The Bakery and The Hotel

The bus ride to Hirosaki Castle was short, and so was the stroll through the park. The park was mainly visited during the spring because, together with the castle grounds, it was one of Japan's most famous cherry blossom viewing spots.

Ringomori said, "The trees are better cared for and nurtured than most places. The apple farmers apply their harvesting techniques and encourage the clusters of buds to achieve their maximum beauties and longevity. Look, even in the autumn-near-winter, the virescent leaves are able to maintain the beauty of the park."

If we visited during the peak blossom season, perhaps then we would have stayed longer, but once we toured the historical castle and its botanical garden, it began sprinkling over the city. The news about a coming rainstorm hitting the northernmost cities persuaded us to leave for the hotel earlier than expected. A little past 5:30pm, the nimbuses conquered the skies and blanketed us from the setting sun.

We were walking along the city's sidewalks nearing the hotel.

"Awh, we [I] doubt we'll be able to get any more meals for the rest of the night. We [I] like eating midnight snacks."

"That's a shame, but maybe we can go to some fast food place and buy somethin' before it closes."

"Wait!" she ordered, coming to a full stop. "How about we [I] bake something! We [I] can use the apples we picked to make a dessert for us. Can we do that, for old times' sake?"

I thought about it, I have been sayin' I want to try her bakin', and it seems like she wants to get back into the swing of it, but there's a few problems with that.
"That sounds good and all, but how would we [You] bake at a hotel?"

My question left her stumped, her excitement clouded her situational awareness. In spite of that, she determinedly pulled out her phone and scoured the maps of the city. She showed me a location.

"There's a family-owned bakery neighboring the hotel. I…I'd have to ask to use their kitchen, but I don't think I'm persuasive enough…to ask if I could borrow it for baking…"

For the second time, her enthusiasm sullied. She was reverting to her reserved self by simply thinking of a burdensome task. I had a decision to make.

We can just wait until we get back to the orphanage to bake, but I kind of want to try it here in the prefecture of apples. She seems eager to use her favorite apples too…
After a moment of thought, I said, "I'll do it. I'll ask the family and you don't have to worry about it."

On the darkening night, the path we were walking had illuminated in one singular spot, and it wasn't due to street lamps, but because her incandescent smile returned. Leading the charge, she led me to a grocery store to quickly buy the ingredients she needed, then we rushed over as quickly as we could to the bakery; the raindrops became more frequent.

The bakery was small, no bigger than the pie shop. It was nearing 6pm, which was the time most places closed their businesses. There were still no flood warnings in the city but people had already emptied the streets. We entered the bakery and were the only two customers there.

"Oi, welcome to our bakery!" hollered a female worker. "How can I help ye'two?"

She seemed a little over our age, which benefited us.

"I'm gon' close up shop soon, so be quick with what ye'want."

Ringomori shyly stood by the door while lightly swinging the apple park and grocery bags like a pendulum. I took a deep breath and first stared at the floor as I approached the counter, but lifted my eyes to meet the worker.

"H-Hey, um…we're not actually here to b-buy anythin'... B-But we're willin' to pay for another one of your s-services."

"Eh?"
The worker held her head with her palm and planted her elbow on the countertop. She flickered between me and Ringomori, and a strange smile appeared.
"I see how it is. Ye'want me, a girl, to join you and another girl for a night's session."

I was dazed and she could tell. The gears in my head halted as I tried to make sense at how she came to that conclusion. Luckily she saved me from a brain implosion by laughing aloud like a hyena.

"I'm just joking around. What're ye'tryna do?"

The reason she could joke around like that was because she saw herself socially superior to me and took charge of the conversation. I took her second question as an opportunity to make a better, more effective impression. I steeled my resolve and demanded her eyes.

"I was curious to see if y-you and your family would allow my friend to borrow your k-kitchen to bake a quick dessert."

She was understandably confused, repeating my request aloud trying to figure out the meaning behind it.

I said, "Due to the incomin' storm, we aren't able to eat later tonight and my friend wanted to bake somethin' for us to share at the hotel next to here. The hotel won't allow a seventeen year-old girl to use their kitchen, even if she's well experienced. I-I know our request is outlandish and selfish, but it's worth a shot."

The worker didn't answer straight away.
"Say, ye'two aren't from here, right? Your dialects are wild."

Ours are wild?
"We're from Hokkaido, and we came here to celebrate our joint birthdays. One of the main reasons I'm askin' you to let her bake is 'cause bakin' and apples are two of the things she loves the most."

She looked past me to Ringomori once more.
"She seems cowardice, ye'sure she can bake? She doesn't seem like someone who enjoys anything."

My left eye sort of twitched upon hearing that, but I didn't falter my resolve.
"Well, you're simply not lucky enough to see her true self yet."

The worker stared at me as I awaited an answer to my request. If she had more questions, I had answers prepared, if she had more assumptions, I had the true reality.

She said, "By the way, is that all ye'two really are, just friends?"

My resolved cracked and my head naturally dropped the displays of pies and other pastries inside the counter. There was no definitive answer to that question, at least at that moment.
"J-Jury's still out," I said.

"Haha, you're funny. Anyways, introduce me to her, I'll let her use my kitchen."

I raised my head with widened eyes.

"My parents aren't home and you've made me real curious about her."

I said "Really!" aloud and must have caught Ringomori's attention. Turning around, she had already waddled a few steps and I motioned my hand to call her over and told her the good news.

I placed the paper bag of Toki apples on the counter and removed the wreaths and candles, then the female worker took it into the kitchen. I requested Ringomori to hand over the apple park bag with the RONDselia stuff.
"Follow her to the kitchen, she'll show you around."

She was excited, yet confused.
"Wait, where are we [You] going?"

"I––We're [I'm] goin' to check in at the hotel while we [You] bake. Once everythin's okay and all, we'll [I'll] pick us [You] up."

She was hesitant to agree, most likely because she didn't want to be alone. Even so, she steeled herself and agreed to it.
"Be careful, okay? Don't join the parents."

"Yeah, we [I] will. Don't join the parents."

The worker came out and said, "What's the hold up? I wanna see ye'bake!"

"Sorry..."
Ringomori timidly waddled behind the counter to the back of the bakery.

Before the worker could follow, I called out to her. I was going to say "Take care of her" but I realized I had been talking to her using the wrong pronouns.

"Take care of us [Her]," I said.

I left the bakery and went to the hotel.

The sun finally fell behind the mountains and surrendered the sky to the storm. The sky was nothing but emptiness, and the ground was dominantly water. I hurriedly entered the hotel and saw it packed with people who were as soaked as I was.

Many were at the front desk, probably desiring to book a room last minute. I headed towards a more emptier section of the lobby to ask about my reservation. There was a man at the front desk who handled that.

"Hello mister," I said while wiping the raindrops from my face. "I have two hotel rooms booked under 'Vieira Chamaru.'"

The man clacked his keyboard on the hotel computer.
"Yes, I have your reservation right here, sir. We have actually been awaiting your arrival…due to an unfortunate change."

My eyebrows lowered.
Change? Did we lose both our rooms? Or…

"Due to the influx of people taking shelter from the storm, the hotel has had to combine parties with multiple rooms into a lesser amount to open up space. This…includes you, sir."

Right, it did include us. We were originally meant to sleep in two different rooms, but now we had to share one for the night.