Volume 1, Extra: The encounter of a young boy. Part 2
Rutobias and Amelia got on the train carriage—moved by magic, not pulled by horses—in front of the academy and came to the center of the capital.
“I used my allowance last time I went, so I can’t buy anything today, okay?”
“It’s fine. I’ll pay for Amelia too.”
“Really!? Yay! What a reliable man you are, Ruto!”
Happy that Ruto would cover the bill, Amelia chattered about the store while they walked.
“It just opened around half a year ago on the tools street, but it’s a peculiar store.”
“Peculiar?”
“Yeah. It’s called Café Omoosbi, but it’s different from an inn or a tavern. There is no alcohol on the menu, and you can eat during the day and at night, but not in between. Lunch is around the 11th to 14th hour, and dinner is around the 17th to 20th hour.”
“Is it closed from the 14th to the 17th hour then?”
“Nope. That’s called teatime, when they serve tea.”
“It’s true we often drink tea around then…”
“Also, they serve desserts like the cookies I gave you today with the tea!”
“Desserts? Judging from what you just said, cookies fall under those desserts?”
“It seems so. There are lots more other than that! The cookies were good~”
“What? There are other kinds?”
“Of course! There are tons more, so I couldn’t try them all when I went with my friend last time!”
Amelia bounced in front of Rutobias while looking back every now and then.
Rutobias fell into deep thought, reconsidering his choice to buy more cookies.
However, even though Amelia said there were other kinds of desserts, he couldn’t even imagine what they were.
“Ah! There it is, it’s that store!”
“Wai- Amelia!”
Seeing the store come into view, Amelia started to run, dragging Rutobias behind her. Stumbling over himself, Rutobias followed her to the conspicuous red door of a small shop.
“Here! Let’s go in!”
Amelia opened the door and entered the shop with Rutobias behind her. As expected from seeing the outerior, the shop was quite small. Yet it was filled with people, as there were no empty seats.
“Ah…what should we do? I think it’s full.”
Amelia mumbled sadly.
Just then, a pair of women sitting at the counter stood up, ready to leave.
Seeing them, Amelia lightly pulled Rutobias’s sleeve and whispered, “over there,” to him. Rutobias chided the fidgeting girl with a look. While he waited for the seats to be cleared, he observed the rest of the shop.
There were many groups of women like the pair that just stood up from the counter. There were some men as well, but they were always in a pair with another woman.
The pair of women who sat at the counter paid their bill at the register near the entrance and moved past Rutobias and Amelia out the store, both with satisfied expressions on their faces.
“Welcome. Please have a seat over here.”
A women from behind the counter waved at Amelia and Rutobias to the empty seats.
“Let’s go, Ruto.”
Amelia pulled Rutobias to the seats that were a little deeper into the shop. Rutobias followed obediently.
They clambered onto the slightly taller bar stools, and the female employee handed Amelia and Rutobias each a menu.
“Welcome. Is this your first time here?”
“No, I’ve come here once. It’s Ruto, my friend’s first time, though.”
Amelia said nervously, to which the employee smiled warmly.
“Thank you for your second visit, and thank you for your first. Would you like me to explain the menu?”
Explain the menu? Why? Rutobias thought, but once he looked at it he understood. Aside from the drinks, all of the names were unfamiliar and strange.
“Yes please.”
Rutobias immediately answered.
“All right. Then first is the set. A dessert, we call them sweets here, can be ordered as a set with a drink. The set is cheaper by one ril than if you ordered them separately, so it is quite the bargain. However, water is served for free, so if you do not need a drink then you can order a dessert à la carte, on its own. Sweets go very well with tea, so personally I recommend going with a set. As for the sweets themselves, it is easier to see them so please wait a moment while I go fetch them.”
The employee explained, pointing at the menu while she did so. She left to bring the desserts—she called them sweets—from the kitchen.
“Ruto, that was the store owner! She opened this shop and thought up everything on the menu!”
“By herself?”
“Seems so, that’s what my friend’s sister said!”
Rutobias was astonished by Amelia’s words. Rutobias had assumed that the store owner was male and quite old.
However, the person who waited on them was a woman and looked as if she had just come of age.
While they whispered to each other, the woman Amelia said was the store owner returned with a tray in her hand.
“Thank you for your patience.”
She gently placed the tray down in front of Rutobias and Amelia. Rutobias gasped.
Lined up on the tray were things he had never seen before.
First, a triangular white thing caught his eye. Meichi was placed on top of it, showing a beautiful contrast between white and red. There was meichi inside as well, and the layers seen on the side alternated between yellow, white, and meichi.
“Here are the cakes of the day. From the left is a shortcake, cake roll, and fruit tart. These are the standard menu items—chiffon cake, pudding and cookies. The last one would melt if I brought it out, but there is also ice cream. That is a cold sweet with three different flavors for you to pick. If you are feeling peckish, I recommend french toast. French toast is sliced bread soaked in egg and milk, then grilled. It’s very good with our special sauce. If you don’t really care for sweet things, we also have meat pie. Meat pie is ground meat wrapped in stewed mallow and grilled. It’s perfect for a light meal.”
Rutobias looked back and forth between the tray and the menu while listening to her explanation, finding each item tempting.
Amelia also looked at the tray and the menu, unable to decide what she wanted.
To be completely honest, Rutobias wanted to try all of them. However even with the help of Amelia, two children wouldn’t be able to finish the amount of food, so he abandoned the thought.
