Side Story 6:
Pork Miso Soup Set
Another day of work came to an end. Things had been busy since early-morning prep, and the actual day had just flown by.
As usual, I watched the last customer leave with her pot of beef stew, and then sighed lightly. Today had been especially busy, since it was Meat Day.
I’m not nearly as tired as I expected.
Back when I was the only one working on Saturdays, I’d dreaded dates when Meat Day and Saturday overlapped. I ended up dead tired the next day.
But not anymore. The reason was crystal clear. It was all thanks to my two new employees, who hadn’t been here last Meat Day.
“Okay, we’re gonna go clean the cafeteria now!”
We’re off.
✦ ✦ ✦
Thinking back on it, I was lucky.
In the ten years since I’d taken Nekoya on, I’d made lots of embarrassing mistakes.
Gramps had done all kinds of things other than cooking. So when he passed away and I became the second-generation master, I suddenly couldn’t get by anymore with just knowing how to cook. I needed to know how to run a business, how to be this place’s owner.
I’d started helping at Nekoya as a cook after graduating college, so I wasn’t completely without experience. The old man had taught me all kinds of things besides cooking. Still, when Gramps left for the next world, it was all too much for a young guy in his mid-twenties to take on.
Quite frankly, thinking back on it, I’d made some truly stupid mistakes that I’d rather not remember. But somehow, over the last ten years, I’d managed to learn.
One thing I’d learned in that decade was that students from the local high school or college—who wanted to earn money to survive, not just to play around—often worked the hardest.
When the Restaurant to Another World had suddenly started getting more regulars, I’d realized that I couldn’t run things by myself. I’d actually been thinking of putting out a “hiring” sign for a human from the other world when Aletta had wandered into the restaurant. She’d just been fired from her previous waitressing job and needed work. When I heard her story, I felt lucky, to be perfectly honest.
I was getting way more otherworldly customers, and Aletta had experience as a waitress and seemed to be a hard worker. How could I not hire her?
As luck had it, my first impression was on point, and Aletta was now an irreplaceable part of my Saturdays. She was a charming person whom even Nekoya’s older guests loved, and she knew how to deal with newcomers as well.
Then there was my second worker. The “final customer,” who’d known the previous master for quite some time, introduced Kuro to me. She’d taken work at Nekoya on the condition that I pay her in chicken curry. I wasn’t particularly fond of paying in food, but apparently, money didn’t exist where Kuro lived. There wasn’t much I could do about that.
When Kuro first visited the restaurant, I’d been pretty surprised. The way she ate—and the moment when she’d suddenly asked to work for me—proved equally shocking. But now, I was really glad I’d brought her on.
She didn’t really speak. Actually, she basically only used telepathy to relay her thoughts to us. She was kind of emotionless, but when it came to work, she was fast and precise. Kuro paid close attention to detail as well.
Together, Kuro and Aletta handled waitressing and even helped out in the kitchen at times. Honestly, my work got a lot less stressful thanks to the two of them.
✦ ✦ ✦
“Gotcha. I’ll get dinner ready, then. Let’s see.” After giving it some thought, I proposed my idea for tonight’s meal. “Pork miso soup, fried rice balls with butter soy sauce, and rolled eggs. How does that sound?”
Since this morning, Aletta had looked as though she was craving pork miso soup, so I decided to add that to a bigger meal.
“Awesome! I can’t wait!” Aletta smiled and answered excitedly before heading off to clean. It seemed like I was right on the money.
I couldn’t help grinning as I watched her trot away with a lightness in her step that betrayed her mood. It was time to cook the last dish of the day.