Worthless Necessity [HitoZuku]

Chapter 183 - My salvation

Midoriya pushed the door open, and almost immediately, he heard Ashido shriek, "Sato! Midoriya's back already!"

Stunned, the greenette just stood by the door, blinking, and he felt a small tug on his hand. He looked down, only to notice Eri staring up at him with huge, shiny eyes, before she dragged him towards the kitchen. Togata was leaning against the counter, as Sato rummaged around in the refrigerator.

"... what...?" Midoriya mumbled in confusion, before Togata grinned at the greenette, "Ah, Midoriya! Eri wanted to make candy apples! But Shinsou didn't know when you'd get back, so we were just checking to see if we had everything!"

Shinsou walked down the stairs, just seeming to notice Midoriya, "Oh, hey. You're back already?"

Midoriya lightly shrugged, as Eri smiled up at the green haired boy, "You'll be joining us, right?"

The lavender haired boy let out a small laugh as Midoriya nodded, unable to say no to Eri, before he noticed that there was also a familiar black haired boy with a red cap sitting at the kitchen table, looking curiously at what Sato and Togata were doing, all the while trying his best to pretend that he didn't give a single shit.

"Kota?" Midoriya tilted his head slightly, as the smaller boy looked up at the quirkless greenette. Kota gave him a shy wave, before turning his attention back to the apples that Sato was placing on the table.

Togata grabbed a couple of measuring cups out of the cupboard, and placed them on the counter, as Sato gathered up the necessary ingredients and laid them out neatly on the counter.

"Ah. Aizawa-sensei said something about Mandalay being called into a really important meeting today, but Tiger and Pixie-Bob had been called out, and Ragdoll was also busy with some other things, so there was no one to take care of Kota." Shinsou scratched the back of his neck, "So Mandalay just dropped him off here."

"Well... he can join us in the candy apple making process, if he likes?" Sato offered, as he pulled the apples out of the refrigerator and placed them on the kitchen counter, before he dug the other kitchenware out of the cupboards.

The first thing that they did was remove the stems from the apples. Togata was busy washing and drying the apples, while Eri helpfully handed out wooden stir sticks while Shinsou and Midoriya poked the sticks into the center of the apples; Sato was busy greasing the baking sheets with some butter.

When Sato was done with the baking sheets, he started measuring out the appropriate amounts of corn syrup, sugar, and water, before he turned his attention to the stove. He grabbed a saucepan, and set the heat to medium-high, as he turned to the other students, "Can someone give me the corn syrup?"

Shinsou dutifully passed the container over, before also giving Sato the sugar and water, as Togata lifted Eri up so she could see what was going on. At this point in time, Kota had gotten up from the kitchen chair and was standing next to Togata, also curious to see what was going on.

Shoji walked into the kitchen, eager to get himself a drink, before he noticed the small black haired boy. He gently tapped Kota on the shoulder, causing the boy to turn around, before Shoji carefully picked Kota up so the boy could also get a good view of Sato mixing the contents of the saucepan.

Midoriya subtly hid behind Shinsou, trying to get as far away from the stove as possible, and the lavender haired boy gently pat the boy on the shoulder reassuringly.

After a few minutes, Sato decided that the melted candy coating was ready, and turned off the stove. He stirred in some bright red food colouring, and placed the saucepan on a heat-proof mat on the kitchen counter. Togata and Shoji put the two kids down, and Eri and Kota immediately clambered up onto the kitchen chairs.