Treats and Tricks! Ch4

# Chapter 4 - Treats

### Kanon

    First smush it together with some taffy… Then dip it in the chocolate… Lastly, top it with the secret ingredient… *Perfect!*

    "Uh, Kanon, what are you making?"

    "I call them 'tricky treats'. The trick is that they're disgusting…"

    "Like trick or treat all at once! That's the Halloween spirit!" Kazue smiled at my ingenuity.

    "Do you want to try one…?" Her smile turned to a look of regret as she cautiously plucked one of the pieces that had already dried. They look completely innocent, just little chocolate bonbons with a dab of red puree on top, like you'd see with raspberry jam. Only these are a flavor bomb in disguise. She threw the entire thing into her mouth and started chewing, her face contorting sourly as the ingredients hit her tongue.

    "Why does it burn?" She asked, hiding her mouth behind her hand politely.

    "The red stuff is chili sauce I got from Dam-Bi…"

    "Be glad that we didn't let her give Kanon any kimchi." Cautioned Yume. My original recipe was going to be *much* more interesting…

    "I like how crunchy it is… And chewy… And… fishy?"

    "It's milk taffy with dried fish and almonds mashed into it…"

    Kazue shrugged and grabbed a second, wiping off half the red paste with a napkin. "I think you used too much chili, but other than that…"

    **"Gross…"** Yume, Chiyo, and Anette all said as Kazue bit into a second of my treats.

    "Who else wants to try one…?"

    "Non…" "N-No thank you…" "No way…"

    Curious, I tried one myself. I like dried fish and almonds, and milk candy, and chocolate, so it stands to reason that I would like this. Chewing my monstrous creation, it became evident that this is not at all how cooking works, and I had to fight to swallow the spicy, savory, chocolaty glob. Maybe it's the chili sauce…

    *Perfect!*

    "What are you guys making…?"

    "I made little roaches! Aren't they cute?" Kazue thrust her platter toward the center of the table. On it were an army of little chocolate cockroaches with slivers of almonds for wings and carefully piped antennae and eyes.

    "They are kind of cute…"

    "Who wants to try one? They're full of protein!"

    "So are Kanon's…" Yume stuck out her tongue. "They're too lifelike."

    "Oui. How did you make their wiggly little legs?" Anette looked closely at one of the chocolates nearest to her curiously.

    "Ope. That's Kuka. Come here, buddy…" Kazue carefully scooped up the tiny insect and ushered it away from our food. Anette let out a small eep and scooted back in her chair away from Kazue's pet, her feet instinctively pulled up onto her chair with her.

    "Wh-What about that one?!" Chiyo pointed at another impressively life-like insect in the midst of Kazue's army of chocolate-coated peanuts.

    "That one's rubber. So is that one, and that one, aaand…" Kazue gave me a look that was distinctly big-sisterly as she added the rubber cockroaches to my pile. Busted…

    "I got creative with mine too. Allow me to present… CHINESE FIVE-SPICE KITTY-CAT CHOCOLATE CAKE LOLLIPOPS!!!" Yume held up a bunch of little chocolate cat faces on sticks. Cuuute…

    "With sprinkle whiskers!" Added Chiyo.

    "Ooh!" Anette applauded at Yume's adorable invention.

    "I bought a cute rice mold I've never had a reason to use ages ago, so I used it to make cute little kitty heads out of mushed up snack cakes, then stuck a stick in them and dipped them in spiced chocolate. And even better…" Yume bit one of her treats, a slight crunch snapping through the lollipop's stick. "The sticks are Pocky, so the entire thing is edible!"

    "Those are adorable! Great thinking! How do they taste?"

    "They're mostly chocolate and cake, so… good?"

    "Well mine is the prettiest. It's candy in the French style." Anette's creation actually is very pretty. She's taken all sorts of candy and arranged it into a sort of evergreen tree shape, stuck together with globs of melted chocolate and frosting, then decorated it with icing and sprinkles.

    "How do you eat it…?"

