Chapter 41: Souvenirs
“Kakeru-san, thank you so much.”
“The pleasure is mine. The onigiri you gave us were delicious. Yuuka-san was especially happy about them.”
“Kakeru-onii-san, thank you for the souvenirs too!”
“Yeah, Haruka-chan, keep working hard on your rehab just a little longer.”
The morning after returning from the royal capital, I visited Yuuka’s parents’ home. I’d mentioned it in an email the other day, but I came again to properly express my thanks for the onigiri.
I gave them souvenirs I’d bought in the royal capital: honeyed confections, galette-like sweets, and accessories like necklaces and chokers with fantasy-style designs. Of course, my taste couldn’t be trusted, so these were things Yuuka and Aoi had picked out. I’d tried some of the otherworldly sweets myself, and they were quite tasty since they actually used sugar properly.
The other souvenir—photos from the other world—had already been uploaded to the group chat from Yuuka’s smartphone. The photos of fantasy creatures like Sleipnirs and the cityscape of the royal capital were surely enjoyable just to look at.
…Well, as expected, the photos from the royal castle got somewhat mixed reactions, to put it mildly.
“…It seems Aoi’s family is doing fine too.”
After leaving Yuuka’s family home, I checked on Aoi’s family from a distance. About a week had passed since then, and it didn’t seem like they were surrounded by media.
I’ll make sure to check on them regularly. Now then, I need to head to the flea market I’d reserved and earn some money.
“I’m home~”
“Welcome back. Did everything go okay?”
“Yeah. Saturdays really do draw a crowd. Rain’s goods sold pretty well too.”
As expected, the weekend customer turnout at the flea market was on a completely different level from weekdays. Also, on weekdays, the places you can participate without ID are quite limited, so going forward, it might be more efficient to basically only participate on weekends.
“Oh, where’s Aoi?”
“She’s holed up in her room making magic tools for the mansion. I’m about to start dinner—could you call her?”
“Of course.”
A delicious aroma was wafting from the kitchen. I’d been at the flea market from morning until evening today, and lunch was a simple affair, so I was starving. I was looking forward to dinner tonight too.
“Aoi, dinner’s almost ready. Is it okay if I come in?”
“Yes, please come in!”
I knocked on Aoi’s door, and after getting a response, I entered.
“Welcome home, Kakeru-sama.”
“I-I’m back. You did all this in one day?”
“Yes. I got various preparations in order today, so I’ll start working in earnest tomorrow.”
Aoi’s room was about the same size as mine—around 30 square meters—but in just one day, it had come to resemble a research lab.
Books from this world lined the shelves, and on a large table stood flasks, test tubes, and other equipment. Large tools engraved with magic circles of unknown purpose gave the room the unmistakable air of a magical tool workshop.
“How did things go for you, Kakeru-sama?”
“Yeah, there were definitely more customers since it was a holiday. Thanks to pricing things a bit low like before, quite a lot sold. We can talk details later. I brought a little souvenir too.”
“A souvenir… I look forward to it.”
“Today’s dinner was delicious too. It’s nice to have Chinese food once in a while.”
“I haven’t had tofu in ages. This level of spiciness is just right.”
“Hehe, you’re too kind. The Chinese soup was instant, though.”
Tonight’s dinner was mapo tofu, Chinese soup, rice, and salad.
The piping hot, sharp spiciness of the doubanjiang, the silky smooth snow-white tofu, and the savory minced meat. One bite and the heat made me crave white rice, and eating the rice made me crave more mapo tofu—a delicious cycle that repeated itself.
After yesterday’s meat and potato stew, the mapo tofu I hadn’t had in a while really hit the spot too. Having nothing but high-end cuisine for so long made me appreciate flavors like this. Even instant Chinese soup was incredibly tasty. You really can’t underestimate modern instant food.
“I bought dessert as a souvenir today.”
“Oh, shortcake! I feel like I haven’t seen this in forever!”
“And over here, mont blanc! It’s really been so long since I’ve seen Japanese cake!”
The money earned at the flea market was available for us to use as commission. Since sales were good today, I stopped by a cake shop and bought some cakes as souvenirs.
Shortcake, mont blanc, chocolate cake, fruit cake, cream puffs, and more. Including tomorrow’s portion, I chose a total of eight cakes—two per person. I’d bought Rain’s share too, of course, so I’d send it to him along with the manga.
“Pick whichever you like. We’ll eat the remaining three tomorrow.”
We took turns choosing our cakes—Yuuka picked the fruit cake, Aoi chose the mont blanc, and I went with the cream puff.
“…So sweet and delicious! Japanese cakes really are amazing!”
“The sweets in this world still can’t compare to Japan’s!”
The honeyed confections and galettes I’d eaten in the royal capital had used plenty of sugar and were sweet and delicious, but they apparently still couldn’t match proper Japanese cake.
Whether spread by Blessed Ones or not, the shops catering to nobles did sell sweets made with sweet cream and fruit, but those places had quite long lines, so I’d given up. In Japan, you can buy much tastier cakes without waiting in line.
Perhaps because it had been so long since I’d eaten such delicious cake, we ended up eating the extra one I’d saved for tomorrow right then and there.
“Bliss…”
“It was so good I ate two. Japanese sweets are dangerous—once you start, you can’t stop…”
Aoi and Yuuka wore expressions of pure bliss. They seemed thoroughly satisfied to finally eat Japanese cake again.
“The cake after so long was delicious. Thanks to Rain, we’ll be able to get Japanese money on a regular basis now. Is there anything else you two want from Japan?”