Night had fallen, and the world outside the window was swallowed in darkness by the time Nebula arrived in Kaito’s room. More accurately, she had been invited at the behest of Kuromueina, who was visiting Kaito as she always did.
Though they had only met briefly on her first day, Nebula and Kuromueina both possessed social personalities and hit it off immediately. Joined by Kaito, the three of them were enjoying a lively chat.
Then, in the middle of their conversation, Kuromueina suddenly spoke up as if she had just remembered something.
"Oh, I almost forgot! I actually brought a new batch of baby castellas today. Nebula-chan, let's eat them together!"
"!?"
"Baby castellas? Since it is a new batch, does that mean they are different from the usual ones? I look forward to it!"
At Kuromueina’s announcement, Kaito’s expression tightened with tension. To him, Kuro mentioning a "new work" was a dangerous flag that triggered a litany of past traumas.
Of course, they weren't all failures; many were perfectly fine or even delicious. The probability of a foul-tasting batch was only about thirty percent.
However, within that thirty percent lurked hazards that could only be described as catastrophic—disasters that had planted deep seeds of dread in Kaito and dealt actual damage to even Alice.
It would have been one thing if he were the only victim; he could have endured that, even if he didn't like it. But since Nebula was here, Kaito looked incredibly uneasy.
The most frustrating part was that since he didn't know yet whether this was a hit or a miss, there was no way to stop her at this stage. Kaito could only pray in his heart that they were a success... or at least, if they were bad, that it was a mild failure.
"Here they are!"
"Wait a second, Kuro. How did you even cook these to give them such a perfectly uniform, seven-color pattern?"
"Fufufu, I did a really good job on the presentation this time, didn't I?"
"They look just like a rainbow."
The baby castellas Kuromueina produced were indeed rainbow-colored, with each color appearing in exactly equal proportions. Unless she had painted them afterward, Kaito couldn't fathom how she had kneaded the dough to achieve such a result. At the same time, his instincts—honed by a vast history of eating baby castellas—began screaming a warning at him with overwhelming intensity.
"I actually kneaded twenty-eight different ingredients into the dough this time! Fufufu, I wonder if you can tell what's in them?"
"You've got to be kidding me..."
"What a unique-looking food. Well then, without further ado—"
"Wait, Nebula! I’ll eat it first! Just give me a second!"
"Eh? Oh, yes."
Stopping Nebula with an uncharacteristically sharp tone just as she reached out, Kaito took the lead as a poison tester and popped a rainbow-colored baby castella into his mouth. For a brief moment, his consciousness fled into the void.
(This is bad. This is a massive failure, the likes of which I haven't seen in a long time. It’s incredible... why does just eating a baby castella cause pain that feels like a tornado is tearing through my throat? I—I feel like I’m going to pass out. But I have to endure. I can't let Nebula eat this! I have to stop her—wait!? My throat hurts so much I can't get a sound out!)
Kuro’s new batch was such a catastrophic failure that even Kaito, who had survived many failed experiments, felt he would lose consciousness if he didn't cling to his sanity with everything he had.
Seeing Nebula reach for a baby castella after him, Kaito tried to shout a warning in a panic, but the sheer damage from the horrific flavor prevented his voice from working. Mercilessly, Nebula took a bite of the baby castella right before his eyes.
"It is a mysterious flavor. I feel as though I have never tasted anything like it before."
"How... is that... possible..."
Kaito’s face was a mask of pure shock as he watched Nebula calmly state her impressions with an intrigued look. Despite the fact that the taste had nearly knocked out Kaito—who possessed an incredibly high tolerance for strange flavors—Nebula remained perfectly composed.
"Ne—Nebula!? A-Are you all right?"
"Yes? Whatever do you mean by 'all right'?"
"N-No, I mean... wasn't that baby castella... disgusting?"
"I do not believe it is a flavor that would be popular with the general public. However, perhaps there are those somewhere who might find such a taste enjoyable."
"And what about you, Nebula?"
"Me? I am an Absolute One! It is precisely because I maintain an 'Acceptance of All Tastes' that I am an Absolute One. Therefore, no flavor poses a problem for me!"
"Absolute Ones are... incredible..."
Looking at Nebula as she spoke with total confidence, Kaito muttered with a look of terrified awe.
As she watched the two of them, Kuromueina decided to pop a rainbow-colored baby castella into her own mouth as well.
"THIS IS REVOLTING!?"
She clutched her mouth and writhed in agony. Indeed, while Kuromueina was capable of creating baby castellas with outrageous flavors, her own palate was perfectly normal. In short, she found her own failed works to be just as disgusting as anyone else did.
After spending a few moments clutching her mouth with a pale face, Kuromueina eventually sat up and bowed to Kaito and Nebula with an apologetic expression.
"I'm sorry, you two... This one was a total disaster."
"Personally, I wish you'd reached that conclusion the moment you saw the colors."
"As for me, it was a fresh experience to be able to taste something I have never encountered before!"
"N-Nebula-chan, are you really okay? You don't feel sick or anything?"
"There is no problem! After all, I am an Absolute One!"
"How truly amazing, the Absolute One..."
In a rather strange way, Nebula had succeeded in being recognized as a truly formidable existence by both Kaito and Kuromueina.
???: "...What an incredible person the Absolute One is. To eat that dark matter and remain unfazed... As expected, a being who once stood at the Top of the World operates on a different level."
Serious-senpai: "So her taste is that of an Absolute One, huh? Well, in reality, it seems she ruled over countless worlds and had a mountain of subordinates, so she probably received tributes from people with very specialized palates. Knowing her personality, she definitely would have eaten them regardless of the taste..."