"God damn it!"

"You mad?"

"Do I look mad?!"

"Yes."

"Well, maybe that's because I am!" Yuki screamed at the girl currently sitting in front of the shop counter.

"Come on, all I added was a cup of Frost Salt."

"That stuff can freeze a blue whale solid, and you put it in a cake! How did you even think that was a good idea?!"

Before the two could continue, the door swiftly opened. In walked a zombie with icicles sticking out from her stitches, an ogre shaking so badly she was causing a miniature earthquake, a monoeye that was quite literally stuck inside a giant block of ice, and Doppel, now colored solid blue.

"You bastard!" they screamed. Or at least, most of them did; the monoeye was, at the moment, wholly incapable of speech, though her eye could be seen darting around.

"Alright, I am off to pick up some supplies for the bakery. Peach, make sure Ginger doesn't leave. I'm counting on you."

"I... I understand!" Peach said, a little flustered. It really made her heart flutter, knowing he depended on her like that.

"Chica, be good, alright?"

"Not an issue, muffin!" said the Harpy, giving Yuki a salute.

"And Ginger, don't blow up the house."

"No promises."

That wasn't exactly reassuring, but Yuki was entirely out of ingredients, and he couldn't wait until the usual delivery. Thankfully, his part-time employee, Ella, was covering for him. She was a bit under-developed in Yuki's favorite area, but her body wasn't so bad, and had a nice pear shape.

However, he was reluctant to leave her on her own. She had a bad habit of pulling practical jokes. She usually stuck to minor things around the upstairs home, like whoopee cushions hidden inside the furniture or buzzers on the doorknob, but, sometimes, she did something with the food. Recently, the bakery had expanded its menu to accommodate liminals, and so he kept various exotic ingredients on hand for specialty orders. Moon Sugar, Frost Salts, Fire Spice, and Liminal Honey, which came from giant bee-women's… erotic excretions. The number of liminals in the area was surprisingly high, though he suspected it was higher in more urban areas.

But, regardless, as Yuki came back from a few errands that could no longer be put off, Ella was already hard at work sorting the special ingredients.

"Sorry about not helping out for the past few days."

"You didn't even warn me."

"I know, and I'm sorry, but I've been crazy busy, what with hosting liminals and all that."

"Is that why I've seen liminals in the back room lately?"

"Yeah. I thought it was gonna end up like an anime, but apparently not."

"How unfortunate. Here, I made you a brownie."

Yuki took the small chocolate treat, and ate it in a single bite. Ella was a good chef, all things considered. Not as good as himself, but he wasn't going to pass up a treat. That was when he noticed Ella giggling, and suddenly knew something was wrong.

"Hey... uh..." Yuki said as he started to sweat profusely.

"This brownie... It's... It's kind of hot..."

"Maybe that's because I added a pinch of Magma Sugar!" And with that said, Yuki's mouth suddenly felt as if someone had filled his mouth with molten iron.

"Sh-"

"Um, can I please place an order?" Asked a lovely Ogre woman who was watching Yuki from over the counter.

"Sure. W-wh-what can I get you?" Said Yuki, desperately trying to ignore the burning in his mouth. The sweat, panting, and occasional ember made it clear what was happening, though.

"Um, I need a large cake. Me and my friends are celebrating, and we kinda eat a lot all together."

"W-What k-k-ki-kind?"

"A Honey Cake! I hear it's really delicious, and it shouldn't take too long."

Yuki made sure to write down her order on a small notepad he kept behind the counter specifically for things like this.

"Name and... And... god, that burns! And number please..." Yuki's every breath was now coming out as spurts of flame, though he wasn't sure if the unchanging pain was good or bad- the flames in his mouth were becoming more and more intense with every passing second, but not the heat. Whether that meant his nerves were deadening as fast as the heat rose or the heat wasn't rising, he wasn't sure.

"Tio, and my number is '44-555-6479'." Yuki wrote that down, too, and he was visibly crying as he finished.

