Lamia Hominum, A rose and thorns

That Same Day

On that same day during recess

"W...Wait for me!" I quickly picked myself up,dusted my uniform and ran towards Otoki,"Hey!Wait for me!" Otoki stopped and turned around,"What do you want?" He asked in an impatient tone. "Wait...This...School is too big...I don't really know where the canteen is.I will get lost," I huffed,trying to catch my breath. "Really...That is a very lame excuse." He looked at me with disbelief. "Really!You think I want to walk with a vampire who can bite me at any moment?" "Okay,fine.To think that you don't even know where the canteen is..." He continued walking and I followed behind.There was awkward silence...

"Here is the canteen you can't even find,"Otoki smirked. "Hey!Don't laugh at me..." I was embarrassed.Then,I took my bento and walked away from him.I opened my bento and my eyes feasted on the delicious food that I had prepared this morning.Fried egg with sweet sauce,fried chicken dipped in sweet lemon sauce,tamagoyaki,fresh cabbage and steamed fragrant rice.Yumm,this is going to be delicious!My stomach rumbled-time to eat!Just when I raised my chopsticks,Otoki snatched it away from me! "Hey!Give it back!" I shouted,trying to snatch it back but to no avail-he was too strong. He grabbed my chopsticks and started munching on my food. "Hey!That's mine!Stop eating mine!" "Like I care.You are my servant," Otoki mumbled while eating. "What!Since when!Just give it back!" I screamed. "Stop shouting,you are creating a commotion...Mmm delicious..." "You were the one who started it!Give it back and I will stop!"

Just like that,I kept on shouting and he kept on eating.Everyone was staring at us but I ignored them.Before I knew it,he ate all of it!At the sight of my empty bento,my blood boiled.I could not take it anymore.Now,what do I eat?First he bit me,now he finish my lunch!I would never tolerate with such bullies!I wanted to shout,I wanted to scream and scold him.Yet,when I opened my mouth,no words came out.I could not shout,I could not scream.I was engulfed in sadness and anger.I started to sob.Then I started to cry.

"Geez,what a crybaby.Here," Otoki handed a packaged cream puff to me. I took a quick look and rejected it,"I don't want it.I don't want yours,bully." I turned away from him. "What a pain in the neck.To think that you are the stubborn kind of girl." "What!I'm not stubborn!You are the the stubborn one!You ate finish my lunch despite the numerous times I shouted at you to stop!" "Sorry,it's just too delicious." "Yeah right,you and your-" He opened the packet of the cream puff and stuffed it into my mouth,"Stop complaining and just eat the cream puff,unless you want to starve." "Mwhhpmphwmmmm," I tried to talk. "Just eat it already.It's delicious," I could sense that he was feeling impatient.

I took a bite of the cream puff and...It was so sweet and delicious!The sweetness of the caramel cream in the puff made me crave for more.I wolfed down the puff as if I had not eaten for days till there was no more.At that sight,he beamed,"I told you it is nice.Well,I love sweet stuff.And your homemade lunch was sweet too." I blushed.No one has ever complimented on my cooking before,I thought,because... No one has ever tasted it...I was speechless."You...You jerk!Firstly,you ate my lunch.Now,you...You compliment me!What's... What's wrong with you,you jerk!Jerk!" I blushed even more.It was my only reaction.I thought he would argue with me again.But,I was wrong.It was totally unexpected. He pat me on the head and smiled,"Nothing.I just thought that the compliment might improve your skills.One day,with your excellent skills,you can soar in the sky..."he paused and muttered to himself,"unlike me." "What did you say?The last part?" "It's nothing..."

"What's that mark on your neck?" Kaneki Sho,the newly appointed class monitor,pointed to the bite marks on my neck.I turned to Otoki.He gave me a serious face,again.Does he only have that boring expression?Anyway,I must not tell anyone about the bite.It will scare everyone!Otoki also don't seem like he will be happy if I tell Kaneki about it. "Err...It's nothing...It's just a small injury I had a few days ago..."I lied,hoping he would not suspect a thing about the obvious bite mark. "That's an unusual mark...It does not hurt anymore right?" "Well,it still hurts a little but it's fine for me." Then,Kaneki ran off.Did I say something I should not?Why did he run away?I was puzzled.Later,he came back with a plaster in his hand,"Here,use this." He handed the plaster to me.Thing was,I could not see where the mark was so I was unable to place the plaster over the mark."Let me help you then,"Kaneki giggled.

