Chapter 10: Okonomiyaki

Chapter 10:
Okonomiyaki

The other world consisted of two continents: the Eastern Continent and the Western Continent.

The Western Continent was a series of never-ending fields and forests. Unlike the Eastern Continent, where the lost Great Kingdom unified all the nations into one, the countries of the Western Continent were still very much independent of one another.

One of those very countries was the Mountain Nation. Half of the country was surrounded by mountains, as one might imagine. Souemon worked as a bodyguard there. He had begun frequenting the Restaurant to Another World five years earlier.

At the time, Souemon found himself befriending a certain halfling. The small man traveled far and wide across the Western Continent, creating songs and reciting poems to passersby and folks in villages for money. This halfling, who referred to himself as a bard, was a bit skeevy, almost rat-like in appearance.

The two men got along well, and Souemon even invited the smaller man to his home as a guest. That was when the halfling told him the location of a magical door connected to a Restaurant to Another World, located near the capital of the Mountain Nation. Souemon could barely believe the words he heard. If anything, he had great reason not to. However, as a samurai of the Mountain Nation, he felt he should at least visit the place on the day the halfling told him to, if only to confirm the story one way or the other.

That was when he came face to face with it. That was when he discovered the Restaurant to Another World and its unbelievable food…as well as the customer he would butt heads with for years to come.

***

One evening…

Like always, the bell on Nekoya’s door rang as Souemon walked in.

Souemon immediately recognized the man’s presence as a blast of salty air hit him upon entering the restaurant. The same time again? he thought. Curses!

He let out a sigh. “You’re here again, I see. Diviner of the Ocean Nation.”

Sitting there as usual was a face that Souemon had grown very accustomed to seeing. The man’s skin was as pale as snow, almost as though he had never once left his house, despite coming from the Ocean Nation where avoiding a tan was considered impossible. His face was thin, masking his age. The person in front of Souemon was a regular of the restaurant and one that he did not get along with.

“Well, well,” the man said. “If it isn’t the sword-swinging ape… Oh, my apologies. I meant samurai of the Mountain Nation.”

This fox-like man was named Doushun, and he was a diviner in the Ocean Nation’s palace. He glared sharply at Souemon, returning his greeting with venom. His words greatly annoyed the samurai, but it was a rule not to draw swords in the Restaurant to Another World, so he decided to battle with words instead.

“Hmph! You’re as tactless as ever. Why would you ever come here the same hour as I?”

“That’s my question, too. As a palace diviner, I am quite busy. You’re nothing but a court guard. Should you not be able to come here whenever you want?”

Doushun shrugged, once again spitting hot fire in Souemon’s direction. The air between the men was poisonous. Since the magic doors appeared wherever they felt like, the restaurant would occasionally get customers that simply did not get along well. For example, the elves and the dwarves, the knights and the mages, or citizens of the Kingdom and citizens of the Empire.

Souemon and Doushun were the perfect example of this little problem.

The Ocean Nation had put resources into academics and the divine arts so as to make crossing the ocean a safer process. This was so that they could proceed to do trade with the eastern regions facing the ocean, especially now that they were at peace. Meanwhile, the Mountain Nation was known for its swordplay, a skill developed long ago in order to defend its citizens from demons and monsters as well as cut through mountains. The two countries were famous throughout the Western Continent for having spectacularly bad relations. It only made sense that these two neighboring countries, with their completely different priorities and values, didn’t get along well. It certainly didn’t help that they were about equal in might.

Unfortunately for Souemon, Doushun had also learned of a door somewhere in the Ocean Nation from a halfling friend. And so every seven days without fail, the two men found themselves bumping into each other at the Restaurant to Another World. As a result of their jobs, they generally ended up coming in at the same time, just around dusk. This meant that these two regulars were often seen together as a pair.

Since they got along so poorly, the problem would be solved if one of them simply delayed their arrival by a half hour or so, but they both considered that to be losing to the other. This was how it had to be.

The master of the restaurant suddenly emerged from the kitchen and greeted the two sneering men with a smile. “Welcome, you two. Take a seat wherever you’d like.”

“Mm, thank you.”

“That I will.”

After returning his greeting, the two men sat down at the same table in the back of the restaurant near the kitchen. There were a handful of other customers already inside; some easterners and other races. The pair briefly glared at one another before turning away and calling for the master. They didn’t even have to look at the menu.

“Master, I’m ready to order.”

“Master, might I place my order?”

Their orders were already set in stone. In the five years since the two became customers, they’d tried all sorts of dishes. Each was delicious in its own way, but these were the dishes the men settled on.

“Aye. The usual?”

Both men nodded.

“Mmhm. I’ll have pork okonomiyaki with lots of sauce.”

“I’ll take an order of okonomiyaki. Seafood, please. And as much dried bonito as it can handle.”

Both men believed this dish most capable of bringing out the deliciousness of “sauce” and “dried bonito,” two of the restaurant’s unique, amazing condiments.

“You got it. I’ll be right back.” The master returned to the kitchen.

“Seafood as usual, eh? Shouldn’t you be tired of it already? You are from the Ocean Nation, are you not?”

“And what of you? Beast meat should be common to someone from the Mountain Nation. Am I wrong?”

After commenting on each other’s orders, they proceeded to indulge in small talk while partaking in the restaurant’s famous water.

“So the Ocean Nation plans on increasing its business deals with the Empire, then?”

“I see. Dwarf swordsmithing, you say?”

