Chapter 32
『Americano
"In a cafe, you have to drink the least offensive of the musical comedy drinks that come with alcohol.
And Bond always drank the same thing—an Americano—a cocktail made of Campari Bitter, Cinzano, a large slice of lemon peel, and soda water."
-007, From a View to a Kill.
An aperitif has a refined taste, and is bittersweet and refreshing.
variation: Iced Americano, Negroni, Boulevardier』
I didn't have a bad memory to begin with.
Back when my brain was running at full speed as a middle and high school student, there was a time I memorized a hundred words for a cram school English test in just ten minutes.
It was a memory ability focused over an excessively short period, so I would forget everything after just one day.
But recently, my memory seems to have improved by leaps and bounds. Is it because I've been studying Japanese and recipes so hard?
Even if it isn't a Perfect Recall Ability where I never forget anything I see once, it feels like the things I chew over and memorize don't easily fade away.
The cocktail Americano was the same.
How did I memorize this again… right.
Bond always drank the same thing, and what was that? An Americano and a Campari Bitter.
Campari. A red Italian liqueur.
It was replaced with Artificial Herb Liqueur. A Pigment Capsule was added to bring out the distinct aroma, taste, and color.
My hands moved at the same time I thought about it.
The glass is… an Old Fashioned glass.
It's the glass used for the Old Fashioned, the very cocktail the Dragon President drank next to me on my First Day of Work.
It's a round liquor glass with a pattern, the perfect size to fit a Large Square Ice cube.
I put in ice to fit the size, measured the herb liqueur with a jigger, an hourglass-shaped measuring tool, and poured it into the glass.
One ounce, about 30ml, is good. I cracked open the capsule and dropped it in.
After Campari is Cinzano.
It is a flavored fortified wine called Sweet Vermouth. This is also replaced with synthetic wine and powder.
I poured a set amount and sprinkled the powder to match.
Lastly… a large slice of lemon peel and soda water.
Let's handle the soda water first. The recipe said an appropriate amount.
If I put in a lot, it will be neutralized and the taste will become light and smooth, and if I put in a little, it will be that much thicker and heavier.
I glanced at the customer in front of me, Sey, and poured just enough to make a slight trickling sound.
Then, after stirring slightly with a Bar Spoon, I plopped a Refrigerated Lemon-Flavored Synthetic into one side of the glass.
It was the very same pseudo-lemon I regretted biting into out of curiosity during the Dusk Iced Tea last time. Adding this as a garnish finished it.
I mixed two glasses in this manner and pushed them forward onto the table.
Americano. A distinctive and sweet Red Light, like pomegranate and cherry, sparkles between the glass and the ice.
Under the similarly red Darklight illumination, the two sunset-colored cocktails ripple as if receiving a spotlight.
They were made through the same process, but if there was a slight difference, the height and color varied a bit.
One side had more volume and was lighter.
because of the difference in the amount of soda water.
If I poured the soda water with a trickle for one, I poured it with a splash for the other.
It was almost reaching the rim of the glass, close to full up.
Other than that, the rest was exactly the same.
Two glasses of Americano were finished just like that.
While I wiped the cold sweat dripping down my forehead with my arm, Sey lowered her head and carefully stared at the finished cocktails.
It was a tense moment. I didn't think it was bad for this level.
I fumbled a bit and took a long time finding the capsule and the herb liqueur in the middle, but still, this was my first time ever making an Americano.
For a first time, wasn't this pretty decent?
"There's a bit too much ice. If you were going to use this much, it would have been better to use a Tumbler Glass. And slightly increase the amounts of the other ingredients too."
But that was just my thought.
Right from the start, the feedback struck me hard in the solar plexus.
It was correct, so my head nodded on its own. Thinking about it now, I did put in quite a bit.
Looking at the Americano I made again, I saw that the ice and even the lemon synthetic were floating excessively on the surface of the cocktail, making it look quite messy.
It looked close to perfect just a moment ago, but looking at it now, I see a lot of clumsy points.
Whether I shrank back and nodded or not,
Sey spoke with an expressionless, emotionless, and therefore even scarier voice.
"The amount of soda water in the two glasses is noticeably different."
"Ah. Yes. I did that on purp…"
"Which one is mine?"
At the straightforward question, I pointed to the glass placed closer to Sey.
It was the Americano with the trickled soda water.
"You really put in just a little bit of soda water."
She said this while lifting the glass and looking at it from below.