    "Eh? Well, you just… Non, it isn't the kind of candy meant for eating. The French sometimes prefer to just look at their candy. It saves on calories that way."

    Kazue accepted this as easier than trying to debate Anette's 'fact' and moved on. "Chiyo, what did you make?! Cute little hamster treats?"

    Chiyo was right next to me - so that our costumes made sense - and so I had watched most of what she had done. She started with a big bowl of melted chocolate, then started throwing in different things that she likes to snack on, mostly because she had wanted to snack on them at the time. So into the chocolate had gone some of Kazue's Japanese peanuts, a handful of crushed potato chips, some tiny marshmallows, and a generous pour out of a bag of popcorn. She mixed it all up and spooned it onto a cookie sheet to dry, creating large chocolate-covered lumps. Finally she panicked over the lumpy brown goop and decided it needed color, adding on a whole bunch of orange sprinkles so they looked almost like fuzzy little orange hamsters.

    ”They're Momo Treats! Only don't give any to actual hamsters, because chocolate is really really bad for them. But they can have all the other stuff!"

    **"Trick or Treat!!!"** Just in time the judges for our competition arrived: Dam-Bi, Akira, and Rinko, dressed as… Well, Dam-Bi was in a really impressive purple and white magical girl costume, complete with a fancy little golden bow and arrow. She looked pretty much right out of some anime or manga. Rinko and Akira looked like they had raided a bunch of closets to try and cobble together their own magical costumes, and the only unifying factor was that both of them had a frilly sort of tutu and plastic tiara and were waving around their own magic weapons and pillowcases full of…

    "Did you get anything good…?"

    "Yeah! We got some candy, and some instant ramen, and, uh, a few pens…" Rinko reached into her pillowcase to check her haul, listing the items she had gotten from the girls in the dorm.

    "I got a ¥100 coin!" Bragged Akira.

    "I knew we should've gone trick or treating…" Fretted Chiyo.

    "This was way more fun though. We got to make our own candy!"

    "Oui. Mademoiselle Yume is correct. And now we will determine who deserves to be tricked and whose treats are the best. After moi's, obviously."

    "Try mine first!" Shouted Kazue. Since the party was her idea, that seemed fair. "They're chocolate cockroaches based on Japanese peanuts with almond wings!"

    "Ooh… Those look great, Kazue! Really… roachy!" Dam-Bi carefully picked one up, inspecting it to make sure that it was actually candy and not one of Kazue's pets.

    "Hehe. Thank you! That's what I was going for!"

    Dam-Bi cautiously bit into hers, then tossed it in her mouth once she verified it was indeed a crispy-coated peanut inside. Rinko and Akira both tossed theirs right into their mouths, only for Akira to complain.

    "Why's it so chewy…"

    I lost it, laughing loudly through my nose and holding out a handful of the toy roaches. "That's one of the rubber bugs…"

    Akira spit it out into her hand, making a large 'blech'. "Good one!" She held her hand up for a high five but I declined on account of the moist rubber bug she was planning on sticking me with.

    "Was that one of my dresses?" Anette asked, poking at Akira's exposed midriff.

    "Uh, yeahhh… It needed to be more magical so I did some alterations, but now it looks super hot, so you're welcome. My magical power is my super flat stomach."

    This was met by a 'hmph' and disapproving look from Anette. Akira ignored it and snatched up a couple of the real roach treats, tossing them into her mouth. "For that, nobody can try my super good French bonbon tree."

    "Those are good!" Exclaimed Rinko.

    "Not even a little bit roachy tasting." Agreed Dam-Bi.

    "What's next? We're starving!"

    "Next are my five-spice kitty-cat choco-pops, with edible sticks."

    Dam-Bi tried to take a demure bite but the chocolate coating made it difficult, cracking and dropping little crumbs all over. Rinko chomped it in half mercilessly and Akira just stuck the whole lollipop in her mouth and chomped it to bits.

    "Those are great too!"

    "Ayeah I could eat like fifteen of those."