Of course, nothing about their talk was small. They were gathering information about their respective nations. There were times when this could even lead to a decent payout later. The two men sat together despite not getting along in order to use each other.

Being a diviner meant being present in the Ocean Nation’s palace, which also meant having relationships with merchants and nobles alike. On the other hand, being an accomplished samurai who even became a guard of the emperor himself meant having a wide web of connections and relationships. The two men led extremely different lives, which was why they found their respective stories so very fresh and even useful.

However, just like that, their conversation came to an end.

“Here you are, gentlemen. Okonomiyaki.” The master brought out two black metal plates at the same time and placed them down in front of the pair.

“Ooh, it’s finally here!”

“I’ve been waiting for this!”

The aroma coming from the food on the hot metal dishes made Souemon and Doushun smile with glee. The fresh okonomiyaki was served on the black metal plates to keep it from getting cold. They could hear the faint sizzling noises coming from it.

The okonomiyaki was made from a mix of flour, green cabbage, yams, and a slew of other ingredients fried together. On top of the bright yellow and green vegetables was a wealth of black sauce, followed by a grid-like pattern drawn with mayonnaise. At first glance, there appeared to be wood shavings of some sort dancing across the top of the okonomiyaki, except they smelled of the sea.

Sprinkled atop of that, almost as if to add color to the dish, were thick pieces of green seaweed. All of these ingredients combined to make the okonomiyaki surprisingly colorful. However, its aroma was nothing to sneeze at. The sauce dripped off of the okonomiyaki and onto the sizzling hot metal plate, sending up an aroma that sent a shock through Souemon and Doushun’s stomachs.

“Mm. I believe it’s time to eat,” Souemon said.

“Thank you for the food,” said Doushun.

Souemon and Doushun, both unable to resist the urge to dig in any longer, grabbed their chopsticks and began to eat nearly simultaneously. The wooden utensils cut through the soft, blanket-like okonomiyaki with ease. From the opening in the cut, the black sauce dripped down to the plate and sizzled, sending up a faint burnt smell. Souemon brought a piece of okonomiyaki to his mouth, all the while enjoying the smell coming from the dish.

It was hot.

Heat was the very first thing he felt. With the metal plate there to maintain the food’s hotness, the okonomiyaki was still piping hot.

“Ho, ho, I see you Mountain Nation types still eat like slobs!” Doushun sneered.

Souemon ignored Doushun’s words and opened his mouth to let the heat out.

After releasing the heat, all that remained was the aroma of the burnt sauce and sourness. Once the okonomiyaki was cool enough for him to chew, he could finally enjoy crunching into the crispy outer layer and fluffy cabbage-filled interior.

All of these flavors melded together in his mouth. From the seaweed pieces came the aroma of the sea, and from the woodchip-looking dried bonito, the savoriness of fish.

The fatty pork had a gentle flavor to it not entirely unlike that of lion meat, though it lacked the gamey quality of the latter. The flavor of the oil-drenched flour mixed tightly with the sweet cabbage, further enhanced by the rich taste of the eggs and spicy red sauce. Enveloping all of that was the sweet and sour, savory-yet-gentle flavor of the mayonnaise.

This was a dish that took numerous flavors of the mountains and oceans, and combined them into one fine meal. This was the reason why Souemon was willing to deal with the intense initial heat of the first bite every time; he wanted to experience all these flavors at once. After sampling a variety of foods at the restaurant, this was the one he stumbled upon. Since that fateful day, it was all he ever ordered. Souemon was nowhere close to getting tired of it.

“Can you not be a bit more elegant during meal time if nothing else?”

Doushun shook his head in disbelief and cut a small piece from his okonomiyaki. He blew on it gently before placing it in his mouth.

“Mmph. As delicious as ever. There’s not a single trace of the smell of fish. Not only has the seafood been processed beautifully, these bonito flakes are simply delightful.”

Doushun found himself nodding his head in satisfaction as he expressed his opinions of the tiny, soft shripe and the savory krakeen. He understood that his favorite part of the dish, the bonito flakes, were made using some kind of fish element, but he hadn’t the slightest idea of how that became the small, delicious flakes that sat in front of him. He felt that if he were ever able to crack the code and found his own ocean country, its food culture would be unbeatable.

Which is why Doushun made it a point to order the same dish every single time he visited. That said, he couldn’t deny that he also ate it because it was positively delicious.

After a brief period of time, both men finished their meals.

“Master, I’d like seconds.”

“Master, could you get me another dish?”

They placed their orders simultaneously.

“Aye, you got it. Okonomiyaki for the both of you, right? What kind?” the master asked his regulars, knowing full well what their answers would be.

“I will have seafood,” announced Souemon.

“I will have pork,” said Doushun.

As usual, the two men who were more alike than they’d ever care to admit looked away from each other as they placed their orders. After seeing the other man so thoroughly enjoy their okonomiyaki, they ended up wanting some for themselves. This happened every single time they sat together.

***

After finishing his meal, Souemon returned to the outskirts of town, letting out a sigh laced with the aroma of sauce. If he had a single complaint about the restaurant, it was that he had to bump into that accursed man every time he visited.

“How unfortunate. Nekoya would be that much better if that damned diviner never showed up again.” Souemon let the words slip from his mouth as if he were trying to cover for the fact that he actually enjoyed their earlier back and forth.

“Time to get to work again tomorrow!”

He returned to his everyday life, all the while excitedly waiting for the next seven days to pass…and thinking about his next confrontation with that man.