With the day's light fading, Azi rushed home to make it in time for dinner and to obtain his long-awaited dessert. Seeing that the lights were still on in Kajima's house, Azi rushed to the door and slid it open as he declared his presence.
"I'm home, Kajima! What's for dinner!?"
"You got here just in time. Go get cleaned up in the bath, we are having roasted meat with some wrapped vegetable dumplings tonight."
"Were you able to obtain the dessert?" Asked Azi who looked on with expectant eyes.
Laughing, Kajima quickly placated the boy with a jerk of his head.
"Not to worry I was able to obtain a single serving before they were all sold out."
Pointing over to the kitchen counter, Kajima indicated a small wooden container that held the dark colored pastry.
When Azi saw the wooden container, his excitement grew and without batting an eye to Kajima, he quickly made his way to the bath. Kajima laughed at the boy's child-like excitement which contrasted with his actual age.
He then turned his attention back to the stove and oven. He was still in the process of cooking the roasted meat and boiling the dumpling, so his attention was quite focused and now inattentive to his surroundings.
While Kajima was distracted by his cooking and when Azi was away in the bath, Shizu had just arrived home a few minutes after Azi. With a tired expression and tone, Shizu called out to Kajima.
"Hi Uncle Kajima, I'm home, what's for dinner?"
Kajima off-handedly responded.
"Vegetable dumpling and roasted meat. Azi's in the bath and will be out shortly."
"I see." Said Shizu as she made her way to a seat at the kitchen counter. "I'm going to rest a bit so don't mind me."
Responding with a nod, Kajima continued his work at the stove while Shizu laid her head against the counter in an attempt to regain some much needed rest.
Shizu's recent work has been taxing on her mind as the long hours and constant reading of paperwork drained her warrior spirit. When she was trying to rest her mind she still had many things to consider, one of those being the recent attacks from monsters which was on the rise due to reasons she had yet to discover,
So, in her paranoia, Shizu took out a few reports from her bag and began reading through them to glean even a bit of the cause of this problem. She was looking for clues on why the monster attacks kept coming in increasing numbers in spite of how she had already set up numerous hunting parties to cull the monsters. Nevertheless, the monsters seemingly kept increasing no matter how many they killed.
As she was reading, she noticed the smell of the food and her stomach rumbled on instinct. From this, she realized just how tired and hungry she was as it felt like a huge weight was placed on her shoulder.
Since she missed out on lunch due to a meeting with village chief Manu which had lasted all throughout the afternoon. While she did have a few snacks during the meeting they failed to satisfy her hunger or restore her energy.
Wanting something sweet to help reenergize her depleted stores of energy, Shizu noticed the small wooden container on the kitchen counter. The mark on the wooden container was from a recognizable shop that was known for its pastries and desserts.
So, not knowing that it was for Azi, opened the wooden container and proceeded to eat the single pastry contained within. The dessert was bittersweet, which caused Shizu to grimace, but she nonetheless ate the pastry as her hunger made her cravings for something at least sweet was hard to resist.
She knew it was improper to eat today's dessert early but she didn't have the presence of mind to care.
Licking her lips and the leftover dark colored syrup from her fingers, Shizu remembered that Azi did like this bittersweet dessert immensely but could still not figure out why he would like such a bitter dessert.
Thinking about the expression of bliss Azi had when he ate this last time, she smiled and chuckled a bit in delight at the memory of the cute and childish expression he made.
He truly looked like a kid at that moment as he ate his favorite dessert. The few specks of dark syrup on his lips and cheeks added to the childish scene as he chewed in what looked like absolute bliss.
"Shizu!?"
Her thoughts were then interrupted by an outcry of familiar voice.
She turned to the source and saw the person she was just reminiscing about with a shocked and saddened expression on his face. This befuddled Shizu as she was just imagining him with a smile on his face, but to now see him with such a depressed expression left her somewhat dumbfounded but after taking a moment to compose her words she responded plainly as if nothing was wrong.
"What's wrong?"
To this, Azi's depressed expression deepened and in a defeated tone that seemingly made the atmosphere seem dreary, his head and shoulders deflated as he slumped a bit.
"That ... was ... mine."
A tear began to form in his eye which caused Shizu to panic as she tried to figure out what he meant by his words. Seeing that Azi was directing his attention to the wooden box beside her, she looked over to the box and then her hand that had a small amount of dark syrup still on her fingertips.
It soon clicked in Shizu's mind as she realized that the dessert was likely for Azi and her thought was confirmed as she heard Kajima speak out in an admonishing tone.
"Oh no! Shizu? Did you eat the dessert meant for Azi?"
