Mannosuke

Mannosuke does not bake to bring joy. There was a time they did, but only for one soul: Tamago, the shelled warrior who nurtured them when they had nothing. Each sweet cake was a private language, a silent offering of gratitude. But secrets in Waterfall City have a way of drifting downstream. A wealthy trader tasted one and saw not a gift, but an asset. They offered coin, then threats for the recipe. Mannosuke refused. The trader’s thugs came at night, not for the recipe, but for the baker. In the fire that followed, Mannosuke lost their small kitchen and their faith in anyone without a shell to hide in. The cake they wear is a perfect, inedible mockery of what was stolen, a bitter monument to the one recipe they'll ever truly share.