Issue 78, published in Volume 8, is the 78th chapter of the manga. The tagline for this chapter reads: 'Sweetness and bitterness, that is the secret to deliciousness.'
Page Titles[]
- The Beautiful Friendship
- The Beloved Senpai
- Home-Made ♡
- Even Though The Basic Idea Is The Same
- Worrisome Contents
- Let's Eat Together ❤
- An Unexpected Response
- That Symptom Is
- During The Chaos
- I Have, I Have
- Reason And Instinct
- Honest
- A Few Words To Hori-senpai
Summary[]
In the classroom, Mikoshiba overhears Kashima asking Nozaki how he and Sakura became friends. Wanting to keep 'Let's Fall in Love' a secret, he begins to worry that Nozaki will say something uncalled for. However, he merely replies with - "You don't become friends consciously." Mikoshiba is surprised yet relieved at this seemingly normal answer. Kashima also agrees with his logic. Yet Nozaki goes on to recall that the 'actual reason' they became friends was because he gave her some food.
Inspired, Kashima considers the idea of giving someone food in order to strike up an affinity. Mikoshiba questions her sudden interest in talking about friendship, advising her not to use Nozaki's experiences as reference. Kashima miserably remarks that her senpai had not been particularly doting recently. Mikoshiba asks when it was that Hori had ever shown her any such affection. At this, a diagram entitled 'Hori-senpai's Affection Graph' appears behind Kashima, charting out the times in which Hori had paid attention to her. Noting that the peak was when they first met, Mikoshiba asks what had triggered him to become significantly more doting at certain points in time. Kashima replies that it was during the times she had taken the drama club seriously. Outraged, Mikoshiba declares that she could just do something so simple all the time, for Hori's sake.
On her waitressing shift at the café, Kashima tells Ryosuke about her plan to bake Hori a homemade dessert. At her enthusiasm, Ryosuke observes that even someone like Kashima can act like a lovestruck high school girl on occasion. His imagination comes crashing down when Kashima presents him with two options for gift boxes - "You're starting from the box?!" Due to Hori's distaste towards homemade food, she sketches out several store logos, to Ryosuke's continued disdain - "You're starting from the store?!"
From an alternate perspective, a high school girl from a shoujo manga is shown talking about homemade food. She is talking about the way in which she studied store-bought desserts in order to make the perfect cake. Cheerfully, she advises the reader to "- keep the cake a secret until I give it to him!" The scene then cuts back to Ryosuke and Kashima at the café. In a series of events compared to those depicted in the shoujo manga, Kashima decides to say tell Hori that she bought the cake from this café. She resolves to study the cake so that it looks exactly the same. After completion, Kashima asks Ryosuke to 'keep it on the down-low' so that Hori will eat the cake without being suspicious. This leads Ryosuke to wonder if she has actually made some 'shady drugs'.
Back at Nozaki's apartment, Mikoshiba asks Nozaki whether homemade food will still be appreciated if it is disguised as store-bought. Nozaki reassures him that, were it to happen in a shoujo manga, the boy would definitely be able to tell the difference between a homemade and store-bought cake. Mikoshiba questions how he would be able to tell, to which Nozaki replies that the girl must have put her 'memories with senpai' in the cake. Nozaki goes on to improvise a backstory for said 'memory', involving Hori comforting an upset Kashima by offering her fruit. Mikoshiba proclaims that this is unlike anything the pair has ever been through.
At school, Kashima proudly presents Nozaki and Mikoshiba with her completed cake inside a box. Instead of simply giving it to Hori, she decides to have them eat it together. Hearing this, Nozaki automatically assumes, shoujo manga-style, that she wants to see what he looks like eating. On the other hand, Kashima's true intentions are to eat some of the cake first in order to clear any suspicions Hori might have. Nozaki becomes suspicious himself - "What did you put in there, Kashima?!"
Presented with the loaf of cake, Hori agrees to eat a slice, intending to split the rest with the drama club members. Kashima is worried that he intends to only eat one slice, since she had baked the entire loaf for him (as well as three other loaves). Considering options such as offering some to Seo and Sakura, she becomes lost in her thoughts and does not notice Hori finishing the entire loaf before she even had time to take a bite out of one slice.
Kashima barges out of the room to confront Nozaki and Mikoshiba who are 'standing by'. She informs them that Hori had eaten the entire loaf, which Mikoshiba assumes is a good thing. Kashima mentions that his face turned red while eating the cake, and Mikoshiba wonders whether he really did realise that the cake was homemade. But when Kashima clarifies that she had made a brandy cake, Mikoshiba concludes that Hori just became drunk.
All of a sudden, Hori staggers out of the room and wraps his arm around Kashima's shoulders. Surprised, Kashima reacts with an uncertain - "Whoa, senpai?" Under his alcohol-influenced state, Hori cracks a wide grin at Kashima and tells her to start using a cheerful tone of voice. In an attempt to get her 'back to normal', he grabs her arm and reaches up to pat her head. Kashima is stiff (with shock), but eventually leans down to make it easier. Nozaki and Mikoshiba watch in disbelief.
Snapping out of her trance, Kashima desperately asks Nozaki whether there are actually people who can get drunk from alcoholic sweets. He replies with - "Yes, once every six months." (Referring to manga characters, although Kashima does not realise this). Mikoshiba pipes up with own advice, instructing Kashima that drunk people should be given water. All of his knowledge stems from otome game situations, which Kashima also does not realise, and she is left wondering what in the world he is going on about.
Still intoxicated, Hori starts laughing hysterically and making strange jokes. However, Kashima is too awestruck by his smile to notice. She still manages to remind herself to pull it together and quickly find a way to get him sober before things get out of hand. Yet Kashima's attempt at self-control proves futile when Hori begins churning out compliments - "You're awesome. You're great at acting, you've got guts. You're a good girl, Kashima." This triggers a change in her plans, with the option "Is senpai okay?" almost instantly becoming outweighed by "Don't miss this chance!"
Kashima switches to her mode of excitement, continually feeding Hori more cake in order to gain praise. Nozaki brings up the possibility that Hori is the type of person to become honest when they get drunk. Kashima becomes even more thrilled by this suggestion and asks Hori if he thinks she is cute. He replies with - "You're cute, you're cute." and adds on - "So I'd like it if we could do club activities together more often." Kashima, Nozaki and Mikoshiba all stop dead in their tracks.
Several days later, Hori takes note of how seriously Kashima has been attending a drama club, wondering what could have triggered such a sudden change of character. His fellow club members as well as Nozaki and Mikoshiba all say - "Good for you." At the café, Hori wonders if he is really that easy to understand. Ryosuke and his coworkers all ask if he feels alright (due to the suspicious nature of Kashima's cake). Hori has sunk further into the depths of confusion.
Characters in Order of Appearance[]
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