2

“Huh…… Well, I don’t think it’s bad per se…” After trying some of the ice cream in front of him, Suzukuni Confectionery’s senior managing director, Kinoshita Shigeru, looked troubled.

“So? I’d say it’s about ready to move on to production, wouldn’t you?” said Kageyama, a man who’d been dispatched from MCE.

In a meeting room where the Suzukuni Confectionery board of directors congregated, at each seat was a serving of ice cream brought over from MCE. Everyone sampled it in silence.

“Hmm, well, what did everyone else think?” After finishing off the ice cream, Kinoshita’s reply was indecisive. Furthermore, it deceptively shifted the conversation over onto everyone else. “How about you, Director Sakaguchi?”

“Hmm…… Well, I don’t have a problem with the product itself...” Sakaguchi didn’t commit to an answer either. “However, according to this data, this would cost quite a bit to manufacture. I think the question we should be asking is how we would even produce it.”

For whatever reason, Sakaguchi’s remark made the entire room feel at ease. Everyone in the room finally started to speak up, despite being so tight-lipped earlier.

“Yes, that is the question isn’t it.”

“Adjustments like this would clearly exceed the average output of our company’s production line.”

“Of course, if you’re worried about the up-front cost, Teratsuki told me that he was ‘prepared to take the full brunt of any extraneous costs,’” Kageyama replied.

“Mr. Teratsuki said that? Well, if that’s the case, I’m sure it’ll be fine; however, our company doesn’t exactly have a precedent for participating in any sort of partnership with him.” Kinoshita looked down at his bowl of ice cream. Though, it was already empty.

“Ah, I still have some, would you mind trying another one of our samples?” Kageyama was quick on his feet. He produced a dish from his cooler, brought it over to Kinoshita, and placed another serving of ice cream on top of it.

“.....What the hell!?” While watching a video documenting the events that occurred in the conference room. Tosuke snorted with displeasure.

“Come on! Why aren’t they talking about how good it is!?"

The video had been taken from a camera stealthily fitted into a nearby bag, so the directors of Suzukuni Confectionery obviously had no idea that their meeting had been recorded. “Go record it for him,” Teratsuki had said, “it’ll be interesting.” So, at his behest, Kageyama reluctantly caught it all in secret.

“That’s just how it goes. It was business after all, not some game.”

“Still— “

Tosuke wore a turtleneck sweater and a pair of silken gloves, obviously trying to hide the color of his skin. His face alone was covered in a natural-looking makeup. This was how he presented himself; he never showed his real skin to anyone, even the other employees.

Kageyama, an employee of MCE’s new development division, sighed. His reassignment had pretty much come out of nowhere. One day he was told that he’d be helping to make whatever ice cream Tosuke came up with, and the next he was already dealing with all the grief that Tosuke’s worldly ignorance was ‘causing him.

“Oh! Are you actually bringing it out?”

Tosuke’s eyes sparkled. The screen now showed Kageyama passing a second dish over to Kinoshita.

“Yeah...” Kageyama scowled a bit. He knew what would happen next, and he didn’t want Tosuke to see it since he’d been getting more and more cocky lately. However, he was told to show it to him on Teratsuki’s orders, so Kageyama couldn’t stop the tape here.

Behind the screen, as soon as he put the new ice cream in his mouth, Kinoshita froze in place. His eyes widened in astonishment.

“...Th-- this is…” He was shocked, petrified into being unable to say anything.

When he saw that, Tosuke cackled with laughter.

“Haha! The old man was stunned, literally!”

What was that anyway? You told me to only give him another serving.”

“Ah, I saw a picture of that old guy beforehand, so I could tell what his preferences were. Didn’t see anyone else’s picture though. He’s got a pain that’s sorta ‘cracky,’ you know? Adding a bit of acidity tends to work well on that sort of feeling.”

“Huh……” Tosuke gave an explanation that didn’t explain anything, but despite his bewilderment, Kageyama wasn’t interested in pursuing the subject either. He decided to remain silent as a result.

