[EthernalRain]

@ Eratas: You're improving by quite a bit. I don't really have any ideas for Tatenashi at the moment, so I'll get back to you on that later.

On a side note, I've got a bunch of drafts of the 12 different scenes cooked up already, trying to find the right one that would fit. Here's the only good draft, the part where Kyuukai tries to resolve his friendship with Cecilia:

Spoiler for Cecilia's Scene:

Deadline: 3 days

I took a seat beside Cecilia in the home economics room, rolling up my sleeves. She's quiet, poring over a recipe book for something. I promised to help her with her cooking. I hope I don't regret this decision.

"Alright!" She stand up with determination. "We're making cookies!"

"I'll grab the flour..."

An hour later, we were done. And I was staring down at the black circles that were supposed to be cookies. I thought we were baking desserts, not some sort of unholy insult to my childhood memories.

"What are you waiting for?" She asked.

"Nothing." I take a cookie gingerly. Then I risk a bite... Oh dear god. It tastes like a mix of blood and dirt. I know it for a fact that we put in cocoa powder, not gory mulch. And I know for a fact what blood and dirt tastes like.

"So, what do you think?" She asks eagerly.

"Er... It needs a bit of work."

She sighs, wearing a disappointed look.

"Oh brighten up." I tell her, standing up. I pat her on the shoulder and make for the kitchen tools. "You get better with practice. So let's get practicing."

...

...

...

7 batches of cookies later, and my stomach feels like it had been shot. With an AA gun. At point blank. God, it hurts.

But I'll try to deal.

"So...?" Cecilia begins with hope.

"..."

"Not good, isn't it..." She mumbles, hanging her head. "Now I'll never be able to give Ichika my cooking..."

"You will eventually," I say to cheer her up, "just put some heart into your cooking. My mom told me once, was that if you put your heart into something, you put your emotions into the very same thing. And when someone else comes to experience it, they'll feel the same emotions you put into your work."

She sits on the desk, thoughtful. She nods a bit, giving it some thought.

"I've always wondered why you always seem to have the right thing to say." She notes to me, tapping her foot.

"I say what comes to me, and most of the time it works." I tell her. That, and I try to bend my words into something people like to hear. Most of the time anyway.

"Well thanks, Mr. Kyuukai." She smiles.

"Why so formal, Miss Cecilia?" I grin back at her. "Now, aren't we going to practice?"

I stand and walk back towards the supplies. She places her hand on my shoulder, stopping me. "I'll handle this batch." She smiles warmly, walking with confidence to the supplies. I bleach.

My help is why the cookies were relatively edible. And I think I might need to go to the infirmary for food poisoning before the day ends. She sits me down at a chair. "Now wait." She tells me, and walks off for the supplies.

...

...

...

"Done!" She squeals, and places the platter of cookies before me... They look... Oh god, they look terrible. They might actually kill me this time around.

"I put a lot of work in to these!" She beams. I can see that...

She picks up a few of the cookies, and puts them into a paper bag. "Thanks for your help Kyuukai." She thanks me.

"Any time." I smile at her. She sits down quietly, looking outside the window. It's late, evening. We've been here for the whole afternoon now.

"Thank you for everything, Kyuukai Tokiwa." She says out of nowhere. "And I mean everything. For this, for the London trip, everything..."

"You're welcome, Cecilia Alcott. Though you don't need to thank me."

"Modest, aren't you?" She smiles yet again. She stands. "Though you deserve to be thanked."

I smile sheepishly back, slightly blushing. She giggles at my expression. "You really do..." She says. And then suddenly, without warning...

She wraps me around in a hug.

"We'll miss you..." She says quietly.

"I know..." I say to her.

"Do you really have to go?"

I nod in her arms.

"Alright... But don't leave without saying goodbye, alright?"

"I've still got three days. I won't leave without a goodbye." I assure her.

We're silent, and yet she's still wrapped herself around me.

"You know... You may not be my lovely, valiant prince..."

I know she's referring to Ichika...

"But I'll always think of you as my knight in shining armor."

Then she let go of me. The notion she just told me warmed my heart. She really thought of me that way? She began to walk to the door.

"Goodbye Kyuukai... Thanks for everything."

And then she leaves. I sit quietly for a few minutes, deep in thought. Do I really want to go through with this? Leave all this behind?

... I look down at the cookies before me. Cecilia put a lot of hard work into these. And after all that... The least I could do was eat one.

So I take one from the platter, and bring it to my mouth. I take a deep breath, the sigh. "Now or never, Kyuukai." I tell myself. And then I take a bite. OH DEAR GOD. I pause, swallowing. Crumbles of cookie drop from my mouth to the platter. Just... Oh dear god...

"... It's delicious."

I believe I did a good job on it.