Sawamura Eijun doesn't know how to cook but he can definitely bake on his own.
The first ones to taste the chocolate cake he baked during Home Economics class were his year mates, the first years. Their class was divided into four and the four of them from the baseball team grouped together.
Sawamura Eijun, Furuya Satoru, Kanemaru Shinji, and Yoshikawa Haruno consisted the group of four. The four of them decided to let Eijun handle all the work and they would help him with the small things. Shinji and Satoru were both shocked and surprised to see how Eijun smoothly maneuvers his body and prep the ingredients like it was an everyday occurrence.
When Shinji asked him, "How do you even know how to bake? Have you baked before?" Instead of Eijun answering Shinji's question, Haruno was the one who answered.
"Sawamura-kun is actually good at baking. I think it's when the cooking club was looking for someone who can bake and Sawamura-kun volunteered to help them," she started to explain to them. "The club was skeptical to let someone from the baseball team bake for them but he insisted on helping them. The club president agreed on the condition that he bakes for them first so they would know if he passed as a baker or not."
"Haruno, can you pass me the chocolate?" Eijun interrupted. "I'm also baking the cake I baked for them that time," he added with a grin before continuing his work.
"Yeah, he baked a chocolate cake, chocolate cookies, and caramel cupcake. Those are what be baked that day," she finished explaining. They didn't notice Eijun finishing up the last touches before putting it in the oven until he joined in the conversation.
"I think those three were immediately sold out after being served. I'm not really sure though, since I already left them before they could serve it."
"I want… one, Eijun," Satoru requested as he faced Eijun with the most pleading eyes he could muster.
"We can all share the cake after it's done being graded, Satoru," Eijun said while Satoru hummed in agreement.
"Should we share the rest of the cake with Kominato-kun and the others?" Haruno asked, referring to the rest of the first years.
"The cake is not enough to be shared by the whole team but I guess we can share this with the other first years first and ask for their opinions. If they'll like it, then I might bake for the whole team to share later on," Eijun said, a contemplative look on his face.
"I think that's a better idea than what I have, Sawamura-kun," Haruno immediately acknowledged.
After Eijun finished designing and putting the last touches on the chocolate cake, their group presented it to their teacher to be graded. The teacher sliced a piece and ate a small bite to grade the taste. The teacher nodded in approval as she told them they passed both the finished product and the taste of the cake. When they turned around to go back to their station, their teacher sighed in bliss and savored the taste of the cake.
After arriving back at their station, Eijun divided the cake and sliced it into ten pieces, a piece of cake for each of them. Satoru immediately grabbed his piece and took a bite, his eyes widening and sparkling with amazement as he looked at Eijun with admiration in his eyes. Shinji and Haruno had the same expressions after taking a bite of their own pieces.
"How is it? Does it taste good?" Eijun asked, a hopeful expression as he looked at the three taste testers.
"Hm. It's very delicious, Eijun. I love it," Satoru said sincerely, looking Eijun straight in the eyes. Nodding in acknowledgment as he continued to eat his piece of cake.
"It really does taste good, Wamura," Shinji expressed as he munched his piece.
"Wow, Sawamura-kun! This really tasted the same as the chocolate cake you baked last time," Haruno proclaimed, eating her piece of cake happily.
"Thanks! I thought you wouldn't like it," Eijun confessed as he kept the rest of the slices in a small box so he could give it to the others later at lunch, which is right after their Home Economics class.
When they got back to their classroom, the other first years were already waiting outside so they hurriedly grabbed their wallets and met up with the others as they all headed to the cafeteria together.
"What are you holding, Eijun-kun?" Haruichi asked when he noticed the small box. Eijun just grinned at them and told him that he'll know after they eat their lunch.
After finishing their lunch, Eijun presented the cake slices in the box and gave each of them a slice. They looked at the other three and only received a statement that they already are their pieces, but Eijun hasn't yet.
When they all took a bite of their pieces, they all had the same reaction as the first three as they informed them that it was Eijun who basically baked it with little help from them.
"I bet you could open your own bakery if you'd like to, Sawamura. With this delicious cake, your bakery would most likely be the most frequented bakery," Hiroomi let out as he relished on eating his own piece.
"And if you decide to open one, we will be your first and regular customers," Wataru interjected making Eijun preen at the compliments from his friends.
"If we didn't know you're the one who baked this, we would have never guessed you, Sawamura Eijun, a baseball idiot, would be the baker," Shinji grumbled out.
"It really is delicious, Eijun-kun," Haruichi claimed with a smile on his face.
"This Sawamura Eijun thanks you all for the compliments! He will do his best to bake you another one next time," Eijun proclaimed, giving a slight bow to the others.
All of them appreciated Eijun a little bit more after that, and that made their little admiration for the southpaw grow a bit more but no one needs to know that, especially not Eijun.
The next group to taste the caramel cake that was baked by Eijun, still with the help of the others, were the coaching staff and the managers. The first years were supposed to make something for their teachers to show their appreciation.
So, a month after the first years discovered Eijun's talent in baking, they decided to watch Eijun bake with their own eyes. Haruichi was the one to suggest that they should watch how Eijun works when he's baking.
Haruichi, Shinji, Satoru, Hideaki, Wataru, Hiroomi, Tadahiro, and Kenichi were talking about school and baseball while their eyes were glued on Eijun's fluid movements while prepping the ingredients.
Haruno was standing on the side and helps Eijun get the ingredients that he may have forgotten to get, She would sometimes interject and tell her own opinion of the subject. Eijun would sometimes tell them his opinion without breaking his eyes away from what he was doing.
The others stare also hadn't left Eijun's figure aside from those replacing Haruno in helping Eijun, as they took pictures of Eijun wearing a cute blue apron with a dog print on the front while he's baking and instructing the others what he needs for help.
