1591/The Foodsenings

The Foodsenings
Date of Scene:	27 May 2024
Location:	Mitakihara Ward
Synopsis:	Chiyo and Taro bond over food.
Cast of Characters:	Taro Yamada, Chiyo Sakai

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Taro Yamada has posed:
Of course his boss landed herself in the hospital. At the hands of that little flammable brat! Taro still hasn't met this Sunbreaker chick, but he'll have an earful for her when the day comes!

People are dropping like flies, or it feels like it. Even he at his hungriest, he didn't take out multiple people over two weeks. And here he is, not even able to put a scratch on anything if trouble happens.

So he's doing what he can, which is: keep his grades up, continue going to work, and make sure his moron boss doesn't starve herself in the hospital. He suspects stress cooking is going to be a habit, and at least it's one that benefits himself and others.

So here comes Taro in his school uniform, bookbag slung over his shoulder and a plastic bag full of bento boxes hanging from his free hand, stalking through the hospital parking lot.

Chiyo Sakai has posed:
Similarily that was part of the reason that Chiyo was here. There were more people injured, but the ones she was concerned about at the moment was Mamoru. And his contingent of guards that would watch over him diligently.

They did it in shifts, which was good, but she had gathered up snacks and missed homework to help pass out. Honestly some of the Sailor Scouts she hadn't meant had the homework angle covered for the most part. That meant she was just making sure people were *eating*.

Sweets she can make just fine, and some other dishes, but she'd never really learned to cook for more than three people at a time. Which is why she has some bags of takeout from Korma Chameleon for actual food, and another bag with the Nounamu logo for desserts.

The 'special' ones were specifically labeled for Mamoru only.

Chiyo makes her way from the drop off area where the part-timer had left her to walk further to the hospital. It's during this trek that she spots Taro and recognizes him from the visit to the shop not too long ago. Pausing by the door she holds it open for him since his hands looked just as full as hers.

"Looks like you've got a friend in here, too. I hope they get better quickly."

Taro Yamada has posed:
Taro's eyes widen - he recognizes the girl from the sweets shop, plum hair and all, heading over and arms full of food just like him. He's not fast enough to get the door - Auntie said it was polite to hold open doors for girls, after all - but he says, "Thanks."

And then grimaces. "Yeah. She'll live but it's going to suck a lot first. I hope yours is doing better than mine."

...Which isn't likely, since they're both here with lots and lots of food. At least it meant whoever she was visiting didn't have to be all locked up so her breath wouldn't make them more sick?

Chiyo Sakai has posed:
Chiyo Sakai can only give a rueful smile at the sentiments that are shared. All she can really do is incline her head a bit. "He's awake and aware, but on a lot of pain killers so I'm trying to at least bring things that I know he'll eat. While still being healthy," she adds with a chuckle. "Which is tricky given he has a sweet tooth but at least mochi isn't too terrible of a sweet."

"Most of the food is for his friends and his girlfriend--My cousin," she explains with a look down to the bags. "She's got a healthy appetite normally but when she's worried she forgets to eat. Similar situation with your friend?"

Taro Yamada has posed:
"Wouldn't this be the time to go for calorie dense foods? If he's on a lot of painkillers. Make it easier to eat."

Getting the boss to eat was a bit easier, at least. He'd pared away from more intricate foods to ones she could handle easily while still on the painkillers, stuff that woudln't get her bed messy if her hands slipped or something. Not that she was having a lot of issues! But his ma had always had trouble with that kind of thing, when she was sick, and it was easy enough to translate it.

"Sound like he's got company. Good. Hospitals are bad enough with company, much less without. I'm just packed for myself and her - I'm gonna do my homework and have dinner while she eats. If my grades fall, she'll skin me alive," he says fondly.

Chiyo Sakai has posed:
"Yes but also needs to be nutritionaly balanced. It can't all be sweets," Chiyo remarks with a chuckle only to shake her head. "I'm not a doctor, just trying to follow the rules a bit and help out. At least he does seem happier with a treat now and then." Plus the healing magic in it likely helped more than the painkillers tended to. If only she could do a stronger healing.

