The day after going to the pottery market, I headed for the Evening Rain Café.

Leaving my apartment, I walked to the station and took the tram towards Shokaku-ji, transferring along the way.

Outside the window, it was raining steadily. Yesterday was fine and sunny, but today was like this.

Even though the rain was melancholic by itself, in the Dutch Slopes at night, it was a little eerie.

The old western-style buildings were illuminated by street lights, sometimes making them look like haunted houses. When it rained, it added to their presence.

So, when I arrived at the store, I felt extra relieved.

 

Getting off the tram at a street station with a plop, I saw a familiar person.

He was wearing black trousers and a black jacket. With black shoes as well, the figure of the handsome man was covered head to toe in black. If I didn’t know him, I would have pretended not to have seen him.

But since our destinations were the same, I tried to call out to him.

 

「–Owner, what’s going on?」

 

When I called out, he noticed and came over.

I asked if he had gone shopping or something, and after pausing for a moment, he said that I was correct.

He didn’t have any bags with him, but when I asked, he shook his head.

I wonder where the things he bought went.

Well, he might have bought cigarettes, chewing gum or sweets and put them into his pocket.

With his arms crossed and back to a wall, it looked like he was waiting for someone.

Could it be, I thought that he had come to pick me up. Although I imagined that, I didn’t ask.

 

The Owner stared at my hand for some reason and asked a question.

 

「……Is that bag heavy?」

「I thought I would do some studying while waiting.」

 

During Golden Week, I guessed that not a lot of customers would come. So because of that, in order to use my time effectively, I had brought my study materials.

My bag was very heavy with all my reference books, but the Owner grabbed it without saying anything.

 

「Ah, thank you.」

 

I felt apologetic, I was filled with feelings of apology.

I told him I could carry it myself, but he replied saying ‘It would be troublesome if you had to carry it all the way to the store’.

Because it was troublesome, I accepted his kind offer.

 

◇◇◇

 

Arriving at the store, I wore a black one piece apron and started cleaning.

The time was past 6pm in the evening. It was starting to get dark outside.

 

Looking outside from the window, tourists that I had glimpsed here and there previously had all disappeared.

After all it was Golden Week, so it seems we couldn’t expect any customers today either.

 

After cleaning and going to the rest area, I saw the Owner holding a writing brush.

Apparently he was writing the menu.

As expected of a calligraphy teacher, instead of using a single calligraphy pen, he was using the entire calligraphy pen set.

He spread out newspaper on the antique styled desk and covered it with a cloth. He then placed a piece of Hanshi on the cloth with a paper weight on top.

He looked at the piece of Hanshi with serious eyes.

How to put it, the figure of a handsome guy writing calligraphy was attractive.

I thought that if I took a photo of this and sent it to a tourist magazine, more customers would come.

The Owner seemed to dislike it though.

 

「……I mean, I haven’t written it yet.」

「Anyway, there won’t be any customers.」

「I don’t know yet.」

 

While talking about that, I became curious about today’s confectionery and took a look

Written down, today’s items were–

 

「……Pao Doce?」

 

I thought that it was another confectionery with a name I wasn’t familiar with.

 

「In Portuguese it means “Sweet Bread”. It’s where the Japanese word for bread was derived from from.」

「Heh~」

 

It seems ‘Pao’ originally meant bread in Portuguese. Next time, I will research it properly.

The Owner brought in a dish covered with cloth from the shelf.

When he removed the cloth, what was underneath was a golden baked confectionery covered in granulated sugar.

 

「It’s the first time I’ve seen this confectionery.」

「I see. Even in Nagasaki, people familiar with it are few.」

 

I was told that Pao Doce doesn’t seem to be sold around here.

It seems to be a European confectionery that was brought in from Hirado, a city in the northwest of Nagasaki prefecture.

 

「Did you import it?」

「No, the confectioneries we serve here are specially made by a patissier I’m acquainted with.」

「Oh, I see.」

 

The Sheath Cake, Gosanyaki Castella and Yori-Yori, all these confectioneries were delicious.

I think that I would like to be introduced to that shop.

 

But enough of that, I went back to the story of Pao Doce.

 

「Pao Doce was brought here from Portugal during the Azuchi-Momoyama period–」

 

Surprisingly, it seems it had an old history.

Long time ago, sugar was a luxury item. Under those circumstances, the confectionery delivered from a foreign country, Pan Doce, was a legendary confectionery that was treasured greatly.

 

「This was made using Castella.」

「Oh!」

 

Its production method was to coat Castella in egg yolk, simmer it in molasses and finally dipping it into granulated sugar.

 

「It’s a seriously sweet confectionery.」

「I see.」

 

Since I was told to taste it, I decided to try it.

When I cut the Pao Doce into small strips, the granulated sugar fell with a patter. The insides were soft. The egg yolk didn’t look like it had seeped inside.

I tried the confection with a 500 year history right away.

 

「–Ah!」

 

The texture of the crispy granulated sugar and moist cake with a gentle egg flavour was very delicious. –But it’s sweet! It’s very sweet!

I knew it was sweet when I heard the recipe, but it was still sweeter than I had imagined.

 

「It becomes just right when matched with a bitter drink.」

「I-I see!」

 

Because of that, the Owner wrote today’s drink next to the words for Pan Doce.

 

It was–Matcha.

 

「No way!」

「You are prepared, aren’t you?」

「……No, I just remembered it.」

 

I was in charge of making Matcha in the Evening Rain Café. I suddenly felt sweat on my forehead.

When we went to the pottery city, the owner had bought some teaware.

I was thinking that we would be having Matcha soon, but to think it was the next day.

To tell the truth, I hadn’t made Matcha for more than a year because I was preparing for exams. I also only did the tea ceremony until my second year in highschool.

 

The Owner put away his calligraphy tools and brought out the utensils for the tea ceremony.

Fortunately, he had already prepared everything.

 

Well, since we’re not making it a tea ceremony room, I don’t have to worry about the etiquette. I guess I will manage somehow.

 

I warmed the teaware with hot water first. At the same time, I poured water into another bowl and waited for it to reach the right temperature.

I scooped some Matcha powder with a spoon and put it into a cup. Next, I poured the hot water.

Stirring it like the way someone would draw the character for mountain twice, I quickly thickened it.

 

「Here is some tea.」

「This is a strong tea.」

「That’s right isn’t it.」

 

There are two kinds of Matcha, strong and weak. The good tea leaves are used for strong tea so their price is naturally more expensive.

Since it felt like he expected it, I replied casually.

 

Compared to the weak tea, strong tea is thicker and has a more astringent taste.

Because of that, I thought it would fit the Pao Doce better.

 

I offered a thick, strong tea. The Owner took the cup and drank a sip.

Because he frowned his eyebrows, I fearfully asked for his thoughts.

 

「……Oh, how’s the flavour of the tea?」

「This is, the flavour of the tea is quite nice.」

「No, seriously.」

 

I was crushed into small pieces.

 

From here, my training in Matcha with the Owner started.

I was ordered to redo it several times until the taste became satisfactory

 

「–Terrible!!」

「Yes, here’s another one……」

 

I thought he was tougher than my tea ceremony teacher.

Rather, the Owner seemed to be familiar with the way of tea ceremony. I thought that he might know how to make Matcha, so I asked him.

 

「If I could do the tea ceremony, I wouldn’t have asked you. Occasionally, I would be invited to an acquaintances tea ceremony.」

「I-I see!」

 

In the end, I continued to brew Matcha over and over again until the rain stopped.

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