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Omake Zone 02: もったいないわね ("Such a Waste")

Shizune Mai
Jan 25, 2016
3 min read

BANSHU, SOUTHERN WUTAI WAKEISEIJAKU TEA HOUSE & CAFE DISC 03 - MAY 2015

“While Wakeiseijaku does the art of tea and coffee admirably, the one area in which it is evidently lacking is that of the dessert category. The pinnacle of its scant offerings in the dessert menu is the homemade cheesecake, which was too sharply flavored and heavy…” Shizune threw the magazine review in the air in disgust. It hovered for a moment as the pages caught the air, but in the very next instant the magazine was pinned violently to the ceiling by the cake fork Shizune had thrown at it. The fork made a chittering noise as it vibrated rapidly from the impact, the prongs stabbing maliciously into the last paragraph of the review of Shizune’s cafe. “What does she know about cheesecake!?” Shizune said scornfully. “This is the final form of all cheesecakes! It’s not too ‘sharply-flavored’,” she said in a mocking voice, using quotation-mark fingers in her rebuttal to no one. “You used the wrong word--it’s ‘richly-flavored’, bitch.” It was early evening and the shop itself was closed. Shizune had just come in from retrieving the mail, which included this month’s issue of the Wutai Walker, a magazine featuring various eateries (and discount coupons) in Wutai. Now alone in her cafe, Shizune’s face was a sullen mask of gloom and her long, center-parted hair hid her eyes from view as she stared at the refrigerator. She still had a sizeable amount of cheesecake in there. A sizeable amount of cheesecake that she knew now would not sell because of this recently-published review by Sayoko Kishimoto of the Wutai Walker. Shizune made a mental note and added Kishimoto to the end of a list of names that she had been compiling over the years. Her thoughts and gaze returned to the refrigerator and the remaining cheesecake that lay inside. “Mottainai-wa-ne...” (”Such a waste”) muttered Shizune in Wutaian, in a voice as tiny as her self-esteem at the moment. She walked over to the refrigerator and prepared a large serving of cheesecake. She sat down at the counter and began to eat.

\ \ \

A few days later, after she had closed shop for the day, Shizune was cleaning one of the place settings and noticed that there was a half-eaten slice of cheesecake on one of the plates. “Mottainai-wa-ne...” she said.

The corners of her mouth turned upwards ever-so-subtly.

\ \ \

The following week, Shizune was bussing a plate of cheesecake to a table when she tripped and fell. The cheesecake went sailing through the air, but before she could even think, her former training and reflexes took over. She spun in mid-air, repositioning the circular tray she was holding and caught the plate on the tray perfectly. The slice of cheesecake fell into place a split-second after. She stuck the landing in the dead center of the cafe in a kneeling pose reminiscent of her favorite manga characters after they had finished their deathstrike on a foe. The cafe was busy that day, and everyone there began to clap and cheer raucously. “That was amazing, Rei-Oneesan!” said the little girl who had ordered the cheesecake. She was beaming a sugary smile and clapping her hands excitedly. Shizune stood up again normally, one hand scratching the back of her head as she laughed nervously. “No, no, it’s nothing, just luck. Let me get you another slice.” “It’s ok, Rei-Oneesan, there’s nothing wrong with tha-” “I’LL GET YOU ANOTHER ONE!” Shizune blurted out suddenly, silencing the crowd of onlookers. Shizune ran to the back behind the service counter, placing the cheesecake on the side and preparing a fresh plate. Before running that new piece back out to the front, she eyed the discarded cheesecake on the counter, a predatory flash in her eyes and the hint of drool at the corner of her mouth. “Mottainai-wa-ne...” Shizune said under her breath like death sentence. She was chuckling darkly, in a voice that was lower than her usual timbre. “What?” exclaimed an elderly man sitting at the counter. “Oh, nothing,” Shizune said, laughing nervously again. “I was just talking to the cheesecake.”