Secret Ingredient

Chitose was walking in the middle of the night inside the domain of order, wearing her Stardress, her wedding dress. She walked slowly, wielding a weapon in her right hand: a long, needle-like rapier.

The golden threads restraining a demon and it was talking loudly.

She stabbed it and petrifying it.

"You've tipped the scales, I'm sorry."

---

A quiet night in a small house below a steep road, and there were two familiar faces. One was a child, and one was an old man. The child was eating a bowl of ice cream.

"Gramps, your ice cream recipes were so good."

The old man was smiling.

"That's actually your grandma's recipe. I learned it from her, and it's our favourite."

"Really!? But how did she learn this kind of delicious ice cream?"

"Back in the day, there was an ice cream we loved, but due to low sales, the company shut down the factory. She was trying to replicate that ice cream's profile so that we could taste it again, but instead she made a unique flavour of that ice cream."

The old man became sentimental.

"I hope you'll learn that exact ice cream someday."

The kid was amazed as he covered his mouth around an ice cream.

"If I get older and I've perfected the recipe, can I turn it into a business? With that, we can preserve the ice cream recipe for generations or even for centuries."

The old man smiles upon hearing the kid's plan for the future.

"Kids nowadays surprise an old man like me. Sure! It's all yours now; it's your grandma's inheritance. And past that, legacy generation by generation."

"And I'll be your mentor. How about we practice how to make it tomorrow?"

The child nodded enthusiastically.

"Promise?"

"Promise after dinner"

The child took another spoonful of ice cream.

"I'll make it even, make it perfect like Grandma's."

The old man laughed.

"That's quite the challenge."

"I'll do it!"

"You'll need patience."

"I have plenty!"

The old man chuckled.

"That's what your grandmother used to say."

For a moment, the house became quiet.

The old man looked toward the framed photograph sitting on the shelf.

His wife was smiling in the picture, so he smiled as well.

"I think she'd be happy."

The child followed his gaze.

"Grandma?"

"Yes."

"Do you miss her?"

The old man smiled faintly.

"Every day."

"Then I'll make sure to perfect the ice cream."

The old man looked at him.

"So, you'll remember her?"

"Yeah."

The old man's eyes softened.

"Thank you."

The child smiled.

"And I'll keep the recipe forever."

---

Tomorrow night has come. The child stood on a small stool beside the counter. The old man placed the ingredients on the table.

"First, we need to wash our hands."

"Okay!"

The child went down to the stool, carried it to the sink, and washed his hands.

"Let's take that stool so your hands remain clean.

The old man carried the stool back to the counter, and the child stepped carefully onto it. The old man washed his hands last and went back to the counter.

"First, we need a saucepan and heat half of the heavy cream, sugar, and salt."

The child watched the old man as he showed him how to do it.

"Divide the vanilla bean in half"

As the child kept watching, the old man took a knife and sliced the bean, then carefully scraped the seeds with it.

He gives the seeds and pod to the child.

"Then, put the seeds and pod in the pan.

The old man goes to the saucepan and stirs the mixture over a medium heat.

"We need to stir the mixture until the sugar dissolves, and—"

The old man points his lips and smiles sweetly.

"Don't forget to smile while making it; that's your grandma's secret ingredient."

The child chuckles as he sees his grandpa smile.

"That's the same reaction I'd make when your grandma smiles, too."

"After that, we are going to add vanilla extract and the remaining heavy cream, one cup of milk, and chill the mixture overnight.

The kid was determined and added his suggestion.

"Gramps, I think we should try mixing berries on the ice cream like strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries.

"That's going to be sour, but sure! Why not? Let's buy fresh berries tomorrow and begin experimenting with the taste."

CRASH!

A loud sound came from outside. Both of them froze.

"What is that?"

The child stepped down from the stool.

"Stay here."

The old man gave the whisk to the child.

"Stir the mixture, don't forget the smile. Okay!?"

The child nodded and stepped onto the stool again. At the same time, the old man walked toward the window.

The old man was horrified by what he saw from the window. A motorcycle and its rider were involved in an accident on the road—a vehicle loss break.

Out of curiosity, he rushed to his Grampa at the window.

"What happened? I want to see… I want to see."

A car speeding down

"Hajime! DOWN!"

The old man threw himself over the child.

CRASH!

A deafening impact shook the house.

The kitchen windows shattered.

The saucepan fell to the floor.

The car demolished the small house.

They survived.

"Gramps, what happened…"

The old man's head was bleeding.

"Gramps, you are bleeding!"

"I'm okay, I'm okay, we need to get out of here, we're still making—"

Before he could finish his sentence, the gas tank exploded, taking their lives. And the fire swallowed the whole house, and the street filled with smoke.

---

After the fire was out, a Rapacity demon came to the burned house. But a Cupidity demon was on scene.

"These are all mine!"

It refers to the Left-Behind: the compressed human memories of the young boy and the old man. It wasn't just energy; it was a person's humanity.

"I'm hungry." So, the Rapacity demon starts eating, and even the said Cupidity demon claims everything.

It consumes the young boy, left-behind, including his memories.

