Chapter 3
At long last, I finished cleaning... Just as I was admiring the spotless area in front of the entrance, I heard the loud toll of a bell. So this is the noon bell... As I was thinking that, the front door swung wide open, and Marie came out.
"Big Brother, are you done? The noon bell rang, so we're open for business!"
"I-I am. It's nice and clean, isn't it?"
"It is. So don't just stand there—hurry up and come help inside!"
"Okay, okay. I was just about to."
Marie is growing up to be quite a strong girl... As I thought that and started to go inside, Marie scolded me again.
"Big Brother! You need to secure the door first."
"Oh, right. Sorry, I forgot."
Before going into the diner, I opened the front door wide and secured it with a stopper. Apparently, shops in this country generally leave their doors open while they're in business. Some don't, but it seems to be a custom meant to make the shops brighter, since written signs aren't widespread.
As soon as I opened the shop door, a customer came in.
"Are you open already?"
"Yes! Welcome!"
Marie greeted the customer with a bright smile. The customer looked at her and broke into a slack-jawed grin. Marie really seemed to be fulfilling her role as the diner's poster girl. I had to do my best, too! With that thought, I went inside.
Customers started coming in one after another. Our diner must be fairly popular. I guided the customers to their seats in succession.
Our diner's lunch menu consisted of just two set meals: a steak set and a pork-and-vegetable stir-fry set. Each came with tough bread, soup, and water; the main dish was either steak or pork-and-vegetable stir-fry.
Since the menu was fairly filling, most of our customers were men, and steak was ordered more often.
Another customer had arrived. He was a very large, solidly built middle-aged man.
"Welcome. Would you like steak or pork-and-vegetable stir-fry?"
"I'll have the steak."
"Yes, one steak!"
In this world, the painstakingly polite customer service found in Japan wasn't necessary. A shop could earn a good reputation simply by having its employees work with smiles on their faces.
"Leon, take care of the steak, please."
"Yeah!"
My job was to take orders, serve each meal as it was ready, starting with whoever had ordered first, and clear the tables. Marie handled the bread, soup, and water that came with the sets, so I only had to serve the steak or pork-and-vegetable stir-fry.
The dishes and cutlery were wooden, so I didn't have to worry about breaking them, but the large number of customers made things fairly difficult.
"Leon, the stir-fry and three steaks are ready."
"Okay, I'll bring them!"
As I worked busily, the stream of customers gradually died down. Once the last customer left, the diner closed.
The diner didn't have a set closing time; we closed when customers stopped coming. So the time varied from day to day, but everyone came when the noon bell rang, so there apparently wasn't much difference.
"Good work, everyone. I'm hungry."
"Shall we have lunch, too?"
"Lunch! Yay! I was so hungry!"
Apparently, Leon's family ate lunch after the diner's lunch service ended. I was hungry, too, so I wanted to eat soon.
"Leon, you're eating too, right?"
"Yeah! I'm hungry!"
"Then let's all eat. We have two steaks left today, so we can each have half."
"Yay! We've been eating stir-fry lately, so I'm happy!"
Apparently, we usually ate whatever was left over from the lunch service. That naturally meant there was more stir-fry, and Marie had been constantly complaining lately that she was tired of it.
She was now waiting for the steak with a huge smile on her face. Dad saw her and said with a wry smile,
"Marie, I'm cooking it now, so wait a little longer. I'll make your portion a bit bigger."
"Bigger!? Yay!"
"Oh my, Marie really does like steak, doesn't she?"
Even Mom was laughing. I couldn't help laughing, too. They were such a wonderful family. Thinking about my family in Japan made me sad, but I was glad I had become a member of this family.
"Dad! I want mine to be bigger, too!"
"You too, Leon? All right, I'll make yours bigger as well."
"Oh, honestly. You're both such children."
Dad and Mom looked at each other and laughed.
"Then you two wait in the living room."
"Okay!"
Marie and I answered together and headed to the living room.
The living room had a table and four chairs. Marie and I sat next to each other, with Mom always sitting across from Marie and Dad across from me.
We sat in our usual places.
"Big Brother, I'm looking forward to the steak!"
"Yeah. It's delicious, isn't it?"
"Yeah! I love steak! I haven't had any for four whole days because there haven't been any left over. I counted!"
With that, Marie put her hands on her hips and puffed out her chest proudly. She looked very pleased with herself.
My little sister is—s-so cute...! I'm going to become a hopelessly doting older brother.
"You're such a good girl, Marie. You kept count all by yourself."
As I said that, I patted Marie on the head. She gave me a delighted smile. So cute...!
While I was gushing over Marie's cuteness, the living room door opened, and Dad and Mom came in.
"Lunch is ready!"
"Here are your steaks, Marie and Leon."
"Yay!"
"It looks delicious!"
In front of us was a freshly grilled steak that looked absolutely delicious. This was my first meal since coming to this world. I hoped it would suit my tastes... But it smelled incredibly good. I nearly drooled.
"Here's your bread, soup, and water, too. There you go."
"Do you two want some stir-fry as well?"
"I only want steak!"
"I think I'd like some stir-fry, too."
"Here, this is your stir-fry, Leon."
The other dishes looked delicious, too! I wanted to eat soon.
"Then let's eat. Itadakimasu."
I was genuinely surprised by those words. Did this world have a phrase with the same meaning as "itadakimasu"? Or was it being translated for me?
I didn't really understand, but it was convenient, so whatever. It wasn't as if thinking about it would help. For now, I just had to eat!
"Itadakimasu!"
I first speared a piece of steak with my fork. People in this world apparently didn't use individual knives at the table, so the steak had already been cut into easy-to-eat pieces.
I took a bite of steak.
"Delicious!"
"Big Brother, it's delicious!"
It really was delicious. It tasted just like the beef steak I had eaten in Japan. Maybe the food in this world wasn't all that different from Japanese food.
But according to Leon's memories, there wasn't much variety in the meals people ate. That meant the ingredients might be the same, but cooking techniques simply hadn't developed as far. This steak was delicious, but it was seasoned with nothing but salt.
I tried the bread and soup, too. I took a bite... Hard!? It was like an incredibly dry loaf of French bread. It was edible if I chewed it well, and the flavor was good, but it was difficult to eat.
The soup... I took a swallow. Yeah, it wasn't bad, but it was only salty, so it felt a little lacking. Maybe it was because there was no dashi.
What about the stir-fry? This was... pretty tasty, actually. It was a familiar flavor from Japan. Maybe that was because the stir-fry I'd eaten in Japan was salted, too.
Yeah, if I didn't set my standards too high, it was a perfectly tasty meal. I was really relieved. It didn't look like the food would be so incompatible with my tastes that eating would be unbearable.
I'd think about making even better meals from now on. While I ate and thought about that, I finished everything before I knew it.
"That was delicious. Thanks for the meal."
"I finished mine, too. It was delicious!"
When I looked beside me, Marie had finished eating as well. She wore a satisfied smile, and Dad and Mom watched her with big smiles of their own.
I felt so happy. In this other world, I would treasure this family. That was what I decided.