Travel through the daily life of the dragon clan

Chapter 542: Years on Ramen

"Kiritani, has Xiao Ai gone back yet?"

When Jin Kiritani was helping out in his own store, Yurina Yamamoto walked into the store calmly and suddenly brought up this topic.

Yurina Yamamoto always trespasses into Kiritani Jin's back shop. It might be more accurate to say that she has obtained Kiritani's permission, so Kiritani Jin doesn't mind. But when he was still wondering what Yurina was going to do when she came in, Yurina suddenly asked this question, which made him a little confused.

Although he was a little confused, Yurina often did things against the rules, so Ren had long been accustomed to it.

"Well, I'll go back after dinner."

"So, Kiritani, what do you think of Xiao Ai?"

"Even if you ask Suzuki-san, I guess it's probably because I feel peaceful when I'm with her."

Yurina might also want to confirm whether Suzuki Ai, who often comes to eat, gets along well with him. Suzuki Ai is not only Yurina's classmate and friend, but also went to the same university as her, so it is normal for her to care about the situation between them.

Jin has a good impression of this new friend and classmate who has been with Yurina throughout high school.

Although everyone around Jin, including Yurina, is a bit weird, but compared to Yurina and Suzuki Ai, Jin feels that Zhuo can be described as steady, although Jin also knows that Zhuo is lazy. At least he is a common-sense person, and you won't feel uncomfortable staying around him, even if you don't talk to each other, you won't feel uncomfortable.

Ren was already missing that guy.

Even so, compared to Yurina, Suzuki Ai is still much more normal. At least there will be no problems or troubles in getting along with her.

But for some reason, Yurina actually grinned.

“I see. I see.”

"what's so funny?"

"Hmm~? I was just thinking, Kiriya, you didn't notice that every time you said that, it meant you really liked the other person."

Hearing Yurina's words, Jin couldn't help but blink a few times. Every time he blinked, Yurina's expression in his eyes became happier.

At this moment, Yurina was tapping her fingers in a serious manner, with her face stretched into a familiar smile, "Zhuo, you~~", which made Ren realize what she was talking about.

"…Zhuo, that's because he doesn't make a lot of noise."

"After all, you don't like noisy people."

"Yamamoto, you're noisy too."

"Does this mean you hate me!?"

Yurina pretended to be pitiful and looked at him eagerly.

"No, no... I hate those who don't know how to consider the occasion and the atmosphere, and are always having fun. It's true that you are good at making friends outside, but to be honest, you prefer to stay quietly in the environment you like."

“That’s why we are good friends~”

"Okay, okay, don't try to eat the snacks in the store while you're saying flattering things."

Seeing Yurina opening the display window filled with snacks in a familiar way, he felt helpless about his secret admiration for her. Although Yurina said unconvincedly, "If you can't finish it, it will be thrown away anyway," she still stopped eating honestly because she knew that eating too much would affect the exhibition effect.

Normally, Yurina would show him the girls she met recently on campus and take out photos of those cute girls to show him off. But today, she smiled as if she was relieved about something.

"Oh, is that so? That's good. It's worth my while to introduce you two."

It sounded more like Yurina was saying this to herself than to Ren.

Ren let out a sigh of relief and then stood up.

"That Yamamoto, you might think that I don't know any girls at school, but I actually never thought that was a bad thing."

Compared to falling in love for the sake of falling in love, or being influenced by the atmosphere created by the couples around him, he thinks that it is best for him to be alone. Even though he can't express his attitude to Yurina, he still maintains his previous contact with her. Jin himself thinks it's nothing, but Yurina seems to be worried about this.

"And I don't want to fall in love with a casual attitude. That would be too unfair to my future lover. Besides, you're with me, so I have nothing to be dissatisfied with."

Jin chose his current lifestyle because he has always loved Yurina, so there is no need for him to strive for anything.

After he said this, Yurina pouted in dissatisfaction, muttered some incomprehensible remarks such as "You only learned some weird ideas from that guy, you deserve to be single for the rest of your life", and then walked out the door.

Ren seemed to have remembered something and shouted:
"Since we have a few days off from school, why don't we go to Zhuo's place together?"

