How to raise a random guy's wife

Chapter 597 A Little Drink Can Be Enjoyable

Since we're going to drink, we naturally need some snacks to go with it.

Megumi Kobayashi made sukiyaki and arranged various pickled vegetables in delicate little dishes.

"It's a rare treat to have a drink..." Kobayashi Sora hesitated for a moment among a large pile of sake, and finally chose the Juyondai Soniji Daiginjo from the freezer.

After brewing, sake is usually sterilized by heating, a process known as "hira-rin". The sake is then stored in tanks to prevent further fermentation. After a summer, when the flavor becomes milder, it is sterilized again before being bottled and shipped.

Juyondai is a type of raw sake, meaning it's sake that's shipped out without being simmered in fire. It has a refreshing taste, is sweet but not cloying, and its clean flavor is very popular.

However, alcohol is relatively weak and has a shorter shelf life compared to other sake. It is very easy for it to spoil suddenly, so it needs to be treated like a fresh food.

Even so, preservation and transportation remain significant challenges. As a result, the products of nama-zaki and nama-ku were developed, which involve only one fire-cooking process to preserve their fresh flavor and ensure more consistent quality.

Raw simmering involves heating before storage, while raw simmering involves heating before bottling.

The flavor will vary depending on when it is added to the fire.

The Juyondai Soniji belongs to the Namazuki category. It is a Daiginjo brew made from Yamada Nishiki rice using the "Shichi-tsubaki-nikukan" method and low-temperature aging. The rice polishing ratio is 35%, which means that the proportion of milled white rice to the original brown rice is equal.

"Seven Drops and Twenty Strings" is a brewing method that is entirely done by hand. Twenty strings (about 75 kilograms) of mash are put into a cloth bag and hung high up. Without pressing with heavy objects, the liquid is allowed to drip down naturally. "Seven Drops" refers to the fact that only seven drops of liquid are obtained in the end, which is, of course, an exaggeration.

This gentlest method of obtaining clarified wine preserves its flavor and texture to the greatest extent, but it also requires a great deal of time and cost.

Would it taste even better this way...? Kobayashi Sora, who barely drinks, doesn't know.

But it will indeed be more expensive.

Different sake glasses offer different sensations when they touch the lips, enhancing the flavor of the sake. Earthenware provides warmth, lacquerware is smoother, cedarwood is more refreshing, and pewterware has a richer feel.

Kobayashi Sora and Kobayashi Megumi... using stemmed glasses.

That's good enough.

Akane Akane from Akazaka blew straight from the bottle.

With the wine prepared, the two did not start immediately, but first ate some beef and vegetables to protect their stomachs.

Since they don't drink much, we need to be careful.

It would be a real shame if a momentary whim led to unpleasant memories after drinking.

"Speaking of which," Kobayashi Megumi recalled an article she had read by chance, "it seems that different kinds of wine should be drunk at different temperatures?"

“There are no special requirements, but different wines have their own preferred temperatures, so it mainly depends on personal preference.” Kobayashi Sora thought for a moment, “Since we’re on the topic, let’s give it a try.”

Kobayashi Sora made some simple preparations, and the two ate something before starting their formal tasting.

"First, there's the 5°C snow chill." Kobayashi Sora handed the perfectly chilled sake to Kobayashi Megumi, and the two gently clinked glasses, feeling the liquid dance on their tongues.

"Hmm..." Kobayashi Megumi blinked, "It's not as bad as I imagined. It's cool, and it has a... um..."

"What does it feel like to drink ice water?"

“Yes.” Kobayashi Megumi nodded. “I thought I just hadn’t tasted it.”

Kobayashi Sora chuckled, "That's how low temperatures are. Pure, delicate, sharp, and light—for people like us who don't drink, it just tastes bland."

-

"Ugh~~~" Akane Akasaka threw her pen aside in frustration and slumped unceremoniously in her chair. "So annoying!"

"I'm starting to get annoyed with you being like this all the time," Machida Sonoko complained. "So what's wrong?"

"It's precisely because I don't know that it's so annoying!" Akane Kousaka replied irritably. "Ugh~ I really want to drink."

"Here you go." Machida Sonoko handed her a can of beer. "Non-alcoholic beer."

"So..." Akane Kousaka fiddled with the soda can, "Is non-alcoholic beer still beer?"

"It just has less alcohol, but it's still alcohol."

“It’s better than nothing…” Akane Akasaka opened the can and took a big gulp. “So, isn’t it a waste to go to such lengths to turn delicious beer into non-alcoholic beer?”

"I don't know what's so great about beer," Machida Sonoko muttered. "But for someone like you who shouldn't drink but still craves it, isn't this drink just right?"

"Ah!" Akane Kousaka suddenly realized something. "I know!"

"Ok?"

"That's the feeling, the feeling of good things being wasted." Akane Kousaka took another big gulp. "This is the feeling that's been bothering me the whole time! Sora took so many of my good sake, and it'll be a waste if I don't drink them soon!"

Machida Sonoko thought for a moment, "So... it is indeed a bit wasteful."

“Right~” Akane Kousaka urged, “Why don’t you go ask him for some back? Wouldn’t it be nice if we stayed home, had some sukiyaki, and had a couple of drinks?”

"I'll ask him for two bottles later..."

“Mmm!” Akane Akasaka happily echoed.

