Chapter 28: Episode 14 - Candy House (1)
"Okay, everyone! Ringo is being held captive in the witch's home," I pointed out through the gingerbread house's window.
"Let's bring down the witch by dropping these apples down the chimney to save Ringo," I instructed, pointing to the pine tree filled with candy apples.
Ikkun picked up his figurine and grabbed a small candy apple with it.
"Easily done… Take that!" He exclaimed, throwing the apple down the house's chimney.
THUD
"UGYAAAAA~" A loud, eerie voice emanated from the small house and everybody's eyes grew wide open.
~From inside the gingerbread house~
"You're too into it, Cafe," Chocolat said disturbingly as Cafe acted out in false pain.
"Aahhhahgh…" Cafe continued.
"Enthusiastic performance!" Caramel complimented with a cheery smile.
"Hehehe…" Fraise gave a warm chuckle as she watched.
~
"A… a voice came out of there—"
"N-no! It's ventriloquism," I chuckled nervously, pointing toward my mouth.
"UGYAAAA!" The voice screamed in agony again.
'Geez, Cafe, I didn't ask you for that much. Instead of making everyone get along, they're all going to have nightmares.'
"I'll drop in an apple to free Ringo, too!" Another kid joined in, dropping an apple down the chimney.
"OW~!" Cafe's voice went off again and I embarrassedly acted it out.
"OW~!"
"Me too."
"Arghh~!"
"Arghh~!" I acted out again.
I could hear Andou and Hanabusa laughing behind me, while I could feel the ominous stare coming from Kashino.
'Why... did my life have to come to this?'
Until everyone had a turn to drop apples down the chimney, Ikkun peered into the windows.
"Hey, looks like we took her down," the boy said, glancing at the marzipan figurine of the witch that fell over.
"Is that so? Now then everyone, let's count to 10 and take a look inside," I instructed, eyeing at the Sweets Princes standing behind me to join along.
"10! 9—" We counted together and the kindergarteners joined in without hesitance. Andou and Hanabusa didn't mind but I could tell Kashino hated every second of it.
As the countdown continued, fumbling and noises from inside the house were being made and the children looked at it questionably.
"4! 3! 2! 1!" The kindergarteners along with the sweets princes finished.
"Now then everyone, let's take a look inside," I suggested, picking up the roof of the house and placing it to the side.
The witch from before disappeared and the interior was set up with Ringo in an apron, a beautiful cake in the middle, and three tiny chocolate stools surrounding the small cake.
"Look at that, Ringo baked a cake and waited for us," I presented as every kid's face lit up.
"WOW!"
"But how?"
"Amazing, it's like a magic trick," the teacher added on.
From nearby, I could hear the sweets spirits wheezing from exhaustion.
"Keiko—she's a slave driver," Chocolat said, sitting down on the table along with Cafe, Caramel, and Fraise who were also tired out.
"Ringo, let's thank everyone that defeated the witch," I knelt down next to her, cuing that it was her moment.
The children looked at her with a straight face, awaiting her gratitude.
"Th… Than… THANK YOU, EVERYONE!!" Ringo thanked them awkwardly, her face flushing red from embarrassment.
Everyone stared at her blankly but then their faces grew to smiles, laughing.
"What's with that "everyone"?" Ikkun giggled.
"Are you some kind of rich kid?"
"Ringo, you're so funny!"
Ringo was confused but they all laughed along happily.
Though Ringo was glad that her classmates were by her side, she looked at Ayu sitting at a table alone. All of the other kids who were with her at first went to go see Ringo's cake.
"Uh…" Ringo asked her teacher shyly, pointing at her cake. "Can we put this next to Ayu's and play together…?"
The teacher looked at her in surprise but nodded her head willingly, giving out a sigh of relief. Their teacher moved the cakes together and the kids happily played with one another.
