The Lunch
The Ushiromiya family conference was held once every year. It took place on the first weekend of October.
If a normal family were to use a pretentious name like "family conference", you'd expect it to be nothing more than a reunion of rarely seen relatives who greet each other surrouned by buckets of sushi.
However, because the sons and siblings had been lent a great fortune, in the Ushiromiya family, which considers only those that achieve success in business adults, it literally was a conference.
How much of the fortune was invested? What kind of business was conducted? How much was earned? As a result, how much of the fortune borrowed from the main family can be repaid? Or, possibly, how much will be borrowed for future business ventures?
What lessons have they learned, and what could they learn from their mistakes? It seems that topics like these had been discussed very seriously in the past.
My dad called it a bed of nails. Apparently, it used to be a very serious family meeting, bathed in harsh and angry voices. Even on a good year, it was common for someone to get slapped.
However, that had become a thing of the past. Now, with everyone pursuing their own business ventures and achieving success, it was a normal yearly get-together.
Even so, hearing about Grandfather's condition caused a significant amount of stress, so while to us grandchildren it was nothing more than a simple meeting, to our parents it was still a real stomachache.
I guess that since the ringleader was absent for various reasons, today's lunch was even more delicious. The phrase "while the demon is not around, everyone can relax" comes to mind.
Well then, let's introduce Jessica's father, whose face I hadn't seen for six years.
The man sitting to my father's left was his older brother and the father of Jessica, Krauss oji-san.
...This name sure is easy to read. Krauss. Since everyone had these weird names, our naming sense was pretty twisted, so Krauss actually didn't seem that bad. I'd even started to think it was pretty cool.
Just like with Aunt Natsuhi, I didn't have many memories of speaking with Krauss oji-san. He had never been one to talk to children, and I felt like he was always talking with the adults, just like Aunt Natsuhi.
From my father's gossip, it seems that he was a pretty spiteful and unreasonable person. If what my father said is true, he used to be very domineering as the oldest sibling, and was hated by Aunt Eva, Aunt Rosa, and the rest of the family.
Huh? It looks like he's having a friendly chat with the rest of the family, doesn't it?
Oh, well. Even if their relationship was bad when they were children, sometimes when people grow up and go their separate ways, their relationship changes. That's probably what this was.
After all, they all had children of about the same age. By sharing the same family environment, they probably profited by exchanging opinions.
Maybe because of that, a shirt while ago the circle of parents began to discuss the examns Jessica and I were taking.
Jessica, in order to escape the discussion of exams with my father sitting on her left, purposefully faced right while firing off a rapid series of comments, so as not to show any weakness.
Moving on, let's look at the end opposite from Krauss and the others. In the very last seat at the table, an old gentleman with a sturdy physique sat facing Kyrie-san. This was my first time meeting him.
I had only just been introduced to him, but it seems that he was Grandfather's personal doctor, a man called Nanjo.
I had heard that he used to own a huge clinic on the nearby Niijima island, but he turned it over to his son and then began living a life of leisure in his old age.
He had known Grandfather since the very beginning when the mansion was first constructed on this island, and had built up a relationship over several decades.
I thought that he might be Grandfather's companion in his suspicious hobbies, but, surprisingly, it seems that he is Grandfather's chess partner.
...I see. That kind of hobby seems very like our Grandfather with his love of western style. You could probably say that he was the only person who could enter Rokkenjima and was neither a family member nor a servant.
He gave an impression of a calm old gentleman as he listened to Kyrie and the other women's conversation. After staying by our short-tempered Grandfather's side for so long, his big heart was nothing to laugh at.
...Still, even if he was a family doctor, having anyone outside the Ushiromiya family attend the family conference was a little odd. I imagined that because Grandfather's condition had grown much worse, it may have become one of the major topics of discussion.
George was just saying it, too. Reports that Grandfather's remaining life was very short had been appearing continuously since around a year ago.
It was a nasty story, but Grandfather was an extremely rich man. At the time of his death, his wealth would suddenly be released, along with our parent's stomach acid, and would probably lead to ulcers.
