My Fictional Wife's Diary

My wife's catchphrase is "Why?"

For example, we are eating dinner together.
My wife says, "This is delicious," and I reply with a nod and a "Yeah."

Then, in the very next breath, she replies with "Why?"
It's such a fast "Why?" for a conversation, that
I'm actually the one feeling "Why?" myself,
but it seems my wife isn't satisfied unless things come with a reason.

Simple acknowledgments like "yeah" or "uh-huh" just won't do.

For my wife, who apparently left her empathy in her mother's womb (or so she says),
communication that consists only of empathy is meaningless.
My response after she says "This is delicious"
must be a food review that would put a professional announcer to shame, like, "Yeah, the soup is light but has the rich flavor of chicken stock, and it goes really well with the thin noodles, it's delicious."

It's not about empathy,
but rather,
I must clearly convey
why I thought it was delicious.

Now, conversely, what if I say, "This is delicious"?
If you're wondering what kind of food review my wife gives me,
it would likely be a response like "Mmm!" or "Yum!!" or maybe "Happy!!!"

You must not think that's unsatisfying.

If you try to press her for more,
she might just say,
"I want to focus on the taste, so don't talk to me."

My wife's catchphrase is "Why?", but
there are many times when I think "Why?" about her as well.

For example, suppose we stop by a convenience store on the way home from the station.
My wife buys ice cream and walks out in high spirits.
She immediately opens the bag and starts eating it happily, but I think, "Why?"

That's because what she's eating is a Garigari-kun popsicle.

I forgot to mention, but it's January now, and both my wife and I are wearing down jackets.
It was my first time seeing a human being stuffing their face with a Garigari-kun outdoors while wearing a down jacket.

No, maybe it's the other way around.

Maybe my wife is the first person in human history to eat a Garigari-kun in the freezing cold of midwinter while wearing a down jacket, and I just happened to witness it.


And it was soda flavor, too.

That Garigari-kun soda flavor package design has a buff that lowers the enemy's perceived temperature by 5 degrees when seen in winter.
While I was thinking that, I shivered twice.


My wife was shivering, too.