Sakuya Sakuma/Lighting the Guiding Lantern

Seeking Delicious Bánh Mì

Backstage Stories

Part 1Part 2

Sakuya	Hmm… Vietnamese cuisine, huh…
Citron	Is something troubling you, Sakuya?
Sakuya	Yeah. Guy-san is going to be opening a stall at the Lantern Festival, and I was thinking about what to do for the menu…
	Since I’m helping with serving the food, I figured I could help Guy-san with that too—.
	I’ve been looking into other items for the menu that we could serve at the stall, but I’m not sure what would be good.
Citron	Oh, I remember him mentioning wanting to find more items for the menu other than pho! You have not figured any out yet?
Sakuya	No, there’s just so many different things. I have no clue where to start…
Citron	I know of some good ones! Like bone lee!
Sakuya	Bone lee…?
Citron	Oh, sorry, my mistake! I meant bánh mì!
	All the nice ladies in the shopping district have been loving it lately! I tried it, too.
	It is a very tasty type of bread with things put in between~.
Sakuya	Things put in between bread… Like a sandwich?
Citron	Yes!
Sakuya	…Gotcha. Liver paste is commonly used in it, right?
Citron	You can put anything you want in it. It is all up to you!
Sakuya	That sounds good! It’s really cool that you can make it so many different ways!
	I’ll suggest bánh mì to Guy-san!
Citron	That is a good idea~!
Sakuya	If I’m gonna suggest it to him, I should probably work out some other details too, like what kinda stuff to put in it…
	You said it could be anything you’d like, but I’m still kinda lost on what to put in it. What would be good…?
Citron	I have the perfect idea!
Sakuya	The perfect idea?
Citron	Just leave it to me!
Tsuzuru	Alright, there we go.
Sakuya	Thanks for changing the light bulb, Tsuzuru-kun.
Tsuzuru	I should be the one thanking you, Sakuya. You were a real help.
	Oh, it’s already noon. I’m kinda hungry, so I guess I’ll go make something.
Sakuya	I’ll help!
	*Door opens*
Citron	I am home!
Sakuya	Welcome home, Citron-san!
Citron	Oh, Sakuya and Tsuzuru. Perfect timing!
Tsuzuru	Wow, that’s a lotta stuff you’ve got there.
Citron	It is the ingredients for bánh mì!
Tsuzuru	Bánh mì… Huh, what’s that? I don’t think I’ve heard of it before…
Sakuya	It’s a Vietnamese sandwich!
Citron	Sakuya is going to help out at Guy’s stall at the Lantern Festival! We need to figure out delicious combinations for the bánh mì to tell Guy!
Tsuzuru	Gotcha.
Citron	When I told the people in the shopping district about it, they gave me lots of different ingredients!
	With this, we can try lots of different things! We can find the best combinations like this.
Sakuya	Thank you so much!
Tsuzuru	Makes sense. Guess we just got lunch figured out.
Citron	Tsuzuru can help us too! Let us get the cooking started~!

Tsuzuru	That sure is a lotta stuff now that you’ve got it all lined up like this…
Sakuya	Ah, this is the liver paste foundation!
Citron	And there are twenty of vegetables too~!
Tsuzuru	I think you mean ‘plenty.’ But anyway, is this nikujaga? Isn’t that like a whole side dish? Is it really just an ingredient?
Citron	Bánh mì has no restrictions! You can put whatever you would like in it!
Sakuya	Then I’ll put liver paste and onions in mine.
Tsuzuru	Ooh, good idea. That sounds good.
Citron	I would recommend this manazu! I have had it before, and it was delicious.
Sakuya	Manazu…?
Tsuzuru	Namasu. It’s carrots and daikon seasoned with vinegar.
Citron	That! It is very refreshing.
	*Door opens*
Itaru	Morny~.
Tsuzuru	What do you mean ‘morning’...? It’s already noon.
Itaru	I was on that game grind yesterday.
Tsuzuru	Aren’t you always?
Citron	Itaru is functioning normally!
Itaru	Exactly. Anyway, what are we making, chat?
Sakuya	It’s a kinda Vietnamese sandwich called ‘bánh mì.’
Itaru	Ohh. Sounds good.
Sakuya	Would you like to make it with us, Itaru-san? Citron-san prepared a bunch of ingredients for us.
Citron	Yes! Steal all you want and put it all in, you thief!
Tsuzuru	You’re making it sound disturbing.
Itaru	Well, if it’s just putting ingredients between some bread, I think I can manage that.
	What should I put it in? Ah, I’ll go with cheese.
Citron	I will put this mackerel miso and shiso leaves into mine!
Tsuzuru	That doesn’t seem very Vietnamese, but… well, it sounds pretty delicious, regardless.
Sakuya	I guess those are more Japanese style, aren’t they? It’s kinda unconventional, but it sounds delicious…!
Itaru	If Citron’s going for Japanese style, then I’m going for Western style. Tomato sauce, prosciutto, and a few veggies, here I come.
	And then I’ll bake it, and it’ll be sorta like pizza.
Tsuzuru	Not ‘sorta’! That’s basically just pizza! It would be pretty delicious, though!
Citron	Ohh, I cannot lose to Itaru. Then I will put nikujaga in with my shiso and mackerel miso one!
Sakuya	Huh!? Nikujaga!?
Itaru	You’re putting a whole lotta Japanese-style side dishes all of a sudden.
Tsuzuru	Are you really gonna eat that?
Citron	Of course! If you add together something yummy with something yummy, it will taste even yummier!
	That is a saying in Zahra!
Sakuya	If that’s the case, then I’ll add… hamburg steak to my liver paste? Ah, and this kimchi could be good, too!
Itaru	That’s quite the combination you’ve got there.
Citron	Keep it up, Sakuya! Keep on adding more and more things~.
Sakuya	Okay! I’ll try my best to come up with a good combination!
Tsuzuru	No, you don’t have to follow Citron-san’s example!

Juju