'Ringo… She's talking to them all by herself…'
"Thanks to the cake, her heart opened up," Andou's voice popped up from behind me as I witnessed the happy scene.
"Hmm," Kashino made a noise as if agreeing.
"Michiko… to think of the design to this extent," Hanabusa pondered.
"It's time to eat the cake," I announced and began slicing a piece of the cake for each kid who wanted one.
"Oh my, it smells like apples," the teacher wafted the aroma as I handed her a piece of the cake.
"To boost the aroma, we alternated between apple mousse and jelly," I explained to her.
"Heh—Ringo's cake tastes good!" Ikkun praised.
As Ringo took a bite, I decided to ask her.
"How is it, Ringo?"
Ringo's eyes flew open as she admired the taste.
"You know… it's completely different from the one my teacher made in Aomori… but it's equally as delicious," Ringo said with a confident look.
I gave a small smile as I watched everyone with happy smiles on their faces.
'That's maybe because everyone is eating the cake together… I guess I'm starting to understand how Mom viewed people. She always wanted to make others happy when she baked…'
I looked over at Ikkun who was eating the other cake.
'Oh, that's the cake Group B made.'
As if noticing my stare, he offered out a piece to me.
"Want a bite, Keiko?" He asked me, holding out his fork.
"Oh, sure…" I took a bite of the cake and closed my eyes. "It's super juicy."
'They mixed pieces of apple into the sponge. There's plenty of apple custard so it matches well while the texture is soft.'
I looked at the girls from Group B who stared back at me, their gazes still full of hate.
"Hmph!" They all turned around and walked away.
'Even though they do have the talent to make a nice cake, I still don't understand why they would do such a thing...'
"Um…" A shy voice spoke to me, pulling on my sleeves.
"Oh, Ringo," I turned around to face her and I knelt down to her level.
"Y… You know, the candy dolls? Everyone gave me theirs when I asked for it," Ringo said as she held her classmates' marzipan figurines.
"Really? That's great. Where's yours?" I asked her.
"I exchanged it with Ayu."
"Is that so?" I smiled at her. "Here, let's wrap these in a napkin so they don't melt." I grabbed a napkin and wrapped the figurines in it.
"Oh? You have a few crumbs on your mouth," I noticed and wiped it off for her.
"I like Onee-chan, you're kind of like a real big sister!" Ringo confessed and I gave a warm gaze.
'A big sister… That's right. I should call Haruto and Eiji today. They'll get mad at me if I don't call.'
"Onee-chan's cake… I love it!" Ringo gave me a big smile and a quick hug that I wasn't expecting, before running off with her face flushed red.
"Ringo is quite happy," Andou pointed out as I faced my head down.
'I never noticed how much I missed being called "Onee-chan" by those two boys back home… I guess I do miss them… Not only that, but I didn't know that making someone happy with a cake that I made would make me feel pleased.'
"Michiko?" Kashino questioned as I snapped out of my thoughts.
"Oh right, good job everyone, including the sweets spirits," I acclaimed as the spirits muttered both in dislike and joy.
'I want to hurry and give my family a call.'
"Well, I'll head back first. I have something I need to do," I explained to the rest of them, signaling for Fraise to follow along. We waved goodbye and exited the classroom.
~
As Keiko left, the sweets princes talked amongst themselves.
"She's on a high… I've never seen her like this before," Kashino claimed, looking back at Keiko whose figure could be seen at a distance.
"Maybe she feels lively because she made someone happy," Andou suggested. "What's wrong, Hanabusa?"
Hanabusa looked at the girl who got further away, deep in thought.
"Nothing, it's just… I was thinking her creativity is interesting. She instinctively understands what the other person is searching for. I think… there still might be a side to her that she hasn't shown us yet. Her skills are already advanced, but if she continues to improve on minor skills, she'll be unstoppable."
"Are you scared?" Kashino asked with a smirk.
"Honestly, I think we should all be scared of what's to come from her in the near future."