Source
https://kakuyomu.jp/works/16818093076684326416/episodes/16818093076725918464
When was the last time Shiota Diner sign board was shown?
Chisato’s heart flutters at the sight she has been waiting for since the restaurant closed.
Passing through the curtain, she sees the same interior of the restaurant as before.
There are counter seats connected to the kitchen and three tables seating four people. Although the restaurant is small, the brown-based interior with long wooden tables is reminiscent of a fashionable café.
It was hard to believe that several years had passed since the restaurant closed, and the interior was so clean and neat. It must have taken a lot of preparation. Chisato thanked Takeru and the others in her heart.
Her parents, unaware of Chisato’s feelings, entered the restaurant and, upon confirming that no one was inside, opened their mouths in a suspicious manner.
“You don’t have to come all the way to this little store, we can go to a better place, right?”
“Sure……it doesn’t look like they even have wine here.”
After all, neither her father nor mother seemed to remember that they had been to this restaurant before.
Chisato feels angry at the complaint about the wonderful restaurant that Takeru and the others had set up for them, but she tries not to show it on her face.
“No, I like it here. The food here is amazingly good.”
Chisato replied firmly, but her mother raised an eyebrow.
“Chisato, you are being reserved again, aren’t you? You don’t have to be so reserved anymore.”
“Reserved? What’s that?
Her father tilted his head and asked, to which her mother answered with a sigh.
“This girl still feels the way she did when we didn’t have any money. Even clothes, if she doesn’t go shopping with me, she buys only cheap ones.”
At her mother’s words, Chisato turns her head and opens her mouth.
“So, I’ve told you many times that I’m not being reserved……? I’m just buying what I think is good.”
[Haa…..Chisato really has always been like that. You forced yourself to smile and put up with it,……and even with this store, you picked it out looking for the cheapest place, didn’t you?] Her mother said this and turned her body towards the exit of the store. [Look, we haven’t ordered yet, so we’ll make it in time. Let’s go to another restaurant. It’s your birthday, so there’s no need to be shy.]
At her mother’s words, her father turns toward the exit.
“What, you’re worried about that? We’re not like those days, we can go anywhere we want. That’s right, let’s go to the restaurant we went to with a business partner last month. The roast beef was fantastic.”
“I told you I’m not holding back…….”
“Come on, let’s get going.”
Chisato tries to argue, but her mother takes her arm and pulls her toward the exit.
Neither her father nor mother would listen to Chisato.
It’s always the same. My mother’s memories of the old days of poverty haunt her like a ghost, and she associate’s cheap prices with being miserable with an equal sign. That is why she always buys me expensive things and throws away cheap things. No matter what I says to her, she always says, [Don’t worry about it] and doesn’t listen to anything I say.
My father, too, is always at my mother’s beck and call, never disobeying her, perhaps feeling a sense of guilt for having caused her hardship during the years of poverty.
As my mother puts her hand on the goodwill, I hear her muttering.
“Eating at this cheap restaurant will only make me miserable like I used to be.”
At these words, Chisato shakes off her mother’s hand as hard as she can.
“Listen to my words ! !”
Chisato raised her voice in front of her parents for the first time in her life.
She had always put up with things without saying anything, even when she had been poor and lonely, and she intended to continue to do so in the future.
But…….she could not allow her mother to make fun of her friend, Takeru, who had set up this place.
“Always, always, always ! Stop judging…about everything ! This is my favorite set meal restaurant in the world ! The price has nothing to do with that !”
Chisato stared at her mother, who rolled her eyes and exclaimed.
“Mother always says it’s for me, for my sake, but in the end you think of me as nothing more than an ornament to yourself !”
“That’s not……”
“Then what did you mean earlier when you said you were ashamed !? Why would Mother be embarrassed if I was wearing cheap clothes !? You just don’t want to be thought of as a parent who dresses me in cheap clothes anyway !? It’s not for my sake after all ! !”
Chisato’s words made her mother’s face contort as if she had hit a sore spot.
When Chisato saw that her mother did not retort, she turned to her father.
“Father is always working every day, and I don’t know when was the last time you came home when I was awake ! I’m fine now, but have you ever thought how lonely I was when I was little !?”
Her father turned over apologetically without saying anything. Chisato continued to speak.
“Mother always talks about the past, like it’s a painful memory, but I don’t think it is ! We may not have been able to eat as good food as we do now, but Mother made me what I liked, and even Father always came home for dinner and we ate together ! It wasn’t when we were poor that I had to put up with it, it was when we became rich !”
Chisato was losing control of her emotions. One after another, she would say the things she had been holding back.
[When was the last time Mother and Father came home from work and had dinner together as a family? Maybe whenI was in elementary school? If I made plans for a family vacation, you said you couldn’t go because of work, and you even bought me a necklace like this, saying you were sorry…….I didn’t want this ! !] Chisato took off the necklace and knocked it to the ground.
“I wouldn’t say we’re a family now,……just roommates who live in the same house,……!”