"Don't go, don't go."

Jin could only look puzzled as he watched Yurina leave without even looking back.

……

The streets are sparsely populated and there are few vehicles passing by.

The rain came in fits and starts, but the gloomy clouds in the sky were always hanging high above, so thick and low that it seemed as if you could touch them if you raised your head.

On his way back from Akihabara, Jin remembered that he would have to cook for himself if he returned to the store, so he might as well eat outside before going back. With this thought in mind, he came to the small street behind the National University of Tokyo. The carts that used to fill the entire street were gone, and everyone knew that the university was on break and the weather was bad, so they all went home early.

There was only one Ramen cart left on the street. It was a wooden boxcar with a sign that said "Ramen" hanging above it.

The boss, Chef Yue, has been running the business here for many years and has a pretty good reputation. Many years ago, when he, Zhuo, and Yurina were still in junior high school, they would often visit this ramen cart.

I remember that Yurina at that time was unwilling to go to such a place to eat ramen, saying that the sound of a girl eating ramen was not cute, and it was an open-air occasion, so she refused to go.

Finally, there is a way.

Ren looked up through the transparent umbrella and saw that the rain formed thread-like hangings in the sky.

(We have all grown up.)
Ren smiled nostalgically, folded his umbrella into the umbrella storage barrel hanging at his feet, and walked in.

"Master Yue, you're not going to close your stall even though it's raining and there's an earthquake?"

As the man spoke, he lifted the cloth curtain to reveal the heavy rain outside.

"If there are no other customers, we'll close the stall... It's Kiritani, you're still here to eat ramen so late."

Master Yue raised his head, revealing his neatly combed hair and a black towel tied on his forehead, giving people a sense of security that he has been dealing with ramen for a lifetime. Master Yue recognized the visitor and greeted him warmly. When Ren mentioned this, he sighed helplessly:

"Yeah~ My parents left the store to me alone during the holidays, and there was no one to cook."

"Hahaha, good kids are all like this~ It's not easy to get someone to cook for you, just learn from that Utsunomiya kid and find a wife! Speaking of which, the girl who came to eat noodles with you guys last time is gone, so come back now."

Master Yue was still cleaning up the noodle bowls and chatting intermittently.

"Master Yue, are you talking about Suzuki or Yurina? I brought them both to your place to eat ramen."

"Oh, I can't remember her name. She looked like a rich girl. Her hair was neither long nor short and hung down to her shoulders. She wore a Hello Kitty hairpin and white stockings that went over her knees."

"Master Yue, you remember it very clearly," Ren smiled and scratched his head, "That was Yurina, we had noodles here when we were in junior high school, Master Yue, you don't remember it~"

"How can I remember that? I just remember that her breasts were so big that you could put them on the table to eat noodles! And she had a pair of beautiful legs, absolutely very attractive! What? Haven't you hooked up with her yet?"

Master Yue winked lecherously.

Ren felt helpless looking at Master Yue like this. He still remembered the first time the three of them came here to eat ramen, Master Yue put garlic in Yurina's noodles because she put on a reluctant smile.

I didn't expect that after a few years, Master Yue no longer remembered Yurina.

Or has Yurina changed a lot?

Jin, who has been in contact with Yurina, is not sensitive to this.

Ren sighed.

"It's not that simple. We are just childhood sweethearts. We have been pursued by many people since we were young. Our family is so wealthy. It's a great honor for me that she can come and have a bowl of noodles with you. I don't want to think about anything else."

"From what you said, Kiritani-kun, you seem to have a good impression of Yurina."

“But I don’t have that ability.”

Ren would not say these words normally, but he is a regular customer of this ramen cart and has known Master Yue for a long time. It is not wrong to say that he watched him grow up, even if it is a bit exaggerated, so he does not avoid it.

"To be honest, I hesitated for a long time, but I didn't pursue her. I wanted to give up. If the pursuit fails, we won't even be able to be friends, right?"

"Why are you afraid of failure? People grow up through failure. But if you didn't try to be with the person you love most when you were at your best, wouldn't it be a pity?"

