Repent, the Kingdom of Heaven is Near (5)

"Trick or treat! Mary Tepes, the vampire queen who shall one day rule this world!"

After that brimming introduction, Ninomae Hitomi—Mary—waved both hands. The camera, filming the kitchen from above like a bird looking down, caught her arms in frame.

"My outfit? Yes, of course. I am perfectly aware that a cosplay affair such as this simply cannot be omitted from you humans' Halloween!"

"For anyone who missed the tweet—Mary-chan's in a nun's habit right now."

"Ah, wait. Charl-chan, you haven't even introduced yourself yet!"

"Oops. Right."

With a small, stifled giggle, Tsunashi Tenka—Charlotte—slipped a hand into frame.

"Bonsoir, Charltomos. Charlotte the werewolf, here—."

An all-white costume that, at a glance, could almost have passed for mourning dress. Anyone who had seen the tweet Charlotte mentioned would have recognized the upper half of a shrine maiden's robes, and since plenty of viewers surely had not, she explained her own outfit as well.

"In any case, as I announced on Twitter, today we shall be baking sweets. I cannot say I am pleased that it must be alongside this wolf."

"We borrowed the agency studio. Mary-chan's the one who asked for the collab."

"Mrrgh?! Would you kindly stop spreading strange rumors out of nowhere?!"

"But it's ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠true, isn't it?"

"Hmph. Kindly restrain your delusions!"

Mary said it that curtly, then cleared her throat as if to sweep the mood clean.

"Well then, let us begin making the castella."

She tilted the camera just enough to show the ingredients laid out beside them.

"Hehe. But of course. One such as I has not a single flaw."

"Dinner was good, too."

"Ah, thank you for the compli— excuse me, what? 'You two are basically married already'... Huh? What sort of nonsense are you spouting?!"

What exactly were they trying to spin out of a single dinner she had treated her to? Mary took the commenter to task, but viewers starved for teetee were never going to listen.

"If you are going to say that, at least tell them to ask it of me for your own sake! A proposal by proxy—what kind of behavior is that?! ...No, wait. 'Natacchi'?"

"Excuse me?! Sister, what exactly are you doing over there?!"

"Ah, thanks for cheering us on. Sister-san."

"No—it is precisely because you react like that that the viewers start saying strange things!"

Mary's sigh caught on the microphone. It was a stream with no avatars on screen, and still it felt as though her expression were plain to see.

"Haaah... We will make them, we are making them starting now! So all of you, no more nonsense!"

In the end Mary demanded an oath that no one was going to keep, already resigned to as much.

"All right. Shall we start by whipping the meringue."

"...Isn't that the hard part?"

"It's the foundation of castella."

"Ehh..."

At those words from Charlotte, a flustered little sound slipped out of Mary.

"Couldn't we do something ordinary instead? The sort of thing where you squish the dough about and you're done."

"I'll handle this part, so don't worry so much."

Charlotte took an egg, cracked it, and let it fall into a bowl. Mary's eyes went round at the grace of the motion.

"You... don't tell me you're actually good at cooking?"

"I picked up a little pastry while I was living in France. Not at a level I'd call good."

The character of Charlotte Lupus, the werewolf: her lore cast her as a descendant of the Beast of Gévaudan. Which was to say that, on paper, she was French—pardon, a French wolf. The woman behind Charlotte had, it seemed, spent a few years in France herself during her student days.

"No. You cannot claim you aren't good at cooking while doing that. It is not convincing in the slightest, you know?"

Charlotte lifted an egg in each hand, cracked them both at once, and separated the yolks, tilting her head as if this much were merely the basics. Mary found the sight strangely irritating.

"Hah. Anyway, let us begin."

Leaving Charlotte, whisk already raised, Mary picked up the recipe the staff had prepared.

"Fortunately, there's nothing complicated."

"Pastry sounds grand, but with something like castella, measure it properly and it comes out decent enough to eat."

"Mind you, that only goes for the simple sweets."

Charlotte added it while working the whisk with an easy hand.

"And what counts as not simple?"

"One drop. One degree. One gram. Miss it, and the whole thing is ruined."

"Eck, what even is that."

"But if you think of her as a girl who sulks over little things like that, isn't she cute?"

"Hmm... she's not?"

"Of course she isn't, you eccentric wolf."

Set that strange sensibility aside, though, and Charlotte was not wrong. The castella came together with very little trouble—only natural, unless the staff who had prepared the recipe had been out to sabotage Mary. Once the batters sat in their heart-shaped molds and the molds had gone into the oven, Mary Tepes broke, without meaning to, into a soft hehe of a smile.

