Fikush-ON!

Ch. 26: Lyrics, Snacks and Blues

A few days had already passed since the marathon. The classes were over, and the guys and I were hanging out in the club room, as usual. We were sitting on the couches, and the two dudes were leaning towards the coffee table, eyeing the thing on top of it. Their reaction caused me to sheepishly look elsewhere.

"...Where the hell did you get these?" Ichiro finally asked after a long-lasting silence.

I scratched my cheek, looking at the coffee table from the corner of my eye. "My former employer gave them to me."

Tadaaki frowned a bit, puzzled. "Pretty weird thing to give to a part-time employee."

I guess their reaction was justified. After all, on top of the coffee table was a box – full of sweets, cakes and pastries of different kinds. All of them looked fancy, too fancy to just 'give away' to a former summer employee. But it was the truth. Well, almost. I woke up very early today, and since I couldn't get back to sleep, I decided to head off to school early and make myself some fancy coffee to keep me awake. On my way there, I happened to bump into Tsumugi, also on her way to school. After some casual chit-chat, she handed me over that box of sweets as a gift. Though it was a confusing situation, I accepted it, and took it to the club room, storing it in the back of the fridge. And now that the classes were over, I thought it'd be a good time to open that box. The contents took us all by surprise.

Ichiro took one of the pastries, inspecting it from all sides. "Shit, this is the kind of stuff they feed to the royalty."

Not wanting to explain the situation any further, I stood up, and walked over to the kitchen area. "Well don't eat them, then."

"H-Huh? No, it's not that, I'm just surprised, that's all!" he stuttered in a haste, and after admiring the pastry for a bit more, he took a bite out of it. "...Damn, this is good."

"Hm, that strawberry one with chocolate stripes looks tasty..." Tadaaki muttered to himself.

I sighed amusedly, opening a cabinet and looking at our collection of coffee beans. "At least wait until I'm done with the coffee, you fat fucks. I bet they'll be even better with some."

Let's see, now... Water Avenue is always nice, but it has kinda lost its freshness. Java Pura maybe? Though, I'm not sure how the flavors would combine. How about Tanzanian Peaberry with its sweetness...? Hm, so much to choose from, but nothing to choose... Maybe I should ask the guys from their opini—

My thought process was cut off when my phone began vibrating, meaning someone was calling me. I dug out my phone, checking the caller. To my surprise, it was Yui. Huh, can't remember the last time she called me. What's this about, now?

"Yo, Tadaaki. Can you take care of the coffee?" I asked him, showing him my vibrating phone.

He seemed to understand it. "Ah, sure."

We walked past each other as he headed to the kitchen area, while I went outside the club room, to the hallway. Before closing the door, I glanced at Ichiro, who was too busy munching on the pastry to care. Well, not that he should care, since he already knows about Ui and the others. But he has a bad habit of eavesdropping on phone calls. I answered the call.

"What's u—"

"Why, Eiji-kun!?" Yui yelled, cutting me off.

I had to retract the phone from my ear to protect my hearing. "What? What are you talking abo—?"

"Why did you take our snacks!?" she cried out, her voice being a mixture of shock and sorrow.

A bit confused, I scratched the back of my head. "What the hell are you talking about? Tsumugi-san gave those to me."