"Fumi's been making high-level sweets recently, hasn't he?"

"Maybe someone should tell him about the market price..."

"Oh shush, you."

-

"Welcome to Kiyo's Bakery with a tiny bit of Love, or whatever that sign says because the sign shop owner keeps giving us new ones with different names, how can I help you?"

Saiba Jouichirou's been through plenty of eccentric shops, but this takes the cake.

The sign out there read 'Kiyo's House'. In search of somewhere to dine in, he came across Sumiredoori Shopping District when the lavish smell of baked goods attracted his attention. Deciding on a whim to make a detour, he turned in.

He really wasn't expecting the degree of desserts he would find, much less coming from a ten-year-old shopkeeper who stepped up from his spot to greet him.

The chocolate shone. There were savarin in the coolers, and macaron lined up by colours at the counter, perfectly baked.

This place looked professional.

Jouichirou spotted the 'out for lunch' sign in the boy's hand, and realized the boy was about to take a break as well. Maybe he had come in at a bad time.

"Welcome, Mister," the boy repeated, craning his neck up because the man was so tall, "are you new here? Is this your first time in this district? Did you come looking for something or should I recommend something?"

A sudden burst of questions. Jouichirou wasn't sure how to respond to an overeager kid like this.

The boy blinked when the man didn't answer after a while.

"Uh, I'm fine," Jouichirou managed to find his voice. He caught a distinct smell of chestnuts and baked tart from the kitchen. His mouth watered simply from the aroma. "This store smells really nice... it's like a house made of sweets."

The little boy laughed at that.

"Is that so?" he asked rhetorically, "that's right, I've just finished icing the mont blancs. Want to try one?"

"Eh?" Jouichirou was taken aback, "I'd love to, but unfortunately I haven't had lunch..."

"Eh? Then, you shouldn't go hungry! This shop won't run away, so you can come back later, I'll keep the mont blanc chilled for you. Did you come to this shopping district in search of a restaurant? Then, if you don't have a preference, let's have lunch together, mister! Ah, just a sec, I left the oven heated."

Jouichirou had honestly never met a child like this one.

He wasn't pushy, but he had a way with words that dragged people into his pace, and before he even realized, Jouichirou had agreed to go out and have lunch with this child he had just met.

Well, that was fine anyways. Not like there was anyone around to recognize him or anything...

(He was interested in that mont blanc, though.)

-

"Welcome...ah, Fumi. And mister, party for one? Have a seat at the bar."

"Ah, sure."

Shopping districts were small, so people often knew each other. Jouichirou still found it surprising how everyone he met seemed to know Fumi.

The family restaurant known as Yukihira was pretty packed. Maybe this was a good store? After all, the kid seemed to quite eagerly recommend this place.

The store owner set a glass of water before them.

"So, what'll ya have?"

Well, it's a family restaurant, so it'll probably have anything... he looked up, to the signs of the menu. They were pretty generic dishes.

He's not expecting anything amazing, so anything would be fine, wouldn't it? He looked through the menu to find anything he felt like eating-- then the words right at the end caught his interest.

"How about that one? The Chef's Special?"

Yeah, he regretted that choice right away.

-

"Fumi, you can't just eat rice gruel for lunch every day!"

Jouichirou downed a hefty amount of water. Uncle Yukihira had served him a plate of (actually decent) fried rice as a service for being Tamako's test subject.

What he didn't expect was for the boy beside him to simply be eating rice gruel and water. The woman that made the awful fried rice was now reprimanding the kid, all while Jouichirou watched and the other customers laughed.

"Does it really matter? I still get full anyways," the boy answered defiantly.

"It's not healthy!"

"Anything is healthier than everything else you make, Nee-chan."

"Are you getting cheekier?"

Tamako leaned over the counter to pull on the boy's cheek. The boy hissed in response, dodging with his bowl of rice gruel in hand, declaring his rights to it.

"You didn't let me eat the Specials anymore, but I'm not letting you take away the cheapest thing in the menu from me!"

"Ya ain't paying for any of this so why does that matter?!"

"It's exactly why it matters!"

"Eat something healthier! Or more delicious!"

"No!"

Jouichirou watched the interaction, and with them, the customers laugh. It was a strange sight for a world-class chef like Jouichirou.

She sucked at cooking, and yet the customers loved her. There was a sense of family in this shopping district-- a bond formed on and beyond the table.

She didn't need delicious cooking to make people happy.

And above all, that was a surprise to Jouichirou.

-

"Hey, this mont blanc actually deserves a spot in high class restaurants. Why the hell are you putting this measly price on it? Is this legal?"

"Eh? So the price is too low?"

"Holy crap, why did none of you guys tell him?"

