Baka to Tesuto to Syokanju:Volume12.5 Me, Christmas Eve and the Whirls of Conspiracies (Second Half)
Me, Christmas Eve and the Whirls of Conspiracies (Second Half)
"Well seriously, that was a cruel sight in the afternoon."
"...(nods)"
"Really? I was enjoying myself there?"
It's night, right after the school activities have ended
Everyone's gathered at my house, celebrating the Silent Night.
"Baka onii-chan, thank you for inviting me."
"No no, I'm thankful that you're able to make it here, Hazuki-chan."
I pat Hazuki-chan on the head as she continues to thank me, and she closes her eyes comfortably like a cute kitten.
"Sorry about that, Aki, there's a lot of us here, and you had to invite Hazuki alone."
"It's fine. Besides, the more the merrier."
This time, including the usual gang of me, Yuuji, Hideyoshi, Muttsurini, Himeji-san, Minami and Kirishima-san, there's also Kudou-san, Hazuki-chan and nee-san, so there's 10 of us. Looking at this, the living room's really dazzling right now. If the guys in our class is to see this now, Yuuji, Muttsurini and I will definitely be killed off by them.
"Aki, where do we place the gifts?"
"Ah, well, nee-san wants them gathered together, so can you put it there?"
"Okay. Come on, Hazuki."
"Alrighty!"
Minami and Hazuki-chan are each carrying a wrapped gift as they head to the next room. Yuuji, Muttsurini and Hideyoshi pass by them, and walk towards me.
"This gift exchange really does give a Christmas feel."
"...Not bad to have such things once in a while."
"I'm looking forward to see the unique traits of the chosen presents."
Since we have a rare Christmas party right now, I thought of coming up with this gift exchange. The budget for each person cannot be more than 2,000 Yen, and they can buy whatever they want. I wanted to limit the budget to within 500 Yen because of Hazuki-chan, but Minami said "Don't worry, I'll give her some money to spend.", so I left it to her.
"You handed your gifts to nee-san?"
"Yeah."
"I just did."
"...(nods)."
Once she heard of my plan, my serious sister said 'in that case, there's a need to make sure nobody knows who prepared which present', and took up this role. Thanks to her, even I, as the organizer, don't know whose present is whose.
"Speaking of which, Akihisa."
"Hm? What is it, Yuuji?"
"You did mention that thing to Himeji before, right?"
Yuuji asks me, giving me a serious look.
And in response to that, i too give a serious look, answering,
"Well, of course...it's a matter of life and death."
Yuuji gave me a suggestion regarding today's gift exchange. I told Himeji-san beforehand that 'I want anything other than food'.
"...I'm relieved."
"If you didn't want it, she would have prepared something else."
"Especially since you have Akira-san making sure you have proper nutrition here."
"Yeah, thanks to that, Himeji-san doesn't have to worry about that."
The four of us laugh. Thanks to Yuuji, we can proceed to exchange gifts with relief.
At this moment, I see Himeji-san, who's returning after handing her gift to nee-san, talking with Minami.
"I put some handmade cookies inside."
"You made something, Minami-chan? I did too.."
"""..."""
The conversation between Himeji-san and Minami causes us to sink to the depths of hell.
"Wh-what's the matter with you guys, Muttsurini-kun, everyone/"
"Why are you covering faces and shivering, onii-chans?"
Kudou-san and Hazuki-chan are worried about us while we're crying. Looks like we're fated not to have a nice party today.
"Akihisa! Did you really tell her!?"
"I-I did! I told her 'we have food and drinks, so bring something else'!"
"...Then why did it end up like that?"
"The temptations of cakes and stuff is troubling~"
"...Sweets are different from savory food."
I can hear the conversation between Kudou-san and Kirishima-san giving me the answer. I-is it because of my poor choice of words...!?
"Well, it's Akihisa."
"Um, can't be helped."
"...Right decision."
