Nikujaga or Curry?

Hi, this is an episode of School Rumble Season 1 retold my way, following the same mood I got into while watching the ep. This is pure indulgence but I really liked the ep. Hope u wl 2 =)

She put her school shoes back in her locker and took the other pair out. She’s going home early today - Eri Sawachika, the pretty blonde girl in pony tails who is perhaps the richest high school girl in the campus.

Just then, a boy from another section approached her and introduced himself, a little too confident facing someone like Eri, who has the notorious reputation of having busted every single guy at the first sign of courtship. But she isn’t her snobbish self today, rather she’s light-hearted, with a slight smile that never left her lips.

She answered her admirer, “which do you prefer, nikujaga or curry?”.

The boy was flattered, thinking Eri was actually interested in him. “ Nikujaga, of course. You’re so kind to think of cooking my fave dish for me”. (Yeah, too confident).

“Actually I’m cooking it for someone else.” Eri grinned, “Bye!”, and hurried out of school. The boy was left to the teasing of all his spectators.

This is her first shopping trip, and her first time to try to cook something for someone. She could still recall the ingredients she and her friends talked about earlier that day.

Just then, she overheard a child talked to her mother, “this is dad’s favorite dish, right?” “Yes, it is”, the mother answered. She felt good hearing that, “dad’s favorite dish”. She spent a few days asking boys around the campus what their favorite dish was, and the result of her poll was nikujaga.

When she stepped out of the grocery store, a luxury car stopped alongside her. She recognized it at once. “Did u come to pick me up, Dad?” she asked enthusiastically. “No Eri, I got an emergency meeting out of the country so I have to leave now. I won’t be coming home for a while,” her father answered. “It’s ok dad”, she smiled, “I understand. Please take good care of yourself”.

She waved her hand while holding her smile in place. Then the car was out of sight and she couldn’t hold it anymore. She bowed her head and the rain started to pour - cold and wet down her golden hair but warm and abundant from her cheeks down to her bosom. Her shopping bag was dripping wet but there’s no use saving it now – the person she intended to cook it for is already out of sight. Maybe in a few months, she’ll get a chance again, such were her thoughts.

A while after, the rain stopped falling where she stood. She looked up and saw a familiar face – Harima Kenji – the school bully whom she hated so much for openly blurting out that he hates blonde girls especially those who wear pony tails. Harima was holding an umbrella above her.

“You’ll get sick if you stay in the rain” said he in an unusual calm manner. Usually, they’d shout at each other at first glance. “I’ll walk you home”.

And they started to walk together. The rain poured harder but around Eri, the atmosphere felt warmer..

“Which do you prefer”, Eri looked up to Harima, “nikujaga or curry?”

“Curry”.

“Yeah, I thought so”.

= end =

Note: Nikujaga (肉じゃが?) (meaning meat-potato) is a Japanese dish of meat, potatoes and onion stewed in sweetened soy sauce, sometimes with ito konnyaku and vegetables.

A HOME TO RETURN TO

4-day vacation in the province is an effective work-detox, I still can’t shift to full work mode until now. I arrived in Manila just this am and I just can’t shake off the relaxing ambiance Quirino Province gave me. I’m lucky I have a province to go home to, a home to return to (emo mode on!).

Quirino province is part of Cagayan Valley. Living in a valley means being surrounded by lotsa lotsa mountains. Everywhere I looked around me as a child, I see towering mountains, endless ranges – the Sierra Madre on one side and the ones that separate us from Aurora on the other side. I often wondered why these mountains looked so blue when trees are supposed to be green. Then I came to a conclusion: maybe because the clouds are casting shadows on them? Coz on the other parts of the mountains where the sun is directly shining on, the shade is greener, lighter.

There is so much to miss back there:

• The clouds touching the mountain tops
• The cold breeze (certainly more pleasant than aircons!) that carries the after-harvest smell of the ricefields
• The bulky trees along the road that make the wind chilly and refreshing but at the same time, block the sharp curves ahead! hehe
• The brooks along side the roads half-hidden by the bushes and the trees (i went swimming on some of them when I was but a kid)
• The mosquitoes? hehe (I definitely prefer them over the mice and the cockroaches of the city!)
• The peace, the silence – there are but few vehicles passing the highway, no people strolling around except for some kids playing on the barangay road
• Shall I continue? the list might drag on!
  

There is really nothing special about our province – no special delicacies for pasalubong, no special products or weavings or carvings; the only nice places we have are the caves, some hidden water falls and I think we have rapids too, but these sites haven’t been the kinds that would invite lotsa tourists over. But like what the Little Prince said about his rose.

"To be sure, an ordinary passerby would think that my rose looked just like you--the rose that belongs to me. But in herself alone she is more important than all the hundreds of you other roses: because it is she that I have watered; because it is she that I have put under the glass globe; because it is she that I have sheltered behind the screen; because it is for her that I have killed the caterpillars (except the two or three that we saved to become butterflies); because it is she that I have listened to, when she grumbled, or boasted, or ever sometimes when she said nothing. Because she is my rose.”

The only thing special about Quirino is that it is MY province. It houses the most precious of my memories – the times I wondered, the questions I asked as a child, the framework of the dreams which I am now beginning to realize in the city, and more importantly, the people I will never get tired of getting excited to see again – my family.

I so love vacations! =)