Pudding, Delicious Pudding
"Waaah!!!"
I swung Rumi's magic wand with everything I had—the wand I'd only just won back after so much trouble. I'd been sure Haru had thrown it away, and nothing in the world felt better than having it in my hands again.
"Ha!"
I threw a kick, just like in the anime. It was a little surprising that using a magic wand involved more kicking techniques than actual magic, but that was only fitting for Little Magician Rumi. Striking pose after pose, though, left me a bit worn out.
I set the wand reverently aside and turned on the computer. Today wasn't for streaming. I meant to look up how to make the pudding I'd been craving for a while. Anyone would love a sweet pudding, and I wanted to treat Haru and Bora to some.
They'd kept my Rumi merchandise safe instead of throwing it out, so I owed them at least this much sincerity. I stared at the monitor and started writing down the ingredients.
Everything that went into pudding could be bought at a convenience store. If something couldn't, I only had to ask Baldy in secret.
There was no bribe involved. I simply showed him the pudding ingredients on my phone and told him to get them. At my solemn command, Baldy broke into a cold sweat and bought every last thing I wanted. Bora and Haru wouldn't know about my surprise, would they? If Baldy had secretly tipped them off, I was going to punish him hard.
A surprise only meant something if the people receiving it didn't know. So I waited until Haru and Bora got off work. After a hearty dinner, I got ready to make the pudding. Follow the recipe exactly, and there was no way I could fail.
I lit the portable burner. First I planned to make the most important part of the pudding: the black sauce, brown-sugar syrup. The method was simple. Mix water and dark brown sugar one to one, then reduce it over the gas flame. Do that, and a thick, viscous brown-sugar syrup was complete.
I really was a cooking genius. I was following a recipe, yes, but a perfect syrup on the very first try? Maybe I truly had a gift for cooking.
Next I had to make the body of the pudding itself. It was the most important step, so I read the recipe through once more, carefully. Even with a genius brain like mine, going over a recipe again couldn't hurt.
I got the milk ready and set it over the gas flame, then added the sugar and stirred and stirred. The recipe said you had to keep stirring. After some time had passed, I added the gelatin. It was essential if you wanted a body that was soft and jiggly, yet still held firm.
"Hm-hm~"
Humming to myself, I added the final ingredient: egg yolks. Everything was succeeding so completely that I felt wonderful. Cooking almost never worked on the first try, but that was only because I was good at it.
Maybe I should open a pudding shop someday. I'd hire Bora and Haru as the staff and hang a huge sandwich board out front.
Pudding by a Master with Ten Years of Experience
People who tasted mine might weep with pure emotion. It was a flavor from heaven, after all.
Looking at the thick pudding base I'd made, I couldn't help but marvel.
"Waaah!"
The color was so lovely I desperately wanted to touch it myself. Touching it now, though, would only prove I was an amateur. I poured the custard into the pudding molds and tucked them carefully into the refrigerator. This office had every appliance under the sun, so it was convenient to use.
Off to the side, Baldy was watching everything I did. He asked if he should help, but I turned him down. A gift only meant something if I made it with my own hands. For now, I'd made a great deal of it, enough to give pudding to everyone in the office.
At first I'd only planned to give some to Bora and Haru, but the other employees who didn't receive a gift would obviously feel hurt. So I made plenty, enough to satisfy everyone else as well. Sleep on it, and by the time I woke tomorrow, the delicious pudding would be finished, right?
"Hiyah!"
The moment morning sunlight struck my eyes, I kicked off the blanket and bolted upright. Lately I had so much energy I ought to be tested for doping. Strangely, ever since I'd gone from an adult body back to a child's, I was overflowing with it.
I meant to gift all that overflowing energy to the employees. Still in my dinosaur pajamas, I ran to the office. Nobody was there. Baldy was supposed to be around—where had he gone? Out for a cigarette?
I soon lost interest and opened the office refrigerator. A great many puddings sat inside. I took them out one by one and checked each. I'd bought disposable plates, so I didn't have to worry about running out of somewhere to set them.
"Yap!"
I flipped the plastic mold with the pudding inside. A few taps of my hand, and the pudding popped free with a little boing. It was so springy and elastic that the moment it settled onto the plate, it wobbled this way and that, dancing as if to show off its shining body.
"Yap! Yap! Yap!"
I plated the rest of the puddings too. If I was going to gift them to a dozen or so employees, I had to get to work early in the morning. Once every pudding was on a plate, I prepared the grand finale.
I took up the brown-sugar syrup and began pouring it over them. This mattered most of all. A pudding lived by its soft, jiggly body, of course—but more than anything, what mattered was that appetizing ribbon of black syrup across the top.
I poured just enough that it didn't spill over, and a truly perfect pudding was born. Did the pudding they sold in stores even get made like this? Handmade really was best. There was a real sense of accomplishment in it, too.
When I tried to move the plates from the floor up onto the desk, though, I couldn't quite reach. I fetched a step stool and started setting the puddings on the desk. I even laid out disposable spoons, so the employees coming in to work could each take one and eat it easily.
Just as the setup was more or less finished, Baldy came in. Maybe because he'd been up all night, dark stubble shadowed around his mouth. Men's beards did tend to grow quickly.
"Hana, what are you up to?"
Baldy scratched his head as he looked at me.
"I'm plating pudding!"
I pointed at the puddings on the desk as I said it, then picked up a plate and brought it over to him. I'd wanted to give the first one to Bora or Haru, but the only person in the office right now was Baldy.
"A pudding present!"
Baldy looked a little dazed by my gift. He held the plate and turned the pudding this way and that, inspecting it. There couldn't be much to say about a pudding this perfect...
"Watching you make pudding yesterday nearly killed me."
Huh? When did he see me? Through the window in my room? He wouldn't have come into my room...
"It was supposed to be a secret! Did you really watch me make the pudding?"
"Yeah. Not the whole time—only while you were using the gas burner. Couldn't have you mishandling it and starting a fire."
Hmm... That was fair enough. No matter how careful I was, something could always go wrong. Baldy scooped up a spoonful, said it was delicious, and vanished somewhere.
Of course. Pudding I'd made couldn't possibly taste bad. Grinning, I sat down in an office chair and waited for the employees to arrive. There was still plenty of pudding left on the desk.
I sang the opening theme of Little Magician Rumi in my head a few times, and the office staff began coming in to work. The first to arrive was Haru.
"Haru! Haru!"
The moment she walked in, I grabbed a plate and brought it to her. Surprised to be handed pudding, Haru said,
"Did you make this, Hana?"
"Yep. I made it!"
It looked unbelievably good. I'd sneaked a bite earlier, and it tasted like heaven—so much so I could hardly tell whether this was heaven or the real world.
"Thanks. I'll enjoy every bite, Hana."
Haru stroked my hair as she ate. Hearing that it was delicious was just a bonus. After her review, I only had to wait a little before Bora arrived at the office too.
Bora ate my pudding with obvious pleasure and said it was good. Unlike Haru, she shot me a crisp thumbs-up and told me it was delicious enough that I could open a shop.
"Hana, you're really amazing, you know?"
Just as I thought—they were more than worthy of my pudding. Beaming, I handed puddings out to the employees. Christmas had already passed, but was this how Santa Claus felt? Giving food away to other people really was a wonderful feeling.
I'd have to do it again sometime!