Cake and Cowardice

The morning air was crisp with spring, the city bustling, but I walked toward school without noticing any of it. In my head, like a scratched record, yesterday’s scene in the park kept replaying over and over.

The shade of the tree. The kitten I’d saved — ungrateful, fluffy little thing. And her. Minami Rin, with that light, barely-there, but incredibly warm smile of hers.

“Why won’t that image get out of my head?” I muttered under my breath, kicking a pebble that had ended up in my path.

Okay, fine, I’ll admit it — in that moment, she was… cute. Really cute. But that doesn’t erase everything else! She’s weird. Completely, unpredictably, catastrophically weird! She feeds me with her own chopsticks, scares me half to death with a single look, and runs my nervous system completely ragged. All I wanted was a normal school life. A quiet one. An unremarkable one.

I don’t want anything to do with her, I told myself firmly, approaching the school gates. We’re too different. That’s final. Probably…

That last word rang out a little unconvincingly in my head, but I brushed the doubt aside and marched resolutely into the classroom.

I headed for my seat and suddenly froze. Someone was sitting at my desk.

It was a petite girl, turned to face Minami’s desk. Her blonde hair was pulled into two neat pigtails, each tied off with a butterfly-shaped ribbon. She was chattering away animatedly about something, gesturing with her hands.

I walked closer and cleared my throat, politely but a little uncertainly.

“Ahem. Excuse me…”

The blonde fell silent instantly and spun around. Two huge, incredibly bright blue eyes stared up at me. She was gorgeous — like she’d stepped straight off the cover of a teen magazine.

She yelped and shot up out of my chair like a bullet.

“Oh no! I’m so sorry, is this your desk?” Her voice was bright and musical.

“Y-yeah, it’s fine,” I said, a little thrown by how dramatic her reaction was.

The girl didn’t seem in any hurry to leave. She narrowed her big eyes slightly, sized me up from head to toe, and suddenly tilted her head to one side.

“Wait a second… You’re Kuroki?”

I froze. How did this cute, obviously-popular girl know my name? I shot a bewildered glance at Minami, who was sitting in her usual relaxed pose, cheek propped on her hand.

“Yes, Nino. That’s Kuroki,” Minami confirmed in her perfectly calm, utterly emotionless voice. Then she added a sentence that turned my entire world upside down: “My friend.”

Wait. What?!

Something short-circuited in my brain. Friend? She’d called me… a friend? Seriously? This terrifying, unshakable girl considered me her friend?!

While my brain was busy displaying a “404 Error,” the blonde broke into a wide grin and held out her hand.

“I’m Nino Mizuki! Rin’s best friend. Nice to meet you!”

“K-Kuroki Sota,” I managed to get out, shaking her small hand uncertainly.

Nino’s eyes narrowed slyly, and she leaned in a little, switching to a playful, conspiratorial tone.

“You know, Kuroki-kun, Rin talked my ear off about you yesterday. Told me all about your heroic cat rescue! And, just between us…” she flicked her eyes toward the unfazed Minami. “This is the first time Rin’s ever told me about a guy. I just had to come meet you in person!”

My face flooded with color instantly. I didn’t know where to look or what to say. Minami had told her friend about me? And called it a “heroic act,” when I’d nearly died of fear and humiliation up there?!

To my immense relief, the school bell rang at that exact second.

“Oh, I’ve gotta run to my class!” Nino waved at us. “See you, Kuroki-kun! Bye, Rin-rin!”

She fluttered off into the hallway. I slowly sank into my chair and looked over at Minami. She didn’t even glance my way, just turned toward the board, waiting for the teacher.

The rest of the day passed in a fog. Teachers talked about something or other, someone solved problems at the board, and I just sat there, staring a hole into the back of the head of the student in front of me, thinking about only one thing.

She thinks of me as a friend. We barely even know each other. And yet… a friend.

When the bell rang for the last class, I started packing up my things unhurriedly. Then a shadow fell across my desk.

I looked up. Minami loomed over me.

“You’re coming with me,” she declared, brooking no argument.

It didn’t sound like a question. It sounded like a verdict.

My heart gave a nervous lurch. What did she want? Where was she taking me? A showdown behind the school? No, she’d said we were friends…

I didn’t stand a chance against that heavy, cold stare. I silently slung my bag over my shoulder and trudged after her.

