I did some more research at the library today.

Of course, it was about Nagasaki’s local cuisine. I immediately found an interesting book.

 

In Nagasaki, there seems to be something called ‘I don’t get it (wakaran)’.

When written in kanji it doesn’t mean ‘I don’t get it’ but ‘Wa-Ka-Ran’.

That is, Wa=Japan, Ka=China and Ran=The Netherlands and Portugal. It seems to be a word indicating Nagasaki’s unique culture born from the exchange of the three countries.

I read that during the closed country era, Nagasaki was the only gateway to foreign countries and actively adopted various knowledge.

 

A good example is the food known as ‘Shippoku Cuisine’.

Invented from foreign cuisines, Shippoku was written with the Chinese characters for tablecloth.

It came to be called that because the food was eaten on a beautifully arranged table.(※There are many theories!)

As a multi-course meal, it seems that it had a considerable number of dishes.

Shark fin soup, locally procured sashimi, boiled pork belly, pickled dishes, tempura, stewed dishes, sweets and more.

On that note, after dinner, dessert seemed to be Oshiruko, a sweet red bean soup served with mochi. I thought this was highly unusual for a time when sugar was precious.

I did an image search and everything looked delicious.

While reading stories about the local culture, I called out to a friend who was next to me, reading manga.

 

「Hey Ryoko-chan, have you ever eaten Shippoku cuisine?」

「That’s impossible. That’s for tourists and rich people to eat.」

「Is that so. I thought it was loved by the ordinary people.」

「One meal is 20,000 yen for a course per person, ordinary people can’t afford that.」

「T-Twenty thousand!?」

 

That is too high for a student at the moment. Still, I didn’t give up without looking and found a place where you could eat Shippoku cuisine for 3,000 yen.

 

「Ryoko-chan, I found a store where you can eat Shippoku cuisine for 3,000 yen, will you go together with me next time?」

「Eeh~, if you’re going to pay 3,000 yen, Italian is also good.」

「Well then, what if I treated?」

「Shippoku cuisine, is it~. What to say, it feels formal you know. The food as well as the atmosphere the store would have.」

 

She had an expression that it would be troublesome to wear formal clothes to go there.

Because I felt it would be bad to force an invitation, I decided to stop there.

 

「Invite me when you want to eat some Shippoku cuisine, we’ll split the cost then.」

「Sure, thanks.」

 

Apparently it wasn’t a food that would raise your spirits. Sorry.

It would also be a little strange to go by myself.

Right now, I wish I could invite my parents and grandparents to Nagasaki to eat.

Even so, 20,000 yen per person…….

I thought to myself that I should work hard at my part time job.

 

「By the way, Oto-chan, will you be going to the next mixer?」

「Ah!」

 

Yes, yes. Next Saturday, a mixer would be held. Because I had been invited while I had still been looking for a part time job, I had completely forgotten that I hadn’t replied yet.

I looked up the weather forecast website for next Saturday. ……That’s disappointing. Rain is forecasted.

 

「Sorry, I have something planned on Saturday.」

「Really~? What to do~.」

「Are there not enough people?」

「That’s not it. A guy who was my classmate in high school wanted to see you when I told him you came from Tokyo. 」

「Uwa~, but why?」

「Maybe he has the thought that every girl from the city is stylish and cute?」

「There’s no way that’s possible!」

「That’s true I guess~.」

 

A daytime part time job would be nice. A strangely high hurdle came up when I wanted to go to a mixer.

Looking at me with an ‘I know right~’ expression, she saw I seemed to be hesitating and pressed for more details.

 

「Are you working for a man?」

「Well~~, mm~~.」

「So it’s an unrequited love.」

「I wonder~~?」

 

I can’t tell her that I’m working at the Evening Rain Café. However, it seemed that she misunderstood it and came to an unexpected conclusion.

 

「Heh~, I see, you look like you’ve innocently fallen in love.」

「……Mm, well, I guess.」

 

I’m sorry I lied, I put my hands together as I apologised in my mind.

I vowed to treat her to Italian food when I got my pay from my part time job. The Italian food would be from a chain store though.

 

It was 4:30pm. The weather was sunny.

Since I had important business today, I left the university as soon as classes were over.

I went down the slope, running slow enough that I wouldn’t strain my knees, and took the tram to Nagasaki station.

My place is nearby, but I went to the shopping mall in front of the station.

I pressed the button for the third floor on the elevator and quickly walked to the bookstore.

Today is the release date of a new publication by Shinonome Yohko sensei, who I’m a big fan of.

It’s a new addition to her popular series, ‘Detective Nakajima Kaoru’, which started two years ago. I was so happy that I reserved three copies. One for myself, One for preservation and one to share with others. Because it’s a paperback, it was also affordable.

Telling the onee-san at the cashier the author and title of the book, she came back with the books that had been reserved.

 

「Here it is.」

「–Ah, yes.」

 

The book she brought back was titled ‘Detective Nakajima Kaoru, The Kappogi Murder Case　Shinonome Yohko’.

For a moment, I forgot that I hadn’t confirmed whether this was the right book.

Yes, yes. The reason was that for a long time, the title had been ‘provisional’. As I had been very busy recently, I had neglected to check the book title on the website.

Even so, kappogi.