Of course, all of them had an understanding to not tell their senpais about how good Ejun is in baking. They wanted to keep that information for themselves for as long as they could.
"Sawamura-kun, is it okay if we share the remaining slices with the managers? So they would know how the baseball team appreciates their efforts," Haruno suggested. The guys would have protested at that but Eijun immediately agreed since it will be just the managers.
"Then you should also get one, Haruno," Eijun said, looking at Haruno with a smile before looking at the guys who were about to complain that it's not fair if only Haruno would get one. "Of course, Haruno would get one since she's also one of our managers. As for the eight of you, is it okay if I bake you cookies instead of a cake? I still need to get more ingredients so I can bake one for the senpais," they were already nodding before Eijun could finish his sentence. "Do you guys have any preference for the cookies?"
"Chocolate cookies should be enough for us, Eijun-kun," Haruichi answered for all of them. They looked at him with shock, but Haruichi just pointed at Eijun, who was already sweating from working alone. They all looked back at him and gave him a thumbs up.
After the cake was baked, they sliced the cake and divided it for the coaching staff, who needs to give an evaluation of the cake, and for the managers of the baseball team. Shinji and Hideaki were the ones who asked Haruno to keep Eijun as the baker a secret first so he could still surprise the senpais when he bakes for them and that made Haruno agree.
All of them went to the Faculty room to look for the coach. They found him with Oota-san and Rei-san so they decided to give the cake to the three of them.
"Boss! Oota-san! Rei-san! This Sawamura Eijun and the first years are here to give you a cake to show our appreciation. This Sawamura Eijun would also like to ask for your evaluation of the cake," Eijun called out while the others gave their greetings to the coaching staff after Eijun handed the cake to the three adults. When the three adults took a bite of the cake, their eyes widened a fraction but Coach Kataoka and Rei-san were able to hide their expressions with their glasses while Oota looked over the first years and tried guessing who baked the cake.
"Who's the one that baked this?" Rei-san asked, holding out her hand for the evaluation paper.
"Sawamura's the one who baked it, Takashima-sensei," all of them answered in unison, making Eijun wince. The adults looked at the southpaw with a raised brow.
"Is that true, Sawamura?" Coach Kataoka asked, staring intensely at the boy.
"Y-yes, boss! But the others also helped me-"
Eijun was cut off by Haruichi when he answered "Sawamura was the one who mostly did the process, sir. We just a little bit with the ingredients. We have proof if you want to verify it, sir," all of them showed various pictures and video of Eijun prepping and moving about the baking station as he instructed his friends what to do for help.
"WHEN DID YOU EVEN GET TO TAKE THOSE PICTURES AND VIDEO?" Eijun asked ridiculously as he watched the coaching staff watch the video, his face turning red as a tomato.
"Since only Sawamura was mostly the one doing the baking, your evaluation scores would be lower than his. You're well aware of that, am I right?" Kataoka stated as the coaching staff wrote their evaluation of the cake. They accepted it as they already knew they will get lower scores than Eijun.
"It tastes good, Sawamura-kun. I hope we'll get to taste more of your creations," Rei-san said as they handed the evaluation papers back to the first years.
"This Sawamura Eijun thanks you for the compliment," Eijun said, bowing to the adults, followed by the rest of his friends. When they excused themselves and went back to their classes, the three adults talked about the cake.
"That was quite a surprise. I didn't know Sawamura knows how to bake," Oota said after the first years left.
"Yes, it's quite the pleasant surprise," Rei said, a smile forming on her lips. "Maybe we could ask Sawamura-kun to bake from time to time," she added, glancing at Kataoka who remained silent, but Rei could see a small smile on his lips.
Back to Eijun and the first years, they all separated to get back to their own class to grab their bags before heading to the practice field. They met up at the cafeteria so Haruno could give the cake slices to the rest of the managers.
"Haruno, is it okay if we leave it to you to give the cake to the manager senpais? We don't want to be late for practice," Eijun asked, already handing the remaining cake slices to Haruno, which she just nodded and agreed to. "Thanks, Haruno!"
Haruno slowly made her way to the field, looking for her senpais. She found them on the dugout so she made her way to where they are. "Senpai! Fujiwara-senpai! Umemoto-senpai! Natsukawa-senpai!" Haruno called out to them, almost slipping when she arrived at where the senpais are. Thankfully, Fujiwara got her before she could totally slip. They looked at her with a questioning look but they saw that she was holding something in her hands.
"What is it, Haruno-chan?" Fujiwara-senpai asked, eyeing the bag in Haruno's hands.
"This is for you, senpai. The first years, Sawamura-kun, Kominato-kun, Furuya-kun, and the others made it to show their appreciation towards the coaching staff and the managers," Haruno explained, giving the cake to the senpais.
"Then, you also need to get one slice, Haruno. Did you forget that you're also one of the managers?" Umemoto-senpai asked teasingly, handing Haruno her piece of cake that she had almost forgotten.
"Oh! Thank you for reminding me, senpai!" Haruno said, smiling shyly at her senpais.
"Wow! This tastes really good, Haruno. Did you help the first years baked this?" Natsukawa-senpai asked after taking a bite of her slice of cake. Fujiwara-senpai and Umemoto-senpai also took a bite of their own cake slices, releasing a sigh of delight.
"Just a little bit, senpai," she answered vaguely, remembering her promise to the others except for Eijun, who doesn't have any clue about the promise they made.
"Haruno, can you try and ask the first years to bake again?" Umemoto-senpai asked, taking hold of Haruno's hands while pouting at her kouhai.
"I'll try, senpai," Haruno smiled at her senpai before she was taken in a tight hug by both Umemoto-senpai and Fujiwara-senpai.
"You are the best, Haruno!"
