Chapter 175
“How about Cinderella?”
Cinderella was the first cocktail name that came to mind.
When I hurriedly said it, Hina snorted and asked.
“Is it good?”
I answered honestly.
“I don’t know either.”
Because I haven’t drunk it.
I practice hard making and drinking cocktails every day.
Now I can confidently say that I know, have tasted, and can make half of the cocktails listed on the menu, but the mocktail category is a bit of an exception.
How many customers would come all the way to a bar to order a non-alcoholic cocktail? Naturally, I neglected practicing or studying them.
So I had never properly tried Cinderella either. I only knew that it was a fairly major drink among mocktails.
At my confident answer, Hina spoke in disbelief.
“…Wait, are you really a bartender? Are you recommending something you haven’t even tried yourself?”
“So, Beggar, Cinderella? Or do you want to drink something else?”
At my question, Hina frowned and looked into the hologram.
『Cinderella
“Cinderella lost her parents when she was young, and drank a lot of cocktails, but it was okay because they were non-alcoholic~♫♪♩”
Sweet and sour, refreshing, tropical, mocktail.
variation: Bloody Cinderella, fiery stepmother』
A sullen voice immediately popped out.
“Cinderella? What kind of name is this?”
Her picky reaction was within expectations, so I wasn’t surprised. But something…
I asked, just in case.
“You know what Cinderella is, right?”
“This cocktail? It’s my first time seeing it. Is it famous?”
“No, I mean the Cinderella fairy tale.”
“What fairy tale? Do you think I’m a kid? I don’t read things like that. You’re really being annoying.”
“…”
I was so shocked that I froze in place.
Wait, kids these days don’t even know Cinderella? Is this real life?
“No, you really don’t know? Glass slipper, pumpkin carriage, midnight curfew… you don’t know?”
“Ugh, I said I don’t know!”
Even though she was openly getting annoyed and yelling at an adult, Kkon-dae thoughts like “Kids these days…” didn’t even come to mind.
That was how shocking it was.
Does it make sense not to know Cinderella, no matter how much the century has changed?
The Deep Did the Megacorps unite to censor the Cinderella fairy tale from the city’s knowledge for some unknown reason?
I thought it was a plausible hypothesis in its own way, but when I looked at the expressions of the people around me, it didn’t seem to be the case.
Then there were only two possibilities left.
This schoolgirl named Hina might just be stupider than her peers, Cleaning
The latter was probably more likely, right?
As expected of Dusk City, just when I thought I had adapted a bit, it immediately smacked me in the back of the head.
This is a cyberpunk dystopia; what else would be a dystopia if not this?
“Ugh, whatever. Just give me that. Cinderella.”
“…Okay.”
Order complete.
I relayed the order to Tony and Sey and told them about this.
“The girl doesn’t know what Cinderella is?”
“Yes. Not the cocktail, the fairy tale. You know what it is, right?”
“Of course.”
“Is this normal these days?”
“Well. It’s not exactly abnormal either. There are probably more kids who don’t know it than those who do.”
At Tony’s nonchalant reaction, I shook my head. It’s the end of the world, the end of the world.
“What does it matter? Kids these days grow up from a young age watching net streaming or virtual idols instead of fairy tales. Do you think places like the City Care Service would grab kids one by one and tell them fairy tales? They’re from a different generation than us, a different generation.”
If you put it that way, you’re from a different generation than me too, with about an 80-year gap, at that.
When I clicked my tongue, Tony spoke as if he found it funny.
“When I look at you, hand butcher, is it because you’re Asian? Or is Neo Tokyo culture originally like that.”
“First of all, that’s racism, and I told you I’m not from Neo Tokyo. I said so back then.”
“Ah, right.”
Artist
“Anyway, live a little younger, fitting your age. Seeing a kid who isn’t even in his mid-twenties yet talk, I sometimes feel like you’re older than me. That’s why you get called Mister.”
“Gah. You heard that?”
“Of course. I heard it very well. Our great Master hand butcher couldn’t even put up a fight and was getting pushed around in front of a high school girl.”
“Ah, whatever. Is there anything I can help with?”
When I firmly cut off his teasing and spoke, Tony chuckled and answered.
“Well. I’m fine, but do you want to make one of these? How about Cinderella?”
