Volume 31 Chapter 14 (1/2)
March ∆ (Saturday)
Today, I went to a shrine to the God Inari with my petit soeur, Touko
The other day, while I was chatting with her, the conversation turned to New Years shrine visits When I told her I had visited a local Inari shrine with my brother Yuuki, and had wished for my then-strained relationshi+p with Touko to be reconciled, she insisted that we should visit the shrine to give thanks
I'd heard froranted then you're supposed to take an offering of deep-fried tofu when you give thanks, but since I'd also wished for ht it should be okay for inning of next year
Even though I said the visit would have been in vain if o on Saturday So after school, on the way home, we headed towards the shrine
Yuuki drew a map to the shrine for me, so we found our way there quite easily I wasn't all that fahborhood fro for the first time
Touko and I stood side-by-side as we visited the shrine, then returned ho hands
◊ ◊ ◊
After school on Saturday, when Touko appeared in front ofa box It was about the size of a residential first-aid kit But it wasn'tlooked to be nylon or some similar material
”What's this?”
I asked, and Touko answered
”A cooler box To avoid ”
”What's inside?”
Then Touko looked at me with a ”You still don't know?” look on her face
”You ht?”
As Touko spoke, she opened the lid and showed it to me It did indeed contain deep-fried tofu There were three or four of the plastic packs that youthose were ice packs, to keep it cool
”… You're well prepared”
”Well, it saves us ti it on the way there And I wasn't really sure if there were any stores near your house, onee-sama”
My, what a capable petit soeur - If soets a compli way I wanted to see her giggle and graciously accept, saying ”It's all thanks to you,” but it didn't look like that was going to happen
”Hold on a minute”
Leaving her with that, I hurried to the school office on the first floor
”Umm, onee-sama”
Thanks to htful petit soeur, my work had unexpectedly increased I flew to the sole payphone that students were allowed to use and dialed my home phone number
”Ah, ht the deep-fried tofu?”
Like Touko had said, up until yesterday we'd agreed that we'd stop at a supermarket on the way there and buy sooing shopping in the afternoon, so I asked her to buy so Of course, I did it to save time
”Ahh, I guess so No, that's not it Touko brought some Yeah, yeah Thanks”
Since mom answered the phone, it meant she was home Since she was hooes without saying, a wonderful otten to buy my deep-fried tofu Thankfully, she said to take Touko's to the shrine and that we'd eat ours at home
When I hung up the phone and turned around, Touko was standing there like a ghost
”Uwah”
”… You were prepared too, onee-sama”
She almost sounded bitter when she said, ”With the tofu” It looks like she'd caught on to what had happened
”It's okay, don't worry about it My family loves deep-fried tofu”
I hastily sought to sh with A family that loves deep-fried tofu, what's up with that? It would have been better to say that we loved it with sushi+ or curry
”Anyway, let's go Otherwise our efforts to save ti”
I cheerfully headed towards the shoe-box area Touko said, ”M morose
The mix-up with the deep-fried tofu wasn't Touko'stoo hard to be considerate We got along too well, could be another way to put it But, as a generally coirl, she looked so delicate when she wasn't capable of doing so well Her depressed look was adorable (and not in a pitiful way)
Touko quickly perked up again By not fussing over her while she was pouting, sheher needs into consideration Courageous (I think that fits)
”Speaking of recipes with deep-fried tofu, it's used in inari-zushi+, where it's wrapped around sushi+, right?”
While on the bus, Touko raised this topic of conversation
”And there's kinchaku - you s like mochi rice cakes, and have it as part of an oden stew”
As someone who claimed to be froht that I should know a lot of dishes that use it
”And when oes ith miso soup, or a rice dish, and you can make a nice broth out of it”
”Ah, at our house we bake it in the oven until it's crispy, then grate it and use it as a condiment”
”A condiment?”
Touko was really getting into this Which reminded me that when she came to , she was asking questions about the ingredients, hoas prepared, all those sorts of things Maybe she often cooked at her home
”Like japanese ginger, or white spring onions, or cru hot, with soy-sauce or noodle broth or the like”
So I explained it enthusiastically
”That sounds good”
”My dad really likes it He says it's great as a snack with alcohol”
”My father rarely drinks in the evening But it sounds like it would go well as a side dish with dinner”
That's great Touko had been able to receive so useful to her
Nohile all this was going on, the bus arrived at M station and we transferred buses, got off at my stop and headed towards the fukuzawa residence At first we'd been planning to go straight to the shrine, but then we decided to stop in at hos, since my house is closer to the bus stop than the shrine
”I'm back”
Instead of reet us in the entrance
”Welcome back Oh, Touko-chan, please come inside”