Reincarnated Into A Dead Woman's Body In Another World-Chapter 288: Interlude - 7: A Cake to Bake

"See ya around!" Daiyu left the two in the main foyer with a wave. "Tell me if there’s anything cool in Downtown."

"Will do," Jotou replied. "We can do the disguises once we’re out, right?" an embarrassed Jotou whispered into the elf’s ear.

"Mhm, though I can also do it here," she hushed back in glee. Asobi wore a long green skirt and black shirt; around her collar she had knotted a little white ribbon as a tie. 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

"It’ll never stop surprising me to see you in anything other than your suit," Hotaru walked into the foyer, her fangs glistening.

Asobi giggled, "I like my suit. The shirt’s so soft, the blazer is so comfy—my hat and my bowtie are the finishing touches!" she flourished her wand. "And now that it’s all adventuring gear, I can wear it all the time and never have to wash it.

Although... should I wear other things more?" she peered to the redhead.

"Adventuring attire’s nice and convenient, but different outfits can present you differently, that’s all." Hotaru hummed, "Alright, have fun at work; if there’s anything illegal going on, let me know."

"I make no promises," Jotou replied.

Hotaru glared...

Asobi took Jotou by the arm, "Come on Jotou, let’s go get drugs!" and led her out the palace.

"What? Hey, hold on! NO DRUGS!" Hotaru shouted before the two fled. Asobi giggled like a gremlin, painting a smile across the blonde’s lips.

"I’ll be back Aru!"

Hotaru let out a longwinded sigh and shook her head. She stepped back into the palace, going back to her business.

_

Around the inner foyer doors she stood; leaned against the wall, she rolled a purplish-bronze marble in between her fingers. The little ball of metal rings whirled in her palm.

She flicked it into the air, only to warp it back into her palm with purplish-black shadows. She heard the palace doors in the main foyer just shut, meaning that Jotou and Asobi had left not but a few seconds ago.

The marble spun and spun, whilst her mind became spun with thoughts. How useful was a detective who was doing nothing? Months had passed and any corrupt official she could find, she had already reported.

Beyond this, anyone actually good at being corrupt would know how to shut down any suspicion. Meaning, without a proper lead or accusation, the detective couldn’t really go tracking down officials.

If legality or permits were the matter that’d be one thing, but it was another thing to go on wild goose chases, hoping to find some official who was corrupt—no, it was too tedious of a task.

So the detective for many weeks was reduced to idly stand by and enjoy her life of luxury and gluttony... She grumbled lightly, bored out of her mind.

"Whatcha doin’ Fumes?"

"Gah!" Fumeko caught the marble and hid it behind her back. After a split-second inspection, she identified the target as Daiyu, "How d’you sneak past me!? You must be an illusion!" she had her hand to the sheath of her dagger.

"Uh huh... I ’snuck past’ you, cause your head ain’t here," Daiyu half-closed her right eye.

Fumeko scoffed, "My mind’s as sharp as ever-"

"I’m wearing heels and literally walked down the hall in front of you."

"...I was a little distracted." Fumeko slipped the marble into her pinafore pocket seamlessly and took her hand away from her dagger.

"What’re you doing around a corner? Wait, lemme guess, creeping on Jotou?" Daiyu grinned and tapped her foot.

"No!"

"Liar~"

"I- ...Okay, I was partially here to see her and Sobi off, but I wasn’t creeping on her!"

"Truth."

"Will you stop that!?"

"Never in your life," Daiyu folded her arms. "You didn’t see either of them off though."

"I know." Fumeko held a hand to her chin, "You’d know tomorrow’s her birthday, no doubt."

"Naturally."

"Jotou once shouted it out when were back in Kria."

"Oh, I should tell you too, Jotou’s birthday’s a sen-"

"Sensitive topic? I figured. She doesn’t like her birthday much."

Daiyu furrowed her brows, "How d’you figure that?"

"Someone who likes their birthday would be excited and will constantly bring it up. The thought won’t leave their mind and they’ll make sure everyone knows.

Either loudly or subtly. If Jotou was a person like this, she’d be the latter. But she hasn’t brought it up since, talked about it once or even tried to hint at it.

It’s like she’s trying to avoid it all together. Like she doesn’t want people to know. If it was just that her birthdays weren’t special to her, she’d still bring it up at the very least. Her birthday is literally tomorrow— in eighteen hours.

This left me with one conclusion. What would make someone want to avoid their birthday like this? Something must’ve happened on one of her birthdays to leave some sort of trauma..." her eyes softened.

"...Damn you’re good. You hit the nail on the head Fumes," Daiyu puffed out a breath.

Fumeko leered up, "So you know what it is."

"Unfortunately. I don’t know if I should say it or Jotou should."

Fumeko pouted, "That’s why I was standing here. I don’t really wanna bring it up to her either. I do want to do at least something for her though."

Daiyu contemplated for a moment... She saw no harm in telling the brunette the events of Jotou’s past. It’s not like the detective wouldn’t put it together sooner or later.

Justified, the princess relayed the same words she said to Hotaru. She murmured, wary of any would-be eavesdroppers. "-That’s what happened..."

"...I see... But," Fumeko glanced up, the dreary complexion disappearing when her eyes glimmered with shadows, "You’re saying Jotou still wants presents and a proper birthday?"

"Maybe. That’s why I’m planning for a small party for him tomorrow. Let’s just say I’m taking a small risk. If Jotou feels uncomfortable, I’ll take the bullet and make sure he’s okay."

"Then let’s give her a good birthday. One that’ll make that horrible birthday some distant memory; her parents already aren’t here to ruin it, so we’re already multiple steps ahead."