“Cinderella? I’ve never made it before.”
“It’s fine. It doesn’t use expensive liquor, and the ingredients are simple. You just have to follow the recipe.”
“Really? Then I’ll give it a try.”
As I shrugged and examined the recipe, Tony added.
“Ah, don’t forget to add syrup to the original recipe. If you don’t put it in, it’s incredibly sour. It’ll chase all your sleep away.”
Let’s take a look at the ingredients. Apple, lemon juice, orange juice.
It was definitely a combination that would become endlessly sour if there was no sweetness to balance it out in the middle.
Suddenly, a very young and MZ idea came to mind.
This might be okay?
* * *
I shook the processed lemon, orange, and apple in a shaker to smoothly and coolly mix in some air.
I poured the drink into a tall Highball Glass lined with pomegranate syrup, lightly placed a garnish on top, and brought it out along with the other drinks.
“Here is the Cinderella you ordered.”
As I set the glass down, the prickly, cat-faced schoolgirl seemed to examine the cocktail for a moment before swallowing the drink through the straw.
“Aack! What is this! It’s fucking sour! Ah!”
And the scream burst out.
I held back my laughter and spoke in a very polite voice.
“It’s sour if you just drink it, so I recommend stirring it with the straw before drinking.”
“No, why are you only telling me that now! You did that on purpose!”
Of course I did. That’s what you get for acting so spoiled. Serves you right, absolutely.
That thought crossed my mind for a moment, but I couldn’t exactly say it out loud. I smiled kindly and answered.
“Not at all. Try stirring it just a little and drink it again. It will definitely be delicious.”
Her glaring eyes were fierce. If looks could kill, I would already be in the afterlife.
Hina huffed, but eventually stirred the Cinderella with her straw as instructed, and then very carefully took a tiny sip to taste it.
“If it’s sour again after this, I won’t let you off, seriously.”
She left a terrifying warning and drank the Cinderella, but her sharply raised eyes softened gently after her tongue touched the drink.
It would be delicious.
The tongue, which had been tense after receiving a wave of sourness, would be enveloped by a soft sweetness and a much milder, refreshing acidity, making her eyes widen.
How do I know? I know because I made another glass and tried it in the exact same order.
No matter how petty I am, I don’t mess around with cocktails. This is my job now, after all.
My principles as a cook hadn’t changed even after becoming a trainee bartender.
If I taste it and it’s not good, I never serve it to a customer. Isn’t that basic?
I knew that although the sourness would sharply pierce the tongue at first, after stirring it slightly to mix in the syrup, it would become a harmonious cocktail where even the slightly familiar sourness felt lovely.
You could say the shock of the first sip acted as a kind of appetizer to stimulate the appetite.
Would it be too much of an exaggeration to add the interpretation that, like Cinderella in the fairy tale, it’s bitter at first but ends sweetly?
Anyway, even the excessive sourness was ultimately a part of the cocktail.
I definitely didn’t hold a grudge and take revenge because she called me Mister. Yep, absolutely not.
“How is it? It tastes pretty good, right?”
When I asked with a smile, Hina spoke in a reluctant, fading voice.
“Admitted. This is pretty… okay.”
It was funny how she was too embarrassed to say it was delicious, so she tried to express it in a roundabout way.
Still, the kid is honest. She can’t lie.
She seems like a decent kid, except for the fact that she doesn’t know Cinderella.
As I was thinking that, Chainsaw Man heartily downed his martini and shouted.
“Oh, hand butcher! Looks like you’ve gotten a bit close with Hina in the meantime? Even if Hina acts a little prickly to people she meets for the first time, she’s actually a really kind and smart kid once you get to know her. Do you know how smart she is - she, you see, attends the Militia Gifted Academy! That high school where only rich kids and nobles go, she got in by studying all on her own without attending a single tutoring center. She’s a genius, a genius!”
“Militia.” I was slightly startled by the name that always made my heart sink whenever I heard it, but then I realized it was just the name of a high school and smiled awkwardly.
Then again, a Megacorp on the level of Militia would naturally operate a school foundation or two. It wasn’t anything to be surprised about.
By the way, is he her dad or something? The way he’s bragging, he’s a total doting parent.