Hisoka Mikage/MANKAI Playback

Baking a Cake with my Treasured Friends

Backstage Stories

This translation is reproduced with permission. You can read the original by Kat here.

Part 1Part 2

Izumi	Hisoka-san’s birthday is drawing near.
Tsumugi	Anything you want us to do for you?
Hisoka	Hmm…
Homare	You may ask for more than you usually do.
Azuma	If you can’t think of anything…can we know what you usually do on your birthday before you came here?
Hisoka	We used to bake a cake and eat it together.
Izumi	How about we try doing that, too?
Guy	That sounds like a great idea.
Azuma	We usually leave things like this to Omi, but doing it ourselves once in a while sounds fun.
Tasuku	But is there anyone in our troupe who can bake a cake?
Tsumugi	I’ve never baked cakes aside from the cooking lessons I had when I was a student.
Homare	The same holds true for me. I have never baked a cake and all I did was eat one.
Azuma	I think Guy can bake a cake. Don’t servants do that kind of stuff?
Guy	I have never baked one when I was in Zafra. However, there was a time when I made curry with Utsuki and accidentally caused him trouble.
Azuma	Really?
Tasuku	Can we really do this?
Hisoka	I wanna eat a cake with marshmallows…
Izuma	We’re doing this for Hisoka-san! I’ll help you out, too, so let’s do our best!
	***
Guy	It’s a good thing we have a recipe made by Fushimi.
Azuma	I know, right? It even includes photos so shopping for ingredients was easy.
Izumi	As long as we follow his recipe, I’m sure we can bake a delicious cake…probably.
Tasuku	Probably?!
Tsumugi	Let’s start then! So first, we…
Homare	The first step when baking is washing one’s hands!
	***
Hisoka	(looking intently at the marshmallows)
Homare	Those marshmallows will be placed on top of the cake. You are not allowed to eat them.
Hisoka	I know…but I wanna eat them.
Guy	I also prepared marshmallows for you today, Mikage. Would you like to have some?
Hisoka	…! Yes. Thanks, Guy.
Homare	Since today is your birthday, you seem to be asking for even more pampering than usual. To think you would ask for more despite having people who carry and feed you marshmallows everyday…
Hisoka	Stop talking and focus on baking.
Homare	Listen to what I am saying!
Guy	Is this how you melt the butter?
Izumi	Guy-san, why are you immersing butter in hot water?!
Guy	According to Fushimi’s recipe, we must melt the butter by heating it. Sorry, I should’ve added flour first.
Izumi	You shouldn’t do that, either! …A-anyway, please remove the butter from the hot water.
Azuma	(chuckles) Now I understand why Guy said he caused trouble before.
Hisoka	What a surprise…
Tsumugi	Umm…anyway, Tasuku, mix this bowl of egg white until it starts to form bubbles.
Tasuku	Okay. (starts mixing)
Azuma	Don’t we have an electric mixer?
Tsumugi	Oh–
Tasuku	(still mixing)
Tsumugi	But mixing seems to be a good workout for Tasuku.
Azuma	(chuckles) I think so, too.
Tasuku	Haa…that was tiring.
Guy	Takato…
Tasuku	…What?
Guy	Is that really something you should do manually?
Tasuku	Pardon?…What do you mean?
Guy	We have an electric mixer but it seems unused. I thought you particularly wanted to mix it by hand, so I did not tell you.
Homare	Oh, he is right. If you used the electric mixer, then you could have saved your time and energy.
Tasuku	…
Tsumugi	…
Azuma	(chuckles)
Hisoka	Muscle man mixer…
Tasuku	Tsumugi…
Tsumugi	Ahaha…you were already mixing when I realized we have a mixer…But I thought it was okay because you were the one doing it. Look at how you mixed it so well.
Tasuku	Haa…
Izumi	I wonder if we can finish this…
	***
	I’m glad we somehow managed to bake a cake.
Tasuku	That was tough…
Azuma	But it was lots of fun.
Hisoka	It looks delicious…
Tsumugi	Let’s eat it, shall we?
Izumi	I’ll serve the cake after I finish slicing it.
Tsumugi	Thank you.
Hisoka	…
Tsumugi	What’s the matter, Hisoka-san?
Hisoka	Please save one slice…
Tsumugi	…? Okay, I’ll keep one slice in the fridge.

