Tomato Stew and Old Memories

Sunlight Turban Shells, Black Tray Clams, and Club Trumpet Clams.

These three were the signature specialties of Edelon village.

"Club Trumpet Clams need to be purged of sand, so…"

"If you eat them as is, you end up chewing grit."

"Exactly. Iser, would you mind helping?"

"Of course."

Iser skillfully lifted the basin filled only with Club Trumpet Clams and set about purging them. It had been so long that he fumbled a little at first, but his hands soon found their old rhythm and the work continued smoothly.

"They do something similar back on Earth, you know."

"Ah… is that so?"

"There are a few differences, though."

These signature specialties only spat out their sand when purged with the freshwater of Edelon itself. Water from any other region made the clams wither, which made the process slightly different from Earth's method of simply matching the salinity with salt.

Iser nodded, looking mildly surprised.

"They still spit out the sand even though it isn't water from their own region."

"Right? As long as you get the salt level roughly right, they just shrug and spit it out."

"Perhaps their sense of self is weaker than the clams of Edelon."

"Let's not go attaching a sense of self to clams we're about to eat."

The basin overflowing with Club Trumpet Clams was soon covered with a black cloth.

"Now we simply leave them until the stew is ready."

Edelon's pride, the Club Trumpet Clam, was famous for how quickly it purged itself. Whether because its body was closer to pure flesh than innards, or for some other reason, the amount of sand it swallowed was small to begin with. Thirty minutes at minimum, an hour at most, was all the waiting required.

"It would be better to change the water in between…"

"I'll handle that. Once every ten minutes, perhaps?"

"Mm, that works. Thank you."

Once every ten minutes was a touch excessive, but there was no harm in being thorough.

Nothing makes me angrier than chewing sand while I'm eating.

Self-proclaimed gourmet and glutton that he was, Ji-oh aimed for cooking so meticulous that nothing could interfere once he began to eat. If a dish made him feel unpleasant while eating, it had no right to call itself food.

"All right, now for the stew…"

Simply put, stew was Western-style soup.

"You just throw everything in and go."

"I know the method myself…"

"So you've actually made it?"

"……"

"Then sit quietly and take my class."

People sometimes asked the difference between stew and soup. It was easiest to think of stew as being about the solid ingredients, while soup was about the broth itself. In short, stew was a dish where you added liquid in order to cook the ingredients.

"Would you follow me?"

"Pardon? Where to…"

"The vegetable garden."

And so Iser saw Ji-oh's vegetable garden.

"Ta-da."

"…A vegetable garden?"

"Yes. Is something wrong?"

"No, a vegetable garden…"

"It is a vegetable garden."

"…Understood."

Iser accepted it.

"You never farm in any ordinary way, do you."

"What was that?"

"As expected of the smiling tyrant of the sea village…"

"Tyrant?"

"I said nothing of the sort. What could you possibly have heard?"

"Look at you, already learning to say the right things. How admirable."

He truly accepted it now.

"Anyway, there are cherry tomatoes in there…"

"All I see are pumpkins pretending to be tomatoes."

"Your eyesight must be failing. Don't get cocky just because you're a mermaid—get yourself some glasses."

"I'm not certain this is a matter of eyesight."

Unable to hold back any longer, Iser asked,

"Why exactly is this a vegetable garden?"

"It's small and cozy, so it's a vegetable garden."

"The crops are simply so enormous that the plot looks relatively small. Not a single one of them is cozy."

"Elizabeth the Thirty-Second might be hurt if she heard that, so I would appreciate a little more care with your words."

"Who in the world is Elizabeth the Thirty-Second…"

Kkeudeudeuk—

At Ji-oh's words, a tomato leaf the size of a pumpkin leaf curled with a vigorous sound. The shape of a clenched fist made Iser finally lose his smile.

"…And you intend to eat this?"

Grasping the seriousness of the situation, he became almost as solemn as when he used to watch his older sister's research process.

"This?"

"The kids are just a little overflowing with personality. They're all self-sacrificing and kind."

"I feel as though they'll grab my uvula and refuse to go down into my stomach."

"They're not that rebellious. They're very gentle, I tell you."

"That…"

Iser nodded.

"I understand."

"Do you, now?"

"Probably…"

"Then come along."

"If I die, I would still prefer the sea."

"Stop saying strange things."

Ji-oh greeted the garden crops he had befriended through recent conversations and approached his target. The tomato glowing a vivid red looked fully ripe, yet it remained stubbornly attached to its stem.

