--Interior corridor of the Royal Castle.

　A girl was walking.
　The hood of her cloak hid her hair and face, and she walked quickly, trying not to be seen by too many people.

　It's not that she has done anything wrong or is going to work.

　If you ask me if I have any guilt, I can't say that I don't have any.

　I just didn't want people to see my face, nothing more, nothing less.

　There are not many guards in this inner corridor.
　It's a corridor lined with servants' quarters, and there's no reason for soldiers to be here, since there's nothing of any particular importance.
　In addition, this is inside the royal castle. I'd rather deploy soldiers outside than have them patrolling here.
　And at this time of the year, the attendants are busy performing their duties, never returning to their living quarters.

　For these reasons, she was able to go down the corridor without being seen.

　Her face suddenly lifted up as if she had noticed something.

　A sweet scent tickled her nostrils.

　Oil, milk, sugar, and flour.

　She tilted her head, recognizing the hint of the ingredients of her favorite pastry.
　It was the scent of baking sweets.

　It probably originated from the servants' kitchen.
　It's also possible that they are in the process of taking the baked goods from there to somewhere else, but that's a bit of a low estimate.

　If they are for royalty and nobility, they would not be made in the kitchen of this section.
　A servant's break is not long enough to make sweets during a lunch break.

　Then...

　Thinking that it was most likely that a familiar face was in the kitchen, she let out a sigh of annoyance.

　Originally, she had business with that familiar face today.

　She held a thick book in her hands, with a number of bookmarks in it.
　My current purpose is to push it to the familiar face and go back to my house.

　He could leave it in his room, but he knows that his appointment is coming up.
　So, this smell is .......

　She turned down the corner of her mouth in displeasure and strode on.

　The servants' kitchen is just ahead.
　She could have left the book in her room and gone home. But there's a good chance that the witch is in the room to prevent that from happening.

　Would you rather face the person you sent the book to, or face the witch who's trying to keep you here?

　I didn't have to think about it.

"......, what are you doing?

　And sure enough...
　And sure enough, the person I was looking for was in the servant's kitchen, working on a pastry.

　My eyes met his as he took a freshly baked cake out of the oven and placed the oven plate on the kitchen table.

　He was tall and thin, with an unattractive face. Unattractive, impersonal face. His hair unkempt and unkempt.
　As usual, he is a dreadful individual.

"Oh, pasta. Just right.
What's just right? I'll leave the stuff for you here.

　A dusty book sits on one of the cooktops.
　If there was a witch here, she'd be giving me a hard time, but since there isn't, it's easy.

　After saying that, she was about to turn her back to the kitchen, when a voice called out to her as a matter of course.

"Wait.
"............ What?
Do I look that uncomfortable?
If you know what's going on, why don't you just send me on my way?
I have no reason to care about you.
Yeah.

　I sniffed and leaned against the kitchen table.
　He crosses his arms and removes the hood of his cloak that obstructs his view.
　I shake my head lightly to keep my long red hair out of my eyes.

"So?
"So?" You know it when you see it. That's what I'm talking about.
There's no reason for me to care about you.
Oh, really?

　We both do.
　You sound like you're talking to yourself. You lack the compassion you should have for the other person, and your intention is to say, "I don't care what he thinks of me.

　Pasta, who had thought that such a relationship would be easier than expected, however, distorted his expression in displeasure when he saw the kiln plate in Futa's hand.

'Well, it's just what it looks like. I made cupcakes, would you like to try some?
"...... Tsk.

　Cupcakes.
　--I had a feeling that was the case.

　The man in front of me knew what food I liked and knew that I was going to meet him.

　That's where the flour and sugar comes in. Rather, there was no reason not to guess.

　But it irritated me to no end.

"What's going on with you lately?
"What?
What? ......!

　I remember one time recently.
　"I was waiting with the witch for pasta pomodoro at the call.


　That time, I forced myself to settle for a thank you to Ruri.

　But not this time.