Taro mentions grades though which earns a little guilty wince from her. "I'm usually pretty average but with everything going on... I really am going to need to spend a good day catching up," she admits with a sigh.

For now she shakes off the thought with a little jerk of her head. "Your name was Taro, right?"

Taro Yamada has posed:
"What about kusamochi? It's supposed to have medicional qualities," and he holds up his plastic bag. Visible in the top container is the selfsame deep green mochi cut into bite sized pieces. The shaping isn't particularly elegant, but there's a very faint scent of mugwort coming from the box that indicates he did prepare the traditional herbs correctly.

Taro shrugs. "At the rate people are getting hurt, the entire class is going to have bad grades at this rate. They can't fail all of us."

If nothing else, his boss and the others who funneled Obsideon kids into the school would throw a fit about it.

"Yeah, I'm Taro. You're...." His mouth silently shapes a few syllables as he tries to remember. "Miyo - no, Chiyo. Eleventh year?"

Chiyo Sakai has posed:
Chiyo Sakai considers that a moment as if it hadn't occured to her. It hadn't, really, but she has to admit it's a good idea. A quick grin splashes over her features. "Oh that's a good point! I'll ask Ojiisan about it, I'm sure he knows where to find the ingredients for it..." The smell of the bag he lifts causes her to blink in surprise. "Did you make that yourself?" It looked VERY fresh.

"Mm, yes, I'm Chiyo. I'm visiting Mamoru-kun and Usagi. Our friend Bow was recently in here, too, but he's mostly better now."

Taro Yamada has posed:
"I did." He weighs the risk of judgement if she picks up that he's missed years of school versus the potential reward of recognition; recognition wins. "I worked part-time at a wagashi store a couple years ago. My budget's bigger since I've got a scholarship now, so I've been getting back into practice; it keeps coming in handy."

And there was something restful about beating the ever loving shit out of rice. Just commit acts of violence on the food until he could eat it. If he was human,that would probably be worrying, but he isn't, so - it's kind of funny, isn't it? A man eating yokai that cooks.

And then he's the one blinking in surprise. "He's dating USAGI??" hold up hold up. "I - sorry, I met them in different places months apart, I didn't know they were dating?" What! "He really married up, didn't he?" damn!

Chiyo Sakai has posed:
Chiyo Sakai actually doesn't seem as if she's being judgemental at the mention of working at a wagashi shop. How could she possibly? "That's great! Ojiisan always says it's a dying art, and it's great meeting someone else that knows how to, as well. It looks really good," she offers even if it might be a bit plain. That didn't mean anything if the taste was there, and in this case also the medicinal properties.

"If you ever feel like brushing up some time, I try to hold wagashi making classes a few times a year with the current seasonal flavors," she offers out of habit.

Only for her face to scrunch with a barely repressed laugh at the remark. "I mean, I think they would both claim they'd done that. They really are sickeningly cute together."

Taro Yamada has posed:
Phew! No figuring out he skipped school for years. Just... professional recognition. It's nice. "Would you like to try one?" he offers. "There should be plenty."

He usually eats what Fuyuko doesn't. He's still, always, always hungry. (And yet he remains thin, stretched out like taffy.)

"I'd like to come. I want to keep the art alive." So many things kept being washed away by the years. He knows he's old,like Old, decades falling through his fingers; the only things he can keep are the ones he can carry with him. "Do you do anything with mizuame?" The traditional wagashi sweetener. "I know some old amezaiku techniques," the art of molding molten mizuame into scupltures, "but I hardly see it anywhere these days because it's out of fashion, and I never learned how to get the candy base done, just the sculpting."

It's a long shot - people were picky about someone touching molten candy with their bare hands for multiple reasons - but he's gotta try.

"Probably," and he grins sheepishly. "They both seem nice. I only met them briefly? Usagi helped me with a stray cat and Mamoru was," hm, how does he explain the portal to someone with no magic? "Super lost after that pipe explosion a couple weeks ago." Right! "He really doesn't get a break, does he?"

At this rate, being attacked by the Back Street Slasher is going to be a footnote! Which is probably great for not getting his behind handed to him by Mamoru's buddies, but it sure stings Taro's pride!!

