4

 When she was assigned this story, Furukita Sonoko didn’t expect anything more than the typical promotional interview, but, according to her hair stylist, the ice cream they served was absolutely fantastic. So good, in fact, that it completely changed the way she thought about ice cream. Sokoko couldn’t help being a bit intrigued by that.

“I’m not so sure about this. I don’t really like ice cream; it’s too sweet. I’m really just not a fan of sweets in general, actually. I mean, I don’t even like cakes.” Sonoko grumbled while her hair was groomed for the camera.

Her stylist smirked. “Just give a try. You can even act like no one told you about it if that makes you feel better. Just don’t act too surprised and make it seem fake, okay?”

The ice cream parlor that served as the backdrop for her interview had been getting a lot of attention lately. Apparently, they’d just finished up their ‘trial period’ and are trying to expand nationwide. Sonoko was hoping to get in on this sooner rather than later; it might just be the next big thing.

 After finishing her makeup, she stepped outside her van and saw a crowd of people surrounding the parlor. Well, it was more like a stall really, but people crowded around it regardless. Cameras tended to garner these sorts of crowds. Anything to be on camera.

She started over towards were she was supposed to meet the shop’s manager and director. When she arrived, she let out a cheery “Good~ Morning!” though, she quickly found that her cheery greeting didn’t quite fit the mood.

“Look, if this keeps up neither of us are going to get the coverage we want.”

“Yes but understand that the coverage you want isn’t what we agreed on.”

“How am I supposed to understand when you’re not making any sense!”

Sonoko asked the AD next to her what was going on.

“Well, it has to do with how the shop looks. You noticed that it’s horror themed, right?”

“Oh yeah, I just noticed. There’s, like, ghosts and stuff on it. Why?”

“Some of the crew want to hone in on that angle. They want the interview to be about what makes people drawn to such a creepy place. The shop’s manager didn’t take that very well.”

“Wow, really?”

“Yeah… looks like it’s going to take a while,” the AD complained.

Sonoko just shrugged. “Well whatever. I’m just going to wait then. I’ll be in the van, so call me when you need me.” After that, she headed back to the van.

However, on her way back, she caught a glimpse of a lone clown sitting on a bench by the roadside. He wasn’t wearing a red nose or crazy hair, so it was more like a jester, but his face was painted green with star patterns around his eyes. His features were well defined as well. It all made him feel almost like a doll.

He seemed to be staring at something in Sonoko’s direction. He looked pretty warn down.

Sonoko couldn’t stand leaving him like that, so she approached him.

“Hi there! Do you happen to work over at that ice cream stand by any chance?” She noticed that the colors of his outfit happened to match the shop’s, so she asked him.

“Hm? Ah, yeah. I guess you could say that. And you are… Ahh, you must be from the TV station. Yeah… they did say you’d be coming, didn’t they?” he replied. He sounded distracted though, like all of his attention was focused on the shop just behind Sonoko.

“Working part time with that kind of crowd must be tough, huh?”

“Eh, I guess you could say that,” he said, offhandedly. “I wonder. Why is everyone so eager to have our ice cream?”

“Huh?... Don’t they want it because they like the taste?”

“Do you think it tastes good?” he asked; though, it didn’t seem like he really cared.

“Uhh… Well, actually, I haven’t tried any yet.”

“So you didn’t come to report on it ‘cause you like it, huh?” He let out a chuckle, but it felt hollow and lonely. “Well then let’s see… If you do try it, I’d say get the rum raisin.”

“…What makes you say that? Also, I’m not really into strong flavors.”

“I don’t know about that… but, of course, it might not end up mattering anyway,” he said, absently. “You don’t really like ice cream, right?”

Sonoko couldn’t help but hesitate for a moment.

“Well, I don’t really hate it but… well, honestly, I’m just not really good with sweets.” His languid speech had started to wear down on her; so much so, that she felt like telling the truth. Soon after, she realized that she shouldn’t have given in like that. She was about to do an interview, after all. Even so, despite her misgivings, the man remained completely impassive.

“Ah, that makes sense… Yeah, rum ‘n’ raisin sounds about right.” He muttered.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, it’s ‘cause you don’t like sweets. And… and that means you need something really sweet to get through all that pain. Haha, yeah, just like Norisuke!”

To Sonoko, his muttering was pretty much incomprehensible, but he didn’t really seem dangerous. He was strange, sure, but not unreasonable. Maybe it was because of how calm he was.

