A subtle nutty smell wafts from the kitchen. I take a sip of the sweetened milk tea with sugar and think.

“You mentioned a few reasons for it being undercooked while walking here, right?”

“Yes.”

“I remembered that one of them was if there was too much moisture in the dough.”

Osanai-san silently nods.

“Sawami-san put the amount of milk in the dough according to the recipe. So I suddenly thought…… could someone have secretly added water or milk later?”

In other words, was the undercooked scone not due to a cooking mistake or an accident, but rather an intentional act by someone?

Osanai-san immediately answered.

“The texture is important when making dough. If the elasticity suddenly changes during work, anyone would notice right away.”

“I see.”

I answered, but I still couldn’t dismiss the possibility that it was intentional.

“Just in case, tell me what kind of people the group members were.”

Osanai-san didn’t say, “Are you suspecting them? They’re good friends!” but nodded as if it were a natural question.

“Kurai-san, who made the canapés with me, is in the track and field club, tall, a bit tanned, and always smiling. She asked me to direct her since she didn’t have much experience in cooking. In reality, even when I directed…… asked her for help, she answered okay without making a face and handed me plates or brought ingredients. When not directing her, she was watching me cook next to me.”

“Sawami-san was making scones across from Kurai-san. I think she could have reached out and added water.”

“I already said it was impossible, but it’s better not to think about the possibility that someone added water or milk to the dough.”

I guess she didn’t have much to say. Sighing, Osanai-san continued the story.

“The ones who made the sandwiches were Kanou-kun and Aonakaya-kun. Kanou-kun was good at cooking, so he did most of it alone. Aonakaya-kun said from the beginning that he had no interest or motivation in cooking, and he went to chat with a friend from another group and hardly came back to our table.”

“I wonder if the teacher scolded him…….”

“He was so brazen that the teacher might not have noticed that his group was different.”