    "It's kind of messy but really good!"

    "Try mine next…" I pushed the tray of abominable confections toward the judges.

    "Is that my chili sauce?"

    "They're actually not bad!" Kazue vouched for my creation, which was perfect.

    Each of the judges took one and sniffed at it.

    "That's definitely my chili sauce…"

    Akira shrugged and popped in into her mouth, crunching loudly. "Ah, that's…" She cringed and stuck out her tongue. "Aha another good one!"

    Rinko bit it in half, almost instantly spitting it out into her hand before running across the room to the trash can and throwing the entire thing away.

    "Do… Do I have to…?"

    "We promised we'd judge 'em all. Besides, you gave her the chili stuff, so you deserve it just for that." To sell her seriousness Akira held up her little spear in Dam-Bi's direction.

    "Okay…" She took a bite of my masterpiece and chewed it lightly. Disappointingly, she didn't gag or spit it out, eating it like it was normal candy. "Could use more chili sauce but it's weirdly good!"

    "Bring on the next treat!" Akira swung her toy spear around, sweeping it over the table. Rinko got excited and did the same with her sword, causing Anette to cry out in fright when she barely missed the top of her candy Halloween sculpture.

    "I made Momo Treats!' Chiyo chirped.

    "They look like little Momofuwa!" Dam-Bi shouted excitedly. "I mean, kind of! If she were more orange!"

    "Yeah and they're nice and big."

    "What's in them?" Asked Rinko.

    "Uh… W-Well…" Stammered Chiyo.

    "They kind of got some of everything…" At least everything Chiyo was eating…

    "Well, they can't be weirder than chili and fish…" Akira bit off half of a Momo Treat and chewed it loudly, her eyes growing wide. "Guys, these are totally gross. You should give me yours. Actually, I should probably take the entire tray, just to be safe." She shoved the other half into her mouth and grabbed two more from the tray before anyone could question her.

    "These are great!" Rinko shouted with a full mouth. "I love popcorn, and potato chips, and…"

    "Marshmallows!" Dam-Bi guessed correctly. "Bun buddy, these are really good!"

    Chiyo blushed, not used to getting so much praise all at once. I grabbed one to try for myself before Akira ate them all, as did the rest of the junior idols.

    "These are delicious…" The salty and sweet go together way better in these than in mine… Though, I guess that's by design…

    "They're even better than my kitty-pops!"

    "And much easier to eat than my bonbon tree."

    "Okay, we need to talk for a minute to decide on the winner!" Which felt like a formality, because Rinko grabbed another Momo Treat before they walked to the other side of the room to confer.

    "Well I think the Momo Treats are the best." Stated Kazue. "Sorry, Kanon. Yours are good but they're too spicy."

    "Oui. The kitty-pops are très delicious too, but they're so sweet I can only eat a few, and they aren't as crunchy."

    "Th-They're really good?" Chirped Chiyo in disbelief.

    "Yeah! They're really good!" Reassured Yume through a mouthful of hamster food. "I could eat however many Akira thinks she can eat plus one."

    It took very little time at all for the judges to rejoin us and announce their decision.

    "After much deliberation, we've decided the best Halloween treat…" Rinko paused for dramatic effect. "...is the Momo Treats!"

    Akira took off her plastic tiara and placed it on Chiyo's head, making her look like the queen of the hamsters. Chiyo made a squeal of surprise before tearing up just a little.

    "Th-They're really the best Halloween treats?!"

    "Yeah! You should take the recipe to the bakery! I bet they'd sell a ton of 'em!" Rinko pointed her toy sword skyward as if to lead us onward.

    "Yeah, and that's just to Akira!" Yume poked fun at her roommate who paused her gluttony and shrugged, another of the treats sticking half out of her mouth.

    "This makes you this year's Halloween Queen! That means you get to decide what we do next!"

    "I-It does?!" Chiyo wrung her hands and thought very hard about her first decree as royalty. "Is it too late to go to the bakery and show them our treats? We can get extra dessert while we're there too…"

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