After all, Tosuke was the one who’d chosen Shizukuni Confectionery as the manufacturers of his ice cream to begin with. He’d systematically ordered every single ice cream on the market and sampled each one. In the end, he chose Suzukuni Confectionery had come out on top .

“Their fundamentals are strong. The flavor’s sorta plain, but they definitely have skill,” he’d said, or, well, something to that effect anyway. Actually figuring out the logistics of the partnership was Kageyama and his department’s job. Tosuke tended to just give orders as he pleased.

Yeah…...If this guy goes into a meeting or something, he’s just going to ruin it. Kageyama looked at Tosuke, who was clapping in delight, and sighed. He was like a child.

“Look at his face! It’s all like, ‘give me more’! Hahaha!” He pointed at the screen and laughed hysterically.

Kageyama cleared his throat.

“......Anyway, it looks like they’re going to have a formal discussion on it. I expect, it’ll take them about a week to give us a reply.” When Kageyama said that, Tosuke suddenly swiveled his head towards him in surprise.

“......A week?”

“Yes, should take about that long, or so I’m told.”

“......Why?” he asked, seriously.

“Why, he says—”

“Did they not like it after all?” his voice quivered; he looked like he was about to cry. “Is my ice cream not enough to get them to work with us?”

He held his knees in his hands and cradled them. His hands trembled; he wasn’t messing around. In fact, he was truly frightened.

......What’s with this guy?

He’d been so confident up until now, and yet, for some reason, he’d done a 180. Now there he was, trembling.

“......No, that’s not it, setting some time aside like this is pretty common; it doesn’t mean that they’ll decline the offer.” Tosuke brought his head up to look back at him with a distrustful sort of look in his eyes.

“......Really? You really think they’ll accept?”

“My personal feeling about it? I think they might go ahead with it.”

“......I see. Then that’s great, but…” He still wore a worried expression. Kageyama, who was starting to get depressed, tried to change the subject.

“Oh, by the way, we still need to find and hire some staff, don’t we? I don’t think it’s a very good idea for you to try and run everything on your own. Any idea of what you’ll do about that?”

“Staff? …...Ah, right, to make the ice cream.” Tosuke shook his head two or three times. “I’m not sure… Is there really someone out there that’s as good as me at making ice cream?” He said with a serious look on his face.

It was an extremely bold statement, but it didn’t sound arrogant or conceited. He made it sound like he was just stating the obvious, but that was also exactly what made sound so outrageously offensive.

“We don’t really need someone who’s at your level. All I mean is that we just need someone on staff that’ll help out, like an assistant, get what I mean?” Kageyama said, finally fed up with Tosuke.

“Hmm……” Whether he was listening or not, Tosuke crossed his arms and started to brood over it all. “I wouldn’t really say I have something in mind, but…”

“What is it?”

“A person, someone who I wanted to get to try my ice cream. Seems like she also makes ice cream and other sweets.”

“And who would this be?”

“She come up an article I read. I was looking at a photo of her, and the pain I felt from her was interesting. Pretty sure her name was something like… Kusunoki Rei.”

* * * * *

…...And so, I’m sure you’ve realized by now that this is where Kusunoki Rei enters our tale.

At the time, the girl was only around twenty-one, and even at such a young age, she was already a lecturer at some culinary school. It wasn’t exactly a part time job at a convenience store. The school had hired her as a figurehead make them look good. ‘Cause of that, they might say she’s a lecturer, but in reality, all that her teaching had entailed this year was just a few lessons here and there. Most of the time, she was visiting different countries to sample sweats under the pretense of training and winning all sorts of contests in her school’s name, amongst other things. From around her teens onward, she’d been decimating every single confectionary contest and ice cream competition that she came across, and rumors of her talent spread as a result. The president of the school even liked to have her entertain guests by making cakes and other deserts when he attended company dinners. Needless to say, she was quite popular.

Given all this, it makes a lot of sense that the school wasn’t too happy when Kageyama’s people tried to contact Kusunoki Rei.

“That girl is the pride and joy of this school, she can’t just leave.”

“We must ask you to stop trying to steal her from us.”

…...and so on and so on. It was all so threatening. Kageyama’s people figured that there was no way they’d get her, so, they tried to appeal to Tosuke.

