| Author: Kiriya Kadzuki | Original Source: Syosetu | Word Count: 1336 characters |
| Translator: Zzonkedd | English Source: Re:Library | Word Count: 726 words |
“The ingredients we need will be arriving tomorrow from the Holy Bow. Also, to my surprise, they even had soy sauce which I didn’t even think existed in this world!”
After returning from the merchant guild, Kishana excitedly shared the good news with Schenna. It was rare for people to order soy sauce, so after finding out that the elves at the merchant guild were producing it, Kishana decided to order a large amount of it along with many other ingredients that were necessary.
Kishana then held the soy sauce in her hand in a suggestive way and providing Schenna with an idea for its use.
“With soy sauce and rice, we can make the sweet gyūdon1 that we had eaten throughout our school days.”
“Gyūdon… Brings back memories doesn’t it?”
“It sure does. The last time we got to eat it was when we were heading back home from club activities over at a chain store right?”
Both Kishana and Schenna reminiscing that exact moment when they stopped by the store on their way home. Schenna always chose to have the optional raw egg mixed in the gyūdon for a sukiyaki style flavor, while Kishana preferred hers with large amounts of red ginger and soup.
“But if I remember correctly, for gyūdon you could also use mirin along with soy sauce for seasoning right?”
“I also have that covered, bought it along with the rest of the ingredients!”
Schenna’s doubts regarding the matter were instantly caught by Kishana.
Back at the merchant guild, Kishana got to talk with the elves that worked there and found out that they figured out how to harvest rice and produce soy sauce several hundreds of years ago. Since then, the future generations have been working on improving its flavor.
When Kishana heard that story, she came up with a theory.
“Those elves that first harvested rice and made soy sauce could well have been reincarnated from Japan just like us, right?”
“That’s a possibility. Be that as it may, we get to eat delicious food so I feel nothing but gratitude towards them.”
Even having the knowledge on how to grow rice crops and how to make soy sauce, the process still takes quite a long time.
Just as Kishana said, having the future generations improve the quality through trial and error has definitely helped to make it even more delicious.
Kishana stood inside the kitchen and began trying to make her first gyūdon dish.
Cutting the beef, peeling the onions, slicing the ginger into small pieces and then pouring water, soy sauce, sake, and mirin into the pan along with a small portion of sugar, she then proceeded to cook the ingredients.
Having it cooked to a certain level, she then lowered the fire intensity, put the beef slices onto the pan, and carefully flipped them with chopsticks to prevent it from burning. After the beef and onion simmered in the sweet sauce, she took the remaining cooked rice and put it inside a bowl, then all that was left to do was to cover it with the ingredients inside the pan and it would be complete.
“It’s done. Go ahead and try it out.”
Kishana carried the bowl to the table and along with a nostalgic smell, her appetite began stirring up.
“Thanks for the food”
Schenna took the first bite and tears dropped from her eyes.
To be able to eat something she thought would never get the chance to eat again after all these years was a heavier emotional hit than she had thought it would be.
“It’s delicious. It’s just… so good!!”
“You’re exaggerating Schenna.”
“It’s as if I have gone back to the past, at that specific moment, when we ate gyūdon together on the way home, such a nostalgic feeling…”
“… I guess so. Well, time for me to join the nostalgia trip and try it myself too.”
The two of them stuffed their cheeks with the gyūdon just like the good old days when they were still back in school, enjoying the nostalgia feeling as they ate and happily spoke to each other.2