“…” He’s a weird one, she thought.

“Hey, what’s going on over there?” He shifted his attention towards the TV director and the shop’s staff.

“Oh, that. We’re all just not seeing eye-to-to at the moment, apparently…”

“Really? They really shouldn’t be so stubborn.” He stood up just as he finished his statement.

“Huh?” Sonoko, meanwhile, was left perplexed as he walked over to the shop’s staff; then, someone shouted in surprise.

“B-boss?!” The manager yelped, letting his voice crack.

“Is whatever you’re talking about really so important? Just let them do their thing.”

Sonoko’s pupils shrunk to tiny points as she listened to the two men speak.

Did… Did he just say “boss”? That clown was their boss? She’d lost all ability to comprehend what was happening.

“You’re Kigawa-san then, correct?” Asked the TV director. Kigawa Tosuke nodded.

“I really don’t care about how you want to portray the shop; I just want one thing.”

“And what is that?”

He pointed over towards Sonoko. “I want her to be the one to taste my ice cream.”

Sonoko practically leapt out of her skin. “M-me?”

“That’s not a problem at all,” The director nodded. “Why do you ask?”

Tosuke smiled. “I hope you don’t mind, but I wanted to give her something special. I’ve got just the thing.”

“T-that was mean! I didn’t know you were their boss!” Sonoko whispered to Tosuke mere minutes before they were going to start filming.

“I guess I am, but I really just make the ice cream. I let Kageyama do all the manager stuff. I really don’t do a lot,” he smirked. This man, a man dressed like a clown, was the top shareholder of the entire company.

“You look really young. Mind if I ask your age?”

“Well, I’m Twenty according to the family registry.”

“Wha- Twenty!? That’s only 2 years younger than I am!”

“I don’t think it’s a big deal. You’ve seen a lot more than I have, so I’d say you’re a lot older than me.”

“…?” His comments were still just as strange.

“Sonoko, get ready!” Some one called out and broke her train of thought. She called out a prompt “Got it!” in reply.

“Well, time to start. Go easy on me, okay?” Tosuke said before moving to his own position.

“Okay, Starting in 5!”

And after a short count down, the cameras were rolling.

As she looked towards the counter, Tosuke handed her a cup of ice cream from behind it.

It wasn’t rum ‘n’ raisin at all. Despite Tosuke’s earlier recommendation, it was Tosuke’s own specialty: mint chocolate chip. It was marbled with white streaks; he probably mixed it with some vanilla.

Sonoko was surprised, of course, but they were on air. She just had to let it side and press on.

“So, what flavor do you have more me today?”

“Well, it’s not on sale yet, so think of it as a trial-run. If you try it and like it, I might even put it on the menu.” Tosuke’s face beamed with anticipation. Despite all the weird make up and clothes, the smile on his handsome face was almost as sweet as his ice cream.

“O-oh, wow… Th-that’s quite the responsibility. Whew, getting kinda nervous!” She paused and looked around. This wasn’t part of the plan, but the camera rolled on and no one stepped in. The director must have been alright with the change. “Alright then, let’s have a taste…”

Timidly, she brought the tip of her tongue to the pale green substance and gave it a lick. It wasn’t very sweet. She was relieved by that fact, until — BAM! — the next moment a sweetness filled her entire mouth like a blow to the head. It had been concealed by the flavor of the mint.

“Whoa…!” She pulled her mouth away out of surprise. But for some reason, her mouth moved straight back to the ice cream of its own will and bit right into it. There was the sensation of the ice cream melting in her mouth, then another surprise: sweetness receded. Just when she thought that the impact of the mint would amplify the wave of sweetness, it vanished just like that. It was like magic.

“H-how do I describe this…? I-It’s…such a strange flavor…” she said, inadvertently taking another bite. “But…but it’s good. Yeah, really good! It’s almost like…”

She looked up to speak but stopped. For a moment, she was at a loss for words. Her hand started trembling violently before letting the ice cream in her hand drop onto her clothes.

“A-ahh!”

It made her come back to her senses. And not a moment later, she started panicking. Though, the camera didn’t stop. Audiences found accidents like this amusing, so they tended to draw in more ratings.

“Oh no, what should I…!”

The camera held on Sonoko throughout her panicked frenzy. Eventually, the entire situation was resolved, and after a few closing words, filming finally wrapped up.

