Volume 23 Chapter 4 (1/2)
Yos.h.i.+no-san had brought a combination of fried chicken and french fries and Rei-sama had brought a large take-away pizza and two 2 litre drink bottles (oolong tea and orange juice). Ah, plus a coralberry branch. It was currently adorning the alcove, in an arrangement with apricot and gold stained willow.
”Yumi-chan, you remembered. I'm touched!”
Sayako-oba-sama danced with joy when she spotted the festival food and, overcome with emotion, embraced Yumi. An innocent maiden, no matter her age (and her actual age was unknown to Yumi). She always came across as cute, although it was a bit impolite to think that.
”Let's heat them up right away. Ah, I wonder if Rei-san's pizza should go first?”
”Ah, I'll do it.”
They followed Sayako-oba-sama into the kitchen, Rei-sama carrying her pizza and Yumi with her festival food.
”Oba-sama, you've got two ovens, right? If it's alright to use them both at once, we could split it into two lots.”
Rei-sama inquired.
”If it's alright to use them both at once?”
Sayako-oba-sama looked confused.
”I mean, if it's not going to trip a breaker, or something like that.”
”A breaker &h.e.l.lip; I've never thought about that. I use them whenever I like, though.”
But that didn't rule out the possibility that other people had noticed and refrained from using them both at once. Sayako-oba-sama pondered this, saying, ”What should we do?” and was answered by Sachiko-sama who appeared in the kitchen behind her.
”It'll be fine. When you made those ma.s.sive quant.i.ties of mille-feuille, it took over all of the big oven, but we still had a proper dinner that night, right? That would have been made with the small oven.”
Indeed, that was quite the compelling piece of evidence.
”I suppose so.”
Sayako-oba-sama seemed to temporarily accept this, but another question soon popped out of her mouth.
”Oh, but then why did we only use one oven last year?”
”Well, that's because,”
This time it was Yumi's turn to answer.
”Last year, no-one knew how to work the big oven.”
”Ah, that's right.”
But since then, she'd used it to bake mille-feuille, which meant -
”You've mastered how to use this oven then, oba-sama? That's good, I think it'd be great for the large pizza.”
Rei-sama quickly opened the oven door and placed the pizza inside. Yumi placed the octopus dumplings inside the small oven too. They called it the small oven but that name was just for convenience, as it was a standard family-size oven. Probably about the same size as the one the f.u.kuzawa's had at home. But the other one was large enough for commercial use. It was big enough that they could probably roast two whole turkeys in there at once.
”You should cover them with foil, it'd be bad if the dumplings burst open.”
”Okay.”
She followed Rei-sama's instructions then switched the oven on. As she was moving the calamari and corn into the heatproof dish that Sachiko-sama held out to her, Yumi accidentally glanced to her side and saw Sayako-oba-sama frozen in front of the large oven she'd been entrusted to operate.
”Oba-sama &h.e.l.lip; umm, is something the matter?”
”What should I do, Rei-san? I've only ever used it as an oven.”
Although reheating a pizza wasn't totally unrelated to using the oven functionality. But Rei-sama didn't know how powerful the oven was, so she let Sayako-oba-sama take care of that. She watched it through the gla.s.s door and when the time was right she opened the door and placed a single piece of aluminum foil over the top of the pizza. Thanks to that, they avoided burning it and ended up with piping hot pizza.
Yumi got caught up watching this and some of the dumplings exploded, but thanks to the foil she managed to avoid a huge disaster. Cleaning exploded foods from a microwave oven was enough to make her want to cry, so this was quite a relief.
”Alright, let's eat these while they're hot. Ah, before that.”
First, she filled their gla.s.ses with non-alcoholic champagne.
”Does everyone have a gla.s.s? Well then, a toast!”
”Let's make this another good year.”
They clinked gla.s.ses with the person next to them and took a sip. Uwah &h.e.l.lip; the champagne fizz jumped across to the tip of her nose. Mmm, it was good.
From the second gla.s.s onwards it was self-serve and they were free to choose their favorite drink. As well as the juice and oolong tea that Rei-sama had brought, there was also herbal tea and roasted green tea.
So with that, the food that they'd brought was laid out along the tables and the New Year's party began.
There was Sayako-oba-sama's homemade potato salad. Bite-sized portions were placed on top of slightly bitter leaves (chicory apparently), which served as plates and made it easy to pick up. Yumi had often had potato salad at home, but this was somehow different and felt more fancy, like adult's food. As an example, she'd describe it as a ”delicacy,” instead of ”tasty.”
Sachiko-sama had made ham and cheese sandwiches, and they were exquisite. They were cut into single mouthfuls, so obviously not meant to be eaten with a knife and fork, but skewered with toothpicks instead.
