Reincarnated Into A Dead Woman's Body In Another World-Chapter 290: Interlude - 9: It’s a Piece of Cake

"PUT IT OUT, PUT IT OUT, PUT IT OUT!"

"TSSHHHHHHH!!!!"

Daiyu crushed the nozzle in between her fingers, releasing a torrent of foam onto the flames that licked the walls and surged out of the pan.

Aiming it all over the place, the pressure exiting the extinguisher tipped the handle of the large pan and knocked it off the- "PANG!"

"AH FUCK!" it fell onto the tip of Daiyu’s right boot, spilling various greases from attempting to sauté garlic onto her jeans. "TANG! CLANG..." The pan came to a halt whilst Daiyu hopped on one foot backwards.

The soapy chemicals abolished the previously present flames, Daiyu placed it onto a kitchen island she backed into, before tending to her foot. Fumeko came out of hiding from underneath and watched as the canister precariously placed next to Daiyu.

It fell off the edge. "Woosh!" Fumeko appeared in shadows from underneath and caught the brass canister into her arms... and sighed. "Don’t drop a fire extinguisher!" she leered straight up.

She had raised her leg high enough to reach her shoes. She unlaced the boots quickly, dropping it whilst she massaged her toes. With a half-closed right eye, "I was a bit occupied..." she panted with a snarl.

Fumeko got up onto her feet while Daiyu pressed each toe through her socks to make sure she wasn’t too injured. The brunette placed the fire extinguisher onto the counter and looked back to their current, predicament...

"How did that even catch fire!?" Fumeko glared.

"Well, the chefs said, sauté the garlic in oil at a low heat," she went over to grab her boot. "So, it made sense that it’d cook faster if I just made it hotter," she placed her foot down.

"Who made you an expert on thermodynamics!? Just follow the damn instructions!"

"No shit detective hindsight," Daiyu stared to the mess of chopped garlic and onions on the counter and across the floor, all coated with a layer of liquid chemicals. "Anyway, how’s the cake coming along?"

Fumeko’s eyes narrowed, "I don’t wanna cook, I don’t wanna cook anymore, this is why I didn’t want to cook!" she threw her hands in the air.

"Alright, alright," Daiyu held onto Fumeko before the brunette left, "Sorry, sorry. You wanted to do the baking, right? Don’t worry about here too much."

"I don’t like fire!"

"I get it, I’ll follow the recipe, sorry," Daiyu groaned.

Fumeko took a deep breath and let it all out... The horrid smell of a nearly burnt kitchen and charred garlic filled her lungs, causing her to fan a hand in front of her nose.

Footsteps charged down the kitchen and with widened eyes, Arabella glanced to the smoke airing out the exits. She cocked her head and furrowed her brows.

"Little accident, don’t worry Ara," Daiyu brushed aside.

"Little?" the other leered.

Arabella walked in and surveyed the vast kitchen space, filled with everything a cook would ever need. She circled a finger in the air and asked where the staff were.

"After they made breakfast, I asked them to clear out; they’ll be back to cook before lunch."

"We were trying to cook something for Jotou’s birthday," Fumeko replied. "And Princess-Can’t-Follow-Instructions over here, burned the garlic and caused a grease fire."

"To be fair, when smoke started to rise from the pan, I thought it was just the garlic aroma."

"I saw it; and told you that it was gonna burn..." Fumeko reached for her dagger.

"And that’s where I tried to say I’m trying something and by the time I turned back to do anything, it was already on fire and I ran for the extinguisher. But it’s over so, let’s not dwell on the past," Daiyu shrugged.

Arabella squinted the two and signalled something.

"No you’re right, his birthday’s tomorrow."

"We wanted to get a little practice in before trying to cook anything tomorrow," Fumeko explained.

"Exactly, so be glad this happened today."

Fumeko grumped.

Arabella held the bridge of her nose with her other hand to her hip.

"Hey, it wasn’t THAT bad, it was like a small fire and we made a lotta noise," Daiyu put her hands up.

"Yeah, now we have an even bigger mess," Fumeko pointed to the counter, stove and the pan lying on the floor.

Arabella and shook her head and walked forth. She placed one hand on Fumeko’s right shoulder, then moved the hand to her left shoulder and finished off by patting her head once. She then turned and walked away from the two.

"What’s that supposed to mean?" Daiyu half-closed her right eye.

Fumeko’s eyes glazed over, "I’ve been given the honour of dealing with you..."

"Ting!"

"Cake’s done," Fumeko blinked to the ovens.

"That was fast..."

Fumeko put on oven mitts and took the baking tin out while Daiyu did her bootlaces. Scent of cocoa, vanilla and buttermilk was abundant—and it was easy to see why. The reddish gloop in the tin steamed into the kitchen as she set it aside.

"Do I uh... put it back in?"

Daiyu gave a half-eyed glare, "Did you follow the recipe?"

"Of course I did."

"Pretty sure it said an hour and ten,"

"It was an hour and ten minutes roughly to prep, not an hour and ten in the oven!"

"Well, some step in the process went wrong. How long did you bake it for?"

Arabella picked up a fork and stabbed into the cake lightly. It seemed the bottom half was at least cooked.

"Thirty minutes, like it said," Fumeko blinked to a countertop with powder and sugar scattered across and blinked back with a paper in hand, "See?" Daiyu leaned in to read the instructions.

Arabella looked to the little bit of cake she had forked... It seemed alright...? She shrugged a shoulder and took a bite. Within the first bite, her nose scrunched.

"You must’ve messed up something here, otherwise the cake’d be a cake."

