Sweets Box - Assort - 5

[verdantgrove]

 Location: Starmony Hall Kitchen

<That night>

Niki: Everyone got their aprons on okay? Did you all finish washing your hands too?

Tetora: Yup!

Hinata: Hiiro-kun took longer than expected to put on his apron, but he’s okay now!

Hiiro: Mhm. I washed my hands with soap as well, so I’m fully prepared.

Niki: Mhm mhm, great. Well, let’s start our cooking class!

Today we’ll be making hot chocolate! Wonder if I’ll come out of this with my stomach full and happy, or if I’ll starve in anticipation ♪

First things first, we’ve gotta melt the chocolate using a hot water bath, okay~?

Hiiro: A hot water bath? What on earth is that?

Niki: Ah, I’ll start you from there then.

Nahaha. Reminds me of how cute and innocent Rinne-kun was at first when I taught him about all these kinds of things, yeah~?

Hiiro: Hmm? Speaking of which, you knew my brother when he first came to the city, right? I had one thing that I wanted to ask you. I do wonder —  was he much like I am now? 

Niki: Ah! I can’t say even a word more! ‘Cause if I spill any more details about Rinne-kun’s past, it’ll come back to bite me later! Especially if I tell them to you!

Hiiro: Hmm. That’s unfortunate, but I suppose if Nii-san is unwilling to discuss it, it would be rude of me to pry.

Niki: Nahaha. You pick up on things so quickly; are you really sure you and Rinne-kun are brothers~?

I can’t tell you anything about Rinne-kun. But I can tell you anything you wanna know about cooking to make up for that, so feel free to ask me anything you want~ ♪ 

Moving on. A hot water bath is when you put a bowl in a pot of boiling water, and then you use the heat from the water to heat the chocolate inside the bowl.

Does anyone want to give it a try?

Tetora: Yeah! Yeah! I wanna try!

Niki: Oh? You sure are raring to go, huh~ Alright, I’ll show you how it’s done.

Tetora: Wooo! Aniki, I’ll do some manly cooking that wouldn’t make you ashamed to call me your sworn lil’ bro!

Hinata: Huh~? Tetsu-kun, are you really gonna be okay? You’re pretty bad at cooking, aren’t you?

If I’m gonna be honest, I feel like it might be better for you to try doing another part of the process?

Tetora: C’mon, you don’t gotta worry! I got some chocolate making experience before during ChocoFes, so I’m pretty confident ♪ 

I can’t show any weaknesses in front of the Karate Club’s newest member!

First things first, I’ll turn on the stove...

Niki: Yup, yup. Well, the first part is the most important one! This is pretty much just as you’d expect, but anyone can boil water, no matter how bad they are at cooking ♪ 

Well, Hinata-kun, while he’s doing that, can you and the little guy1 finely dice the chocolate and put it in the bowl for starters?

Hinata: Yuuup. I can handle all the stuff that needs quick fingers ♪ 

Hiiro: Everything has the potential to be a learning experience, after all. I shall give this my all as well.

Hinata: Well, check out how I use this knife~ You put your hand round like this, then start cutting like this, so you won’t cut your fingers with the knife...

Niki: Ooh. You are pretty dexterous~ Do you really need me to teach you?

Hinata: Ahaha. I’ve been cooking my own meals for a long time now. I’m used to this~♪ 

Hiiro: Fufu. You have many talents, don’t you, Hinata-kun? I’ll try learning through imitation.

Niki: Yup, there you go. Your cutting method’s a bit messy at times, but all in all it’s great work!

Tetora: Aniki, Aniki! I won’t let you down either! See, the water’s already starting to boil, yeah~?

Niki: Ooh. That was fast. Guess boiling water really is just too easy to do, huh?

Well, next, you’ll put the bowl these two got ready for you into the pot ♪ 

Tetora: Gotcha!

Once it’s boiled, put the bowl with the chocolate in the— 

Nwooooooooh!? My hand slipped!

Hinata & Hiiro: !?

Niki: The chocolate fell directly into the pot?! How’d that happen!?

Tetora: I-I don’t really know either!

I’ve gotta fix this now! Umm, if I splash some water on it— 

Niki: No, that’s all wrong! Cut the power! You’ll burn yourself if you put water on it!

Tetora: I-I got it! Uh, the power… is it this?

Nwaaaaaah! T-the pot burst into flaaaaaames!

Niki: Aah, you put it on tempura-frying mode! And now the safety device isn’t working right either, y’know!?

Goddammit, this is too dangerous, move! Getting injured in the kitchen would be a disgrace for a chef!

Huff, huff… I managed to get the fire out somehow. That was a close call...

We only just barely managed to get that out, so I’m glad we did, but even one little mistake would have made a disaster happen, okay!?

There’s such a thing as taking carelessness too far… Cooking isn’t something you should take lightly!

Tetora: Uu. I-I wasn’t trying to screw around...

I managed to learn how to deal with fire better through previous training, but even then, I ended up freaking out in front of you, Aniki. Like, I was all clumsy for some reason.

I guess cooking really just isn’t my thing then, huh?

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TL Notes

1: Niki refers to Hiiro as "little brother-san" throughout this story. Here's one instance of it.

 

Proofread by 310mc and Amagiiz.