”It's really good, but don't you think it'd make the flavor pop just a bit more if it had pickles or olives?”
Rei-sama's advice was probably correct but since Sachiko-sama didn't like either of those things it seemed unlikely that she would follow it. It looked like Rei-sama knew this and had intentionally said it anyway.
The take-away pizza and fried chicken were the standard fare, but still (no, because of this) quite tasty.
The various sweets were set aside for after-meal enjoyment. At any rate, they were all staying overnight, so there was plenty of time left for chatting and eating.
The intercom sounded and Sayako-oba-sama hurriedly left the room.
”It's so busy without the house staff around.”
”Could it be, perhaps, another guest?”
Yos.h.i.+no-san asked Sachiko-sama. Asking if she'd invited anyone else.
”Yes, well &h.e.l.lip; perhaps.”
Sachiko-sama responded vaguely and stood up. Yumi's mind buzzed with thoughts of ”what if?”
She thought there was a chance it was Touko-chan. Since she knew that Sachiko-sama had invited her to the New Year's party.
But would she really come? Yumi didn't know.
She didn't even know if she should follow after Sachiko-sama or wait there motionless, despite her impatience.
They'd used the intercom so they were now at the front gate. How long would it take for the gate to open and for them to walk to the front of the house? Five minutes? A bit longer?
Even if she stayed still, there should be some way to determine whether or not it was Touko-chan during that short time. The bell would ring first, which would demand Yumi's attention.
But it ended a lot quicker than she expected. The bell wasn't rung.
Sayako-oba-sama and Sachiko-sama arrived back in the room carrying three and four lacquer coated wooden boxes, respectively.
”It was the sus.h.i.+ store.”
To reveal the trick: since the sus.h.i.+ was delivered by car, it was many times quicker for them to drive from the gate to the house than it was to walk, and since they'd announced their arrival over the intercom, Sayako-oba-sama was waiting outside for them to arrive.
Yumi felt conflicted, she was both relieved and disappointed.
Looking at her watch, it was 1:30.
Touko-chan probably should have arrived by now, if she was feeling inclined to do so.
With their stomachs already quite full, they all looked in anguish at the containers of sus.h.i.+ placed in front of them.
”I want to eat it, but I don't know if I can.”
”It's torture &h.e.l.lip; ”
Just like last year, Yumi faltered when she saw the array of high quality nigirizus.h.i.+ delivered to them by the official sus.h.i.+ suppliers to the Ogasawara household.
”Oh my. You can just set it aside and eat it when you're hungry. We've got plenty of time, so feel free to peck at it as you like.”
Sayako-oba-sama said.
”But, it's nigirizus.h.i.+.”
Even though they were in a hard-to-warm traditional j.a.panese room, the party had been going on for an hour and a half and it had already warmed up significantly. Leaving the raw sus.h.i.+ there and pecking at it seemed ill-advised.
”Alright. Then how about we play cards, and whenever you lose you have to eat a piece?”
Sayako-oba-sama said, smiling innocently, since it was already torture. But since that would only result in one piece disappearing every game, it didn't seem like it would be all that efficient.
”No. Why don't we just try and eat the sus.h.i.+ for now? If you can't eat it all, we'll put what's left over in the refrigerator. We can leave the games until after.”
Sachiko-sama's proposal was the correct one. No matter how large the Ogasawara family's refrigerator was, they probably couldn't put nine people's untouched sus.h.i.+ boxes in there.
Even so, it was funny how their chopsticks kept moving after saying, ”Itadakimasu.” It was probably because the sus.h.i.+ was made of such good ingredients. Their color and gloss was enough to stimulate the appet.i.te just by looking at them.
”Onee-sama. Um, would you like to swap your sea urchin roe, salmon roe and abalone for something of mine?”
Naturally, she wasn't about to pull the same stunt as Kas.h.i.+wagi-san and reach over into Sachiko-sama's sus.h.i.+ box directly, so she tried asking.
”Huh?”
Sachiko-sama seemed confused, but then she smiled and said, ”Ah.”
”Is that because of what Suguru-san did?”
”Yeah &h.e.l.lip; I suppose.”
Yumi admitted truthfully, since there was no point lying about it. But she wasn't thinking about competing with Kas.h.i.+wagi-san, she simply wanted to remove the foods Sachiko-sama hated from her sight.
”You really shouldn't pay so much attention to Suguru-san. It's not like there's foods I will and won't eat. Moreover, it would be somewhat pathetic of me to be coddled by you.”
”But.”
Your eyes glazed over when you looked at them, onee-sama.