Arabella chewed what felt like soft gum; to her tastes, there seemed to be too much vanilla and cocoa, causing an overwhelming amount of bitterness in each chew. Not to mention, the chalky aftertaste.

"How was it?" Fumeko turned to realize she had eaten it.

Arabella’s shrivelled eyes gazed over to the brunette... and shook her head very slowly.

"You know what, maybe splitting the load wasn’t the best idea. Cake’s more important anyway. Maybe the chefs can cook the food at least?" Daiyu pondered.

"Aru can cook, she used to cook for us all the time in Kria."

"Yeah, but she’s already in charge of the party itself. Feyan and Ara are supposed to do that too," Daiyu looked to Arabella furrowed brows.

The dark haired woman directed her attention to the mess that Daiyu made.

"Touché."

"I still wanna cook something though, I don’t wanna switch jobs."

"How about one at a time then," Fumeko compromised.

"Wait, you guys aren’t doing anything yet for the party?" Daiyu queried.

Arabella signalled a response.

"Evening party huh? In other words, you’ll only start working on it tomorrow. Can you help, clean a bit then? Great, thanks," Daiyu took the cake recipe and moved aside.

The Ashen Whisper rolled her eyes and started to walk out of the kitchen.

"Oh come on, just a li’l help?" Daiyu pleaded.

Arabella gave a look and signalled that she was going to get the cleaning staff.

"I kinda feel bad that they gotta clean this mess though..."

"But you don’t feel bad for her?" Fumeko’s eyes glazed over.

"Fineeee," Daiyu handed the recipe back with a groan. "You start measuring the stuff, I’ll clean the mess up..."

_

The new cake batter bathed in the oven’s heat, while Fumeko cleaned off the bits of sugar and flour off the counter. Daiyu dusted off whatever she could off of the island counter and climbed on top of it.

Fumeko took her hand away in response. Daiyu lied down on the countertop and let out a huge sigh. With her body flat, she put her hands behind her head and looked to the ceiling.

The brunette stared, "We just made food there..."

"I’ll clean it after," the princess said as bits of flour stuck to her hair and clothes. She patted the space beside her, "Come on, lie down for a bit; the marble’s great to crack your shoulder blades," Daiyu stretched and exhaled in relief.

Fumeko shook her head and got on top as well. She lied down to face the ceiling as the cake-like scent from the oven slowly brushed against their noses.

Daiyu caught a glimpse of the brunette’s frown, "You can stay annoyed as long as you want Fumes; you just look cuter when you’re angry," a grin crept up.

The brunette’s head sided away from the princess. With tightened lips, she hid her quickly flushing cheeks.

"So," Daiyu got her attention. "What do you like about Jotou?"

"Huh?"

"Why d’you pick him?"

Fumeko stared to the ceiling, not showing Daiyu the struggle she was having to formulate the words... Her brows furrowed, attempting to find the answer even for herself.

The long pause had Daiyu for a loss of words as well. She recalled how quickly Hotaru answered without a single doubt to the same question. Concern overtook her expression; was she really just that desperate?

Red lines connected through Fumeko’s thoughts as she unravelled the puzzle. Her eyes mellowed and her voice softened, "She gave me hope."

"You mean like, Jotou led you on?"

"No. She was the first person who actually believed in me. I ran away from home, to somewhere I only read about with some childish dream of being a detective.

Jotou was the first one who accepted my help. Even though it was before she knew I wasn’t a detective at all. But even after, she still accepted my help.

I was new to the outside world. I didn’t know what I was doing. Nobody, nobody even gave me a chance. I’m not blaming them; I had no training, no experience, no nothing.

Within the first few hours of being in Kria, I was completely a fish out of water. I led Jotou through street after street, trying to prove myself right—that I could do it.

I proudly told her my dream on the day we met, when I was starting to doubt everything myself..." a smile grew on Fumeko’s cheeks, "She called herself an idiot and said that if I think I can do it, I shouldn’t let her stop me."

Daiyu chuckled, "That idiot knows exactly what to say sometimes."

Tears pooled in the brunette’s eyes, unbeknownst to Daiyu, "After that first day... she still wanted me around... I know how much of a pain I was, I didn’t know how to act with people most of the time, I was so lost, it was all crashing down around me each day...

I felt so many insecurities I never even thought of before and every mistake made me doubt myself ten times more. But she was there, wanting me by her side no matter what.

She helped me so much and in turn, I tried to help her as much as I could. It’s not that I only like her for making me realize who I am and helped me find my place in this world.

I like her because that’s just who she is. This complicated mess of emotions, just like me. When she cares about someone, nothing can get in her way and she’ll make sure they’re okay.

She was my first friend; and maybe the lines between friendship and romance were a little blurred for me. But there’s no mistaking this feeling now. I can see every flaw in her and I still want to be by her side.

If she wasn’t there that day in Kria, I would’ve probably just returned home with shame and all my hope lost. She gave me hope on a ridiculous dream, and it somehow became a reality."

They both stared to the ceiling of the kitchen, the smell of the cake rising skimming past them every second. "Yeah, that’s just who he is... A complicated mess of emotions," Daiyu smiled.

Fumeko subtly wiped her tears away with a smirk, "Hey, she’s clever, overdramatic, catty, paranoid, compassionate, pretty AND that."

Daiyu cackled, shaking her foot from side-to-side. She sighed, letting the smile fade, "You do know he’s in love with someone else."

"I know," she hushed. "And it hurts."

"Well, love isn’t a piece of cake."

Fumeko side-eyed her, "...I regret talking to you."