Summer's Promise
Chapter 6: "Let's get ready to win this year's school festival!"
A week had passed since Luka started school. She was already friends with everyone in her class and the class they were working with, but she was still as timid as ever, maybe because she was still the talk of the school. The only people she was comfortable with were her first friends, Miku, Ia, Lily, and Miki. Luka hasn't seen the boy that helped her ever since that day, even though they all worked together for the upcoming festival, which was in a week.
The joined class chose to have a jazz bar for their school festival, which was an idea that Luka shyly suggested. The two classes decided to have the preparation room or the jazz bar's kitchen in Kiyoteru's classroom. The actual venue, which would have the tables, mini-stage, and the bar counter, was Meiko's classroom. The remaining days from the past week were used in drafting the menu for their classy restaurant. Both of the classes looked to Luka for help, but she hid behind Miku most of the time. She helped them, but Luka nervously stuttered the entire time.
For their main food entrees, they decided on pasta Alfredo, curry, omelette, and tempura. The desserts they wanted to serve were American parfait, crepes, caramel pudding, and strawberry tarts. The drinks, which could be ordered at the bar counter they were going to construct or with their meal, were nonalcoholic cocktails, juice, tea, coffee, smoothies, and water.
This week, they were planning to assign a role or two to each and every one. There were roles needed before, during, and after the school festival. Before the festival, their class needed students who could construct the bar counter and the platform's extension for the mini-stage, decorate the classroom and the outfit the staff were going to wear, and create flyers and posters to advertise their jazz bar. The roles being assigned for during the festival were the cooks, bartenders, waiters and waitresses, entertainers, and people who would call customers over. The two classes also needed people who would clean-up after the mess after the school festival.
The role for the students who would construct the bar counter was given to most of the boys. The girls who were good at decorations and sewing volunteered for the parts they could do. Most of the boys also volunteered to be a part of the clean-up committee. Shifts were also created after their parts were assigned. Those who wouldn't be really busy were given extra shifts. The class participated accordingly, making the task easier than expected.
"Now, we must assign the waiters and waitresses' roles. Like earlier, we're going to assign shifts afterwards so that everyone can have time to enjoy the school festival," Meiko began.
A couple of boys and girls from both classes, including Ia and Lily, raised their hands. Luka didn't want to be a waitress because she knew that she'd have to talk to people she didn't know. The time shifts were quickly decided on and the class proceeded.
"Next, we need cooks that could prepare these meals," Kiyoteru announced the menu right after.
Many students were hesitant to volunteer for the role because most of the food being served were Western food. The two classes began to worry that their jazz bar wouldn't actually work. They looked around and found no hands raised up for the role, which was actually considered as a challenging one.
"E-excuse me," a soft voice called out.
Noticing their worried looks, Luka couldn't bear to keep her words from slipping out. She didn't want to, but she slowly stood up to give her opinion. Her face was red and warm, and her heart was rapidly thumping in tension.
"I-I know how to c-cook the listed food," she shyly said, fiddling with her fingers, her eyes closed.
Murmurs began after Luka stopped talking. They wavered to believe her, maybe because of how she was acting.
"Can she really cook food?"
"I mean, come on. Our Luka-hime-sama probably has a personal chef at her house or something."
"She wouldn't really cook, would she? I bet she can't even buy her own ingredients if she's that shy around people."
Luka didn't want to listen to what she could hear about her, but their voices easily entered her ears and she couldn't take them out. Miku, Lily, Ia, and Miki began to panic when they saw Luka's shaking hands. They also began to worry as they watched their classmates not believe on what Luka can possibly do.
"Why not cook for us, Luka-chan?" Miku suggested, standing up to grab everyone's attention.
"The home economics room is surely empty because everyone's getting ready for the festival. You can use that to show us what you can do, and if it's easy, then I'll volunteer as a cook and help you out," Miku smiled.
