A Lesson in Dango

Having a free day or two from his work wasn’t too uncommon. Aphrodite was a busy bunny, yes, but some days he preferred to simply indulge in something that wasn’t sitting around and looking pretty.

When he spotted an ad for dango-making lessons with Dan, his curiosity piqued. It’d looked like an intensive task whenever it was described to him, but Aphrodite wasn’t going to say “no” to a new experience. Besides, perhaps he’d like the work almost as much as he liked the confections.

After a goodbye to Delight and some extra pets to the Uniqor for its troubles, Aphrodite made his way to Dan’s shop. He was sure that some other Succubuns would be quite surprised to see him simply casually traveling, but it was a passing thought at most compared to his objective.

When he entered, there were already a handful of other buns present. Offering a wave to Shibani as he passed by, Aphrodite followed the group into another room, where Dan was waiting.

Tables were spread in the room, each having a handful of supplies in place. Each table also had a different ingredient, some tables matching but most seeming to avoid this duplication whenever possible. Dan stood in front of the room, with a table of his own; his selected ingredient appeared to be some raspberries.

“Looks like we’ve got some new faces.” Dan’s tone and expression weren’t happy, but Aphrodite could recognize an appraising look when he saw one. The Pride bun was most definitely a discerning one, perhaps trying to figure out at a glance who to expect the best from. “All right, go ahead and pick a table. Everyone’s got one ingredient, so no fighting if you want one or the other.”

There were some whispers as the Succubuns began to move to select tables. Aphrodite, having arrived later, merely waited before sliding into one of the last few tables. The ingredient on his table was yuzu, which wouldn’t have been his first pick…but it wasn’t his last pick, either.

Once all of the buns were settled to their tables, Dan looked over the class, before giving a nod. It seemed like he was satisfied with the amount of participants.

“All right. Looks like everyone’s ready.” Dan moved behind his table, before picking up the bag of flour that was present. “Everyone get your dangoko ready, and put it in the mixing bowl.” He poured the flour into the bowl, before adding water. “You’ll then add water to it, and it’ll become a dough.”

Aphrodite followed each step as Dan performed them, making sure to keep an eye on the front table. Some of the other buns shifted around a bit as they worked, but Aphrodite’s spot was a decent enough one for the view.

“Good. Seems like that step was easy enough.” Dan’s compliment was clearly a bit backhanded, but he pressed on before anyone could protest. “Knead the dough into a ball, mixing in the flavoring of the item on your table.”

Deciding that opening his dough would be a good idea for adding flavoring, Aphrodite carefully used his hooves to open a place in the dough. As he squeezed the yuzu’s juice into it, he made sure to avoid making a mess. After that, he began to knead the dough, watching as the dough took on a yellow coloration.

Dan walked between the tables, occasionally nodding or giving pointers to the other buns. When he reached Aphrodite, he gave a nod. “Didn’t think you’d be here.”

“Sometimes you need a new experience.” Aphrodite offered one of his most charming smiles. “Besides, it’s better than trying to flatter you for dango.”

Dan made a noise akin to being strangled, nodded again, and moved on quickly. Aphrodite chuckled a bit as he returned to kneading the dough.

After Dan returned to the front, he then pulled out a scraper. “Right. Once you’re sure your dough has been kneaded thoroughly, go ahead and split it into nine pieces, then roll them into balls.”

Aphrodite did as he was told, although he took a bit longer to measure out the pieces to where they were even. He did have to do a little redistribution after one of his pieces turned out larger than expected, but soon, he had nine round balls of dough on the table.

“Finally, skewer them with the skewers at your table, then put them in the box.” Dan’s eyes swept the room as the buns began to do so.

This was, perhaps, the easiest step. Aphrodite soon had three lovely sticks of yuzu dango in his box, nicely tied with the ribbon that was given as well. Soon, one by one, the other buns of the class also had similar results.

Once everyone was finished, there was eager whispering as Dan began to go around the room again. This time, he mostly nodded, before saying, “Not bad for your first batches. We’ll have another class next week if you want a refresher, or you can talk to me after if you want to learn how to make mochi.”

Aphrodite’s eyes lit up, already making a note to visit the dango shop again when it wasn’t crowded. For now, he’d take his creation home.