A peaceful afternoon had cast a calm, relaxing air over the Hatano household.
The sound of Mint playing outside with Chocola and Pochi.
The faint rustle of pages as Mother read her book.
And Karen, sprawled lazily across the sofa, fiddling idly with my hand. Wait… Karen?
She was pinching my index finger, stroking my nails, and bending my knuckles back and forth. Was this fun for her? This felt like the kind of thing someone does when they’re bored out of their mind.
「Karen, are you bored?」
「Hmm… you could put it that way.」
「So, you’re bored.」
「It’s fine. I’m keeping myself entertained by bending and stretching your joints.」
「You’re definitely bored.」
I watched Mother’s face as she focused on her book. I let Karen continue playing with my fingers while listening to Mint’s cheerful voice from outside. The weather had warmed up enough for us to leave the sliding doors open with only the screen door in place, letting the sounds of her laughter filter in with just a bit of enhanced hearing.
「Chocola, watch! I’m gonna somersault!」
「Bark!」
「Forward first, then roll back!」
「Bark!」
It sounded like they were having a heartwarming moment. Knowing Mint, she’d probably end up somersaulting ten meters straight.
「Mint’s got so much energy.」
「Hmm.」
Meanwhile, Karen barely managed a half-hearted reply as she continued bending and unbending my fingers. She was thoroughly relaxed, if not completely lethargic.
…A day of doing nothing isn’t bad in itself, but this level of idleness might dull both body and mind.
I gently grabbed Karen’s hand in return, giving it a couple of light pats. She tilted her head up to look at me, and I smiled.
「If you’re that bored, why don’t we make a snack together?」
※※※
「Hmm. Ready. Bring it on.」
A few minutes later.
The mere mention of snacks had brought Karen to life. She now stood in the kitchen, apron on, full of enthusiasm.
「What kind of snack are we making? I want something sweet!」
「Wow, you’re predictable…」
「Sui, Karen work hard!」
「Now you’re even imitating Mint?」
She was clearly taking advantage of Mint being outside to try out her antics.
「I’ve got some souvenirs we brought back from Alfheim. I was thinking we could use those.」
I took out two leather pouches from the cupboard. Each one contained a type of powder.
「Are those the souvenirs?」
「Yeah. This one is cornmeal, and this one is cornstarch.」
「Is there a difference? This one’s yellow, and that one’s white.」
「Cornmeal is ground dried corn. Cornstarch, on the other hand, is processed to extract just the starch from the corn. They have different flavors and uses.」
The elves of Alfheim had also given me other grains like millet and foxtail millet. I had plans for separate recipes using those.
But today, I decided to make a snack using corn.
「We could use the cornmeal for cookies or snacks, but that would require cooking and might be a bit too much work. Let’s stick with cornstarch for today.」
「For today? Does that mean there’ll be something different tomorrow or later? That’s exciting.」
I nodded to Karen.
Exciting—that was exactly how I felt, too.
Because it’s starch, cornstarch is incredibly versatile. Lately, I’ve been flipping through dessert recipe books before bed, and I’m amazed at how often the word cornstarch appears in the ingredient lists.
As I poured the white powder from one of the leather pouches into a bowl, I spoke.
「You know, cornstarch can be substituted with potato starch, flour, or gelatin. In fact, here in this world, it seems like only Alfheim really has it. Corn itself isn’t widely consumed as food for humans, after all.」
「Yeah, I’ve heard it’s mostly used as livestock feed.」
「That might explain its bad reputation. But look at this.」
The cornstarch in the bowl gleamed pure white.
「…It’s beautiful.」
Karen murmured, her voice full of wonder.
The sheer whiteness of the powder reflected the high level of refinement.
「I don’t know much about the process they use to extract starch from corn, but… it’s so fine and white. I’m sure the elves of Alfheim take great care when making this. Elves are fundamentally meticulous. They really put effort into their work. They don’t do things haphazardly.」
「Now that you mention it, that does seem to be true.」
「Is it in their Japanese blood?」
From behind, I heard Mother’s voice.
At some point, she had closed her book and was now looking at us with a cheerful expression.
「Your father was meticulous too. Like when folding the laundry. He’d always scold me, telling me to do it properly. He’d say, if you don’t, you’ll end up wearing wrinkled clothes.」
「Come to think of it, Father handled all the laundry and clothing back in Japan. He always folded shirts so neatly.」
「See? Trying to keep up with him motivated me to do better, and before I knew it, I couldn’t stand folding things sloppily either. …Don’t you think you might have inherited some of that from your father, Sui-kun?」
「Well, there are plenty of easygoing Japanese people, but maybe we do have a tendency to be detail-oriented. Trains back in Japan were always so punctual compared to other countries, for example.」
As a race descended from Japanese, perhaps the elves had inherited that same mindset.
「In any case, it’d be nice if something as high-quality as this became more widespread in the world. After all, Alfheim is planning to engage more actively with other nations on the surface in the future.」
Of course, that wasn’t something I could influence. If cornstarch became more popular, for instance, it might lower the demand for potato starch, causing some people to lose their income or even their jobs. I didn’t want to meddle in those matters or take sides. That was something for the people involved to address and resolve.
Still—it felt a bit sad that such a great product was being overlooked. So at the very least, I wanted to use it in my cooking and enjoy it as much as I could.
「So, Sui, what kind of snack are we making?」
Karen, evidently excited about using a product from her homeland, asked with a hint of anticipation. I nodded and replied.
「It’s called blancmange, a type of pudding. It’s pure white and beautiful—the perfect match for this cornstarch.」
——————————————————
…Look at them, flirting again.
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