The Sanada Family"s Curry
The day of the school festival. Yesterday, there were no cla.s.ses, and for the whole day, every cla.s.s and club was devoted to the preparations for the school festival. After getting to school and taking attendance, it was free time. I immediately headed for the home economics room. The closer I got, the clearer the delicious smell of curry became. Peeking inside, Hiiragi-chan, Sana, and Kanata were giving off an irritated atmosphere.
"…What happened?"
In front of each of the three people, there were various large pots used for cooking.
"… Just now, we were about to compete on whose curry would sell the best."
Kanata explained simply.
"Sounds interesting."
It"s probably more likely that they"ll work harder this way, rather than if they were to just sell a random one. So, this is why Sana was so late coming home yesterday. Even coming to school, she was quite a bit earlier than me.
Yesterday, the three of us except Sana, were preparing the ingredients that we had bought. We peeled potatoes in an a.s.sembly line fashion. Partway through, it seems that her cla.s.s ended up being fine, and so Sana joined us, and continued with the cooking.
"Then, that means your ingredients are all basically the same. It"s just a compet.i.tion based off of how the roux is arranged."
"Sanadkun, just watch. My curry will sell the fastest."
As usual, when it comes to cooking compet.i.tions, Hiiragi-chan turns childish and takes it seriously.
Sneaking a look into the pot, the roux was the same color as that of the ones sold in stores, but there was a slightly spicy smell. Even if curry is just curry, there are many different kinds. For Kanata"s pot, it"s uniqueness was clear. The curry was a slightly yellow color. I could see a bit of paprika.
"So it"s Thai curry."
"… Correct. Yesterday, I bought enough ingredients while staying within the budget."
I see. Literally, a single twist on the flavor.
"… W-what….?"
Sana looked back at me while stirring the pot.
"Well, even if you don"t sell any, don"t get too depressed, okay? That"s just reality though… Yeah, don"t mind!"
"Please don"t just randomly decide that Sana"s going to be depressed, and then try to cheer me up. Stupid."
Well, I mean… As you can probably guess, Sana"s was just the usual ma.s.s-produced kind that was just made by putting store bought roux into the curry with no uniqueness whatsoever. I guess if you"re hungry it"ll still be delicious… Comparing the two, it was clear which was inferior. Also, while I wasn"t watching, Sana might have put something into the curry. That point raises the danger level to max…
"While Sana is at the haunted house, Nii-san is going to watch over the curry."
"Haah? Why me?"
"I mean, this is the flavor of the Sanada family."
"Don"t decide that something that you make is representative of the Sanada family."
"It would be okay like this… at least that"s what yesterday"s advisor said."
"Please don"t call Mom an advisor."
"A sweetness and spiciness in a ratio of about 7 to 3. There"s no mistaking it! Since it"s quite sweet, I"m sure a lot of sugar is added."
… That sweetness isn"t this type of sweetness, okay? It"s not that there"s sugar inside the roux.n In the first place, the thinking that curry with a lot of sugar tastes good, means you"re already going down a terrible logical path.
Well, the store-bought roux is quite nice. It won"t be more of a success than the other two, but it also won"t result in failure. It"s perfect for someone on autopilot.
We could see the school grounds from the window of the home economics room. There was a tent that was also used for the sports festival set up. The school yard was the same.
"The ingredients and roux are all a little bit different, so, what are you going to do about the price? All the same? Or to each, their own?"
Hmmm, the three of them thought.
"For me, it isn"t like we"re trying to start a business or anything, so I do believe going a little bit into the red is fine."
The ingredients were paid for by club funds after all.
"… Taking a loss feels bad, so I do want to profit."
"Sana agrees with Kanchan."
It should have been set so that with the rice, you should be able to get a serving for 400 yen. That would have at least kept us above the line.
"I would feel bad if there"s things leftover, so 400 yen is fine."
"Sensei, you"re so reliable."
"Eheheh. I know, right?"
After thinking for a bit, Kanata decided.
"… For me, 500 yen. The paprika, and the coconut milk…"
I guess those were probably expensive. Still, Thai curry at this price should still be considered cheap I believe. Since it"s Kanata, it"s probably pretty tasty too.
"Fufu. I see that everyone"s lacking some confidence."
She pushed out her flat chest.
It"s not that they lack confidence, they"re just being realistic.
"Sana, is going with 600 yen! The Sanada family"s curry is at least that delicious."
"Where does that confidence come from?"
"The right price for the right things. Sana made it with a lot of care."
"The prep work and even heating on the stove was all done by me though?"
Speaking of what Sana had done, it was just putting in the roux. (If you don"t include the weird arrangements that she had made that is) … She took the best part of making curry.
"Please stop shaming the Sanada family…"
I can already imagine people feeling pitying her and then buying up the leftovers.