After the recess bell rang,we went back to class.It was Home Economics now.Yagari-sensei entered the room with a big transparent box of ingredients. "We shall now learn how to bake cupcakes-vanilla cupcakes!" He announced,"Everyone,get into groups and we will first start with he instructions on baking vanilla cupcakes." Immediately,everyone formed their own groups.Otoki and I were left alone.Wow.They make friends so quickly.Oh well,vampire and I will have to bake together then.We formed a group,more like a pair...After that,Yagari-sensei taught us the steps to baking vanilla cupcakes and distributed the ingredients to all of the groups-and the pair.

Yagari-sensei helped to preheat the oven while we start mixing the ingredients.First,we added a cup of sugar and a small slab of butter into a big bowl. "Sugar...Not enough," Otoki poured two more cups of sugar into the bowl. "Stopp!That's too much sugar!It's too sweet!"I cried. "It is just nice.That's the amount I take in every week." "What!That?That is too much!Too much sugar intake can result in diabetes!" I warned. "I won't," he smirked.I sighed.It was pointless to argue with him.Next,we beat two eggs and-"Hey!Otoki-kun!Don't add so much vanilla extract!You are only supposed to add two teaspoons of it!" Otoki turned to me,"Two teaspoons are too little.Teacher must have made a mistake.It should be two tablespoons." Argh!What a sweet tooth!Now the cupcakes are inedible.They are too sweet!I rolled my eyes.This person cannot be bothered!Never mind,let's just continue...Later,we added flour and baking powder to the mixture.Oh no,here it goes again.

"More milk,more sweet,"Otoki poured a big cup of fresh milk into the mixture and stirred it. "Otoookiiii,stop with the sweetness already," I begged.I did not have anymore energy to argue with him.Moreover,we were the noisiest and everyone kept staring at us.After stirring,the mixture looked very creamy. "Just right," said the sweet tooth.I felt sick looking at the creamy mixture.I went to get cupcake paper moulds.Then,Otoki poured the cream into the moulds. "Do you cook?" I asked curiously.He nodded his head,"I read cookbooks too.Baking cupcakes is easy." Sweet-Tooth-Vampire has cooking talents,huh.I thought while helping to carry the filled moulds on a tray and placing the tray into the big oven.Most of the groups were also doing the same.

After 25 minutes,the cupcakes were ready.I wore kitchen gloves and carried out our tray from the oven.The cupcakes were totally white!I gasped in appalling horror.I might not be able to survive after eating one of those cupcakes.How is Otoki-kun even able to survive after eating those overdose-of-sugar cupcakes he baked at home?!After they cooled down,I let Otoki have them.He was gulping them down all at one go and was still breathing all right!Suddenly,he plopped one into my mouth!Gahhh!It tasted so sweet that my throat was pain!Yuck! "Otoki!Why did you do that!" He sniggered and stuck out his tongue at me.Argh!

Just then,Yagari-sensei said,"Mira,please quiet down.You have been shouting throughout!" I blushed.I did not mean to shout,it was all Otoki's fault!The other students were sniggering at me.I turned and look angrily at Otoki.He pretended nothing had happened and continued eating the cupcakes!What kind of attitude was that!Towards the end of the day,Yagari-sensei asked some of us some questions. "Mira!How are the cupcakes you and Otoki baked?" I stood up and complained,"They are so sweet that I had difficulty swallowing one!All thanks to Otoki!" The other students giggled again and started muttering to themselves about me.I heard one say,"Those two can't even bake a proper cupcake despite Yagari-sensei telling us how to bake them!Haha!They must be not paying attention!Serve them right!" I was hurt.It was also not my fault but laughing at me on the first day of school!

"We are just trying to bake a better cupcake.Not like you all,baking exactly what teacher instructed.There is nothing special about your cupcakes at all,unlike ours," Otoki stood up and talked back at them.I was surprised.He is standing up for me...Everyone kept quiet and stared at him.He did not care about them at all.He sat and winked at me.

Otoki-kun is totally unpredictable!First,he bit me mercilessly and treated me coldly.Then,he ate my lunch but gave me his cream puff.He knows how to cook and is a sweet tooth.He stands up for me too.He has so many sides of him-cool and cold one,kind one,mischievous one,'sweet'one...He is totally unpredictable.

Just then,the bell rang.Time to go home.I stood up and thanked Otoki for his deed before leaving.

What other sides would I discover about you tomorrow,Unpredictable Otoki-kun?

Hi!Sorry I took a long time to write.Please continue to support!Dedicated to Nat_Dolphin .

* Some of the ' - ' is actually a long dash...If you know what I mean.Or you just ignore it then.
I am not perfect in English so there will be some mistakes I made.(this applies to all the chapters)