With this kind of thing, the greater the share, the more trouble would be caused. This would probably also be included in the family conference. Oh well, it's not like it had anything to do with us children.
...Finally, even though he was absent, let me introduce our Grandfather.
The person who should be sitting in that "Incipient's Chair" was Ushiromiya Kinzo. ...It really sucks. Everyone else in the family has these weird names, but he himself took this perfactly normal name.
If only his name were written Kinzo, but he let us call him "Goldsmith" or something, that's be totally awesome.
As you can probably guess from the topics that have been raised, he was a frightening person with an extremely short temper. Because I was one of the grandchildren and hadn't met the family since elementary school, I had no memory of being beaten, but it seems that our parents were raised with an iron fist.
That earlier conversation between my father and Krauss oji-san about who should go try to convince Grandfather to come out seems oddly funny if we take this into account.
In order to tell Grandfather's story, you have to first go back and recount that episode that occured before the Showa era (1926-1989).
Until the Meiji (1868-1912) and Taishou (1912-1926) eras, the Ushiromiya family was great and prosperous. They owned several spinning mills, so while they just laughesd heartely every day, the money kept rolling in, making them very wealthy.
Incidentally, Grandfather, as a member of the branch family, essentially had nothing to do with the main family. Distantly separated from the head's inheritance, his relationship with the head house was also very distant, apparently.
Even so, during the Great Kanto Earthquake in the year Taisho 12 (1923), the mansion owned by the Ushiromiya family in Odaware was flattened. The spinning mills in Tokyo were all burned down in a huge fire, and the Ushiromiya family lost most of its wealth and family members in an instant.
It then became a matter of who in the main family would become the heir, and it seemed as though no one except the branch family, which included Kinzo, was left.
Kinzo himself later said that it was such good luck, it was as though fate itself had been turned upside-down.
With that, GRandfather's normal life did a 180. He was entrusted with reviving the wealth that the dying Ushiromiya family had almost completely lost.
Naturally, just because he had been entrusted with this task didn't mean he could accomplish it. It seems that the surrounding people weren't really expecting much.
However, from this point on, Grandfather began displaying his extraordinary talent and good luck. GRandfather used all of the family funds and everything from the hair of his head to his toenails as collateral to borrow a massive amount of money, created a gigantic supply of funds and soon revived the family's business.
It was like tumbling down a hill on a bike without any brakes. And then, jumping onto a neighboring bike, and then another one! Just like some crazy street performance. Probably, anyone would have thought that Grandfather had no business ability.
Even so, with an unbelievable amount of good luck and miracles, with coincidences piling up and every chance taken advantage of, before anyone knew it, he began to make connections with the occupying forces.
At that time, McArthur and the GHQ were in charge. Grandfather, in a twinkle of the eye, began succeeding in business unde the protection of the occupying forces, quickly becoming very rich.
At this point, it was no longer luck but information that won the day.
He must have made some seriously thick connections with the occupying forces. ...Grandfather knew beforehand about emergency demands that would be made for the Korean War.
No, on the contrary, he must have foreseen these special procurements from the very beginning and started eating into his businesses.
As we read in the history books, all of Japan made a large profit off of the emergency demands for the Korean War, but in actuality that didn't happen.
Only a very limited number of the super rich played the money gama and made an easy profit. Most of the citizens remained poor. In other words, Grandfather was an extremely lucky member of this group of winners.
This all happned... during the year Showa 25 (1950), I think. And, since the year following the Great Kanto Earthquake was Taisho 13 (1924)...
...That means Grandfather was able to revive the near-dead Ushiromiya family in only about 20 years to a level even higher than it had been before.
With that, you'd think that he would revive the main family in Odawara, but for some reason, he went and did something crazy as buying an entire small island in the Izu archipelago.
Buying an entire island is not something that you can ordinarily do today. However, Grandfather was clever. He contacted the GHQ and applied for the establishment of a marine resource base.