“I’m so sorry about that. I really screwed that up didn’t I…” Sonoko bowed her head, utterly dejected, in front of Tosuke.

“Actually, It looks like everyone liked it,” Tosuke said. He was giggling, just like most of the crew. “You’re pretty funny, you know that? Must be popular.”

“No, I’m really not…” Sonoko shook her head meekly. “I was just clumsy, a total mess.”

“Come on, it was good, really! …Oh, by the way, how was the ice cream? Good?”

“Yeah!” Suddenly, she nodded her head with a fair amount of force. “It was so. Damn. Good!”

“Oh yeah? Then what were you about to say?”

“Oh that… I was, uh, going to say something… strange. It’s actually the reason I dropped it…”

“Well then, tell me. I want to know.”

“But…”

“You know,” as Sonoko stammered on, Tosuke said, “that ice cream was actually supposed to be for someone else. But they died.”

“What?” Tosuke’s statement was so out of left field it left Sonoko shocked.

“That means you’re the only one who’s ever tried it. I really want to know what you think.”

“…”

“Still don’t want to?” Tosuke looked straight into Sonoko’s eyes, like he was peering into their depths, his own eyes full of wonder.

“Alright… But promise me you won’t laugh.”

“I can do that. I promise.” Tosuke nodded happily.

Sonoko mustered up the courage to speak before saying, “It was like… Like I was eating the Earth whole. That’s what I felt anyway.”

Tosuke’s face stiffened.

“…W-wait, what did you say?”

“Ah, s-sorry! It really was too weird, wasn’t it?” Sonoko flinched at Tosuke’s serious reaction, but he didn’t seem to care about that at all.

“Y-you actually felt like you were eating the world?!”

“Uh, n-no… nothing like that. It just… That’s what I felt. But maybe… yeah. The world might be right, something big and vast…” She couldn’t tell which was really being consumed -- The world, or her -- But either way, it felt like she’d melted away with the world, melding and seeping into each other, becoming one… That was the feeling she had. “…It doesn’t really make any sense, does it? But it really surprised me. Really.” As she spoke, she slowly found herself wanting more. Even the mere thought of it resurrected the feeling she had, and her eyes started to glaze over.

“The world, huh…? Interesting.” Tosuke nodded in thought. “Well, I’m glad you got to try it, even though Kyouichirou never got the chance…”

“Are you going to sell it?” Sonoko asked the burning question on her mind.

“Hmm… It’d be kinda tough.”

“But it’s so good! I’m sure people will like it.” Sonoko said that, but deep down she thought about how nice it’d be if it never went on sale. She could have it all to herself.

“It’s just so expensive. Making a dish like that would set us back 100,000 Yen per serving.”

“That much!?” And she’d just dropped it. What a waste…

“Though, I suppose mass producing it would lower costs…” He said, letting himself grin.

“Really?!” Sonoko’s eyes lit up.

“Yeah. You know, seeing someone like you eating my ice cream makes all this worth it.” Tosuke nodded, his spirits high.

“Well now, aren’t you pleased with yourself.” After Setsuko, Sonoko’s stylist, saw Sonoko coming back to the van with a huge grin on her face, she started prodding.

“Yeah! I couldn’t be happier right now!” She was beaming from ear to ear.

Setsuko started wondering if the shops owner was hitting on her; her elation was so obvious it was kinda sickening.

“You know, that last take we got was really good” Setsuko noted.

“Really?”

“Mhm. It really showed how much you like it. You messed up, sure, but wasn’t really funny. It was more like, ‘woah, it’s that good huh?’”

“Oh come on, could you not talk about that stupid accident!”

“Haha, sorry, but it’s true. And that’s not all, it --…” She tried to continue, but she suddenly stopped talking. She felt like she was about to say something really strange.

“What?”

“Oh, uhh, it’s nothing.” Setsuko shook her head in reply.

After that, the director, cameraman, and the rest of the crew started returning from wrapping up the shoot. The girls finished up their talk and sat back down in their seats. On the bumpy ride home, Setsuko couldn’t help but think about what she was going to say.

Back there, it looked like you were eating the world, the world was eating you, and the two of you melted away together…

But… why would she think of something like that…?

* * * * *

…So, it’s pretty obvious that, the first signs of out wizard’s “magic” were starting to take form within Sonoko. Yeah, hehe, right there, in that young and pretty, yet plain and inconspicuous little lady.

