The inside of the house was mostly neat and tidy, thanks to Muramasa's efforts, though some fine dust had settled in a few places. It wasn't a lapse in his cleaning, but a side effect of the "forging" from earlier.
"There's some water I just boiled over there. The teacups are in that cabinet, and yes, they've been washed." Muramasa pointed briefly, then took the basket of seafood into the kitchen. "I'll handle this. You rest for a bit."
"Okay, thank you."
Hailing sat down by the central hearth. She ran her hand over the floor nearby, rubbing her fingertips together. "Mr. Muramasa is amazing. He dealt with all that this afternoon and still had the energy to clean the house up like this by evening…"
…
"Hmm…"
Staring at the seafood, Muramasa was in a bit of a bind. The problem wasn't how to prepare it, but the sheer quantity.
"Honestly, seafood goes bad so quickly," he muttered. "There's no icebox here. Looks like I'll have to take care of all this in the next couple of days…" He didn't know whether to smile or frown.
He shook his head, clearing away the distracting thoughts, and took stock of the available ingredients.
"So many fish fry… are the nets they're using too small?" He scooped up a handful of mixed fry, an idea forming in his mind. He rinsed the various small fish and set them aside in a bowl, then turned to the clams.
He placed them between two bowls, one large and one small, and with his formidable strength, shook them violently, giving the stubborn shellfish a lesson in dizziness until they spat out the sand and grit into the water.
"There's sea bass, and plenty of clams. This should work."
"The only downside is the lack of seasoning. They did give me a small pot of oil, though."
He placed the sea bass on the cutting board. A blue glow formed a kitchen knife in his palm. The sharp tip of the knife accurately pierced beneath the bass's gills, slicing open one side of the fish. He removed the unwanted parts, then rinsed the fish and cut it into large chunks.
"No ingredients to remove the fishy smell, but for a girl who grew up by the sea, this level of fishiness is probably just right."
He took out an iron pot and poured in the small amount of oil. He built a fire and lit the stove. When the oil was just beginning to smoke, he added the fish pieces and seared them.
He then placed the seared fish and the oil into a larger pot, poured in the hot water he'd prepared, and brought it out to the hearth, along with the cleaned clams and fish fry.
"Been waiting long?" he asked the girl, who was sitting properly, sipping hot water from a teacup. "Took a little while to prepare."
"It's fine. If it were just me, I definitely wouldn't have had the energy to do this." Hailing shook her head, looking at the fish chunks in the pot. "Is that… sea bass?"
"Oh, you can tell?"
"Yes. I saw it often when I helped my family sort the catch." Her expression dimmed slightly. "And… my parents used to make it for me sometimes."
"Mm," Muramasa didn't say much, waiting for her to open up on her own.
She stared blankly at the simmering pot, her gaze blurring the line between reality and memory in the rising steam. Her father, tanned red by the sun; her mother, with her calloused hands, all sitting around the fire. They would talk about the day's hard work, rejoice in the day's catch, and add fish fry to the pot for flavor.
What were they called? Her mother used to say…
"These are whitebait."
Eh?
The boundary of reality solidified again. She saw Muramasa pouring the bowl of fish fry into the pot. "You have to add these little fish when the soup is halfway done, otherwise they'll overpower the flavor."
"Huh?" Seeing her dazed expression, he said, "Oh, so you weren't asking me? I saw you look up suddenly."
Hailing was at a loss for words and could only habitually reply, "Oh, um… thank you."
"How many times have you said that today? Do I look that scary?" He let out a slightly displeased "tsk," then, after a moment's calculation, added the clams.
No…
She wanted to say that, but she didn't know how.
It's all a mess. Why am I here? What happened today? I should be…
The wait was only a few minutes, not nearly enough time for Hailing to sort through her increasingly confused thoughts.
Clink.
The sound of a bowl and spoon, followed by a bowl of fish soup with glistening droplets of oil floating on top.
"Whatever it is, think about it after you've eaten."
Hailing woodenly accepted the bowl and chopsticks. She habitually took a sip of the soup. The satisfying richness of the oil, combined with the scalding heat, awakened her taste buds and her sense of pain.
"Cough… cough, cough! It's so hot…"
"That's what you get for not paying attention to your food," Muramasa said with a teasing smile. "Eat properly. Otherwise, the Inari goddess will get angry."
Inari goddess?
She didn't know the deity he was talking about, but a warmth spread from her throat to her chest. She chewed the fish in her mouth. It had a crispness she had never experienced before. Upon savoring it, there was a familiar sweetness and that unique, briny taste of the sea. The tender clam meat was different from how it was at home; there was no sand…
One bite, then another…
She kept eating, the empty pit in her stomach gradually filling with fish and oil. She tilted her head back and drank the last of the soup, leaving only the whitebait at the bottom of the bowl.
She picked one up with her chopsticks, examining it closely. "No lateral line… it's a sardine, isn't it?"
"Mother, you said…"
She stopped, her vision blurring. She quickly raised the bowl to her face, trying to sound cheerful.
"Mr. Muramasa… another bowl, please!"
Her voice was choked with a sob. As she spoke, she felt a hand grasp her wrist. It was Muramasa's hand, large and rough.
"Slow down a bit. The food isn't going anywhere."
"You'll hurt yourself."
His face was expressionless as he spoke calmly, taking the bowl and chopsticks from her. Through a crystalline veil of tears, she watched him take them.
Plip…
Plip, plop…
The wetness on her face connected into streams. A sudden wave of grief caught in her throat.
"Eh…"
Hailing tried to wipe away the tears streaming from her eyes, but the floodgates had opened and showed no signs of stopping.
"That's what I was telling you…"
Muramasa placed a hand on her back, gently patting her along the spine, leaving the rest of the sentence unsaid.
I've seen this many times before.
There was no sharp wail, only suppressed sobs echoing in his ears.
"Hm?"
Hailing turned her head and rested it on Muramasa's shoulder, her fingertips digging into the red sleeve of his right arm.
"I'm sorry, just for a moment…"
"Really, just for a little while…"
Tonight, this village is just as quiet as ever, isn't it?
Without answering the girl, Muramasa politely turned his head to look out the window. The bright moon shone high in the sky, just as it always did.
-------
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