After Being Dumped With the Insult, “You’re So Clingy!” and Finding Her in Despair, I Kept Encouraging My Beautiful Classmate and as a Result, That Beautiful Girl Started Directing Her Heavy Emotions Toward Me Instead, but Since I Like Emotionally Heavy Girls, It’s No Problem - 18

Chapter 18: What Happened at the Confectionery Shop with Jujoji

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I came to the Western confectionery shop “Rokkado” together with Jujoji.

“Rokkado” was a newly built store designed like a house made of sweets, with white as its primary color. Since it had only recently opened, the building itself still had that brand-new feel. The entire front of the shop was covered in large glass panels, offering a full view of the interior. Just as Musashi had said—“It’s popular among young girls”—the inside, visible through the glass, was filled with girls around our age.

We went in right away and lined up at the very end of the queue together.

…To be honest, this was my first time ever coming to a Western-style confectionery shop like this, so it all felt rather fresh to me. The right half of the store had display cases lined with products, and inside them were a wide variety of sweets. The left half was an “eat-in space” where customers could enjoy their purchases inside the shop. Several people were already seated, happily savoring their desserts.

While we waited our turn, I made small talk with her to pass the time.

“Since we’re here, want to eat in the eat-in space?”

“I don’t mind.”

“You’re going with cream puffs, right, Jujoji? They also have shortcake and Mont Blanc…”

“Cream puffs only. They’re my absolute favorite.”

“How many are you going to eat?”

“One is enough… I’m not that gluttonous.”

As we chatted about such trivial things, one pair after another finished purchasing their items, and the line gradually moved forward. And then it was finally our turn. The shop clerk greeted us with a smile.

“Welcome! What would you like?”

“Um, six of these ‘Rokkado Special Cream Puffs,’ please!”

When Jujoji heard my order, she looked at me in surprise from beside me.

“S-Six!? Kokonoe-kun, are you going to eat that many?”

“That includes yours too—six in total. …Well, I’m a little hungry.”

That was just a pretext. I had another reason for buying six cream puffs.

“I-Is that so? …Shall I make extra for dinner, then?”

“No, it’s fine. Oh, and we’d like to eat in the eat-in space. Is that okay?”

“Yes. Any customer who purchases from our shop is welcome to use it. Would you care for drinks as well? Our special cream puffs paired with our house-blend coffee are the perfect combination.”

“Then two coffees as well, please. How much is that in total?”

“Thank you very much. Six cream puffs and two coffees come to 2,600 yen.”

After paying, we moved to the eat-in space and sat down at an available table.

“Are you really sure about paying? I’ll cover my share…”

Jujoji said that with an apologetic expression as she took out her wallet. I had paid for both the cream puffs and the drinks, and that seemed to be weighing on her mind.

“I dragged you here because I was too embarrassed to come into the shop alone. So you can just think of this as compensation for your trouble. Besides, generally speaking, the one who does the inviting should be the one who pays, right?”

I stopped her with my hand as she tried to take money out of her wallet and refused her payment. If I accepted her money here, it wouldn’t count as repaying her at all. She smiled a little awkwardly and put her wallet away.

“Hehe. Now that you mention it, that’s true. But… thank you.”

“No, if anything, I should be the one thanking you. You’ve taken care of me in a lot of ways, Jujoji. …Well, standing around talking forever isn’t much fun. Let’s eat the cream puffs.”

“Yes.”

I opened the box the clerk had wrapped up and took out the cream puffs. I placed one in front of Jujoji and one in front of myself.

“…They look delicious.”

“Yes. I might start drooling just looking at them.”

Rokkado’s cream puffs were a little different from the typical ones you might imagine. The pastry shell was made with cookie dough. About the top third of the cookie shell had been cut off, then generously filled with custard cream. The cut piece was placed back on top like a lid. There was truly a massive amount of custard cream inside, so much so that if you bit into it, it seemed like the cream would overflow from the sides of your mouth. They were about one and a half times the size of a normal cream puff.

When I saw the price of 300 yen each, I had thought, “That’s expensive.” But with this kind of volume, it made sense.

““Let’s eat!””

We bit into our cream puffs at the same time. The cookie shell crumbled crisply in my mouth, mixing together with the rich custard cream. This was delicious. I could understand why they were so popular. Next, I poured some coffee into my now overly sweet mouth to balance it out. Just as the clerk had recommended, the slightly bitter coffee paired perfectly with the sweet cream puffs.

“Delicious.”

“Yes♡”

Jujoji held her cheeks and beamed with a radiant smile. Being able to eat her favorite food seemed to have put her in high spirits. Seeing that expression on her face, I felt it had been worth inviting her here. 

Just as I thought, girls look best when they’re smiling.

…Now then. I had bought a total of six cream puffs. I ate one, and Jujoji ate one. There were still four left in the box. So what about the remaining four? Of course, I wasn’t going to eat them. I had bought them all for Jujoji.

…To begin with, I invited Jujoji here to show my gratitude for everything she did for me. But if I handed them to her outright, she would probably hesitate and refuse. So I decided to come up with a little scheme.

“Ahh… These cream puffs from this shop are pretty filling. One was enough to make me full. Oh, but there are still four left. What a problem.”

Jujoji looked at me with a confused gaze as I suddenly began talking to myself.

“Come to think of it, you like cream puffs, right, Jujoji? It’d be a waste to throw them away, so you can have them all. If you put them in the fridge, they should last a few days, right? Just eat them whenever you feel like it.”

With that, I handed her the box of cream puffs.

…If I didn’t do something this roundabout, she probably wouldn’t accept them. At first, she stared blankly at the box. But then she suddenly let out a small snort of laughter.

“Hehe, fufufufu… I see. So inviting me here was for this purpose from the very beginning.”

“…Hey, Jujoji. You’ve taken care of me in so many ways, and you always tell me not to worry about it. But when someone does something for you, it’s only natural to want to return the favor. I’ll accept your care and in return, I’ll give something back. I think that’s what makes a healthy relationship. So… won’t you accept this?”

She kept laughing softly, her hand covering her mouth.

“Hehe, fufufufu… You’re really so awkward, but kind. It just makes me like you even mo—♡”

“Huh? What did you just say?”

The last part was too quiet for me to hear clearly, so I asked her to repeat it. But she didn’t answer.

“It’s nothing♡ You’re right. It would be a waste to throw away such wonderful cream puffs. I’ll gratefully accept them. I’ll savor them carefully♪”

“Yeah, I’d appreciate that.”

It seemed my gratitude had finally reached her. If someone told me I was doing this just to fulfill my own satisfaction… Well, that might be true. Even so, I felt genuine happiness at having been able to show her my appreciation.

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