Winter Troupe	Happy birthday!
Izumi	Happy birthday, Hisoka-san!
Hisoka	Thanks…And thanks for baking a cake with me…
Homare	Our cake’s quality is so splendid that I think I can compose a new poem at any moment.
Izumi	I’m glad you like it. Let’s eat!
Hisoka	(eats the cake) It tastes good.
Tsumugi	Yep. It tastes good for something made by amateurs.
Hisoka	I think it tasted better because we baked it together.
Homare	Hearing you say something like that feels strange.
Tsumugi	Both the cake and frosting are so fluffy! Good job, Tasuku.
Azuma	(chuckles) He ended up mixing everything manually.
Tasuku	Haa…what a waste of time.
Guy	I want to be able to mix as well as you.
Tasuku	I suggest we use the electric mixer next time.
Homare	Have you eaten your slice, Hisoka-kun?
Hisoka	Yes. It was delicious. If you won’t eat yours, can I have it?
Homare	Do not poke my cake while you are still asking permission to eat it!
Izumi	Ahaha. Hisoka-san looks so happy. I’m glad we decided to bake a cake.
	***
Hisoka	Zzz…
Izumi	Looks like he’s fast asleep.
Azuma	It seems bad to wake him up, so I think it’d be better to carry him to his room.
Tsumugi	We’re leaving it to you, Tasuku.
Tasuku	Geez…
Guy	Let me help you.
	***
Izumi	Maybe I should go to sleep.
Hisoka	…
Izumi	Oh, Hisoka-san. I didn’t know you’re awake.
Hisoka	Is the cake inside the fridge?
Izumi	Yup.
Hisoka	…Thank you for today. I’m glad I was able to celebrate it with the Winter Troupe again.
CHOICE 1: Did you have fun while baking? [+] Izumi Did you have fun while baking? Hisoka Yes. It was fun, the cake tasted good, and I got to bake it together with you and the Winter Troupe.
CHOICE 2: Did you receive gifts? [+] Izumi Did you receive gifts? Hisoka Yes. When I woke up, I saw gifts beside my pillow. Izumi Ahaha, it’s as if you got gifts from Santa! Have you opened them? Hisoka Not yet but I think it includes marshmallows. I can’t wait to open them later.
Izumi	I’m glad you enjoyed your birthday!
Hisoka	Back then, my birthday was nothing special and I didn’t celebrate it with anyone. But when I met August, he would celebrate my birthday and Chikage’s birthday every year.
Izumi	So when you said you used to bake a cake and eat it with someone, you were talking about Chikage-san and August?
Hisoka	Yes.
	***
	(flashback)
	“I like your birthday, December, because unlike April’s, I can make a normal birthday cake.”
	“It’s starting to burn…”
	I used to celebrate my birthday by baking a cake with April and August. August wasn’t that good at baking, but he had fun every time we baked a cake.
	“This year, I decided to make your cake special,” said August as he placed the finishing touch – a star-shaped marshmallow. Its shape was distorted, but for me, it was the most precious gift I’ve ever had.
	I was so excited to eat it. But at that very moment, August’s earpiece suddenly rang.
	“Sorry, but we have a mission.”
	There was an agent who made a mistake while on a mission and we were asked to provide assistance.
	“But I wanna eat the cake…”
	“We have no choice but to follow their orders. Just put up with it.”
	“Let’s just celebrate your birthday again after this, okay?” said August as he smiled like he always does.
	***
	I became impatient. I wanted to finish the mission as fast as possible so that we can all sit together and eat my birthday cake…After all, I’ve always waited for this day.
	“Ah…!”
	“What is that idiot doing?!”
	April came to save me when things went wrong due to my recklessness. I accidentally dropped the necklace I was wearing, but he managed to pick it up.
	“You know what’s gonna happen if you lose this, right?” said April on our way back. I couldn’t bring myself to reply.
	Upon arriving at our hideout, August was already there.
	“December broke his necklace.”
	“Huh?”
	“Looks like he acted rashly because he was in a hurry to come back.”
	“Why did you act recklessly, December?! Making a small mistake can cost your life!”
	“…”
	“I doubt I can withstand losing a precious family member on his birthday…So please…be more careful from now on,” said August, looking both angry and sad.
	Afterwards, we had to report about the mission and were given individual tasks to do. The three of us weren’t able to eat the cake and my birthday came to an end.
	That was the last birthday I celebrated with August and April.
	(end of flashback)
	***
	That was the only kind of birthday celebration I knew, so I asked the troupe to do the same thing. And I’m glad I did.
Izumi	That’s good to hear. Anyway, now that you’re part of the Winter troupe, they’ll teach you lots of other ways to celebrate your birthday!
Hisoka	Yup. They taught me about surprise parties last year, and I can’t wait for my next birthday to come.
Izumi	Next year, let’s celebrate your birthday again with the Winter troupe! By the way, I thought you were looking for the cake.
Hisoka	Oh, I almost forgot. I’ll go get it now.
	***
	…
Chikage	Did the Winter troupe throw a party for you?
Hisoka	Yes…Here you go…
Chikage	Oh, a cake with marshmallows on top.
Hisoka	I made it with the Winter troupe. I want you to try it. Just one bite will do.
Chikage	Haa…you leave me no choice then…
Hisoka	How was it?
Chikage	It tastes sweet…
Hisoka	It should taste good because we followed Omi’s instructions.
Chikage	Well, ignoring the sweet taste, I guess it tastes good.
Hisoka	It’s not a cake if it’s not sweet.
Chikage	…Happy birthday.
Hisoka	Thanks. Chikage…let’s talk about August.
Chikage	Sure.
	END

Kat