"Then it was given away as a gift."

"Eh?"

"That way you won't have to worry."

Akane Kousaka muttered, "It's better to let him drink it than to send it away."

“You said it yourself.” Machida Sonoko suddenly thought, “Speaking of which, it seems that Sora doesn’t have a habit of drinking.”

“Him…” Akane Akasaka said with a look of reminiscence, “He was really fun when he was drunk.”

"Really? I really didn't realize that... Wait a minute!" Machida Sonoko suddenly realized something. "You've had very limited contact with Sora after he entered high school. You didn't get him drunk before he started his second year of high school, did you?"

"Ah... um..." Akane Akasaka looked away. "Well..."

Machida Sonoko sighed, "You really did it, you did that kind of thing."

"You can't blame me!" Akane Akasaka argued. "She's just a little kid, and while the adults were happily drinking, she stood there with a straight face, talking non-stop about how the safe dose of alcohol for the human body is zero, that even a drop of alcohol is harmful, and that it's the seventh leading cause of death worldwide..."

Machida Sonoko stared at Akane Akasaka. "So?"

Akane Akasaka didn't dare to look her in the eye. "I was annoyed by his noise, so I gave him a little bit of it."

"a little?"

"It's just a little bit for me."

Machida Sonoko sighed, "And then?"

"Then......"

Chapter 598 No Evidence

"I don't feel anything special." Kobayashi Megumi tilted her head. "I thought I would get drunk right away. When I was at the hot spring, I ate the liqueur-filled chocolate that Eriri brought, and I got dizzy right away."

"To prevent the liquor filling from melting into the outer chocolate layer, high-alcohol-content liquors such as rum, brandy, and whiskey are generally used in the production of liqueur-filled chocolates. People who don't usually drink alcohol can easily get drunk," Kobayashi Sora explained. "In contrast, sake has a lower alcohol content, and it's less likely to cause intoxication when consumed cold."

Kobayashi Megumi was worried that she wouldn't be able to drink much, "Then I'm relieved."

"But you can't drink too much," Kobayashi Sora reminded her. "A little bit won't have much of an effect, but too much will have a different impact."

"Mmm~" Kobayashi Megumi agreed as she handed the wine glass to Kobayashi Sora.

"This is probably around 15℃." Kobayashi Sora poured her a little bit. "Try it."

"It's starting to smell nice." Kobayashi Megumi tasted a different flavor than before. "But it's still cool."

"Then there's the room temperature, which is around 20°C."

Kobayashi Megumi took a bite. "This is... the taste of rice?"

"That's probably it, but I don't know much about it either."

"Huh?" Kobayashi Megumi asked curiously, "Akane-nee-san likes to drink so much, haven't you ever drunk with her before?"

"No," Kobayashi Sora thought for a moment, "If it had happened, I would remember it."

-

“He probably forgot by now,” Akane Kousaka recalled. “I remember I was in a pretty good mood that time, so I warmed the sake up. You know, heated sake gets intoxicating faster…”

"Could Kobayashi Sora be acting crazy because she's drunk?" Machida Sonoko imagined Kobayashi Sora's perpetually serious and composed demeanor, trying to transform her into a drunken tantrum...

Conversion failed.

I can't even imagine what a crazy person would look like.

"Being drunk and acting crazy can hardly be considered fun, can it?"

"That's true, so?"

“Alcohol is a central nervous system depressant, and it has a significant inhibitory effect on the outermost layer of the brain, the cortex. The function of the cortex is to suppress many primary impulses. When the cortex is suppressed, people will do things without considering the consequences.” Akane Akasaka said, talking about the materials she collected when she was creating her work. “You know, Sora Ao is the type who considers many things before doing anything. After drinking too much, his behavior didn’t change, but his physical condition couldn’t support him to complete such high-intensity thinking as usual.”

Machida Sonoko asked directly for the conclusion, "And the result?"

The result was...

-

Kobayashi Sora took out a small bottle of liquor from the pot of hot water. "This one has been slightly heated," she said.

"Hmm~" After taking a sip, Kobayashi Megumi's face flushed slightly. "It has a fruity aroma, and the taste has become more mellow. It feels great on my lips. Ah, I'm starting to understand what the initial cold and sharp feeling was."

After drinking the heated sake and recalling the initial chilled sake, Megumi Kobayashi began to understand what the so-called sharp and light feeling meant.

“You really have to compare them to feel the difference,” Kobayashi Sora’s face also turned red. “Wait a minute, let’s heat it up a little more and see.”

"Mmm~" Kobayashi Megumi picked up a piece of beef and held it to Kobayashi Sora's lips. "Ah~"

Kobayashi Sora opened her mouth and gazed affectionately at Kobayashi Megumi.

I watched as she held up her chopsticks, waved them around, and then put the meat into her mouth.

As she savored the delicious beef, Kobayashi Megumi smiled contentedly.

Seeing Kobayashi Sora close her mouth in hurt, Kobayashi Megumi picked up another piece of beef. "Don't be sad, this is for you."

Kobayashi Sora was about to open her mouth when, as if suddenly remembering something, she closed it.

"Hmm?" Kobayashi Megumi looked at him in confusion.

Kobayashi Sora stood up and hugged Kobayashi Megumi, saying, "That way, I won't worry about you eating it all by yourself anymore."