* * * * *

Following these events, Furukita Sonoko started commuting to Tosuke Kigawa’s office as his new product assurance tester. Her job wasn’t to taste the ice cream currently on the market though. Rather, her responsibility was to taste Tosuke’s new creations and evaluate them. Of course, she wasn’t exactly fond of sweet things, as she had mentioned before, so her opinions tended to stray from those of the shop’s usual clientele.

One time, she tried their ‘Rainbow Fresh,’ an ice cream made with various fruit sauces and chocolate. It was their most popular treat at the time, but when she tried it, she couldn’t say anything better than, “Honestly? It just tastes sorta messy.”

Tosuke was the one making it all, of course, and while he smiled wryly at each piece of feedback she gave, he still welcomed her with a bright smile whenever she came

However, there was someone that didn’t take too kindly to Sonoko’s visits. Ever since Sonoko had started coming over, Kusunoki Rei had been on the receiving end of a constant stream of criticism, all of which claimed that her creations were “too sweet.”

“Alright, what the hell is going on here?” she finally asked Tosuke one day.

“What are you talking about?”

“I’m talking about that woman! What were you thinking, putting her on as a focus tester? She has no idea what she’s doing, and her feedback is useless!”

“I don’t know about that. She’s got a pretty good sense of taste actually.”

“That’s not the point, her taste is too different than everyone else’s. If you follow her feedback, you’re just going to get complaints from the rest of our customers!”

“Well, you’re not wrong about that. But aren’t you worrying too much? I mean, I’m thinking outside the box like you told me too, aren’t I?” Tosuke didn’t really seem to care about any of it. It was like he didn’t even bother to realize how angry Rei was.

“That is not what I meant by that!”

“Oh, actually, she did really like that almond cream one you made the other day,” he said with a chuckle. Rei stifled a frustrated breath, before finally sighing.

“… Whatever. Just don’t blame me if she starts making trouble.”

“Hm? What trouble?”

“Wha -- … Have you even noticed how popular she’s been getting lately?” she spouted in a vitriolic burst.

She was right.  Oddly enough, Furukita Sonoko was getting popular despite never having been all that noticeable before.

“It’s so relaxing to see her smile”

“She’s just so refreshing, you know?”

“I keep thinking, ‘ahh, I want to smile like she does some day.’”

Those kinds of overwhelmingly positive comment started popping up one after the other; she even had people talking about her on TV and radio stations… She’d become a household name almost overnight, and no one who knew her before could really pin down exactly what had changed about her. However, it was clear that she’d changed somehow, and that change had charmed everyone. And then, one day…

“Hahaha, alright, alright. But hey, Sonoko. Tell me, have you always been like this?” One day, she’d been asked to appear as a guest on some TV program. During the interview, the host had asked her this.  

“Huh? Like what?” She laughed, teasing the host back.

“Well, how do I put this? I mean, you just seem like an air-head.”

“Oh, that. Yeah, I haven’t really been thinking about much at all lately.”

“Wait, you used to think before?”

“Ah! Rude!” she said, laughing, “but let’s see… I think it’s just ‘cause I don’t really have anything to worry about anymore. They just drifted away. Now I don’t bother thinking too hard about stuff.”

“So what’s your secret, then?”

“Secret, come on, there’s no secret!”

“Really? Come on, there must be something….”

“I’m serious, there isn’t!”

“Okay, then what about your image? You just seem so stress free. How do you relieve your stress?”

“Hmm… I don’t really have anything… Ah! Actually…”

“Ohhh? Go on…”

“So, I’m not much of a sweets fan, you know, but I actually have ice cream sometimes. It’s a very specific flavor.”

“Ice cream? Like, chocolate ice cream or something?”

“No no no, it’s… it’s made by this guy, and, well, I guess he makes it just for me. Oh, but he does sell it publicly!”

“Really now? Is it sold at a store?”

“I probably shouldn’t give any details. It could cause some trouble.”

“I see, I see… Ice cream huh? You know, you’re actually kind of like ice cream. You’re just so wispy, melty and creamy.”

“Oh, yeah, you might have a point there. I kinda feel the same way. Maybe I’m the reincarnation of an ice cream cone or something.”

“Reborn from food eh? What would I be?”

“Hmm… so fatty and greasy huh? Well, I do like me some yakiniku.”

The surrounding staff and audience roared with laughter.