“Sir, this is pointless. Let’s just find someone else.” At that, Tosuke let out something resembling a groan and thought for a bit before he finally asked something in response.

“We know Kusunoki Rei’s address, don’t we?”

“Well, more or less. We had MCE do a background check on her a while ago. But, sir, you aren’t thinking of going there, are you? If you do that she might not even want to—”

“Well then,” Tosuke continued, as if he didn’t hear what the other person was saying, “how about we see about sending some ice cream over to her some time?” As he said this, he smirked in a way that made it all seem very amusing.

“Haa……”

Anyway, just as Tosuke had ordered, Kageyama’s people sent some ice cream that Tosuke had made to where she was staying using a home delivery service complete with a freezer. And, well, as for what became of all this....

* * * * *

“This the place?” Kusunoki Rei looked at Kageyama, who was standing beside her.

“Y, yes, well…” Kageyama looked embarrassed.

The two stood in front of a crumbling, dilapidated building with windows that were blown out in every direction. It was hard to imagine anyone living in that place; in fact, it looked like nothing more than a prime example of an abandoned building.

“So you’re saying that guy who made that ice cream is around here somewhere?”

Rei wore a violet dress and a large, navy blue hat. With the way she was standing, her figure kinda looked like a mushroom. She was certainly beautiful, but the way she pouted made her look like a spoiled kid.

“Oh, well, he’s an eccentric guy. He said that he didn’t want very many people around,” Kageyama responded as he wiped the sweat of his forehead with a handkerchief.

“Mhm.”  Rei nodded and, without any sort of trepidation, stepped into the building.

Kageyama quickly followed suit.

One hour ago, Rei had suddenly showed up and inquired about the office in order to make some a bold declaration.

“Bring out the guy that made that ice cream.”

“What?”

“You heard me.”

After he told her that he wasn’t there at that moment, she then demanded for him to “Take me to where he is then.” So, in his bewilderment, he called where Tosuke was staying, but it wouldn’t connect. It was clear that he wouldn’t get anywhere doing that, so he ended up taking her to him directly.

“Does this elevator even work?”

“Y, yes…”

“I hate climbing stairs. It takes too much stamina.” Everything she said sounded like a declaration.

“Don’t worry. This building gets plenty of gas and electricity…… it just doesn’t have any other residents. That’s no surprise though, considering that this property was originally going to be torn down.”

Kageyama called the elevator.

However, even after waiting for a good long while, the elevator never came. He wasn’t sure what was going on, but Kageyama didn’t like the feeling of it one bit.

“It’s not coming, is it?”

“......No, I suppose not.”

The elevator’s display showed that it was stopped at the 7th floor, and that was none other than the exact floor Tosuke was occupying.

“Well whatever. Stairs it is then” And with that, she immediately headed towards the stairs.

“Eh? Didn’t you just say…...”

“I might hate walking, but I hate waiting even more. I’d rather do some more walking.” Her voice didn’t have an ounce of irritation in it as she said this. Once again, she sounded incredibly assertive.

“O-oh.” Kageyama followed after her.

Then, ten seconds after the two of them were gone, the number on the display of the elevator started to fall as if it was timed perfectly to their departure.

For someone who claimed to hate walking, Rei was oddly quick on her feet, and Kageyama was having trouble keeping up with her. Despite climbing up to the 7th floor at what seemed to be a half-gallop, Rei was calm, and wasn’t even short of breath.

“This it?” Standing in front of a closed, black door, she looked back at Kageyama.

“Y-yes, that’s it. I’ll call him now……” And, at that moment, just Kageyama reached out to press the intercom…

Ding. The two of them heard a faint sound coming from behind them.

Needless to say, the sound was from the elevator. It had been climbing from the bottom floor, and that sound meant that it’d finally reached it’s destination.

“.........”

The two looked at each other.

As they did so, the elevator door opened slowly, like it was apologizing for what would come next; and then, suddenly, the person inside the elevator jumped out.

“Hey! Welcome! I knew you’d come and visit!”

As they took a look at the figure, Kageyama was flabbergasted. Most of the reason for that being that a clown was standing in front of him.

