✤
Since today was our last chance to study before the exams started, I wasn’t going to Himeko’s place for once. Instead, I was walking straight back to my own dorm with Kirara.
This gave her a chance to ask her burning question. “Well? What is it you’re so excited to make?”
“Good question. I’m not sure yet.”
“What? Why did you act all confident if you haven’t even decided? Besides, what you said in the Sky Salon really made it sound like you already knew.”
“Oh, I know what I’m making. I just don’t know what it is yet.”
“Huh? You’re not making sense, Misaki.” She lightly bumped my shoulder with hers.
“I should have a better idea tomorrow,” I replied vaguely. “I think it’ll be okay.”
“Come on! I still don’t have a clue what you’re talking about!”
She kept looming closer and closer and closer, and as I inched back, I ended up being pushed off the main path. At this rate, the two of us would be running away into the woods together, so I forced her back and decided to explain the concept to her.
“Listen. Here’s what I’m planning to make.”
I didn’t think anyone was eavesdropping, but I whispered it softly into her ear just in case.
When I finished, Kirara exclaimed, “Really?!” Then she pondered a moment. “Hmm. I can see why it would work. We should be able to get the ingredients as long as none of them are too obscure, and I don’t think it would be beyond our capabilities. Are you sure it’s allowed, though? It feels like we’re kind of pushing it.”
“Lady Saeko said it would be absolutely fine. Besides, it’ll be you and I who do the actual preparation.”
“Fair enough.”
It didn’t take much to persuade Kirara in this case. One of the Sky Salon’s senior members had said it, after all.
“Oh, I just had another idea,” Kirara said suddenly.
“You did?”
“Why don’t we ask Mei to make it? It’ll be the best version ever.”
I blinked. “I’m sure it would, but we definitely can’t do that. We’d be revealing our hand to the enemy.”
Kirara chuckled in response to my chiding tone. “I know, I know. Still, if we get a chance later on, we should definitely ask her.”
Still laughing, she ran on ahead.
“Yeah, I suppose!”
I chased after her, thinking about how I would’ve liked—no, absolutely loved to try Mei’s version.
✦ ✦ ✦
✤
My exams didn’t go overly well or overly badly. If I had to decide, I’d say I had a good feeling about them overall, which was all thanks to Himeko.
That applied to all the normal subjects I would’ve taken at a regular school, anyway. I was on my own for the maid-specific subjects exclusive to the Domestic Arts program. Himeko couldn’t help me with those, so I was really being tested on my own abilities.
Having said that, Kirara and I, along with our roommates, had prepared really well for these tests, so there weren’t too many answers I got stuck on.
“Whew!”
After the third day of exams was over, I heaved a huge sigh of relief. I felt like I was lifting my head out from underwater.
Next to me, Kirara did the same. “They’re finally over. Do you think you’ll get good scores?”
“Passable ones, I guess. I doubt I failed anything. How about you?”
“I think I’ll get grades worthy of Lady Kagura’s Seraph.”
She sounded pretty confident. She even smirked and let out a small chuckle.
With one big source of stress out of the way, it was time to focus on the effort to lure in Lady Sakura. Our task now was making the sweet dish that we would serve to her at the tea party. The exact details of what we’d be making had become clear on the first day of exams; we’d then made the necessary arrangements over the following two days and were ready for a trial bake today now that we were free.
“Okay, Misaki. Let’s get going.” Kirara stood up, ready to crack the whip.
“Yeah!”
As I rose from my seat, I looked over at Sara. She was looking back at the same moment, so our gazes met.
“Sara,” I said, “we’re getting Lady Sakura to join the Sky Salon for sure, so look forward to it!”
“Indeed. I’ll simply obey my mistress’s decision, whatever it may be, but I wish you jolly good luck nonetheless.”
Although her words came off a bit cold, there was a kind smile in her eyes.
✦ ✦ ✦
✤
To make our dessert, we’d arranged to borrow Erisu’s École Kitchen. On one hand, this was technically the enemy’s territory since the owner was a Paradise Palace member. On the other, since we had to make enough of our confection to serve everyone at the tea party, the Sky Salon’s kitchenette would never have been up to the task.
Most importantly, Lady Erisu had also agreed not to tell Lady Asuka what we were making. She said this was her repayment to me for all the help I’d given her in getting her restaurant back on its feet.
Because of the exams, school had ended pretty early, so we got to Erisu’s École Kitchen before it opened. They no doubt had a bunch of preparation to do before opening, but we were grateful to at least be able to borrow their kitchen until they started with that.
“Hello,” I said as we entered.
Someone came to greet us—unexpectedly enough, it was Erisu herself. “Welcome!”
“You’re here early, Lady Erisu.”
She met my surprise with a faux-innocent smile, like a child who’d successfully pulled off a prank. “Our exams are at the same time, but the Societal Arts school building is closer to here, so I was able to get here first.”
“That makes sense.”
“Yukina, Hanaka, Mizuki! Misaki and Kirara are here. Can you show them how to use the kitchen?”
“Yes, milady!”
“Will do!”
“Leave it to us!”
Now that the restaurant was thriving, all three of them wore confident smiles. They even sounded more relaxed.
“Follow me, please,” said Hanaka, leading the way. “The first step is disinfecting the surfaces!”
Step by step, we learned the ropes and devoted ourselves to making our confection.
The thing we were making wasn’t overly complicated as such, so it didn’t give us any major difficulties. Of course, we wanted it to be as delicious as possible. Measuring out all the ingredients properly was essential, and that part was kind of difficult. In fact, given how many we had to make, figuring out how much we needed of everything was the first hurdle.
Once we’d gotten past that, the next step was making enough for the people around us so we could do a trial run.
“Thank you for waiting!” I announced as I served the dish to Lady Erisu and her Exousias, who were all seated at a table.
Seeing it, Lady Erisu looked a little bewildered. “I thought the presentation would be a bit more spectacular. It looks kind of ordinary.”
“Hmm, yeah,” I agreed. This was the unavoidable reality. “I guess it is pretty plain.”
“Well, maybe the taste makes up for it.” Without another word, she silently ate a few mouthfuls. Then she murmured, “No, it tastes pretty normal as well.”
The other three followed up with their impressions.
“It’s fairly tasty, right?”
“Yeah. It’s the kind of thing that’s complicated because it’s so simple.”
“It’ll be an uphill struggle to beat Mei’s goods with this, though.”
Their feedback was pretty muted, which was no big surprise. They’d eaten sweets made by Mei countless times, and there was absolutely no way anything Kirara and I had made could measure up.
“Don’t worry, we’re well aware of that. We’re not aiming to beat Mei in terms of taste. This is the dish—it is what it is, basically—so as long as it’s not actually unpleasant to eat, it should be fine.”
All three of them expressed some doubts.
“Really? This is the final version?”
“Are you sure it’ll be okay?”
“It feels like there’s something we’re missing.”
I knew we’d get comments like this. The awkward part was that we’d only ever read the recipe; we hadn’t eaten the real thing. We couldn’t be totally sure that it was supposed to taste like this.
We’d considered seeking out the real thing, but in the end, we’d decided it was better for us to bake it ourselves. That would make it all the more special.
We weren’t aiming to steal victory with the most delicious entry imaginable. That didn’t mean we couldn’t compete, however. With this, we could go toe-to-toe with Mei.