Her face paled at this moment and she began to sweat in her mind. Shizu deliberate on what she could say without making Azi feel worse but knew that there was no answer that could get her out of the hole she had unintentionally dug herself into.
With reluctance she nodded in guilty affirmation of her crimes.
This caused Azi's shoulders to slump further and he despondently stated a single word.
"Oh."
He then began to walk over to the dining table and with a thump, Azi sat himself down in a chair like a sack of vegetables that were carelessly set down in the back of a wagon. He then tucked his head into his now crossed arms atop the table and began sulking.
Shizu watched in silence as guilt marred her face. She turned to Kajima in desperation and asked in a whisper.
"Is there another one?"
Kajima could only shake his head side to side as he thought to himself.
'Well, this is bad. I'll have to cheer him up tomorrow. Hopefully I can get him two as an apology next week.'
"Go get seated Shizu, I'll bring the food over." Said Kajima.
Nodding, Shizu got up and sat next to Azi and attempted to apologize. She placed her hand on his disheveled head of hair and began stroking it with as much compassion as she could. She hoped to convey how sorry she was for taking something of his, but it was ineffective as Azi kept his slump posture with his head in his arms on the table.
Moving around, Kajima set the table with food, plates, and utensils. As he was moving over the last of the food, he then grabbed an ornate glass bottle of dragon's liquor and offered it to Azi.
"Not to worry Azi, I know the owner of the pastry shop. I'm sure I can get you your dessert again."
This got Azi to raise his head a bit as he looked at Kajima and asked with teary eyes.
"When?"
"About a week and this time, I'll get you two."
Azi's ears perked up at the mention of two, but still felt a bit sad that he would have to wait an extra 7 days for his dessert. Sighing, Azi righted his posture in his chair and picked up his wooden chopsticks.
He began to grab some of the slices of roasted meat and dumpling from the dining table and began piling them onto his plate with a somewhat deary expression. Kajima and Shizu did the same but exchanged concerned looks.
They didn't think that the loss of the dessert would be a heavy blow to him, but seeing how he was reacting had cemented it in their minds that the dark color dessert likely held some important worth to Azi. They hypothesize that the dessert helped Azi reminisce as recently, Azi had been recovering some of his memories about his hobbies, likes, and dislikes.
What aid in his recovery was the dark colored dessert which seemed to prelude his bouts of remembrance.
The dinner continued in awkward silence as the only noise that could be heard was the chewing of food and click-clacking of utensils. Shizu thought to break the silence but hesitated as she knew that she was the main cause of the current situation.
When the dinner was halfway through, Kajima poured a cup of the dragon's liquor into a small clay shot cup and handed it to Azi with a smile.
"Here, this should help."
Looking up from his plate of food, Azi saw the amber liquid in the clay shot cup. He remembered how the amber drink was overly sweet in flavor and didn't fit his tastes, but Azi could understand Kajima's kind gesture.
Accepting the proffered alcohol with a nod, Azi down the shot of dragon's liquor in one gulp. The sweetness of the alcohol was overwhelming his taste buds but Azi did not grimace as it was a welcome sensation to bite back at the bitterness he felt.
He knew he was being childish, but that bittersweet dessert was something he was looking forward to as it helped him remind himself of the better times of his forgotten past.
Throughout the last half of the meal, Azi had alone drank shot after shot of the alcohol until the glass bottle was almost half empty. Kajima did not speak up to stop Azi as he knew that if he did, it might set Azi off into an emotional tirade.
To his surprising relief, Azi had unexpectedly fallen asleep at the table rather than becoming overly excited or rowdy from the alcohol which was unlike him from the past incidents. After laughing a bit at the unexpected turn of events, Kajima motioned to Shizu.
"Can you get Azi to bed? While today was supposed to be when you could not sleep in the same bed as him, you can do so today as an exception. But be sure to nurse and treat him well as an apology."
Accepting, Shizu petted Azi's sleeping head and nodded.
"Alright but please don't tease me about this Uncle Kajima."
In response, Kajima chuckled and stated matter of factly on her current situation.
"I think Azi's teasing will be more than enough for my satisfaction."
Taking a bit of mental damage from Kajima's implication, she begrudgingly lifted Azi from his chair and carried him in a princess carry to his room.
Seeing the sight, Kajima mused.
'Shizu's going to have to really pay Azi back for this. I'm sure he will forgive her, but I think from now on I should be more wary of Shizu's appetite.'
This thought got a chuckle out of Kajima as he cleaned up the dining table.
(Key element. Too Cheesy?)
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(What's your favorite dessert? Comment what you think?)