Reaching for the Stars
Part II, Chapter 3
Grocery Store, Town Square
"Hmm…" I hummed as I stepped into the grocery store of the town I had landed myself in on my journey for freedom, "let's see now…"
Why am I here in the grocery store you ask? Well, the answer is simple… well, complicated really. It's a paradox. Sometimes, I don't even understand it myself… anyways, I am here on the charge of Ami Kawashima (yes, the one and only Ami – model extraordinaire) who generously allowed me to stay in her vacation house with her for the winter. 'She let you stay with her, just like that!?' you might retort, but don't get me wrong. It took some hard emotional negotiation to achieve this bargain… or should I say, act of charity. Fine, I practically begged to let me stay! But still…
Anyways, misunderstandings aside, the only condition she had to make me swear to was that I would have to be the one who would come to town to buy groceries every few days. It's a menial task, something even I was able to do, so I was glad that it was the only thing I had to do. Exactly why she was so particular about groceries is another story entirely. I had tried to ask her why that was all I had to agreed to, but all she said was,
"Be thankful I'm even letting you do this Satoshi-kun."
Don't worry Ami-chan. Words can't express just how indebted I feel towards you for letting me stay. Sighing, I shook that thought off for a moment and drew the grocery list she had drafted up after breakfast (which was a simple variation of fried rice – so simple, I think even I could make it!). The list went as followed:
1. Sack of Rice
2. One Dozen Eggs
3. Olive Oil
4. Dinner Bread
5. Corned Beef… be sure to buy a lot
6. Mayonnaise/Ketchup/Mustard
7. Your own toiletries (cause no way am I letting you touch mine)
The thing that stuck out for me (aside from the toiletries thing, which made me remember exactly why I couldn't get myself to take a warm bath the previous night) was the corned beef. As I was leaving the house, she reminded me time and again to get as much corned beef as I could find. If I remember correctly, she cleared the convenience store in the mall of corned beef too… I guess she really likes the stuff, but I don't see why exactly. I mean, I like corned beef myself for breakfast and sometimes but I never really saw it as anything special enough to crave. Well, different folks have different strokes I guess.
Marching over to the canned good shelves of the store, I decided to get the corned beef anyways and not to delve in too much to her strange craving for the stuff. Then came a predicament of unfathomable irony; there wasn't a tin of corned beef anywhere to be found! I searched around the other sections too, hoping to find a tin, but there simply weren't any of them! Argh… this sucks. It's my first time on the job and I already can't do everything asked of me. How pathetic!
Groaning, I dazedly walked around the shop again, this time, looking for the other things on my list. When I saw that I had gotten everything, I sighed about the absence of any corned beef and headed for the payout counter. Maybe I could ask about the corned beef there… As I was about to reach the counter though, the contents of a nearby magazine rack caught my attention. The top row of the rack was lined with quite a number of trendy magazines featuring Ami Kawashima herself. Judging by the small numbers of the magazine left on the rack, it must have been a popular buy. Since it was along the way to the counter, I decided to pick up a copy myself to have a look. The headline of the thing went, "Ami Kawashima deciding to take a break from modeling, is it true!?"
Apparently, it was one of those pop culture magazines aimed towards girls. It felt kinda strange realizing what I had picked up, but a magazine is a magazine after all. There's nothing wrong with me taking a look at some of the pages… Turning to the table of contents though, I see an image that I didn't see coming. One of the secondary topics was about the pop icons who had siblings and photos of me, Ritsu, Yui-senpai and her sister Ui-san were being featured! What the heck! Surprised to see my face on a popular magazine, I quickly turn to the pages mentioned in the table of contents and hunt for the pictures in a frenzied rush.
True enough, there was a picture there of me on that page. It wasn't just a picture of me though, it was a picture Ritsu took of herself and me from the camera of her cellphone a few months ago. I can't believe this picture got to a magazine! The surprised look on my face in the picture made a little uneasy… if I had the chance to go back in time to that moment, I would have at least tried to make a decent smile… or forced Ritsu to delite the picture, but what's done is done. However, I guess the selling point of the photo was the candidness of it all. I guess that's a good thing. The photo right next to mine and Ritsu's was quite similar, except that it was Yui-senpai who seemed surprised that the flash had already gone off. It was quite funny actually.
Seeing these pictures, I remembered the good times I had spent with my sister. Not every moment of it was a bad experience after all; the breakfast competitions, the morning sneak attacks, the rock band videogame tournaments, the drum lessons… the comforting words. Maybe I had taken those things for granted... however, this is precisely why I had to go. No matter how hard she tried to hide it, I knew I was just being a burden to her. I was the problem child of the family after all, so problems were all I must've caused for her. I want to think otherwise, but there's no other way I can see it…
Just then, as I was staring at that page, the shopkeeper behind the cashier called to me. She was a female young adult who seemed interested by the fact that I was on that particular page.
"Yo. Are you a fan of Afternoon Tea Time too?"