"Hey, are you okay?"

"Yeah... W-why?"

"Well you seem kind of…"

"I'm fine, I just ate something way too spicy. Is there anything else you need?"

"No. Is that it?"

"Y-yeah..." By this point, Yuki's clothes were completely soaked.

"It should be ready in an hour or so. I'll call you when you can come pick it up." The Ogre left with a smile, and, with the customer gone, all premise of civility left with her.

"Oh good god, I swallowed a volcano!" Screamed Yuki as he began guzzling every dairy product in the building and washing it down with leftover bread. Anyone who'd ever drank water after spicy food knew that it only made it worse. For someone like Yuki, who enjoyed spicy food, keeping large amounts of dairy around the house for personal use just made sense. It was technically there for baking, but it was his damn bakery, he could use the ingredients as he saw fit.

The cake was nearly finished, and Yuki was thankfully mostly okay, though he would occasionally cough up embers and ash. He had also nearly fried Chica earlier, who had snuck up behind him, but she was fine, if terrified.

"Hey, you finish the icing?"

"Almost. We ran out of honey."

"I'll call Bumble, let her know I'm coming over now."

"Alright, I'll finish what I can."

And with that, Yuki grabbed the phone in the back and dialed a number.

"Yes?"

"Hey Stinger, can I talk to Bumble?"

"You coming to get the honey?"

"Yeah. We had enough for the batter, but there's still the frosting. It okay if I come over for some?"

"I guess. I just wish I could be there. I know you're not gonna make a move, but I've seen the way you look at Bumble."

"You and I both know that Bumble needs you collecting nectar. Besides, last time I ran out early, you stung me. I had to go to the emergency room!"

"You were staring at Bumble! Plus, I ran into an Arachne before that, so I was on edge."

"I'm not gonna make a move on your girl, you know that. And she wouldn't betray you like that, either. And you also know that Arachnes wouldn't attack you because of your giant freaking stinger and wings that could shear right through their webs."

"Yeah, yeah. I already apologized. I'll make sure Bumble gets a few buckets ready."

"Thanks, you're a life saver. Talk to you later."

"Alright, and don't... hold on." There was muttering on the other end for a moment.

"Okay... Sorry, the queen said that if you ever feel stressed, pay her a visit, and that she can keep a secret."

"I'm… hanging up now."

"Okay, bye."

Stinger was, despite her actions towards him, a good friend. He had first discovered her passed out after she had apparently flown near a factory. She was fiercely stubborn and refused to accept his help, but she didn't really have a choice; she was still too weak to move at that point. He ended up bringing her back to the bakery and giving her some food, water, and rest. She flew off as soon as she recovered, but he just kept running into her afterwards. He had a feeling it was on purpose, though she denied it. Regardless, her hive-partner, which was the closest thing to a wife a hive-based species could get, Bumble, was thankful for it, and he ended up getting a fairly regular supply of honey from then on. He of course paid for it, but still.

Yuki walked along through the forest, carrying a tupper full of small treats for his two favorite bees. They were mostly old stock he couldn't sell, but they would be perfectly fine once heated, and the bees were experts at heating things, albeit with their bodies.

As he arrived at the hive, a rather petite yet busty bee greeted him.

"Hey Yuki!"

"Hey Bumble. Have you been doing well?"

"Yep! This was pretty short notice, though, so I only have about three jars' worth. Don't worry, your regular order won't be affected!" Bumble said, preforming a slight bounce, shaking her bountiful frame. While regular bees stored nectar in a specialized stomach, Liminal Bees stored them in their chests, where they were slowly converted into honey. As such, their chest size fluctuated with how much honey and nectar they had in them. Given that the average worker didn't have to leave the hive, their assets tended to swell quite a bit.