"Cherry tomatoes boarding the basket, this way please~"

At Ji-oh's call, several tomatoes dangling from their stems swayed gently left and right to signal their agreement. The moment he held the basket beneath them, a tomato the size of a small watermelon settled in with a solid thud.

"……"

"Wow, perfect. Easy, right?"

"…Yes."

In no time at all, Ji-oh had harvested a full basin of tomatoes.

"Personally, tomato stew is my favorite. Part of it is that it's what we always ate in Edelon, but it's also much easier on the stomach than cream stew."

"Ah… that's right. I remember you saying you liked how it never gave you heartburn no matter how much you ate."

Iser, who had regained a smile that resembled Giovanni's, continued.

"You also said it was the best food for making large batches and eating over a long time."

"You remember all of that."

"It's hard to forget anything about you, Teacher."

"To think I was such an easy person to read. I'll have to improve."

"Please… don't. How much more do you intend to improve from here…"

"No one can stop me."

"Please let someone stop you."

"You couldn't stop me even when I was an ordinary priest."

"Teacher."

"It'll only be worse now."

Even if only in name, he was still their teacher. He had no desire to become a human whose growth lagged behind that of his mermaid disciples. Ji-oh was a bold adult who refused to set limits on himself.

"Tomato stew is easy to eat partly because it's almost entirely vegetables. A sturdy young man like you might not understand, Iser…"

"Ah, so I'm still considered a young man? It's been over a thousand years."

"The family tree is getting tangled—be quiet. Anyway, once you get a little older, that heavy feeling in the stomach is truly hard. Especially for someone like me who loves to eat. It's a cruel trial."

"At least that is one trial the Sun God has never handed down."

At the mermaid's jab, Ji-oh furrowed his brow in mock sorrow.

"Where has my student Iser gone—the one who used to give me nothing but shy smiles even when I talked nonsense?"

"…It's been… a while… since he disappeared…"

"Don't worry, Iser. People can regress at any time."

"What exactly are you planning to turn me into."

"A plump little pig?"

"……"

Iser let out a soft laugh. It was a smile more mature and composed than Ji-oh's own.

"You really haven't changed at all. Not even the way you act differently inside the house and outside it."

"…Uh…"

"When you were with people you were comfortable with, you made these kinds of amusing jokes all the time. Completely different from your public image as the Saint of the Sun."

"……"

"When I was little I didn't realize that was a sign of the trust you were giving me, so I just got flustered every time. I still remember it vividly."

Who are you. Where did our little kid go. Who is this unfamiliar gentleman.

How did he grow so much in the meantime?

He had expected the awkward laugh of old, or a dramatic rejection like Honey's. Instead the conversation had suddenly turned wistful, leaving Ji-oh—who had zero intention of getting wistful—slightly at a loss.

"…Well, anyway."

"You're dodging because you're at a disadvantage."

"We do not reminisce about the past right before a meal. That is how dinner becomes uncomfortable."

Having firmly cut off the nostalgic mood, Ji-oh continued.

"Even without meat, the fact that the main ingredients are tomato and onion means tomato stew has outstanding umami. It also pairs well with all kinds of secondary ingredients."

Tomato stew went beautifully with any meat. A splash of wine and sliced beef gave it a mature depth; chicken blended with the tomato juices into a harmonious flavor.

"Lamb isn't bad either."

"Isn't the scent a bit strong?"

"That's why I couldn't make it often when I lived with all of you. You hated strong smells so much…"

Not just these siblings—mermaids as a species avoided strong scents. A light sprinkle of pepper or a subtle aromatic touch was fine, but the moment the fragrance became the main note they fled as if from danger.

"Come to think of it, I was rotting and must have smelled pretty strong myself, yet somehow you managed to eat me. Was it because you were drugged and had no choice?"

"……"

"…Ah… yes, this one was my fault. I didn't bring it up with any particular intention, so please don't make that face…"

"…Yes…"

"I'm sorry your teacher lives without thinking."

The ruined atmosphere took quite a while to recover. Ji-oh smiled awkwardly and said,

"Earth's lamb isn't quite that strong. Shall we try it sometime?"

"…My palate has changed a little since then. Even if the scent is strong, it won't be a problem."

"Oh, it has?"

"A great deal of time has passed, after all…. Even humans grow up and start eating things they couldn't stand as children. That sort of thing."