Unintentionally, I thought of the owner of the cafe who had handed me a kappogi just the day before.

I wonder if kappogis had become popular recently.

Either way, I finished paying for the books, bought a bento on the ground floor and left for home.

 

「–Ah!」

 

When I went outside, it was raining steadily.

The time on my watch hadn’t reached 6pm. However, it was strangely dim because of the rain.

 

Is it evening or night?

 

I want to go home early and read the book as soon as I can, but I had just spent a lot of money. If I could, I wanted to earn more money.

 

Once again, I took a tram to the Dutch Slopes, where the Evening Rain Café was.

 

Climbing up the slope in the rain, there was a wooden sign hung on the gate.

I went in from the back door that I had been told of last time.

Because there was no sign of anyone in the hall, I called out ‘Good evening’ and the owner came out from a back room.

Today, he was wearing a crisp shirt and looked fresh and handsome. However, he still had a stiff atmosphere around him. I thought that he was like this all year round.

Frowning his eyes, he said a few words in welcome.

 

「……You came.」

「I’ve come!」

 

Ignoring the owner’s expression, I decided to change clothes first and changed into a black one piece in the employees’ room.

It went down to my knees and was a nice piece of formal clothing. It was something I had received from my grandmother on my last birthday and was one of my favourite clothes.

I did my hair up into a ponytail and lightly combed my hair.

Leaving the room, I saw that Owner Mukai was holding the wooden sign.

 

「This, the rain, did it stop?」

「……」

「Owner?」

 

Since there was no reaction, I looked to see if he was okay. When I shook his shoulder, he started and dropped the sign on the ground.

I picked it up, offered it to him and he received it feebly.

 

「Could it be, I, I did something strange?」

「No……it’s okay, you weren’t wrong.」

「Then, I guess that’s good?」

 

The rain had stopped. The store was closed again.

Fortunately, even in such a case, the hourly wage will still be paid if I clean the store. I am thankful for that.

When I went to pick up a broom, I was stopped. He seems to have prepared an apron. I went to the kitchen to receive it.

 

「–Ah.!」

 

What came out of the bag was a frilly apron!

It was very cute, my spirits rose.

 

「Owner, thank you.」

 

I asked if I could try it on before wearing it on the spot.

 

「How is it?」

 

I spun on the spot while holding the hem of the apron.

 

「……It’s passable, not bad.」

「……Is that right~~.」

 

Didn’t he say that it would be fine if I wore a kappogi?

No, even if he said that the kappogi suited me, I was still a delicate female university student. I might be glad if I was told that in ten years’ time.

 

「Ahh, speaking of kappogis!」

 

I took a book out from my bag and presented it to the owner,

 

「This book, it’s interesting so I wanted to give it to you. Today was the launch of the new book in the series, however you can still enjoy it from part way in.」

 

As soon as the owner saw the book, he had a startled expression.

 

「What’s wrong?」

「……No.」

 

Even though he’s taken care of me for many things, he didn’t accept it.

 

「Well, I’ll lend it to you. So, please read it.」

「No, I don’t need it.」

「Why not?」

「That, I own it already.」

「Eh?」

 

What!

To my surprise, the owner was also a fan of Shinonome Yohko!?

To buy it on the release date, he must like it quite a bit.

When I started asking more questions happily, his face became stiffer and looked really awkward.

 

「Ah, could it be, you’re the type that’s not very good at dealing with questions about yourself?」

「That is, yes, that might be.」

「Then I’m sorry about that.」

 

Oh no, I thought that I had found a fellow comrade and unintentionally forced a conversation on him. I’m reflecting on it.

I put the book in my bag and decided to brew some tea as an apology.

 

「Well, I wonder what snacks are in here~.」

 

While I was searching my bag for emergency rations, the owner offered something.

 

「You should eat this confectionery.」

 

This was a confectionery I had seen for the first time.

The confectionery looked like a long rod twisted into a spiral.

 

「What is this screw-like thing?」

「It’s not a screw, it’s more than that.」

「I’m sorry for calling it that!」

 

This was also famous in Nagasaki. I heard that it was called Yori-Yori here.

In other places it was called Mahua or Chinese Twists.

Originally a Chinese confectionery, in Nagasaki, it was said to be more famous than moon cake.

Because it was quite special, I was having it with Chinese tea.

Although I was thinking of brewing it myself, I wasn’t sure how to use the tea utensils and the owner eventually prepared it himself.

 

It seems that today’s menu was Yori-Yori.

I decided to have a little tea party as I sat down in a chair in the kitchen.

 

「Then, thanks for the food.」

 

Since I haven’t eaten dinner, I’ve been feeling hungry for a while.

I immediately bit into it.

 

「–Hard!」

 

It was harder than I imagined.

I managed to chew it with my back teeth, crushing it with crunching sounds.

The taste, why does it feel like a biscuit? I thought the chewiness was interesting.

Together with it was a bitter Chinese tea. Yes, delicious.

 

It was modestly sweet, a confectionery with a simple taste.

Speaking of being too hard, I was told that there was also a softer one.

 

Did it come to Nagasaki during the closed country era? Besides this, what kind of Chinese confectioneries were also brought along?

 

A new story about Nagasaki that I wanted to investigate had appeared and I was excited.

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