Hot And Fresh Delivery Pizza, Straight To You! (5)

“All right, Anne… I’m taking it out!”

With that declaration, I pulled the pizza from the stone oven on a wooden peel.

Then I placed the pizza that emerged onto the cutting board, and Anne and I both swallowed hard.

I felt confident about this pizza. After all, we’d studied dough so intensely before finally reaching this point.

To be perfectly honest, if this didn’t taste good, I would despair. That was how much determination had gone into this one pizza.

“All right, let’s taste it…!”

I sliced through the pizza, picked up a piece, and checked the cross-section.

Crust thickness, melted cheese, doneness of the toppings—all good!

Everything had come together so beautifully that it almost seemed to possess some golden ratio.

And most importantly, the dough Christina-oneesama had trained me to make was shining magnificently.

“…………!”

And the instant I gently put it into my mouth, I was struck speechless.

It was just… just unbelievably delicious!

The outside of the crust was crisp, while the inside had a soft, subtle sweetness, and every bite released the rich, wonderful flavor of wheat!

And of course it wasn’t simply delicious by itself—the gooey blend of several different cheeses melded perfectly with the pizza sauce and toppings.

A unified wave of happiness came crashing over me like a raging torrent.

And the more I chewed, the deeper the flavor became, while every time I pulled my mouth away, the melted cheese stretched after it in long, gooey strands.

Ahh… perfect. This was it. This was pizza!

When I looked toward Anne, she was staring into space with an utterly blissful expression, and when I looked toward Bob, he flashed his white teeth, gave me a thumbs-up, and said,

“Man, watching young people grow never stops surprising me.”

“Amazing, Shirley, amazing! This is unbelievably delicious! We’re finally ready to serve this to the young master!”

Anne said that while happily stuffing pizza into her mouth.

But I gave a small shake of my head and answered.

“No, Anne. Not yet. There’s still one thing left to prepare.”

“Huh? Really? I thought this was already more than enough… Are you planning to put something else on the pizza?”

“I’m not doing anything else to the pizza itself, Anne. But there’s something we need if we want to convey just how delicious this pizza really is.”

As I said that, a grin spread across my face.

“Then let us begin today’s snack time.”

The head maid’s voice echoed through the usual courtyard.

The young master took his seat with an excited expression as always… but today, something somehow felt different.

I didn’t know why, but for some reason, the other maids, the head maid, and even the young master himself were all staring at Team Five.

Then the head maid spoke as though representing everyone.

“…Shirley. Before we begin, I have one question. …What happened to your maid uniforms?”

Only after she asked did I finally understand the reason.

They must have been surprised because Anne and I were dressed differently from usual.

So I proudly showed off what I was wearing today… a red uniform with a single letter P on it and a matching red cap, and replied,

“Yes! Today’s snack has to be served in this outfit, so we changed clothes!”

“…Has to be?”

“Yes, Head Maid!”

I answered with boundless enthusiasm as the head maid stared at me as though looking at something beyond comprehension.

Then Anne, who was wearing the same red uniform beside me, spoke with her face burning bright red.

“Hey, Shirley. I wore this because you absolutely insisted, but is this really necessary…!?”

“Of course it is, Anne. If we serve it dressed like this, it’ll taste many times better than usual. Have faith in these uniforms we made together!”

That’s right. Anne and I had made these red uniforms ourselves.

With Anne, who was skilled at needlework, teaching me, we’d worked hard to sew them together.

Unfortunately, they weren’t exactly authentic pizza-shop uniforms, but from a distance, surely they looked convincing enough.

“…Very well. But once snack time is over, change back into your maid uniforms immediately. Now then, Young Master. Let us begin.”

“Y-yes.”

The head maid spoke with an expression of resignation, while the young master, whose eyes were still fixed on us, gave a distracted reply.

And so today’s snack time began… but personally, I desperately wanted our turn to come while the food was still warm.

Please hurry, please hurry, I silently prayed as I kept glancing toward the young master, and I could feel his gaze repeatedly drifting toward us as well.

It was probably because we’d placed today’s snacks in separate covered containers.

Something smelled delicious, but he couldn’t tell what it was.

He seemed unable to stop wondering about it.

And finally, with a sigh, the head maid spoke.

“Young Master. It appears you are so distracted by that that you cannot concentrate on your snacks. For today only, perhaps we should change the serving order?”

“Y-yes, I suppose so. Then today, I shall eat Shirley’s first.”

What incredible good fortune!

Then, wearing an expression as though she’d bitten into something terribly bitter, the head maid gave me the order.

“Shirley. Just for today, I will allow you to serve yours first. Bring it over.”

“Yes, right away!”

And with a huge smile on my face… I immediately sprinted across the courtyard in the exact opposite direction from the young master.

“…………”

And so, with everyone watching, I took a huge detour around the spacious courtyard.

I had certainly noticed that everyone was looking at me as though I were a complete lunatic, but it couldn’t be helped.

Because today’s snack only had meaning if it was delivered from far away.

And after making one full circuit around the courtyard, I finally arrived in front of the young master.

Panting heavily, my shoulders rising and falling, I opened the shallow woven basket, revealed what was inside, and announced with the biggest smile I could muster,

“Thank you for waiting, Young Master! Your piping-hot pizza has been delivered!”