He acquired this island as a business property, and then threw that away and claimed it as his own plot of land.
After the war there were prevention measure against food shortages, and, furthermore, having the sponsorship of the GHQ meant that nobody could oppose him.
It seems that Tokyo Metropolis had almost no money at the time and offered this land. Later, Tokyo made difficulties by telling Kinzo to return the land, but the pushy GHQ intervened.
Anyway, it seems as though under the table bribes worked perfectly. In the end, the city gave up in frustration.
Grandfather, with considerable skill and blessed with good luck, managed to weather the stormy seas of that period, obtaining a bast fortune and his own island.
Of course, it wasn't all luck. He was skilled with English, and this was cultivated by his western obsession. Using this as a weapon, he was able to take a bite out of the GHQ.
A mansion was immediately built on the island. That would be this mansion. Grandfather, with his western style, made this once uninhabited island, Rokkenjima, a canvas upon which he could realize his dreams to his heart's content.
...With the western mansion that he had always imagined, overflowing with emotion, to the beautiul garden where various roses had been planted.
And a private beach where nobody other than himself would ever be permitted to leave a footprint. ...If a boy could have this much, it would be a dream come true.
After that, making good use of his huge fortune, he became a large stock holder in the extremely stable iron and steel industry and was able to live an easy and comfortable life just using the dividends.
Well, he's just that incredible. This kind of person usually has the ability to foresee and predict the future, or at least that is how they are portrayed. GRandfather denies all of that, repeatedly saying that he was simply blessed with extraordinary luck...
...Anyway, even a lord like that, with all of his dreams made real, can't help but grow increasingly odd when locked up alone on an island.
Everyone had known for a long time of his western obsession, but none of our parents really knows when his bizarre black magic hobby began.
Did his love of black magic begin way back when he became fascinated with everything wester, or, possibly, did his miraculous stretch of good luck which allowed him to revive the family cause him to feel a mysterious power in himself?
At some point, Grandfather began to make the research of black magic his life's work. He filled his study up with suspicious books, chemicals, and magical items as he became increasingly bizarre.
I heard that, as a successful man, he had the right to decided how he wanted to live the rest of his life, and those surrounding him warmly watched over him, but...
That's definitely a lie. They probably were just driven away, thinking "that's disgusting, I don't want to get involved".
Well... that agitated period was like a big gamble, with both opportunities and risks.
Let's say Grandfather was born in this time period. He would've had no opportunities and would probably have advanced like a chess piece from mandatory education to college at a leisurely pace, never becoming more than an average salary man.
If that happened, he'd probably have sat somewhere, happily talking behind his boss's back. No, no. Not in a mansion's dining hall. More like a table at some bar. If that were the case, I'm sure that this would be a more comfortable family conference.
Alright, that's enough of the old geezer's story. More importantly, let's talk about this incre~dible lunch!
Battler: I'm already convinced by the sashimi salad! Gohda-san is an excellent chef! Plus, these fish were caught in th adjacent seas, weren't they?! They're totally different from sashimi you get at the supermarked!
Rudolf: Hey, quit it Battler. Your upbringing will be exposed.
Everyone let out a big laugh. Damn it, you say that even though you love those cheap pubs.
George: Hahahaha. Depending on the situation with my job, I also have eaten at many odd places, but compared to all of those, this is an excellent dish. Gohda-san probably also learned a lot that way.
Jessica: Well, I don't know too much about it. At the famous hotel where he used to work, employee politics got pretty complicated and everyone split into factions. In the middle of all that, he was apparently forced to retire. Then, by chance, Mom sent out job offers for a servant.
Gohda lowered the empty plate and, without losing his smile, began to recount his own uneven past.
Gohda: The world is a difficult place. However, it is thanks to this that I was given a chance to display my skills as a chef once again, this time for the Ushiromiya family. Although I also enjoy the smiles of a larger number of people. Being able to make only those who have hired me happy while performing such a delicate job is thanks to the opportunity given to me by Madam.