We need to stir the mixture until the sugar dissolves, and—

The old man points his lips and smiles sweetly.

Don't forget to smile while making it; that's your grandma's secret ingredient.

“Hu-human… not forget to smile…”

The Rapacity demon said

"Those are mine!"

The Cupidity demon consumes the old man, Left-Behind, along with his memories.

Kids nowadays surprise an old man like me. Sure! It's all yours now; it's your grandma's inheritance. And past that, legacy generation by generation.

The demon took the framed photograph of the grandma from the floor and smiled.

"Ice cream legacy…"

---

Days later, a man was napping in his open stall; he had completely given up, even for a free taste. People hated it, and no one wanted his product. He owned an ice cream stall; his flavours tasted dull and unnatural.

The Cupidity and Rapacity demon enters his dream and plays with the memories of the child and the old man before the accident.

"Don't forget to smile while making it; that's your grandma's secret ingredient!"

The whole moment and the recipe play on his dreams. He recreated it, marketed it with free samples, and turned it into a popular ice cream stall.

---

It was already nighttime. Momoka left Chitose because her husband said they were having dinner outside, and Chitose had just finished designing a gothic dress and added Momoka's suggestion, a headband.

The dog jumped on the sofa and went to her lap.

"I'm very sorry for leaving you. Do you know it was scary outside? I encountered two demons; they are very scary. The Eye of Order recognizes them as Class: Cupidity and Rapacity."

"What is Cupidity?... And Rapacity? In words"

She quickly reached for her phone and searched.

It means Greed and Gluttony Demon

"Kazu-kun, want to go for a night walk?"

The dog wagged its tail. They quickly went outside, but this time Chitose did not forget her Grimoire.

---

Arriving at the park, the Grimoire started slowing time and flipping pages on its own, and the world became monochrome again. And the Eye of Order activated; she could identify the two demons earlier.

"I told you she's a Harbinger!"

The Rapacity demon said it

"But I already met the Harbinger; she was a small girl chef!"

Chitose was figuring out how to change into her stardress while the demons were observing her next move.

How can I transform into my stardress!? Uhhh... I forgot how to change into my stardress?

The Cupidity demon whispers to the Rapacity demon.

"If I were you, I'd better run."

And the demon shape-shifts into an old man and runs away.

"A-A-A, wait for me!"

And the Rapacity demon shape-shifts into a child and follows the old man. At the same time, Chitose watched them running away.

"Wait! They are running away!"

As the pages flipped into her stardress illustration. She didn't know how to activate her stardress. But as she touched the page.

"Ahhh! This didn't happened before!"

A black sludge like ink came out from the page and ingulf her. Changing it into a stardress, her wedding dress. And the grimoire pages flipped again and recommended two potions.

"Swift potion? And Fly potion?"

As she watched the demons running away, she started to become overwhelmed, so she took both potions and drank them, and took the rapier as the Grimoire recommended it.

The Eye of Order locks on the Rapacity demon. As Chitose began running normally, leaving Kazuha behind, the potions took effect, and she levitated as she ran; she grew faster and faster, charging with her rapier.

"Ahhhhhhh!"

The whole rapier began to glow.

The Rapacity demon looked back, watching Chitose charge like a falling meteor.

She stabbed the demon, petrifying it. The Cupidity demon continued running without looking back.

She took a Stitch Gun from the Grimoire and shot its legs; the Cupidity demon fell to its knees.

"Stitch!"

The needles stitched over its body on their own, and the golden threads tightened, restraining the Cupidity Demon.

"No, Harbinger! Don't! We didn't do anything wrong! We didn't even attack you earlier!"

Chitose was walking in the middle of the night inside the domain of order, wearing her Stardress, her wedding dress. She walked slowly, wielding a weapon in her right hand: a long, needle-like rapier.

The golden threads restraining a demon and it was talking loudly.

"Harbinger! Please listen to me! Please listen to me! These humans want this ice cream recipe to live forever. We just took the disposable memories. We eat the Left-Behind. The accident is natural!"

She stabbed it and petrifying it.

"You've tipped the scales, I'm sorry."

Both demons exploded into fragments, sending them back to hell, and the voices of the child and the old man making the ice cream in the kitchen echoed through the domain.

"Don't forget to smile while making it; that's your grandma's secret ingredient!"

Kazuha runs to Chitose.

"Kazu-kun, is this the duty of the Light-Bringer? Keeping the balance even, some demons didn't do anything wrong? Or eating the left-behind was the wrong thing?"

The dog kept standing and looking at Chitose.

Chitose looked at Kazuha.

"You don't know either, huh?"

Kazuha slowly shook his head.

She sighed.

"Yeah."

The stardress and the rapier begin to deform and dissolve into liquid, like a splash of water across a dried watercolor canvas. As the monochrome world washes away, she turns again and looks at the empty park.

"I guess that's something I'll have to figure out myself."

She smiled.

---

Chitose starts taunting Kazuha.

"We're eating the ice cream in the freezer"

"Oh! Oh! Oh! I can't let a dog eat ice cream, because it's bad for them"

"I guess I'll be eating the whole thing then."

She sticks her tongue out, and Kazuha starts to growl.