Most Delicious Cookie on Earth

Kukki-yama stood domineering on the Japanese island of Hokkaido, the large mountain that was allegedly artificially built by the Tokugawa Shogunate starting 1674, and took 100 years to complete. The mountain stood as the greatest monument of the Tokugawa, but to the uninformed, it was just another mountain; there was nothing special about it. They didn't even know it was artificial, and that was what made it genius. For Kukki-yama hid a devilish secret: It was a mountain fortress and manufacturing place, dedicated to the production of sweets.

The sweets produced by the mountain were so delicious, that the Tokugawa Shogunate used it to enthral the people and control them for nearly two centuries.

During the last days of Boshin War that was fought between the Tokugawa Shogunate and the Imperial Revolutionaries from 1868 to 1867, the Imperials lay siege to Kukki-yama as the last of the Shogun's supporters rallied there to fight one last battle.

The Imperial Army succeeded in breaching the mountain, but the Shogunate forces inside would not let them have their precious sweets. The Shogun's royal bakers cooked a final meal: the most delicious and delectable cookies ever baked. The bakers and several soldiers feasted on the cookies, experiencing heaven on earth, and then they trapped themselves in the mountain. The survivors chose hara-kiri to prevent dying from starvation.

Today, legend speaks of one such of the legendary cookies still stored in the mountain. The locals say that a Shogunate soldier ran off with it and stored it within one of their refrigeration systems, despite strict orders not to leave anything for the Imperials.

Two westerner food-lovers-slash-travellers have heard the legend and travelled to the Far East, to the island of Hokkaido, Japan, to seek this legendary cookie…

"What is this?" William asked the young lady selling a strange-looking cold dessert in a little restaurant.

"Aisu-kuriimu desu," replied the girl.

"Ahh, Ice Cream…" William took a bite out of it. It tasted strange.

"I can see you don't like it," Charles observed, chuckling, "I find it quite exquisite, actually. I wonder what the flavour could be. Yours is a different colour though. I think mine's a chocolate of some kind."

"It's probably something crazy like cherry blossoms or green tea."

"I don't think the Japanese are that weird, William."

The two had been on Hokkaido for three days, trying to figure out which mountain was Kukki-yama. Apparently, it was such a marvel of engineering that everyone mistook it for a real mountain, and now everyone's forgotten what it looked like, and even where it was. Not since the battle did people know.

Charles and William walked out of the restaurant, and looked ahead at the mountains in the distance. It could be any one of those mountains, and the two didn't have time to scout every single one.

"It's that one," William said as he pointed to one of the mountains.

Charles didn't even know which mountain he was pointing at.

"What have you been smoking?" he asked William.

"Not smoking. I just had a feeling it was in that specific mountain over there. I think it's the Ice Cream. It's telling me to go there."

"What?"

"C'mon, Charles; we don't know where to start, and we've asked pretty much everyone on this island to no avail, so let's start over there."

"That's a good point. Let's ready our mountain gear and get moving first thing tomorrow morning."

The two cookie-hunters set out the next morning, with William in the lead, because Charles had no clue as to which mountain they were headed. Charles watched as William somehow subconsciously trekked toward the correct mountain. This was strange. Now that he looked back, the young lady serving ice cream at the restaurant's dessert stall was really cute. It felt like she didn't belong there. She didn't say anything about the ice cream's flavour either.

"We're here," William said indifferently, pointing at a tunnel entrance at the foot of the mountain.

"OK, William, that was weird. How did you even—"

"It was the ice cream. It was delicious. It led me here."

"That still doesn't make any sense."

"Follow," William said, ignoring Charles last statement.

"Alright, alright, I'm following."

The tunnels looked relatively well-maintained for a mountain fortress that was naturally camouflaged and forgotten for over a hundred years. The lanterns were all lit too. Someone was here earlier. Someone is still here.

"Moshimoshi!" a young lady's voice echoed through the caves.

Charles looked around, and noticed something, saying, "That voice…that's…"

Out of the darkness, the young lady who served William the strange ice cream yesterday appeared, walking slowly.

"Y-you," Charles stuttered, "I knew something wasn't right about you! What did you do to William?"

"Koroshite yaru ze," the lady said with a dastardly cute smile as she pulled out a dagger.

"What are you doing?" Charles asked, walking back slowly.

William stayed in place, and turned around to look at Charles.

William gave Charles a blank stare, and said to him, "She is going to kill us. Nobody must know of the secret."

As soon as he finished his sentence, the lady slammed the dagger through William's back. William fell to his knees, and the lady laughed as she started stabbing William repeatedly.

Charles ran, but the torches had somehow unlit, and he lost his way, falling through a hole.

Charles turned on his flashlight, and he found himself in a room full of skeletons, wearing 19th-century Japanese Shogunate military uniforms. On the opposite end of the room was one soldier hugging a box tightly.

"That's it," Charles said as he crawled to the box.

He opened it to find the cookie, magnificent and well-preserved. It must taste as great as it looks.

Charles bit the cookie, but he spat it out immediately; his bite turned the piece into dust.

"No…" were Charles' last words as he felt the woman's soft hands on his back, and the knife on his throat.