Sticky Fingers

Caramel

It should've been a good day. The weather was perfect, the moon was calm, and the atmosphere was all-around serene. It was the kind of day that was supposed to be spent kicking back, relaxing, sipping lemonade and watching the clouds drift by.

And yet, here Kiyoshi was, on the Dark Side of Hanazuki's moon, trying his best not to get eaten by Mazzadrills.

It had been a stressful past couple of days for Kiyoshi. The day of the anniversary of the day of the defeat of Twisted Unicorn was tomorrow, and Kiyoshi had decided that there was no better way to celebrate than with a huge party on his moon.

Unfortunately, huge parties were also a huge pain to organize, had Kiyoshi had ended up giving himself the brunt of the responsibilities. He didn't want to delegate, though; it felt unfair to burden his friends when the party had been his ideas in the first place.

So right now he was trekking to Doughy's place to pick up some desserts to serve to everybody. Doughnuts (Chocolate, Glazed, Chocolate Glazed, Sprinkles, and Jelly), tarts (Raspberry, Apple, Strawberry, and Pineapple), and of course, Cupcakes (Chocolate, Vanilla, and Strawberry; all filled with buttercream filling). He mentally ran through the list in his head. Things had to be perfect. He had promised his friends that they were going to be in for a good time, and he wanted to keep that promise.

At last, the dense trees and shrubbery gave way to the neat rows of dessert plants that marked Doughy's home, and Kiyoshi gave a sigh of relief. He'd made it there without incident. Now all he needed to do was get the pastries, get out, and then get to the other dozen or so things on his list.

He held his satchel tightly to his side. It had been a present from Hanazuki, since Kiyoshi had ended up making so many trips to and from her moon to bring back plants and other things, she wanted to make things more convenient for him.

"Doughy!" He called out. "It's me, Kiyoshi! I'm here to pick up the pastries I asked for..."

Nothing. Kiyoshi gripped his satchel even tighter. "Hello? Doughy..."

Still nothing. "Okay... I'll just head in then..."

Kiyoshi began wandering through the fields of pastries. Despite the colorful array of treats surrounding them, Kiyoshi still felt incredibly uneasy. Where was Doughy? Was he out? How was Kiyoshi supposed to find what he needed on his own? He needed those treats today! Or wait, had something bad happened? Oh goodness, something terrible had happened to Doughy and Kiyoshi was lollygagging about here selfishly thinking about pastries—

"—Ack!"

Kiyoshi bumped into something large and soft. He stumbled back before falling backwards on the ground. "Ow..."

"Oh goodness!"

Kiyoshi looked up to see a familiar hotdog-shaped figure standing over him. "Doughy!"

Doughy reached down to offer Kiyoshi a hand. "I'm sorry! Are you okay?"

Kiyoshi gratefully accepted his hand. "You don't have to apologize. I was the one who wasn't paying attention..." He stood up and brushed himself off. "I'm fine. I'm just glad you're okay, honestly. When you weren't there when I arrived, I assumed the worst."

Doughy frowned. "Oh, I'm so sorry to worry you. I was just working on Bonnie here."

Kiyoshi tilted his head. "Bonnie?"

"Oh it's just my name for her." Doughy stepped aside to reveal another plant. This one was much smaller than the others, with bright magenta leaves. "She's a caramel plant. She's pretty young, but look!" Doughy pointed at one of the stems, and Kiyoshi peered closer to see some small squares of light-brown candy. "She's already sprouting!"