-

"Here you go, Jouichirou-san. A nori-bento to go."

Jouichirou wasn't too sure what was more surprising. The fact that Fumi was working in Yukihira Diner today or the fact that he did not order anything.

He simply stared at the lunchbox, unsure if he should take it.

"Don't worry, I made it!" Fumi smiled brightly.

So Fumi could cook, and he could also bake... surely, quite a jack-of-all-trades he was. With the right polishing, his passion could really bear some great fruit.

"Are you sure?" Jouichirou hesitated to take the meal, "I told you yesterday that I'd be setting off for another part of the country today. I'm not too sure when I'll be back again."

It was packaged in a proper, home-use tupperware box to keep warm. Yukihira's take-out boxes wouldn't last long enough for a rough trip around, after all.

Fumi laughed, "of course. You can just return it when you come back!"

Jouichirou blinked.

(What made the kid think he was going to come back?)

Fumi had wrapped it up in a napkin. He walked over to the other side of the counter and raised it as high as he could so Jouichirou could take it from him.

Reluctantly, Jouichirou just took it as a gesture of a stranger's kindness.

"Hey, Jou-san," Fumi said to him, "next time you come, can you teach me how to cook better stuff?"

Now this was a surprise. How did Fumi know Jouichirou was a good cook?

"Well," Jouichirou was not a teacher type at all. In fact, cooking itself was a twitchy subject for him-- could he really teach someone the joys of cooking if he did not know of it himself? "Well, I'll think about it."

-

"Hey, Jou-san, do you think Nee-chan is weird?"

Jouichirou walked Fumi home. The kid was a 'spontaneous worker' in the Yukihira's Diner, which apparently means he can come and leave as he pleases or something, and it was right about time for the bakery to get off lunch break.

(Working hours were weird in this Shopping District... but Fumi's a kid so that's okay, right? Wait. Why is a kid managing a store--)

"Of course I do," Jouichirou answered immediately, "her cooking currently ranks at the top of worst dishes I've ever tasted in my life. It's gonna be hard to find something more disgusting to top that..."

Fumi laughed, "if she hears you, she could punch you, y'know!"

Jouichirou held the kid's hand as they strolled down to the other end of the shopping district. They brought up small conversations, laughed, and chatted about nothing.

(Weren't children supposed to be more rowdy? Fumi's so well-behaved.)

"Nee-chan has awful taste buds, so even if I make something I can't let her taste it cause all she says is yeah, it's yummy, even if I give her something burnt," Fumi pouted, "only Uncle Yukihira would tell me if it tastes good, but then he doesn't like sweets so he can't taste the cakes."

Jouichirou found that amusing. "You could hand them out to the neighbours."

"Then they'd come every day!" Fumi whined, "I'm never doing that again."

"Oh, so you tried."

This brought back memories. Jouichirou would always have his friends taste-test his dishes back in the Polar Star Dormitory. He remembered having tasting session with Gin and Azami, where they would relentlessly critique each other until Azami cried.

But Shiomi's curries were always good... meal times were a cinch back then.

"Guess you have to stick to tasting your own dishes for a while, eh?" Jouichirou sighed, "well, the best taste buds to rely on are definitely your own!"

"Uh..." Fumi scratched his cheek, "well, that's... kind of the problem... Jou-san, you probably wouldn't know, but I uh..."

"Huh?"

-

"You're telling me you make all of these cakes, perfectly sweetened-- hey, you gotta tell me the secret to this raspberry sauce-- without your sense of taste?"

Jouichirou wolfed down the dark chocolate cake in a second. Fumi simply smiled, tipping in more tea for the cup.

"That's actually blackcurrant, and to counter the sourness, it's cover in creme brulee and topped with bitter chocolate glaize... the base is made with croissant dough seasoned with cinnamon, pepper and star anise--"

Fumi paused as he caught Jouichirou staring straight at him.

"Uhm, did I say something wrong?"

Jouichirou stared at the cake as if it were some fearsome object.

"Did you... come up with this on your own?" he sounded frightfully in awe.

(No.)

"Y-Yes!" he panicked. "I mean, not exactly," I came up with it in my past life as a patissier and I just kinda remembered the recipe and made it but it was actually perfected with the help of my ex and my teammates and uh, and uh--

"This is impressive," Jouichirou looked up, "really impressive."

Fumi shrank at the praise, trying not to flush too brightly out of embarrassment.

"To think you can do this much even without a sense of taste..." Jouichirou mumbled, almost to himself, "and without professional training, either."

Fumi stiffened. Was Jouichirou suspecting something?

"Hey, Fumi..." Jouichirou suddenly looked at him, face set in a serious expression. "Won't you consider joining a culinary school?"

...Huh?