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"Udagawa-san, are you ready?" Sayo asked, tying the apron's ribbons around her waist before fastening them into a tight knot. Ako nodded, determination flaring in her scarlet eyes as Sayo laid out baking ingredients in front of her. "Good, let's start with what you hope to achieve in mind.""So… like my goal for this baking session?""I meant what kind of taste do you want your cookies to be." Ako raised both eyebrows, when she asked Sayo to help her bake Valentine's Day cookies for Rinko, she definitely wasn't expecting cookie image training."... Sayo-san, I didn't expect you to be the type that did image training…" Ako muttered, looking away as Sayo narrowed her eyes at her. "Okay okay, I want my cookies to taste delicious.""Be more specific.""What? Okay fine, I want my cookies to taste sweet with a hint of crunchiness and loads of chocolate chip on top. Is that more specific?""Indeed. At least I know that we need chocolate chips as well as more sugar." Sayo replied, pulling out an unopened bag of chocolate chips from one of the cabinets in the kitchen. "Udagawa-san, get the sugar container in the cabinet behind you.""Okay~" Ako turned around and was met with two containers each containing white powder of their own. "Uh… Sayo-san? Which one's the sugar?""Aren't there labels on them?" Ako turned both containers around, failing to see the labels Sayo had mentioned. "Hmm, I suppose you'll have to taste both of them.""That sounds unhygienic.""Any better ideas then? Every second you waste on arguing with me could have been used to bake your set of cookies for Shirokane-san." Sayo huffed, eyeing a clock that she had placed in the kitchen before Ako arrived.'There's still two hours left before Hina's band practice ends… then another half an hour for her to travel back here…'"Ah! I found it Sayo-san!" Ako grinned, going back to where Sayo was with one of the containers. "By the way, have you ever tried eating salt and sugar together? They taste really good!""You contaminated a perfectly good container of sugar with salt?!""Tsugumi-chan, they look really cute!" Tsugumi blushed at Kanon's praise, satisfied that the chocolate meant for Afterglow turned out well. "I wish I could say the same for my Michelle cookies…""They look wonderful Kanon-san!" Kanon nervously smiled, her cookies paled in comparison to Tsugumi's. While she was wrapping up the cookies for her band, Tsugumi brought out more ingredients from the table cabinets. "Hmm… Maybe she would prefer candy over chocolates…?""T-Tsugumi-chan? I thought you're already done?""Ahaha… yeah… um… this is actually for Sayo-san… It's our first Valentine's Day as a couple, so I wanted to go all out..." Tsugumi awkwardly chuckled, perhaps the amount of ingredients she brought out was far too much for one person to eat. Kanon nodded understandingly, gently setting aside the Michelle cookies. "Kanon-san?""I-I want to make something for Misaki-chan… but I'm not sure if it'll be a bother to her…""I'm sure Misaki-san will like whatever you make Kanon-san!""Y-Yeah… You're right…" Kanon looked at the spread of ingredients Tsugumi had brought out, amazed by the sheer quality in ingredients. "U-Um, do you still have the previous batch of ingredients? I-I don't think I should use any of these…""Hm? You can use these!""E-Eh? No um… they look… pricey…""What? Oh, they just cost a few thousand yen, it's perfectly fine!" Kanon gulped, rendered speechless by Tsugumi's perception on price.
'Fueeeeeee… they're probably worth more than my monthly salary…'
"Hmm hmm hmmmm~" Hina hummed to the chorus of 'Shuwarin Dreaming' as she made her way back home with a bag of fries, not expecting the smell of smoke to cloud her house. "Hm? Why does the house smell like smoke?""I told you, look at the temperature that's listed in Celsius! Why did you look at the temperature for Fahrenheit?!" Hina had entered the kitchen to Sayo yelling at Ako, who was desperately trying to fan out the fire in the oven with a hand towel. "Now look at what you've done!""How should I know that it was in Fahrenheit?! 350 degrees Celsius sounded perfectly logical to me!" Ako snapped back, throwing in the towel (both literally and metaphorically). "In the first place, why didn't you say something when I set it?!""You're not the only one who wants to make something for their girlfriend you know!""Tsugu-chin will love you even if you give her garbage for Valentine's Day!""Shirokane-san will probably love you more if you just give her chocolate over NFO!""How dare you-""Can you two, like, stop arguing for one sec and tell me why does the kitchen smell totally not boppin'?" Hina asked, temporarily stopping the argument between the two Roselia members. She surveyed the kitchen, with everything but the oven still intact. "Welp, at least the kitchen isn't burnt down!""Glad that you can still find a silver lining to our new problem." Sayo scowled at her sister, going as far