Yes, a clown.

No, seriously, a clown.

That’s the only way you could really describe it.

Around his eye was a large, heart-shaped mark, and his entire face was evenly colored a faded emerald green. The color of his skin was too glossy and translucent to be makeup, but that wasn’t something people would notice.

“K-Kigawa-san?”

“Surprised? Hahaha!” Kigawa threw out his chest and laughed.

In his astonishment, Kageyama couldn’t say a word. However, the person Tosuke was greeting, Kusunoki Rei, was as composed as ever.

“So, you’re Kigawa Tosuke then?” she said dispassionately. She didn’t seem to have a single shred of interest or confusion about the appearance before her. “You stopped the elevator, didn’t you?”

“It was good exercise, right? Should really work your lower body more if you’re going to keep making all those delicious sweets.”

“How did you make that ice cream?” Rei asked him abruptly, ignoring Tosuke’s remarks.

“Ahhh, that!” Tosuke crossed his arms and hummed. “I suppose it was my superb ice cream that lead you all the way here, hm?”

“It wasn’t ‘superb.’ More like third-rate,” Rei said flatly. The commend made Tosuke falter dramatically, complete with sound effects, but Rei didn’t play any attention to his reaction. “That ice cream was weird though, what the hell did you use?”

“Ahh, well, it was just a bit of magic,” Tosuke fluttered his hands, “After all, I am a wizard.”

“No, you’re a fraud.” Rei scowled at him. “There wasn’t any sugar in it. You can’t call that ice cream.”

Kageyama looked at Tosuke in confusion. He’d sampled the ice cream before they sent it out to test it, and he’d actually thought that it was almost sickeningly sweat. How wasn’t there any sugar in it?

“Pretty useful for anyone who’s on a diet, huh?” Tosuke said grinning, which just made Rei shake her head.

“Really? Because I’m pretty certain that ice cream had far more calories than any normally prepared ice cream. It’s pretty bad for digestion too. Hell, I’d say it was just really unhealthy overall. That’s why you’re an imposter. You think it’s fun to trick people like that. You used rice as a base, right? You fermented it, pickled it, then used salt as an accent so that it would make it seem sweet. However, what I want to know is what the hell you did to the rice before that.” As she rattled all that off effortlessly, Tosuke just smiled more and more.

“...Just like I thought, you didn’t miss a beat. You saw right through me.”

“Anyway, my little magic trick aside. I hoped that I could get you to try some of my more serious batches.” Tosuke tendered all sorts of ice cream to Rei, who was now in his room. He was still wearing the clown outfit, of course.

Rei said nothing as she tried a single bite of each kind.

Kageyama watched over the entire scene nervously; however, Rei didn’t have any sort of reaction, as she mechanically put various kinds of ice cream into her mouth one by one. The scene made Kageyama worry that she didn’t really understand any of the flavors in front of her.

Before long, she finished sampling every single one, and the proceeded to throw a sharp glare over towards Tosuke.

“......Are you sane?”

“I’m not sure. Kageyama, am I sane?”

“Ah, well…” Kageyama groaned in confusion. It wasn’t exactly a subject he had any confidence in. However, ignoring the two-man comedy duo, Rei continued on.

“Who the hell’s going to eat ice cream that’s 10,000-yen per serving?” From sampling the ice cream, it seemed like she’d determined what kind of ingredients were used and the approximate cost of it all for each one.

“You will. I made it with that in mind, at least.”

“You’re going to need to make some considerable overhaul to how you do this if you want to sell it.”

“Yeah, seems that way. I don't really get how that kind of stuff works.”

“A novice then.” Rei snorted derisively. “Seems like up until now you’ve been limited to making ice cream for those around you.”

“Even so, I’m sure that my product will have plenty of veriety. What you’re eating right now is just a fraction of what I can do.”

“This is why you’re so naïve. Look, if all you do is make this sort of stuff, then yes, you’ll start getting customers, and the stuff will sell. But don’t come to me boasting about having tons of variety. Most of your customers aren’t going to notice small nuances like that, and it’s naïve to think that you can get them to understand.”

