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"Ahh, they're ready! They look so yummy too!" Kinako gasped excitedly as she pulled the baking pan out of the oven and placed it on the counter. "Twelve yummy gingerbread men! Err... Gingerbread women, I guess?" she chuckled.
She wanted to show some love to her friends to commemorate Liella! finally becoming eleven members, and what better way to celebrate than with yummy freshly baked cookies?
"Time to put my artistic skills to work! Oh gosh, I hope I don't mess any of them up..." Kinako's hands shook nervously as she started working on the icing. "Kanon-senpai..! Even in gingerbread form she's so cute!" she giggled, admiring her work after applying a surplus of orange icing to a special cookie. "Ah, and Ren-senpai! Even as a cookie she looks so diligent, she's really someone that everyone can trust!"
She continued to work on each cookie, doing her best to make each one as cute as possible, giving each cookie their own cute quirk, like giving Mei a cat face, giving Keke a huge smile, giving Chisato round white candies on the side for her hair buns, and so on! Before she knew it, the cookies were complete!
Kinako let out a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness! They all turned out alright." she looked over all of them while nibbling on the spare cookie. Kanon, Chisato, Ren, Keke, Sumire, Kinako, Mei, Shiki, Margarete, Tomari, and... a blank cookie?
"Eh?" Kinako blinked. "EHHHHHH!?" she roared, looking down at the cookie she was eating. It was Natsumi!
The brunette panicked for a moment. "Oh no! H-How did I make this mistake? This is bad! Natsumi-chan was going to come over earlier than the others to take pictures of the cookies for social media! She's going to be so mad..." she frowned, looking defeated.
There was no time left, Kinako had to lock in! "NATSUMI-CHAN, I WILL NOT LET YOU DOWN!" she exclaimed, grabbing the pink, yellow, and white icings and getting to work on the blank cookie.
"S-Slow and steady... But I also need to be fast! G-Gah, how do I go slow and fast at the same time? Someone help meee!" Kinako squeaked, trying her best to make the Natsumi cookie as cute as it was before... until she heard a knock at the door.
"Knock knock! Open up, Kinako, CEO needs to take some cookie pics!" Natsumi shouted from behind the door, alarming Kinako enough to spray the wrong icing on the Natsumi cookie's body.
Kinako looked at the door, then at the cookie, then at the door again. "C-Could you wait like five minutes?"
"What!? Oh come on, open the door already! It's super cold out here!" Natsumi pouted.
"O-Okay..! Ahh, this isn't good..." Kinako frowned, putting the ruined cookie down and rushing over to open the door.
Natsumi walked in without hesitation. "Ahh, so warm! Mind if I relax on your couch for a bit after I take the cookie pics?"
Kinako twiddled her thumbs. "About that..."
"Eh? Did you forget the cookies or something?" Natsumi raised an eyebrow. "Nah, can't be that. I can smell them from here! Let's see how cute I look in cookie form!" she smiled, running over to the kitchen.
"N-Natsumi-chan, wait!" Kinako gasped, chasing after Natsumi... But it was too late, she was already examining the cookies.
"Aha, look how adorable they all are! Haha, you put Keke and Sumire together... and Shiki and Mei! Kanon and Chisato... Wait, are these all in pairs!? Hehe, Kinako-chan must be pretty observant of the relationships of her peers!" Natsumi giggled.
Kinako rubbed her neck. "Y-Yeah, I guess-"
"Kinako-chan." Natsumi's face froze.
"M-Mmhm..?" Kinako mumbled, realizing exactly why Natsumi's tone changed.
"Do you like, hate me or something? Seriously, what happened to my dress? Well, you did get my adorable smile right at least!" Natsumi giggled. "B-But really, all the others look so good, but mine- E-Err, I know you tried your best so I'm not mad or anything, but..." she sighed, trying to find the right words.
Kinako walked over and placed the original Natsumi cookie next to the new one. "I'm sorry, Natsumi-chan! I completely ruined your cookie... I-I ate your head off by accident, and then I tried to make a new one but ruined that one too! Yours was the most important, and I ruined it not once but twice..." she frowned, tears welling up in her eyes.
Natsumi wasted no time, giving the sobbing girl a hug. "Hey now, it's not a big deal! You worked hard on these cookies, you should feel proud! My cute cookie head was just too hard to resist, I don't blame you one bit!"