as to flip her off. Ako didn't replicate Sayo's hand gesture, though she looked equally pissed. "Now we have to order a new oven.""Don't you mean that you guys need to find somewhere else to bake?""No, we need a new oven." Sayo sighed, glancing around the kitchen in search of her phone before realising that it was in her pocket the whole time. "Okay, who will help us at this hour?""Try Lisa-chi! I passed by the park just now and saw Yukina-chan feeding kitties some cat-approved chocolate!""Wow, that's a sad thing to do even for Yukina-san…" Hina laughed at Ako's comment while Sayo was busy liaising with Lisa if they could use her kitchen."She got herself confronted by Arisa-chan and Lisa-chi! Oh, I think I saw Moca-chan, Kanon-chan and Tsugu-chan too!""Do I even want to know why are they together?" Sayo asked, arching an eyebrow as Hina shrugged. Fortunately for them, Lisa had replied quickly and agreed to let them use her kitchen to bake their cookies. "Udagawa-san, let's head over to Imai-san's place now.""Okay! Hina-chan, are you coming along?" Ako asked much to Sayo's dismay. On one hand, Hina really wanted to eat the confections once they were done. On the other hand, the glare that Sayo kept shooting her way probably meant that if she tagged along, she wouldn't get to live to sneak a bite of any confectionery."Nah, I think I'll just stay at home and clean up. You guys have fun without me." Hina shook her head, earning herself an approving smile from her sister.'Huh, I guess onee-chan really didn't want me to tag along.'"Um… Tsugumi-chan? I know you said that you wanted to go all out for her… but isn't that a bit too much even for Sayo-san…?" Kanon asked as Tsugumi laid out the last of Sayo's portion on the kitchen table, an uneasy smile on her face. 'T-That's really a lot… and such high quality too…'"Y-You think so? I kinda got carried away…" Tsugumi replied, staring at a chocolate cake she had successfully baked. 'Kanon-san does have a point…'"A-At least they look good! I-I'm sure Sayo-san will appreciate the effort you put into these chocolate!""S-Still… maybe I made too much…" Apart from the cake, there were cookies, chocolate, candy and chocolate-coated marshmallows. "M-Maybe Moca-chan wouldn't mind eating some of them?""Fueeee… It seems like a waste to give it all to her though…" The two girls sighed, it was too much for one person to consume them all, maybe even for Moca. "Ah! Why don't you give it to the rest?""Afterglow? I'm not sure if they could eat that much…""No, I mean to our friends! For example Lisa-chan, Arisa-chan and Yukina-san…""That's a great idea! Thanks Kanon-san!" Tsugumi beamed, relieved to know that the confectionery wouldn't go to waste. "I should bake more of these then!""W-Wait no, t-that's counter-productive!""Minato-san, it's almost six." Sayo said as Roselia ended with 'Opera of the Wasteland'. Yukina nodded, aware that Sayo had to leave early for reasons unknown. "By the way, I've made cookies for everyone in Roselia.""Wait really?! Oh my god, I thought you're only gonna make it for your girlfriend~!" Lisa gushed as Sayo started to hand out neatly wrapped packets of cookies to the rest. "What about you Ako?""Bweh?! Um… due to the demon of sloth overtaking my hands yesterday… I only made enough for Rinrin." Ako hastily replied as she pulled out her own bag of cookies, thrusting it into Rinko's hands. Lisa pouted, her disappointment disappearing the moment Sayo handed her a bag of cookies. "I-I hope you like it Rinrin!""Is this… supposed to be a wizard…?" Rinko asked as she examined Ako's batch of cookies. Ako hesitatingly nodded, worried that the shape turned out wrong despite her best efforts. "They look… delicious Ako-chan… thank you.""YES!" Ako exclaimed as she broke into a dance sequence, too overcome with emotions to express herself in words. Lisa watched in bemusement while Yukina examined the bag she received as Sayo packed her guitar into the case."I'm surprised you spent some time baking cookies for us Sayo.""Oh, those are the failed batches while baking the perfect batch for Hazawa-san." Sayo casually corrected, heaving her guitar case over her shoulder. "With that-""Whoa whoa whoa, hold on!" Lisa grabbed Sayo's arm, preventing her from leaving the studio. Sayo groaned, deliberately rolling her eyes to express her displeasure."What is it Imai-san? I really have to get going soon.""First of all, ouch? You gave us failure cookies? That's kinda mean you know." Sayo rolled her eyes, it wasn't as if she gave out inedible cookies. "Second of all, you need to calm the heck down because Tsugumi loves you and wouldn't mind if you're a tad late.""She sounded eager when she told me to head over to her place before the sun sets. With that, see you next practice.""Hang on- ah forget it, she's gone." Lisa sighed as Sayo broke into a run, the door slamming behind her. Lisa held up Sayo's batch of cookies, examining it with scrutiny. "Hmm, looks pretty great to me. Wonder why she said that these were failures.""Does it matter? All I know is that they taste extremely sweet and I'm looking forward to getting diabetes." Yukina commented as she scarfed down Sayo's cookies, not bothering about decorum amongst her band members."Y-Yukina! Eat them slowly!"'I hope Sayo-san likes what I've made for her…' After giving out most of the confections Tsugumi had made yesterday, the table now only had the chocolate cake and a small bag of chocolate. 