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“Inami?”

“……”

“Hey, Inami !”

“……”

“I-na-mi !”

“Huh !? Eh, w-what is it !?”

“You were just spacing out. What’s wrong?”

Inside the bakery kitchen.

The cookies have been made and packaged. All that remained was to write the price on a piece of cardboard and put it on the long desk in front of the store along with the products.

But my hands are shaking and I can’t write the numbers.

“……I-I’m sorry, I’ve got a bit of a stomach ache. Can you go ahead and put the products on the table?”

“Ah, yeah. But are you okay?”

“Yes. Thanks.”

I ran to the bathroom and almost threw up for a moment, but I managed to hold it in.

I sat down on the toilet seat and gasped.

I scratch my head, cover my face, and bite my teeth at my inadequacy.

The moment I held the grease pencil in front of the thick paper, I remembered the time before I started my own store.

I remember the time when I was tapping away at the computer, unfamiliar with it, making a menu list.

That was fun.

I would calculate the profit margin and decide on the price, whether it was okay to take this much or not, or whether I should do it just in case I lost money. I printed, laminated, and rounded the corners with scissors. I put it on the table, worrying about the angles.

–And then it all burned.

The terrible smell of burning plastic still lingers in my nose.

The dusty menu sheet hit me in the face, and my mind goes back to how hot it was.

“Calm down–they shouldn’t be…..selling oil in a place like this. Am I an idiot…damn it…..!”

I spat at myself inwardly, but my body didn’t move a muscle.

The dishes I make in my videos and stream, and the dishes I usually serve to Haku san, are just usual dishes.

However, if I write numbers here, they become products, and if I display them, they become business. I’m going to start the restaurant again, which I have already failed at once.

I was the one who decided to participate in the event, saying that it would be fine if it’s with Haku san…….

I was disgusted with myself for remembering the trauma and shrinking back at such a last minute moment.

“…….What if I fail again….?”

Even if there is no series of bad luck like what happened to me, for example, no customers at all.

……No, I don’t think so.

Haku san is very popular.

Then, maybe the cookies are actually very bad?

I can’t say it’s impossible.

In the past few years, the only people who have eaten my cooking are Haku san and Nekomiya san.

They said it was delicious, but that doesn’t mean that everyone else did. In fact, it is possible that they are in the minority.

If it wasn’t delicious, I’m sure many people would speak ill of me, even Haku san.

“…..”

Unpleasant fantasies were going round and round in my head.

Failure.

Failure.

If I fail.

If I did fail.

It’s my fault.

If that happens, Haku san will probably get fed up with me and remember what her job is.

And then she will go back to being an assassin and spend her days with a cold face like when I first met her.

No.

I don’t want that.

Even though I don’t want to.

I’m too scared to get up.

“—-Inami ! !” 

Suddenly, there was a knock on the bathroom door, and my back straightened up.

“W-what is it?”

“Hurry up ! There’s some trouble ! Come here at once ! !”

Haku san’s impatient voice.

This is proof that something tremendous has happened.

…….It’s my fault. 

Maybe.

I’m sure.

It must be.

I’m so scared, I can’t stand it.

I wanna run away, but I can’t.

I whip my ass into a vomit-inducing frenzy and somehow manage to follow her back.

“Look ! W-what should I do ! What should we do !?”

“……Y-yes?”

I was led to a place where she showed me something that made my mouth drop open.

The anxiety and fear that had been building up in my body began to dissipate.

“…..What is this?”

“Well, because the price hasn’t been decided yet ! But he’s taking it without permission ! What’s the right thing to do in Japan !? I shouldn’t hit him, should I !?”

“That would be very, very bad.”

I wondered if he had been separated from his parents.

A boy of about three or four years old had just unwrapped a cookie and was about to eat it.

As I pondered for a few seconds what was going on, someone shouted, [Hey, hey, he ![  A person who looked like a mother flew in and gave the boy a hard slap on the head with a tremendous yell. ……Ah, it’s the wife of the pastry shop owner.

“This boy ! ! That’s stealing ! ! Santa Claus won’t come for bad kids ! !”

“Aah ! Oh no ! Don’t tell Mr. Santa !”

“Then apologize to Inami san first ! Tell him you’re sorry ! !”