… After a while, appearances like this became regular, and Tosuke Kigawa suddenly found his ice cream more popular than ever. His stall was never mentioned, but it was only a matter of time before it was identified. Sonoko had done a story on it after all, so it would have been weirder if people didn’t figure it out. The fuse had been lit a long time ago, and now his popularity was exploding. His ice cream was now a sensation.

Customers practically mobbed every store, to the point where special tickets had to be issued in certain locations. The stall’s issues had gone from not being able to move enough ice cream, to not having enough of it.

And as the interest in his ice cream grow, so too did the interest in its creator. The genius confectioner was only 20 years old, handsome enough to be a movie star, and had inherited the company from the late Teratsuki Kyouichirou himself. Given these elements, it would have been stranger if people didn’t make him a hot topic.

Meanwhile, Semigasawa – the coordinator for this mess – sat cradling his head in his hands. He was trying to figure out how to handle his director’s image.

“I mean, I’m glad he’s getting popular and all, but this is getting silly,” he said, pouring his worries onto Kageyama. “Everyone and their dog is asking him for an interview.”

“What’s the problem? Just accept them.”

“The problem is that it’s Kigawa! Who knows what he’s going to say? I keep refusing them but the just keep asking…”

“Alright, then accept them, but give him a script to read; make him memorize it. That should work.”

“I really don’t think he’d go along with that.,” he said before he let out a long, deep sigh. “… Is he still holed up in the development room?”

“Yeah, he’s still immersed in making ice cream. All his effort’s going into the stuff Furukawa Sonoko’s been testing.

“… Our confectionary expert isn’t exactly in the best spot either. How’s she holding up? Tosuke and her managing to get along?”

“Beats me, but my guess is not well…”

“If everything goes on like this, I feel like it’s all going to go downhill…” Semigasawa was nibbling on the ends of his fingernails.

* * * * *

Hey, get a load of this. There’s this story by some guy named Kurt Vonnegut – and trust me, this guy writes some weird shit – called “Cat’s Cradle.” In it, there’s this crazy stuff called “Ice-Nine” that carries a “pattern of crystallization in which molecules freeze at above room temperature.” It’s all a bunch of bullshit, but, basically, if it touches water, the molecules restructure and, just like that, everything turns to Ice-Nine and the world freezes over. It’s like, holy shit dude, where do you come up with this stuff? In the story, it’s what caused the end of the world.

Like I said, it’s all bullshit, but there is actually something in the real world that kinda works like the stuff. It can’t cause the end of the world or anything, but it can change the world.

Wanna know what it is? It’s the way people live their lives.

See, when people get introduced to a new, more efficient way of life, they just drop how they lived before and swap it out with the new one. I’m not shitting you, pretty much every product of modern civilization has appeared within the last century at most, and yet most of these things have changed the world. This pattern is all about what goes on in our heads… or, well, more like how we see shit. It’s kinda like when you go, “man, I wish I could have what that guy does,” and then everyone fucking has it. The way people think is the exact same way. A lot of people don’t even think about other people lying on the street, but that’s just ‘cause no one else gives a shit either. It’s established. And the truth is most people just live their lives according to these patterns. Trust me, there are a ton of examples. But, really, it all just comes down to the thought that “man, I wish I had that.”

…Okay, I’m taking a long time to get to it, but my point is that Furikawa Sonoko is kinda like Ice-Nine. She may have only played a small part, but the girls watching her interactions with celebrities started wanting to be like her. They’d mimic her speech, her behavior, her attitude, and that imitation was starting to take hold as a pattern.

… Course, you’re probably wondering what would end up happening to Sonoko ‘cause of all this, aren’tcha? Hehehe… Well, are you?

[1] These are literally translated as “Tasty Travels around Japan” and “This Nice Little Place I Spotted in Town.” I changed them a bit to sound more like catchy feature titles and to be a little less corny. Because I’m unoriginal. I made them references to really old TV and film.

[2] The first line in this section, as you may have noticed, is the same one from the images at the beginning of the novel. I check to make sure they were the same line, and they are. So yes, this reporter is the same one as in that image. I changed a bit of the later part of the line to make it flow better and more like what an entertainer would say.

[3] For those that may be unaware, Yakiniku is literally grilled meat. It originally referred to American barbecue, but after it was influenced by Korean barbecue, it kinda became its own thing. Yakiniku places typically serve the meat uncooked and provide a grill to cook it on yourself.