"Nonono! This responsibility should be on Yuuji for not giving the right advice--"
"Oi Himeji! Akihisa wants to get your gift no matter what, so can you give some hint on the appearance?'
"Eh? A hint?"
"--Hold it right there Yuujiiii!! Let go of me, Hideyoshi, Muttsurini! I need to hurry and stop that idiot!"
"This is fate."
"...Just accept this obediently."
Hideyoshi and Muttsurini press me down while I'm trying to stop Yuuji. Is this the only moment when everyone's combination is perfect!?
"Ahaha. I'm happy that Akihisa-kun's thinking of me like this, but I think such cheating isn't right."
"That might be the case, but please understand that Akihisa's feelings."
"No, it's fine, because--"
"Give up already, Akihisa!"
"...You're being dishonest."
"It's not that kind of person, okay! This is a matter of my own life--"
"That's because I prepared one specially for Akihisa-kun."
"Well, Himeji-san, if possible, do you mind telling me the unique traits of your present?"
The moment I heard Himeji-san's words, I'm mentally prepared, and I ask her with a refreshed tone while Hideyoshi and Muttsurini are pulling ,e
(T-this bastard...!)
(He wants us to follow him on his demise!?)
(...Evil...!)
Since my death's a done deal, I have to ask Himeji-san for the unique characteristics of her gift, and then I'll wait for one of Yuuji and the others to get that gift. As for why that's the case, we're buddies, sworn brothers. We're to be born together on the same day, and die together on the same day.
"You can't do this, Akihisa-kun, Sakamoto-kun. This is considered cheating."
Himeji-san raises her finger to criticize me. That action's cute, but I can't forget the fact that she's trying to end my life here.
"Where is it?"
"No means no. A game is about following the rules so that it can be enjoyed, you know?"
Himeji-san leaves these words and turns away to leave to stop us from having such thoughts.
(((Saving my own life's more important than the rules...)))
And as we watch her leave, we're shivering in fear due to this death game that is about to happen.
"""Merry Christmas."""
The Christmas Party begins in such an atmosphere.
We're chatting away happily, eating the food that's crammed all over the table.
"Eh? Did you bake this one, Sakamoto-kun?"
"Yeah, I got here early today, so I borrowed his steam oven. It's an event foot, so I added lots of spices to add flavor. Does it fit your tastes"
"...It's nice."
"Yeah. I didn't expect Sakamoto to cook such a large thing until it's so flavorful."
"Controlling the heat is as easy as adjusting the settings. If I have to mention any tips to this, you have to make a slit on the turkey, and then add sliced almonds and salt inside."
"...The breast meat isn't dry."
"I added butter and olives there, or else it'll be too bland."
The turkey Yuuji cooked does feel like it's a 'manly cuisine', but he really put in a lot of effort controlling the heat and flavoring. This guy's always good at making large portions of food and hotpots.
"Hazuki never thought you would be able to cook this well, big brother. Amazing~"
"You can quickly pick up on it if you help out often at home, pipsqueak."
"Seriously, Hazuki isn't a pipsqueak."
"Hahaha, is that so?"
Yuuji teases Hazuki-chan for quite a bit as he laughs. An only child like him is probably overwhelmed by cuteness when he sees a little sister character like Hazuki-chan.
"Did you make this bread-like sweet, Shimada?"
"Yeah, it's called Stollen. Back in Germany, we eat it during Christmas."
"A German pastry? Since you made it, Minami-san, I suppose it has a local flavor to it."
"I do like this one a lot~the sweetness and texture really is nice~"
Kudou-san digs into the sweet Minami made called the 'Stollen', giving a satisfied smile. This Stollen refers to a German bread filled with all kinds of dried fruits and nuts inside, baked and then layered with icing sugar. After it's done, it is left aside so that the flavor can be absorbed, making it sweeter. I had a taste, and it's true that the surface feels fluffy and crisp, while the inside is soft, and has a fruity flavor to it, which blends in perfectly with the sweetness, making it really delicious.
"So, did you make the rest, Yoshii-kun?"
