Welcome to Heaven | ✓

14: Madeleines

"Okito!"

Despite the crowd of students loafing in the second year hall, my shout had successfully reached the one guy I wanted it to. He stopped where he was and tilted his head. Face stout and emotionless, he rose an eyebrow as he stared down at me and the open container of cookies I'd extended towards him.

Beside him, a shorter girl rotated as well, her purple pigtails bouncing onto her shoulders.

Although it disconcerted me for a second—Okito never hung around anyone considering he prided himself in being a lone wolf—I brushed it aside and plucked out a cookie, holding it out to him.

He eyed it over, mouth pressed tight. "These look crispier than the ones you brought me yesterday."

I jolted, somewhat unsurprised he'd noticed such a detail. "I took them out a little later than I was supposed to."

He snorted.

"I tasted one!" I defended. "They're still good."

Before Okito could retort, the girl beside him stepped forward. Though standing at a shorter height than me, Shiori Aida's features were morphed in a fierce glower.

"You're seriously offering him something you know is a failure?" Scoffing, she set one hand to her hip. "Gouda, who is she? Don't tell me she brings you cookies every morning?"

Okito didn't respond, but truthfully, Shiori didn't require one to go off.

"Excuse me," she said, bending over and narrowing her chartreuse eyes into slits, "why are you bothering our vice president with something so nasty looking? Do you seriously think he'll eat your crap?"

I faltered, a bit off-put by her intensity. I'd been exposed to her verbal attacks in the past—the first time I'd approached the Cooking Club and they all jeered me right out of the room. Shiori Aida was the most obnoxious member of the club and despite being vice president in the past, she offered her title to Okito to possess for whatever reason.

I knew it well, that the moment Okito officially took a position of power, joining their elitist club had become impossible.

"What I give him has nothing to do with you," I spoke up, sending a challenging frown in return.

"But it does." She leaned over and stabbed a finger at my chest. "I don't care who you think you are but our vice president's palate is too graceful to eat whatever a wench like you dishes up."

"W-wench?" I demanded.

She stood tall, jutting her chin. Digging into her bag, she retrieved a small container of her own then popped open the lid. A whiff of the hypnotizing scent immediately filled me with awe. Within the clear plastic sat tiny uniquely shaped cakes.

Were those... madeleines?

I watched as Shiori picked one up and held it to Okito's mouth. The corners of her lips quirked upward as he did what I thought impossible—parted his mouth and accepted the entire cake, features brightening as if from delight.

My heart dropped in my chest.

Shiori, smirking smugly, nudged Okito away and flipped her purple hair over her shoulders.