Our quest to find the potential of baby castellas—or more accurately, our series of interviews—had finally reached a stopping point with Shiro-san. It felt like a natural conclusion, and since Kuro had managed to get into a second argument with Shiro-san, we decided it was high time we actually started the trial production.
After returning from the Sanctuary to my house, we headed to the kitchen to begin our preparations. As was typical for the scale of this house, the kitchen was far too large for the actual number of residents living here.
"Alright, let's get cooking!"
"Yeah... wait, Kuro? When did you put on an apron?"
"Oh, this? I just transformed my usual coat."
When I looked over at Kuro, she was wearing a black apron and had her hair pulled back into a short ponytail. It was a fresh look for her. I had seen her wear a short ponytail a few times before, but combined with the apron, she looked incredibly cute.
"That apron look is new. It’s really cute on you."
"Eh? Really? Ehehe, thank you!"
When I offered my honest praise, Kuro let out a happy, beaming smile. A moment later, she pulled out a memo containing all the advice we had gathered and spoke up.
"Now then, where should we start? We don't have enough time to try everything today."
"Hmm. Let's see... Why don't we try making the rice flour baby castellas first? It depends on how they actually taste, but if we change the base of the snack itself, it should open up a lot more options."
"That's true. Shaltier mentioned they have a chewy, light texture, didn't she? Okay, let's try making the rice flour version first and work on improvements from there!"
"Got it. Well, let's give it our best shot."
The actual process of making baby castellas wasn't particularly difficult. As long as you had the ingredients and the baking molds, even someone like me, who wasn't exactly a master chef, could manage it.
While Kuro usually had Ein-san cook for her, she had made some herself during the Treasure Tree Festival, so she seemed perfectly capable in the kitchen.
The work proceeded without any issues, and in no time at all, the rice flour baby castellas were complete.
"They're done! These look pretty good."
"Yeah, they're baked perfectly, and they smell great too."
"Let's have a taste! Here, Kaito-kun. Say 'ahhh'."
Kuro held up a freshly made rice flour baby castella and offered it to me. It seemed she wanted me to have the very first bite.
Since I knew there wasn't anything strange inside this batch, I gratefully opened my mouth and let her feed me.
"Oh, the texture is really nice and chewy. The flavor is simple, but it feels remarkably fresh. Here, you try one too, Kuro."
"Ahhh... You're right, this is interesting! The flavor is even better than I expected. Just like Shaltier said, they're light enough that I feel like I could eat a whole mountain of them."
"Yeah, they'd probably go well with chocolate, too."
"Definitely! Alright, let's start improving these rice flour baby castellas!"
It seemed Kuro had decided that rice flour would be our main path for this session. Just as I suggested, it looked like we were going to experiment with various flavors for the rice flour base.
The aftertaste was clean and light, so I figured they would pair well even with stronger seasonings. Chocolate was a given, but I thought adding jam might be delicious as well.
Lost in thought, I glanced back at Kuro, only to find her placing a massive, tuna-like fish on the cutting board.
"...Wait a second, Kuro, what on earth are you doing?"
"Eh? Improving the baby castellas, of course... I thought I'd start by trying out things we can add as solid chunks..."
"No, no, no! Even so, why is your first move a fish?! And you're not even mincing it, you're just putting it in as a solid piece? There's no way that's going to work! It's going to be absolutely revolting!!"
"Kaito-kun, sometimes potential can exceed one's imagination. I want to explore every single possibility of the baby castella!"
"That doesn't mean you should dive straight into the deep end on your very first try!"
Jumping straight to fish after a normal start... the Baby Castella Devil is terrifying. What’s worse is that she wasn't even denying that it might taste bad. She was pursuing "potential" based on some mysterious hope that "while it would likely fail 99.9% of the time, a 0.1% miracle might occur." Usually, you only do that kind of thing after you've exhausted all the sensible options.
"In any case, the fish is a no-go!"
"U-Ummm. Well, if you say so, Kaito-kun... How about some Rockbird thigh meat instead...?"
"For now, can we please just stick to ingredients that actually belong in a dessert!?"
Just when I thought she’d given up on the fish, she brought out poultry... I can't let my guard down for a second. If I don't keep a strict eye on her, I'll turn around and find she's created a monstrous, strange baby castella before I even realize it. I have to be careful.
Serious-senpai: "I was just thinking about how they were flirting too much, but that ending blew everything else away... As expected of the Baby Castella Devil."