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Language:
English
Series:
Part 9 of The stories of Elder Sonam
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Published:
2024-03-08
Words:
848
Chapters:
1/1
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11
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9
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A simple udon chef

Summary:

Junpei was a simple man. He served udon.

Notes:

(See the end of the work for notes.)

Work Text:

Junpei was a simple man. He served udon to his customers.

He made the noodles by hand while his wife made the broth. (She also made great soups as well, but as they ran an udon restaurant together, soup didn’t quite fit in on the menu. He’d been trying to find a way to add it in, though.)

With the proximity to the Western air temple, nuns and the occasional monk weren’t out of the ordinary to see.

A group of five nuns entered the restaurant. “Can we get five bowls of udon, please?”

He’d paused for a second when he noticed one of the nuns in the group. She looked familiar. She and two friends of hers used to come often when they were younger. 

What was her name again?

“Uh,” he shook his head to clear the thought. “Yes, of course, it will only be a minute!”

He glanced over at the group as she laid out the bowls. She was quite solemn now, but she talked with the other nuns. Not much, though, preferring to listen instead.

His wife gasped. “Sonam? Is that you?”

“Hello auntie.” 

“Spirits! It’s you! I haven’t seen you since you were a teen!” His wife ran up to their table and did the customary hug and catch up.

Which was fine. He had to focus a bit more when he ladled the broth into each bowl, but they turned out great in the end.

(He once spilled the broth everywhere, getting skin bad burns and dearest Yoshino had taken over the job of ladling broth after that.)

He paused, staring at the group of nuns after he had finished placing the bowls on a tray.

A man was sitting beside Sonam. One that wasn’t there last time he looked, but one he had seen before. As Yoshino had said, the last time Junpei had seen that man was when he was a teen.

He and Sonam used to come by often. He remembered that. There was a redhead, too. Not as often, but enough that he remembered.

He looked down as he grabbed the edges of the tray and looked up again. The man was gone. 

Hm. Junpei walked over to their table. “Enjoy!” He placed each bowl in front of each nun. “Five bowls of udon.”

Yoshino pinched Sonam’s cheek before she went back to work. “You better eat.” She said seriously. “Atsuko said you’re not eating well.”

Junpei looked over at their table again as he was working on another order. His work slowed down considerably when he noticed Sonam wasn’t eating.

She was just staring at it.

He blinked again, and the man he saw from before was sitting beside her again, eagerly slurping down a bowl of udon that he hadn’t made today.

“This is delicious, uncle!”

He had before. 

Junpei remembered that day. Jigme. The man’s name was Jigme. Jigme had helped him on a day when there had been a bit too many customers for him and his wife.

Sonam and Jigme. He’d caught multiple hidden kisses between them and heard threats of shoving his face into the broth and Junpei had chuckled and chalked it up to teenage love.

Sonam grabbed her chopsticks. Her fingers shook as they held them.

His work came to a stop when the realisation that Jigme was dead hit him. That’s why Sonam wasn’t eating. That’s why he was appearing and disappearing when he looked away. He was a spirit now.

“Dearest, can you take over this order?” He asked, handing her the noodles he’d finished cutting.

Yoshino looked at him oddly when she saw him preparing another bowl of udon that no customer had ordered. She didn’t say anything and let him continue.

Jigme had liked grated yamaimo with his udon. 

Junpei finished the bowl, carried it over to their table and placed it beside the conveniently open spot beside Sonam.

“Here,” he said, offering her a smile when she looked at him in confusion; Her fingers were still trembling as they held the chopsticks. “It’s for him.”

It was at that moment, up close; he noticed the sadness clinging to her. The anger, too.

She was so happy the last time he saw her. The sadness made it difficult to recognise her at first.

… Was her redheaded friend dead as well? Ashina, wasn’t it? He didn’t ask.

He heard the other nuns ask Sonam questions as he left.

“What was he talking about?”

“… a friend. I used to come here often with him when I was younger.”

“Why aren’t you eating? Are you not hungry?”

“No, I am. I just- I haven’t eaten udon in a while.”

Next time he looked over, she was eating the noodles with a thoughtful, yet distant look in her glassy eyes. Her fingers continued to tremble each time she grabbed for more noodles.

He grabbed a ball of dough and a rolling pin, glanced over to their table one last time just to be sure Sonam was still eating, smiled to himself and began on another batch of udon noodles.

Notes:

Yamaimo is Japanese yam.

This is not the same noodle stand Sonam and Jigme visited on their first date in the 'the five pillars of Sonam' story. This is a different one

 

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