Fikush-ON!

Ch. 34: Time With You, As Warm As Tea

I've probably said this before, but I'll say it again: Nothing beats the smell of freshly brewed coffee. Nothing also beats 80's and 90's rock music. And absolutely nothing beats the company of good friends. When you combine all of these, you get the Coffee Club. Like any other afternoon, the guys and I were spending our time there, accompanied by the four freshmen we managed to reel a few weeks ago. Even though it was Friday, and the guys and I felt like heading home as early as the lunch break, something in the back of our minds made us endure the afternoon classes. I'm pretty sure it was these freshmen. Speaking of which, I was standing in the kitchen area, teaching the cousins a simple trick.

"Alright, there's your foamed milk. Now, what you want to do is grab a spoon, and fold the microbubbles in the pitcher from top to the bottom," I instructed them, and made a demonstration. "Like this."

The cousins, Katsuro and Rina, observed carefully as I worked the steamed milk with a spoon, pretending like I knew what I was doing. I had no idea what 'folding microbubbles' meant, but that was the technical term for it. After I felt like I had messed enough with the foamed milk, I banged the spoon on the pitcher's edge a couple of times to get rid of the milk droplets on it, and moved on to the next phase. Or at least I was about to, until Katsuro presented me with a question.

"And then you just pour it on the espresso?"

I was about to shake my head, but instead I just shrugged. "I mean, yeah, guess you can, but it doesn't mix in very well. You see, if you mix it with a spoon, the bubbles in the foam will break and you'll have nothing but espresso with ordinary milk."

I had a cup of (double) espresso ready, so I grabbed it, tilting it carefully, and bringing the pitcher close to it.

"The optimal way is to try and pour the foamed milk under the espresso," I explained.

Carefully, I tilted the pitcher, letting the foamed milk run down the inner edge of the espresso cup. Keeping the cup tilted, I slowly rotated it around, pouring the foamed milk 'under' the espresso from many directions. I then straightened the cup, and poured the rest of the pitcher's contents on top of the espresso. I showed the cup to the cousins.

"And there you have it, a flat white espresso."

Rina, having paid careful attention to my words, realized something: "Oh, so the whole folding thing with the spoon makes the steamed milk smooth?"

I nodded, and couldn't help but smile a bit. "You got it."

Rina's pleased smile was as bright as ever. And Rina herself, she was like... Well, it'd be mean to say that she was like a little sister I never had. I guess we all had come to think of her as something like that. She was really sweet, to the extent that you could easily imagine her in a flower field, singing beautifully to a group of forest critters. One thing that stood out was her height - she was really tall for a girl of her age. And being a freshman on top of that, it makes me wonder how much she'll still grow. Hell, maybe she'll end up being as tall as me. Katsuro, her cousin, seems to be the 'head' of their group. Not sure why I've gotten that picture. Maybe because he's always walking in front of the group. Little dude is also kind of a smooth-talker, always having something nice to say. Or maybe he's actually just friendly by nature, I don't know. Well, maybe I'll figure that out in time.

I sipped the coffee, and pointed my hand at the espresso machine. "Anyway, it's really simple. Feel free to make one yourself if you want."

With that, I left the cousins in the kitchen area, and headed to the couches. Two of them were occupied; one by Tadaaki, and the other one by the third freshman, Masahiko. Like usual, he was doing his homework like a good student. His sharp eyes and glasses made him look like a promising candidate for student council, but the way he was casually resting his feet on top of the coffee table ruined the impression instantly. The guy was simply just smart, but not the 'I take school very seriously and everything else is just a waste of time' kind of smart. Of course, after he's done with his homework, he's always willing to mess around with his friends.