Chapter 14: Charcoal Cookies?
Over here, Yuigahama rolled up her sleeves and started beating the eggs. After that, she added flour, sugar, butter, vanilla extract, and other ingredients.
As expected, Yuigahama's cooking skills were unusual.
Maybe some people would think it's just making cookies, but precisely because it's something simple, it's easier to tell good from bad.
Because you can't rely on tricks, the chef's real skill gets exposed.
First was beating the eggs—Yuigahama actually dropped the eggshells in too.
Then she added the flour, which turned into a big, sticky mess. Then came the butter—completely unmelted.
As expected, the sugar was salt, and the vanilla extract was added like it was free, just dumped in. The milk too—almost overflowed.
On the side, Yukinoshita was holding her forehead with a pale face.
"Next up…" Yuigahama suddenly pulled out instant coffee.
"Cookies with coffee, huh? Yeah, I guess having a drink with sweets makes it easier to swallow. You really thought ahead," Hikigaya added a weak comment to try and smooth things over.
"Huh? No, this is for flavoring. Don't guys usually not like sweets?" Yuigahama said as she added the coffee, turning her head to look at him.
Because she wasn't looking at her hands, the bowl instantly became a black mountain.
"That's way past just adding flavor!!" Dan Shiki's hair stood on end, and all the color drained from his face.
"Eh? Ah, then I'll add some sugar to balance it," Yuigahama quickly tried to fix it, and next to the black mountain, she built a white one.
Soon after, both mountains got flooded by a tsunami of egg mixture, and hell was created…
When that thing was baked, it looked exactly like charcoal. Just the smell alone screamed bitter.
"H-How did this happen?" Yuigahama looked at the thing in front of her, stunned.
"I can't understand… how you managed to make so many mistakes…" Yukinoshita muttered quietly.
She probably didn't want Yuigahama to hear, but couldn't stop herself from saying it.
Yuigahama put the things on a plate: "Even if it doesn't look good… you won't know how it tastes until you try it!"
"That's true. Luckily, we have someone to help with the tasting," Yukinoshita said, turning her gaze to Dan and Hikigaya.
"As everyone knows, solid combustible organic rocks are full of sulfur, mercury, arsenic, fluorine, and lead. This stuff is deadly!!!" Dan took a step back, looking terrified.
"Wahaha! Yukinoshita, that's not called taste-testing anymore… this is poison-testing!" Hikigaya was sweating buckets.
"This isn't poison! Poison!? Ugh~~ Is it really that bad?" Yuigahama yelled, then started looking anxious.
Hikigaya ignored Yuigahama's puppy-like pleading eyes and turned to Yukinoshita: "Hey, do we really have to eat this? It's literally charcoal…"
"She used edible ingredients, so it should be fine… probably?" Yukinoshita's voice got smaller with every word.
"You're too naive, Yukinoshita. Cephalosporin and alcohol aren't poisonous either…" Because of his face mask, the only way to see Yukinoshita's reaction was by how tightly her brows furrowed.
"Don't worry. I'll eat some too," Yukinoshita said immediately to reassure them.
"Uh… I think it's better if you don't," Dan stared at the blackened cookies, his eye twitching.
"If we don't find the problem, we can't fix it. So even if it's risky, we have to take that chance now," Yukinoshita bit her lip and picked up a "cookie."
Then she looked up at Dan—he couldn't be sure, but it looked like her eyes were a little wet.
"…I shouldn't die, right?" she said weakly.
"Stomach pain is pretty much guaranteed…" Dan weakly responded.
…
The moment the cookie entered his mouth, a strong bitterness exploded, followed immediately by a dry, sandy texture.
Because it tasted so awful, Dan steeled himself and bit it into a few pieces.
Immediately, a storm of bitterness blew up inside his mouth. It was like chewing on wood, making his mouth shrink up in horror.
"Ugh…" All he could let out was a groan before grabbing the water glass on the table and chugging it, not even caring as water dripped onto his mask and chin.
After putting the glass down, the bitterness in his mouth still hadn't faded.
"Ugh…" ×2
At the same time, Yukinoshita and Hikigaya also let out pained groans and started chugging water.
"Uuuu~~ So bitter, so gross~~" Yuigahama said while tearing up and crunching down on the cookie.
Yukinoshita immediately handed her a cup of tea: "It's better not to chew it. Just swallow it with a drink. Be careful it doesn't touch your tongue—it's basically poison."
To bring the mood back up, Yukinoshita spoke up first: "Now then, let's think about how to fix the problem."
"Yuigahama should stop cooking forever," Hikigaya instantly offered his opinion.
"You're completely rejecting me?!" Yuigahama looked shocked.
"Hikigaya-kun, that's the final solution," Yukinoshita, surprisingly, didn't argue with him.
"Is that how you plan to fix it?" Yuigahama looked stunned, then totally let down. Her shoulders dropped and she sighed deeply.
"I guess I'm just not meant for cooking… Is this something you're born with? But I don't have that kind of talent…"
Yukinoshita sighed too: "…I see. I know the answer now."
"What answer?" Dan was curious about what sort of shortcut she had in mind. At that moment, he'd already put his mask back on and was staring straight at Yukinoshita.
Then Yukinoshita calmly said, "You just have to work hard."
"That's the same as saying there's no way!!" Dan complained.
"Hard work is a good solution—as long as you're doing it the right way," Yukinoshita replied.
"Yuigahama-san, earlier you said you don't have talent, right?" She turned her gaze to Yuigahama.
"Eh? Ah, yes."
"Please stop thinking that way. People who don't even make the most basic effort don't have the right to envy those with talent. The reason failures fail is because they don't realize successful people build their success little by little."
Yukinoshita's words were very harsh but flawless. There was no way to argue.
Yuigahama's face showed confusion and fear, unable to say anything. Maybe she had never been scolded this directly before.
She tried to cover it up with a smile: "B-But… no one makes cookies anymore, right…? And this kind of stuff just doesn't suit me. It must be that! Hehe…"
Clack—Yukinoshita placed her teacup down heavily, making a loud sound. At that moment, a sharp aura radiated from her.
"…Could you stop always going along with others? It's irritating to watch. Don't you feel ashamed asking other people where your own clumsy, pathetic, and foolish problems come from?" Yukinoshita's words were blunt and openly full of disgust.
Dan frowned a little when he heard that. He felt like that was a bit too harsh…