Hanayui no Shou 4-2EB

The road to the soba faction - 2

[Hero Club room]

Y.Y: After we're done with the soil we'll be planting the vegetables, right? Which ones?

Sh: Normally you'd plant them according to the season... Oh, in case you wanted to press flowers, garlic chives have some pretty ones.

Y.Y: Garlic chives... Wait, those garlic chives? They have flowers too...

Sh: They have a lot of small flowers clustered together that look really cute. Did you know? You can eat those.

Y.Y: The flowers of garlic chives? So, uh, do they taste good?

Sh: Absolutely! And they're a great fit for soba, too.

Sh: Back in our time, a region called northern Kanto even had a garlic chive soba dish.

Y.Y: Northern Kanto...

Y.Y: (...It was on the northern side of the Kanto region we studied in history class, wasn't it?)

Sh: But if you say soba, it has to be Shinshu soba, after all! And amongst its varieties, oshibori soba reigns supreme!

Y.Y: (Shinshu... The region to the west of Kanto, where Suwa and Utano-chan were...)

Sh: Oshibori soba is a dish where you eat soba, dipping into into juice squeezed from karami daikon, a local vegetable of Shinshu. [1]

Y.Y: Karami daikon juice? Isn't it hot?

Sh: It is. Hot enough to make you cry.

Y.Y: So hot it drives you to tears...

Sh: Honestly, it's not a dish I would recommend to an amateur. It's something only pros can handle.

Sh: Shinshu soba, on the other hand, eaters of all skill levels can enjoy!

Sh: By dipping soba in water, you're able to enjoy the natural taste of it!

Y.Y: Just water!? I think that's a pretty pro-level way of eating as well...

Sh: Non! To understand the true appeal of Shinshu soba, you shouldn't muddle the taste with anything else!

Sh: And that is exactly why soba wins over udon by a large margin simply in terms of taste...

Sh: Ah... Sorry. I ended up talking the same way I did with Wakaba over the Hero comms.

Y.Y: No, don't worry. Utano-chan, the stuff you've told me was really interesting!

Y.Y: You really love soba, don't you? Are you planning to grow it here as well?

Sh: If I find a good spot to grow buckwheat, definitely, but for now I'll focus solely on vegetables!

Sh: So come plow the fields with me sometime, Yuuki-san!

Y.Y: Sure!

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Notes:
1 - Karami daikon is a cultivar of daikon which, you guessed it, is more pungent than normal.