Daiyu chuckled, "Yeah, hundreds of steps ahead. Did you have anything in mind for her birthday?"

"Well," Fumeko waggled a finger, "I was lurking around the library last night and saw a certain redhead reading a book; nothing suspicious of course, Hotaru likes spending her time there.

But she was at a corner table, nobody could possibly sit behind her. She kept taking glances around before she’d flip the pages and she’d bite her lips a few times before blushing slightly."

"Why were you stalking her?"

"Irrelevant information," Fumeko retorted. "But if you must know, Niah gave me a book about the nature of teleportation spells and asked me to read it from cover to cover; before she went to sleep on the sofas. Hotaru walked in at the time.

She knew exactly where to find the book; which is also where she put it back. Once she was out, I blinked down to take a peek... Only to find out, it was smut."

Daiyu blinked a few times... "The library has porn books...? And nobody thought to tell me about it!?"

Fumeko squinted, "It’s your palace."

"How was I supposed to know that!? Ugh!"

"Moving on... the book was a romance novel and was about two women who went on an adventure. I borrowed and read through it last night before returning it in the morning.

It was actually a pretty good story. The first few or so Chapters were more so an introduction to things, but once the plot started going it was hard to put down.

It took a while for the first smut scene to even show up, but there was a lot of it after that. And uh..." Fumeko’s eyes darted away, "It was, real spicy..."

"Well don’t keep me in suspense."

"There was a scene with feathers involved, another with all sorts of toys, then another one with bindings and handcuffs..." she went redder and redder.

Daiyu grinned, "Sounds like a fun time~"

"Yeah," Fumeko squeaked. She could barely make a peep as she looked up to Daiyu, "AHem. Sorry."

Daiyu stifled a cackle, watching the flustered brunette regain her composure.

Fumeko steadied herself, "I was going through it for the sake of research; to know what Hotaru was reading.

As to how this relates to Jotou’s birthday, there was a scene in it where it was one of the girl’s birthday. So, that’s where I got my plan on how to surprise Jotou!" she raised a finger into the air.

"And the plan is...?"

"I’m gonna wrap myself up in red ribbons and a little card that says ’Happy Birthday’. The gift is of course, me," she smirked.

Daiyu cocked her head to the side with a half-eyed glare... "...Is Jotou like, two-timing with you or something?"

"No... But it’s the grand scheme to get her to date me instead!"

"I had you pegged as more of the tsundere type..."

Fumeko’s hand fell and her nose shrivelled, "A what...?"

Daiyu waved her hands around, "Ya know, hot and cold, playing hard to get, being mean to the person you actually like and acting like you don’t like them in front of everyone."

"Eh," Fumeko shrugged, "It feels like the whole world knows at this point. Besides, it’s her birthday, I’ll give her a freebie."

"Then, what about Hotaru?"

"She’ll be... fine," Fumeko averted the princess’s gaze.

Even so, Daiyu could perceive the brunette’s frown; some amount of unhappiness Fumeko harboured. "What’s up then? You look down about it."

...

...

Fumeko’s shoulders slumped. In some corner of the inner foyer, it was too easy to just blink away and escape... "This stupid plan’s not gonna work and I know that..." her voice completely dropped all the confidence and hope it had.

"Jotou’s not gonna jump on me and leave Hotaru, she’s not that kind of person. And I don’t wanna hurt Hotaru either..."

Daiyu folded her arms and took a couple of steps closer, "So that’s the issue huh?" she consoled.

Breath escaped her nose, "...If I wanted to actually sabotage their relationship, I could. Finding dirty secrets, planting evidence, it’d be easy to set up and break them apart if I really wanted to...

I know Jotou would even overthink and think I did something, but I know that and can plan something ahead for that... But I obviously don’t wanna do that, so I resort to stupid schemes like this...

Honestly, I’m hoping and chasing after her when she’s already taken. Granted, she keeps my hopes up; every time I try something it feels like I’m getting somewhere, but she’s already asked me to move on...

It’s like I just enjoy the chase at this point... and it’s not like I’m interested in anyone else anyway," a bittersweet smile took upon her lips, "I just do it for the fun. She seems to like teasing me, and I like seeing her smile."

The truth was told to the princess. The fact that Fumeko knew there was little to no chance of the outcome she hoped for happening. Still, out of hope she kept at it and believed; Fumeko knew well that it felt like a lie to herself for some time now.

Daiyu’s body tilted to one side, "Aw... tsundere."

"I’m not a-!" Fumeko paused and squinted, "Soon-day-ray!"

"Hey," Daiyu stood upright.

"What?" the peeved brunette replied.

"I got a cake to bake for his birthday; need to cook some food too. Hotaru, Feyan and Arabella are in charge of everything else. You wanna help me in the kitchen?" she raised her chin in a smile.

"Cooking? I’m not good at cooking—or baking. I can make sandwiches if you want."

"I don’t know that much shit either. But hey, two heads and all that. Come on, I’m sure Jotou’d appreciate food cooked by his friends. If he doesn’t, we’ll shove it in his face."

"What cake does Jotou like?"

"Red velvet’s his favourite. I got the chefs to write down an easy to follow recipe," Daiyu began walking the other way. "You coming? Cause I’ll race ya~!" She then sprinted off, kicking off her heels into the inner foyer floors.

"Hey!" Fumeko stepped into shadow and raced Daiyu to the kitchens. Although the two otherworldly people carried themselves differently, the detective could glean the similarities they both shared.

It was an obvious attempt of comfort to her; but she appreciated it nonetheless.