Ch 56 -- Indulging in Traditional Japanese Sweets
Ah, I just remembered, before I go to bed I need to make an offering to the Goddess. I nearly forgot and sheâs bound to complain if I skip another offering again.
Right then, get it over and done with and then go to bed. Letâs see, open the Net Super... what would be good? Since sheâs got a sweet tooth, how about traditional Japanese sweets this time around?
Hmmm, to start with some bean-jam-filled rice cakes, strawberry-filled rice cakes and some manjuu buns too, theyâve got a sweet chestnut filling. Dango dumplings on skewers for dipping into red-bean-jam sauce as well.
Ho hum, castella too, traditional wagashi confectionery and some more dorayaki. Iâve offered that up before but that Goddess wonât complain if I repeat, I guess. To make sure Iâll add a presentation box of sweet-bean jellies too. Yes, this should be enough. Now to offer them to the Goddess. I laid the Japanese sweets out on the cardboard altar.
"Wind Goddess Ninril-sama, please accept my offering as thanks for your continued protection now and in the future."
The voice of the Goddess echoed in my mind as soon as I finished praying.
"Oh, Iâve been waiting! Iâd have sent you an oracle if youâd been any later."
Tch, so youâve polished off the last offerings I sent you already? Youâre wanting more sweet things to eat? If you only eat sweets youâll get fat you know. Do Gods and Goddesses get fat, I wonder?
"I- I, I, I wonât get fat, truly. G- Goddesses like me are always beautiful you know."
If youâre so sure why are you stuttering?
"B- B- Be quiet, you! Those cakes and puddings were very tasty but weâve not eaten any for the last three days, Iâll have you know."
Goddess, youâre a truly disappointing deity, you know. Youâre so gluttonous, arenât you? Totally useless too. Donât get fat, youâll not be able to call yourself beautiful with a straight face. A Goddess that stutters and eats too much is bound to get fat after all.
"Gumumumu, letâs move on to more important things. What sort of sweet things are you offering me this time?"
Yep, she heard me just fine. A bit more?
Theyâre only sweets after all, I wonder just how excited you are by them. If this Goddess were to appear in front of me I wonder how aroused sheâd look?
"What?" she said. "Theyâre only sweets, you know! You fool! Sweets arenât that great, huh?"
Oh, donât get mad. But as I thought, she can read my mind like an open book. Stop doing that, itâs totally a violation of my right to privacy.
"Hah, what âright to privacyâ? Iâm a Goddess, you know. Thereâs nothing you can keep secret from a deity like me. I can see what you do, hear what you think in your whole life from beginning to end. You might want to remember that clearly, you know. Anyway, Iâm a Goddess, donât forget it. Iâm all-powerful and thatâs why you should show me some respect, you know."
...she said. If youâre really amazing you shouldnât need to tell people âIâm amazingâ. She really is a disappointing Goddess.
Iâd like you to stop reading my thoughts as much as possible, huh? And donât bother watching me all the time. My life isnât that interesting after all. Show me some respect and save yourself some unnecessary effort. Give it some thought, please while you reflect on your own behaviour.
Deplorable sweet-loving Goddess.
"Nuuu, I am so totally not deplorable, you know!"
Ah, yeah yeah, of course youâre not. Really. Weâre not getting anywhere with this so letâs move on.
"Well, this time I chose some Japanese sweets, that is sweets from the country I came from. Ninril-sama requested anpan and dorayaki and thereâs a sweet thatâs got a lot of âankoâ, the same filling inside them."
"Whatâd you say? That âankoâ pastry? That subtle sweetness is so delicate, you know."
A truly deplorable Goddess. So lazy.
"And as you can see, Iâve also prepared an offering of dorayaki."
"Ohh, dorayaki. Great job, you." It looks like the dorayaki is very much her favourite.
"In that case, please accept my offering."
"I understand. Transferring it to the realm of the Gods now."
The Japanese sweets that were on the cardboard altar were enveloped in a pale light and then they disappeared. It never seemed very flashy but it got the job done.
"Muho-, thereâs a lot this time. Youâve done well my disciple."
Whatâs with the âMuho-â noise? She is a truly truly disappointing Goddess after all.
"Iâll eat a dorayaki straight away. Mm-mm-mm- muhaha, delicious as ever, hah!"
âMuhaha-â this time? Time to stop provoking her, maybe. A deplorable Goddess anyhow. Now that the deplorable Goddess was no longer talking to me I went to bed, sliding quickly under the futon with Sui.
Haaa- my only comfort is Sui.