The Classmate Who Is Adored by Everyone Smiles Teasingly Only at Me-Chapter 4Volume 3 .2 - The Cultural Festival

The Cultural Festival 2

“Um… so, are we going with the takoyaki style?”

Sōma looked around at everyone for confirmation, and they all nodded in agreement.

Unexpectedly, Sōma got the result he wanted, and he looked at Wakui, the person who had played a key role.

“Hehe.”

When their eyes met, she smiled shyly and made a peace sign.

Perhaps she had sensed that Sōma wanted to bake in the takoyaki style and had spoken up for him.

He bowed his head slightly so as not to be noticed by the other classmates, and Wakui turned away, her ears red with embarrassment.

“Alright, let’s start practicing!”

“Ooh!”

And so, the practice of baking baby castella began.

At first, some struggled, but as Sōma carefully taught them the timing to start poking and the pressure to apply with the pick, everyone was able to make spheres that wouldn’t be embarrassing to serve to customers within a few hours.

“This is delicious. The ingredients are just pancake mix, right?”

A boy said, impressed as he ate the trial baby castella.

“Plus, soy sauce and mirin.”

The addition of these two ingredients is what makes baby castella, by extension castella, a Japanese confection.

The soy sauce and mirin add a Japanese-style sweetness, richness, and aroma.

Without these two, the baby castella would be reduced to mere round pancakes.

“I actually wanted to add honey as well, but I decided against it based on someone’s advice.”

If honey were added, it would deepen the sweetness, but unfortunately, this time it was decided to forgo it.

“I don’t really understand, but I think it’s delicious enough as it is.”

“Right?” One of the boys asked, and everyone else nodded their heads.

“I see. Thanks for saying that.”

He chose the best pancake mix flour since he didn’t add honey, and he thoroughly researched the amount of soy sauce and mirin.

It seems his efforts were worthwhile.

“But hey, isn’t it boring to have just one variety?”

Just as he was relieved to have received a passing grade, Wakui, munching on baby castella, brought this up.

“Boring? What do you mean?”

“It means exactly what I said. If there’s only one variety, both the person making and eating them will get bored, right? Don’t you think it would be more interesting to increase the variations?”

That was an opinion Sōma hadn’t considered, as he had only thought about the ratio of soy sauce to mirin.

“Wait a minute. I went around the festival stalls the other day, and they were all making just one variety.”

“So what? To be blunt, the cultural festival’s mock shops are just like playing house, right? If that’s the case, I think it’s correct to go with what’s more fun.”

“Well, that’s certainly true…”

The reason stalls only make one variety is due to effort, efficiency, cost, and various other reasons.

To put it plainly, there’s no need to make multiple varieties of baby castella if they can secure enough profit with just one variety.

On the other hand, since the priority of a mock shop is to have fun, such negatives can be completely ignored.

In fact, if you only chase efficiency and profit, it would kill the fun.

“Variations of baby castella, huh? I hadn’t thought of that.”

This idea hadn’t crossed Sōma’s mind.

When he went to the autumn festival, Chika suggested adding matcha and anko, but he immediately rejected it due to the increased cost.

Since then, he hadn’t even considered flavors other than plain.

——Even though I was just scolded last month to think more…!

He thought he had reflected on it, but he hadn’t put it into practice at all.

He was so frustrated that he bit his lip.

“…So, what kind of variations do you want to try?”

Suppressing his frustration and sense of inadequacy, he asked, and Wakui looked up at the ceiling, pondering.

“Well, how about sausage?”

“…S-Sausage?”

An outrageous ingredient came up right from the start, and my voice unintentionally cracked.

“This is basically a pancake, right? If you combine it with a sausage, it becomes like a corn dog. A savory-type baby castella. How about that? Isn’t it interesting?”

“I see. You went with that approach…”

Such a topping was beyond Sōma’s imagination, as he had always associated baby castella with being a sweet treat.

As he was nearly at a loss for words over the unexpected suggestion, another boy chimed in with more ideas.

“If we’re talking about a savory-type, how about curry? Like curry bread, you could put curry roux inside. If the dough contains soy sauce, it could taste like Japanese-style curry and be delicious, right?”

“Curry…”

This too was a concept Sōma could never have conceived.

Following the two’s ideas, a variety of unusual toppings began to emerge from the mouths of the classmates.

“Cheese. It’s a classic.”

“How about mixed vegetables? They’re cheap.”

“Tuna mayo. That’s an all-powerful ingredient that goes with anything.”

“Why only savory? What about adding konpeito? I think it’s nice to have something crunchy in the fluffy texture.”

“Let’s add protein. It could be marketed as being rich in protein.”

At this point, it was questionable whether it could still be called baby castella.

As an aspiring patissier, Sōma wanted to ask if that was really okay.

Yet, he also thought it sounded fun.

“Um… so, shall we just try it out? It’s too scary to sell them without tasting them first.”

When I said this timidly, voices of agreement rose from my classmates.

“Alright, then let’s all go to the supermarket. And let’s grab some lunch while we’re at it.”

Led by Wakui, everyone left the cooking practice room in a procession.

Only Sōma remained behind.

“…I still have a long way to go.”

This time, following Chika’s advice, he had decided not to use honey. And that was all he had considered, failing to realize the need to broaden his thinking further.

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