Finding it a good idea, the two classes headed to the wide and spacious home economics room. Luka was more impressed on her private school after seeing the organized home economics classroom with its expensive and brand new ovens, kitchen counters, and utilities. Even the supplies and ingredients in the drawers and refrigerator were fresh because of the daily checks and deliveries. Luka doubted, at first, that they could pull off the jazz bar with the materials they requested from the school's student council, but they easily approved of it because money wasn't a problem to the private school.
Meiko and Kiyoteru decided on what Luka should cook from the menu that their classes created. They chose the pasta Alfredo for the main entrée, strawberry tarts for the dessert, and smoothies for the drink. For the people who would try the food, the teachers and the class representatives for the cultural association under the student council were chosen, which was a total of six people. As soon as Luka's tasks were handed to her, the classes sat down to watch her work.
The joined classes were impressed at how swift she worked and how graceful she looked. Luka didn't waste any time and did not have any hesitation in her movements. They thought that she would sit down and rest while waiting for something to cook or finish boiling, but she prepared the plates and other meals, instead. After an hour of waiting and watching, Luka was finally done.
"Itadakimasu," the six judges said in synchrony.
Luka, exhausted and nervous, waited for the six people to finish tasting the meals she prepared. The two classes already decided to have Luka as their main chef as soon as they saw her professional-like skills. However, they wanted to know how the food she cooked actually tasted.
As soon as the four students placed the food in their mouths, their eyes opened and glimmered in amazement. Kiyoteru was also overwhelmed at the food he was tasting in his mouth. On the other hand, Meiko kept eating with a gluttonous smile on her face. When they were finished, they wiped their mouths and thought about what to say to Luka.
"H-how was it?" the pink-haired girl nervously asked.
The four students looked at Kiyoteru, who knew what they were thinking. After clearing his throat, he summarized his and the four students' overall statement.
"It was remarkably delicious, Megurine-san," Kiyoteru kindly smiled.
Luka lit up with joy to hear their opinions about her cooking. After smiling to her friends, Miku, Ia, Lily, and Miki, Luka turned to her teacher for her review on how the food was.
"S-sensei, h-how was it?" Luka asked again.
Meiko got up, her head tilted down with her bangs hiding her eyes. Luka feared that Meiko didn't like her cooking, which deeply worried her. However, all of a sudden, Meiko ran up to Luka and hugged her like she was an adopted kitty.
"It was so delicious, Luka-chan!" Meiko exclaimed in joy.
"You should live in my house and cook for me from now on, okay?" Meiko adored, hugging the girl.
Luka was beyond happy when a couple of other girls and boys volunteered to be a cook with her. Kiyoteru and Meiko suggested that those who volunteered to be cooks with Luka should come to school on Saturday to get lessons from her. Even though Luka wasn't a part of the decision the two teachers made, she bashfully agreed and promised to teach her fellow classmates how to cook the food they would need. As soon as they finished helping Luka clean up, the two classes returned to Meiko's classroom to finish the task of assigning jobs. All of them were hyped and excited after Luka shared her skills.
"For the entertainers, we're going to have a short screening of what you're going to do after school. It's not going to be an audition, but we need to see what act you're going to do," Kiyoteru explained.
"Now, we need bartenders who are really good looking!" Meiko excitedly announced.
"Umm, Sakine-sensei. What do you mean by 'good looking'?" Kiyoteru asked for the students who were also confused.
"Well, bartenders are really hot, you know. Most of them can get a girl any day because of how smooth they are," Meiko explained with a burning passion.
"And how would you know that?" Kiyoteru blushed, fixing his glasses by pushing the bridge.
"Hiyama-sensei, Sakine-sensei goes to a bar every night to find a boyfriend, you know," one of Meiko's students teased.
"Hey! You're wrong!" Meiko roared.
"I only go every weeknights!" the brunette corrected with pride.
"She didn't even try to deny the fact that she does go to bars, or the other fact that she really is looking for a boyfriend," Miku, Ia, Lily, and Miki facepalmed, all four of them thinking the same thing.