Gohda-san respectfully bowed his head towards Aunt Natsuhi.
Natsuhi: That is because among all of the applicants, you were the most talented. The decision was not based on personal feelings, but purely objective, so there is no need to thank me.
...Oh man, why does Aunt Natsuhi always have to speak so frankly. If only she spoke more gently, she might give off a different impression.
Shannon-chan and Kumasawa-san entered from the hallway with a serving cart.
Shannon: Please excuse us.
Gohda: Now then, let us move on to today's dessert.
Gohda-san and the others laid out the beautifully adorned dessert.
I guess it's true when they say you have another stomach for dessert. I'd thought that being fed all that delicious food had totally filled me up, but as soon as I laid eyes on the dessert, my stomach started yelling "More!"
I don't know much about desserts, but this looked really good.
A white pudding-like substance was garnished with two shades of red sauce, and elegant rose petals adorned the dish. With such mangificent food distributed in front of everybody, it was time for the chef to extol the virtues of his creation.
However, Maria, who was completely indifferent to this strict rule, got excited by this beautiful and delicious looking dessert and jumped into the fray as soon as it was placed before her.
Aunt Rosa scolded her, calling it bad manner, but George respondded by saying "Now, now, it's alright".
Maria: Uu-? This part's sour! This part's sour! Battler, this one's no good! Uu-!
Maria exclaimed as she sampled the two colored sauces.
Battler: What, some are good and some bad? Alright, I'll give it a go~! Mmmmm?!
Apparently the sauce was a blend of sweet and sour. Despite it being bad manners, I also stuck my little finger in and licked it.
Whoa, half of it was sour enough to make you pucker up. If it were yellow, I'd have suspected lemon, but I couldn't get what kind of sourness would be red.
I decided to ask Shannon, who was putting away the serving cart behind us.
Battler: Shannon-chan, what kind of sauce is this sour stuff?
Shannon: ...Umm... Err... U...
Shannon-chan hesitated to speak.
Maybe she was just setting the table and doesn't really know. Man, she's at a total loss... did I ask something wrong? Or did they use something that we'd be better off now knowing about?
While Aunt Natsuhi acted as though she had a headache, Kumasawa-san, who was setting the table at the opposite seat, began to laugh with a "hoh-hoh-ho".
Kumasawa: What ingredients do you think we made it out of? Hoh-hoh-ho, it'll shock you...
Battler: Huh? I-I don't have a clue. Wait a sec, Kumasawa baa-san, that laugh's pretty creepy. So, what is it?!
Kumasawa: Don't tell anyone, alright? Let me borrow your ears.
Kumasawa-san leaned across from the other side of the table.
I leaned forward too when she asked me to listen. Their interest caught, Jessica, George-aniki, and, of course, Maria also put their ears closer.
Maria: Uu-. What? Wha-t? Quickly-! Quickly-!
Kumasawa: The sour part is, well... Actually, it's squeezed juice from a mackerel, Hoh-hoh-ho!
Jessica/Battler/George/Maria: HAAAaaah, mackerel?!
"That's crazy", we all thought, horrified. Only Maria accepted it, nodding with an "uh-huh".
Maria: Uu-? Mackerels are sour. If you squeeze them, this comes out!
Everybody: ...ha, Wahahaha...!
When Maria started clamoring that mackerel were sour, the adults were unable to contain their laughter. Only Aunt Rosa, her face red, told Maria that mackerel is sour only once prepared, in a small voice.
Ahh- now I remember it perfectly. Kumasawa-san was always this kind of a character, wasn't she? I think she must have tricked me too in various ways when I was young!
Amongst all of them, the most lethal must have been that one! That flimsy black thing in the Chinese dish! It was a kikurage mushroom! She told me it was penguin meat and I went all around school like a smartass telling everyone, didn't I?!
Battler: Kumasawa baa-chan, you sure haven't changed...! You know Maria's gonna believe now, right?
Kumasawa: Hoh-hoh-ho, it's just a joke, right? Now, Gohda will tell us what the sauce's true nature is, won't he?
