Summer's Promise
Chapter 7: "I think…I can maybe…just maybe…overcome my shyness."
"Everyone's here?" Miku exclaimed to see that everyone in the joined classes came to the home economics classroom for Luka's cooking lessons.
Luka didn't notice how many people came because she was getting the ingredients ready. As she looked for the other pots and pans that they would need in a drawer on the bottom of the sink, other pans hanging on the pot rack began to rattle. The hooks' screws were loose and could barely hold on to some of the pans any longer. Before Luka could notice this, one of the hooks came undone, causing a pan to fall on her way.
She looked up just in time to see it, but it was too late for her to move out of its way. Suddenly, a hand came from out of nowhere and pushed away the pan in midair, preventing it from landing on Luka's head. When the pan hit the ground, the people in the classroom all turned to where the noise came from, seeing Luka squatting down with her hands covering her head, and Gakupo standing near her.
"Are you alright?" the purple-haired boy asked, extending a hand to help Luka.
"I-I-I'm a-a-alr—"
"Luka-chan! Are you okay?" Miku interrupted as she rushed to help Luka after emerging from the crowd that surrounded the scene.
Luka, who was too shy to accept Gakupo's helping hand, held onto Miku's hand, instead, for support. She buried her head on Miku's shoulder to hide her blushing face and the tears that were about to fall.
"What did you do, Gakupo?" Miku scolded.
"He just slapped the pan away from hitting Luka-chan's head, that's all," Ia defended.
"I saw the whole thing," she added with a mischievous wink.
Miku sighed as she stroked Luka's back for comfort. Gakupo picked up the pan and placed it on the counter along with the other things that Luka needed. Not wanting to scare Luka anymore, he walked away from her with a hint of worry and apology drawn on his face. The crowd also dispersed back to their own groups, thinking of what happened just then. Some of them were worried, while some were skeptic.
"It seems that they've forgotten to check the cupboards and drawers, huh," a lime-haired girl said as she examined the pot rack.
After taking a careful look, the girl walked over to Luka, who was being comforted by her friends.
"I don't think we've ever had a proper meeting, Megurine-san, but I'm Gumi Nakajima. I'm sorry about what happened," the girl named Gumi friendly said.
"I-i-it's n-not your fault, Nakajima-san. Oh! I-I'm Luka M-Megurine. It's nice to meet you!" Luka nervously bowed.
"I'm glad you're alright, though," Gumi smiled to lessen Luka's anxiety.
"Alright, alright. Let's reserve the talks later, Gumi-chan. Luka-chan needs to get started with her cooking class," Ia winked.
Apologizing for nothing and thanking her friends for support, Luka smiled with an anxious glimmer in her eyes. Since everyone was excited to start, they already had their aprons on. Seeing their reaction and excitement, Luka began to panic. However, before Luka could start, Miku gave her friend a 'good luck' pat on her back that lifted up some of the worries that Luka had in her mind. With a gentle smile, Luka closed her eyes and deeply breathed in and out.
"Everyone," Luka exclaimed, the determined tone in her voice grabbing everyone's attention, especially her friends', Gakupo's, and Gumi's.
"Are you all ready to learn how to cook?"
"Yeah!"
"Then, let's get started."
The enthusiastic classes followed every step that Luka showed them. Some of them made a few mistakes, but with the pink-haired girl's guidance, they easily fixed it and learned from their errors. Luka's friends noticed that she was having fun and not stuttering without her knowing. They realized that Luka was actually very friendly and caring towards others. Most of the boys in both classes were captivated by Luka's actions, that some of them would purposefully make a mistake just for her to come to their sides.
After about two hours of cooking the dishes they planned, the two classes finally finished. The home economics room looked like a buffet restaurant after they placed the dishes on the kitchen counters. The boys brought in more tables and chairs while the girls distributed the dishes and utensils.
"Itadakimasu!" the whole class said in synchrony.
The whole joined classes were all proud of what they've accomplished, even though most of them were still a little scared and were lacking self-confidence. The food they all prepared looked delicious, like the ones they'd see in expensive restaurants. As usual, the students from both classes sat with their friends, forming groups. Luka, who reverted back to her shy nature, sat with Miku, Ia, Lily, and Miki. Gumi also sat with them, but Kaito and Gakupo were nowhere to be found.
"Those two left earlier with the costume designers to get their bartender uniforms," Gumi answered Miki, who pointed out Kaito and Gakupo's disappearance.
"Now that you mentioned that, how did you three know that the classes would be here?" Lily asked, tasting the pasta Alfredo.
"Hiyama-sensei told the three of us with an email. He said it was optional, but I was interested in learning the dishes we'll be serving. He also asked me what I wanted to do, so I asked to be a waitress. Though, it seems that Gakupo and Kaito didn't have an option like I did," Gumi giggled.
"How did you do in the martial arts competition? Oh! This is really good!" Ia asked, exclaiming right after tasting the tempura.
"Of course, Gakupo placed first in judo. As for me, I'm trying not to brag or anything, but I also placed first in naginatajutsu," Gumi happily announced.
Luka's eyes lit up in amazement when she heard about Gumi and Gakupo's success in the competition. She felt a little jealous that they could do those things, which was a difficulty for her because she grew up in the States, where martial arts wasn't a school activity. Luka remained quiet, although, because she was afraid of getting laughed at for being impressed on something small.
"What about Shion?" Lily questioned.
