I Planned My Escape Because I Knew Her Secret - Episode 21

I wake up at 5 AM, wash my face, change into my work clothes (white kitchen uniform), and immediately leave the room.

When I entered through the back door of the store next to the apartment, the master was already there, quietly making noodles.

“Good morning!”

“Hey, Masaki. Is fried food okay?”

“Got it!”

On the stove, two large stockpots are already simmering, extracting the broth.

I turn on the fryer, quickly sharpen the knife, then take out the onions and bell peppers to start the prep work.

Preparing the batter in a large bowl, I hand-placed the cut vegetables from the bowl into the fryer one after another, making a large batch of tempura. Similarly, I fried chikuwa, lotus root, and chicken, and by the time I finished frying three trays, the proprietress appeared.

“Masaki-kun, good morning! Thanks for your hard work today too!”

“Good morning!”

“I’ll watch the frying, so please handle the shrimp.”

“Got it!”

I hand over the fryer to the proprietress, wash the cutting board once, take a bag of shrimp out of the refrigerator, and empty the contents of the bag into a bowl. I peel the shells off one by one, and once I finish peeling them all, I use a knife to remove the intestinal vein from each shrimp one by one.

By the time everything is finished, it will be 6:30.

“Masaki-kun, I’m taking the shrimp, so eat breakfast while you can.”

“Got it. Well then, I’m off.”

After handing over the large bowl of shrimp that had been prepped to the proprietress, I went up to the chef’s family’s home on the second floor of the store, greeted Yuko-san in the kitchen, and took a seat at the dining table.

“Yuko-san, good morning!”

“Good morning, Masaki! Thanks for your hard work again today, starting so early.”

“Looks delicious again today. Itadakimasu!”

“Alright, alright, then I’ll have some too.”

After finishing breakfast on the second floor, I return to the store and start serving from 7 AM.

On weekdays, I’m busy from the morning.

When I first saw it, I was surprised and thought, “Is the udon shop open in the morning!?” But it seems that this is quite common in this region, and eating udon for breakfast before going to work might be similar to the concept of having a “morning set at a café” in my hometown.

When business starts, the master makes the noodles again, I boil the noodles, the landlady serves the rice and prepares the side dishes, and Yuko-san handles the register, washes the dishes, refills the toppings, and cleans the tables. The four of us manage everything together.

Right now, I am training at a Sanuki udon shop.

At the end of May last year, I moved to Okayama and worked as a part-time worker for a while, but at the udon shop I frequented every morning and evening, the owner called out to me and took me in.

I found out after moving here, but even though Okayama Prefecture and Kagawa Prefecture are separated by the Seto Inland Sea, they share the same TV station coverage area and have a close relationship in terms of culture and economy (similar to the relationship between the three Tokai prefectures in my hometown), and their food cultures are also similar. In other words, when people in Okayama talk about udon, they are referring to Sanuki udon, which originated in Kagawa.

The Sanuki udon shop was right next to the apartment, and I went to eat there on the same day I arrived in Okayama.

It was my first time trying authentic Sanuki udon, but I loved the firm texture and smoothness of the noodles so much that I completely fell in love with them and started going to that shop every morning and evening.

The shop is a self-service type (taking orders, boiling and serving noodles on the spot, customers help themselves to side dishes, pay at the register, and eat at their seats. After eating, customers return their dishes to the counter). It is open from 7 AM to 2 PM and from 4 PM to 8 PM, and at that time, the shop was run by the owner, the wife, and their daughter, Yuko.

Whenever I went to the restaurant to eat, I always sat in the same spot where I could peek into the kitchen.

Because I used to work in a restaurant, I’m really interested in kitchen operations and stuff.

And after about a week, the proprietress and Yuko-san started to recognize my face and would say things like, “Hey, you come here often lately, don’t you? Are you a student?” or “Aren’t you getting tired of eating udon?”

At that time, we didn’t even know each other’s names and couldn’t really be called acquaintances, but for me, who had just abandoned everything and was all alone, being casually spoken to was a source of joy and warmth, the only place where my heart could find peace.

Well, around this time, even when people spoke to me in Okayama dialect, I found it hard to understand, so I mostly just faked my responses with a polite smile.