CH 220

How to keep Sendai-san intact — 220

Translated by KaiesV

Edited by KaiesV

In front of me are two bowls.

They were taken out of the refrigerator by Sendai-san, and both contain kneaded ground meat inside. I don’t know why there are two bowls, but there is only one that I can imagine from the contents.

「Hamburger?」

「Almost.」

A light voice replies.

「Then, what are you making?」

「Gyoza. The bowl is filled with gyoza ingredients that I made before Miyagi came back. Two kinds: shiso and cheese.」

Sendai-san put the bowl on the table and looked at me.

「Gyoza? You go to all that trouble to make them?」

「That’s right. I’m just supposed to wrap it up and bake it.」

「Why didn’t you just buy a ready-made one?」

「I was craving gyozas without garlic stuffed in it.」

「They sell those, too, if you look for them.」

「I know, but it would be fun to make it together.」

「…I’m leaving my bag here.」

I don’t remember replying to Sendai-san, who asked me to help her prepare the meal, that I would help her. But she is talking on the assumption that I will help her, so she leaves her coat and bag in my room.

I return to the common area, wash my hands, and stand next to Sendai-san, who naturally places one of the bowls in front of me.

「Wrap it up this way, Miyagi.」

She hands me a spoon and I stare into the bowl.

Sendai-san wants to cook everything and asks me to help her. She has made karaage and cookies before. We cooked other things together, but the things we cooked were things that could have been sold at the store without going to the trouble of making them. I had been buying and eating such things for a long time.

Even gyozas are the same.

For me, gyozas are already in the form of frozen or chilled gyozas, not made from wrapping them in the skin.

I think it is troublesome.

I don’t know why Sendai-san wants to make everything.

But somehow, the food Sendai-san makes tastes so good that I end up helping her even when it seems like a hassle.

「…I’ve never made it and I don’t know how to wrap it.」

On the table, in addition to a bowl, there is a small plate with water and gyoza skins. I pick up one of the gyoza skins and look at Sendai-san.

「Then put a spoonful of the filling in the middle of the crust.」

「Like this?」

I placed a spoonful of the filling in the middle of the crust as I was told.

「Yes-yes. Next, wet the edge of the skin with water, pick the right edge, and just close it up like this, making folds in order from the edge. Easy, isn’t it?」

Sendai-san demonstrates how to wrap the ingredients, but I don’t really understand. I understood that she folds it from the edge of the skin to make folds, but I only understood that part. I don’t believe it can be done the same way.

Still, I can’t not do it, and for now, I close the edges of the skin and make folds.

「…It ripped.」

I don’t know why.

I was able to wrap the filling, but the skin was ripped open and the contents were visible.

「Why don’t you reduce the amount of ingredients?」

Based on Sendai-san’s advice, a smaller amount of filling than before is placed in the center of the skin and closed, resulting in an unshapely gyoza. It is not as beautiful as the gyoza made by Sendai-san.

Probably, it should not be because of the folds.

I take a piece of dumpling skin.

I place the filling in the middle of the skin, fold it into a square, and show it to Sendai-san.

「It looks more like a square crepe than a dumpling. If you reduce the number of folds」

「It’s the same if you eat it with or without folds, so why not this?」

I make another square dumpling and place it on the plate.

「…You’re clumsy, aren’t you, Miyagi?」

「I’m not clumsy.」

「Well, you can make them any shape you like in Miyagi. Torn gyoza, misshapen gyoza, crepe-like gyoza, they’re all lovely.」

Sendai chuckles as she looks at the dumplings I made.

It’s frustrating.

I squeeze Sendai-san’s foot and remember something important.

It was not the time to be leisurely making gyoza.

I have to tell Sendai-san something.

I made one more clumsy gyoza with folds, then inhaled and exhaled. Then take another piece of skin, put the filling in the middle, attach the right edge and then ask in a voice neither loud nor quiet.

「About Christmas, what do you want?」

At the sound of my voice, Sendai-san stopped making gyoza.

「Christmas is in 25th, right?」

「It’s in 24th.」

「That’s Christmas Eve.」

「It doesn’t matter either way. Either you have something to do or you don’t. Answer me.」

I talk just a little bit faster, and I start to feel like I’ve heard something special. It shouldn’t be a big deal to ask about Christmas plans, but I can’t look next to me. I close the gyoza skin, unable to get the folds right.

