Inogura's Ramen part 2

Now that Neo was free from exams and his foot was healed, he could talk to Takeshi's uncle about the job.

Entering Inogura's Ramen, he hoped to be greeted by a lively greeting from his uncle, but all he received was a cold: "Welcome," from a blond, tall boy with short hair who was apparently busy washing utensils at the counter.

Neo was confused and asked, "Where is Uncle?"

"What kind of ramen would you like?" the blond boy asked, ignoring the question.

"I want to talk to Uncle," Neo said irritably.

"Tell me what ramen you want," the boy replied, even more irritated.

"I don't want any ramen!" Neo replied, tapping the table.

"Then why did you come here?" the boy asked, pointing at him.

"To see Uncle!"

"The uncle is not here!"

"Why didn't you say so before?" Neo replied, annoyed.

The two calmed down.

Now that he knew that the uncle was not here, he could leave and come back another time. But he had set aside the whole day to deal with this matter, so he decided to sit and wait while he watched the other boy work.

The boy was embarrassed to be watched for so long. "Don't you want some ramen?" he suggested.

Neo thought about it. Watching the food made him hungry, so it wasn't a bad idea. "All right, I'll eat while I wait. I'll have a shoyu ramen."

The blond boy quickly prepared a bowl of ramen and handed it to Neo. He was very skilled and reminded Neo of his uncle at work. Some time passed and Neo was almost done eating.

"Hey Ryu, how's it going?" the uncle said as he entered the shop.

"Everything's fine," Ryu replied promptly.

"Uncle!" Neo exclaimed happily.

"Neo, I'm glad you're here, I wanted to talk to you."

"And who is this?" Neo asked, pointing to the stranger at the counter.

"Hey!" he replied in protest.

"Oh, this is Ryu, he'll be my new assistant along with you. He's a student at the Cherry School, so be friends."

Neo looked at Ryu suspiciously. He didn't feel that the two of them could be friends, more because of the other boy than because of him. Nevertheless, he extended his hand. Ryu, however, ignored it.

The uncle called: "If you can come to this side of the counter, I'll teach you the basics.

Neo decided to ignore the annoying boy and went to his uncle.

The uncle explained Neo's duties, which included waiting on tables, washing dishes, and cleaning the kitchen when it was quiet. Of course, the uncle also wanted to teach Neo how to make ramen, but since Neo had no experience, he would only mess up the soup. So he would stick to the more physical tasks. "You can come back tomorrow night," he said when he had finished explaining.

At night, Inogura's Ramen was crowded, which made Neo quite nervous. The fear of making mistakes due to his limited learning time and the pressure to act quickly were things that made him nervous.

Despite the rush, he was getting the hang of it. He had to be friendly to everyone who came in and he had to be fast but careful. Neo still felt a little embarrassed when he said "welcome" to the people who came in, but it was the standard of the shop, so he put energy into it. "IRASSHAIMASE!"

"Oh look, now we have Neo instead of the uncle," Takeshi teased.

It was the baseball team that was at the door. Of course, they had to see their friend at work and tease him.

Neo served the baseball team because the uncle found the idea amusing. After putting the last bowl on the table, Takeshi looked at Neo seriously.

"Now that your leg is healed, will you play in the championship?"

Neo was confused by the question. "I'm not going to play in the championship."

The other boys were incredulous when they heard this answer. Nagoya immediately looked sad, Shike and Maeda were angry, and Pietro remained stable, wanting to hear the reasons. The only ones who were really indifferent were Takeshi and Tadashi.

"How come?" Maeda asked angrily. "You trained with us all this time. You have to participate."

"I never said that. I'm not part of the baseball club," Neo replied coldly.

"What do you mean, you're not?" Maeda continued to raise his voice. He was ready to grab Neo by the throat. Takeshi had to stop him.

"It's okay, Neo. You know what you want," Takeshi explained.

"But, Takeshi..."

"No 'buts. Shio. This is Neo's decision."

Shio was speechless. Neo continued his work, but the members of the baseball team, except for Takeshi and Tadashi, didn't treat him as usual. Many were angry or upset.

Another day, some familiar faces appeared. "IRASSHAIMASE!" Richard, Sarah and some members of the council came through the door. Richard seemed surprised to see Neo at the counter. "Neo?" he asked.

"Yes! There's a seat right there, so if you could please go over there," Neo said, pointing to an empty table.

"I never expected to see you working, let alone in a place like this," Richard continued, surprised.

"I thought it was normal," Neo said.

"It's cool! Work helps us improve ourselves." Richard said with a sincere smile.

Sarah waved at Neo when she saw him. He remembered her complimenting his outfit and felt a little embarrassed to interact with her, so he gave her a small wave with his hand.

Neo hadn't imagined that this encounter would lead to an unexpected visit from someone else:

"Why do you want to come to such a strange place?" a girl's voice said.

When Neo heard that a group of people was approaching, he prepared to greet them. "IRASSHAIMASE!"

When the girl who was talking came in and saw Neo at the counter, she said, "Oh, that's why." The girl was Sunny, and next to her was a shy Saya, who avoided eye contact as she said, "Hi, Neo.

"Saya?" Neo asked, confused and embarrassed. Suddenly he was at a loss for words.

Behind him were Monica and Natasha.

He led them to an empty table and before taking their order, he was curious. "How did you know I worked here?"

"Sarah told us," Saya said.

The girl really liked to play with others, he thought.

Anyway, he couldn't just stand around. There were other tables to serve. Saya watched Neo work, which made it hard for him to concentrate. He couldn't help looking at her. Ryu appeared and scolded him. Neo thought about retaliating, but he was right, so he just apologized.

Finally, the group of girls left and Saya said goodbye to him before she left.

The week was almost over, and the uncle came to talk to his two assistants. "Boys, you did very well."

They both thanked him for the compliment. "I'm going to invite you to help me with the Japanese Festival next week," he said, pointing to the calendar. "It's going to be a lot of work, so I really need your help."

Neo was a little excited and nervous at the same time. It meant there would be more people than he was used to.