Chiyo Sakai has posed:
"I'd love to give it a try, if it's all right. So long as it's not going to take away from your friend though," Chiyo is quick to correct herself. The curiosity of trying what someone else is capable of is of course a tempting lure. Manners meant she shouldn't be taking literal candy from a sick person.

The question about the sculpted candy earns a shake of her head. "No, unfortunately that's not a style Ojiisan learned, so I haven't either. We mainly deal in mochi based items. Although lately I've been trying to expand our offerings to more modern treats that still fall in line with our shop. Like the Korean Tanghulu, which is sugar coated fruit skewers, and even some lollipops." This causes her to pause as she remarks, "I guess the base would be similar to that of the lollipops. I used molds to make them though. It'd be realy interesting to see sometime."

As he explains where and when he met the pair her expression softens a bit. Usagi with a stray cat. That tracked. And... Mamoru with... ah, right, the portal. "He really can't. He and a girl I don't know were caught in an accident at the subway station. They think something flammable spilled on the tracks causing it to ignite and he..."

She pauses here. A little glance away is taken. Should she even be telling this? "He's very badly burnt. All over. They're worried he may not regain use of his right hand."

Taro Yamada has posed:
"She'll deal," Taro says. Fuyuko can miss one piece of mochi, she'll live. She'll get more soon enough.

It takes him a moment to shift all the bags over to find the clear plastic box and crack it open, then offer it. The grassy scent intensifies now that it's open; if Chiyo takes one of the small mochi, she'll find the outside grassy and faintly bitter, almost like green tea, and the inside earthy and sweet with red bean paste.

He nods, thinking. "...maybe someone's got a recipe for the candy mold on youtube? It can't hurt to look. I can do mochi and carve fresh fruit, but most of the fillings are store bought for now." It's so expensive to get jam.... He has to learn how to can food...

And. Hm! Hm hm hm. If she heard about the flammable.... Then... He weighs the odds of his cover story being blown to another body in the hospital, wrapped in bandages, skin seared, purple hair burnt away?

This time, the decision is easy. They've been walking together, have been waiting together, but he gestures with his head to a quiet corner, lowers his voice. "If I tell you something, can you keep quiet about it with people at school?" a beat. "Or at least not say it's from me?"

Chiyo Sakai has posed:
The moment the package is cracked open to offer the mochi, there's clear delight on Chiyo's face. From her eyes lighting up to the grin that remains plastered there as she delicately takes a small piece with thumb and forefinger to ensure she doesn't risk the other peices. She's very careful so as to not contaminate anything with a careless touch.

The bite earns a thoughtful look as the bitterness of the medicinal leaves mingle with the earthy sweetness of the red bean paste. "Mm, it's got an excellent bouncey chew to it!" Exactly what mochi should have.

When Taro drops his voice conspiratorially she looks a bit curious, but also serious. A single nod is given along with a quiet response of, "Of course." What could be so important after all that he'd worry a practical stranger would tell? Then again... In her line of 'work', who knew.

Taro Yamada has posed:
Yessss! The only reason he's not fist-pumping is because his hands are full. Nailed it! "That part's so important! Texture is just as key for wagashi as taste is!"

But, ah - he can't let himself get caught up,not whne he has important information. Especially if there's

"My friend's in the hospital from getting burned too," he tells her quietly. "She's doing better than Mamoru, but it's not great. She thinks...there might be some kind of arsonist around. That someone's doing this on purpose. I don't want to sound," ugh, what's the word? There's a word that should go here, he can see the kanji in his head- no, it'sgone, "like not a feminist," close enough, "But if you see anyone show up with like, a lighter or a bottle on fire or just a fire where it shouldn't belong," oh, that sounds terrible but he cannot stop now, "...I don't know if running's going to help much if there was an attack in the subway but a head start never hurts?"

It's a heartfelt, if clumsy warning. It's clearly about Sunbreaker, but twisted around and reformatted to be something a civilian could watch for.

Chiyo Sakai has posed:
Feminist? Was Hinoiri a feminist? She certainly was proud of herself. Arrogant even. Feminist though? As Taro explains Chiyo tries to see if this clumsy explanation is perhaps something she could try to pin toward Hinoiri. Maybe he was in the know.

