Chapter 4
4 years ago...
Salali stood in her family kitchen on Feburary 13th. The chocolate batter that she was making smoothly went into the cake pan as she looked at the time: 6 pm. She already knew that she was gonna be up all night doing her homework for class tomorrow, but what she doing was very important to her. 'I'm sure he'll love it. He just has to!' She thought, holding up a fist as a way to hope for the best. She put the batter-filled pan into the stove and set it to it's appropriate temperature to bake it up nice and tasty. As she waited for it to be done, she pulled out her phone and called her friend Minami.
"Hey, Salaliiii!" Minami exclaimed through the phone.
"Hey, Minami. Are you ready for tomorrow?" "Yeah! I made some M&M cookies for Ren. He's gonna love it...and me, someday." She said with a dreamy sigh. Salali giggled at her, making Minami become frustrated a bit. "Yeah. Keep laughing...but, we were made for each other. Anyway, what are you doing for Akimoto?" Minami said with a giggle. "Well, I was thinking about making a chocolate cake with strawberries and cream on it." "Ehhhh?! That's way better than mine." "Hahaha! Well, I've always been known to do stuff better than you anyway." "Huh?! That's not true! Name one time when you've done something better than me." "Well, there was the time we decided to braid each other's hair when we were 12. I made you look so cool...but, you made my hair look like the hair on some black guy." "Sorry! I just watched an american movie the night before with this actor named Ice Cube in it. It's Ren's fault for liking imported movies!" Minami exclaimed.
"Oh-hoho. You blaming your prince charming for your mistakes? That's a new low." "Ehhhhhh?!" "Kidding. Kidding." Salali jokingly said, then looked over to the cake, which was done. "Gotta take the cake out. See you tomorrow." "Okay." Minami sighed with a sad expression before hanging up. Salali put on her mittens and took the cake out of the stove before putting on the counter. After 10 minutes of decorating it and making to carefully place it inside a nice, pink box for it, she had her cake for Akimoto done in no time flat. "Now, let's just hope he'll li- hell, who am I kidding? He'll love it." She said with overconfidence as she put it in a cabinet and went to do her homework before bed.
The next day, she got the cake and headed off to school without eating her breakfast. The school was 2 miles away, so it wasn't that long of a walk from her house to the entrance. She put the cake in her shoe locker, making sure it was secure. After doing so, she headed off to class where she bumps into Akimoto on the way through the door. Her face turned red and her eyes looked away. "S-Sorry about that." "No problem, Salali." Akimoto replied, then turned to walk down the hall until Salali grabbed his sleeve. "Hey. Can you meet me afterschool today on the rooftop? It's very important." She whispered nervously. Akimoto smiled and looked at her. "Alright. I'll be there. You don't mind if I'm a little late due to the council meeting, are you?" He asked before Salali nodded and released his sleeve. He made his way down the hallway as Salali made her way into the classroom, still hoping that everything goes as she planned.
-Namine's Cafe-
It was an 2 hours after school had ended and Salali just sat on a bench on the roof, looking down at the pink box in her hand. She was terribly nervous, waiting for Akimoto to walk through the door with that smile he always had on his face. Though, she was certain that the meetings usually went on for a good 30 minutes, but she stayed, wait for her crush to arrive. Just as was thinking something may have happened to him, Akimoto came through the door...with a few other people. She was confused on why some other people were with Akimoto, but Salali stood up anyway and went towards him. A girl besides Akimoto put a hand up before Salali got close enough to Akimoto. "That's far enough. Just do what you came here to do." She said with a smirk, prompting Salili to look at Akimoto. "Who are these people?" She asked, then one of the guys in the group smirked. "Come on, Akimoto. Just end this already so we don't miss the movie." He said, then Akimoto looked at Salali with a disgusted face. "What is it we got here? A cake of some sort?" He said, opening the top to reveal the chocolate cake with strawberries on it. "This...looks gross. Like, it looks like it may make me vomit. You made this crud for me, Salali?" He said, then slapped the box to the ground, making the cream on the cake splat up into Salali's teary-eyed face.
"Sorry to bust your bubble, little miss, but I'm taken...and even if I wasn't, I would never want to date a waste of space like you ever in my life." Akimoto said, making Salali fall to her knees and start crying. "Ugh. How annoying. Hey, Aki, can I through her around?" The girl from before asked with a smirk. Akimoto nodded and the girl grabbed Salali by the hair, making her scream very loud. Just as something was about to happen, the door to the rooftop opened and a boy came running at Akimoto before punching him straight in the face and throwing the girl attacking Salali to the side. "Don't hurt her!" He yelled as he was then swarmed by the rest of the group, which kicked his ass. After 5 minutes of beating up the guy, the group decided to leave, Akimoto and the girl included. The boy crawled over to the bench and rested against it. Salali, worried about the mystery boy, walked up to him and knelled by his side. "Are you ok, guy?" She muttered, still in tears. The guy raised his hand and pointed at the pink box that still contains cake in it. "Bring that over here." He whispered. Salali did as told and brought the cake to him, to which he grabbed a hand full and put some in his mouth. After eating the portion that he grabbed out of the box, he looked up at Salali. "It...very good." He said with a weak smile before passing out. She got scared and was about to go ask for help, but she didn't know the boy's name. After looking at his face for a minute, she remembered his name and her eyes grew wide as she realized that it was the guy from her class.
"Soujiro-kun..."
To be continued...
(Sorry. No DJ Neko Soul in the past. :P)
