CH. 25 - A Class Party

The next day, Chizuru is happily snoozing in class, a bubble coming from her nose as she happily dreams about the many things a person like her would. 

“Oi, Chizuru.” Lucy pokes the bubble which causes it to pop, and Chizuru opens one eye half way. 

“Huh?..”

“Thank you, Ms. Kagen. Now, as I was saying…” Samuel puts down a graded test on Chizuru’s desk. She got a B+. 

“Niceee..” She gives a smile and a thumbs up with both her eyes closed before plopping her head back down on her desk, going back to sleep. Lucy rolls her eyes.

“I know there’s only a couple days left of school, but don’t clock out just yet. We still have a few things to go over, such as the procedure on how your return after Summer break will be, how the classes will be arranged and so on.”

Suddenly, Chizuru snorts, popping the other snore bubble, then shoots up her hand in the air.

“Oh, I know! Let’s have a party for the last day of school!” Everyone stops and stares at her, her face still looking like she’s half asleep. Suddenly, the class cheers.

“Yeah! A party!”

“I’ll bring some drinks!”

“I’ll make a cake!”

All the students erupt with excitement and discussing how this party is going to go down. Ms. Samuel stands there with a shocked look on her face. She then shakes her head and calms down.

“Alright, alright! Everyone settle down! Fine, we can have a party on the last day.”

Everyone looks pleased and excited for the now upcoming party.

‘If you let me finish, you would’ve learned I was gonna do that anyway..’ She thinks with a slight droop before composing herself. “Now, let's get organized. We’ll divide, then go over who’s bringing what, so we have enough for everyone.” She goes to the board and begins writing columns and asks the class questions about it. The students around Chizuru pat her on the shoulder appreciatively.

“Good thinking, Chizuru!”

She smiles in response and looks at the others. Hikigaya and Haru give her a thumbs up while the others smile and nod approvingly. She gives another big smile.

“This is gonna be the best!”

Once the day comes to an end, they all meet up where they usually do. 

“It’s pretty lucky there’s no one with any allergies in the class, huh? That just means better food!”

Hikigaya pats his belly as Shiori nods. 

“I’m so excited! I’m gonna make the yummiest jello!” Chizuru says as she jumps with joy.

“I’m glad I just need to bring some soda cause I definitely can’t cook.” Sugawara says, slightly embarrassed but relieved.

“Yeah, and what were you gonna bring again, Ryuji?” Haru asks as he throws his arm around Ryuji’s neck. Ryuji responds casually.

“I’m gonna make cake balls on a stick.”

“Oh, like cake pops.” Shiori says.

“Yeah, exactly.” He turns and looks at her with a soft smile and she gets embarrassed, realizing she talked so casually to him. 

“Leave it to Ryuji to make something so creative.” Hikigaya gives him a smile as Ryuji smiles back a bit.

“Well, I’m gonna hurry home! I gotta get started! I can’t wait to see you guys tomorrow! Woohoo! Last day of school!” Chizuru runs off home, her arms in the air, cheering as she excitedly heads home. They all smile at how cute she is.

“Yeah, I told Ryuji I’d help him with the cake pops so we’re heading out too.” Lucy says, stepping next to Ryuji.

“Come along, Suga! We better hit the store on our way home.” Haru throws his bag over his shoulder and smiles at his boyfriend, who blushes in response.

“Yeah..”

Haru looks at him, blushes a bit before leaning over and giving him a small kiss on the lips. Sugawara blushes heavily as steam pops from his head. Haru leans back and smiles, grabbing his hand. “Let’s go!” They run off as he pulls a barely conscious, goofily smiling Sugawara along.

“Aw, look at that. How cute?” Lucy says, looking at Ryuji, who nods a couple of times in agreement. 

“Main, I still can’t believe that dork got his first kiss before I did.” Hikigaya says, watching them. Shiori looks up at him, surprised.

“You haven’t kissed anyone before?” She asks so openly. Hikigaya looks at her, surprised that she is so interested. He blushes a bit out of embarrassment and rubs the back of his head, looking away from her.

“Oh, no. I totally have, I’m just saying, he did.”

“Oh yeah? With who?” Shiori asks. Hikigaya thinks.

“Ah, I don’t really remember who he kissed. She was a blonde, I think?”

“I meant you, dummy.” She says, blushing a bit but looking annoyed by his obliviousness. He blushes, even more embarrassed, as she pries. 

“Y-you don’t know her.. Besides, what about you? I bet you haven’t kissed anyone before.” He shifts the direction of the conversation.

“I definitely have.” She responds confidently.

“Oh yeah? Describe them.”

“Well, he was tall, taller than you. He wore a lot of black and was pretty muscular-”

“Sounds like you’re describing one of your story characters.” He says, poking fun at her. She blushes and gets angry.

“I am not! You don’t know him! He doesn’t even live in this city!”

“Yeah, well, same goes for me!” They begin arguing about it as Lucy and Ryuji watch.

“They really are something.” She says.

“Yep.”

She looks at him, bleps her tongue out and begins to walk home. Ryuji blushes a bit at her action and follows.

Eventually, Hikigaya and Shiori make their way home, both pouting because neither believes the other. As soon as they come through the door, they both head straight for their rooms.

“How was school, sweetie?” Hamasaki asks.

“Stay out of trouble?” Asami asks as well.

Neither one of their children answer as they stomp up the stairs and into their rooms. They slam the doors shut and after a moment, they both open their doors again, stick their heads out and glare at each other. They stick their tongues out, then slam their doors shut again. Asami looks confused while Hamasaki just sighs with a little smile on her face.

“Oh, to be young and in love.”

