Baking with Natsuki and Sayori!

Natsuki looked at the house in front of her intensely. She was sure she had the right place; she was just surprised by how close Sayori actually lived to Anon. She quickly glanced at her phone, checking the time.

"12:53... A little early, but I'm sure Sayori won't mind." Slipping her phone into her pocket, she let herself in through the gate to Sayori's home. Approaching the door, she was slightly apprehensive. She had never been to Sayori's house before; she wasn't quite sure what to expect. After mentally checking she had everything they would need in her bag, she rang the doorbell, expecting Sayori to quickly come to the door and let her in. However, nobody came to the door. She rang the doorbell once more.

"Heyy, I'm here..."

After a few minutes of continually ringing the doorbell and knocking on the door, she gave up. She knew Sayori had to be home; she had been excited to find out "why Anon finds baking so much fun." She decided that if Sayori wouldn't come answer the door, she would let herself in. Immediately upon entering the door, Natsuki was greeted in a terrifying manner by Sayori.

"Hey Natsuki~! Sorry about not letting you in, I just wanted to surprise you. Ehehe~" Sayori had been waiting by the door for Natsuki to come in so she could hug her from behind. Natsuki did not find this as cute as Sayori did, however. She had nearly jumped out of her skin upon being grabbed in what she thought was an empty entryway.

"W-what did you do that for? I mean, I wasn't scared or anything, but you think you'd be a little more considerate of your first-time guest!"

"Sorry, I guess I just thought it would be fun..."

"Geez, you could've made me, um... drop my bag! Then you wouldn't have been able to find out what's so fun about baking."

"You don't have to get so mad at me! Meanie..." Sayori had let go of Natsuki by this point, assuming her trademark pose with her fingers touching.

"Well, now that we're past that, let's get started. We've got a lot of cupcakes to make!"

The counters in Sayori's kitchen were soon filled with numerous ingredients, containers, utensils, and tools necessary for baking cupcakes. Natsuki had brought about as much to Sayori's house as she had brought to Anon's. Her cupcakes had drawn the attention of a teacher at the festival, and so she had been asked to bake cupcakes for a staff function. They weren't to be anything fancy, but damned if Natsuki wasn't going to make them taste good.

"You can start by mixing the flour, eggs, sugar, and butter in the large green container. Do you think you can handle that?"

"Of course I can! I've made cupcakes before~"

"Were they out of a box?"

"M-maybe! I still had to mix some things in there though..."

Natsuki shook her head and gave Sayori the measurements for the ingredients, moving to focus on the task she had given herself. She was going to begin making the frosting that would be topping the cupcakes. As she turned to grab some sugar from the counter Sayori was working at, she saw a ghost.

"How did you manage to get your face covered in flour?"

"I poured it into the container a bit too fast, ehehe~"

"You were POURING it into the container?"

"I was trying not to pour too much!"

"Oh well, let's just get this cleaned up and try this again."

After Natsuki and Sayori had spent around five minutes cleaning up the mess Sayori had made, Natsuki started guiding Sayori through mixing the ingredients, making sure she didn't actually handle any of them. After they had gotten the cupcake batter mixed up, Natsuki let Sayori help her pour it into the trays.  After the trays were in the oven, Sayori started to speak up.

"You know Natsuki, this really is pretty fun. I can see why Anon enjoys this so much."

Natsuki knew Anon had probably enjoyed his experience with baking for a very different reason than Sayori, but she was content all the same.

"I'm glad you're enjoying it, even if you did need a little help from the master."

"Just a little! I'm sure I could have gotten it all on my own!"

While the cupcakes were baking, Natsuki and Sayori finished the frosting. It was a simple cream cheese frosting for simple cupcakes, but Natsuki knew it was going to taste really good.

"Natsuki, I want to try the frosting~"

"You can try it on one of the cupcakes after they're finished."

Of course, when Natsuki turned her back for a split second, a finger reached into the bowl to get a quick taste.

After around five minutes of chatting and doing some cleaning up, the oven began to beep.

"Yay, they're done~!"

Natsuki turned the oven off, put on her trusty pink oven mitt, and began to pull out the trays. Even she was impressed with the way the cupcakes turned out; not that she wasn't expecting it, of course.

"See, I told you they would turn out really good!"

"Can I put the frosting on the first one? Pleaseee?"

"Alright, I guess I can finally trust you again after that mishap earlier."

"You don't have to keep bringing it up..."

Natsuki put the frosting into a pastry bag for Sayori and watched her get to work. She was surprised; Sayori was actually doing a decent job. Soon enough, Sayori had managed to finish frosting the cupcake. She had even put a cute little curl on the top.

"Did I do a good job Natsuki~?"

"You really did Sayori. I guess a little bit of my skill has rubbed off on you, heh."

Sayori brought the cupcake to her mouth as quickly as she had stolen a taste of the frosting earlier. She didn't hesitate at all to take a big bite out of the fluffy masterpiece.

"Delicious!"