The sweet smells of their success flow out into the hallway as Himawari and Sakurako leave Yui's apartment. The process had taken nearly three hours, most of which was spent waiting for things to cool. During the downtime, Himawari and Yui had shared baking ideas and prepared a quick, simple dinner of chicken curry for the three of them.
Himawari and Sakurako turn to face Yui, who stands at the threshold of her apartment. Yui smiles at them, leaning against the doorpost.
"Furutani-san, thank you. That turned out well! I feel confident for the next time I attempt it," Yui bows slightly, and Himawari returns it. Sakurako returns the bow late, a sluggish grin on her face. Himawari and Yui had made enough creme brulee for about four people; Sakurako had eaten slightly over two people's worth. "And thank you, Oomuro-san, for ensuring that none of it went to waste."
"Ha, not a problem, anytime. The reliable kouhai Sakurako-sama is all too happy to help," Sakurako (partially) suppresses a burp and grins, her eyes taking on a dazed sheen.
"Kohai...sama...?" Yui takes on a dazed look herself before quickly recovering her mind. "Ah, at any rate, thanks again, to you both. Is it alright for you two to be walking home this late? If you need, you could stay the night." She gestures back into her apartment, and for a brief moment Himawari seriously considers it before realizing that she'd have to spend the night with Sakurako without the necessary mental preparation.
"I do appreciate the offer, but I should be getting home. I'm not...prepared for a night with Sakurako right now..." Himawari offers a pained smile for a brief second before her face snaps into one of grim horror. "I mean...a night sleeping in the same location not...well, you know," Himawari blushes and risks a glance back at Sakurako, but Sakurako only cocks her head in that chicken-ish way of hers, still basking absentmindedly in the afterglow of free food.
"Of course. Have a good night you two. Travel safe." Yui smiles and the three exchange bows. Once Yui closes the door, Himawari sighs loudly.
"Satisfied? You got again without giving." She glares at Sakurako, who jumps back, returning the glare.
"What? I gave you my whole afternoon! I could have been eating Hanako's stashed-away snacks instead, you know." Sakurako grins a wide, toothy grin, hands on her hips.
"Are you...are you bragging about stealing your little sister's snacks?" Himawari snaps back, shaking her head in disbelief before sighing again. "I suppose I shouldn't expect anything else from you." She begins walking down the hallway towards the stairwell but stops after one step, spotting an unfamiliar woman. The woman is wearing a black summer dress and standing outside the door of an apartment halfway between the girls and the stairs. Her dark, shoulder-length blue hair, tied in a side-knot with a white-laced plaid cloth, shakes and shivers as she wiggles and readjusts her body, an absurd forest of green plastic grocery bags hanging off her arms. The bags let off loud crinkling sounds as they bounce off each other while the woman struggles to unlock her door.
"Oh...I wasn't aware Funami-senpai had any neighbors," Himawari says, regarding the struggling woman for a moment before turning to Sakurako.
"Huh...well it IS an apartment building. Those usually have more than one apartment." Sakurako turns to Himawari, smirking, but Himawari turns away and focuses her attention back on the woman.
"That's an awful lot of groceries. She could have made more than one trip...she looks relatively young, the stairs would have been an easier hurdle than this. Come to think of it, why doesn't she just put a few of the bags down?" Himawari's brow furrows as she watches the woman try to maneuver her key to the door, her fingers covered in plastic bag handles. "Should...should we help? It's a little awkward," Himawari looks over to Sakurako, who is watching the scene before her with wide-eyed anticipation.
"What? Break the excitement? Ruin the tension? This is her battle!" She raises a fist, her eyes aflame and smile agape, "we must honor this duel! To intrude would be to sow shame upon her family name!" Almost immediately after this, two bags which had been dangling on the ends of the woman's fingertips slide off, their contents spilling and rolling across the ground. The two girls are stunned for a brief moment before they simultaneously rush forwards to help.
"Oh, let us help you! I'm sorry, I wasn't sure if I would have been intruding to offer help earlier," Himawari bows and kneels down, straining to pick the jars and produce off the ground without losing her balance and toppling over.
"Himawari, less gabbing more grabbing!" Sakurako whispers, piling item after item into one of the emptied bags. Himawari winces, once again reminded of the great rift between the two of them in terms of athleticism. The woman smiles a wide, shining smile.
"Thank you so much! No need to apologize, I thought I had it myself until I...well, until I didn't." The woman gently lowers the other bags onto the ground and starts gingerly picking up the various items that had escaped. Looking around at the items that had fallen and those still in their bags, Himawari realizes that it's all related to food: produce, fruits, fish, chicken and even beef, along with all manner of spices, marinades, glazes and rubs. By far, though, the most common ingredients all seem related to baking: sacks of high-quality flour, sugars, cartons of eggs (which thankfully were not to be counted among the bag-escapees), cornstarch, yeast, baking soda, shortening, icing, piping gel, fondant, fresh cream, butter...Himawari feels almost as if she had happened upon a bakery turned upside down. The three manage to reassemble the woman's tenuous bag situation. She hoists the bags back onto and into her arms and bows to the girls, glances back at her still-locked door, then glances down at her forest of bags before looking up at Himawari and Sakurako with a forlorn little frown.
