Sugar was brought to Japan for the first time during the Nara period. It seemed that it had been brought into Japan from foreign countries as a throat medicine at first.

Then, as trade with Portugal became more active, the amount of sugar being imported gradually increased.

Time went by and the Edo period came.

With the closed country policy, the only place where sugar could still be imported was Dejima in Nagasaki. From there it was brought to Kyoto, Osaka and Edo.

The roads that the sugar was carried along became known as the “Sugar Road”.

With the Sugar Road, sugar, which was a valuable commodity at the time, became easier to obtain. As a result quite a few confectioneries were created in various places. Nagasaki’s Castella was one of the confectioneries spread by the Sugar Road.

Since there had been no confectionery in Japan that used that much sugar at that time, it was said that the common sense of confectionery was re-established then.

The techniques of making sweets was brought over from foreign countries and new sweets were created, incorporating the local cultures of different places. The Japanese came to love them almost immediately.

 

◇◇◇

 

After eating confectionery from Nagasaki in the Evening Rain Café, I became curious about the related history and decided to research it myself.

It seems the “Sugar Road” route through Nagasaki was why there were so many confectioneries around here.

 

I was studying in university and aiming to become a certified dietician.

My plan was to present the results of my investigation into local food culture.

 

Ten days had passed since I was hired by the Evening Rain. It hadn’t rained so far.

There were no issues with working a part time job at a food place, I was ready to work at any time.

But the rain was whimsical, falling when you didn’t want and not falling when you wanted it to.

Well, in the meantime, I spent my days idly looking for evening part time jobs in job magazines.

 

After finishing my activities in the Kimono club, I found it was raining steadily when I walked outside.

Although the weather forecast had predicted it would be cloudy all day, it had suddenly turned to rain.

In this situation, I would usually sigh, but today was different.

Dancing with excitement in my mind, I held my hand out to confirm it was raining.

Raindrops fell onto the palm of my hand here and there.

I checked my watch. It was 6pm. It was already night, right?

In the dark, I headed for the Evening Rain Café.

By the time I arrived, the street lights in the area had turned on and it was definitely night time.

The rain had become heavier and the wooden sign was hung on the gate.

Folding my umbrella, I placed it into a plastic bag and tied the top tightly. I wiped my clothes and hair that had gotten wet in the rain with a handkerchief and went inside.

 

「Good evening~~」

 

Even though I knew that there would be no reply, I still called out from the entrance.

However, surprisingly, Owner Mukai came out immediately.

 

「Ah, good evening.」

「……Ah.」

「Today is a work day right?」

「That’s right.」

「Then, I’ll be in your care.」

 

Today, I didn’t go to the dining area which I usually went to but a different small room instead.

 

「This is the room for employees.」

「Heeh~, it’s cute.」

 

It was a room with uniformly white wallpaper and furniture, it felt like a private room of a girl from nobility.

To work in such a wonderful environment, I wouldn’t turn it down.

For now it seemed that he was going to explain the rules at work.

 

「First of all, these are your clothes while at work.」

「Yes.」

 

He handed over a paper bag.

It felt rather light. Perhaps, I just needed to hang an apron on top of my normal clothes?

If that was the case, I should have worn a cuter dress. Today, I was wearing a shirt with a cardigan on top, jeans and sneakers.

Opening the bag in disappointment, I was startled.

 

「T-This is–」

 

Inside, was what you would wear for cooking.

 

–It’s impossible to wear a kappogi in a stylish cafe~~!!　I shouted in my heart.

 

Just to be sure, I unfolded it and looked at it from the front and back. In the end, it was a kappogi.

 

「Um, what is this?」

「A kappogi.」

「I know that.」

 

Asking if this was my work clothes, the Owner said yes.

I folded the kappogi with a miserable feeling and placed it on the table.

 

「That is, one thing, may I give my opinion?」

「No need to ask.」

「Thank you very much.」

 

I appealed to the Owner. It was impossible to wear this apron in a stylish cafe.