“Aha, so that’s how dealing with a lot of people is supposed to work, is it? But I’m sure it won’t matter who it is. One bite and they’ll all be infatuated with my ice cream.”

“How many customers do you think are going to be willing to come and eat the same thing over and over again? All you’re going to get are the kinds of people that just jump at their favorite flavor, and the price of your ice cream is just going to whittle that number down.”

“Haha, I see” Unaffected, Tosuke nodded.

Meanwhile, Kageyama was still astonished by the current situation.

T-they’re… actually on the same wavelength?

Up until now, there wasn’t a single person that could have a conversation like this with Tosuke. Despite the both of them having this strange sense of self confidence, their conversation flowed without ever devolving into a fight.

You might say it was… a kind of comradery, perhaps.

It seemed like the two of them would talk forever if he left them alone, so Kageyama nervously inserted himself into the conversation.

“So, uhhh, Kusunoki-sensei, this means that you’ll work with us instead, right?”

“I’ll answer that if you answer one of my questions.” Rei said without taking her gaze off of Tosuke.

“A question for me?”

“Who else would I ask?” It was like Rei didn’t even notice that anyone else, including Kageyama, was there. Once again, Kageyama looked uncomfortable.

Delighted, Tosuke replied, “Hhm, so what’s your question?”

“How do you decide what’s ‘delicious’?” Rei’s question was kinda difficult to understand.

“What do you mean by that?”

“I meant what I said.” Her question was nigh unapproachable, but Tosuke wasn’t perplexed in the slightest.  “Hhm, well, I could explain, it’s just that no one besides Kyouichirou has ever really understood it.”

“Just tell me.”

“Pain. It’s the pain in people. Targeting that is the best way to force a person to think that something is delicious. Your pain is vast for some reason; though, it’s hard for me to make out.”

“Pain? What makes you think that?”

“Deep in my chest, it, how would I put it…... throbs in pain. That’s how I know.”

“.........” Rei stared at Tosuke quizzically. Kageyama, meanwhile, had no clue what was going on.

“......My pain’s vast?” Rei asked, eventually, in a subdued voice. Tosuke nodded.

“It’s either really large, or, if not that, then it’s something dull.” Taken at face value, his words may have seemed staggeringly rude, but it was clear that Tosuke wasn’t mocking her.

“.........” At last, Rei took her gaze off of Tosuke. “......Pretty sure it’s both, actually.” She muttered.

Tosuke’s eyes widened with a small “Eh?”

“That’s the first time someone’s ever understood what I meant like that.”

“I’m weird, aren’t I?” She said, and the ends of her lips seemed to curve upward into a faint smile. “I bet I’ve even got you beat.”

“Hm?...... Well, whatever. So tell me, what’s your deliciousness criteria, hm?” Tosuke asked his question, and the girl ignored him. Instead, she turned towards Kageyama.

“What were MCE’s terms for hiring me again?”

“Huh? — A, ahh, well, we’ll offer you as much as you want, or, well, as much as we can…”

“So you wouldn’t mind if I do something like, say, come up with what the shop will look like?”

“Ah, well…… If you have an idea you’d like to share, then go ahead…”

“Then, is it alright if I give you an idea I have for the logo?”

“A, ahh…… what do you have in mind?” Kageyama asked; though, he already had a bad feeling about what she’d say next. As he spoke, the thought of her suggesting her own face crossed his mind. She wouldn’t do something that ridiculous, right?

However, what Rei said next wasn’t anything like that. Instead, it was something much more unimaginable.

“......I’m sorry?”

“A crucifix, you know, that cross or post or whatever that people are nailed to. That one.”

Kusunoki Rei; twenty-one years old. This beautiful young woman — a talented cook and craftsman of sweets — had, at that very moment, her heart set on an image synonymous with death.

[1] Technically, the word crucifix in English only refers to the religious symbol; however, Japanese has a word for crosses specifically made for people to be crucified on. The word crucifix is being used in this translation to let the sentences flow better. Just keep in mind that whenever you see the term crucifix here, it’s not necessarily related to the Christian symbol.