It Starts With You: Part Six

“How did you find out about this place? I feel like it’s the type of restaurant that does not believe in websites.” Mayumi said.

“I went three pages into the search results to find it. I wasn’t sure it existed at first.”

“It’s cute. I like it.”

Mayumi and Katsumi were standing outside of the ramen shop's front glassdoor. The former held the umbrella folded away at her side as they were protected from the rain by an awning over the shop-front.

The two peered into the store, still with a small amount of lingering doubt if the place was even open. There was a half-eaten bowl of ramen sitting on the wooden counter but no one was visible. However, after a second longer of lingering, a man came out of the bathroom and sat down in front of the bowl.

“Wanna go in?” Katsumi asked.

Mayumi met Katsumi’s eyes with a smile and nodded.

A bell above the door rang as they entered. The chef behind the counter didn’t bother to look up. Being too busy with the grill, he instead threw up a hand in a wave to acknowledge them

The man eating his dinner at the counter gave the two a passing glance as they walked in.

A menu written on a chalkboard hung over the counter listing quite a few items. Most of them were crossed out and the few remaining were circled—one item called the ‘spring special’ was circled in green.

Katsumi spoke up, “I’ll have the spring special.”

Mayumi tapped Katumi’s shoulder. “I’ll have one too…”

“Uhm, make that two please.”

The chef at the grill threw up his hand again to show he acknowledged their order. The two who just ordered seated themselves at the wooden-counter.

“You know Murakami, this almost doesn’t feel real in a way.” Mayumi spun her stool around, now facing the windows that looked out onto the street. “There might’ve been a few moments with Hirano and Matsushita that were a bit frustrating, but they are good company.”

Katsumi kept staring at the chef cooking.

“I would not have imagined I’d be in Southern Japan eating ramen in a small shop like this. It’s a weird feeling. One that’s hard to describe. Like we went off the path that we’re supposed to be on, even if it’s just for a moment, to explore something else.”

“...I’m not sure I get what you mean.”

“It’s like… there is a whole life we’re living—a whole world we need to return to. We’ll still need to go to university when we get back, we will still need to clean our apartments, go grocery shopping, and do our homework. It doesn’t all go away just because we’re far away. But it’s like all of that is put on hold. I don’t know if it’s just me that feels this way, but it’s a nice feeling.”

Katsumi spun around on his stool. “Hey, Arata.”

“Hm?”

“Are you doing alright?”

There was a long hesitation from Mayumi. She slowly turned right and left on her spinny-stool. “I think so.”

Do I have to do this? Why can’t this continue forever… Katsumi opened his mouth, but no words came out. He paused for another moment before trying again.

“Arata…”

“Yes?”

“I have to tell you something important…”

She turned her head towards him, ready to listen.

Katsumi looked into her large brown eyes—they were expectant of what he had to say.

“I— I’ll tell you tomorrow… It isn’t actually that important.”

That wonder in Mayumi’s eyes lingered. “You can’t just tell me you have something important to say then go quiet like that. Come on. You have to say it now.”

“It really isn’t important. I’ll tell you tomorrow if you still wanna know.”

“You’ll tell me tomorrow then, promise?”

“Yeah… promise.”