Then again. It would be very hard to say in this case.

"Ah you mean like... Like those people that throw acid at other people? Terrorist?" That would fit better than arsonist, and she does look a bit worried because that would be a terrible the way he was describing it.

Even if she knew that wasn't the truth.

"I'll be careful. There's been so much going on lately it's a bit scary. I'm stronger than I look, though," she adds with a little sheepish duck of her head. "Years of pounding mochi will do that."

Taro Yamada has posed:
"Yeah, like the acid thing. But with fire," he says. "And gas? Some kinda gas that makes people forget what happened." He has not found a way to get around how magic makes people forget, but he can at least make an attempt. "I think that's why it's not on the news. No one wants to cause a panic. My friend says there's special forces working on stopping her before things get worse, so this can't go on forever, but I figure it can't hurt to be careful."

He holds up a hand, grinning. "No, no, I'm a feminist, I know girls are strong and chefs are stronger! But fire's unisex, you know?"

Chiyo Sakai has posed:
She could buy it as just a lame assumption on behalf of the police and staff at the hospital with a vague explaination like that. Up until the part about forgetting. It's then that her smile falters, and her lips press together into a thin line. Clearly thinking.

A hand raises to pinch at the bridge of her nose just a moment. When it falls away again her eyes are skimming over the corridor they're in. Thankfully it was relatively empty. No one was currently being pushed through, and most patients in this wing were stable so there were only hourly rounds unless they were rung in for a reason.

"... You're a magical boy, aren't you?" Her voice is still kept quiet, and she adds with a weary murmer of, "Please tell me you're not one of Ikuto's friends, at least. The last thing I need right now is another stalker no matter how well intentioned they may have been."

Taro Yamada has posed:
Woah woah woah woah what!!! what! slow down!

"I don't know anyone named Ikuto and I'm not magic! I got bit by a yokai as a kid and I see stuff, that's all!" he hisses, trying to form an x with his hands to prove his point. "And I don't stalk people, I'm not a creep!"

Eating them was different! It was professoinal! He needed it to live! He's not some fly by night Edward creeping into a girl's bedroom to ogle her! What would he even ogle???

Chiyo Sakai has posed:
Chiyo Sakai looks skeptical but... It wasn't unheard of, either. So she just sighs with a small nod accepting what he says at face value. "Okay. I'm sorry. I just... Keep having really bad luck running into guys like that and..." Her head shakes firmly. "I'm trying to stop repeating such mistakes."

"I know there's yokai, there was a bunch going wild last year, and I know of a couple people that can 'see' things. I'm sorry for jumping to conclusions."

"Thank you for the warning though."

Taro Yamada has posed:
"Would...you feel better if I didn't come to the lessons?"

He doesn't WANT to not go. Absolutely not. But if she keeps on looking at him like that -

(They're only supposed to look at him when he's been unveiled! Not in this fragile, unkempt form!)

Chiyo Sakai has posed:
At the question her expression softens a bit. That was at least something near and dear to her heart, and also something that had absolutely nothing to do with magic. "No... No, it's fine if you do. I'd like you to," she assures with a smile. "You seem to enjoy making wagashi as much as I do. I don't know many dlike that. Most just want to eat it," she finishes with a soft chuckle.

Her gaze slips down to the food she carries as well considering. "You haven't done anything wrong." To her at least, that she was aware of. "I should go check on them now though. They've been taking shifts sitting up with him and I know Usagi's going to need something warm and filling."

Again she flashes a smile. "I hope your friend feels better soon too."

Taro Yamada has posed:
"Thanks. I'm... I want to do wagashi. I like cooking. It's just convient that I get to eat it after."

It's a lame joke, but it's an attempt to help soften the mood after that - whatever that was.

"I should go too. We shouldn't let either of our foods get cold," and he rustles the plastic bag a little. "The work is never done, right? My friend... Can't finish things, but apparantly there's someone out there who can. We just have to stay alive until then."

Becuase they are both! Strong! Or at least strong enough to not get burnt up!