Chapter 55: What About Tonkatsu?
When we entered the room, it was a spacious Japanese-style room.
The atmosphere was calming, and sunlight filtering through the shoji screens filled the room with a soft brightness.
“Japanese-style rooms really are relaxing.”
“Yeah. I never thought much about them before. If anything, I used to prefer Western-style rooms. But after being away for ten years, I find this much more relaxing.”
Absolutely. I completely agreed.
We went to the little space by the window whose name I didn’t know and opened the shoji screens.
Beyond them, mountains and a river formed another beautiful Japanese landscape, unlike anything we had seen so far.
“Nice.”
“Yeah. I like the ocean, too, but I like this as well. It makes me feel as though we really have come home.”
Exactly.
“Ah, we should get changed. Those two overexcited women are waiting for us.”
“I’m hungry, too. Okay, I’ll go change over there.”
Ayaka took a yukata from the closet and headed toward the changing area.
I took one as well and changed right there.
“Let’s see… Which way was it again? I’d better look it up.”
I took out my smartphone and searched for instructions on how to wear a yukata properly.
Apparently, the left side was supposed to go over the right.
“I guess this is about right?”
Spatial magic was convenient, but yukata didn’t have pockets for carrying valuables such as smartphones.
“Yuu, are you ready?”
Ayaka called out from behind the door.
“I’m changed.”
After I answered, Ayaka came out.
She wore a floral-patterned yukata that perfectly suited her adorable appearance.
Succubi had nothing on her.
“Looks good.”
“Right? Yours looks good on you too, Yuu.”
“Japanese people really do look at home in clothes like these.”
“Right?”
We nodded to each other and left the room.
Takamiya and Kitaura were already waiting for us.
Both of them were wearing floral-patterned yukata as well, and they looked great in them.
“Sorry to keep you waiting.”
“Oh, Ayaka, you look great.”
“As expected of Ayaka.”
Exactly.
“You two look great as well. Somehow, this feels like a school trip. I like it.”
The school trip we had never been able to take, that is.
We had been supposed to go in the autumn of our second year.
“Right? Okay, let’s go get lunch.”
We headed toward the elevator and pressed the button for the second floor.
“Come to think of it, there aren’t any other guests.”
“It’s still lunchtime. What was it like in Beppu?”
Takamiya asked.
“Pretty much the same. More people started showing up toward evening. I don’t know what the women’s bath was like, but the men’s large communal bath was similar.”
“The women’s bath was about the same. There weren’t many people at first, but it became crowded at night. Oh, and if a slime enters the bath, don’t joke, ‘It’s a girl?!’ okay?”
She did say that.
“Sounds fun.”
“The experience is complete once you go in with Linda and suffer that crushing sense of defeat.”
I remembered looking at the orc with respect.
Well, perhaps I hadn’t stared that much.
We arrived on the second floor and immediately entered the restaurant nearby.
Even though it was a restaurant, the interior had a distinctly Japanese atmosphere.
“There’s nobody here.”
“Are they even open?”
“Welcome! Sit wherever you like!”
A man’s voice came from the kitchen in the back, so we picked a random table.
As usual, Ayaka and I sat beside each other, with Takamiya and Kitaura opposite us.
“What should I get?”
“Given the atmosphere, shouldn’t we choose Japanese food?”
Takamiya and Kitaura happily looked through the menu.
“I’m getting this.”
There were all sorts of dishes on the menu, but one immediately caught my eye, so I pointed to it.
“Curry…”
“Man, that takes me back…”
“I’m getting this too.”
Kitaura pointed at the curry as well.
“Curry at a hot-spring ryokan, huh… But I guess I’ll have it too.”
“Excuse me! Four curries, please!”
Takamiya placed the order.
“Okay! Just wait a little!”
A reply came from the kitchen.
“Isn’t this incredible? It’s curry!”
“Yabatani-en.”
Definitely yabatani-en.
After a short wait, a humanoid demon with numerous arms approached, carrying four plates of curry and four glasses of water.
“Sorry to keep you waiting! Here’s your curry! I was bored, so I added boiled eggs as a topping. It’s delicious!”
“Th-thank you…”
He had an absurd amount of mana.
He was definitely a boss character.
“Are you the chef?”
Ayaka asked.
“That’s right! I love cooking, so I work here. Take your time and enjoy yourselves!”
The chef set down the curry and water, then headed back to the kitchen.
“Huh? What was that?”
“I don’t know… but he had even more mana than that Medusa innkeeper.”
An absurdly powerful demon was simply working here as though it were nothing…
“Well, whatever. Let’s eat.”
“Yeah. It looks delicious.”
We picked up our spoons and dug into the curry. The spicy aroma, moderate heat, and, above all, the rich savoriness clinging to every grain of rice were incredible.
“This is it…”
“So good…”
“It’s Indian food, but it still feels like coming home to Japan.”
“The chicken… so good…”
Kitaura-san… She was crying.
“What else do you want to eat? I want tonkatsu.”
I wanted katsu curry.
“Oyakodon. That was my specialty.”
Ayaka really was the homemaking type.
“Pancakes covered in honey.”
Sorry, Takamiya-san.
I had only ever eaten hotcakes.
“Takikomi gohan.”
Nice…
Such a refined choice.
“Let’s eat all sorts of things from now on. The fugu was great, but let’s focus on food that feels like home.”
“Yeah.”
“Right?”
“It might be nice to stay somewhere with a kitchen we can use.”
That might be nice.
I wanted oyakodon.