That’s what Chisato thought when she saw Takeru’s family…..real family.
Takeru was peeking through the doorway connecting the kitchen and seating area from the second floor, watching the fight between parents and daughter.
The kitchen on the first floor was unusable because the gas had been turned off, so it was arranged that the food prepared in the kitchen on the second floor, which was always in use, would be brought to the tables on the first floor. However–
(I-it’s hard to get in——! ! !)
What the hell is this hellish atmosphere…….
While I was reminiscing about the nostalgic atmosphere of the restaurant, and the same dish that they ordered in the past was brought to the table……I was expecting such an emotional situation, but how did it come to this…!
Perhaps getting things off each other’s chest is a necessary phase for Chisato’s family. That was what Takeru had felt from listening to the conversation between Chisato and her parents.
But it was different.
The reason Takeru prepared this place was not because he wanted to create a place where they could share their thoughts and feelings.
It was because he wanted them to be friendly, warm, and eat from the same pot, just as they had done when they came to eat at the diner before.
Takeru took a deep breath, regulated his breathing, and then slapped his cheeks to get himself in the mood.
When the door rattled open, Chisato and the others turned their gazes toward him all at once.
(I want to go home, I want to go home, I want to go home, I want to go home…)
This was the first time I had ever thought about such a thing at home.
The dialogue he had prepared blew up and Takeru’s mind went blank. After a short silence, Chisato’s father opened his mouth in a flustered manner.
“I-I’m sorry, it must’ve been a nuisance that we shouted so loud in the store. We will leave immediately.”
Takeru finally found his voice as Chisato’s father turned his head toward the exit.
[W-wait, please ! !] Chisato’s father stopped at Takeru’s words. Takeru took a breath and said the words he had prepared. [We have already prepared the food since you placed your order when you made your reservation. Please don’t worry about earlier and enjoy your meal.]
At Takeru’s words, Chisato’s parents looked at each other and seemed unsure of what to do.
Takeru thought it was necessary to force them to sit down. Takeru pulled out a chair from the table and said, [Please sit down] smiling at Chisato and making eye contact with her.
Chisato shuddered as if she had come to her senses, wiped away her tears, and sat down in the chair Takeru pulled out.
“If it’s already ready, it can’t be helped. Let’s have it, shall we? Please sit down, Father, Mother.”
At Chisato’s words, both parents looked at each other and reluctantly sat down across from Chisato.
After seeing that everyone was seated, Takeru went to the stairs leading to the second floor and gave a sign to Akari, who was standing by on the second floor.
Akari and Mayu then bring in trays of ginger set meals, mapo tofu set meals, and karaage set meals. Of course, the mapo tofu set meal and the karaage set meal are served with a small bowl of ginger grilled.
“The small bowl of ginger set meal is our most popular dish. Please try it.”
At Takeru’s words, Chisato’s parents put the ginger grilled in their mouths while tilting their heads.
Then they frowned and closed their eyes.
The reaction was different from what Takeru had imagined, and he was chilled to the bone.
“……Nn, this sweet flavored ginger grilled……looks like something I’ve had in the past…….”
“……Yes, you’re right……”
Takeru was relieved to hear their words. Apparently, it was not that their taste buds did not agree with them, but that they just felt strange about the taste they had had before.
Chisato, too, looked at Takeru with a surprised expression on her face after taking a mouthful of ginger grilled.
Takeru tilted his head, this is the taste ! As if saying that, Chisato nods repeatedly with tears in her eyes.
It seemed that he had succeeded in recreating his grandmother’s taste.
Takeru gave a small OK sign with one hand, and Chisato smiled back at him with her best smile.
Takeru did nothing special. He just adjusted the flavors to her liking, just as he always did when he made Chisato’s lunch.
If the person you are making it for is the same person, the taste you are aiming for will be the same as well. It was that simple.
Surely, his grandmother, just like Takeru, adjusted the flavor to suit Chisato’s taste by counting the number of flowers flying above her head and the expression on her face that changed every time she brought a dish to her mouth.
“Hey, have we been to this restaurant in the past? This ginger grilled and the karaage taste so nostalgic.”
“Yes, I was thinking the same thing.”
Chisato smiles lightly in response to her parents’ words.
“Fufu, actually, this is the restaurant we went to on my birthday when I was in elementary school.”
Then, Chisato’s father raised the tone of his voice just as he had come to a conclusion.
“Oh, yes, yes, we were there when the owner served us a small bowl of ginger grilled, and Chisato was saying that she was a regular with a big smile.”
“Oh, yes, I was really embarrassed at that time…….”
Chisei hurriedly denies their words.
“Hey, that’s not right ! You should have given me that as a courtesy ! I didn’t say that in a bad way !”
“Eh, did you?”
“No, I agree with your father. I’m glad the old lady who owned the place was a kind person…….”
The three of them seemed to have some differences in their memories, but they were having an unhurried conversation, laughing from time to time.
Takeru quietly left the place so as not to interrupt the three of them.
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