Chapter 103: I Can’t Do It Alone
Kino-kun appeared at the shed with a message:
“Thank you so, so much for the potato chips, popcorn, rice balls, and miso soup. I can talk about anything, so if possible, I’d like to meet and talk with you sometime. How about it?”
He seemed surprised by Mimi and Kirara. Sorry, I hadn’t told you that much.
“Uh, Mimi and Kirara are my familiars? They’re like family, so it’s okay to talk about anything,” I introduced them, and he looked relieved.
“Nice to meet you.”
“Welcome.”
“Nice to meet you. Sorry to intrude.”
I think Kino-kun is a polite and good kid.
“Everyone was really, really happy. Including me of course. Thank you so much, Saki-san.”
“I’m glad. You’re welcome.”
I also wanted to meet and talk to the other heroes. We set a date and time. Considering the heroes’ schedules and my own thoughts, we decided he would come to the hut around noon three days later.
After that, I was very, very busy.
I wondered how much five high school boys—four of whom were guys—would eat.
I’d heard rumors that high school boys eat a ridiculous amount of food. I’d even heard stories about them eating a whole loaf of bread before going out to actually eat.
Even if there was leftover food, the other party had a time-stop storage, so I can go all out.
The rice that Kirara polished for me has now become less than half its original weight, so there was probably under 4 kg left.
Assuming one gou is about 150g, so one sho (1.5 kg) means two sho is 3 kg— which might be just barely enough.
Maybe I should buy some more.
So, I thought: make curry, cook rice, make fried rice.
We’d need meat too, right? Fried chicken? Will I need lots of chicken?
For fried stuff, I want to add summer vegetables fried tempura-style to the curry.
Cheese topping would be good too.
Oh, French fries. Let’s fill their stomachs with potatoes.
Potatoes could also make nikujaga (meat and potato stew).
Summer vegetable salad with mayonnaise on top.
Should I boil corn and edamame too?
Wait, there’s no way I can do all this alone…
Even if I get Mimi and Kirara to help me.
Why don’t I have time-stop in my storage? Because I cut it out. I know. It’s too late to regret now.
After some thought, I decided to honestly ask for help.
When it comes to cooking, it has to be Martha-san. I’d also like to borrow Luna’s help a little too.
Also, the shed is too small, so maybe I should ask Hakase-san to borrow a place.
We’ll be borrowing Larry-san’s bread oven to prepare curry and the meat and potato stew. Oh, I should ask for curry bread and sweet bean bread too.
I wonder if I could ask Nipopo-san for cheese and other ingredients that are a little rare here. If I can get some Martha beef, I’d like to put it in curry.
First, I went to Jude-san’s house and asked.
“Martha-san, please lend me your strength. Also, I want a bit of help from Luna.”
“Oh, sure.”
“Okay!”
Martha-san and Luna answered immediately. Jude-san sighed, probably sensing something from my face.
“If the person herself says it’s okay, then fine. But let me hear what exactly you’re trying to do…”
“Well, cooking, um, things from my hometown…”
“Your Hometown?”
Jude-san’s green eyes narrowed. I stammered an explanation.
Wait, come to think of it, I don’t think I properly explained the situation to Martha-san. I kind of felt like I’d already told her everything. Or rather, I really feel like she’s already figured out a lot of things…
I explained to Martha-san again: about the heroes and wanting to feed them to their heart’s content. Also that we hadn’t decided on a location yet.
“Oh, I see. Then we have to make lots of delicious food. You’ll teach me how, right? I will help you.”
Martha-san’s reaction was so casual and accepting it surprised me.
“To me, Saki-san is the person who made Luna-chan feel better. Everything else doesn’t matter,” Martha-san said with a smile.
“That’s right,” Jude-san said, his mouth relaxing. I don’t know why, but the pressure has eased.
“You can use our place,” Jude-san offered.
“Um,”
“Use it,”
“Yes.”
“What can I help you with?”
Luna asked with sparkling eyes.
Ah, I want Luna to blossom and multiply a bit.
If I can make saffron rice to go with the curry, it’d be really good.
Saffron, said to be the most expensive spice, is actually the stigma of a flower.
Saffron is a bulbous plant with pretty purple flowers that resemble crocuses.
I’ve never bought saffron as a spice, but I had bought saffron bulbs before.
At the bulb section of a home improvement store, saffron bulbs that were about to bloom were on sale at a surprising discounted price of 100 yen for a pack of 10.
Saffron bulbs are very hardy, so strong that if you just leave them indoors without planting them, they bloom. It’s an amazing plant. I saw some buds were even swelling through the mesh at the store. I felt so sorry for them that I asked them if they wanted to come to my house and bought some to take home. I was worried I might crush the buds, so I just held them in my hand.
I let half of them bloom as is, and planted the other half in soil. The bulbs multiplied greatly.
It’s a bit difficult to grow bulbs large enough to bloom in Japan’s climate. The following year, only a few bloomed, but since the bulbs multiply easily, growing more is simple.
Luna should be able to mass-produce them.
With such strong allies by my side, I went here and there to asking for favors and gathering the ingredients.
Then…
I calculated carefully. Even if I manage with the ingredients I have, I wanted to buy the seasonings I’d likely need today and tomorrow within the thousand yen.
* Curry roux
* Soy sauce
* Sake
* Sugar
* Mirin
* Potato starch
* Flour
* Chinese soup stock
* Mayonnaise
Are they necessary?
I can buy it at the lowest prices available, but it’s still pretty tight.