Chapter 84 – Short Story: Nostalgic Ice Cream

It’s hot today! Really hot.

It’s muggy and sticky.

“My eyes are spinning…”

Mimi, who seems to be weak against heat, was looking wilted.

Apparently, she’s more comfortable in human form than as a lizard.

Are you okay? You’re not going to dry out under the sun, are you?

That thought pokes at an old trauma a little…

Sudden changes in temperature are rough, aren’t they?

Kirara didn’t seem too bothered, though she was clearly uncomfortable with the sweat collecting in her cleavage.

“You sweat?”

I asked, and she replied,

“It’s something like pores.”

Oh, I see, eh?

When it’s hot, I want to eat something cold. Even if just for a moment, cold food makes you feel cooler.

And this might just be the perfect moment for my 1,000 yen Repeat purchase to shine.

That’s because—back in the day—ice cream was cheap.

Thinking back, the soda-flavored ice pops famous for their crunchy texture were once only 50 yen.

There was also a type of ice cream called Soda Soda that you split into two pieces, which is probably no longer available. I think you could also buy that for 50 yen.

There was even a locally-sold ice pop similar to Soda Soda that I remember buying for 30 yen.

When I looked up “soda ice pop,” I found a record of one that was 30-yen, so it must have been that.

When I bought one with 1,000 yen repeat purchase, the packaging has Aesop’s fable of the “Sour Grapes” written on it. Seeing the picture of the fox and grapes brings back a wave of nostalgia and think, “Ah, this is it.”

“Mimi, Kirara— I’ll break this apart for you, so eat up.”

I snap it open with a crack right through the bag. With these kinds, if you try to break them after taking them out of the bag, they don’t break cleanly.

And when they do snap, there’s always that struggle over who gets the side with the thicker middle part.

But today, I pulled rank and gave the chunkier half to Mimi, and the thinner one to Kirara.

Mimi weakly put the blue soda bar in her mouth—

“It’s cold! It’s delicious!”

—and instantly perked up. She seemed to enjoy the fun crunch and the taste.

Kirara also said,

“It cooled me down,”

As she narrowed her eyes in contentment.

Snapping that bar reminded me of another kind of ice treat: “pokkin ice” (a.k.a. “chu-chu” ice).

Apparently, the name differs depending on the region.

You know the one—you try to snap it, but it doesn’t break properly and ends up looking like a little cup on one side. Classic.

There’s also the twist-off kind, but then the twisted end gets all frayed and rubs against your mouth, which is a bit unpleasant.

I wanted to eat pokkin ice, but that type is sold at room temperature and then you freeze it at home. I don’t recall ever seeing them already frozen. Too bad.

　

Pokkin ice doesn’t stand upright on its own once it’s snapped. So there’s no one to share it with, I fold it in half and wedge one half in the gap between the sofa or lean it against something. And then forget about it—until ants show up. Yeah… I screamed that time. It’s a dangerous snack.　 

Now I want some ice cream too. But what should I have?

Speaking of cheap ice cream, there was a vanilla one with a baseball-themed name, right? I seem to remember it being around 30 yen, so I looked it up…

Found it!

Yep, 30 yen. A square ice cream wrapped in silver foil.

I bought one with a nostalgic feeling.

The sweet taste of milk filled my mouth.

Ahh, delicious!

“I finished mine…”

Mimi looked sad after finishing her soda ice pop.

I should give her something else.

Ah—there’s that one ice treat that’s great for sharing!

I buy the ice cream that comes up in my search and look at it with nostalgia.

Inside the bag were five small sherbet pops on sticks—like tulip-shaped one-bite ices, bundled like a bouquet. Super tasty.

I’ll just have one.

“Have two each.”

I told them.

“Which color is the tastiest?”

“I want the pink one!”

They chatted as they split them up.

Honestly, I don’t think the taste will be that different. It’s cheap, so it probably doesn’t contain any fruit juice.

After that, we enjoyed all kinds of nostalgic ice cream, including ice cream served in containers shaped like melons and mandarin oranges, and the vanilla ones in little balloon-like containers that you suck from after breaking the tip.

If we eat too much, though, we’ll end up with headaches or upset stomachs.

So let’s stop here for today.

“That was delicious!”

Mimi had revived and was back to her usual cheerful self.

Those old ice creams always had frost all over them when you pulled them out. So nostalgic.

Back then, freezers would frost up like crazy. I used to scrape the ice off and play with it.

Sometimes, you had to scrape it just to get the ice cream out.

It was cheaper to buy rock ice than ice cream, but I never did get around to buying a shaved ice machine, which is a bit of a regret.

I wonder if I can get it made somewhere.

I used to love shaved ice with plum syrup on it.

I think that would be perfect for helping Mimi beat the summer heat…

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