He singled down to the white triangular dessert that the store owner explained was a shortcake. While he was interested in all the other food, he had absolutely no clue what the shortcake would taste like.
“Hey, do you know what you’re getting, Ruto? I’m still thinking.”
“I’ll have the shortcake.”
“Really!? Then I’ll have this fruit tart thing.”
It seems Amelia had been split over the shortcake or the fruit tart. Since Rutobias picked the shortcake, she picked the fruit tart by process of elimination.
The store owner smiled at them and confirmed their order.
“One shortcake and one fruit tart, then. Would you like a drink with that?”
“Since I’m here, I’ll have tea as well. What about you, Amelia?”
“I think I’ll have this.”
“Two of those then, please.”
“All right. I’ll get some water out for you right away.”
The store owner wrote down their orders on a small piece of paper and brought the tray to the back. She came out and placed two glasses of water in front of them before leaving again.
“So exciting! I hope it comes soon!”
Amelia said happily as she watched the store owner leave.
“Yeah…oh, what did you have last time you came here?”
“I had pudding, and my friend had this thing called, uhm…mill foy? Her sister had the chiffon cake. I had a bite of each and they were all so good, mmm. I’m really excited about the shortcake and the fruit tart, they didn’t have that last time!”
Amelia recounted the deliciousness from before ecstatically. Rutobias gave her his full attention. Usually he would only hear about half of what Amelia said, but today he seemed to drink up every word. Surprised, Amelia blinked at him.
“Wow, Ruto…it’s so rare for you to listen to me so earnestly…”
Pointed out by Amelia, Rutobias also wondered why he was so invested.
He had never been so interested in something before. Once he ate the cookies Amelia gave him, he felt as if he was driven to this shop. And once he got here, his curiosity only multiplied.
“Well, it can’t be helped since it’s all because of the desserts here! I mean, it’s so delicious! One day I’ll definitely try everything on the menu!”
Amelia was taken aback by Rutobias’s strange behavior, but decided not to think too much about it, instead making her own heart flutter by her dream.
“Thank you for waiting.”
After making some small talk, the store owner came with two plates. She placed the sweets down with a clink in front of Rutobias and Amelia.
“Whoa!”
Amelia couldn’t help but gasp. Around the shortcake was a streak of red syrup that hadn’t been on the sample. In addition, there was white powder like a thin layer of snow on top of Amelia’s fruit tart.
“This red is meichi sauce, and rest assured, the white on top of the fruit tart is sugar.”
The store owner smiled at the captivated Rutobias and Amelia and poured some tea from a teapot into two empty cups.
“Here, these two are hot so please be careful. Enjoy.”
Rutobias and Amelia reached for their forks, forgetting to answer the store owner.
Rutobias stuck his fork into the edge of the triangle. It was a little bouncy, but he pushed the fork to reach the plate and brought the piece to his mouth. He tentatively closed his mouth over it and his eyes widened. The white around the cake melted and a rich flavor spread throughout his mouth accompanied by sweetness.
Once he bit down on the piece, the flavor changed. In the middle was faint sweetness coming from the fluffy something in the middle, balancing out the sweet and sour taste of meichi.
The first bite disappeared so suddenly, so he reached for the second bite. Just then, he glanced at Amelia, who was sitting next to him, and their eyes met.
“Hey, hey, Ruto! Gimme a bite!”
Amelia smiled from ear to ear, staring straight at Rutobias’s shortcake.
Rutobias also grew curious about Amelia’s fruit tart.
“…Let’s trade.”
“Okay!”
They traded plates, and Rutobias brought a piece of fruit tart to his mouth.
Under the colorful fruits was some thick sauce, with a base similar to the cookies they had at the academy a while ago.
The fruit tart was yet another different flavor from the shortcake. The sourness from the fruits mixed with the sweetness of the thick sauce, creating a unique, yet fun texture with the flakiness of the pie base.
“This is really good too~”
Amelia ate a bite of Rutobias’s shortcake and placed her hand on her cheek in pure bliss.
“The fruit tart is good too.”
“Right, right?”
Amelia excitedly replied to Rutobias’s thoughts.
They traded their plates again after a bite.
Rutobias wet his mouth with the tea and began to eat again, slowly this time.
By the time he was halfway through, Amelia’s plate was already clean.
He felt someone’s stare from next to him, but upon turning he saw Amelia’s pleading eyes. Before she could say anything, Rutobias turned back so he couldn’t see Amelia and began to eat faster.
Once it was all in his stomach, he took a breath while sipping the slightly cooled tea.
That fluffy texture with the smooth sweetness from the white…
Reflecting on the aftertaste, suddenly Rutobias was struck with a violent curiosity for how it was made and what the ingredients were.
Since he had come, he may as well ask the store owner herself about everything. So Rutobias thought, but when he looked around he didn’t see her. Instead, he spotted a girl around the same age as the store owner waiting on another table, and a male employee at the register near the counter calculating a bill.
They both seemed busy and it didn’t look like he could easily ask them where the store owner was. The shop was still as busy as when Rutobias and Amelia had entered. Guests that got up to leave were immediately replaced by new, hungry ones.
It wouldn’t be appropriate to stay long, Rutobias thought, and he stood up.
“Ruto, are we leaving?”
“There are people waiting after all.”
Amelia nodded to Rutobias’s words, finished her tea and got off the bar stool.
Rutobias paid for both of their orders, purchased the cookies he originally came for, and the two of them left the shop.
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