Piyo Piyo Kindergarten (1)

Chapter 23: Episode 12 - Piyo Piyo Kindergarten (1)

We arrived at the Piyo Piyo Kindergarten. It was a medium-sized schoolhouse with a large playground at the front decorated with baby chicken characters.

Though I shouldn't be worrying, I couldn't help but remember Rumi's warning as we walked into the kindergarten.

We opened the door and the teacher stood at the front of the classroom.

"Oh? Look who decided to drop by! It's everyone from St. Marie Academy," the kindergarten teacher announced our arrival and the childrens' eyes flew open in anticipation.

"YAAY!"

"I want cake!"

"Gimme some sweets!"

"Yahoo!"

The small children began running to us before we could even make it through the door.

"Andou! Let's play!"

"Show me the cake!"

"Alright, calm down," Andou said tensely with a forced smile. He held up the cake that our group made so that the children wouldn't ruin it.

"Over here Satsuki!"

"Yay! Satsuki's here, too!"

"Hello," Hanabusa gave his charming smile to the small girls who fawned over him.

"Rumi, show me the cake!"

I could see Rumi at a distance, struggling to get the kids off her as she held her group's cake. The kids pestered her and tugged at her school uniform.

"Hold on a second! Don't pull at my uniform or else it'll rip!" Rumi warned as she continued to struggle with them.

'Is this what she meant by the enemy?'

I didn't want to go into the room filled with high-pitched laughter, screams, or children, and I'm sure Kashino was thinking the same thing since we both hesitated to enter the classroom.

"Kashino, hurry up and go in. You're blocking the door," I said, standing right next him by the classroom's door, uncertain if I should enter.

"Same goes for you. You're blocking the door as well," Kashino rebutted with an annoyed look on his face.

Suddenly, we could hear running from behind us.

"Kashino, gimme chocolate!" One boy had pushed Kashino through the door with a smile on his face.

"Y-you damn brat!" Kashino expressed angrily, stomping over to the boy who'd pushed him down.

"Let's try our best not to be angry at the children," I tried to calm him down, holding back Kashino from behind so that he wouldn't do anything reckless.

When he'd calm down, a boy with short black hair stood in front of me and looked up.

"I haven't seen you before. You must be the new girl," the small boy with black hair said to me with a straight face. One of his friends walked up to him and stared at me.

"Ikkun, don't you think she's pretty?" The boy who pushed Kashino directed towards the bay with short black hair.

"She's pretty but it looks like her personality would match that of a brick wall," Ikkun stated without hesitating and I quickly furrowed my eyebrows at his words.

'Why you little brats!'

When everybody had calmed down, three kids stood next to the teacher at the front of the room. The board behind them had "Happy Birthday" written in big letters.

"This month is Hitomi, Hiro, and Mayu's birthdays. Shall we bring out the cakes?" The teacher instructed and it was our cue to show the three kids their cakes.

"For Hitomi who's born on the 1st, this is Group C's creation of a cherry cake!" Rumi explained with a happy smile. Kids gathered around the cake and their mouths were open in awe.

"WOW!"

"That looks so good!"

"I want to eat some right now!"

Next was Group B.

"For Hiro who's born on the 5th, this is Group B's Hero Cake!" One of the girls in Group B presented their cake that resembled a space mask.

"Cool!"

"Ooh, a space mask!"

Next was our group.

Hanabusa stepped forward to present our group's cake.

"For Mayu from Group A, as you requested, a Princess Cake," Hanabusa bestowed the cake we made. This cake was the Swedish princess cake with a marzipan princess in the middle of it with a crown.

"KYAA!!!" The small girls surrounded the cake, looking at it unbelievably with their mouths gaping open.

"It's so cute!!!"

"Thank you very much, everyone from St. Marie Academy!" The kids all said together in unison with cheerful smiles on their faces.

Once we finished presenting the cakes, we all helped cut them and served it to the small children.

"Everyone's happy," I said, noticing the smiling children happily eating our cakes.

"It's always important to watch the reactions of the eaters," Hanabusa spoke from behind me as I looked around the room.

Suddenly, someone in the corner of my eyes caught my attention. I looked over to see a girl with light-brown hair in pigtails and puffy red cheeks sitting alone at the corner of the room.

"Miss, what about that girl?" I asked a teacher who was walking around and pointed to the lonely girl.

"Ah, that's Koizumi Ringo. She moved here last month from Aomori. She's very quiet and can't quite fit in… it's a bit distressing," the teacher confessed, carrying on with the other kids.

'She's just like me. We can't quite fit in…'

Gathering up some confidence, I walked over to the little girl sitting alone in a corner.

"Hello, Ringo, do you want to eat a cookie?"