Chapter 136: Fill Your Stomach at the Sweets Shop
We tried various street foods such as yakitori, pork miso soup, grilled shellfish skewer, and mazegohan, we are currently sitting on a chair in a Japanese sweets shop near the river to rest.
There is no back seat on the chair, it only has a red cloth spread on it, it’s just like those red Japanese-style sweets shop chairs.
There is a huge river in front of me, and beside the river is the charming view of the weeping willows growing and swaying from side to side.
The weather is also nice today, it’s also not bad to relax and sit outside like this.
「Haaー, I’m tired. Walking around wearing unfamiliar footwear makes my feet a bit tiredー」
「Told you, you should have chosen one with lower sole」
While complaining listlessly, Irvine and Mort also sit down on the chair.
「I’m sure it’s this place, right? The place the uncle from the stall recommended to us!」
「I’m looking forward to the sweet, soft, and chewy dango!」
Maybe they really like sweet things, since the girls who wear the unfamiliar kimono and footwear show no signs of fatigue at all. Instead, it’s as if the real thing is just about to begin for them.
Even though they should have eaten a lot of foods from the stalls, how can they still eat more sweets I wonder?
I knew it, that’s probably because they loosened up their obi, huh. I feel that the obi wrapping around Aleutia and Ilya’s belly is swelling somewhat. It’s the correct decision to loosen them up.
「……Alfried-sama, you’re kept staring at our obi right now?」
「……may I ask you what are you thinking right now?」
When I was thinking about such things, Aleutia and Ilya asked me with a cold smile on their faces.
I wonder how could they make such a pinpoint guess?
Even while I was impatient inwardly, I kept a composed expression.
「……nothing in particular」
「Suspicious」
「So suspicious」
When Aleutia and Ilya readily leaned forward, a female voice can be heard coming from the Japanese sweets shop building.
「Welcomeー. What would you like to order dear customers?」
The employee came out while talking politely to us and smiling amiably.
I felt that she’s like the pretty girl who attracts customers, wearing pink Kagura clothes and strings tied around her sleeves.
I’m grateful for the good timing of the employee's arrival.
「Dango! Please give us dango and green tea for each of us!」
「We have skewered dango and mitarashi dango in sweet soy sauce glaze, but which would you prefer customers?」
「Both of them, two for each of us please!」
Aleutia and Ilya place their order, while we have no time to cut into the conversation.
It appears that they are not flustered by the employee’s question, because they have made enough preparation by finding out some information about them beforehand.
That skewered dango is probably a dango that has no tare sauce on it, while mitarashi dango would probably be the said dango with sweet tare sauce spread on top of them.
The employee turned her eyes to the men as if saying 「Is this alright?」, so the guys nodded for now. Right away
Or rather, it can be said that we can’t help but nod after being pushed by the excited state of Aleutia and Ilya.
Though, when their tension was so high when they were drinking Kagura sake while having yakitori and skewered shellfish. Apparently, it appears that they prefer foods like snacks and sake rather than sweets.
The employee wrote down our order and return to the shop with a graceful movement.
When she passed through the mugwort-colored noren, we can hear a voice saying 『So it’s twelve dango and twelve mitarashi dangoー』.
It was a different carefree voice from before, I wonder if the one grilling the skewered dangos is her father? At any rate, this place has such a peaceful atmosphere.
I sat again on the chair, turned my upper body facing back and put my hands behind me and look the scenery at the back.
There are all sorts of private houses built on the opposite bank of the river, and I can see the figures of people walking on the street from between the houses.
The people of Kagura who are moving busily, I can sometimes hear the cheerful voices of people that seem to be coming from somewhere far away. While the place we are located is so quiet, and the river in front of us are flowing calmly.
Leaves are floating slowly on the water surface, and I can hear the sound of paddles from a small Japanese-type boat.
The sight of someone paddling a Japanese boat on the water is unusual for me, so I continue staring at it.
And it looks like Roomba also has the same idea as me, his eyes absent-mindedly following the boat.
「……it’s a woman」
「Yeah, that body shape, no doubt about it」
Irvine and Mort muttered, as though they were absolutely convinced.
It appears that the person who is paddling that Japanese boat is a woman.
I thought that the person looks a little slender, but then it became clear to me.
When we were staring at the Japanese boat and the weeping willows like that, our orders arrived.
First, the warm green tea is being served, after that are the plates of skewered dango and mitarashi dango.
「Waaa! This is it! It smells really good!」
「The sauce smells very fragrant, aren’t they!」
I reach out for the warm green tea first, it probably makes me look very old-man-ish, huh?
The women - Aleutia and Ilya - are delighted with the mitarashi dango, while Roomba, Irvine, and Mort reach for the skewered dango as if to immediately taste.
No no, normally you would drink warm tea and take a breather, right?
「Suuu……haa, it’s soothing」
「Uoooh! What’s this!? It’s soft and chewy!?」
「Try this one with the tare sauce on it Irvine! It’s savory and delicious!?」
「Really? This looks sweet somehow……… delishh! Looks like we can eat this with liquor!」
Roomba, Mort, and Irvine happily shouted.