'Was it too much? Hina-san looked happy when I gave her the bulk of it…'"Hazawa-san." Sayo panted as she entered the cafe, her legs threatening to give out in the next few seconds. "Sorry for being late.""S-Sayo-san?! Are you alright?" Tsugumi went over to where Sayo was and helped her over to the table where she was previously sitting. Sayo nodded, her guitar case nearly crashing to the floor had she not supported it in time."Thank you Hazawa-san." Now that she was seated on a chair, she was able to fully take in the spread in front of her. It worried the guitarist, for she had only prepared one measly batch of cookies in comparison to the cake and chocolates Tsugumi had made. "It's… It's very impressive Hazawa-san, they look lovely.""A-Ahaha… thanks? I uh… got carried away so I gave out the rest to my friends…" Tsugumi replied, mildly disappointing Sayo as she would willingly finish everything Tsugumi made. The thought that someone else apart from Sayo received something from her girlfriend sparked a small twinge of jealousy.'Sayo, don't get jealous over such a trivial matter. Hazawa-san is allowed to give gifts to her friends and that doesn't mean she's cheating on you.' Tsugumi didn't notice the slight change in Sayo's expression and gently pushed the bag of chocolates to her with a smile on her face. "Did you spend a long time making these?""It took longer than I expected, but for you it's worth it!""I see…" Sayo mumbled as she took out her bag of cookies, placing it on the table. "It's not much, and it certainly can't compare to your quality, but I hope you'll accept it.""Thank you so much Sayo-san! U-Um, you can start with the cake first if you want to!" Tsugumi blushed, picking up the bag as though it was something precious. Sayo's face flushed a bright red as she watched her girlfriend treating her gift as though it was the most valuable thing on Earth."By the way, why did you ask me to come before the sun sets?""Oh! That's because I wanted to spend time with you during my favourite part of the day!" At that moment, a bright orange glow cut into the cafe, bathing most of the tables in a warm orange. "Ah! The sun's setting!""... It's beautiful." Sayo commented, glancing at Tsugumi, who was mesmerised by the setting sun. "It's romantic of you, Hazawa-san.""I-Is that a bad thing?""Not at all." Sayo smiled softly, slicing the cake with a knife (that was conveniently hidden behind the cake) and placing it on the paper plates Tsugumi had prepared beforehand. "Hazawa-san?""Yes Sayo-san?""I love you." With three simple words, Tsugumi was reduced to a blushing mess who can neither focus on the sunset nor on her girlfriend."I-I-I love you too…""Oh heya onee-chan! Guess what your girlfriend gave me for Valentine's~" Sayo was greeted by her twin sister showing off a bowl of candy, a smirk on her face as she waited for Sayo's reaction. "Well~?""What do you want me to say? Hazawa-san already told me that she had given out some of the confectionery she had originally prepared for me to her friends… wait, she considers you a friend?""Hey! That's mean!" Hina shot back, though the cheeky grin on her face indicated that she didn't mind. "Oh yeah, so Ran-chan approached me in school-""Can I just say that I'm disturbed that people from Afterglow consider you as a friend?""Again, very mean. Where was I? Oh, right. Ran-chan approached me in school and she told me to pass on some friendship chocolate to you!""Mitake-san did? That's… surprising to say the least." Sayo muttered, it was strange that Ran, who she had literally no contact with, gave her something for Valentine's. "I guess… thanks for telling me?""I didn't know where to put it, so I just tossed it on your bed. Hope you don't mind?""Did you touch anything?""Of course not! Who do you think I am?""My sister. Anyways, I'm going up to take a shower." Sayo made her way up the stairs, stopping halfway as she glanced over her shoulder. "Save some of those candy for me.""Okay~ They do taste boppin' after all!" Sayo nodded in acknowledgment, disappearing up the stairs as Hina continued to munch on the candy she received from Tsugumi. 'Hmm… Should I have told onee-chan in advance that Ran-chan wrote a threatening letter with regards to Tsugu-chan?'"HINA! WHY DOES THE CHOCOLATE FROM MITAKE-SAN LOOKS LIKE IT WAS DROPPED IN THE DRAIN?!" Hina winced, nearly choking on the candy.
'I should probably first figure out how to convince onee-chan that the chocolate was already like that when I got it...'