 

「This kappogi was the cleanest.」

「But, if I was a customer, I would be disappointed if an employee came out from the back of the shop wearing a kappogi!」

「I don’t understand?」

「That’s the problem!」

 

I mean, why are you still selling things in a kappogi in this modern age?

Did he do that in his calligraphy classes, I wondered.

 

「B-By any chance, do you wear a kappogi when you do calligraphy?」

「That’s impossible.」

「Have you told your students to wear it?」

「I have not.」

「Then, why is this kappogi……」

「I bought it as material.」

「Eh?」

「Ah, no, it’s nothing.」

 

I thought I heard him say ‘materials’, but I probably misheard him.

An ikemen, a kappogi and materials. It didn’t connect very well. I decided not to ask any further.

 

「Then, what would you like to wear?」

「It doesn’t have to be a frilled apron, but at the very least it should be an ordinary white apron.」

 

Together with a black one piece at home, the white apron will make me look like a waitress at least.

The atmosphere is important for places like this.

I appealed heavily to the Owner.

 

「I understand. I’ll consider it.」

「Thank you very much.」

 

After dealing with the clothes somehow, I felt relieved.

 

「Ah, are there any requirements for hair style or hair colour?」

 

All my friends had dyed their hair, but my hair was still black. My family was strict and I wasn’t allowed to dye it until now. I had wanted to dye it once while I was at university, so I asked about it in the store.

 

「……That’s right. If possible, black hair is preferred.」

「Is that so. I understand.」

 

Well, I had the feeling I wouldn’t look so good with a lighter hair colour, so this was fine. In addition, I asked if I needed to tie up my hair.

Compared to specifying a cooking apron as work clothes, the restrictions on appearance was quite strict.

 

「Then, is tying my hair into pigtails okay?」

「Pigtails……」

「Though most university students don’t wear their hair like that anymore. 」

 

Somehow, I thought it would give an atmosphere like it was the Showa or Taisho period.

But, was it suitable for this western-style cafe?

 

「Hairstyle doesn’t need to be pigtails–I’ll leave it up to you.」

「I understand.」

 

With clothes and hairstyle sorted, the Owner went through more details and documents.

 

「By the way, did you tell anyone you work here?」

「No, I haven’t told anyone yet.」

 

If I told my friends, I felt that I would be overwhelmed by them all coming here, so I didn’t say anything.

There wasn’t enough space for everyone to sit and there was only me and the Owner as staff, I felt that it would become chaotic.

 

「Somehow, I felt that it wasn’t a place where everyone should noisily spend the weekend.」

 

Hearing that, the Owner agreed. Where possible, he also tried to not tell people he knew about it.

 

「I will submit the documents for employment at my university.」

「That’s fine.」

 

It seemed that the preliminary explanations were completed.

Today, I had to wait for customers while wearing a kappogi–.

 

「There doesn’t seem to be any customers.」

「It’s usually like this.」

 

In the room, the only sound that could be heard was the echoing of the rain.

 

The time was 9:30pm.

 

It was dark outside the window and there were no signs of anyone coming.

 

As time passed until 10pm, the rain unexpectedly stopped. Because of that, the Evening Rain Café was closed.

 

I cleaned the room and turned off all the lights.

 

I only worked three hours today. I only learned how to brew coffee but I earned quite a lot of money.

 

「Owner, is the hourly pay really 1500 yen?」

「That’s what I said.」

「Oh……」

 

What a generous business owner.

 

I put my hands together as if praying.

 

「What are you doing?」

「Being thankful.」

 

The Owner looked at me in amazement.

 

He was a surprising gentleman and drove me back to my apartment.

 

「Thank you very much.」

「……It wasn’t much, I had to do some things around here anyway.」

 

The shops in the area were mostly closing.

 

But I didn’t point that out and parted ways after giving a deep bow.

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