Jodie's heart skipped a beat when she saw the female photographer's expression. "You knew the other missing person?"
The female photographer lowered her head sadly.
The short-haired woman beside her thoughtfully picked up the conversation. "The missing person was my older brother, and Mikoto's boyfriend too—four years ago on Valentine's Day, he went into the mountains with the store manager and never came back."
As she said this, she suddenly put on an optimistic smile. "The police said he was probably caught in the avalanche too and died, but I've always felt that as long as there's no body, my brother must still be alive!
"Don't people say blood relatives have a connection? Somehow, I have this feeling that he isn't dead yet.
"So no matter how busy I am, I make time to come here every year. And while I'm at it, I visit the grave of that shop owner who died."
As she went on, she noticed the two high school girls' sorrowful expressions and hurriedly cut herself off. "All right, enough about such heavy things. Let's keep making chocolate."
Calvados observed them for a while. Remembering that chocolate imbued with Magic Power and nourished by countless lives, he finally could not resist approaching as if casually. "Need any help?"
"No, no!" The female photographer snapped back to her senses and hurriedly shooed him away. "You men are all so clumsy. You hurt yourselves the moment you pick up a kitchen knife. Forget helping—you'd just get in our way like Futagaki did yesterday."
Jodie's heart skipped another beat, and some inner string was plucked once more. "What happened to that reporter yesterday?"
"Nothing much." The short-haired woman explained for her boyfriend. "He just accidentally cut his hand. Fortunately, the wound wasn't serious. Otherwise, with the hospital so far