Ethereal Wheels

Chapter 10

Koizumi Maya

Being the upperclassmen of the cooking club, you start getting lazy and bored once in a while.

I sighed placing a hand against my cheek, "Especially when Shiki-san annoys you about being late to club activities. Sheesh."

Even when new members arrived, shes still as ruthless as ever. I can totally sympathize with them, "But." My mind went back to that first year that recently joined us. Onoda Chiaki. Initially she seemed interested in joining the cooking club since day one the minute I met her alongside Shiki.

'However when the other girl...erm...what was her name?' I tapped my right fist against my open left hand as I remembered the other first year's name. 'Oh yeah! Kanzaki Miki!'

Kanzaki mentioned about asking Chiaki to join the bicycle racing club. Now that I think about, those two guys in my math class are from the bicycle racing club. That quiet guy and the curly or perm or....whatever! At least I know who they are! Aoyagi Hajime and Teshima Junta. Sometimes I wonder if those two swing that way or they're just friends.

...

...

...

It was probably stupid of me to think of the first option from the beginning. I'm going to pretend I never even thought of that. "Hey." My eyes blinked, and then I glanced up from desk to find Teshima Junta himself standing right in front of me. Wow. He really does have curly hair.

"You dropped this." He lifted up a familiar sheet of....OH MY MOTHER OF-!

I snatched the paper away from his hold, "Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much! Shiki-san would've killed me if I lost that."

I can't believe I actually lost this, the recipe for tomorrow's club activities were planned out in this!

My eyes were practically twinkling at my savior. "Teshima-san, you're a saint."

The guy scratched the back of his head upon hearing my compliment. "Actually, Hajime was the one to find it earlier. You were already dashing off to get into Literature class."

"Ahhhh! Thanks a lot Shiki-san! I'm late for for Literature again, Ito-sensei is going to make me stand outside the halls again!" In her rushed manner, the caramel colored short haired girl dashed past the duo returning from their last class. Out of the corner of Aoyagi's eyes, he found a fallen paper left by the rushed girl.

"...?" Picking up the paper, Aoyagi handed it over to Teshima.

"This is....the cooking club's." Teshima searched for the name written on the sheet. Lo and behold, their classmate's name is written at the top. Koizumi Maya.

"I think that girl has the same math class as us," Teshima figured, "Its almost time for class."

Aoyagi nodded heading off with Teshima to the next class.

"Aoyagi-san did?" Luckily behind Teshima stood Aoyagi too. How did I not notice him standing there until now?

"Thank you, Aoyagi-san! I owe you!" I thanked the silent guy of our class who nodded silently back to me. The two continued over to their seats, while I resumed to think about their club.

Hm. I guess the bicycle racing club does have nice people in them.

Takara Shiki

Brushing a few stray strands of hair behind my ear, I noticed the sounds of footsteps closing by me.

"Shingo." I acknowledge the being standing in front of me.

While the person did the same, "Shiki."

The murmurs of the other third year girls spoke. Shingo may not be listening to them, but I can tell by the sound in their voice of how they feel about me and Shingo.

"Not fair." One girl would pout,"Its always Takara Shiki who'd earn Kinjou-san's attention and nobody else."

"Why would he even care for such a strict girl?" Another girl flipped her hair to the side while continuing her discussion, "I heard that shes always strict when it comes to attendance to the cooking club."

...

"Really?! Is she that serious! Cooking is just cooking nothing more nothing less."

...

To me. Cooking is something more than just cooking. To have a passion. A clear image of wanting to send a message to someone. You can't speak it. However you can speak it through the delicious food you did to make. I can't stand it when people who can't understand its meaning act such a way. I should be glad those girls aren't members of my club. Quietly I tighten my hands into a fist from underneath my desk. Luckily Shingo didn't see, although I noticed the glint in his eyes. I mustered a small smile to the person in front of me, "I see that you've met her."

"Yeah. She's quite an interesting person. Including the new members we've recruited in our Bicycle Racing Club."

Perked in interest I asked, "Why so?"

He didn't say anything except gave me one of his rare smiles. I haven't seen him smile like that in a while.

"I see." I closed my eyes, "You're choosing members for the Inter-high around this time, right?"

Nodding in return, he took a seat from the desk in front of me to continue talking.

This nostalgia. This quiet small talk we make reminds me of how we met.

Shingo running over my first home-made lunch by his bike.

"My lunch." I deadpanned. After all that handwork at home in getting the recipe right.

"I'm sorry!" I jerked my head up to see a boy my age bowing in front of me, "I didn't see your lunch in front me while I was practicing my cycling."

The apologetic Shingo. Has now become quite the captain of his team. I hope he doesn't stress himself out like last year. The fact that Shingo got injured during the previous Inter-High bothered me too much.

"Shiki?" Sighing in return I replied to remind him, "Just don't hurt yourself out there."

Shingo smiled, "I won't."