Despite the gentle, benevolent smile on her face, I could practically see an aura of pure wrath radiating from behind Kuro. She spoke to the trembling Megiddo-san in a voice that remained terrifyingly sweet.
"Honestly, Megiddo, you’ve always loved your pranks, haven’t you?"
"……Oh? Yeah?"
Megiddo-san wore a look of utter bewilderment. Her voice was so tender it sent chills down his spine, leaving him at a complete loss for words. He kept glancing my way, pleading for help with his eyes, but I didn't quite grasp Kuro’s current state of mind myself. At the very least, it didn't seem like she was about to start screaming at him.
"You can't do that. This is a poisonous substance, isn't it? I’m fine, but you mustn’t play pranks like this on anyone else."
"Eh? Ah, no, it’s not exactly poison—"
"It’s a poisonous substance, right?"
"—Ah, yes. It was poison. I-I just got a little carried away with a bit of mischief, hahaha……"
Well, considering it would apparently kill a normal person, calling it a poison wasn’t exactly an exaggeration. For a fleeting moment, the thought that Kuro’s own failed Baby Castellas were essentially poison too crossed my mind, but I lacked the suicidal bravery required to say that out loud in front of her right now.
Regardless, it seemed Megiddo-san was going to get off the hook. Kuro appeared content to write the whole thing off as a prank.
"Yes, yes. Now then, where is the real seasoning?"
"……Eh? Ah, no……"
"The prank is over, okay?"
"……R-Right."
Megiddo-san looked around in a visible panic. Sweating buckets, he leaned down and whispered to me.
"……Kaito, help me out here. H-How spicy should it be?"
"I think something you’d consider way too sweet would be best, Megiddo-san."
Desperate to appease her, Megiddo-san took my advice and scrambled to bring out a new sauce.
"S-Sorry about that, Kuromueina. This is the sauce meant for spicy cooking."
"Oh? This one? Let’s see……"
Megiddo-san watched with a tense, rigid face as Kuro tasted it. I found myself sitting up straighter just watching them. After a moment, Kuro broke into a genuine smile—nothing like the chilling one from before.
"I see. Yes, making Baby Castella with this could be quite interesting."
"A-Ah…… I-I’m glad you like it."
"……By the way, Megiddo, I assume you don’t intend to sell that Crimson Sauce to the public? You mustn’t. That thing would send a normal person into shock. You have to be very careful about who you serve it to."
"O-Of course. I understand."
"Good. Well then, thank you. Kaito-kun, shall we go?"
"A-Ah, right. Well, Megiddo-san, we'll be heading out."
"Yeah, see you later."
I bid farewell to Megiddo-san, who looked like he’d just dodged a bullet, and teleported away with Kuro. Once we reached a secluded spot with no one else around, Kuro’s face immediately twisted in annoyance.
"……Ugh, seriously, what was with that heat!? There’s such a thing as 'too much'!"
"Ah, so it really was that spicy."
"Incredibly! I knew Megiddo loved spicy food, but you can’t just make something that kills people from shock…… And on top of that, it had absolutely no scent!"
"Well, it was made using ingredients Shiro-san created…… though I suppose I’m the one who gave them to Shia-san."
"I knew it! Only Shiro could make something that insanely hot while keeping it odorless…… Honestly, that girl has no sense of moderation whatsoever……"
She’d been hiding it until now, but it seemed the spice had actually been quite painful. She sounded genuinely annoyed. Still, the fact that she didn't take it out on Megiddo-san and merely warned him about public safety was a very mature way of handling things—very much like the Kuro I knew.
"Seriously, that flavor was a total blasphemy against ingredients."
"……Is that really a line someone who routinely blasphemes ingredients should be allowed to say?"
"Shaltier? Did you say something?"
"Ah, no! Nothing at all!"
Alice had manifested just long enough to drop a truth as blunt as a fireball to the face, only to vanish instantly under Kuro’s sharp glare.
Well, hypocrisy aside, the fact that she felt comfortable enough to vent her frustrations to me—showing me a side of herself she’d never show Megiddo-san—was proof of how much she trusted me. That thought made me a little happy.
???: "Tch, he’s 'Gorilla Safe,' isn't he? Well, Kuro-san didn’t exactly scold Megiddo-san just for it being too spicy. She did give him a piece of her mind about serving it as a 'delicious sauce' without a warning, though."
Serious-senpai: "A beautiful, odorless sauce that kills a normal person upon tasting it? That’s not a condiment; that’s an undeniable poisonous substance."