"The thick one is so soft!"
"The chocolate is so gooey! Be careful! Don't let the melting chocolate dirty your uniform!"
"So good~!"
"Fuh... the tea is also nice to drink with the cookies..."
In the end, the five of them had a tea party, enjoying the warm chocolate cookies that Tobe had just baked.
Still, while everyone enjoyed his cookies, Yukinoshita, who had recovered some of her energy due to the sugar, sipped her warm tea with a comfortable sigh and then looked at Saki and Maaya. "So, what are you two doing there?"
"Like an ant that is attracted by the sugar. That's us."
While Saki helplessly closed her eyes with her palm due to Maaya's playful answer, she couldn't say that it was wrong. "We just happened to be at school to study, and somehow smelled a sweet, delicious smell, but unexpectedly..."
"Well, I can't blame you. His cookies are just delicious."
As Yukinoshita said those words, everyone nodded, thinking that Tobe's cookies were the best that they had ever tasted.
"You know? If you sell them, you can make a lot of money." Yui felt that Tobe's cookies could be sold for a lot of money, and if he made a shop, it would be full of people.
Tobe only laughed as Yui's words reminded him of the time of his life as Ishigami, who got a lot of money just by making food.
'A lot of money?'
Saki was surprised and stared at the cookies, but she nodded inwardly, then sighed, wondering why she didn't have such a skill.
"That said, I will go now."
"Is it the time?"
"Yup." Tobe nodded, then apologized. "Sorry for leaving you so suddenly."
"It's fine. I can handle the rest."
"Good luck, then." Tobe stood up, kissing Yukinoshita's soft cheek, then left after saying goodbye to everyone without realizing how stunned Yui, Saki, and Maaya were by his intimate exchange with Yukinoshita.
"What's wrong?"
Yukinoshita didn't seem to realize how outrageous their cheek kiss was, especially when she had done a lot more with Tobe.
Kissing on the cheek?
It was nothing but just a play for the two of them.
Compared to what they had just done in the Service Club, what was the kiss on the cheek?
"Um... Yukinoshita-san..." Maaya was a little awkward, but her expression was still that of a gentle person.
If one made a comparison, her personality was quite similar to Yui's, but unlike Yui, who often repressed herself, trying not to show what she really felt, and just gave up, so she wouldn't cause awkwardness or trouble the needs of the group to be troubled, Maaya was quite similar, but unlike Yui, she wasn't afraid to cause the mood of the group to be strange, and even took proactive action to help people.
Yes, some people might not like her due to this act of hers, but she couldn't make everyone happy. Yet, many were delighted with her act since some people couldn't just reach out to others and needed someone to reach out to them, like how Saki, who was often pushed away or isolated, was grateful to have Maaya reach out to her, despite the trouble Maaya often caused.
Still, because of that, Maaya didn't hesitate to ask, "Um... have you two kissed each other?"
"....."
Yukinoshita blinked her eyes, then quickly realized how advanced her relationship with Tobe was. His kiss was so casual, and she also reacted normally instead of blushing shyly.
Yet, this was in her and his eyes, but in another?
Still, facing this question, Yukinoshita was strangely calm instead of being embarrassed. "Well..." She knew well that she should hide it, yet there was this feeling inside her heart that couldn't be described, and she wanted to release it. Unfortunately, she had no friends, so she couldn't talk with anyone, but as Maaya asked this question, she decided to answer truthfully since not only could she feel comfortable by saying what was inside her heart, but at the same time, this also could cause those who had a feeling toward her boyfriend to give up.
As expected, Yukinoshita's answer made all of them feel like their hearts were crushed, and they couldn't breathe as if they stood at the peak of the mountain with no oxygen. It felt so painful, yet they couldn't stop listening. It was said that both the feeling of pain and pleasure came from the same nerves within the human body. While some people might not understand why some people love the genre of NTR, as it is just painful, some people are just that weird, who can't feel happy or enjoy due to the normal happiness.
Probably, like the three of them, since they couldn't feel the normal happiness that they wished for, they decided to twist their happiness in a distorted way.
"H-How was it...?"
Letting out a comfortable sigh, Yukinoshita recalled the feeling of her first kiss with Tobe. The feeling of her lips pressed against his for the first time was just—
"I love it."
"..." 3x
Maaya felt so much pain, yet she couldn't stop herself. "Y-You are unexpectedly lewd, Yukinoshita-san."
"If you have tasted it, then you will understand, or..."
"Or..."
"Kakeru is just talented in this area."
"T-This area...?"
"Well..." Yukinoshita then looked at Yui and asked, "Do you want to continue the request or not?"
"Ah."
Yui only realized why she came to this place, and that was to learn about cookies.
"Should we help, too? You can think of it as a way to repay for the cookies and tea." Maaya didn't really want to leave, and Saki agreed, too.
"Okay."
Yukinoshita didn't refuse them since there was an idiom of "keep your friend close, but keep your enemy closer" from her favorite story.
'Hmm... it might be good to have him dress like Al Pacino.'
Yukinoshita started to be in a deep thought, thinking that it might be great to have him do a cosplay.
"..." Tobe.
Regardless, while Yukinoshita might be frank with her words, Yui always suppressed her feelings, Saki often said something that was strange, and Maaya often caused trouble, strangely enough, in this place, time, and space, everyone was having fun.
Meanwhile, Tobe, who was on his way to a part-time job, met Yuuta Asakura, who was his coworker and also a student at his school.
"Asakura-kun."
"Tobe-kun."
While Tobe greeted Yuuta calmly, Yuuta was a little awkward since it was his first experience having someone from the same school work in the same place. This also made him not know what to say after Tobe greeted him.
'What should I say?'
Yuuta felt like he should say something, but he couldn't and was a little awkward with it. Then again, except for Yomiuri Shiori, he wasn't good at talking to anyone, but fortunately, Tobe was good at small talk.
"Have you been working at that bookstore for so long, Asamura-kun?"
"Ah, no, it's just been a month that I've been working there."
"Really? You seem to be good with the work."
"Ah, am I?"
Tobe was a master at small talk, and for him, it was easy to talk with anyone. Naturally, he couldn't say that it was perfect, but for people to talk to each other, the best topic was using the questions that were related to FORM.
Family, Occupation, Recreation, and Motivation.
Those were the best topics and the easiest to use, and by then, one could branch out, asking those who were interested, since people loved to talk, especially when they talked about what they loved the most.
Although most people admitted they weren't good at it, they didn't try to improve, as training themselves to become better conversationalists would likely make them less awkward around people.
Love was also the same since the better one trained with it, the better they were at handling a subject known as love.
As expected, when Tobe asked about the book, Yuuta, who was quiet and even introvert, quickly gushed out all the titles, and everything, which he loved, especially when Tobe took a genuine interest and even read some of the books that he read, which made him surprised, thinking that this popular guy with the cutest girlfriend in the school to have this side of himself.
Yes, like any others, Yuuta had a certain prejudice toward those popular guys, who just had fun on their own, ignoring the others, but it seemed he was wrong about Tobe.
Only when they came to the bookstore, Yomiuri Shiori suddenly came to them and clung to Tobe's arm as she leaned her head lovingly against his arm. "This is my boyfriend."
"..." Yuuta.