After a small pause and a cough of embarrassment, Yuki positioned Bumble over a large clay pot and began to slowly massage and tease her massive breasts. Bumble let out the occasional moan, and the stream of honey flowing from her and the sweet aroma of honey grew stronger with every noise she made. Though Yuki would never make a move on her, he couldn't deny that he enjoyed doing this. He was glad Ella hadn't come; she would have somehow convinced him to let her do it.

When he had finished, he handed Bumble the tupper of sweets he had brought.

"Alright, this ought to last us until next time. Thanks again," Yuki said, patting a now 'deflated' bumble, whose chest was now nearly as flat as Chica.

"Oh, before I forget, Stinger wanted me to give you these."

"What are they?"

Bumble reached behind her and pulled out some photos that Stinger had taken. Wait a moment...

"This...this is..."

Yuki stared at the pictures. They were of Stinger and Bumble, both wearing only honey and posed provocatively. A caption at the bottom read: 'Can we teach you about the birds and the bees?' Yuki gladly accepted the photos.

"I... thank you. It must have taken you a while to get Stinger to do this."

"Actually, it was her idea. She may get jealous, but she's just aggressive. That's how drones are."

"Well, I'll make sure to remember that. Um, is that message an actual offer, or what?"

"Yeah! Just give us a little warning, okay? Stinger's usually pretty busy, and you know she wouldn't appreciate you coming in unannounced for casual sex."

"Fair enough. I'll call you guys when I have a day off, I guess? I never really imagined something like this would happen to me."

And with that, Yuki left.

When Yuki returned, the honey was mixed in with the frosting, which had been kept warm so it didn't solidify. The cake was finished, and the Ogre picked it up without issue.

Unfortunately, Ella was far too happy. He had watched her the entire time; he knew she hadn't put something into the cake, but that smile of hers said otherwise.

"Ella, what did you do?"

"Nothing," she said with an even wider grin.

"What is that smile for, then?"

"I'm just happy, is all."

That was even more suspicious. Then he noticed her hands looked strange.

He grabbed Ella's hands in his own and noticed they were pale and ridiculously cold.

"Ella? Why are your hands so cold?"

"I may have put in some Frost Salts in the icing."

"...What?!"

"Come on, I've never used them before. You would've done the same, right?"

"No!"

"Oh come on, she was an Ogre. She'll be fine!"

They argued back and forth for a while. Ella absolutely refused to apologize, and he was sorely tempted to fire her then and there, though, in the end, he didn't.

As the various liminals in various stages of hypothermia glared at me, I attempted to placate them.

"Ladies, I am so sorry. My assistant, she does this sometimes, but this is the first time she ever did this to an order. Again, I am very sorry, and will gladly reimburse you or remake your order, correctly this time."

" Look what you did to Manako!" Screamed the Zombie, gesturing over to the frozen mooneye. "The only reason I'm not a zombie popsicle is because I'm wearing a heated blanket!"

"I have some heated drinks, if you'd like," said Ella.

Unfortunately, the Zombie was feeling rather frustrated, and so she dumped one of the drinks over Ella's head.

The moment the liquid touched Ella, a flash blinded everyone in the room, and, when it died down, Ella had been replaced with a seal.

"Well, at least she's in a good home," muttered Tio.

It turned out that Yuki's new foreign employee was, in fact, a liminal who had run away from the Exchange. Due to her human appearance, she had made a life for herself, no one the wiser about her true nature. However, although she appeared to be human, touching water transformed her into a seal.

Yuki was honestly quite frustrated at this point. It seemed like he had a new problem caused by liminals every day. Still, the females were rather attractive, so at least they made up for it with gratuitous T&A.

Unfortunately, Yuki was now stuck with Ella. Smith was once again tugging on the puppet strings that were Peach and Ginger.

"Do I really have to host her?" asked Yuki. "Peach and Chica already worry me enough, I don't want to have the girl who put fire salts in the fireplace just to see what happened living with me."

"Too late."

"Damn it," Yuki muttered, pushing his head back and looking into the sky

"God, please, stop giving me troublemakers. Can't I have someone sweet and nice for a change?"