"These past few months, we've framed our focus to overcoming our weaknesses. There was a higher chance he'd bake a warm dessert, and since he was awful at that, we whipped him into shape until that issue was resolved."

"In other words," I summarized, "Koyuki brainwashed it out of him?"

"It's all Yuki's fault," Hayate agreed.

Nori clapped his shoulder. "Apologize."

"I will not!" He ripped away from us. "Chiaki's been a genius at frozen desserts for as long as I've known him. He put in zero effort and still followed any recipe he got his hands on to a T. Think about it. If he didn't put effort into it then, imagine now—"

"Participant Setoguchi appears to be mulling over what frozen dessert to make," Mr. Oto noted, as if on cue. "A full ten minutes have passed, you know..."

"Nyaha. If you don't hurry up, Chichi, Eru will leave you in her dust," Eru proclaimed as she mixed ingredients into a small bowl.

Her provocation was secondary to his concentration. Eyebrows furrowed, Chiaki remained rooted to his spot.

"Is—is Eru being ignored?"

"He can't think of a recipe?" Nori suggested.

Hayate whipped his head from side to side. "Aki's incredibly knowledgable."

"It's not that he can't pick a recipe," Koyuki agreed. "He's struggling to decide what recipe would be good enough to win. What an idiot. Just go with your gut like you usually do."

"Chiaki isn't that same baker," I said. "Back when he simply went with the flow, baking and eating whatever he was interested in..."

"He isn't baking for himself anymore, is that it?" Koyuki mussed his hair.

"In my opinion, this wouldn't have happened if Koyuki wasn't so pushy," I said.

"It all comes back to Yuki." Hayate nodded.

"Koyuki is the root of our problems," Nori concurred.

He fumbled, gritting his jaw. "You guys! Stop shoving the blame onto me! You equally egged him on. Especially you, Teruhashi. If I remember correctly, he said and I quote, "I'm doing this for Teru.""

"I'm innocent until proven guilty."

"Pouting doesn't automatically get you off the hook."

"It should. I'm cute."

I heard no objections.

If it wasn't against the rules, I'd tell Chiaki not to feel pressured for my sake and bake whatever he deemed appropriate.

Frowning, I gandered ahead.

Eru Onitsuka. From our first encounter, she'd been a puzzle. Out of the entire Cooking Club, she was the friendliest. Her spontaneity was off-putting, but more often than not, her intentions were pure. Maybe because of that, compared to the other members, I'd always found her to be inferior.

"The rest of us don't stand a chance," Ryoma answered.

My heart leapt to my throat. He'd separated from his team members to get a closer look. Slouched against the wall, arms crossed, his attention never left her.

"When it comes to frozen desserts, at least," he added. "It's the one thing that airhead excels at."

Koyuki hitched his chin at him. "Is that supposed to be a warning?"

"Aida let her personal feelings get involved. That's why she lost. The rest of us won't be so easy."

"Where does your bottomless confidence come from?" Nori asked.

Chiaki had begun working on something in that interval, something I couldn't quite place. Contrastingly, Eru finished with plenty of time to spare. Simpering, she skipped toward the judges. Of course, that wasn't the smartest idea because she ended up tripping flat on her face. Her plates crashed and her desserts splattered across the face of a single judge.

"Sorry, Ryoma," Koyuki snickered—the rest of us stifling our own laughs. "Can you repeat what you said earlier? I couldn't quite catch that."

Ryoma fumed, flushed complexion glaring. "That imbecile," he spat.

"Eru is so, so sorry! She apologizes!"

Wiping the whipped topping and ice cream off his suit with a towel Mr. Oto hastily supplied, the judge's eyebrow twitched uncontrollably. "Plate your treats again, Miss Onitsuka. Please."

"St-straightaway!" she squeaked.

Scrambling to her feet, she bolted back toward her station. The comedic situation stirred widespread amusement throughout the crowd. Once the mirth whittled down and Eru successfully re-plated her remaining treats and dawdled back up to the judging table, seriousness returned. The frozen lime cake gave off cool, chill vibes, a perfect treat on a hot summer day. Grounded almonds and ginger cookies at the bottommost crust layer, a spread of pineapple-coconut ice cream, topped with softened lime sherbet and a dab of whipped cream. Eru's explanation was punctuated by a titter.

