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Today’s baking was something different for Kuromi- something new. While normally she wanted to reimagine the baking world, to show them the passion she shares between Japanese street foods and baked goods, today she bakes something a little more par for the course, something you wouldn’t find on the menu at her restaurant. A simple cupcake- no special flavors, no special gimmicks about it. Just a simple, vanilla cupcake with pink buttercream frosting and purple and white sprinkles.
Baking was a passion project for Kuromi- she didn’t need her bakery to survive. She knew the same went for My Melody, and truly, baking became a competition for the two, a way for their childhood rivalry to encourage each other to continue to follow something fulfilling and fun in their lives. Because without baking, without My Melody, Kuromi didn’t have much going for her.
She was estranged from her family, who didn’t even bother to write her, though they apologetically sent money every month for her needs to be met. She wasn’t close with any of her childhood friends, save for My Melody, and she didn’t make many new friends as an adult. It just grew more and more difficult as time went on, and she struggled to feel like she truly connected to others. Online forums were her sanctuary, a place where she could express herself and her oddities and not be judged for it. A place where Kuromi could just be Kuromi and still be loved.
It was hard in Mariland, where everyone was expected to always be bright and cheerful- merry, if you would. It’s a place where the depression that plagues Kuromi’s heart neither belongs nor is wanted around the other residents.
But My Melody loves her, even if they were rivals, and that was enough for Kuromi.
As Kuromi applies the perfect swirls of frosting, she tries to add a pinch of salt and a cup of sugar into her emotions to mask the bitter flavor of her feelings. She loves My Melody, but it’s a love that wouldn’t be understood by anyone else, not even by My Melody. Hell, it was barely understood by Kuromi, herself. Love was a beautiful cupcake that Kuromi had to smash with a hammer of unworthiness.
She wasn’t enough for My Melody- she was neither merry nor beautiful, with a heart of mold rather than fluff. My Melody could only love someone who was as soft around the edges as she was, and Kuromi was razor sharp. My Melody could only love someone whose mind was made of rainbow sprinkles, not the pickled onions that Kuromi found deliciously like home. My Melody could only love someone who was a vanilla cupcake, with pink buttercream frosting and purple and white sprinkles.
So Kuromi ensconced her feelings deep within her heart, continued to make her pickled onion cupcakes for the residents of Mariland to scoff at. But sometimes, she allowed herself a traditional cupcake, a treat for My Melody and Kuromi to share in secret.
Some days, she allowed herself to dream.