“…..I-I’m sorry……”

With tears in his eyes, the boy bowed his head.

I miss this kind of thing.

I remember when I was a kid, I was threatened with Santa Claus around this time of year.

“Ah, uh, I’m sorry. My child keeps wandering around as soon as I take my eyes off him… How much does it cost?”

“Eh….uh, that……”

Cost. That word rekindles an uneasiness that I had almost forgotten.

While I was at a loss for words, a boy picked up a cookie out of the corner of my eye.

It was a little big for a child’s mouth.

Somehow or other, he managed to take a bite of it.

“Mmmm ! Yum ! This is delicious !”

“Hey ! I haven’t paid for it yet !”

Another slap and another smack.

Still, the boy was not discouraged and proceeded to eat two, three, and so on.

He looked happy.

He’s eating it deliciously.

“Inami is amazing ! No matter what you cook, it always turns out delicious !”

“Yeah, amazing ! It tastes even better than my dad’s !”

Haku san puffed out her chest proudly.

The boy half forcefully shoves a cookie into his mother’s mouth. She mumbles, [Oh, it’s really better than Dad’s……] and immediately peels her eyes back in surprise.

“I-I’m sorry ! I haven’t paid for them yet !”

“It can’t be helped, it’s delicious. Right, Inami?”

“……”

“Inami, what’s wrong?”

“……Ah, no, haha. It’s nothing.”

My cheeks loosen up.

I cannot control my expression.

I’m amazed at my own simplicity.

It’s delicious–is that all it takes, just one word and it’s gone? My anxiety and impatience.

“……Cost, huh. The cookies cost 300 yen.”

“The gingerbread cookies are delicious, too ! Buy some of it if you like !”

“Oh, I’ll have those too.”

“Then, the total cost will be 600 yen. ….Okay. Thank you.”

One 500 yen coin and one 100 yen coin.

It was the first time I received money for cooking.

I forgot about all the income from videos and streaming because it’s all transferred to me…

I didn’t realize how heavy it was to receive money from someone.

“Don’t worry, everyone says it’s delicious and it all sells.”

“Eh……?”

Waving her hand at the boy who was moving away, Haku san turned her cool eyes toward me and said that.

Does she saw through me….?

Am I pretty easy to read?

“Besides, if it goes unsold, I’ll buy it, don’t worry ! I love Inami’s cooking more than anything else in the world ! I feel rather lucky that there’s enough left for me to eat 

!”

With an innocent smile on her face, she slapped my hip as if to heckle me.

……Oh no.

I’m so thankful for Haku san’s presence, I’m about to cry a little.

No, no, no.

If I cry here, I’ll be laughed at.

“Inami san ! !”

“!?”

Suddenly, the pastry shop owner came to me with a serious look on his face.

His wife and son had just bought cookies, but what was wrong? Was there something wrong with the cookies?

“The cookies we just bought–“

W-what should I do…..

“They were so delicious ! I was really surprised !”

“……Eh?”

“Did Inami san go to a confectionery school? Did you train at a shop like that?”

“No,……it’s my own way of doing things. I looked at the list of ingredients on the market and tried to reproduce them, or I tried to make them by guessing the ingredients from the taste of the food at the store…..or I tried to combine the ingredients I learned in that way,…….”

“Wow, you’re young and eager to learn ! If you’d like, can you teach me—“

“Stupid ! Don’t embarrass Inami san !”

Again the wife came over and this time she gave him a hard slap on the head.

The husband tried to bite back, but the wife pulled his arm, telling him to get back to the shop.

“Um ! I’ll put together a video on how to make it so you can watch and learn it……!

“Really !? That would be a big help, thank you!!”

I waved to the husband as he was being dragged away.

Haku san shook her body and gave me a poke with her index finger and said, [Good for you !] she looked as happy as if she were me. I squinted at the dazzling expression on her face and nodded slightly downwards.

“Um…….”

The stranger spoke to me, and I straightened my back, saying, [Yes.]

“Can I buy this one?”

“Ah, yes. It’s all right.”

“They are both 300 yen. They are so delicious, I’d be happy if you bought both !”

The woman giggled at her bluntness, which I could never imitate, and picked up both…….

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