The journey to seek out the possibilities of baby castellas, or rather, to ask around for it, came to an end with Shiro-san. Well, it certainly is time to call it quits, and since Kuro ended up fighting Shiro-san for the second time, we just decided it’s about time we start making prototypes.
We returned from the Sanctuary to my house and moved to the kitchen to make preparations. Given the size of my home, it’s natural, but the kitchen is too big for the number of people living there.
[Alright then, let’s get to cooking!]
[Unnn…… Unnn? Kuro, when did you put on an apron?]
[Ahh, this is just a variant of my usual coat.]When I turned my gaze towards Kuro, she was wearing a black apron and had her hair tied up in a short ponytail. Seeing her like this feels refreshing, or rather, I’ve seen Kuro with a short ponytail a few times, but matching such a hairstyle with the apron makes her look pretty cute.
[You wearing an apron looks fresh and cute.]
[Eh? You think so? Ehehe, thanks!]
When I honestly praised her, Kuro happily smiled. Then, after a few moments, Kuro took out her notes with the suggestions we’d heard so far and spoke.
[……Now then, what should we try out? As expected, we don’t have enough time to try out everything.]
[Hmmm. You’re right…… I guess it would be good to start making rice flour baby castellas? It really depends on what kind of taste it has, but the fact that you can change the base of your baby castellas will likely increase the number of your options.]
[You’re right. If I remember correctly, from what Shalltear said, the texture is supposed to be chewy and feels light and fluffy, right? Well then, we first try making baby castella with rice flour, and then improve things from there!][Alright. Well, let’s do our best.]
The process to make baby castellas isn’t that difficult. As long as I have the ingredients and a baking mold, even I, who isn’t very good at cooking, can normally make them.
Kuro too, even though she usually has her baby castellas made by Ein-san, she also sometimes makes them herself like that time with the Sacred Tree Festival, so I have the impression that she can cook them normally.
In fact, the work went without a hitch, and in no time at all, the rice-flour baby castellas were ready.
[It’s done! They look pretty good.]
[Yeah, you did great with the baking temperature, and the smell is good too.]
[Let’s taste them right away! Here, Kaito-kun, ahhn.]
Kaito holds up a finished rice flour baby castella and offers it to me. It seems that she’s going to give me the first bite.
There’s nothing weird mixed in this time, so I gratefully open my mouth and take a bite.
[……Ah, it’s really chewy. The taste is simple, but this feels new. Here, you have some too, Kuro.]
[Ahhn……. It certainly is interesting. The taste is even better than I thought it would be, and like Shalltear said, it feels light and fluffy, and I feel like I can eat a lot of it.]
[Yeah, I think it would go well with chocolate.]
[That certainly sounds delicious. Alright, let’s improve this rice flour baby castella from here on out!]
It seems like Kuro’s plan this time was to focus on rice flour baby castellas. Just like how I recommended chocolate this time, it looks like we will be making a variety of flavors of rice flour baby castellas.
The aftertaste is quite refreshing and light, so it seems like it goes well with strong flavors. I think it would be delicious not only with chocolate, but also with jam.
As I had such thoughts in mind, I looked at Kuro and saw her plopping a huge tuna-like fish on a cutting board.
[……Wait a moment there, Kuro, what do you think you’re doing?]
[Eh? Like I said, for the improvement of baby castellas…… I will attempt putting in something solid into it……]
[No, no, even if you say that, you don’t just start with fish, right!? What’s more, it doesn’t look like you’re planning to knead the fish in the batter, just putting it in solid form…… That definitely wouldn’t match! It would definitely taste bad!!!]
[Kaito-kun, possibilities can sometimes exceed one’s expectations. I want to explore every corner of the possibilities of baby castellas!]
[Like I said, do you have to push the boundaries of what’s possible right from the start!?]
Starting out with fish with this flow of things, the Baby Castella Demon is just too scary. Moreover, she isn’t even denying that it doesn’t match…… pursuing possibilities with a mysterious expectation of “99.9% not matching, but there might be a 0.1% miracle that might happen”, that kind of thing is done after having conducted safe trials.
[Anyway, stop with the fish!]
[H- Hmmm. Well, if Kaito-kun says so…… Then, let’s go with a rockbird thigh……]
[For the time being, can’t you go with ingredient that are likely to go well with sweets!?]
Just when I thought she had given up on fish, she brought out poultry next…… I- I really can never be too careful. If I don’t keep an eye out on her, she’ll have preposterous baby castellas created before I knew it…… Let’s be careful.
<Afterword>
Serious-senpai : [I thought they were gonna go flirting along the way, but in the end, everything just blew up…… As expected of the Baby Castella Demon.]
