Quantum Leap Vol. 7 Fausto japan KabushikiGaisha

C025 Mitarashi Dango. Where Can We All Find One Right Now?

"Wow...! I am amazed...! Do you mean these barns had these girls working to produce these products? The same goes to the rest of the barns too?" asked Saika in utter amazement.

"Yes, we have 4 warehouses or factories as what we refer to them as, and each warehouse served its purpose. Once the workers had built another 12 more warehouses, we would have a complete line of products that would change the face of the industrialisation era, starting from this humble village here in Fukushima."

"That's so wonderful. So is this warehouse managed by you as their General Manager?" asked Saika while she peered at the production like and all were seen so happily working.

"Hahahaha... Saika. This kid here is the founder of this whole set up. Without his brainy little innovative thinking of his, he wouldn't be able to bring progress to this village at all!" said Hiko-sama as he places me in a headlock and rubbed his knuckles on my head as I chuckled every time he does that.

Saika and Enyo watched us in total speechlessness as it had never crossed their minds that this boy, with the same age of Enyo, is the founder of this place. Enyo wanted to be held in a headlock and be rubbed the same way as me and looked at Saika with his pleading eyes and asking for one too.

"Hahaha... Come, let's have some tea first before we have dinner together. We normally have our meals here in the garden, while the workers took turns to have theirs too." Hiko-sama explained as he ushered us out of the warehouse and into our grounds where Jiyu Residence was situated.

The 'aunties' greeted us and asked if we would like to have a bite first and we said OK as today the 'aunties' had prepared yet another colourful afternoon tea.

The 'aunties' served us with a snack that was made from tapioca that was boiled down before being mashed with a little bit of tapioca flour. It was then steamed with screw pine extract and some food colouring, adding exciting colours to the otherwise bland colour. It was then cut into squares and rolled in grated coconut and served on a plate for the 4 of us with a pot of green tea.

This was the first time such a delectable afternoon snack as it was adorned in yellow, green and pink. It was like a Mitarashi Dango but with made of tapioca instead. It was simply a delight and both Saika and Enyo were licking their fingers as they used their fingers to eat instead of using chopsticks.

"Hmm... This snack is very nice. We never had this before in our lives and it is pretty nice when we can still bite and chew the tapioca pieces in it. It looked like Dango but this is much better than Dango. The cooks put in their effort in making this snack available for the employees here!"

"Mmmm... Mmmm... Very nice Oneesama! If this is made to be very nice, I am sure the employees here would be very happy too! I like it, even Fujin likes it as well."

Enyo had let Fujin a small bit to taste and initially the piece had gotten stuck between its teeth and after using its paws to dislodged it, she resumes eating it. After it had finished eating, it sniffed around to ask for more and Enyo petted it's head and said it is for a trial tasting only. More would come in the days to come.

I watched Enyo and felt happy for him, for one thing, he would be happy in this village as he would be able to make many friends around his age group especially when he made as his number one close friend.

We chatted on how this corporation was built and how we acquired the land beside us to make another 3 more warehouses. After that the small intervention by the Mayor and how he had gotten to be our closest ally even after a failed attempted assassination against us.

Both Saika and Enyo were shocked when they heard about the attempted assassination and how easily we dismissed the little incident. When Hiko-sama narrated what I had done to the line ranger that tries to assassinate us, both Saika and Enyo turned wide eyes before they laughed hysterically at how silly I was to stick a stick up that wrinkly butt hole. Hahahahaha!

Our dinner came after the 'aunties' had served the first batch of expecting employees as they ate in groups of 4 in the open-air sheltered meal area. Our dinner came and it was steamed rice with scrambled eggs and long beans inside it, sweet and sour fried, battered fish pieces that had tomatoes, pineapple and cucumber in it with a slight tangy vinegar taste in it. We also had a large bowl of potatoes soup with bits of grilled saba fish which excited Fujin most.

"Waaahhh....! Such a feast! We normally eat one dish or at most 2 dishes at home prepared our by our local cook, but meal before us is fit for a noble!" Saika remarked as soon as the food was served to us.

"Its a compilation of suggestions made by our employees here on what they would like to eat for lunch and dinner. Every month they would put in their suggestions and the cooks would strike out those duplicates ones and prepare them according to for lunch or dinner. It was a practise so that the cooks were able to practise on their cooking as well as fulfilling the employees' wishes that made them happy working here in this corporation."

When they head that the Mayor also drops by time to time to have his lunches here, they were even surprised because they thought that high ranking personnel wouldn't even want to eat with the common residents.