Gohda looked a little put off about his masterpiece being aughed at in such a strange way, but after clearing his throat once, he introduced the dessert to us.
Gohda: Well then, allow me to introduce tonight's dessert. Based on the rose garden that everyone seemed to enjoy so much today, I finished this panna cotta in a rose garden style. The rose petals scattered across were selected just now from that rose garden. The sauce is a combination of two reds, strawberry and rose hips. Please enjoy this mixture of the strawberry's sweetness and the rose hip's sourness. Furthermore, the rose petals are merely decoration, so please avoid them while you eat. With that said, please, enjoy.
...Ha... Man, I almost want to applaud before eating. Just like with medicine, reading the instructions seems to work better than just drinking it. As Gohda-san elaborated on the details of this dessert, it started to feel even more appetizing.
Seriously, should you call him subtle or just talented? The dessert was probably planned from the beginning, but taking the hint when we all stopped in front of the rose garden earlier today, he displayed an incredible and timely awareness by just adding a few rose petals from that garden.
This combination of sweet and sour was also exquisite. If it was just sweet, you'd just ger used to it and bored halfway through.
But, if you reached the sour sauce at that point, you'd get a really vivid taste. And then, once you returned to the sweet sauce, all of the sourness in your mouth would be replaced with an enjoyable sweetness.
I'm sure everyone else felt the same way. Every time Gohda-san passed by one of the seats, someone praised the taste and his creation.
Gohda: How is it, Madam?
Natsuhi: Splendid, as always. It is worthy of entertaining our guests.
Gohda: I am most grateful for your words. ...Madam, did you know? I have heard that rose hip has the ability to cure headaches. I thought that Madam especially would appreciate it, so I had it specially prepared.
Natsuhi: Is that so? Thank you.
Kyrie: See, didn't I tell you, Natsuhi nee-san? Rose hip works on headaches.
Natsuhi: So it seems. ...At least it would be nice if that were the case.
Hideyoshi: Haa-! Gohda-san, I love ya! Hey, later, why don't you tell me how they're treating you! If you've got any problems with it, just lift a finger and I'll give you whatever salary you want! Havin' your talent monipolized by this small island is sacrilege to humanity's cookin' culture! Wouldn't you be willin' to display your talent to all of the guests at my company?
Krauss: Hahaha, Hideyoshi-san. Are you trying to recruit our Gohda? How troubling. We better start treating Gohda better or he'll get snatched away.
Eva: *giggle* Yes, you really should. If you don't, he'll be lured away and you'll be stuck with three meals a day of Kumasawa-style mackerek cooking, won't you?
Kumasawa: Hoh-hoh-ho, that's harsh. It seems someone's holding a grudge against me.
Everyone: Wahahaha!
Everyone let out a huge laugh. According to Jessica, Kumasawa-san's mackerel was often the material of a running gag, and our parents had long since gotten used to it.
Kumasawa-san often claimed that mackerel had a precious nutritional value that could do things such as prevent aging and make people smarter.
...It seemed that while it couldn't stop the outward signs of aging, it helped prevent aging on the inside. Since she was still healthy enough to tell these kinds of jokes at her age, that benefit must be the real thing.
Kumasawa: Hoh-hoh-ho... In that case, if you'll excuse me... Prepare yourself for tonight's dinner! I'll be cooking plenty of mackerel dishes for you to eat, so look forward to it!
Rudolf: Wahahaha, we sure will. I want to get all dressed up for tonight's mackerel!
Rosa: That sounds wonderful. I wonder if any delicious Japanese sake will be included.
Kumasawa: Really, is that so? How about some of our famous Rokkenjima mackerel liquor...
Everyone: Wahahahaha!
Kumasawa-san, together with Shannon-chan, bowed and pushed the serving cart away. Amusingly, Gohda-san, who looked just as though his stock had been stolen from him, explained veery seriously that tonight's dinner would actually be calf steak.
No comments:
Post a Comment