Akira's action of walking to the oven to preheat it also caught the attention of some classmates who were still working.
"That fast?"
"How long has it been? They're already preheating the oven."
"Probably those two learned at home."
"No, no, no, I think Shouko did most of it, and Akira was just helping out."
"Maybe..."
"Akira clearly isn't good at this."
"Alright, alright, quiet down. If they're finished, they're good. It's none of your business. Instead of whispering, you should hurry up."
Mr. Higashi Ii, who was still guiding Naoto's group, couldn't stand their behavior and loudly stopped the discussion.
He had also gone to see Akira and Shouko's group earlier, and it could be said that what they made wasn't much different from his.
Especially at the beginning, when he inadvertently glimpsed Akira's knife skills, he was a little impressed, alright?
But admiration aside, if you were to compare, that kid Akira was still just a tiny bit worse than him.
After the oven was preheated, Akira put on oven mitts, placed the trays of cookies Shouko had made onto the middle rack, and closed the oven door.
He set the timer for about 15 minutes — by then, the edges of the butter cookies should be a light golden yellow.
After setting a timer on his phone, he returned to Shouko's side and started chatting with her.
Within those 15 minutes, other groups also finished making theirs. But with only six ovens, the later finishers had to wait their turn.
Mr. Higashi Ii also took out the cookies he had baked earlier and distributed them to the class to sample.
"Shouko, mine's for you."
"What's wrong? Mr. Higashi Ii's are delicious," Shouko said as she took the still-warm cookie from him, looking puzzled.
Before he could explain, she vaguely guessed the reason and quickly stopped him:
"Okay, I know, you don't need to explain."
"But Mr. Higashi Ii's cookies really are delicious, and I don't want you to miss out… So how about we each have half?"
"Alright," Akira nodded.
Then he watched as Shouko took a big bite and chomped off exactly half — and as she pulled the cookie back, two thin strands of saliva stretched between the pieces.
"Here," she said, still chewing, as she held the remaining half directly up to his mouth.
Akira hesitated.
He glanced at the broken edge — the slightly darker part of the cookie. Just as he was about to look around to check if anyone was watching, Shouko, without hesitation, shoved the other half into his mouth.
"It's really good, I'm not lying," Shouko said joyfully after swallowing her half.
He had no choice but to "accept his fate" and bite down on it. There was still a tiny piece left — he instinctively reached for it.
But before he could take it, Shouko, quick and shameless, snatched that last bit and popped it into her own mouth.
"Shouko-sensei, that's so unsanitary…"
"I don't dislike you, so you shouldn't dislike me either."
Without giving him a chance to respond, she skipped over to chat with Takagi-san and Azigaya.
Akira could only silently chew the cookie still in his mouth.
Mr. Higashi Ii's cookies were really sweet. Dangerously sweet. If he had three more, he might actually develop diabetes.
As his watch vibrated and the oven dinged, he knew their cookies were ready.
He put on the mitts and carefully removed both trays of golden cookies, placing them back on their table to cool.
He remembered Mr. Higashi Ii's instruction — let them rest on the baking tray for five minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.
Dong... dong... dong...!
"Alright, students, clean up your spots and tools, and then you can go home."
This home economics class combined two afternoon periods — Mr. Higashi Ii had arranged it with Nobe-sensei, knowing one period wouldn't be enough for cookie baking.
"Akira, these cookies — can I take two bags to exchange with Takagi and Azigaya?"
Akira, who was still wiping down the table, nodded in agreement without even thinking.
They had managed to make three full bags of cookies — about ten per bag. Shouko had kept the fullest bag for him anyway.
The other two didn't matter to him.
Seeing he had no objections, Shouko took the two bags and exchanged them with the other girls.
After happily returning, she resumed cleaning. Akira hesitated for a moment before speaking:
"Shouko, can you give me half of the bag Takagi-san gave you?"
"What do you want to do?"
Shouko's guard instantly went up. Her hand stopped mid-wipe, eyes narrowing with suspicion.
Akira raised both hands defensively.
"Don't misunderstand. I just want to trade half of it with Nishikata."
He was genuinely worried — if he didn't explain clearly, she might put poor Takagi-san on a blacklist.
"Alright," Shouko finally nodded, though not without giving him one last suspicious glance.
She had spent enough time around Takagi to vaguely sense something was going on between her and Nishikata.
So she split Takagi's cookies in half and carefully packaged them into a new, pretty clear plastic bag.
"Call Nishikata over," she said, still a bit uneasy.
She believed him, but... what if?
"Okay."
Akira set down the rag and went off to fetch Nishikata.
But he stopped short when he spotted him already holding a bag of cookies with a dazed, goofy smile.
"...Forget it," Akira mumbled.
"What's wrong? Where's Nishikata?" Shouko asked as he returned.
"It's fine. That kid already got a bag from Takagi-san."
"Then let's go. I want to bring some back for Auntie, Yuzuru, and the others."
All the cleaning had been done by her while Akira had been out scouting. But there wasn't much to do — just some bowls and table wiping.
The floor and Mr. Higashi Ii's demo station were handled by the students on duty.
"Okay."
Akira and Shouko said goodbye to a few remaining classmates and left the baking classroom.
Time flew by, and it was already past 10 PM.
After taking the sleepy Shouko downstairs, Akira returned to his bed, lay down, and stared blankly at the ceiling.
Earlier that afternoon, he had returned home with three bags of cookies.
Not long after, the bag he and Shouko had made was devoured by Yuzuru and his mom.
He had only managed to grab two cookies.
He regretted it deeply.
He should have just eaten them on the way home...
The other two bags? They had been split among Aunt Yaeko, Granny Nishimiya, and his dad.
But Shouko had promised him — next rest day, she would make more just for him.
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