"I'm talking about making pasta pomodoro and cupcakes. Are you flirting with me?
There's no reason for me to flirt with you.
"Then why do you bother with cupcakes? There are other things to do.
Corona just gave me a few for beginners. If you happen to be here at the right time, there's no reason not to pick one.
"............

　There is no reason not to choose it.
　At first glance, his argument seems reasonable.
　But that's only true if you're close to them.

　After all, you and the man in front of you are just a business relationship. It's nothing more and nothing less than that.

　Baked goods are Futa's private life.
　There is no room for you in it.

I'm sorry, but I like the cupcakes at my favorite restaurant, not the cupcakes themselves.
"......
You and I are not on the same page. You said that the other day. ......

　You and I don't get along like that.

I'm not a saint.
I'm not a saint, I only do this kind of thing with people I'm close to.

"Don't think of me as a close friend, okay?
"Okay.

　"Don't think of me as a close friend.
　But somehow Futa didn't seem to be shocked at all.

　That was even more irritating.

That's right.
"Well, there you have it. I've got a taste for cupcakes, so tell me what you think, lab rat.
"..................

　He said, as if it was a good reason.
　The half-lidded glare didn't seem to hurt or itch him.

　It was a transparent pretext. But pretense is effective even when you know it is.

　Pasta stumbled up to him and snatched a cake from his oven plate.

"Just so you know, you and I don't taste all that different.
I know, I know. I know, but we've eaten different things.

　Pasta said, staring at the cupcake in his hand.

　Yes.
　Surprisingly, Futa and Pasta are in agreement when it comes to food preferences.
　I guess they have similar taste sensibilities. It's not hard to choose what to eat during a lesson.

　That's why I wanted to tell him that he's not a lab rat or anything.
　It's true, I've eaten a lot of good food since I became the head of the Chamber of Commerce.
　When it comes to cupcakes, I've certainly got a better palate than Futa. That's for sure.

　A small mouth bites roughly into a cupcake as big as her fist.

"...... How's that?

　She sighs annoyingly as she chews.
　As she chews, she sighs in annoyance, staring at the large cupcake with its bite marks.

"It's powdery and disgusting. How dare you serve this to someone?
"What?　I thought I followed the recipe exactly.
Then it's a bad recipe.
You don't have to say it.
You know what?

　Huta reacts in an obvious way, probably because he was criticized for his Corona recipe.
　Pasta laughed at him, as if to relieve his exasperation.

"A recipe is not just a list of steps. It's not enough to write down the process.
"I wrote down the ingredients.
You idiot. That's obvious. ...... That's not true. Why is the process necessary? If you don't know that, you'll just think you know what you're doing, and you'll end up with a degraded product. Mostly, they couldn't get rid of the flouriness when they mixed it.
"Oh, oh, .......

　You may or may not have any idea what I'm talking about.
　I'm sure you're not aware that cooking and baking are two different things, but you probably don't even know that.
　That said, there is no reason to be so righteous.

　He proceeded to take one bite after another with a preachy tone, and when he had eaten it all, Pasta shook his head in disgust.

"You're lucky you're a lab rat.
Pasta.
What?

　As she gently wiped her mouth with her fingertips, Futa thought, "After all, you ate everything.


　I didn't want to be left in the dark, so I asked him.

"If I make it good, will you eat it again?
I told you I'm not going to get used to you. That's it.

　This time, the pasta turned away.

Don't try to get used to anyone before you regret it.

　Finally, she tells him, puts her hood back on, and turns on her heel.

　As she left, she pointed to the book she'd brought with her. She pointed to a book she had brought with her as she left, as if to say, "Just think about work.

　She left the room almost as soon as Futa muttered, "All right.

　All that was left was Futa and a bunch of cupcakes.

I followed the recipe to the letter, but it turned out to be crap.

　I muttered and took a bite myself. I'm sure you'll be glad to know that I'm not the only one who has a problem with this.

What a mess!

　I'm not sure I could eat a whole one.

　The taste was so bad that he couldn't even think of eating the whole thing.