The whole way from school, we walked in complete silence. Minami, shoulders slightly hunched, walked ahead, while I trailed a bit behind, trying to guess our destination. We turned onto a small shopping street and stopped in front of a cozy building with panoramic windows and a cream-colored sign. A divine aroma of fresh pastries and vanilla wafted out from inside.

A bakery? Why were we here?

Minami pushed open the glass door, and a bell jingled. We stepped inside. Behind a glass display case holding dozens of stunning-looking pastries stood an attractive woman in an apron. She had the same dark hair as Minami, just pulled back into a bun.

“Hey, Mom,” Minami said from the doorway.

The woman looked up at her daughter, then her gaze shifted to me. Her eyes went round as saucers. A small dessert box she’d been holding slipped from her fingers and landed on the counter with a dull thud.

“Mom, this is Kuroki,” Minami stated flatly, as if remarking on the weather.

“H-hello!” I panicked, launching into a ridiculous series of bows right there in the middle of the shop. “I’m Kuroki Sota! I’m just your daughter’s classmate!”

The woman blinked, snapped out of it, and quickly tucked back a loose strand of hair.

“Oh… good afternoon. I’m Minami Taki, Rin’s mother. Welcome…”

Before we could finish exchanging pleasantries, Minami grabbed the sleeve of my blazer and pulled me behind the counter, through a staff door. We walked down a short hallway and found ourselves in… an ordinary living room. A couch, a TV, a small low table on a tatami mat.

Cold sweat broke out all over me. It finally hit me.

I was at a girl’s house. Me. At a girl’s house.

“Sit at the table. Wait,” Minami commanded, and disappeared into the kitchen.

I obediently knelt down at the table, hands folded on my thighs like a model student. My heart was pounding so hard it felt like it might crack my ribs.

A couple of minutes later, Minami came back with a tray. On it were two cups of tea and two little plates with absolutely gorgeous slices of strawberry cake. She set the tray down on the table, but instead of sitting across from me… she sat down right beside me. Too close, again. That same sweet, maddening scent of vanilla hit my nose.

“W-what’s all this for?” I squeaked, trying to press myself into the far edge of the cushion.

“To thank you. For saving the cat,” she replied. Her expression was just as calm and couldn’t-care-less as it was during math class.

She picked up a small dessert fork, carefully cut off a piece of the cream-covered sponge cake, turned to me, and held it right up to my face.

“Ah,” she said.

My entire short life flashed before my eyes.

“T-that’s not necessary, Minami-san!” I started slowly leaning backward, trying to escape the advancing fork. “Really! I can feed myself! I have hands!”

She didn’t budge an inch.

“Ah,” she repeated insistently, leaning in a little further.

And at that exact moment, the door from the hallway opened.

Minami’s mother stood in the doorway. Her gaze was locked onto a scene worthy of a Renaissance painting: her daughter, completely composed, holding out a forkful of cake toward the lips of a tomato-red boy crawling backward across the tatami.

Minami and I both turned our heads at the same time toward the woman frozen in the doorway. A ringing, unbearably awkward silence fell.

Ding!

A sharp notification sound from my phone tore through the silence like a starting pistol. My survival instinct blared like a siren.

I leaped to my feet so fast I nearly flipped the table.

“Oh! That’s my mom! I’m needed at home right now! A pipe burst!” I blurted out in a stream of nonsense, bowing in every direction. “Thank you for the treat! Goodbye!”

I spun around and practically flew out of the room, shot past Minami’s shocked mother, tore through the bakery, and burst out onto the street, gulping down the evening air like a fish washed up on shore.

I ran all the way to the station without looking back.

Only once I got home and locked my bedroom door did I collapse onto my bed and howl into my pillow. Guilt swallowed me whole. She’d invited me over. She’d wanted to thank me with dessert. And I… I’d acted like an idiot, lied to her, and run off without even saying a proper goodbye.

I rolled onto my back and stared up at the ceiling.

“God, I’m such an idiot,” I groaned into the empty room.

Tomorrow… Tomorrow, I’m definitely going to go up to her, look into those terrifying eyes of hers, and apologize for being such a coward. Definitely.