In the End, Round and Round
"Th-that's impossible…."
Tania crumpled to the floor like a puppet whose strings had been cut.
"This… this was never even a possibility…."
Adele pressed one hand to her forehead, swaying as if she might collapse at any second, and barely managed to catch herself against the desk.
"A-Adele… you little…."
Half-sobbing, Tania glared at her, then shot to her feet and seized Adele by the collar with a sharp yank.
"What the hell did you do to Eli?!"
"I-I…."
"Eli… Eli……! Hic!"
Tears streamed down Tania's face as she broke into open weeping.
Adele squeezed her eyes shut and clenched her teeth.
What… on earth is going on? What is even happening right now?
"Um… guys?"
"Eli… Eli! Are you okay? Does anything hurt?"
"No… um… Tania? Could you listen for a second…."
"Elysia… maybe we should take you to the nurse's office?"
Tania shuffled closer in an awkward crouch, fat tears plopping from her eyes like chicken droppings, and planted both hands on my shoulders.
Then, pouring every ounce of feeling she had into the words, she forced them out at full volume.
"Eli doesn't like Koko-chi anymore—!"
"Damn it…!"
Adele grabbed my face and scanned it up and down, then—
"You've gotten so thin…! If we don't find something to replace Koko-chi right away…!"
"Eli's going to starve to death…!"
Uh, guys….
I've been eating just fine, you know?
"Is… getting a little tired of Koko-chi because I ate too much of it really that big a deal…?"
"Of course it's a big deal!"
"Ah, o-okay…."
Tania dropped back onto the floor and wailed.
"Damn it! Daaaaamn it! I'll never get to watch Eli eat Koko-chi again! Watching her happily munch on Koko-chi was the one bright spot in my entire life!"
…Sounds like a pretty miserable life. Why would you make that your one bright spot?
Adele picked up right where Tania's cry left off.
"Even when I was exhausted from work! Even when I felt like I was about to collapse from illness! I gritted my teeth and held on by imagining buying Elysia Koko-chi…!"
…Wow. You two really are a perfect match.
When did you get this close? I'm a little jealous, you know.
"At this point, there's only one thing left to do!"
"Yeah… only one thing left."
"……?"
Somehow the conversation was racing ahead without me.
I tilted my head in confusion, and Tania and Adele each seized one of my arms and started hauling me off somewhere.
"We're going to find something to replace Koko-chi…!"
"Huh? It's still lunchtime? Academy isn't even over yet?"
I stared at them in bewilderment. Tania met my eyes with a deadly serious expression.
"Eli."
"Y-yeah? What…?"
She planted one hand firmly on my shoulder.
A small, light weight settled there.
She gave my shoulder a subtle little knead, then suddenly her face softened into something gentle.
"That kind of thing isn't a problem at all, Eli."
"Exactly. It's absolutely not because we want to skip class and hang out with you. We're going because we need to find something you need."
…Ahh. So that's what this is.
You just wanted to go on a date with me that badly!
These two are so shy. If you want to hang out, just say you want to hang out.
"Hmmmm…."
Skipping class for one day should be fine, right?
And like Tania and Adele said, I really am getting tired of Koko-chi and craving something else.
"Do you already have a place in mind?"
"Huh?"
"A restaurant…."
"Obviously! Just follow me!"
Tania thrust her chest out with supreme confidence and started to march ahead—then glanced back at Adele with a faintly complicated look.
"You don't actually have to come along, you know."
But Adele brushed the remark off with an easy laugh.
"I've scouted out some good places myself."
"…Hmph. Eli! Let's go!"
Tania sidled up beside me and quietly took my hand.
A warm, soft sensation wrapped around my fingers, and a thought drifted through my mind.
"It feels… like forever since I last held hands with Tania."
Tania pouted and shot me a look.
"Well, that's because Eli hasn't been hanging out with me much lately…."
"Hmm~ I have been a little busy recently."
Is "busy" the right word? Honestly I just handled a couple of things and spent most of the time in the hospital.
Feeling guilty for neglecting her lately, I gave the hand I was holding a gentle squeeze, tightening my grip.
Then I beamed at Tania as brightly as I could.
"Then today I should make sure we have lots of fun together, right?"
"Y-yeah…."
Watching Tania get all bashful, I felt like I was looking at an actual adorable little sister.
She wouldn't call me Unnie, though, right? We're the same age.
No, wait—you never know. Tania's sweet enough that if I asked, she might do it once or twice….
I'll have to try asking her sometime.
Just then Adele, who had been staring blankly from the side, took a big step forward and took my other hand.
A cool, pleasant sensation—not cold, just refreshing—spread through my fingers.
"Elysia. You haven't forgotten that it's been a while for me too, have you?"
"Of course not~ Unnie will make sure Adele has fun today too…!"
"…? Unnie?"
"It's nothing!"
I took a big bite of the skewer.
"Eli. How's this place?"
"Hmm… it's good, but…."
How do I put it. There's a slight fishy taste to the meat that just isn't my thing.
And I don't feel any of the magic I felt the first time I ate Koko-chi.
"Then is it my turn next?"
