teacher heard footsteps following behind her.
She turned back and was face-to-face with a bundled up Minato. He wore a grey jumper and two thick scarves around his neck and face that only the tips of his ears and silver eyes were visible of his flushing face.
Ms. Toriumi breathed out and was ready to argue, to send Minato back to the warmth of the dorm. But after she took one long look at Minato's visible eyes, her shoulder fell. Minato looked very determined to not taking her advice.
"You're going to escort me?" she asked in disbelief.
The teen younger than her by eight years shrugged and said in scratchy voice, "I'm going to the supermarket. It's just a coincidence that the route is the same,"
"For?"
"Cake ingredients. What else?"
She sighed, "I'm going with you. It'll be my responsibility if you fall over,"
"I won't," Minato chuckled and led the way.
"Isn't it easier if you just buy the cakes at the bread shop?" Ms. Toriumi asked as Minato compared two brands of bread flour and threw one box to the shopping cart. It looked like Minato didn't hear her question, as he pulled up his phone and recited the rest of the ingredients, eyes scanning the high ceiling rack. They passed two elderly citizens and she missed the opportunity to glance at his phone.
"Dear, look at those newlyweds," the bespectacled old man smiled, he missed a tooth or two.
The tips of Ms. Toriumi's ears redden at the implication. She and Minato? Oh God, did they looked like newlyweds? That's a joke! They were eight years apart!
...But there were many boys who preferred older woman, right? ...Is Minato even one of them?
She put up her hands, trying to assuage the misunderstanding when Minato interjected. "Bunkichi-san, you should get your glasses replaced. Seriously, how many times have this happened?"
"That's Minato-chan, dear," the old man's wife came up behind him, fingers intertwined together. Ms. Toriumi breathed out in relief, although there was a twinge of disappointment somewhere.
It's not like she'd admit it, though.
The old man called Bunkichi laughed, "I'm just joking. I know that it's Minato-chan. I'm not that old, Mitsuko."
His wife shook her head and enveloped Ms. Toriumi's hands. "Forgive my husband, we should get his glasses replaced," her eyes crinkled shut in grandmotherly tenderness and she replied with a smile of her own.
Seeing the elderly couple, she wondered what the future would bring.
Two slices of Castella arrived on Monday and she has to discreetly hid it away before her colleagues can fight over it.
And in the dark of the night, accompanied by cheap beer alone in her six tatami apartment, the cake tasted delicious. It looked like the myth to not trust a man who can cook is a lie, after all.