Taiyaki, a fish-shaped cake that has a filling of red-bean paste. During his time in Aincrad, Shiro naturally had the time to cook countless dishes, and one of them is this traditional japanese snack.

With the help of his <<Cooking>> skill, all he has to do is to create the filling and batter before molding it. After that, all he has to do is to wait for it to be baked under the special flame that he personally controlled.

Even when he cooked it 4 months ago, its state is akin to being fresh out of the oven—one of the functions that the [Dimensional Storage] has, which is to freeze time inside of it.

As to why it's only an SR-rated item? It's due to its major restriction that prevented any living beings from entering it. Furthermore, it can only be used on items without any interference, and its range is limited to 5 meters around him.

There's also an SSR-rated [Dimensional Storage], but Shiro and the rest didn't mind it since the SR one is enough for them. In fact, the members that had enough luck to reach 50,000 Points in the previous mission's daily log-ins bought it as their first priority.

Crunch-!

In a single bite, Kyoko ate a part of the taiyaki. Though, she became silent a moment later...

"That's something that I cooked up. How is it?" He asked.

"..."

"...Hello?"

"That's it." Kyoko mumbled as she pointed her long spear at him. "You're now my taiyaki supplier."

"Excuse me?"

While speechless, Shiro checked his stock of taiyaki, only to see more than 999+ of it sitting in a corner of his storage. This isn't surprising, however, as he grinded his <<Cooking>> skill by cooking many dishes. The majority of these dishes are confectionaries, taiyaki included.

Other than that, there's still the cupcakes, macaroons, and the cakes that he whipped up when he's bored. Shiro also has a few proper meals like roasted and baked Ragdoll Rabbits, but it's something that he reserved when he's camping to desolate areas.

"Mn, this is good."

"This'll happen only when we meet." He said.

"Fine by me, stal-what's your name again?"

"Shiro."

"Pfft..!" 

Kyoko started laughing upon hearing it.

"Shiro..! I never thought that I'll hear someone with a single character (kanji) as a name!"

'Well, that's what I thought too.' Shiro thought. 'Shikikan, Whitey (Magus), and Blacky (Fenrir) should have their own names. Shiro might be more like a nickname that soon evolved into a true name since no one's using his real name...'

While browsing through the 150-year memories, he drew some conclusions from them. Leo is the true name of Fenrir, but the name of the Supreme Magus and Shikikan is unknown. Considering that the name 'Shiro' is associated to the Magus' name, he assumed that it's his real name... or at least a part of it.

He didn't even have his surname, thus he assumed that his name "Shiro" is incomplete.

"Alright, Shiro. I'm very sure that..."

Crack-!

Just as she spoke, the surroundings cracked before it turned to normal, which is a park where kids play. The Witch, Ulla, specifically targeted kids and tried to make them off by themselves. If not for their timely intervention, their lives would've been forfeited.

Not far away from the two, Mami, Sayaka, and Madoka appeared. When Mami noticed Kyoko, she sent out a complicated gaze to her. In the end, Kyoko is the one who initiated the conversation.

"Long time no see."

"It is a long time, indeed."

It has been years since the last time they met. When everything got messed up for Kyoko that made her regret her wish, she lost her Enhancement Magic, her specialty as a Magical Girl.

"Shiro-san, Madoka, Sayaka, we'll make our leave first." Mami said as she cancelled her Magical Girl transformation.

In no time, both she and Kyoko is already far away from them. Meanwhile, Sayaka is still surprised at Madoka's current power. A few days ago, she's the one who's protecting her. But now, their roles had reversed.

Just by using her [Reinforcement] on the metal rod that Sayaka has, she had an easier time fending the labyrinth's minions, more so when Madoka casted [Reinforcement] to herself.

It allowed her to finish off the minions in a couple of hits!

Seeing her like this, Shiro chose to help this young girl that has a pure heart of justice.

"Sayaka-chan, you want to become a mage too?"

"Yes!" She responded with enthusiasm.

"It'll gonna be painful. Are you alright with that?"

"Yes! As long as I can have the power to help others, it's fine!"

At this moment, the image of a certain red-head overlapped with Sayaka's. Their will to help others are just the same as well has their resolves. He didn't imagine that with her spending time with Mami and seeing her kind heart, she'll inherit the same mindset as hers.

Even Shiro noticed how Mami strived to rid of witches to help others, not for their hot commodity known as Grief Seeds. He didn't knew the other Magical Girls, but his intuition told him that she's one-of-a-kind.

"Shiro-san, here."

"Thanks." He replied.

Madoka picked the object in her palms, which is the Grief Seed that was dropped by the Witch. This time, it looked like a jewel embedded on a rectangular hairpin.

A few days ago, Shiro experimented with Mami's Soul Gem—to use his [Hell Flame Ignition] to wipe the 'Impurities' in it. In the end, it turned out to be successful. 

There was a powerful 'law' imposed to Soul Gems, something that makes it so that it generates impurities by using their Magical Girl abilities. Though, these impurities are considered 'Evil' by the flames.

While she doesn't know about his attempts of purifying the Grief Seeds yet, Shiro will personally tell her once he succeeds. If he fails... there's nothing he can do about it.

While he wanted to help these children, he can't guarantee his successes unless he uses his precious Time Cards—his strongest trump cards that can save his life in the future.

Storing the Grief Seed in the storage, Shiro summoned an aurora curtain connected directly to Sayaka's house. Then, he manipulated it, engulfing them three in the transparent aurora wall.

Soon, the two noticed what he'd done. They knew that he can disappear from his place, but they didn't knew that it worked similar to teleportation!

Surprised, Sayaka could only word out:

"That's awesome!"

Coupled with the calm aura that he has, Shiro looked like a cool adult in her eyes.

"Ahem, let's sit down. You can also prepare a towel if you can't bear the pain."

"A towel? Wait a moment..."

Sayaka went to the bathroom to get her bathroom towel. Since her parents are both working and arrives at night, he and Madoka are the ones left here.

"Shiro-san, is it really alright?" Madoka asked.

"You know her more than I do. I saw that she's that determined, and I think that you wouldn't be able to persuade her."

"That's how she is..."

A minute later, Sayaka came back with a towel, but she has a confused expression as if asking "What to do with it?"

"That... you can bite it if you can't bear the pain."

"Pain? It's that really painful, Madoka?" 

Hearing this, Madoka nodded and said, "It is. It felt very hot and uncomfortable like I'm boiling on a hot spring."

"It's that bad?" She paused for a while before continuing, "Nevermind... If Madoka did it, then it's possible for me to do it too."

"Nice optimism." Shiro casually commented.

When Sayaka sat down sideways in the sofa, Shiro touched her back. He didn't mind that she's still wearing her school uniform since his max-level control stat allowed him to control his mana even outside him. That's how he awakened his and the others' Magic Circuits that easily.

"I'll be starting."

After he said that, translucent strings of mana came out of his fingertips before it entered her back. Then, he proceeded to go through her body and soul in an attempt to find her own Circuits between his body and soul.

*****

Fact #77: Magical Girls can create items out of nowhere. This can be seen when Kyoko creates her never-ending Taiyaki, or when she created her spear out of nothing. It is also stated that they can do this even without transforming (Based on Kyoko's spear creation and a twitter question to the official staff). Meaning... these Soul Gems are somehow comparable to True Magic, albeit they pay the consequences by having more impurities on their gems.