Sasa’s Otherworld Cooking
I—Aya Sasaki—woke up. Bizarrely, I wasn’t in a cold cave, but in a warm bed.
Right, this is an inn in the adventurer’s town...
“Morning, Sasa,” I heard out of nowhere.
“Gah! M-Morning, T-Takatsuki,” I managed to stutter out. I realized he was standing nearby, wearing a smile.
O-Oh yeah, I was able to see Takatsuki again yesterday, and he brought me to a human town.
“Nina’s getting breakfast ready, so you just need to wait a bit.” That was all he said before leaving.
No! He saw me waking up?!
I hadn’t needed to worry about that kind of thing in Labyrinthos, but now, I needed to get used to living around humans again, and fast.
◇
I asked Takatsuki and Lucy about their plans. Takatsuki said he’d be venturing into the dungeon every day to increase the strength of what he called his “elemental magic.”
All so he could help me with my revenge...
On top of that, the monsters in the dungeon had been agitated recently, making it extremely dangerous. Even so, he was going.
“Because it’s for you,” he’d told me.
You can’t just say that kind of thing! He’s gotten way better at dealing with women since coming here. And he’s helping me with something so dangerous, right after we reconnected... I feel so bad. Is there anything I can do?
“My esteemed Tackie, what will you take for provisions? If need be, I can ask Lady Nina to deliver some,” Fujiwara added.
“It’s fine, I’ll just bring a potion or two.”
“Are potions...not, essentially, zero calories?”
“Well, they fill you up at least,” Takatsuki answered.
So he wasn’t bothered about what he ate in this world either... Well, I guess he’d eaten pretty much nothing but McD*nald’s during junior high.
I’ve got it! I’ll make him lunch! I decided.
◇
“Hmm, the spices are all different...”
I’d decided to cook with ingredients from this world. The meat, fish, and even vegetables might not be foods I’d seen before, but I could predict how they’d taste. The recipes all called for baking, boiling, or frying. No, the problem was the seasoning. There was salt, which was universal, but...
The sugar...or rather, the sweet stuff, is odd. The actual spices are all nothing like we’d used in Japan.
I’d never seen any of these seasonings before, and I wasn’t entirely sure how to use them as I cooked. The flavors didn’t end up tasting anything like I’d expected, so I was fretting about how difficult it was.
“What seems to be the problem, Lady Sasaki?” Fujiwara asked.
“Oh, Fujiwara. Well, you see...”
“Oho, lunch for our esteemed Tackie to take adventuring! The seasoning must be a concern for you! Just leave that with me!” he said, before vanishing off somewhere.
◇
“Whaaa?!”
Lined up in front of me were containers of sugar, soy sauce, miso, mirin, Worcestershire sauce, ketchup, and even mayonnaise.
“F-Fujiwara, how did you...”
He chuckled.
“The Fujiwara Trading Company sells them. After all, reproducing Japanese flavors is necessary when you find yourself in another world!”
“R-Right...”
“Now! Use them as you wish! He shall be most pleased.”
“Y-Yeah. I’ll do my best. Thanks, Fujiwara.”
I made sweet fried eggs, hamburg steak, potato salad, and onigiri.
I-It doesn’t feel like it’s from this world at all... There’s no difference now. Otherworld cooking is difficult.
“Sasa! That lunch was delicious!”
Well, that doesn’t matter... Takatsuki was happy with it.
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