Chapter 135: Grilled Onigiri
Chapter 135: Grilled Onigiri
Now that we’re ready, we start to walk down the main street of Kagura.
The main street of Kagura is unbelievably long and wide. And since there are a lot of shops lined up along the street, the main street was crowded with people.
The field of view is almost covered with countless people wearing Kagura clothes, painting our sight with vibrant color.
「Everyone is wearing Kagura clothes, making our view so vibrant.」
「That’s true. Everyone is wearing beautiful Kagura clothes, we will not get bored even when we’re just walking around.」
「When you look at them, it’s like, that look niceー, oh that one is also niceー, isn’t it」
Ilya and Aleutia cheerfully nodded hearing my remark.
「Ahh, that white and pink Kagura clothes will look great for Ilya!」
「That’s a bit too cute for me, after all. Aleutia look, that blue Kagura clothes with white flowers on them will on the white flower will suit you if you’re dressed in that!」
「Don’t you think that’s too elegant? I wonder if it will suit me?」
「I think that your deep blue hair and the white Kagura clothes will definitely charm people if you wear them!」
Indeed, women. Just like that, they left out a guy like me.
「……hey, Mort」
「What is it, Irvine-san」
「Don’t you think that Kagura people exposed too little of their skin?」
「That’s right. Everyone is wearing a kimono anyway. But occasionally the silhouette of their butt can be seen distinctly and it strikes a chord within me. How should I put it, their elegant manner and attire, it’s like the eroticism suddenly―― 」
Well, the conversations among men are this kind of thing.
I don’t hate that kind of conversation, but at any rate, I’m still seven years old. So I must choose the appropriate contents of the conversation.
We went to the trouble of sightseeing in Kagura, so let’s enjoy Kagura’s atmosphere even more, without having some strange conversation.
I moved a bit away from Ilya and Aleutia - who was having such a brilliant conversation -, and moved closer to Roomba.
There are all sorts of buildings made of wood lined up on the main street, unfamiliar ingredients, miscellaneous goods, and the like are being displayed.
An employee called out to the people who walked on the main street, a woman boasting her shop merchandise in a loud voice.
Customers who react to them, voices of people negotiating the prices. I can hear the lively voices of people who lined up the street and people shouting to make way for their cart, it feels like a festival in some way.
Even just by walking in this kind of place, it made me feel like I’m part of this place’s ambience and it is pleasant.
「……oi, Al. It’s like the incredibly nice smell of soy sauce.」
Just when I was looking at the scenery of Kagura and thinking about such things, Romba sniffed the air「*sniff sniff*」 and began to say that.
When I also tried to perceive it with my nose, a faint burnt-like, fragrant smell of soy sauce tickled my nostril.
This is, could it be………!
This smell, it reminds me of the name of one food.
「Roomba! Let’s try to find it!」
「Ou!」
As if he’s waiting for those words, Roomba lifted me up and gave me a shoulder ride.
My visual field suddenly became higher, and from looking up to the people walking down on the main street, now I overlook them.
Since Roomba is quite taller than the general populace, even each person’s hair whorl who walks in front of us looks quite nice.
Since my visual field was always blocked by the figures of people, for it to instantly clear up felt exhilarating.
Now that I am able to look over Kagura’s main street, I can find the food that interests me while searching for the source of the smell.
「There it is! Roomba! That way!」
「Okay! Come on, you guys!」
When I pointed to the stall that is the objective, Roomba called out to Irvine and the others and stepped forward.
「Oh? What’s the matter, so suddenly?」
「Don’t know」
「I wonder if there is something nice?」
「Ah, there is a really nice smell coming from the direction Roomba-san is going! Let’s go there!」
Though late, the members of Silver Wind in the back come chasing after us at a quick pace.
But they look to have difficulties running, perhaps it’s because Irvine and Mort are wearing geta and Aleutia and Ilya were not used to wearing Kagura clothes.
Oh well, if you look at my figure who is leading them, you probably would not lose sight of us.
With that thought in mind, I turn my gaze to the front.
「Oooh!? ……ah?」
When Roomba - who has a frightening face and look like the boss of the back-alley - walking down the street, it will be extremely simple for people to open a path, but after that, they will tilt their head to the side, confused with me who is on Roomba’s shoulder.
When they thought that it was such a frightening person passing, then it will be something that will make them confused whether he’s a kind person or not, since he’s giving a small kid a ride on his shoulder.
In any case, it’s convenient for people to open a path of their own since we can rapidly advance.
And then, we finally arrived at the stall that is our objective.
「………we, welcome」
The old man stiffened after he looked up at Roomba.
There is a large net near the old man, and there is a lot of onigiri scattered about on top of it.
Yes, it’s grilled onigiri.
It’s a simple and delicious food where you just add soy sauce, dashi, and mirin or something to the onigiri then grill it.
This thing was the main cause that released the burnt smell of soy sauce.
The onigiri that was being grilled on top of the net with tare sauce spread on it made a sound, the fragrant smell tickling my - and Roomba’s - nostril.
「……what a nice smell」
「……yeah, this looks tasty」
Roomba and I muttered with narrowed eyes, smelling the extremely fragrant scent.
「Oh? Oh, are you a parent and his child? Do you want to eat grilled onigiri?」
Maybe he noticed that I was above him when I spoke since the old man’s expression softened a bit.
We’re not really a parent and child though, it’s troublesome to explain it so I guess it’s fine.
「Well then, give me four of them!」
「I want to eat two of them, alright?」
「Then, Give me five for now!」
「Ou! Thank you!」
The old man raised his voice cheerfully when Roomba ordered five of them.