The whole class continued to laugh as Meiko ranted about the handsome bartenders she had met so far, who she eventually started to hate, because they were more interested in other girls. Kiyoteru looked a little upset as he massaged the top of the bridge of his nose after taking off his eyeglasses. Before everything got out of hand, Meiko stopped her delusions and got back on task.
"So, who should be the bartenders for our jazz bar?" Meiko asked, clearing her throat.
"Why not Kamui-kun and Shion-kun?" a girl advised.
The girls from both classes immediately agreed while some of the boys felt jealous when they remembered the guidelines for the bartender. The girls, except for Luka, Ia, Lily, and Miki, also started fantasizing about how the two boys would look like in their bartender uniforms. Even Miku had already fallen in her own daydream of the blue-haired boy named Kaito Shion as a bartender.
"Ah, jeez!This is why I hate that Kamui boy," Meiko mumbled.
"Okay, okay. Got it, got it," Meiko sluggishly said just so she could stop their 'fangirling.'
"They're not even here, though," Lily pointed out.
"Yeah! Yeah!" Meiko agreed, a glimmer of hope shining in her eyes.
"They're going to be back next week," Kiyoteru answered, shattering the last hope that Meiko was grabbing onto.
"Nakajima-san, Kamui-kun, and Shion-kun have been gone recently because of the school martial arts competition in Osaka, but the competition ends this week, so they'll return in the weekend in time for the school festival," Kiyoteru explained.
The girls were relieved that the two boys would be able to arrive in time to be their jazz bar's bartenders. The boys were a little upset, but they kept in mind that they could win because of the two popular boys.
"Now that everything's settled, let's get ready to win this year's school festival!" Meiko cheered as her fist shot up in the air.
"Yeah!" the joined classes howled together.
Just then, the school bell rang and it was time for their lunch break. Taking advantage of the nice fall climate once again, Luka, Miku, Ia, Lily, and Miku all ran up to the rooftop to enjoy their lunch. Since Luka brought her own melon pan and milk, they didn't have to go to the cafeteria to buy food.
"Isn't this a nice way to start the week before the school festival? Hyped and ready to begin working to win first prize," Ia smiled as she gobbled her food.
They all nodded their heads to agree with Ia's nice statement. As the autumn breeze blew by, Luka smiled when she thought that she was able to help out her class and the other class with her cooking skills.
"But it's going to be so hectic the week after the school festival," Miku countered, grabbing a tamagoyaki with her chopsticks.
"That's true. We're going to have to get ready for the second midterms in the end of October," Miki worried as she shook her head.
"You're so lucky, Luka-chan. Before you transferred, we heard from Meiko-sensei that you're really smart," praised Lily.
"That's not true," Luka denied, her face as red as a tomato.
"Our school doesn't really let new students transfer to our school in the second term of the year, that's why you're still the talk of the school. Usually, when we get new people, they arrive in the beginning of the year. We know they're knew because we haven't seen them before," explained Ia.
"You're one of the very few students that were allowed to transfer in the middle of the year because of your brains, Luka-chan," they all said.
Luka continued eating while hiding her blushing face. Her four friends could tell that Luka's cheeks were beet red, though.
"I feel worse for those students who joined that academic competition, though," Ia commented, looking up at the sky.
Luka was suddenly intrigued because Ia was unknowingly talking about her. Luka recalled how she signed up for the academic competition before the past week ended. Ever since then, she had been studying more and harder before the academic competition set after their week of final exams.
"Those people have to study harder for the midterms, finals, and the competitions," Miki stated.
The pink-haired girl continued listening, even though she knew what they meant. Luka wanted to tell her friends that she was one of those people, but she was afraid that they'd make fun of her. Keeping it to herself, Luka created mental notes on how she's going to manage the next few weeks to study for the midterms and continue her training for the competition.
"For now, we should just think about the festival so we can win," Lily softly smiled.
Luka agreed and continued eating her food with a bashful grin on her face.
"Let's win this thing, girls!" Miku excitedly proclaimed.
Author's note:
pan- bread
tamagoyaki- omelette