"Eru's home country is super-duper hot year round so she designed this recipe for her citizens to enjoy."

"Citizens?" Mr. Oto echoed, tilting his head left and right.

"A treat to overcome the summer heat, huh?" Mr. Paul, having already indulged in the treat, offered a mere chuckle.

The remaining judges, even the one who'd gotten his outfit spoiled, couldn't stop smiling.

"It's remarkably refreshing," sighed one. "I can eat this all day."

"I'd have liked a bit more contrast in the flavours," the other offered. "Even with the whipped topping, it leans a bit heavily on the sour side, so a sweeter addition could balance it out."

Eru bobbed her head.

"When I think summer, I'm reminded of the flan my mother often baked for me when I was little."

"Flan, huh? That'd be nice to have right now."

In the end, she scored 17/20. Ryoma smouldered with indignation from his spot about the imperfect outcome but knowing the nature of this competition and that these were seasoned judges, a seventeen was something to be applauded for. The Cooking Club were the wild cards who made a full score—which was an extremely unnatural occurrence—common. Since Koyuki scored a perfect, I suppose he was an anomaly too.

Chiaki's treat took a while longer to complete. The audience held their breath in anticipation and eventually, he completed it. Similar to Etsu's his dessert was multiple layers. A rich chocolate cookie and pecan crust, with a smooth layer of whipped cream cheese, coffee mixture, milk, topping and chocolate syrup, garnished with remaining pecans and toffee bits on top. He apologized because it took longer to freeze than anticipated, and unanimously, the judges dug in. They relished in the exquisite coffee flavour and offered praises and vices alike.

"I understand there was a time constraint but next time, freezing it a few hours would give it a larger impact."

"Agreed. It should be a lot cooler and lighter to eat, especially on a blazing summer day."

"Maybe because I'm a bit of a coffee addict, I thought this was superb the way it is," Mr. Paul laughed. "It's a magnificent dessert, one you should take great pride in. Are you also a coffee lover?"

"Not... particularly."

"Baking with others in mind is important, but you should never forget to bake something you wholly enjoy. If you're not satisfied with it first, how do you expect to satisfy others?"

A 15/20.

Eru giddily pranced to reconvene with her members. Chiaki arrived before us, head lowered, shoes scuffing.

"Moral of the story, never listen to Ko," he mumbled.

"You!" Koyuki wrung an arm around his neck, constricting his airways. "Tell me—when and where did I formally instruct you to stop baking frozen desserts?"

"I had no time to spare because you're a merciless, demonic teacher. It's the same thing."

"Who're you calling demonic?!"

Nori and Hayate had to swoop in to separate them. I laughed from the sidelines. Emerging from the chaos, massaging his throat, Chiaki toddled in front of me. His green eyes flitted to the floor.

"I'm sorry, Teru."

"Why?"

"I said I'd win for you... I wanted to be of use to you... but I couldn't do anything."

I scooped his hand into mine. "Thank you for pushing yourself to learn to bake warm desserts for my sake. But, this competition is secondary. As long as we can have fun baking together that's all that matters to me. So, please don't hold back or prioritize baking certain treats because of me. Your frozen desserts are a blessing the world deserves."

Especially my stomach.

His fingers clasped the fabric of my sleeve. Then, he bent forward and pecked my cheek.

"Chiaki!"

"Sorry, sorry." He contentedly grinned. "You're too cute, Teru."

'Sorry' wasn't going to bring back the oxygen you stole!

I kept forgetting how desirable I was. I had to be more careful with my words and actions.

All the while I panted to regain my breath, the others yanked him backwards, reprimanding him.

"What's so appealing about this plain girl anyway?" Ryoma said, sotto voce.

Unfortunately, being as near as he was,
his remark was clear as day. He rolled his eyes at me, as if he intended that, then strolled onward.

"Get a move on, crybaby. It's my turn to wipe the floor with you."

"W-w-wa—"

He dragged Hayate by the collar before he had an opportunity to refute.