After that, the old man put a brush into a jar of tare sauce and then - with a familiar movement of his hands - spread it on the grilled onigiri. The tare sauce trickled down from the net and made a sound *juuー*, then the onigiris are grilled until they are well-cooked.
And then, estimating by the appearance of the tare-grilled surface of the onigiri, the old man removes the grilled onigiri from the net, and he starts to wrap them in bamboo shoot skin.
Ooh, it appears that bamboo shoots grow in Kagura. This is good news.
Certainly, bamboo shoot skin is durable and supple, it is said to have natural antibacterial properties. I should naturally buy bamboo shoots to bring back home later for a quasi-lunch box.
Using a pen I added it to the list of souvenirs in my memo then stuffed it into my pocket.
There are too many things I have to buy after leaving Koryatt village. If I don’t put it all together like this, then I will forget about it.
「Hei, here you go」
「Ou, thank you!」
It looks like Roomba finished paying the bill while I’m writing on my memo. I paid two ichibugin-coins for the grilled onigiri, so two bronze coins are enough to buy five grilled onigiri. Converted to Japanese yen, the total is 200 yen. Un, it’s quite cheap.
「Here you go, Al」
「Un, thank you」
I thank him for paying for my share and receives the wrapped, grilled onigiri given to me from below.
Since the grilled onigiri wrapped in bamboo shoot wrapping is freshly made, they were piping hot.
When I undo the string so that I won’t drop it, there is two well-baked grilled onigiri inside with the tare sauce permeating them.
When I sniffed the light brownish onigiri to indulge in the smell, there was the fragrant, salty-sweet smell of soy sauce, and a faint smell of the dashi coming off of them.
I blew on the piping hot grilled onigiri to cool it down a little *fuuu*, then I slowly took a bite out of it.
Along with a crunchy texture, the soft rice enters my mouth.
「Afuu, afuu」
It’s still a bit hot, so I repeatedly opened and closed my mouth and rolled the rice around on my tongue.
And since it has become a bit cool inside my mouth, I slowly taste it.
If you chew on it, the salty-sweet taste from the soy sauce that permeates the rice and the mellow flavor from the dashi leaked out. It appears that the inside of the rice is well-flavored since the more you chew it, the more the flavor comes out.
After that, the original sweet flavor of the rice that came out, in the end, is unbearable.
Uーn, delicious!
I know that it is still hot in spite of myself but in spite of myself, I still bit into the grilled onigiri.
And I rolled the rice around inside my mouth while breathing the expected hot air. Though it’s ridiculous manner, I thought that even that seemed to be one of the true charms of grilled onigiri.
「Eating onigiri once in a while is also good, but grilled onigiri is even more delicious! As long as we I have this, I can eat even more cooked rice!」
「Err, both of them are rice aren’t they」
I have never heard of someone eating cooked rice together with grilled onigiri.
Just when I’m about to reflexively interject, Roomba laughed good-humoredly.
Does Roomba doesn’t particularly feel the heat, he ate the grilled onigiri in both of his hands quickly *bakubaku*. When the grilled onigiri was placed close to Roomba hands, they appeared extremely small.
「Finally, I caught up with you guys!」
「It’s quite difficult to run while wearing a geta. I even stepped on two people’s foot on the way here and made them angry」
Just when I’m comparing the size of my own hands with the grilled onigiri, Irvine and Mort came as they pushed their way through the sea of people.
「Finally, we caught up」
「Ahー! Roomba-san and Alfried-sama are eating somethingー!」
Ilya and Aleutia also arrived late.
That’s because the crowd of people split themselves while Roomba proceeded steadily. And before we know it, it looks like the distance between Irvine and the others had been increasing.
「Is that’s onigiri?」
「If it’s onigiri, you can even eat them back at the ryokan, right?」
It appears that Ilya and Mort also notice it, maybe because Aleutia pointed at the grilled onigiri in my hands.
「Dear ladies, since you all have that kind of hair color, are you visitors? How about some Kagura specialties, grilled onigiri? Please have some if you’d like」
Due to Ilya, Aleutia, and Mort - who has a flashy color unlike Kagura people -, the stall old man handed a wrapped grilled onigiri to Ilya and Mort.
He probably wanted them to divide it in half so they could try it.
Making them eat only a half, what a shrewd salesman. If he did that, then they’ll definitely become unsatisfied………
「What’s this!? It’s good!?」
「Oi, Mort! Let me have some of it too!」
Sure enough, Irvine and Mort ate them as if they were fighting to eat the grilled onigiri.
When Mort was about to put the onigiri into his mouth - it looks like Mort doesn’t want to give it to Irvine-, the scene of Irvine blocking Mort’s hand reminds me of the people of Koryatt village.
Don’t drop it, alright?
「This is very delicious!」
「It's crunchy outside, and it’s permeated with the salty sweet soy sauce-based tare sauce! 」
As for Aleutia and Ilya - who eat the grilled onigiri well-manneredly -, while making surprised voices, they eat them all up and sucking in and blow out hot air *hafuhafu*.
「Just this much is not enough! Let’s lined up and buy them!」
「Yes!」
Looking at Alutia and Ilya who lined up in a row, the stall old man smiles approvingly.
Well, of course, this will happen if you only gave them a half portion.
「Well, for now, I should buy 10 more. Al, do you also want to eat?」
「No, this is enough for me.」
Oh well, I didn’t expect Roomba to be satisfied with just three grilled onigiri anyway.