Chapter 17: Yatsude Shie, the Pastry Chef

Yatsude Shie.

Ever since I was old enough to understand anything, the people around me praised me as a prodigy.

The moment I stepped into a kitchen—no matter how shabby—it would instantly turn into a restaurant-grade workspace, and even the cheapest ingredients would transform into Western-style sweets so delicious that money couldn’t buy anything comparable.

People my age were all captivated by my desserts and followed me. Even adults couldn’t resist my sweets; before them, everyone was equal.

Everyone praised me. Everyone wanted my desserts.

I wasn’t smart—not even as flattery—so I believed that giving people sweets would make everyone happy. If I handed out desserts, people would be kind to me. They would listen to my whims. It felt just like being the princess from picture books.

But by the time I realized how wrong that was, it was already too late.

People began fighting over my desserts, pushing each other aside as they thrust money and jewels at me one after another. It was beautiful, yet terrifying. Seeing them try to snatch the sweets even if it meant shoving others out of the way scared me. The adults trying to use my pastries to gather wealth scared me. Everyone was losing themselves, and it terrified me. Knowing that the sweets I made had driven them to this… they began to look like something monstrous.

Before I knew it, I was letting everyone’s “you should do this” and “you must do that” shape me. I kept making desserts to match every “give me more” and “I want that too.” I followed their demands of “earn more,” “sell it higher,” and eventually, I found myself locked in a cell. Someone who saw me as a nuisance had me captured, they said. But honestly, I felt relieved. Even temporarily, I could turn my eyes away from those horrifying scenes.

But I was wrong. That madness followed me wherever I tried to run.

“Hey, you’re Yatsude Shie, right?”

The people locked in the same cell asked for sweets. The guard watching over us asked for sweets. I couldn’t refuse. Even though I knew the danger, I still wanted to see the happy faces people made when they ate them—just a little, I thought.

But it didn’t work.

My desserts only created more conflict. Everyone demanded the next one immediately. They didn’t listen when I said no. Their requests became threats, and eventually, violence.

No, no, no.

I don’t want to see that again. I don’t want to be hurt again. I just wanted everyone to be happy. I just wanted them to be kind to me. So why—why did this happen to me?

I never want to make sweets again.

It was then—when they saved me.

“Just doing our job. Don’t worry about it.”

Sayuri-oneechan, tall, wearing a hat, a little scary but incredibly strong. And Nonaka-oneechan, so gentle and always protecting me.

They were unlike anyone I had ever met. They were kind to me even when I did nothing for them, and they didn’t ask me for sweets. They praised me for the smallest things and told me “no” when I did something wrong. They protected me from the people who tried to attack me. Even though I had never done anything for them.

“…Why are you being so nice to me?”

“Eh? Well, that’s… um…”

“Because it’s the job.”

“Sayuri-chan! …Haah. That’s not it, Shie-chan. It’s not because of the job. Children deserve to be loved. So you don’t have to hold back—lean on us as much as you want.”

“I’m not a child!”

“Eh!? Ah, no! That’s—that’s not what I meant, Shie-chan! I just meant that… um… it’s natural for older people to look after younger ones…? That doesn’t work either?”

“…You’ve always been like this, Kou. You treat everyone like they’re a child.”

“And I keep telling you I’m Nonaka!”

That’s why I love these two.

Sayuri-san, who looks scary at first glance but is strong, kind, a little jealous, and funny. And Nonaka-oneechan, who often gets dragged around by her.

For the two of them, I’d make sweets forever. If I could stay with them, being locked up here wouldn’t bother me at all.

If only these moments could last forever.

Late at night.

Footsteps echoed in the hallway, around the same time I had first met Saori after being brought here. As always, the struggle over my futon ended with me being kicked out of it, so my sleep was light—and I noticed the sound immediately, waking up.

Knock, knock, knock. The sound stopped in front of our cell, followed by a soft metallic click.

“Mm…?”

“Wake up.”

The voice was quiet enough not to wake anyone else. When I opened my eyes, it wasn’t a ghost or anything supernatural—it was someone clad in the distinctive white Valkyrie uniform of a guard.

“…Yes?”

“Come.”

Following her words, I stepped out of the cell behind her. The moonlight streaming through the barred windows lit the night prison, making it feel twice as dark, cold, and lonely as usual. All the familiar noise of the prison was gone, replaced by an eerie silence that was even more terrifying. It felt like ghosts or some inexplicable phenomenon could appear at any moment. Walking ahead of me, this person seemed almost too alive to be real.

“Enter.”

I shivered in fear, but I followed her nonetheless. We arrived at a room likely off-limits to anyone other than guards. The door, marked “Confiscated Items Storage,” opened, and light spilled into the darkness.

As soon as I stepped inside, the door closed behind me, leaving just me and this mysterious guard alone in the room.

“Well then…”

“!”

I jumped slightly, bracing myself. Please don’t say something like, “How dare you follow me! I’ll curse you!” or anything like that…!

Instead, she removed her hat and mask, revealing her face. Beneath the hat, a pair of cute animal ears peeked out.

The face that appeared was still fresh in my memory.

“Hey! How much longer is this going to take?!”

It was none other than Mine-san, the intermediary for the assignment I had taken—the information broker. She had finally appeared, a full two weeks after I had accepted the job.

“Eek—!?”

Her sudden appearance terrified me in an entirely different way.

“Was this assignment really that difficult!? All we had to do was show the target a video and break their spirit, right!? That could be done in two or three days—easy peasy!”

“W-Well, there’s a reason for that…”

“Wha—!? What!?”

“Well… it’s just that we put you in the same prison as the target, but a bodyguard came along too…”

“Bodyguard? Oh, Sayuri Uezaki? I heard you two know each other, so I thought that was convenient… but was I wrong?”

“Did you just say something…?”

“No, that’s nothing.”

She kept chewing on her nails, clearly still annoyed.

“Um… why are you, the intermediary, even here…?”

“Because your work is too slow, obviously!!!”

“Eek!?”

“The client is super mega ultra furious right now! That damn old geezer! Acting all high and mighty just because he’s our employer…! He’s the one who totally screwed up and lost his position recently, and yet he still treats everyone beneath him like dirt…! Ugh, big shots are always like that!”

“Sounds rough…”

“Because of you!!!”

She let out a long, heavy sigh—several seconds long.

“Well, whatever. From here on, I’ll be participating in the operation myself. Or rather, I can’t leave things to someone as carefree as you anymore, so I’ll be taking the lead. You focus on support.”

“Ah, yes.”

“Do you really understand…? Whatever. The operation will be during tomorrow’s lunch break. I’ll be the one showing the tablet. You handle restraining the target and dealing with the bodyguard.”

“Roger.”

Watching her sigh and click her tongue again and again, I felt a wave of gloom settling over me.

I really don’t want to do this.

I’ve grown to like living here. And over the past few days, I’ve gotten way too close to Shie-chan, the target. I guess this is what it means to get attached. I don’t want to do anything that would hurt her.

And more than anything… I might end up pointing a gun at Saori—at my family. That was what I hated the most.

Ah… If I’d known it would come to this, I never should’ve accepted this job.

Right now, I want nothing more than to run away.