”I was thinking I should broaden my diet, just a little. Even if I don't like them, I'm not about to say that I can't eat them.”
”Hah.”
Yumi thought she was offering a lifeboat but instead it looked like she'd backed her onee-sama into a corner. By making this declaration, she'd cut off her avenue of retreat.
Their friends were listening attentively to their conversation, although they weren't joining in. The movement of chopsticks had suddenly slowed and the soft twitter of conversation had disappeared.
With her chopsticks still on her sea urchin roe sus.h.i.+, Yumi pondered what she should do next.
”Do you like those?”
Sachiko-sama asked her.
”Huh? Yeah.”
Since she'd been fine with taking Sachiko-sama's if she hadn't wanted it, obviously she didn't hate it. Although there wasn't really any types of sus.h.i.+ that Yumi hated.
”If you feel like doing something, how about you enjoy it in front of me?”
”Huh?”
That was a rather strange request.
”All you want me to do is eat it?”
”Right. That's all. Give it a go.”
”Well then.”
She opened her mouth wide, saying, ”Ahhh,” and took a mouthful of sea urchin roe sus.h.i.+. She was going to act like a mother trying to get her child to eat by saying, ”Tasty,” but once she started eating she couldn't talk.
(Ah &h.e.l.lip; )
The taste of juicy sea urchin roe spread out in her mouth. The rice, nori seaweed, and accompanying soy sauce were all undoubtedly made from fine ingredients too. She instinctively closed her eyes and enjoyed the exquisite harmony. Once again she'd been able to experience the taste of the Palace of the Dragon King.
”Yumi-chan.”
Hearing Rei-sama whispering to her, Yumi opened her eyes as she chewed.
”Ah.”
Sachiko-sama was adding soy sauce to her sea urchin roe. With the air of someone taking up a challenge.
”Watch your mouth, Yumi.”
Just after she said this, Sachiko-sama ate her gunkanmaki sus.h.i.+ piece. As for Yumi, even as she was thinking about what brought that warning on she realized that this was a pivotal moment for Sachiko-sama, so she chewed silently without responding.
Sachiko-sama's gaze held firm. Staring straight at Yumi's face as she chewed.
Then, finally, she swallowed it down. Her eyes darted around lightly.
”There's nothing I can't eat.”
But she was clearly overdoing it. Because Sachiko-sama's eyes were tearing up.
”It's just a matter of getting accustomed to it.”
Sachiko-sama, who hated to lose, said with finality.
”Incredible. Oh Sachiko-san, having Yumi-chan's expression as a side-dish with your hated sea urchin roll!”
The silence was shattered by Sayako-oba-sama's exclamation.
”Yumi-san looked like she was enjoying eating it.”
”That reminds me, isn't there a folklore about eating lots of rice accompanied by the smell of grilled eel.”
Everyone laughed along and added their own comments.
”That's enough from the peanut gallery. Yumi, next up is abalone.”
”Ah, okay!”
So, in this way, Sachiko-sama ate all the food she loathed, even though she was overdoing it a bit.
Then, with her work done, Sachiko-sama quietly placed her egg roll in Yumi's container. It looked as though she'd remembered Yuuki doing this last year.
Even though Sachiko-sama had said she shouldn't pay so much attention to Suguru-san. Yumi smiled to herself.
The games began just after 3pm.
First up was the refined, traditional New Year's game of 100 Poems. As she waited, Yumi flexed her wrists.
”Living all alone - ”[1]
Sayako-oba-sama read the first part of the poem.
(Living all alone &h.e.l.lip; I think the bottom part is, ”Can you realize at all,” so - )
Actually, after her ignominious defeat last year, she'd spent a little bit of time studying the 100 poems at home. But this was just a thin veneer.
However.
”Here!”
s.h.i.+mako-san picked it up from nearby. Since it was on s.h.i.+mako-san's side, by the time Yumi had found it it was already too late. Sachiko-sama had also been reaching out for it, but she was further away so it looked like she got off to a slow start.
”The Mother of Michitsuna. That's right, s.h.i.+mako-chan.”
Sayako-oba-sama confirmed that it was correct and read the top and bottom sections.
Living all alone,
Through the hours of the night,
Til the daylight comes:
Can you realize at all
The emptiness of that night?
From memory, this poem was about a woman whose husband had gone to see a mistress and, ”how long the night seems when you're not there.”
Hearing Sayako-oba-sama read that poem aloud made it all the more poignant. Her husband, Tooru-oji-sama, was out today. The annual tradition was that the men would visit their mistresses.
Even though he had a wonderful wife like Sayako-oba-sama. From what she knew of Tooru-oji-sama, he seemed kind and a devoted husband - These were the thoughts that Yumi idly pondered.