It’s no use somehow, so I decided to just take the mitarashi dango.
It must have been grilled a short while ago. There was a slight warm hot air coming off from the dango when I hold it in my hand.
I blow on it for just a short while, then I pull out one dango from the skewer slowly.
And then, the soft and chewy dango rolled on top of my tongue. While it’s hot, the burnt surface of the dango made a crunchy sound when I chew it, and the savory taste of the soy sauce spreads on my tongue.
And the more I chew it, I felt as if the elasticity of the dango pushing back my teeth, the inside of my mouth is currently so interesting.
Being born in this different world, I feel that this is the first time for me to encounter this kind of fluffy food.
「It’s amazingー. To think that there’s such a soft and fluffy sweet 」
「It has a completely different elasticity from freshly baked bread, isn’t it. It’s interesting to eat.」
Aleutia and Ilya also look so delighted with the flavor of the dango, they happily eat them while smiling broadly.
While holding down our sleeve so that won’t get covered with the sauce, our figures look like the people of Kagura as we eat elegantly, making a beautiful sight. I thought like that while sipping on the hot green tea.
◆
「……uuー, I’m stuffed」
「……mou, I don’t want to walk anymore. I want to loosen up my obi, but in that case, then I feel like I’m losing」
Ilya and Aleuta moaned.
Ilya and Aleutia - who came across such novel sweets - continue to ask for another serving of dangos, competing with Roomba as to who can eat more of them.
Normally, they probably know that they are absolutely no match for Roomba, but they keep eating the sweets as their tension increased and so the two of them attempted to challenge Roomba.
「What, you girls finished already? You could eat more, right?」
But still, they were no match for Roomba.
In contrast with the two of them who are moaning painfully, Roomba is eating the dango calmly.
He ate two dangos in one go, a powerful man who eat the remaining two of the dango following after the first two.
In other words, he looks like a squirrel with two round dangos inside his mouth, making a surreal spectacle.
「……I can’t eat anymore」
「I’m…done…」
Ilya and Aleutia moaned while rubbing their bulging obi that swelled up even more than before.
「We probably can’t win against Roomba-san, don’t you think」
「…………if we have a lot of ‘dessert stomach’………I think we can win……」
Aleutia painfully replied to Irvine’s remark.
Women usually say that they have more than one stomach for dessert, don't they?
I’ve heard that women have a lot of secrets, but this is the first time I learned that they have so many stomachs for dessert. Women’s body is wrapped up in mysteries as always.
「Can you walk back to the ryokan? 」
When I ask, Aleutia and Ilya only shake their heads in silence.
Maybe, if they were inside their Japanese-style room in the ryokan, they would probably lie down while moaning 「Aahー」.
Even so, this is troubling. The sun is about to set and it’s going to be evening soon.
We can leave these two behind in this kind of state. They would probably need about one hour until they can recover and be able to walk again though.
And then we slowly return to the ryokan, by the time we arrive at the ryokan it’s going to be way past dinner time.
「If it’s hard for dear guests to walk back, why don’t you try using a Kagura boat to return? 」
Just when I was thinking of letting Roomba, Irvine, or even Mort give them a piggyback, the employee of the sweets shops timidly proposed.
「By Kagura boat, you mean those boats on the river right?」
「Yes, those. If you called out and negotiate with the boatman over there, they can take you back close to your desired destination」
The employee pointed in the direction of the river, and when we looked over there, the boatmen on the boat are waving at us.
Apparently, there seem to be a lot of people who ride a boat to return from this sweets shop. They are probably regular customers.
「Can they really take us even to a place called Hidamari Inn with no problem? 」
「If it’s that ryokan, then it’s a short walk after you got off from the river in the west residential area」
I see, it appears that the river is passing through even more places in Kagura than I thought. Come to think of it, we often saw the river while we were walking around.
We can comfortably enjoy the scenery of Kagura, while Ilya and Aleutia can also recover their physical condition on the boat.
Being able to see the streets of Kagura from the boat is not a bad idea.
「Why don’t we go back riding the boat everyone?」
「Yeah. Giving them piggyback while wearing geta is bone-breakingly hard, and most importantly it’s embarrassing.」
When you calmly think about it, it’s quite embarrassing for a man to piggyback a woman and walk throughout the town.
「It’s great to be able to get back just by riding a boat, isn’t it?」
「It’s not a bad idea to go back while the boat is proceeding along the river」
Following that, Mort and Irvine also agree with the suggestion.
「Ilya, Aleutia, that’s okay with you? You’re going to be alright since you just have to stay on the boat, right?」
「「Pl, please」」
When I asked Ilya and Aleutia again, they weakly answered, somehow feeling as if they mustered all of their strength to do so.
I wonder if they would throw up because of the swaying of the boat? That’s the only thing I’m worried about.
1. Sweets shop here means the Japanese-style sweets shop
2. Mazegohan, mixed rice with other ingredients.
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