Distress?

That's an understatement.

What does this guy know? Do you know how hard it is for me to raise a studio of nearly 100 people?

Tsukada Satake felt disdain for the chef's pretense, but he didn't show it directly, and took the opportunity to ask for a cold buckwheat noodle.

"I'm hungry, whatever. After eating noodles, hurry home. Tsukada thought.

He sensed that the people in the shop were a little strange, but he didn't want to worry too much about it because of his unbearable hunger. All he wanted was to finish his supper quickly, then go home and take a short shower for a short sleep, and there was more important work waiting for him to do tomorrow.

"Guest, please wait."

The chef on the other side nodded to Tsukada with a good attitude.

Then, two more waiters in full uniforms came over and served Mr. Tsukada edamame and a cup of draft beer.

"This is a giveaway from our store, so please enjoy." The waiter said.

"Can such a small store need so many people?" Tsukada was even more puzzled.

The staff at this soba shop are very decent, but they are eccentric.

Tsukada twists up a strip of edamame and squeezes the emerald green beans into his mouth.

The edamame soaked in salt water is just the right amount of salt, and the draft beer is refreshing and sweet.

Snacks and drinks can dispel people's tiredness.

However, that's how it feels to Satake Tsukada. As the operator of the studio, he is also a rich man, and he has eaten even the most exquisite and high-end meals, and after getting used to it, he feels that it is nothing more than that, and the food in the roadside shop does not give him too many surprises.

Tsukada is too busy, and the time for life is too little, so he only seizes the day. In a person's day, you must invest time in such trivial things as eating and sleeping, and how much of this time is left to really devote to meaningful things?

So, sleep and appetite are just the lowest needs that people need to survive.

There's really no need to enjoy it.

In fact, in Tsukada's view, food is best to be convenient and fast, to solve hunger, to replenish the nutrients that the human body needs, and to make people operate like a precision machine that has been oiled. The taste or something, it's really not very important.

"I just want to walk into this store because I'm really hungry, so I have to waste some time."

Tsukada ate a few more edamame beans and drank two sips of draft beer.

At this time, the chef in the open kitchen opposite finally started cooking.

The other party's expression was serious and reverent, very devoted, as if he wanted to carve some incomparable work of art.

As he did it, the waiters around him gathered around, and there were two more people in the kitchen, who were probably helpers.

Mr. Tsukada looked around and found that there were as many as nine people in the store.

"Really...... A strange group of people. He continued.

"The process of cooking soba noodles is the same as in life." The chef spoke slowly, as if he were giving a lecture.

The waiters and cooks around him also looked like serious students, hanging their hands around and listening carefully.

Goo-go

The hot water in the pot boiled and boiled, and the steam was boiling in the warm yellow light.

The chef carefully lowers a handful of soba noodles into the pot and stirs carefully with chopsticks.

Brown noodles curl up and tumble in boiling water.

"The temperature of the water should be right, and the time to cook the noodles should be appropriate. If it is overheated, or if it has been cooked for a long time, the soba noodles will also be distressed. As the distress accumulates, the noodles will become loose and soft, and the noodles will lose their original flavor. The chef continued to stir the pot with chopsticks.

His words seemed to be addressed to the apprentices, as well as to Tsukada.

"After the noodles are cooked, put them in cold water to cool. Throwing away the pressure of high temperature and soaking in cold water is a process of finding oneself, which can make the noodles that have softened and find their toughness. ”

The chef scoops up the noodles from the pot.

Immediately, a cook brought out a large bowl of cold water with ice cubes.

"Wash the starch off the noodles. Wash away these impurities, and the soba noodles will become clear and clean, returning to the basics. The absence of impurities is the true nature of being a human being. The chef said again.

The surrounding cooks still listened carefully, as if they wanted to take the chef's words as some golden words and keep them in mind.

And Tsukada Satake just felt ridiculous, and sneered: "What are you doing? These people, pretending, are really funny. ”

The preparation of soba noodles is very simple.

The noodles are boiled and cooled, sprinkled with chopped seaweed and sesame seeds.

Light soy sauce and mirin are mixed, and the fish sauce and chopped green onions are added to stimulate the flavor to make a sauce.