There are about 200 servings among the three, so each person has about 65 servings. If it goes well, it"ll probably disappear in 2-3 hours.
"Preparations at 10:30 and it"ll start at 11. Depending on the order of who sells out, they"ll also make the portions for tomorrow."
There were no complaints to my suggestion.
I prepared the paper plates and spoons for the curry, and checked on the cooked rice. And, some money for change.
On the pamphlet for the school festival, the shops and their locations were written. Cotton candy, frankfurter, grilled squid, etc. It was a standard festival lineup.
I don"t know about girls, but for guys, it"s all about getting the most that you can get for as cheap as possible. Moreover, we had the strongest advertising method of Hiiragi-chan. It was even handmade.
"This… will be quite turbulent…"
Just like a veteran fisherman looking out into the sea, I stared out at the grounds with faraway eyes.
"Sana is going to be on duty at the haunted house starting at 1:00. At that time, Sana will leave it to Nii-san…!"
"You"re really pa.s.sing quite the baton there."
"Show them the pride of the Sanada family!"
"Please don"t put me on a team with you."
Just like this, the time rolled over to 10:00.
To start preparing for the store, we carried the necessary tools required of a curry house. Large pots were put on three gas stoves used for keeping things warm.
"Uwaaah… that"s a nice smell…!"
"Which club is it?"
"The home economics club… you can eat, Hiiragi-sensei"s curry…?"
We gathered the attention of various students who were working around us.
"Just wait a bit, okay ♪ We"ll be starting at around 11:00!"
When Hiiragi-chan said that, the boys around all turned under one will.
In the middle was Hiiragi-chan, right was Kanata, and the left was Sana. I"m working behind the scenes, in charge of payments and rice. The other three were going to be in front of the curry pots, taking orders, and handing out the curry.
With this, even if it gets busy, we should be okay.
I wrote various PR lines on a piece of paper, and stuck it out on a sign in front of the table.
[Hiiiragi-sensei"s Homemade Curry — 400 yen]
[Let"s make today a bit more exciting! Thai Curry — 500 yen]
[The curry that Sanada Sana from Cla.s.s 1E did her best to make — 600 yen]
Alright, that should be good. Hiiragi-chan will probably be the first to run out.
From top to bottom: looks delicious, looks delicious, feels like a landmine. That"s the lineup that will be presented.
"Wait, Nii-san!"
My little sister immediately complained. It"s the curry that she did her best to make after all. Depending on her cooking cla.s.ses—
"Properly write it down as the Sanada family"s curry!"
"How powerful do you really think the Sanada family"s curry is anyways!"
Rather, that"s what you"re complaining about?
The three of them lit the gas stove and started to warm the curry. The smell seemed to be a strong way of advertising as there were many students that stopped moving in front of us.
"Heeey, Sanada?"
Fujimoto came by.
"What is it? I"m quite busy."
"Is this the place where I get to eat Hiiragi-chan and Sanchan"s curry?"
"Yeah, I guess."
"For the cla.s.s café, you seem to have a job, so come by after two, okay."
Yes yes, I made sure to give my reply. However, Fujimoto didn"t leave.
"…Sanada, you"re probably alone, right…? Once you"re done, let"s go around together."
Showing his gleaming white teeth, Fujimoto gave me a thumbs up.
During last time"s school festival, we were both single after all… While watching couples holding hands and walking by, it was a school festival filled with sighs… A lonely school festival.
"Sorry. Lonely Man. Unfortunately, I have a previous arrangement."
I won"t be able to walk around with Hiiragi-chan, but I have a secret weapon.
"Kuu… but you"re just a Sanada."
"See you. Go ahead and steadily do some work for the cla.s.s. Then, in order to not be recognized as a loner, exchange shifts with other people and be recognized as a nice and harmless guy. That"ll probably be for the best."
"Dammit… dammit…! Don"t voice what I"m going to do before I even start doing it!"
While wiping away tears, Fujimoto ran away.
Thinking that Fujimoto would probably do that for that reason, I already… already… couldn"t resist laughing…
Rummaging through her belongings, Hiiragi-chan brought out a cap and ap.r.o.n.
"Tadah! I prepared this just for this day. Everyone can be matching. Isn"t it great?"
The cap did give off a feeling of a curry house. The denim ap.r.o.n combined with the cap, gave the feel of an employee at a store.
However, tadah… Hiiragi-chan, that sounds, it gives off an outdated vibe…
"… Yeah, seems nice."
"Sana doesn"t dislike it."
I even had my own set, as everyone equipped them. Somehow, it felt nice as it makes it feel like everyone is part of one team.
On the other side of the curry pot, students were already forming a line.
"It"s 11:00. Let"s start."