"No, what is this person even saying."

"Ah, yeah. I think I might get the feeling."

Shutang really was cute, and Mary flushed at the utterly casual way it was said. Her face never reached the camera, but the hands that would not stop fidgeting spoke plainly enough for what she felt.

"Mary-chan."

"What is it?"

Charlotte, who had been watching, called to her of a sudden.

"You've got batter on your cheek."

"Ah, than— no, why are you eating it?!"

"Hm?"

Be a shame to waste it. Charlotte looked at her as if this were the most obvious thing in the world.

That the chat exploded hardly needed saying.

"Uheek? Sister, what— huh?"

A red Super Chat at full throttle, and not a word attached. The chat turned itself inside out all over again at Sister's eccentricity.

"What are you even doing, seriously......"

As if the strength had gone out of her, Mary could only sigh. Ignoring it and returning her attention to the castella was hardly an option; the oven was already doing nothing but waiting to give up the finished cakes.

"Is Sister-san always like that?"

"No... Normally she's a really good person. So why is it that the moment a broadcast comes on, she becomes a completely different—"

Charlotte hummed, the sound of someone turning a thought over.

"It's just that, from the first impression, that side of her never came to mind."

"Ah, right. You met Sister-san today, didn't you, Charl-chan?"

"Only for a moment."

Naturally, the chat's attention drifted the same way.

"How'd we meet, you ask? I went over to Mary-chan's today. And she happened to show up looking for a phone she'd left behind. That's how we ran into each other."

So it had been, quite literally, only a moment. Charlotte added as much. In truth there had been more complicated matters, but they were not the sort of thing one could carelessly say on a broadcast, and so she left them out.

"Why was Sister-san's phone at my house, you ask. We had lunch together today, and she stopped by for a little while. She stepped away to use the restroom."

"As if that could possibly be."

A curt answer. Just what sort of wild leap was that supposed to be?

"Well, it's because Mary-chan talks about Sister so often. Enough that a girl could almost get jealous."

Charlotte complained, playful, and tapped at Mary's arm.

"Still, making three of something this size—did we get too carried away by the mood? Setting one aside for us to eat..."

"Since it's bread, I'd worry about the hygiene of sending any to the viewers."

"Thinking of the viewers first is so very Shutang of you."

"Ngh— no. It is not."

At that giggling, Mary waved her hands in protest.

"I am simply saying that one customarily tosses the leftovers to the dog one keeps."

"Ahaha. Right. Sure you are."

"That is the voice of someone who does not believe a word of it, you insolent wolf."

Charlotte burst out laughing again. Mary glared at her.

"Sorry, sorry. I won't tease. Anyway, what should we do with the other two?"

"Two?"

"Hm? That's right. We eat one of the three."

The two of them looked at each other and tilted their heads.

"Huh...? We're not giving any to the staff?"

Faced with Mary—why ask about what had been the premise from the start?—Charlotte let out another soft little laugh.

"Ah, you said you wouldn't tease me!"

"Hehe... sorry. I really am sorry."

From off-camera came the sound of something being patted and pummeled. The wolf was plainly on the receiving end of a very dainty violence.

"Ahem. What if we split the last one as thanks for lending us the outfits? Half to Sister, half to Tama-senpai."

Even cut ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠in half, it would still be a fair size. Charl had cleared her throat as if to reset the mood, and said so.

"Mmm, but it's heart-shaped. Cutting it to give as a gift is a little..."

"You think so?"

"So the castella goes to Tama-senpai."

"Uh..." Charlotte's voice came out hesitant.

"And Sister?"

"I made them originally thinking I'd share a little, but all she did in chat today was say strange things, so this is her punishment."

"Ehh... Sister-san, you're really fine with that?"

"Even I'm a little shaken by this......"

Charlotte—Tsunashi Tenka—found herself seriously wondering whether this person was truly the holy knight who had once driven a blow of concentrated force straight into her.

Today, as surely as ever, Han Seoyeon contacted Ninomae once the broadcast had ended. Unlike the usual, though, she took the off-collab into account and held the call until there had been time to clean up.

There was such a thing as a person being too kind, Seoyeon said, and laughed.

A sigh came through the phone.

And then, as if it were nothing at all, Seoyeon added:

How unfair, putting it like that. Han Seoyeon was puzzled by Ninomae's incomprehensible little grumble, but she did not press.

They had apparently whipped it by hand today for the sake of the stream's entertainment, but even so.

Ninomae's small laugh came through the line.

Then she let the subject turn, and said:

Han Seoyeon drew her fingertips along the hilt of the sword seated in its scabbard.