"I can't be proud... Not when I ruined yours..! Why do I mess everything up..." Kinako sobbed.
"You're really worked up over this cookie, huh? You don't mess up, Kinako-chan. Like, ever." Natsumi smiled reassuringly. "So stop being so hard on yourself. I don't see anyone else baking a cookie for eleven different girls!"
"I-I know, I just really want to prove myself!" Kinako exclaimed.
Natsumi shook her head. "What is there to prove?"
Kinako tilted her head. "Eh?"
"I mean, you're getting all teary eyed because you think you ruined everything, but did you really?" Natsumi asked, walking over and picking her cookie up.
"W-What are you doing..?" Kinako asked, watching as Natsumi held the new Natsumi cookie up to her mouth.
Without another word, Natsumi took a big bite of the bottom half of the cookie.
"N-Natsumi-chan! I don't have any blank cookies left!" Kinako gasped.
"Mmm! You're an amazing baker, Kinako-chan." Natsumi winked, eating some more of the cookie until only the head remained.
Kinako's cheeks turned beet red. "A-Ah, thank you..!"
"Now watch and learn! CEO is about to teach you one crazy trick when it comes to aesthetics!" Natsumi smiled, placing the head of the new cookie right above the body of the old cookie.
Kinako stared in awe. Natsumi really was a genius!
Natsumi applied a bit of pink icing to make it appear that her cookie was wearing a pink choker, when in reality... It was just a way to cover up the cracks that connected the head to the body!
"Ta-dah! See? You didn't mess anything up, it all looks perfect!" Natsumi smiled, pulling her phone out of her pocket and snapping a few pictures of the cookies. "Done! Hehe, these celebratory posts will go up... now! OniNatsu!~" she hummed, tapping her phone a bit and watching the likes roll in.
"Wow, Natsumi-chan! You really saved the day!" Kinako beamed with joy.
"E-Eh, all I saved was my own cookie, you did all the hard work of baking them! But... I'll take the compliment!" Natsumi blushed slightly.
"Hehe. I'm really glad everything worked out in the end! I'm sorry for getting so upset too, it's just... This was my big chance to do something special for everyone, so the idea of messing it up at the very end really scared me..." Kinako looked down.
Natsumi nodded. "I get that. Just don't be so hard on yourself next time, okay? I speak for everyone in Liella! when I say we really appreciate all the stuff you do for us. You're... special, you know?"
"S-Special?" Kinako blushed brightly.
"Jeez, you sure get flustered easy. ...You look cute like that." Natsumi smiled sweetly, leaning up and giving Kinako a quick kiss on the cheek.
Kinako's blush grew even brighter. She couldn't believe what just happened! "N-Natsumi-chan!"
"What? We can wipe the lipstick mark off before the others get here." Natsumi shrugged, blushing a fair bit herself.
"I-I don't want to! E-Err, I mean, I don't really mind. AHH! W-What I mean is, how did you know I like you like that!" Kinako exclaimed.
"Pfft. You're so flustered! It was pretty easy." Natsumi looked down at the cookies. "All of them are in pairs, right? Heh." she smirked, pointing at how close the Kinako and Natsumi cookies were. They were even closer than any other pair! So close that they were holding hands!
"W-Well, maybe I just panicked and put it down there!" Kinako shouted defensively.
"Yeah? What about when you said my cookie is the most important?" Natsumi leaned close to Kinako. "I could keep going."
Kinako sighed. "O-Okay, you win! Am I really that bad at hiding crushes?"
"Yep! Now come on, let's warm up on the couch and take some selfies before the others get here!" Natsumi cheered, holding her phone up and giving Kinako another cheek kiss.
"N-Natsumi-chan! Hehe..." Kinako blushed, putting a finger to the pink lipstick marks on her cheek. "I could get used to this!" she giggled.
Those cookies really did pay off in the end! Kinako would have one heck of a time explaining those lipstick marks to the others, but Natsumi can surely come up with a good excuse!~
"We really make a great duo, don't we?" Natsumi smiled, staring into Kinako's eyes as she cuddled next to her on the couch.
"Mhm! We sure do!" Kinako smiled back, holding Natsumi's hand gently. She never wanted to let go! And to think this all happened because she bit cookie Natsumi's head off! The thought made both girls giggle a bit as they snuggled together on the couch, wanting to cherish each and every moment they had together.