Episode 13: Even Saving the Ramen Shop With My Childhood Friend Is Just Too Convenient!
“Yotsuka doesn’t look it, but she’s actually a light eater, so she’s never really fully assimilated into the shop’s culture. But you — you could become the poster girl for the whole ‘mashi-mashi’ scene!”
“Hold on, hold on, Kisa-san, stop trying to scout her!! And Makina, don’t just say ‘I’ll do it!’ Also, wait, since when could you eat that much?!”
“I don’t usually eat like that. But since it’s the place where you work, I studied up so I wouldn’t be rude about it…”
“No, studying doesn’t change your actual stomach capacity!”
“Aww, Makina-chan, that’s almost noble of her…!”
Kisa-san is getting even more emotional about this…!
Just then, a wave of customers came flooding in.
“Kisa-gon! Here again today!”
Full-on lunch rush time has officially begun.
They’re regulars who work at a nearby job site, mostly Kisa-san’s old classmates or juniors from school.
Which means, from where I’m standing, they’re all basically an older generation to me…!
“Huh, Yotsuka-chan, why are you here in the middle of the day?”
“Ah, it’s summer break, so…”
“Oh, is it already that time of year? Man, brings back memories…”
Just then, Makina leaned in and whispered to me quietly.
“Well, Yotsuka, it’s getting crowded, I should head home soon.”
“Hm, is that a friend of yours, Yotsuka-chan?”
The middle-aged regular crowd spotted Makina.
Uh oh, this is definitely about to get complicated…!
“Ah, I’m Yotsuka’s childhood friend!”
“And these two are currently living together.”
Kisa-san popped her head out from behind the counter and casually dropped that bombshell.
“The way you said that!”
“Ohh~! Lucky! …Couldn’t even imagine something like that back in our day. What a great era to be alive, huh — go live long and happy and blow the whole thing up!”
“That’s not what this is! Also, could you not toss out a curse right after saying congratulations?!”
The back-and-forth with the regulars continued in that vein, and orders naturally started flying in one after another.
“You guys doing the usual big pork today?”
“Yeah, extra vegetables, extra garlic, extra oil, mixed in!”
“Oh, same for me.”
“I’ll skip the oil — got a health checkup the day after tomorrow.”
Then don’t come in the first place! Also, isn’t it a little late for that concern?!
“Comin’ right up~!”
The kitchen kicked into full operation right at that moment.
“Ah…!”
Kisa-san suddenly froze mid-motion.
“Kisa-san…?”
“Oh no… m-my back… it went out…”
She pressed a hand to her lower back and crumpled into the corner of the kitchen.
“Wait, Kisa-san?! Are you okay?!”
“Ahh… I’m fine, this happens sometimes. Just give me a minute till I can move again… ugh.”
The timing could not possibly be worse.
Right as we hit the peak of lunch rush, customers kept streaming in one after another, right behind the regulars.
“Ngh…! Yotsuka, please… make the… no, make OUR ramen… please…!”
“No — no, no, no!! There’s no way I can do this alone!”
“Um!”
Makina raised her hand decisively.
“Should I help too…?”
“Wh— Makina?!”
“I mean, it’d be way too much for just you, right? Just tell me what to do and I’ll handle whatever I can…!”
Kisa-san, wincing through the pain, gave a small nod.
“Then… apron, it’s in the back…!”
◇◆◇◆◇
Makina tied the apron strings behind her back without a moment’s hesitation.
“Alright… let’s do this, Yotsuka.”
Her expression wasn’t the usual easy, confident smile — it was a little tense, genuinely serious.
And that’s how, somehow, an ordinary part-timer like me and Makina, who had zero food-service experience whatsoever, ended up standing in a packed, overwhelmed kitchen together.
Steam rolled thick against my face. The kitchen was crammed full with the heavy smell of boiled noodles and the sharp bite of chopped garlic.
Kisa-san, still hunched over in the corner, called out instructions with just her voice.
“Yotsuka, pull the noodles!”
“Got it! Makina, grab the vegetables from that container and get them on top! One extra for that one, double extra for this one! Double extra gets extra oil on one side too!”
I lifted the noodles out of the water and dropped them into the bowl.
Makina immediately started layering on the chāshū, oil, and the extra-extra vegetables.
“Next one, please! Half noodles, extra vegetables!”
“Got it!”
“Next, big pork, extra vegetables, extra oil mixed in!”
“Got it!”
Steaming bowls lined up in neat rows, getting carried off to the counter one after another.
Huh.
W-wait, this is bad…
We’re… way too in sync…!!
Like we’d been doing this together for years.
Right at the exact moment I pull the noodles, Makina matches it perfectly.
“Yotsuka, one more portion over here, please!”
“Got it!”
Bowl after bowl kept coming together.
Us two childhood friends might genuinely be the strongest team ever…!!
“Huh, Kisa-san’s not even in the kitchen today and service seems really fast, doesn’t it?”
One of the customers said.
“New part-timer? She’s really efficient.”
“Thank you so much!”
Makina answered energetically.
From the corner of the kitchen, Kisa-san watched, her expression getting more and more emotional.
“Amazing… they’re completely in sync… you two could go anywhere and hold your heads high…!”
A firm thumbs-up was the highest compliment she could offer us.
◇◆◇◆◇
“Thanks for the meal! I’ll be back, Yotsuka-chan, and, uh, what was it…?”
“Makina! Thank you so much!”
By the time the peak rush finally passed and things settled down—
“Thank you, Yotsuka, Makina-chan. You two really saved me…”
Kisa-san said, still pressing a hand to her back.
“No, it was fun!”
“Hey, seriously, think about working here part-time. You’ve got real talent… in the way of mashi-mashi…!”
“…Y-yes!!”
“Wait, Makina…?!”
“I mean, you two need money, don’t you?”
Kisa-san grinned, then suddenly dropped her voice and leaned in to whisper right in my ear.
“I’ll make sure you two earn enough here to cover a wedding, at this rate…!”
“WHAAAAAAT?!”
I clapped both hands over Kisa-san’s mouth on pure reflex.
“Wh-what are you even saying?!”
“What? I mean, if you two ever move out on your own, better to earn it here than trouble your parents, right—”
“No, THAT! That right there is exactly the problem!”
Thankfully, Makina didn’t seem to catch what she’d actually meant.
“Hey, Makina, it’s fine, you don’t need to come in anymore, okay?”
“Huh, but the manager looked like she was really struggling…”
“It’s fine! We’ll just hire more staff anyway!”
Face completely red, I shoved Makina bodily out the front door to hide it.
“Yotsuka, you’ve been acting weird for a bit now?”
“Nothing! Nothing at all! See you later, Makina!”
I shut the door and let out a deep breath.
…Because.
If Makina ends up working here with me too, there’s no telling what Kisa-san’s going to say every single day…!
“Yotsuka~, why’d you send Makina-chan home~!”
“Kisa-san, quiet!!”
◇◆◇◆◇
A few days later.
“Makina-chan! Extra vegetables on both, okay! Here, Yotsuka! Take this to table three!”
Makina answered cheerfully.
“On it!!”
“…Yeah, okay.”
I answered with a small sigh as I took the bowl.
“Makina-chan, you’re really settling into the moves now, huh!”
Kisa-san called out from the back of the kitchen, sounding thoroughly satisfied.
And that’s how, in the end, Makina somehow became a regular occasional helper at the shop…