Riko had somehow left her post and sat down with Enyo after we had dinner and petted Fujin 's head which made Enyo embarrassed since he never had a girl sitting beside him so close before. He even let Riko cradle Fujin which seemed full after having bits and pieces of grilled saba fish and a piece of potato that it tried to eat after being made into small nibble size.

Enyo let Riko hold Fujin as it snuggled close to her lap and seemed satisfied after having the saba fish for its dinner.

"Can we sleep together later?" Riko opened up a question and the moment the words escaped from her lips, even though it sounded harmless, but to many others, it sounded that Enyo would anytime lose his virginity in Kitakata Village!

Such a misunderstood statement that made Enyo's face slowly crept with an alarming red blush as if he was holding his breath and dared not to exhale when he heard the request made by Riko!

Saika laughed at his brother as she too had a tinge of redness at her cheeks as she thought of Enyo being 'deflowered' by a girl his age.

"We would be having a light supper soon prepared by the cooks. If you need anything else please feel free to order from the yatai sellers and we would gladly pay for it."

Riko bade Enyo and Fujin as she went about her duties, going around and assisting the employees making sure that the supplies were adequately replenished and work continues to run 24 hours a day.

"Supper? We are going to have supper? We just had our dinners! Eat again? Is this novel all about eating just like 'Gourmet Of Another World?"

Fujin ears perked up in hearing the word supper as it purred and snuggle in Enyo's laps as it dreamt of having supper after its wonderful dinner. If Fujin was a Bakeneko, a whole chicken meal would not be enough and since it was in its normal form, nibbles if food makes Fujin happy!

At about 730pm, the 'aunties' were putting their huge woks over the fire and were putting in corn kernels with a little bit of animal fat and salt and were covering the top with a saucepan. Later pops and crackles were heard from where they were and small wicker baskets of stacked and liked with oil-proof paper as popcorns were served.

Basketful of yellowish golden popcorn was placed in on the tables and 2 people would share one of this light supper meal. After the 'aunties' had made about 20 baskets on the table, the rest went into a very large basket to serve the second batch of employees.

A fairly medium basket was then served and Fujin hopped on the table and looked longingly at the popcorn that had just served.

"Come... Let's eat this freshly made popcorn. Its part of my idea to make these since its a very light snack. Here, Fujin can have a piece first and see how it enjoyed such a simple and yet delectable light supper."

I gave Fujin a piece and she took it carefully from my hands but outstretching her paws and used a claw and slowly retrieved it from me. It places the popcorn before here and took a bite and was happily gnawing at it.

"Haiyo... This Fujin. What we eat, it will also want to eat as well. It will grow fat very soon and can't transform as a sleek Bakeneko and instead looked like a whale in the air instead of a fearsome cat!" joked Saika as she petted its head and it looked at Saika as she had made her remark and looked a bit offended.

We laughed as we dug into the pile of popcorn with our hands and ate them. This was the first for Saika and Enyo and decided to bring this snack's recipe back to the Youkai Taijiya Village. Fujin was also quite contented as she mewed that sounded like "peww...peww..." to me as she took piece after piece of popcorn.

It was late in the evening as the 4 of us had our fill. I asked one of the employees to look for Izumi and Riko. Soon the duo arrived, and I told them to accommodate Saika, Enyo and Fujin back to Jiyu Residence for a room to stay.

They bade goodnight and went along with Izumi and Riko and the moment Saika and Enyo stepped into the house, I could hear squeals of delight coming from that house that sounded unmistakably like Gin, that had wanted to own a cat but had no time to look for one.

=*=

The next morning, Saika and Enyo had learnt about their new housemates and since they were of the same group, they shared some similarities and became friends quickly. They were happy to find new friends among themselves and quickly settled down with ease in their companies.

Saika and Enyo had learnt the plight of the girls and were angry that there are people in this world who are more wicked than youkai that took a human form and vowed to release the girls if they would find along the journey by slave traders.

They also learnt the kind-hearted person of both Hiko-sama and me as we took in the girls, gave them shelter and a bright future too after learning that the girls were also shareholders of the corporation.

The girls unselfishly shared their Hae Shanpu and Karada Soap with Saika and Enyo that both of them fought over the time spent in the bathroom after the other girls had taken the shower.

This was the first time they had a wonderful bubbly bath and was spending time in the shower until their fingers and toes turned like wrinkled prunes. They emerged from the shower and felt very refresh and invigorated. Small cuts and bruises in their exposed skin after fighting with the youkai had started to heal and disappear.

Both Saika and Enyo had hung their battle gears using the Hangers provided by the girls and left their weapons in the room as well since there was no danger while being within the protective barrier of Kitakata Town.