Master Yue placed a glass of soju in front of Ren. Ren looked at the soju in front of him and once again lamented that time had passed so quickly, and that he was already old enough to drink.

"Even if you become a big shot in the future, working in a high-rise building in Shinjuku, and walking to the French window of a huge single office, with a beautiful secretary in black stockings clinging to you, you will still remember the time when you were young, sitting next to Yurina in my car and eating ramen. Her breasts were big and beautiful, and she exuded the wonderful aroma of miso soup. You will still regret your cowardice when you were young, right?"

"What's going on with the soybean paste soup is ruining the atmosphere."

Although he said this, Ren lowered his hand holding the soup spoon, and his mood suddenly returned to the night when he sat here with Yurina and ate noodles. Thinking about himself twenty years later, his thoughts ran wild.

Master Yue didn't say anything more. An atmosphere of silence fell over the ramen cart, and the heavy rain hit the shed with crackling sounds.

A black sports car suddenly appeared at the end of the long street, gliding through the puddles like a black panther swooping down on its prey on a rainy night.

The sports car stopped quietly by the roadside, with its wipers sweeping the rain lines hanging above the front window regularly.

When the transparent fan-shaped area appeared, Master Yue saw the person in the car clearly. There was a white-haired old man sitting in the car. He was wearing a black suit and a rose-red bow tie. He didn't look like someone who would eat a midnight snack at a ramen truck on a rainy night.

Ren was still immersed in his own reverie and did not notice that the moment Master Yue appeared from the black Maserati, his expression changed. Although he was still wearing the ramen chef's clothes, he was so tall that he seemed to be standing on the top of a distant mountain.

The car door opened, and the high-end custom-made leather shoes stepped in the rain without any concern. The old man opened a black umbrella while driving, and the rain poured down from all directions under the umbrella.

Only then did Ren notice the movement and turned to look at the car. He was surprised and raised his glass to greet the old man.

"Oh! Maserati! You have a nice car!"

In Ren's opinion, the old man must be of great status, but Ren would not think anything of it. In comparison, the sports car in Yurina's house is enough to hold a large car show.

The reason for his admiration was simply that he had heard of this kind of car. His best friend said that his dream was to own a super cool sports car and drive it around everywhere, and both boys and girls would pay attention to him.

Because Yurina's role was not included, the plan was cut, so he had to change his mind and say that he would take her along to help save the scene. The sports car and the girl are both proof of the man's status.

Then he warned Yurina that she must be cute and pretty, pure and seductive, so that she would be in line with his identity as a sports car driver.

Then he was pinched by Yurina again.

It sounds like a joke, but this is the first time that Zhuo has talked about the future he wants, so both he and Yurina feel that it is what Zhuo really thinks.

Thinking back to today, the three of them are still friends. Yurina has indeed grown up to be a girl who attracts men's attention, but Zhuo got married immediately after graduating from high school. Even so, no one would say he was too hasty, because Ren and Yurina knew that Zhuo had been looking forward to that day.

Compared to the sports car, he is more looking forward to that day.

Ren's consciousness, which was drifting further and further away, was brought back to reality by Master Yue's faint voice.

"Kiritani-kun, I have to close the shop. Consider this drink a gift to you. I'm so sorry."

"Didn't the guest come here to eat noodles?"

Ren couldn't understand what Master Yue meant. The old man standing next to the Maserati looked like he was here to eat noodles.

"What is he doing here? I'm about to close the shop. There are all kinds of people hanging out at night. I think he's more like a funeral procession."

As it turned out, Master Yue seemed to have made up his mind. He picked up his bag, handed it to him, and walked him out the door as if he was being chased.

"Try your best to pick up Yurina, and then bring her over for noodles."

After Master Yue walked Ren out the door, he walked a few more steps with him, making sure he disappeared around the corner before stopping.

He stood in the rain and said goodbye to Ren from afar, passing by the old man in the Maserati, his eyes looking in a completely different direction.

Afterwards, Master Yue returned to the car and turned off the colorful lights surrounding the sign, leaving only a single light on the soup pot.

But the old man just stared at his movements and showed no intention of leaving.

(End of this chapter)