Adele led us to the next restaurant.
She must have chosen the closest spot on the route—it was a sushi place less than five minutes away.
She'd even ordered ahead; freshly made sushi was already waiting on the table.
"Sushi isn't a snack!"
"So what? It doesn't have to be a snack."
"…Doesn't it?"
I picked up a piece of sushi while Tania and Adele bickered behind me.
Glistening, beautiful salmon resting atop perfectly plump rice.
I lightly dipped it in soy sauce mixed with a touch of wasabi and popped the whole thing into my mouth.
The fresh, tender salmon burst softly against my tongue.
The richness of the mayonnaise on top of the salmon sushi was cut cleanly by the wasabi soy sauce, leaving a crisp, refreshing finish.
But….
"Not this place either…."
It was a genuinely excellent restaurant—one I could easily see myself coming back to several times—but that was all.
Just like the skewers Tania had taken me to, it tasted good.
It simply couldn't deliver the same emotional punch as Koko-chi.
Tania looked almost relieved as she stepped forward again.
"My turn again!"
But for some reason, the place after that—
"My turn again."
—and the one after that… and the one after that…….
None of them hit the mark.
Tania and Adele even took me to expensive meat restaurants and famous spots that normally required hours of waiting in line… but, well.
Somehow none of them were quite my taste….
Huh? Am I actually super high-maintenance?
My palate seems ridiculously picky too….
The thought made me start feeling self-conscious around the two of them.
We'd already been restaurant-hopping for hours without finding a single winner. If it were me, I'd have gotten thoroughly sick of it by now.
"Um… guys……."
"Eli! Next let's go here!"
"No, this way. If it's Elysia, this one will definitely suit her better."
"……."
They actually look excited. Is it just me…?
Or… maybe I wasn't being a bother after all!
Of course—there's no one on earth who would find a pretty girl like me annoying!
I almost felt guilty for nothing.
"Then how about we check out those last two places and head back for today?"
It was getting late, after all.
"Sounds good."
"Yeah."
Thankfully, neither of them seemed to mind.
Unfortunately, the final two shops failed to satisfy me either.
To satisfy me, a flavor needed to be more intense, more beautiful… something miraculous and fantastical, a bright, refreshing taste!
"What a shame."
"Yeah."
"Tomorrow I'll definitely find a place that meets Eli's standards!"
Adele, holding my left hand, trailed quietly behind us looking genuinely dejected, while Tania only grew more determined, vowing to find the perfect spot tomorrow no matter what.
I laughed and nodded along, telling her I was looking forward to it, when—
"Yeah, I'll be waiting……."
A fantastical yet familiar aroma brushed past the tip of my nose.
The moment I caught that scent, tears nearly spilled over.
This is just like… the smell of the chicken skewers Mom made to welcome me home after twenty years away…!
"…Elysia?"
"Eli?"
I heard the two of them calling from behind me, but I couldn't spare them any attention right now.
I didn't know why… but I had the overwhelming feeling that if I failed to find the source of this smell, I would regret it for the rest of my life.
I closed my eyes and followed the fragrance, walking slowly.
Blinded, I stumbled now and then and nearly fell—but thanks to that….
"Found it."
This was definitely a familiar place.
The sign hanging out front, the people working inside the shop.
Even the convenience store right next door—every detail felt like somewhere I had seen before.
But my mind was fogged over; I couldn't place where this was.
It's agony…! My chest is this tight and I still can't remember!
Clutching my aching chest with one hand, I strode toward the shop. An elderly grandmother frying chicken skewers inside glanced at me out of the corner of her eye, then—
Thud.
—silently set a box of several freshly made, still-warm chicken skewers down in front of me.
The instant I saw it, I understood exactly what I had to do.
I had to pay…!
If I couldn't pay, I wouldn't get to taste them!
To remember where this place was, I needed every scrap of information I could get, and the flavor of those chicken skewers was critical data.
"……."
I rummaged frantically through my pockets and produced a single crumpled ten-thousand-won bill.
I set it gently beside the box of chicken skewers. The grandmother eyed the bill for a moment, then swept it up with her wrinkled hand.
The second she did, I tore open the packaging right there on the spot and grabbed one.
Ahhh——. Yes. This is what I wanted.
A spicy fragrance so sharp it tingled the tip of my nose just from smelling it.
And a sweetness that refused to be outdone, making my mouth water.
Batter fried at exactly the right temperature and time, coated in a red sauce.
I carefully bit into the chicken skewer.
And in that moment, I understood how to define this flavor.
The taste of home.
This was the taste of chicken skewers lovingly fried by a mother waiting for me back home, thinking of me the whole time.
I held back the tears that threatened to spill and asked Adele, who was standing beside me,
"Where… is this?"
"…Elysia."
Adele looked at me with a pitying gaze, then gently reached out and stroked my cheek.
"It's the Koko-chi shop."
"I figured as much."
I already knew. Yeah.
There's no way two shops like this could exist!
In the end, it really has to be Koko-chi for me.
Beside us, Tania—who had been watching me in silence—muttered as if lamenting the universe itself.
"…In the end, round and round, it's Koko-chi."