"He's not really a part of our school's martial arts team. After all, he was scouted to be a baseball player for our school's team on his third year in junior high school. They just needed an extra person for the school's team to enter the judo competition," Miku, who had been calm and strangely quiet, answered, surprising everyone.
Their whole table was quiet, embarrassing Miku. Her face turned red and for a second, it seemed as if her twin tails twitched on their own. Everyone, even Luka, could tell that there was passion in Miku's statement, which was something the teal-haired girl didn't want to make obvious.
"H-he just t-told me, alright!" Miku slipped an excuse with blushing cheeks.
Everyone knew that Miku wasn't lying, but there was something behind the truth that she didn't want to disclose to even her closest friends just yet. Respecting her privacy, they didn't want to keep interrogating her with their looks of surprise. To move on, they all began to compliment Luka's cooking abilities.
"Where did you learn how to cook so amazingly?" Ia asked, as she wiped her mouth with the paper towel by her plate.
"Oh, I—" Luka stopped with worried eyes, thinking.
Flashbacks of her past rushed in her mind before she answered Ia's question. Her memories were vivid, but they were memories she didn't want to reveal to her new friends. She wanted to forget those memories, but she decided not to. After all, it was a part of who she was.
"I watch cooking shows and read cookbooks every now and then," Luka lied with a fake, awkward smile.
Miku noticed that Luka was lying, but she also didn't want to meddle with Luka's privacy. Returning the favor of not asking anymore questions, Miku decided to forget what she saw.
After they finished eating, everyone helped with the clean-up of the home-economics room. While Luka washed the dishes with some of the girls from her class and the other class, some people wiped the tables and returned the extras that they brought in. When everything was finished, Luka and her friends, including Gumi, saw everyone off before they locked the home economics room.
Before leaving, Luka checked the sign-up sheet for people who wanted to be cooks with her and found enough people to have shifts. Luka's eyes shimmered in joy to see the list of names that would be working with her. Her friends were also glad that Luka wouldn't be alone.
"This is the first time I've seen you so excited to work with people, Luka-chan," Lily smiled.
Luka's face started blushing even though she was a little confused. After a few moments, she let out a relieved smile and gave thanks to everyone.
"Thanks to everyone…I think…I can maybe…just maybe…overcome my shyness," Luka sincerely announced.
Miku, Ia, Lily, and Miki hugged and patted Luka, like a little kitten. Gumi wanted to do it with them, but she had only met Luka today and didn't really do much to help her. However, Gumi was contented in just seeing Luka's kind smile.
The school festival began with a blast and everyone was excited. Everyone participated accordingly to make their school festival a success. Every joined classes were hyped and determined to win the first prize for their grade level. The visitors from other schools and the town also kept coming, which was expected from an elite school.
Luka's class's jazz bar became popular right away, mostly because Gakupo and Kaito were two of the bartenders. Their class thought that their jazz bar was only popular because of the two boys, but when they weren't on their shifts, customers still kept coming. When the free students roamed around, they were very pleased to hear that their customers were talking about the good food they served. By the third day of the festival, their class's jazz bar became the talk of the school for its delicious food, merry and also relaxing entertainment, elegant setting, and great customer service.
Even though it was busy, Miku, Ia, Lily, and Miki would check-up on Luka every now and then. That was because Luka didn't want to abandon her job, though they had shifts. Her friends would get worried that Luka was getting tired, but she was actually having fun.
Luka finally took a break on the fourth day of the festival because of an unexpected visit from her family members.
"Dad! Mom! Rin! Len!" Luka exclaimed in confusion.
"We wanted to check-up on you, Luka. You always come home tired, but we heard you're really having fun," Luka's dad kindly smiled as he passed the menu back to Miku, who tended to them as their waitress.
"Was this your idea, Nee-chan?" Rin asked, looking around.
Luka nodded with a nice and coy smile. Len, who was going to be a first-year senior high school student next year, was excited to do the festival when the jazz bar fascinated him.
"Princess Luka!" some of the waiters called.
Luka turned to give them a quick wave, embarrassed in front of her family. Luka's parents overheard the waiters' talking about Luka to their customers. The customers all smiled when they found out that Luka was the main chef who had been preparing the tasty meals.
"So it's your cooking, huh," Luka's father teased.
"I'm proud of you," he said, gently patting Luka's head.
Luka stayed with her family before returning back to the kitchen to do her job. She watched the entertainment, which was actually more amazing than she had thought. After her family finished with their meals and jazz bar experience, Luka escorted them out.
"By the way, Luka-nee-chan, who are those boys over there?" Rin asked with a suspicious grin on her face as she pointed at the bartenders.
"You're too young for them, Rin!" Luka said.
"I was just wondering," Rin stuck her tongue out.
"Well, we'll head on out now. See you at home," Luka's mom said as she gave Luka a peck on the forehead.
"We're glad you're adjusting well, Luka," the pink-haired girl's foreign father praised.
Luka just replied with a gentle smile on her face before she returned to the kitchen as her family left.
"I am, too, Dad," Luka thought as she returned to her new friends in the kitchen.
Author's note:
itadakimasu- doesn't really have a definite meaning, but is said before eating meals
judo- a modern martial art created in Japan, where the objective is to either throw or takedown an opponent to the ground, immobilize or otherwise subdue an opponent with a pin, or force an opponent to submit with a joint lock or a choke
naginatajutsu- the Japanese martial art of wielding the naginata (weapon resembling a medieval glaive)