"You're gonna be fine-- No way, that's not good."
My hand stopped when I saw the label of the cold medication.
"What's wrong?"
"It's expired. And that was 8 years ago."
"8 years?!"
"A year or so would have been fine, but 8 years is too much, so I wouldn't recommend it."
"Yeah... *Hachoo!*"
"Your sneezing is getting more frequent."
"Sorry..."
"No need to apologize."
I warmed him up by the hearth and also gave him something hot to drink.
There's nothing else I can do.
--No, there is.
"I'll be right back."
I got up and started to head out.
"Where are you going?"
"I'm gonna get you something to replace the cold medicine."
"You have something like that?"
"Mhm. I'll be right back. You can eat the dried meat on the dirt floor if you like. If you want to drink some cold water, you can just drink it out of the kettle."
"Okay, but come back soon alright. I'm worried about being alone..."
With he back to Nine, she answered, "Got it," and left the cabin.
◊◊◊
This island has been improved over the years by my grandma.
So the environment is somewhat opportunistic in a way.
Therefore, I successfully got the kudzu root I was looking for.
I washed it off in the river and returned to the cabin.
"Welcome back, geh, geh."
Nine was coughing.
The symptoms had become worse than before I left the cabin.
he could get a fever by tonight, if not tomorrow.
"What's that in your hand?"
"It's kudzu root. I'm going to make kudzu tea with it."
"Nusaibah, you can do that?"
"It's easy. Just like how you make potato starch, you can make kudzu starch to make kudzu-yu."
"No, I don't even know how to make potato starch, but that's... amazing."
"Wanna watch me do it then? Since there's nothing entertaining here, and it'll pass the time"
"Yes, I wanna watch it."
Nine was showing interest, so I made it for her while explaining.
I crushed the roots with my handmade stone hatchet, strained them, and carefully taught her how to...make it.
"After that, when the white mush dries, it becomes kudzu powder, but I can't wait that long, so I make kudzu-yu with it."
"Amazing! So interesting! Nusaibah, are you some kind of expert on deserted islands or something!?"
"I don't watch TV, but I do know a little bit about survival."
And so the kudzu-yu was completed.
"Here, you should drink this. It'll make you feel better than hot water."
"Thank you!"
Nine drinks the kudzu-yu happily.
-- but immediately afterwards, he made a face of disgust and said, "Ugh."
"Good medicine is bitter in the mouth," I explained. "Well, it's not really good medicine, so I don't think it tastes too bad."
"Well, it didn't taste good, it was more like 'nothing'. The texture was different from what I expected and I was surprised. I'm sorry that you had to make this for me."
"Don't worry about it."
Then I tried to drink my own kuzu-yu.
"Gak, that tasted horrible! That tasted far worse than I thought it would! I'm sorry!"
Nine laughed out loud and said, "That's right."