Pair the two and you're ready to eat.

In addition to this, the chef also made an extra white radish puree.

He put all three ingredients on a wooden plate and pushed them in front of Satake Tsukada, who was sitting at the bar.

"Guest, please use it."

"Hmm."

Satake Tsukada impatiently picked up the chopsticks and ate them with the sauce.

It tasted the same as he expected.

How delicious can a simple soba noodle be?

Hurry up and fill your stomach and leave.

I don't want to deal with these self-talking freaks anymore.

The chef on the other side smiled and stared at Tsukada without saying a word, and the apprentices around him were also watching him eat noodles.

This strange atmosphere made Mr. Tsukada irritable for no reason, and he finally couldn't stand it anymore and put down his chopsticks: "What's wrong?" ”

"Guest, how long has it been since you have calmed down and savored the deliciousness of the food?" The cook asked him as he began to take off his uniform.

"It has nothing to do with you, does it?" Tsukada was even more impatient.

The chef didn't reply to him, just laughed.

Then he walked into a hidden door in the store, probably to the staff rest area. The cooks and waiters followed, leaving Tsukada alone in the shop.

"What a bunch of idiots."

Tsukada didn't want to pay attention to those people anymore and continued to eat noodles.

In order not to waste time, he eats quickly, and this time is no exception.

When he had finished eating, he saw the cook, surrounded by a group of apprentices, come out from behind the hidden door.

It's different from the image just now.

The chef completely changed his clothes and put on a crisp suit, and he was holding a leather business bag that looked expensive, and he looked like a professional elite.

He hugged or shook hands with the others at the soba shop, as if he was doing some solemn farewell ceremony.

Finally, the "chef" walked up to the suspicious Tsukada and bowed slightly to him: "Guest, you will also find your own here, just like me." ”

With that, the other party walked straight out the door.

When I was at the door, I took a few deep breaths before carefully pushing the door open.

Jingle Bell –

The bell on the door rang, and the scene outside the door was hazy and blurry, and it was impossible to see it really.

"Take care, Kurahashi!"

The people in the store were reluctant to say goodbye.

The gentleman, surnamed Kurahashi, nodded, and strode out of the store, as if to walk to meet his new life.

"What? It's disgusting, these guys. ”

Tsukada couldn't stand it anymore, so he quickly finished the soba noodles and stood up to leave.

"How much?" He asked the others in the store.

But the people left in the store all had strange expressions, and no one answered.

"Forget it, when I'm unlucky."

Tsukada took out a 2,000 yen note from his pocket and slapped it on the table.

This money is more than enough to eat a few servings of soba noodles.

After paying for it himself, he also planned to leave, not wanting to stay in this strange noodle restaurant for long.

And when Tsukada walked to the door and raised his hand to push the door, he was surprised to find that the small wooden door was like a huge stone blocking in front of him, not moving at all, and he couldn't push it open no matter what.

"Hey, what's going on? Prank? You're going too far! Tsukada became angry.

Those in uniform behind him, facing Mr. Tsukada, who was embarrassed and angry, you look at me, I look at you, and it took a long time for someone to speak: "Don't you understand?" You ate the noodles made by Kurahashi, so stay here instead of a place. You can't live without it for the time being. ”

"What nonsense!? I'm going to call the police! ”

"It's useless, that's how we all came here." The people in the store said this and began to slowly approach Tsukada.

The movements are uniform, showing that they are a collective.

"Hey! Stay back! What can't you leave? What do you know? I'm not like you boring people, I still have important things to do! A studio of nearly 100 people is waiting for me to feed, and everything is waiting for me to do manga and animation. How could I stay here and play with you? ”

"Studio, manga animation. Guests, are these things important? ”

"Of course it's important! Make money, make money! What's wrong with making money? More resources, higher status, better life, aren't these important! ”

The clerks ignored Tsukada's annoyance and continued to approach—

"I'm so busy that my eyes are bloodshot, I can't get a good night's sleep every day, and when I wake up, I'm going to toil like a puppet for money and fame, restless, scared, and walking on thin ice. Guest, is this the kind of life you want? Do you really find happiness in this kind of life? ”

"Guest, how long has it been since you have calmed down and tasted the food as it is?"