Was she dissatisfied? Her long fingers tapped the table as if lost in thought.
Did I put in too little for no reason? Was it useless meddling?
I bit my lip and quickly spoke.
"Yes, because I thought you would prefer that one."
"Why?"
I Flinched at the low-pitched voice. Why was she asking in such a scary way?
Why, you ask? Well.
"I heard from the President that you like strong, potent cocktails, and Mr. Tony likes light and refreshing kinds."
Should I say it was thanks to getting off work with the Dragon President every day?
Because Mr. Sasha Dragon was a very chatty person, I was able to get a lot of information about the bartenders working at Dragon's Lair by conversing with him every time we got off work.
For instance, Tony had a colorful history of womanizing, hitting on all sorts of women; yet he didn't actually have sex, so he was still a virgin.
Or that Sey had a nickname she absolutely hated, and if you uttered it to her face, you might end up in a state where you could never speak again.
It was mostly trivial stuff of this sort.
The story about the Bartenders' cocktail preferences was also something I heard on the way home from work yesterday.
Our Dragon President excitedly gossiped about Tony as always, saying he wasn't manly and that there was a reason Sey was the Head Bartender, starting right from their tastes in alcohol.
So I purposely poured only a small amount of soda water for a stronger taste.
Because I thought Sey would prefer the Americano's distinct bittersweet taste to be properly preserved rather than neutralized.
It's a truly incomprehensible taste, though.
I felt it when she recommended the Green Tea Cola to me, but she was definitely someone whose Taste Circuit had developed somewhat differently from mine.
"I see. The Boss told you."
She nodded as if my explanation finally made sense to her.
Her gray eyes, which had been swirling fiercely like a stormy sky, calmed down once again.
Sey spoke in a calm tone again, as if she had never given off a bloodthirsty aura.
"Then why did you put so much in the other glass? It seems far from a standard Americano."
"I'm not used to a Classic Cocktail yet. It's hard to appreciate the strong flavor right from the start, so I wanted to try it light first. Did I put in too much?"
"…So, it's to your taste, Nakamura."
"Yes."
She asked while slowly blinking her eyes.
"I ordered it, so why did you mix the drink to your taste?"
"Because I thought it was a drink for me to drink. Is it not?"
"What was the reason you thought that?"
Do I really have to say this? It's such obvious stuff that it's awkward to even call it a reason.
Even while I was thinking that, my mouth moved automatically.
"Well, it's just the two of us here. But you ordered two glasses of the exact same cocktail, and since it didn't seem like you'd hold two glasses in both hands and drink them alternately by yourself, I guessed you might tell me to drink one…"
"…"
"And also, I'm learning how to make cocktails right now."
Wondering if this wasn't enough, I added that, but Sey frowned.
"Why does that matter?"
Wondering if I said something wrong, I ended up speaking while shrinking back again.
It wasn't like I was taking an interview or a test.
"To learn properly, I should at least know what I made. To do that, I'd have to drink the cocktail I mixed myself.
You can't know a cocktail, or alcohol, without drinking it. So I thought you ordered one more glass for me to try as well, to teach me."
"And while making a cocktail you've never mixed before, two glasses at once at that, you considered not only my preference that you heard from the Boss, but also the fact that I would be trying the cocktail, and purposely adjusted the soda water content for both the glass I would drink and the glass you would drink."
"Yes. I did."
After I answered like that, silence lingered for a while.
Sey suddenly had an expression as if she was deep in thought, and I…
I just wondered if I had made a slip of the tongue, or if I had presumed too much about someone else's thoughts.
Was it not like that at all? Did I just completely miss the mark and act like a know-it-all?
Should I have just followed the recipe exactly? Was I too presumptuous?
I was having those kinds of thoughts.
Sey suddenly blurted out.
"You said you've never worked in a bar before."
"Yes."
"You didn't like alcohol, and you knew absolutely nothing about cocktails until you worked here."
"Yes."
"And you've never purchased and downloaded something like a Cocktail Mixing Memory."
"Yes. I haven't."
"And today is… your fifth day since you started learning about cocktails."
The first time I started learning how to make them was Tuesday, the day after my First Day of Work, so Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday.
Today is Saturday, so five days is correct.
When I nodded, the Dragon's Lair Head Bartender reacted plainly.
"I can see why the Boss accepted you as an employee."
"…?"
And she didn't say anything more, as if that was explanation enough.
I was bewildered.
So what does that mean?
Is it a compliment?