“Too bad Hikigaya got my temper.” Asami laughs with her hands on her hips, almost proud of it. Shiori throws her bag down on her desk and plops onto her bed on her back. She lets out an exhausted breath.

“That dumbass can be so annoying sometimes.” She groans.

Some hours go by and everyone else has already gone to bed, but it is still not super late. Shiori pokes her head out of her room, then steps out. She reluctantly knocks on Hikigaya’s door.

“What?” His voice, muffled from behind the door.

“Come on, we gotta make the cookies for tomorrow.” She says with a considerate volume. He opens his door.

“What cookies?”

She gives him a look of disapproval of his forgetfulness. 

“The cookies Ms. Samuel told us to make for the party?”

He then gets a look as if remembering something.

Earlier in class…

“Since you two are partners, how about you both work together to bring in your snacks? Sound good? Great! I expect them to be twice as yummy!”

She gives a little smirk, knowing exactly what she’s saying.

As he remembers this, he gets an irritated look on his face. 

“Great…” He rubs his head, looking upset for a moment before looking at Shiori. “Well, I wish you luck. I hope they come out delicious.” He turns around to head back into his room, but Shiori grabs his shoulder.

“Oh no, you’re gonna help me with this. If you don’t, I’ll tell Ms. Samuel and have her report you to the principal.”

He sweats with an upset look, but sighs and agrees.

“Fine…” They both head downstairs to the kitchen. “Why did you wait until so late to tell me?” Hikigaya asks with a slightly upset tone.

“I didn’t want anyone to see us baking together.” She responds casually. He kind of blushes at the statement, but shakes his thoughts away. As he heads into the kitchen, Shiori goes into the living room and grabs the TV remote. “Um, the kitchen is over here?” Hikigaya points out with an attitude.

“I know, but I’m not gonna make something in silence. I need something playing.” She puts on an animated movie, one she enjoys watching from time to time. She sets down the remote and joins Hikigaya.

“Ah, AnimalCity, good choice.” Hikigaya says with a satisfied smile.

“You like this movie?” She asks, surprised.

“Yeah, it may be about talking animals in a city, but I enjoy it.”

Shiori looks surprised a bit but agrees. Hikigaya smiles at her and goes to look in the fridge.

“Welp, we don’t have any cookie dough, so we’ll have to make some from scratch.” He says as he pulls out milk, chocolate chips, and butter. 

“You know how to make cookie dough from scratch?” She asks doubtfully.

“Nah, but how hard can it be?”

A timer bell rings and they open up the oven to see the cookies on the tray. They look hideous. Shiori gives him a look like, ‘Really?’ and Hikigaya puts his hands on his hips.

“Maybe it’s harder than it looks?” He says.

“Ya think?” She sighs and leans against the counter, pulling out her phone. Hikigaya takes the cookies out and dumps them. 

“Okay, let’s try this again. This time with a bit less Hikigaya.”

“Hey.”

She pulls up a recipe on her phone and reads it swiftly. She begins measuring and adding the ingredients, following the instructions step by step, using Hikigaya to do most of the laborious mixing. As he mixes the ingredients, Shiori reads the instructions more to make sure she’s doing it right. She then pauses and looks at Hikigaya with a side glance, noticing him sticking his tongue out as he does his best to stir properly. She blushes a little.

‘He’s… almost cute…’ She then shakes her head a bit to remove the thought. “Alright, let’s get them onto the sheet.”

He nods happily. They put them into small portions onto the baking sheet and into the oven. They lean against the counter after setting the timer, taking a breath of relief, finishing them up for the most part. They stand in silence for a moment before Shiori speaks up softly.

“Thanks for helping me.”

“Of course. I mean, you did most of the work, considering I just mixed, but it was a team effort, anyway!” He smiles at her.

“Yeah, but you didn’t have to.”

He looks at her, confused.

“What do you mean? We were told to make them together, weren’t we?”

“We were, but that doesn’t mean you had to. I wouldn’t have told Ms. Samuel if you didn’t.” She admits softly. Hikigaya looks at her while she stares at the floor. “I’ve done dozens of ‘group assignments’ by myself throughout my life. At this point, I’m used to it. If you really didn’t want to, I wouldn’t have made you.” She has a slightly distant look on her face while talking about this. Hikigaya notices it and looks a little confused on how to make it better.

“Shiori, I’m your partner whether you like it or not. I’ll always help you out.” He says, giving her a slight, awkward smile. She slightly smiles back.

“Yeah. Thanks.”

Her smile fades quickly as she goes back to looking down. Hikigaya doesn’t know what to do for her and sweats a bit until he notices he put his hand in a small pile of flour on the counter. He smirks a bit as he lifts his hand. 

“Hey, Shiori.”

“Hm? O-”

As she looks at him, he suddenly puts both his hands covered in flour on her cheeks, cupping her face in his hands. She blushes intensely, surprised for a moment, before grabbing his wrists and angrily yelling at him.

“Hey! What do you think you’re doing?!” She then calms a bit seeing him giggle at her.

“Hehe! You got flour on your face now!”

She stops and realizes his hands, and now her face, are covered in flour. After a moment, she smiles a bit.

“Oh yeah? How about this?” She takes an open hand, now covered in flour too, and palms his face. Hikigaya coughs from the flour and smiles back with a mischievous smirk.

“Oh, that’s it.” He grabs a handful of flour and aims at her as she runs around the kitchen island, laughing and making excuses to make him stop. They play around late that night, laughing and throwing flour until the timer for the cookies eventually goes off. Too busy laughing with each other, Hikigaya holding Shiori close with his left arm and patting her head with flour, this batch of cookies too, ends up in the trash by the end of the night.