French Cup: A Neighborhood Story

Chapter 32: -Kazuya- The Virgin Bride of a Fat Chicken Man

By the late evening, final preparations were still being done for Zombie Walk. It didn't look like we'd get any sleep for it, which would make us extra giddy. It was a recipe for either disaster or spectacular. Hopefully I'd get a third wind, but for now there was something amazing going on in my kitchen.

In the corner of my eye as I fast filled a line of cupcakes with green goo, Gyeong-Wan was trying to assist Hanako's wife, Chidori, with decorating cookies. He held a piping bag full of red icing unsurely, carefully making dots on the ones she'd finished filling with white icing. The red droplets were meant to be blood, so we figured it was safe for an amateur to do. Someone who might not be good at drawing or painting. So far, it was a correct guess, and the way he was so gingerly making marks was making my heart collapse on itself. 

To my left, Nikki was making green twirls of frosting on top of my cupcakes and sticking a plastic zombie keepsake toy into each one. There were six different kinds of toy, so we thought it might encourage people to want to collect them all. We were working silently, and above us the radio was serenading us with Jeanne Moreau. They knew this kind of music helped me concentrate the best, so no one was attempting to pick up my phone and change it this time. They knew who the real master was, who was in charge. 

Behind us, Hanako bent down and grabbed another tray of cookies from one of my ovens. I heard the careful sounds of him placing them individually on a cooling rack. They'd have to be completely cooled before being iced, or the icing would melt into a useless clear glaze. 

"Um." 

I turned from my work, and everyone else did, too. Gyeong-Wan went pink in the cheeks at this, probably not expecting everyone to look at once. 

"Is it- um, is it strange that I want to squirt the icing in my mouth?" He asked, staring at the opening of the tube innocently.

My brain immediately went to things not so innocent, and I turned away quickly, probably the same color as the icing in the bag. "Um no, it's not strange. I do it sometimes, when the bag is almost used up. So I don't, um...waste it."

"Oh, good. So, I'm not the only one. Can I do that when the bag is almost finished?"

"Absolutely."

He made a pleased chuckle. 

"Your mouth is going to be all red," Hanako observed, going back to placing cookies by the noises he was making. "Maybe you shouldn't wash it off. You can wear it for Zombie Walk."

"Hm?" 

I turned around again, at their conversation. Gyeong-Wan was cutely staring inside the piping tip, exploring. He was grinning at it, obviously excited about eating it. "By the way," he continued, not looking away from it. "When's Zom-"

"Oh, honey, you're going to squirt that in your eye. Here. Put more dots on these. See?" Chidori interrupted him. She placed a newly filled cookie in front of him.

"Oh yeah, I heard you're clumsy, Gyeong-Wan. The last thing we need is for you to squirt that in your eye," Nikki said in a cautious voice. "Come on, we have to go quick. We need to get this done. Then, we can get some sleep and start another batch."

"Is anyone else hungry?" 

Everyone stopped what they were doing again. Hanako was staring at us with a quizzical expression. He tilted his head, holding a cookie in his cat shaped oven mitt, one of mine. 

I humored him. "Where would you want to-"

"Chirp's." 

Nikki was already taking his apron off before the whole word was out of Hanako's mouth. His hand grabbed my arm, wrenching me from my work.