She sighed, opened her eyes slightly wider, and she smiled, feeling the chill air with satisfaction.
It took her more than an hour to finish the process of making the cake. Pouring hot water into the larger container that contained the cake’s container, then she placed it in the oven.
Inhaled sharply, she heaved a sigh of exhaustion. Turning to the sink, her lips pursed.
Now...is the clean-up…
Noukyuu drove into the driveway and turned off his car. Pulling the key out and opened the door to exit.
Midori could hear him unlocking the garage’s door and then the house’s door. Unconcerned, she returned to cleaning up the equipment in the sink.
When he entered, they did not say words like ‘Welcome back’ or ‘I’m home.’ A few minutes passed, Noukyuu asked, “Did you eat lunch?”
“Not yet. I ate breakfast not too long ago.” She turned to the microwave clock to check the time and took out her phone to set a timer.
“There’s food in the fridge. You can eat now or wait for me to make something.” He inspected the fridge then the refrigerator.
“Mmn.” Squatting in front of the oven, she stared closely inside, hardly saw anything. She then ran upstairs and resumed her reading for a while before turning on her laptop.
When she twisted her neck to look at her phone, she gasped.
A-ah...I’m 5 minutes late!
Midori leapt off her bed and hurried down to the kitchen. She then looked around for an oven glove and open the oven. Taking the thing out, she checked whether or not it was overbaked. However, instead of overbaked, it was underbaked.
She clicked onto YouTube again to read the description. “...”
You’re mmn kidding me! So this was just the first round of baking? No wonder it was so short.
Returning the cake into the oven, she closed the door and lower the temperature. Then she set the timer for another 50 minutes and ran back upstairs.
When the cake was finished baking, she took it out of the oven and poured in the second batch. Putting the second batch into the oven, she went to check on the first finished product.
It’s...not fluffy as it is shown in the video…
The ‘Jiggly Japanese Cheesecake’ was, in fact, not like was its name described. The cake was firm, unmovable no matter how much she tried to shake it, and it was half the height of what was shown.
She signed and covered the top with confectioners’ sugar. Holding a knife, she sliced the cake half-way before making another half-way slice. Tasting the cake, she was doubtful of its taste compare to the one in the video. It was obviously not jiggly nor fluffy like a sponge cake.
That evening, her family had all tasted it.
“Taste like plain egg cake,” said Tosaka.
Nanaka praised her for being so good today since she did her laundry and even made this cake. “You did well! It’s not a failure. It was like this when I made it last time, too.”
Midori raised her brows, “Oh.”
“I think they are not giving us a correct recipe,” she said. Their mother also nodded after she heard her eldest daughter statement. "Of course they'll hide their secret ingredient."
Her face was slightly surprised and showed a thoughtful expression. She didn’t actually care since she only wanted to have a taste on something fluffy like a sponge cake. But it seemed like this was not spongy and jiggly, but firm instead.
Well, at least it’s edible. Not like the avocado creation I made before that had to to be thrown away.
The next day was Sunday and everyone except her had left the house. She was going to spend her day watching YouTube, movies, or animes. Unfortunately, about half an hour after she ate her lunch, her stomach started to ache slightly.
She continued to watch while her left arm was pressing against her abdomen and right arm on her lap, supporting her upper body. Thinking that it would so be fine later, but the slight pain did not go away, instead, it turned worse.
Thinking of how she was taught to do when she had a stomachache when she was young, Midori lied on the flat couch. Put a pillow onto her stomach and her head was supported by another pillow, she started to chant: “It’ll be okay. The pain will go away soon.”
A few minutes later, she felt light-headed and the noisy sound of the TV only agonized her head even more. Her forehead was covered in a thin layer of sweat, her face was pale, her lips were drained of colour, and her eyes were misty.
Panting as she reached for the remote control. She couldn’t find where the mute button was, being in that state, hence, she pushed the lower part of the volume button till there was nothing left except silence from the TV.
The remote then slid out of her hand. Her stomach felt like something was churning inside and stabbing her. Without knowing when, she drifted off into the state of unconsciousness.
When Midori woke up, she checked her phone and found that two hours had passed since she had her lunch. Her mouth was unusually acidic but she gulped the sour saliva before sitting up.
The TV was still on, muted. Picking up the remote, she increased the volume a bit. Rose up from the couch onto her feet, she walked to the dining table and back.
They’ll be home in two hours.
She took her phone and a bottle of water before turning off the TV and ran upstairs. Modiro took a shower and then she sat on her bed.
Opened the book she was reading and resumed where she last left off. Around an hour later, she put the book away and lied down, looking at the ceiling. The classical music that was being played made her thoughts wander away as she stares blankly.
What was in the books?