“I want something from Spice Café.”
“What café…?”
“Oh, you haven’t been there yet? It’s in a residential area to the east of here. That’s the best I can describe it. Anyway, it’s just a little bit too far from the station, so it’s always super quiet there. The café’s in a remodeled traditional house. Their curry is to die for! The best of the best! They make a proper curry with their own spice blend, but each dish has a unique flavor, and they’re all amazing! I recommend the prawn curry and lamb keema. It’s not like your usual prawn curry where they just add prawns as a topping. No, no! It’s completely different! They use stock made from prawns, and it’s incredible! You’ll be in heaven when you have a taste. I guarantee it! And the lamb keema is spicy, but you can really taste the delicious lamb. The spices are a perfect accompaniment to it… Oh, but actually, my top recommendation is… Well, they’re not doing it right now. It’s a winter special. Anyway, it’s oyster curry. You’re going to be so surprised when you have some! Sure, it’s curry, and it’s spicy…but at the same time, it’s velvety like a creamy soup! It’s not just delicious. It’s got this rich umami! You won’t believe how good it is! You’ll feel like your body’s being filled with creamy deliciousness!”
While Chisato went on and on, Takina watched her with a stony gaze.
“Sorry, but no, you can’t have curry.”
“Why not?!”
“You’re not well. It will be too hard on your body to digest that.”
“But wait! Spices are used in traditional Chinese medicine, no? Which means they have healing properties!”
“That sort of tenuous reasoning is how you got sick in the first place.”
“No curry for me, then? Well, okay, but let’s go to Spice Café together sometime. For lunch. I’m dying to have their curry now!”
“We can go there when you recover.”
“Cool! You know, it’s best if it’s just you and me. They don’t really have many tables for more than two people. There’s always a line outside, so you can’t really hope a bigger table will free up just when you need it. You normally order one or two different curries… Oh, right, we’ll be going there for lunch, so we should each order two different ones and share them! That way, we’ll get to taste four different kinds in a single visit!”
“Yes, okay, we’ll do that.”
“Oh, and the rice! It comes with achar, which is like pickles, on top, and it’s not just to fill you up. It’s nice to get all those extras.”
“Chisato…”
“And the little dessert and coffee you get at the end are delicious, too!”
“I’m sure they are. We can talk about this some other time. What will you eat now? Something not hard to digest.”
“Um… Hmm… What else do I feel like eating…? Um…”
Chisato began thinking again, her gaze wandering as if she was following her thoughts around the room with her eyes. Her gaze stopped on the calendar on the wall.
“Oh…”
“Do you know what you want?”
“Yeah, but… Not sure I can ask for that…”
Chisato folded her arms and cocked her head to the side.
“But it’ll be extra work for you…,” she said.
“Is it something time-consuming?”
“Yeah. Sekihan.”
“Sticky rice is supposed to be bad for digestion.”
“But there’s no oil in the dish!”
“Yes, that’s true. It should be very nutritious, too… But if I start cooking that now, it will be quite late by the time it’s ready.”
“Oh, I don’t want you to make it yourself. It’s time-consuming because you’d have to get it tomorrow morning.”
“Sorry… Can you explain why?”
Chisato told Takina that she wanted red bean rice from a Japanese confectionery store on Kirakira Tachibana Shopping Street.
“But I could just go there now?”
“No, you see, they have a special early morning market day on that street tomorrow, and that’s when the confectionery store will be selling freshly steamed sekihan. I remember it being really good!”
Now Takina understood why getting the food for Chisato would be time-consuming—she’d have to get up early in the morning to go to that market.
“I can get it for you. It’s not a problem.”
“What, really?! You’ll buy me the sekihan?! You’ll have to be at the store super early! Oh, I’m so happy!”
“It’s no trouble at all, but we were talking about your dinner.”
“Oh right. The sekihan will be for tomorrow.”
“Well… I could boil some udon noodles for you. Will that be okay?”
They had quite a good amount of udon noodles in the freezer. Takina would only need to make some extra broth to feed both Chisato and the staff staying for the board game meetup. It would save her time. She was quite pleased with this idea.
“Oh, sure!”
“I might as well make udon soup. We should have a small clay pot somewhere. How about that? Hot udon soup with egg?”
“Sounds amazing! You sure you don’t mind cooking that for me?”
“I don’t mind doing that much for you.”
Takina had seen Mizuki make boiled tofu in a small nabe another day, so there must be at least one pot in the kitchen. Chisato would get her noodle soup served in that, while the other members would get theirs in wooden or porcelain bowls.
“I’ll go cook. You take it easy.”
“Okaaay!”
Chisato quickly lay down, pulling the cover over herself. She was smiling, her eyes darting to steal looks at Takina like a little child. The thought made Takina smile under the flu mask.
The wet towel fell off Chisato’s head when she lay down. Takina picked it up, placed it back on Chisato’s forehead, and stood up to leave.
“Thanks, Takina.”
It tickled Takina to have Chisato thank her like this, but she didn’t show it.
“I haven’t done anything yet. You can thank me later if you like the food.”
Takina left the room, closing the door behind her. She took off the face mask and the gloves and headed to the kitchen. They should have scallions in the fridge. She could fry them slowly, until they became melt-in-your-mouth soft on the inside, and use that as a topping for the noodles. Yes, she’d do that.