Kudou-san eats the Stollen as she looks at the food on the table, saying this,
"Yeah, I guess."
"Akihisa-kun's good with this as usual."
"Nothing to complain about Aki when it comes to this."
"...Yoshii will make a wonderful bride in the future."
"I don't think I can be happy about this praise…"
Should I have gone for large food stuff like Yuuji did? Thinking about this, I look at what I did.
Smoked salmon and olives salad, Lasagna with shredded cheese and meat sauce between the layers, Quiche with bacon, wieners and ham, and I also tried making some Bagna Càuda. There's a lot of people here to eat, so I can try some cuisines I hardly try, so I'm sorta happy about this.
And while we're laughing,
"Speaking of which, Himeji, Shimada."
"Hm?"
"What's the matter?"
"Do your presents need to be kept cold?"
Yuuji's ignites the start to the present hunt (shoving to each other?)
Normally, in such typical battles between us, the first one to attack will often be crushed by others. Even though this should be the usual pattern,
(Right, good going, Yuuji…!)
(Nice question there.)
(...Won't make it suspicious.)
This time, we're quietly cheering for Yuuji in our hearts.
Actually, we're in an alliance to collect intel right now. As for why that's the case.
(It'll be terrible if Shimada's sister is to get that one.)
(We got to make sure Hazuki-chan doesn't get to draw that…!)
(...That's not something that can be eaten by kids.)
As for why that's the case, it's because Hazuki-chan's around. Leaving aside the other girls who went through the purgatory of the black hotpot, it's too much to let her eat Himeji-san's cooking when she's so young. That's why we've decided to worked together to find Himeji-san's present, and then make sure Hazuki-chan won't draw it.
First, we'll work together to find Himeji-san's present. And then we'll betray each other.
"? My present?"
"? What do you mean?"
"No, well. Didn't you girls say that you made some good? If it's raw or something, won't it be ruined or something?"
Yuuji's smiling. It looks like he's really worried about their foods.
This guy's probably trying to get some intel. If they're to suddenly exclaim "Sorry, I forgot! I'll put it in the fridge no!", there's a huge chance that we'll get to see what the present is like, and even if we can't see, once it's refrigerated, we can hold it in our hands and find out. If we have something like 'it's okay, I got a coolant', we can also consider that.
"I'm fine. It won't be ruined.
This answer is to be expected. What we heard from the conversation was that Minami made 'handmade cookies', so there's no need to refrigerate them.
"Yes, me too."
"I see."
Looks like Himeji-san's food doesn't need to be refrigerated either. Anyway, we got a hint.
"Then, any problems with how it's placed?"
"...There's a chance it's upside down."
This time, it's Hideyoshi and Muttsurini asking.
Himeji-san and Minami ponder for a little while,
"No problems at all."
"Me too. It's more or less okay, I think."
Now we have more clues. Even if it's tilted, I don't think it'll spill out.
Okay, now I should be asking from another direction.
"Speaking of exchanging gifts, I forgot to confirm this with you."
"Yes?"
"What is it, Aki?"
"I intend to let everyone pass the presents around as the music play, so are your presents heavy?"
How about I ask about the size and weight?
"I'm okay."
"Um...mine's a little large, but it's fine."
(Alright!)
We can't help but do victory poses in our hearts. Now we know Himeji-san's present is 'a little large, but it's not so large and heavy for Hazuki-chan to carry'.
"""..."""
The four of us exchange glances, and we nod. This is where we'll stop asking; if they're getting suspicious, they'll start to feel uneasy about moving the presents around, and it'll be troublesome if we end up doing a lucky draw.
"Oh yeah, Akihisa. I feel like having some coffee now. You mind if I borrow your kitchen?"
"Ah, I'll go brew some. I feel like having some anyway."
"Is it okay? I'd like to go too."
"...Me too."
We call out in unison as we leave our seats. Our strategy meeting will be held in the kitchen. We have more than enough clues now.