SC1 11.2 – Bad Hunch
From Sendai, I and Yuko went straight to the south. Instead of choosing the gentle trail near oak forest, I chose to climb the east face of South Ridge using the almost vertical trail usually I used with Yunno and Yui.
As soon as we arrived on the base of the trail, I immediately pointed at it and said, “Tighten your sandals. We will scale this trail to reach the ridgeline, and then descend to bamboo forest on the west face where Warrior Deitoro built his hut.”
“Huh?” Yuko dropped her jaw as she looked at the 130 meters high and almost vertical trail. Then, she weakly said, “Fourth Brother, can we take another route, the one that gentler than this insane trail?”
“The gentler trail will help us reach the ridgeline with ease, but it’s too far from Warrior Deitoro’s hut and walked the ridgeline is harder than climbing this trail.”
“Why did Warrior Deitoro build a hut in such hard-to-reach location?”
“He loves quiet place.” I calmly replied. “And just for your information, Yunno and Yui can scale this trail with their small body. You should be able to do it too.”
“Wait a second,” Yuko said as she gave me a sharp gaze. “Fourth Brother, how could you take Yunno and Yui to scale this insane trail?”
“It is arduous hike even for strong adult, but Yunno and Yui complete it to the peak. Of course, it made them run out of breath and drenched in sweats.”
“That’s pretty harsh,” Yuko weakly said.
“Yeah, but everyone in our house, including you, said nothing when I told you all about it.”
After a moment of silence Yuko said, “I have no clue the route you took with Yunno and Yui is this harsh.”
I took a deep breath before saying, “Well, let’s get going.”
After nodding her head Yuko tightened the string on her sandals. Then, we scaled up the trail. Without movement skill we had to half-crawls the trail step by step. In some area, the soil was too soft, wet, and very slippery, but fortunately we could use thick vines that grew along the trail to help us passed through this treacherous areas.
So, the trip went on a slow but relatively safe pace. Of course we have to stop a few times to give Yuko a short rest, but finally we reached the ridgeline and Yuko immediately dropped her body to the ground.
“This trail is killing me,” Yuko said while trying her best to catch her breath.
“Don’t exaggerate it. You are still alive,” I said before taking a big gulp of cold water. “Let’s go.”
“Can’t we rest for a little longer?”
“No,” I sternly said. “We are very close to hunting radius of a huge abyss tiger. Can’t stay here for too long.”
After letting out a deep sigh Yuko forced herself to get up to her feet. Then, we continued the trip, descending the west face of South Ridge. Just before we entered the bamboo forest, Yuko asked me to stop. She wanted to enjoy the scene of Rokube Town, but I insisted we had to hurry. It was already lunchtime and I didn’t want Yunno and Yui waited too long for their meal.
In the end, Yuko suppressed her desire to enjoy the beautiful side of Rokube that could be enjoyed only from high ground. After walking through the bamboo forest, the hut finally entered our sight, and big smile instantly bloomed on Yuko’s lips as Yunno and Yui ran towards her with big smile in their face, and then tightly hugged her.
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“Aunt Yuko, we miss you so much,” Yunno said.
“Yeah, we super miss you,” Yui happily added.
“I also miss you,” Yuko said as joyful tears flowed out from the corner of her eyes.
“Well, let’s go to the hut,” I calmly said.
Wasting no time Yunno and Yui let a go their hug, and then hold Yuko’s hand and happily dragged her to the hut. While following the three, I wondered if I didn’t visit them for a long time, will Yunno and Yui give me a big hug too. But in the end I didn’t think too deep about it.
When, the unfortunate Sanno fell from the cliff and died, Yunno and Yui cried a river for him. It was as if their world just crumbled into pieces. So, I’m sure Yunno and Yui would super miss me too if I didn’t visit them for too long. It could be said it would also made them sad. Therefore, I canceled my intention to decrease the number of my visit just to get a big hug from them.