"Even a mermaid can't withstand the years, it seems."

Ji-oh—Giovanni—spouted nonsense with the noble expression unique to a priest.

"You're growing old with me."

"Ah…"

After a moment of thought, Iser answered.

"That doesn't sound so bad."

"I told you to stop that. Why do you keep getting wistful? I hate that sort of thing."

"Ahaha…"

Iser laughed awkwardly and asked,

"So you were planning to put meat in this stew? When you said you were making Edelon stew I assumed it would be clams or fish…"

"I want to make two kinds. There's leftover venison and sausage in the storage, so I figured I'd use them while I had the chance. Not a bad idea, right?"

"Sounds good. I might actually feel full for once."

Mermaids converted the food they ate straight into nutrients to maintain their strong, flexible bodies. Even without oral intake they could sustain themselves through their skin while in the sea, but once they ate solid food their stomachs emptied surprisingly quickly.

"Tomato stew also pairs wonderfully with bacon or ham that have a bit of aroma to them. Even hard dried meat that's tough to eat raw goes well with it, and since you can throw in all sorts of vegetables it's easy to balance the seasoning in every direction…"

Ji-oh held one of the basket tomatoes up to the sunlight.

"It's definitely different from both Earth's and Edelon's."

"…I'll ask again. That is a tomato, correct…? It's quite different from any I've known in Edelon or on Earth…"

"I planted Earth seeds, so it should at least count as a tomato."

The cherry tomatoes Ji-oh had raised—or rather, the ones that had raised themselves—were a little different from Earth's. They were as large as small watermelons, slightly elongated like date tomatoes, faintly translucent so that light passed through them, and their flavor sat somewhere between mild and sweet.

"I'm not fond of sweet stews."

"Neither am I."

"But we have to work with the ingredients we have, so we'll have to solve it with the other components."

"Ah, by adding more salt or something?"

"We already have sausage that's both salty and rich in flavor. We'll use that first, and then… hmm. What else should we put in…"

The thought that suddenly struck him came out of Ji-oh's mouth as is.

"Making bacon sounds fun."

"Teacher's homemade bacon is excellent."

Iser nodded.

"The villagers used to flock over hoping for a single slice."

"That's me for you. A genius priest of the sun who can do anything."

"And the wicked ones who received such grace and could only perform foolish tricks in return…"

"Calm down by eating a tomato."

Perhaps because he had just witnessed the solid sense of self of the earlier cherry tomato, Iser hesitated a moment before finally biting into the flesh.

"Oh…"

"Good, right?"

"I've never eaten a tomato this delicious."

"See? I'm good at farming too."

The tomato had outstanding elasticity, with a soft, jelly-like bounce in places. At the same time it retained the distinct crumbling texture of firm tomato flesh. There was a citrusy tang that quickly melted into a gentle sweetness, creating a lovely harmony.

"Touching it now, it's soft like slime as well."

"Not quite slime, is it…?"

"The texture is interesting."

His earlier revulsion lasted only a moment; Iser seemed to rather like the tomato. After everything he had witnessed over the long years, a moving tomato was not enough to truly disgust him.

"So what else should we harvest? Using the word 'harvest' for a place you call a vegetable garden still feels strange to me, but anyway…"

"I want to throw in all sorts of things."

Stew was best enjoyed as a free-for-all of ingredients.

"Carrots are the safest choice. That mild sweetness unique to carrots and the faint bitter fragrance pair extremely well with tomato."

"What about potatoes? I loved it when you put potatoes in the stew and the starch made it just slightly thick. I still remember that."

"Then let's add potatoes. The starch that flows out naturally from the ingredients never gets gloppy or slimy; it just becomes gently sweet like bone broth. Excellent."

"When they cook up fluffy and soak up the tomato stew broth they crush so softly. Please do put potatoes in, Teacher."

Holding the tomato basket, Iser wore a faintly excited smile.

"Cabbage doesn't sound bad either. Cabbage cooked soft in hot broth is both crunchy and tender—the texture was wonderful."

"It really is. When that warm cabbage juice fills your mouth in winter, it's pure bliss, isn't it? And if you cook it completely soft and mash it with your tongue, that's fun in its own way…"

"……"

Amid this ordinary, everyday conversation, Iser could not help but recall the past.

"…It feels like we're at the market."

"I suppose it is similar."

"I see…"

For a moment he wondered if he might be dreaming.

It was empty, and it was frightening.

(To be continued)