Chapter 173 - Volume 8, Chapter 31 (1/2)

Volume 8, Chapter 31: Side Story, Earth: When I got trapped, part 2.

“Hey, welcome!”

A ramen shop that had opened several years ago in a certain place in Tokyo.

This was the branch store of a certain famous store, with the main store being a very traditional place that was dedicated to “ramen”. But this store was a bright and cheery one with plenty of personal touches from the young couple that owned and ran the place, and it came to be beloved of the community within a few years.

However, since this store’s owner would occasionally be away for a business trip every few weeks or so, during that time they had a male part-timer who manned the kitchen.

Although his skills and personality weren’t bad, he drank throughout the day, and with his manly influence, the place attracted more young athletes than their usual families.

“…… Onzada, are you still doing that?”

“geh, elder brother……”

Ever since that incident in his childhood, Onzada had become distrustful of [Miyama], and deviated from being a demon-sealing monk, working as a freelancer exorcist under the name “Haimiya”.

He was a so called “sympathetic”, and his reputation was stellar in some parts of the industry, but it wasn’t quite profitable as someone so softhearted.

It was about 2pm in the afternoon, when most of the customers of the store weren’t in, and his elder brother, who had taught Onzada how to seal evil, walked in, thinking that Onzada had gone mad.

Although Onzada had been treated as if he had been formally disowned by his house, this one elder brother would still come by to see Onzada with some reason or another.

“What, are you not going to lecture me?”

“I just came here to eat ramen.”

“……Sigh. I recommend the seaweed ramen.”

There was a local legend that a certain girl who loved ramen had eaten this ramen with seaweed in it, where the seaweed never ran out no matter how much she ate, and who came by to eat it again and again.

“Here you go.”

“……I’ve troubled you.”

As the elder brother thanked the young woman who brought him his chilled tea, she smiled innocently, like a child.

“Please, take your time.”

“…… Misa, don’t be mean.”

“No, it’s alright. ……… ah, welcome!”

As Misa turned towards the foreign girls who walked in, there was a fragile atmosphere settling between Onzada and his older brother, and the two began to chat with the sound of Misa serving the girls in the background.

“…… Will you not apologize to our father?”

“What do I have to apologize for……? I have done nothing wrong.”

“That was a long time ago.”

“Welcome~ So what do you expect me to do?”

“I heard that the stuff called “ryamen” here is famous.”

“No, it’s “Ra-men”.”

“Uhm…… is this your first time eating ramen?”

“A long time ago …… you let her die. “

“…… There was nothing I could have done. You know that too.”

“I don’t know. And would you say that it wouldn’t have changed a thing?”

“We recommend the seaweed ramen. It’s easy to eat.”

“I’d like that.”

“Yes, that’ll be good. I am also interested in remodeling the seaweed.”

“…… the seaweed ramen for me too.”

“Righty ho!”

“Onzada, living this kind of life……”

“Don’t interfere with my work. …… hang on, your seaweed ramen will be right out.”

“What is this stick?”

“Eh? Don’t you know what chopsticks are?”

“Of course I know who Mr Chopstick is.”

“I know~ It’s for knitting, right!”

“Please stop nosing about the seal. Miyama is watching you.”

“…… I know that. I’m not doing anything, though.”

“You know you can’t make that excuse.”

“This is a pretty good use of the seaweed.”

“Yeah. Delicious.”

*crack* *tink* *clatter* *slurpurpurpurpurpurpurpurpurpurpurp……*

“………”

“………”

The strange conversation and noises that were coming from the corner seats caused Onzada and his brother to lose their train of thought, and fell silent.

“…… Take care of yourself for now. That respected shrine maiden has come to Kanto. Keep your eyes open out there.”

“……Aah. I get it.”

After seeing his elder brother who had given him valuable information off, Onzada looked back with a sigh at Misa who was holding an empty tray with nothing on it, standing there with a blue face.

“Oh? Misa, who were those customers just now?”

“Uh…… they ate everything and then left, and they then left this behind with the bill bill……”

“Why, is it not enough?”

“Uhm…… do you think this is alright?”

Misa reluctantly held out a heavy golden coin that was exquisitely carved, which looked like it could easily fetch a 7-figure price if it were solid.

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