The Classmate Who Is Adored by Everyone Smiles Teasingly Only at Me-Chapter 4Volume 3 .1 - The Cultural Festival
The Cultural Festival
The cultural festival at the high school Sōma and his friends attended was customarily held on the third Sunday of November.
The Saturday before that was dedicated to preparations.
“Take all these desks to the storage room. They’re in the way!”
“We don’t have enough outlets! Go borrow some power strips from the committee!”
Voices that sounded almost like shouts were flying across every classroom, and students were bustling about in the gym, the schoolyard, and the hallways.
As for Sōma, he had been holed up in the cooking practice room next to the home economics classroom since morning.
He was there to do a trial baking of baby castella using the hot plates that Wakui and the others had brought.
On the day of the cultural festival, his class, 1-4, would open a mock shop in their classroom.
However, because they were decorating today and it was dusty and cumbersome, all the students in charge of baking the baby castella had moved here.
“I looked it up, and there seem to be roughly two ways to bake baby castella. First, there’s the method similar to making takoyaki.”
Naturally taking the lead, Sōma explained to his classmates gathered around the hot plate as he poured the pre-made cream-colored batter into the heated holes of the hot plate.
“You keep poking it with a pick to shape it into a round form.”
As he spoke, he actually poked the batter with a pick, baking it into a spherical shape.
In truth, Sōma, who didn’t have a takoyaki maker at home, was also baking for the first time.
However, thanks to his thorough preparation with videos and recipe books and his experience baking many pastries before, he somehow managed to create a beautiful sphere.
“See, like this. The downside is that it takes a bit of skill to bake.”
When the classmates saw the finished baby castella, applause broke out, and Sōma let out a sigh of relief in his heart.
“Ichinose is amazing as expected. You got the hang of using the hot plate better than us, the owners, in no time. I’ve made takoyaki several times with this, but I’ve never been able to make it this good.”
Wakui praised him as she rolled the baby castella on a plate, and the other two who had brought the hot plates nodded in agreement.
“That’s probably because what you were cooking was takoyaki.”
Takoyaki involves various fillings, and the ideal is to have a crispy exterior with a gooey inside, so the degree of baking is quite delicate.
On the other hand, baby castella just needs to be thoroughly cooked inside, so there’s no need to be as concerned about the degree of baking.
“No, no, even so, being able to bake it into such perfect spheres after just a little practice is amazing. You truly are a sweets genius.”
Wakui said, patting Sōma’s back vigorously.
“Stop it, I’m holding a pick… Now, the other method of baking is easier. It involves making two halves of a sphere and sticking them together.”
He poured batter into two holes of the hot plate and, without poking with a pick this time, waited patiently for it to bake to a certain firmness.
Then, while the surface was still just barely raw, he lifted one hemisphere and adhered it to the other to form a sphere.
“That’s it, it’s done.”
The baby castella taken from the hot plate was hardly a perfect sphere, with a large groove at the seam.
“This method is easier, huh?”
“Yeah. The downsides are, as you can see, it doesn’t become perfectly round, and if you misjudge the baking, the hemispheres might fail to stick together. Also, since it uses two holes, you can only bake half the amount at a time. Which baking method do you prefer, the takoyaki style or the joining method?”
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“Obviously, the easier one.”
One of the boys answered immediately.
“Not everyone is good at baking like you, Ichinose.”
“…I guess so.”
It seemed that the easier option would be chosen.
Sōma, while trying not to show it on his face, was secretly disappointed.
To be honest, he wanted to adopt the takoyaki style that could bake into beautiful spheres.
Even though it was just a mock shop at the cultural festival, he wanted to be particular about the presentation.
However, he recognized that insisting on his preference could be seen as selfish.
Among his classmates, there were surely those who thought it was enough to enjoy the festival atmosphere easily.
If he, who was well-versed in sweets, insisted on his opinion, it might create an atmosphere where others felt they had to go along with it.
That would probably be bad, so he resolved to stay neutral while researching the baking methods.
“Alright, then let’s practice the joining method.”
Saying this, he tried to give up his spot in front of the hot plate to someone else.
Wakui stopped him.
“Wait a minute. Um, I prefer the takoyaki style.”
“Huh..? But isn’t it obviously more difficult?”
The boy who had advocated for the joining method showed reluctance.
“Yeah, but the takoyaki style looks cooler, you know? Spinning the baby castella in the holes really makes me think we’re actually cooking.”
“That is… well, I guess.”
The classmates exchanged glances.
“Tomorrow, we’re just here to bake anyway. Wouldn’t it be boring to just stick halves together? Everyone volunteered to be on the baking team, so let’s do something cool and worthwhile.”
“But what if it’s difficult? What if we mess up…”
“No worries! Ichinose is here! Even if we fail, he’ll back us up perfectly!”
‘Right?’ She turned to Sōma, who nodded in agreement.
“I think I can help out to some extent.”
“Well, if Ichinose is helping, maybe even we can bake them properly.”
Everyone knew about Sōma’s skills.
With the backup of an aspiring patissier, the mood shifted towards trying the more challenging method.
