The Florence Cream Puff Mystery (Part 6) | Contents
Osanai-san and I were invited to Patisserie Kogi Annex Ruriko the following Wednesday. Though it was their designated rest day, some recording was being done for a television program, so Tasaka Ruriko-san was present, and she let us in after the shoot was over.
“It’s because Yuki-chan-senpai helped me out so much.”
There were no clouds in Kogi-san’s beaming face as she spoke. As for how she handled the fabricated photo, or what she said to her classmate Tochino-san… neither Osanai-san nor I asked her about that. We’d carried out her request. We didn’t want to know more, or talk about it.
In place of a uniform, Tasaka Ruriko-san was wearing a black apron. She gracefully smiled.
“Really, thank you so much.”
I felt uncharacteristically happy upon seeing Kogi-san and Tasaka-san smile together. Up till last Saturday, Kogi-san hated Tasaka-san, and Tasaka-san was hesitant to interact with Kogi-san, yet the two of them were now in the same space. We never told Kogi-san that Tasaka-san had cooperated with us to obtain the fake photo, but the two of them must have exchanged words in some shape or form – and at the very least, the distance between them seemed to have shortened.
Osanai-san probably didn’t notice that. As soon as she entered the store, her body started trembling, and she froze in place, speechless.
The interior of Patisserie Kogi Annex Ruriko was decorated with sweets. Pastel-colored macarons, marble-patterned macarons, macarons that were closer to the primary colors. There was also a whole cheesecake, a tower of cream puffs that had chocolate drizzled from the top – I later learned that it was called a croquembouche. Finally, there were some items that Patisserie Kogi Annex Ruriko, a French dessert shop, would usually not have, Berliner Pfann… what were they called again? I suppose I’ll just call them Berlin agepan.
“It’s all for Yuki-chan-senpai!”
“These were used for filming, so they won’t be served in our store. Please have as much as you like.”
Osanai-san opened her mouth and tried to say something, but all she could produce was a strange utterance that sounded like, “Awawa”.
Kogi-san had consulted me on the phone about how to thank Osanai-san, and my advice was to treat her to sweets. That was when I told her about the trouble with the Berlin agepan. I’d thought that Osanai-san would be happy… but it was impossible to deduce that she would be so overjoyed.
With both hands on her mouth and her eyes teary, she barely managed to speak.
“Um… am, am I dead?”
Kogi-san gave a peal of laughter. It became exactly six, and the melody of Oh, The Meadows Are Green from the large clock outside filled the store.
The Florence Cream Puff Mystery (Part 6) | Contents
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Editors (Tier 2): Dedavond, Egi Pratama, Pearl H Nettle, Sworderline
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