「I’m free but,」

I hear Sendai-san’s quiet voice and exhale. I place the misshapen gyoza on the plate and say at once what I have to say.

「Maika wants the three of us to get together.」

「…Utsunomiya did?」

Sendai-san’s voice is stiffer than usual.

「Yes.」

「What did you say, Miyagi?」

「I don’t have any plans.」

「Does that mean you’re going to see Utsunomiya on the 24th?」

「Yes, but,」

Emotions that I had been wanting to keep buried deep inside surfaced. I can’t control those feelings, and they always seem to be pulled strongly toward Sendai-san. And I don’t want her to meet Maika. The thought of being locked up in this house with so many marks where I can see her comes to mind, and I want to extinguish the thought with a feeling like a dark, burning flame.

「What do you want me to do, Miyagi?」

She asks me a question, and I am lost for an answer.

I don’t want to let Sendai-san meet Maika, but I also don’t want to break my promise to Maika.

What should I do?

The answer must be one.

If I had to choose one, if I had to choose just one, it would surely be an answer that I don’t like myself. So I don’t want to talk about it.

「Just say to Utsunomiya that I’m fine with the three of us getting together at the Christmas Eve.」

Sendai-san said in a voice that was not as hard as before, but not soft either, and took a piece of gyoza skin. She placed the filling on the skin and quickly closed it up in folds. In no time at all, the filling was wrapped and the dumplings were placed on the plate, but it was the skin that had been ripped open to reveal the filling.

「Miyagi.」

Sendai-san calls me quietly.

「What is it?」

「Instead, we’ll spend Christmas together.」

「The Christmas in 25th?」

「Yes.」

「Sendai-san, don’t you have an appointment with a friend?」

「I don’t.」

「You don’t?」

Is there a promise or not?

There should be two answers to my question, and the reply that she don’t is not right.

「I’m not doing it.」

The answer was also subtly incorrect, but it seemed to her that the answer was not a mistake, and there was no hesitation in her voice.

「What are we two going to do?」

「Let’s eat cake.」

Sendai-san says in a soft voice.

「I think I’ll eat it in 24th.」

「You could eat it in 25th.」

「Can we just have our cake and eat it?」

「If you want to eat cake from morning till night, that’s fine.」

「What do you mean?」

「Spending the 25th together means spending the entire time with me, from morning to night.」

「There’s not much to do from morning till night.」

「Yes, there are. For example, we could go shopping in the morning and cook dinner together like we did today.」

I don’t like to cook.

I don’t think I’m cut out for it.

I don’t mind instant food or retort pouch as long as it satisfies my hunger.

I have always thought so, but even if I am clumsy and can’t do it as well as Sendai-san, or even if it is too much trouble, making gyoza like this makes me think that cooking together for Christmas is not so bad.

「What are we going to make?」

「What do you want to eat, Miyagi?」

「There’s nothing in particular.」

「Well, think about it. If you want to do something else, it doesn’t have to be cooking. So, give me the 25th, Miyagi.」

「…Fine.」

Christmas doesn’t seem special to me, but I don’t want Sendai-san to go away without me on Christmas. I want the whole thing, and if I have a schedule, I want to take it away from someone else who fills the schedule.

I don’t want to be left behind on important or unimportant days.

I want to put the 24th on a leash and keep them mine, but I have to give up. Maika is my friend and she is also a friend of Sendai-san. She would never take Sendai-san away from me. So, to placate my reluctance to let Sendai-san see Maika, I keep my insinuating feelings deep in my heart and keep a lid on them.

「Then, it’s a promise.」

After saying this, Sendai-san kissed my earring and swore Christmas to me, then whispered in my ear.

「I’ll wait that long for the last promise, too.」

「What promise?」

The words I asked were not answered.

But I know what the promise is.

Still, I can’t help but ask.

「Sendai-san, what is your answer to my question?」

「The gyoza, I’ll answer you if you can make them beautifully.」

My words made Sendai-san chuckle as she wrapped the ingredients in the skin, resulting in misshapen gyoza.