{YOTB-4} Berries and Cream

“Hey Sho, what do you think? Clouds over here, or moon?”
“Moon. Then ya can string up the rest of the lights there, an’ loop the clouds around like they’re swirling.”
“Ooooh, good idea.”

While Dan was busy pounding away at mochi in the kitchen, Dagasho held a ladder steady as Shibani finished hanging up the finishing touches to the decor around Dan’s Dango. Honestly this whole decor business should have been touched upon sooner—seeing how close the date of Mochi Moon actually was—but… ehh. What could Shibani say? He and Dan were doing other things, and it was a lot of work… At least now that Dagasho was here, he insisted that he helped set up everything. Now look at the shop, all properly decorated! With a final sigh, Shibani slid down off the ladder.

“Thanks for helping out, really. Dan’s the one who usually steadies the ladder beneath me… actually, Dan’s the one who usually sets up all the decor in the first place, but…”
“No worries, the fella got busy. Plus it’s so cute that you wanna help him set all this up — the true mark of a man is knowin’ where he’s needed!” Dagasho booped Shibani on the nose; Shibani couldn’t help but let out a chuckle.

“Ehe… actually since you’re here, do you think I can get your opinion on something, Sho?” Oh yeah. Now they were on nickname basis; ‘Sho’ was also just a lot easier for Shibani to say.
“Shuuure. Shoot.”
“I was with Dan in the kitchen earlier while he made adzuki paste… and I was like, ‘What if we made more flavors?’ and then Dan was like, ‘I can pound that funny rice you brought if you get ingredients yourself’ so I was like ‘Okay’ and that’s super nice, right? The only problem is that I can’t decide on what other flavor we should make…”
“Y’got any choices to pick from?”
Shibani tapped his chin as the little frown lines on his forehead deepened ever so slightly. “Uhm… strawberry… macha… uhh… I think there’s one more…”
“Hmm… well for now… ah. I know they’ve been gettin’ a lotta shipments of fruit over at the Rabbit Hole… and I’m sure either Hops or Angora would know what’s what when it comes to nice ingredients and flavors. Maybe we can do like we did the other day and split up?”
“Oooh, that sounds good! Sho, you’ve always got good ideas.”
“D’aw! Ya flatter me.” Dagasho leaned over and ruffled Shibani’s hair, earning himself yet another Patented Shibani Smile™. “After we’re done makin’ sure all the lights work, let’s head on over. I know a secret shortcut that’ll get us there super fast; don’t tell nobody, alright?”
“Oooooooooooooh, shortcut… I’ll only use it for good, I promise!”

…

Upon arriving at the Wonderland Casino, Dagasho and Shibani split up once more; Shibani headed out to the main floor in search of Angora, while Dagasho headed off to the side… ahh, the attached bar… The Rabbit Hole. Home of Hops, the bun that basically kept all the drinking buns alive with her unique, ever-changing concoctions. Like many of the other buns around, Dagasho was no stranger to Hops’ company and the whims that she was subject to via her gratuitous employer… so it really wasn’t odd to see her rushing around like a chirop with its tail cut off. Dagasho took his regular seat at the bar and it took a good couple minutes for Hops to get to him.

“Haah, phew… thanks for waiting! Dagasho; you’re not with Boss or any of your usual drinking buddies! What’s the occasion — oh wait, it’s Mochi Moon… Ahaha, typical scrambled-egg-brain Hops!”
“Ayy, Hops! You’re all good, missy; ya got a minute? Ya can make a drink that takes ya a while so ya can pretend yer workin’ while we chat.”
“Oh no no no, don’t gotta do that! I was looking to take a quick breather anyways… busy busy busy, but if I don’t take a mandated fifteen-minute break every now and then, Angora says that ‘BOSHA will get on our asses’ or something like that. Was it BOSHA… or BOFA… or wait, maybe it was B-Union. Bunion? Uhh… anyways, what’s up buddy?” While air-quoting that line from her boss, Hops dragged a chair closer with her leg and took a seat. She crossed her arms as she stared expectantly at Dagasho from across the counter.

“Alrighty, y’see — I’ve been helpin’ Dan an’ Shibani out with the mochi Dan’s makin’ and he’s got this pretty darn tootin’ adzuki paste all prepped up—”
“Oooh! Sounds exciting! If it’s made by Dan, it’ll be a hit!”
“—THOUGH, me an’ Shibani were like… what if there were other flavors? And—”
“Different flavors are always sooo good, I remember a couple Mochi Moons ago when—”
“Hops missy, let this old man finish!” Dagasho raised an eyebrow—not in the confrontational way, moreso just… amused at Hops’ energy—and Hops hiccuped in embarrassment.
“Oopsie… sorry.”
“No problem. But as I was sayin’, we’re makin’ other flavors so we were wonderin’ if you had any… ideas or extra ingredients or whatnot.”
“Ohhh. Oh hey, now that you say that…”

Momentarily, Hops ducked under the counter… and after a brief moment, she popped up once more and plopped a giant tub of strawberries onto the countertop. “I’ve been making last-minute changes to the drink list on Angora’s order, and a strawberry daiquiri was marked off… so we got a WHOOOLE tub of these bad boys! Strawberry mochi sounds SOOOOOO good, doesn’t it?!”
“Darn tootin’! I think Shibani mentioned strawberry bein’ on of the flavors he wanted ta make, these’ll be perfect! How much for the whole tub?”
“Not selling! Err, I should say… I want you to help me with something instead. I’ll give you the whole tub if you can help me test drinks that I wanna put on the seasonal menus! You’re a bar regular, so it’ll be good to get an opinion that’ll represent the masses and all that.”
“Ohohoh, DRINKS? O’course I’d be willin’ to try what you got! Lay it on me, sis!”

A cutesy smirk made its way onto Hops’ face as she disappeared beneath the counter once more; this time it took her significantly longer to pop back up, but once she did she placed two flute glasses on the countertop. The glass itself was quite normal, with the only adornment being a blue sprig of tinsel delicately wrapped around the glass’ neck like a tentacle rising up. Inside the thin glass the violent blue liquid swirled and sparkled on its own time… it was so simple, yet so intimidating.

“I call this one… Krakitori. Deep like an endless pond, and icy cold to boot.”
“Oooh…”

Taking the drink in hand, Dagasho watched Hops knock her glass back before doing the same to his own.

It tasted…

…

“Aaand… that’sh the lasht one! Berry berry… schtrawbeeery, be on ye!” With an audible slurring in her voice, Hops slid the tub of strawberries across the countertop into Dagasho’s waiting hands.
“Thank ya kindly!” Carefully settling the tub into his arms, Dagasho got up from his barstool. “I’ll be goin’ to find Shibani now… take care, alright? Get yerself some water, too.”
“Yeaaa! G’luck on the mocheeeeeeeee! Save one for meeee!”

Some drinks were hits, some were misses, but Dagasho was only buzzed by the end of it… which was an accomplishment in itself, really. Hops gave him a silly, half-drunk wave that he returned with a nod as he left the Rabbit Hole on his own two feet for once. And as he walked along the hall back to the main casino floor… Dagasho quietly popped one of the strawberries into his mouth… just to test, of course. Hooh boy those were good berries. They’ll definitely be a hit!

Now, where’d Shibani go? Hopefully he didn’t get lost or something.