"I…" I mumbled, startled by the sudden call, "I guess so."
"I see…" she said getting somber all of the sudden, "did you hear the news. Tainaka's brother fell into a frozen lake four days ago… he's been pronounced dead by the police and the whole town is mourning."
"Is that so…" Hearing about my own 'death' when I'm still alive is a really awkward thing, especially after thinking that I wouldn't have to hear about that incident again. It can't be helped.
"He's pronounced dead by the police," the lady said thoughtfully, "but Ritsu thinks he's still alive… can you believe it? Isn't it obvious that he's already dead? She has to let him go…"
"If she let go and forgot all about him," I replied, hesitating to refer to myself as someone else "then… S… Satoshi-kun would really be dead."
"Hmm…" the shopkeeper said, watching me with observant eyes. Shoot! After saying something like that, she's bound to get suspicious about me! Gulping, I feinted,
"You know; a person may be dead, but their memory can live on." I explained, "If Satoshi-kun really is dead, then at least his memory should live on, right?"
"Ah. I guess I can see where you're getting at here." The shopkeeper said rubbing her chin, "Anyway, sorry for just barging in on you like that. I'm an Afternoon Tea Time fanatic too you know, so I couldn't help but look at what you were reading."
"It's okay."
"Anyways, were you able to get everything you need today?"
"Actually, I wasn't able to." I said leaving my items at the payout counter, "I looked everywhere around the shop, but I couldn't find a single tin of corned beef."
"Oh, sorry about that." The shopkeeper apologized, "Some strange fellow bought out all the corned beef less than a week ago."
Strange fellow? I have a terrible feeling that it must've been Ami-chan who did this again. She cleared out the corned beef in the mall too so my suspicions are terribly strong. The only thing that doesn't make sense though is that if she cleared out all the corned beef in this store only a week ago, how was she able to finish all of that on her own?
"Well," the shopkeeper explained, "we didn't have a lot to begin with; only 36 tins in total when I last inventoried the corned beef."
That's still quite a lot of beef to eat in a span of one week…
"Also," the shopkeeper added, "since we're in a remote mountain town, the canned goods are only shipped off to us every two weeks or so. The vegetables, eggs, milk, meat and fish though arrive here fresh daily. This is a farming and fishing town too after all."
"I see…" I said nodding, "but I really wanted to have some corned beef."
Well, it was actually Ami-chan who wants it, but I promised myself not to return without getting every single thing on the list so I insisted.
"Well," the shopkeeper said, "if you really want corned beef, you could prepare some yourself! Just get some beef brisket, chop it up finely and cure it with spices and salt. It's much tastier than the canned beef, believe me!"
"Is that so?" I said somewhat relieved, heading over to the meat section to fetch some meat, then to the condiments section for some salt and spices, "I'll try that out, thanks."
"No problem," said the lady as she priced the groceries. "Will you be paying with cash or credit card?"
"Cash," I said handing her some of the money Ami-chan had given me to buy the groceries. She knew that I didn't have enough money, so she was considerate enough to give me some whenever I had to go out.
"Have a nice day." The lady said. I exited the shop and headed straight for the mountain home again. "Corned beef, huh."
As my steps echoed flatly against the partially snow-covered pathway to the mountain home, the wind rustled a few nearby shrubs surprising me for a while. It was almost as if someone was following me… but that can't be. Other than Ritsu, no one is looking for me I guess. I'm 'dead' after all, so why would anyone still be looking for me? Sighing, I carried on to the mountain home with the groceries in hand.
As soon as I finished unpacking all of the groceries on the kitchen counter, I washed my hands thoroughly in the sink then open up the parcel of beef brisket. Setting the salt and the spices alongside the chopping board, I grabbed the biggest knife in the knife rack and started chopping the beef to fine bits. Once the beef had been cut up, I marinade it in salt and spices, rubbing the beef tenderly to let the flavor sink in. Looking at the high quality meat I was marinating carefully, it already looked like it was going to be a pretty tasty. Not long after, Ami-chan came around the kitchen and checked the groceries I had picked up. Try as she might, the tins of corned beef she had been looking for were absent. She then turned to where I stood, intrigued that I was working on something culinary.
"What are you doing over there Satoshi-kun?"
"Making corned beef." I said turning to her for a sec, "Some weirdo bought all of the corned beef last week apparently, so I had to improvise."
"I see." She said with a smile, "Oh well."
She then walked away, humming satisfied. Was she looking forward to dinner then perhaps? Personally, I am. In any case, I'm glad I was able to repay her kindness somehow. Making my own corned beef for her may have been small compared to giving me a roof over my head for the winter, but small things add up you know. This is the start of my new life after all, so I'd like to start it with as few debts as possible. With these small actions, I'm starting to establish my independence and I'm repaying for the kindness of Ami-chan and Ritsu. I'm standing on my own two feet... or at least, I'm getting there pretty quickly. I'll show you Ritsu, I can do this.
To Be Continued