DISCLAIMER: SKIP BEAT! and its associated characters are the creations of Yoshiki Nakamura. This author claims no ownership of Skip Beat or any of its characters. All other rights reserved.
Author's Note: The word for this one is "Sticky."
Happy New Year, everyone! I hope your 2022 is a good one.
Adventures in Osechi Ryori
"Kyoko…" Kuon called, "Why is there a rusty nail inside this bowl of beans?"
Kyoko had been cooking for days. Kuon had been exiled from his own kitchen for about as long, only allowed in when he gave her the most pitiful of puppydog faces, and then only to wash dishes. He knew Kyoko was a little stressed out-it was their first New Year's, after all, and his parents were visiting them from the U.S. He'd tried to tell Kyoko not to worry, but his wife had insisted on making all the traditional osechi dishes to serve to his father. Given the fact that his parents could eat indecently large portions of food, this meant she'd had to start the necessary prepping days ago. She'd even had him rent an extra refrigerator to contain all of the ingredients.
"Oh," Kyoko said, looking up from a pile of carrots she'd been carving into small plum-blossom shapes. "That's the kuromame."
"Kuromame?"
"Yes!" she said brightly, turning back to her cutting board, "They're soybeans. The nails help them turn a nice black color. I finished simmering them this morning…you can take the nails out if you want now."
"Oh," he said, at a loss. He'd been living in Japan for so long now, and yet there were still things that were new to him. Rusty nails, he thought. Who knew? "Kyoko," he said, "Won't you let me help? I mean…isn't there something I can do?"
Kyoko paused again and came over to him, standing on her tip toes to give him a quick peck on his lips. He made to embrace her, but she slipped from his grasp as he groaned. "Uh uh, Kuon," she said. "If you distract me, we'll never have things ready in time for when Otou-san and Okaa-san get here!"
"But…but…" He was about to deploy The Look, but she waggled her knife at him.
"Nope, don't even try it!" she said, turning back to her work. "I still have to make the soba, and the nimono, and the soup for the ozoni…" He could see her rattling off a list of ingredients in her mind, and the scene was so adorable he couldn't help but smile.
Kyoko looked up, froze, and then shook herself out of it. Even now it was too easy to fall into one of his heavenly smiles. But as heavenly as he was, she had to harden herself and persevere. These jubako weren't going to fill themselves, and she had to make sure she had enough not just for Kuu and Julie, but for Kanae and Yashiro, who would also be joining them for the celebrations. "You playboy, Kuon," she said, "Stop trying to seduce me!"
"Am I a playboy if I'm trying to seduce my wife?" he said.
She laughed. "Fine. Ugh." Kyoko put down her knife. "They'll be here soon, won't they?"
"Mmm," he responded. He was creeping closer to her again, now that the knife had been put away.
She turned around just as he was coming up behind her, and she eeped as he managed to pin her against the countertop. "Kuo-!" she squeaked, but his mouth was already on hers and he was kissing her thoroughly as her hands came up to tangle in his hair.
A few minutes or so later, they came up for air. "You're hopeless," Kyoko told his smiling face.
"I am." He stood with his arms across his chest. "And I'm not leaving this kitchen until you put me to work."
Kyoko stood, one arm on her hip, as she looked around for something he could do. "Oh!" she said, bending over to grab a box. "You can prep the mochi maker. And make the mochi!"
"Oh…wait…you mean like with that huge mortar and pestle…?" He'd seen this on TV.
"Nooo, silly. Besides, you don't have one of those here. We're using this machine!"
They had to set it up in the living room, as all the surfaces in his otherwise capacious kitchen were occupied. She showed him how to measure the rice and he proudly pushed the button to start the cooking process. "There," he said proudly, "I helped."
Kyoko grinned at him and stuck out her tongue. "Yes, yes you did."
"Now what?"
"Now? You wait. Here. Until it's done. It'll ding." She motioned to the couch.
"But…!"
"I have to make the tamagoyaki now, Kuon," she said, and wandered back into the kitchen.
Kuon waited impatiently as the machine cooked. He paced. He did pushups. He did pull ups. He did situps. And when the machine dinged he ran to it excitedly.
"What do I do now?" he yelled into the kitchen.
"Take the lid off and hit 'pound,'" a voice replied.
Kuon grinned. "...That's what she…"
"-Don't even say it," he heard. He laughed. He'd been introducing her to American schoolboy humor.
He looked at the rice, which was fragrant and warm and sweet-smelling, and then watched as the machine started shaking.
"Umm, Kyoko? Is it supposed to be doing that?"
"Hmm?" Her head poked out of the kitchen and she looked at the little machine on the floor. "Oh. Oh yes. You'll see. It'll make a little ball of mochi."
Kuon watched as the machine shook, and the pile of rice inside started shaking with it. Next thing he knew the entire thing was going 'whump whump whump whump' and a fresh ball of mochi had formed inside.
Kyoko came back out again. "It sounds like it's about ready, Kuon." She handed him a bowl, a tray, and a pair of chopsticks. "Would you mind taking it out and portioning it into smaller pieces? You can roll them with your hands…" A sizzle from the kitchen interrupted them. "Oh! Oh no…I'd better grab that," she said before running off.
Take out the ball of mochi and portion it out into smaller pieces, Kuon thought. He looked at the mochi. He looked at his hands. He looked at the chopsticks. Here goes, he thought.
He took the chopsticks and tried to pry out the mochi from the machine, but then one chopstick…broke. Into the sticky mass.
Eep, he thought. Well, better use my hands, then.
He tried to take out the smooth ball of mochi with his bare hands, only to wince as the hot mochi burned. "GAH!" he said, dropping the mochi into the bowl. He'd managed to get a bunch of it stuck onto his fingers, and, in his rush to get his fingers away from it, had managed to get it from his fingers and onto his pants. No wonder some people use rice to make glue, he thought. That stuff is sticky.
"Kuon!?" He heard Kyoko's concerned voice behind him.
"I…uh…" he said, motioning to the mess.
"It's OK," she said, patting him on the head. He followed as she picked up and took the sticky mass in the bowl back to the kitchen, and then stared as she said 'Hmmmm' at the broken bit of chopstick the mass had eaten up.
As if it were nothing, she had the mochi flattened on the tray in no time. And seconds after that, she was quickly and gracefully dividing up the mass of stickiness into smaller, individual-sized balls.
"See?" she smiled, "Not so sticky at all."
"No, it's sticky," he said, "It's just that you're magic."
"Or maybe you're hopeless?"
Kuon simply put his arms around her waist and watched adoringly as she finished portioning out the mochi. It would be the best New Year ever.
Additional Author's Notes:
Fresh mochi really will eat your chopsticks alive. I've broken at least two pairs when trying to pry apart mochi in ozoni before. XD