"If it's too hot, or if it's cooked for a long time, it will be loose and soft, and it will lose its original flavor."

"Relax. You also need to soak in cold water for a while to find your resilience. ”

"Wash yourself well, wash away those useless impurities, and you will become clear and clean, and return to the basics."

“……”

"Don't come here! Let go of me, bastard! ”

……

Satake Tsukada stayed at the soba shop like this.

The other clerks didn't restrict his movements too much, just changed him into the same uniform as everyone else.

Make him look like everyone else on the outside.

As long as they look the same on the outside, people will have a sense of identity and belonging to the same kind, and stay in the same group to hide their individuality.

That's always been the way the uniform works.

"Let's start as a waiter, clean well, tidy up the storefront, and don't worry too much." That's what they told Tsukada.

Tsukada Satake, of course, tried to escape, but to no avail.

This soba noodle shop is quirky at every turn, the doors can't be pushed open, there are no other exits, and there is no cell phone signal here.

For a while, Tsukada couldn't tell where he was.

He banged on the wall like a frenzy, but to no avail, only to get helpless and sympathetic glances from the others.

Two days passed in a flash.

Trapped here, Tsukada was exhausted, and at first he was still worried, worried about the operation of the studio.

But two days later, he began to lose the strength to think about it.

Because he was so hungry.

In the past two days, Tsukada Satake has not eaten anything.

He couldn't eat.

When the others sat around to eat, there were always nine portions of soba noodles on the table, but the portion that was supposed to belong to him, Tsukada couldn't touch it anyway, as if it was a false illusion, just existing, but not touching.

"Tsukada, calm down. People who have nothing to do and do not participate in labor will not be able to eat the food given in the store. It's a rule here, and no one can break it. ”

"You've taken Kurahashi's place, and you're now in ninth place in the store. As long as you put aside distractions and do your own thing, when a new person comes in and replaces someone else, your ranking will rise. Until nine people come in and you've finished making soba for the ninth person, you can leave, but before you can do that, you have to learn how to calm down, how to find yourself, how to make soba noodles with a flavor. ”

"It's not too sad, life here is actually very simple, you don't have to think about anything to be really happy. Those of us who came here had no less trouble than yours before we came here. ”

"Stay here. In about a month or two, new customers will come to the door. So, after about half a year, or maybe a year, you can leave. Isn't it good to find yourself and start a new life outside? ”

Everyone else advised him to do so.

The emaciated Tsukada Satake didn't know if he had listened to the others, but on the third day, he did start cleaning the shop as a waiter, just like the other people who played the role of waiter.

Not for anything else, just because he was too hungry.

I can only obey the meaning of this ghost place, and at least I have to eat.

At noon on the third day, Tsukada finally sat down at the table like everyone else.

He stretched out his hand tremblingly, and the soba on the table, which belonged to him, could finally be touched.

Satake Tsukada started eating noodles with dipping sauce.

It's nice to have food in your withered stomach.

He had been hungry for too long, and he had gobbled up so much that his eyes were red.

It's delicious, it's delicious.

The aroma of the thick wooden fish flakes melts into the sauce, and the rich smell glides over the mouth, and the cool and smooth soba noodles are tossed on. I've never eaten such a simple and delicious food.

How long has it been since I've been like this, distracted, just savoring the food seriously?

After eating the first meal of labor in exchange for buckwheat, Mr. Tsukada felt that somewhere in his heart was violently collided, thus being melted and then filled.

Maybe the others are right, that's how everyone came over.

Food is the first level of human needs.

If even this basic need is not met, the physiology of the individual human being will not function properly. In other words, human life is threatened.

In such a situation where all survival is threatened, it is impossible to think about pursuing higher needs.

So, after eating his first meal almost greedily and madly, Tsukada Satake seemed to really calm down, and he was satisfied.

As for what studio, what manga and animation, I don't think about it for the time being.

In the midst of the lampless buckwheat, it is useless to worry about these.

This is the first step in domestication.

(End of chapter)