"Uh...perhaps we could help you hold your bags while you deal with the door?" Himawari offers, smiling.
"Ah, that would help a great deal, thank you!" The woman grins, splitting a hand's worth of bags between Sakurako and Himawari. Straining under the weight, Himawari wonders again why the woman hadn't simply set them down for a bit. After a playful flick of her own sideknot, the woman unlocks the door with ease, opening it and reaching her hands out for the bags held by Himawari and Sakurako. "Oh, if you wouldn't mind waiting for a moment, I have something for you. To thank you for helping me!"
"Oh it's no trouble at all, really," Himawari smiles but discreetly checks the time on her phone while the woman brings the bags into her apartment, wondering how much later it will be before she can escape from Sakurako. As if on cue, Sakurako pipes up with her own reply.
"Yep, no trouble! We don't mind waiting for that thank you gift, not one bit!" Sakurako nods giddily, her fingers on her chin and a greedy grin across her face. Himawari leans in closer, her hand by her mouth as she whispers.
"Sakurako, have some restraint. It's partially our fault anyway," Himawari looks down to the ground, remembering how she had been too busy judging the woman's decisions and talking with Sakurako to even bother offering to help. Sakurako leans closer as well and their cheeks brush gently against each other's for a moment. Sakurako recoils, blushing and whispering from a safe distance.
"Geh! You and your partial faults again, just take a whole fault and stop whining." Sakurako crosses her arms and glares away, her foot tapping impatiently, but Himawari is too busy hiding her face with her hands to notice.
Stupid, clumsy Sakurako, Himawari thinks to herself, her face ablaze. Why lean in? I already leaned in, obviously we were close enough! Stupid stupid clumsy moron!
The woman returns, regarding the two with an amused smile and holding two tins, one in each hand. On each, pinned against tin by her index finger, is a small, colorful flier.
"Ah, but I didn't introduce myself. My name is Kobe Shio. Please, accept these cookies and my humble invitation to attend my cake shop's grand opening tomorrow!" She grins and holds the tins out. Sakurako leaps forwards, stopping herself a split second away from snatching it out of Kobe-san's hands. She accepts the tin with a slight bow, her whole body vibrating in anticipation. Himawari, also shaky but from the sudden brush against Sakurako's cheek moments ago, steps forwards and accepts the tin in her hands, bowing deeply as she nods towards Sakurako.
"This is Oomuro Sakurako, and my name is Furutani Himawari, and I...cake shop? Wow, you own a cake shop?" Himawari holds the tin against her school bag in one hand and takes the flier in the other, holding it up to her chest. To her side, Sakurako has already opened the tin and is marveling over the cookies within. Ignoring her, Himawari continues. "I love baking, it's one of my favorite pastimes! It's truly a pleasure to meet you."
"Ah, a fan of baking?" Kobe-san cocks her head and grins.
"Yes, in fact I actually just finished making creme brulee with a frie- ah!" Himawari peeks at the flier and her breath is stolen away by the dazzling scene on the front. The flier depicts a circular, multi-tiered glass table, set with shining ivory plates. Extending out from the silver filigree column serving as the table's base stretch seven metal arms, each one curving up around the table like the petals of a lily. Each arm is intersected by and terminates in multi-tiered glass plates, the whole ensemble etched with flowers and vines. Most impressive, though, are what lay on the glass and ivory plates themselves.
Adorning each plate are the most tantalizing cake slices Himawari has ever seen in her life. Each slice sits elegantly, every mouthwatering feature emphasized from the fluffy, cloudlike frosting down to the glistening, crystalline bottom layers. The cakes' toppings range from sliced fruits and nuts all the way to candy and sprinkles. Some slices have multiple layers of alternating pastel colors, while others are interspersed with gem-like layers of syrups and jellies.
"I do own a cake shop, and if it is at all possible, I would love it if you girls could visit. It's not far, actually," Kobe-san holds out another flier and flips it over, showing a map of the nearby area. The cake shop location is marked with a small, cutesy drawing of a pink-frosted, strawberry-topped cake.
"Oh, It's almost right down the road from here!" Himawari notes with happy surprise. She looks to the top of the invitation where the shop's name, address and contact information are prominently displayed. "Happy Sugar Cake, huh? It sounds lovely, I'll be there for sure!" Himawari glances at Sakurako, who is trying (failing) to recover from the flood of drool that came after she did her own inspection of the flier.
"Yes! We'll deeeeefinitely be there tomorrow!" Sakurako smiles brightly. A pang of irritation shoots through Himawari on hearing this.
So I guess I'll be spending my Saturday with Sakurako too, huh?