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While Kato arranged our lunch, I and Yuko went to wash our face, hands, and feet. Yunno and Yui cheerfully showed Yuko how to use the bath hut, and as I expected the bath hut made Yuko fell into constant awe. She was like a country bumpkin who saw modern and sophisticated bathroom for the first time. It also made me recalled my first encounter with modern bathroom on earth.
Then, Yuko approached me. “Fourth Brother, do you always use this luxurious bathroom?”
“This is the only bathroom in radius of four kilometers from this hut,” I casually said. “So yes, I always use it when I’m nearby.”
“No wonder you are very rare staying at home recently,” Yuko grumbly said. “You must be lazing around here.”
“Other than help Uncle Deitoro with the hunt, Big Brother Sanno also helps us with our daily study when he is here,” Yunno came into my defense.
“Mhm.” Yui firmly nodded and added, “Big Brother Sanno teach us a lot of interesting stuff.”
“Really?” Yuko creased her brows while gave me a skeptical look. “Fourth Brother, what kind of study you teach to Yunno and Yui?”
“Just simple stuff that Warrior Deitoro have taught me.” I tried my best to avoid a detailed explanation as it would only invite more suspicion from Yuko. “Let’s go, we shouldn’t let Madam Deitoro wait for us too long.”
A moment later we already sat in the dinning hut, and Yuko fell into constant awe one more time. The menu in the table was very simple actually. The main menu was dried saury. It was exactly similar to pacific saury from earth. It got butterfly cut from below the head to the tail, so it became two times wider. After the gut was removed it then being salted, flattened, and dried.
Kato slowly grilled the saury on top of charcoal until it became crispy, and ten second before it’s done she splashed a bit of chili oil on its surface. The other dish were stir fry bamboo shoot with firefly squid, miso soup with cleanly peeled shrimp and soft tofu, omelet, kimchi, a big bowl of rice, and a basket of orange. But for Yuko, and even for Yunno and Yui who had enjoyed similar menu a few times, it was a feast.
“Thanks for the food.”
Kato happily led us to offer the gratitude before the meal, and we happily followed her.
“““Thanks for the food.”””
“Yuko, don’t be too courteous and make yourself at home,” Kato happily said.
“Y-yes, Ma’am,” Yuko nervously replied. “I mean Madam Deitoro.”
After a smile Kato said, “You have to learn from Sanno. He is really good at making himself at home here.”
As Yuko turned her gaze to me, I nodded. “We all are family here.”
“Okay.” Yuko then took a deep breath before taking a sip from her miso bowl, and after the first gulp her eyes instantly widened. “This miso soup is super-duper delicious.”
“I use regular miso paste, about two years old. But my husband gives me a tip to add bonito flake on it, and it enhance the flavor several folds,” Kato happily explained.
“I see. Warrior is truly live in a different world,” Yuko said in awe before taking another gulp from her miso bowl.
“Warrior Deitoro is a good cook after all,” I casually said.
Well, even though miso paste with dashi was just common ingredient, for Japanese people at least, I decided not to explain it to Yuko. I would let her to enjoy it to the fullest accordingly to her imagination. Slowly but surely, Yuko also became relax and merged with us like a family.
Of course it was not because her social skill. I could confidently say that Yuko’s social skill was pretty low and nasty. She could with ease feel at home mostly was because Kato was really good at setting the mood for her.
After the lunch, along with Yunno and Yui, Yuko helped Kato do the dish. After that, the four sat in bamboo bench next to the hut and leisurely chat. One thing that I didn’t predict was that Yunno and Yui happily told Yuko about the order of instant noddle from Sotora.
Yunno and Yui even told Yuko the method to make oyster sauce, something that we should keep as our secret weapon. I truly had a bad hunch about this, but it was too late to ask Yunno and Yui to stop.
Tomorrow, I should warn them. There were lots of thing that they couldn’t share with just anybody. Their craft, method, and skill both in martial art and culinary art were the backbone and lifeline for their future. I had to make sure Yunno and Yui realized it as early as possible.
As for now, on the way back to Sendai later, I would ask Yuko to keep the method to manufacture oyster sauce as a secret.
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