| Omi | Sorry to bother you on your day off. |
| Sakyo | I'll bet he'd just be bumming around at home otherwise, anyway. |
| Zen | You calling me a bum? |
| Sakyo | ...Tch. |
| Omi | Thanks for having us today. |
| Zen | Come in. |
| |
| Zen | I'm Zen Kuryu. |
| Omi | I'm Omi Fushimi. I work at a photography agency. |
| Zen | Your business card looks like it was just printed yesterday. Nice and sharp corners. |
| Omi | I only just started working there, so I haven't had to pull them out much. |
| Zen | I thought you would be working in a culinary field. I'm surprised. |
| Omi | Photography's also one of my passions. |
| Sakyo | He's our in-house photographer, too. |
| Zen | Oh, I see. Kitchen's this way. |
| Have a seat, taste-tester. Be a good boy, now. |
| Sakyo | ...Tch. |
| |
| Zen | ...You're pretty good with a knife. |
| Omi | I always did the cooking at home, and now that I'm cooking for everyone back at the dorm, I've been improving a lot. |
| Zen | You would, cooking for that many people. You lose so much time just peeling the vegetables. |
| Omi | And no matter how much you cook, it all disappears in seconds anyway. |
| Zen | Yeah. Makes you feel a bit empty inside. |
| Omi | You could say that again. |
| Zen | Then there are the guys with tongues too refined for their own good. Like our old Director. |
| Omi | But they all liked your signature stew, right? |
| Zen | I'm sure some of them would've made me make the bouillon from scratch if they could. |
| Omi | Our Director says she can make curry for 365 days straight. |
| Zen | Like father, like daughter. |
| ...All right, now let it simmer. |
| Omi | Zen-san, can I ask you something? |
| Zen | Hm? |
| Omi | Last time, when you mistook Juza for someone else, was it someone called Nachi Komada? |
| Zen | ...Yeah, I think that's his name. |
| Omi | ...... |
| Zen | You know him? |
| Omi | Yeah, we used to hang out a lot. He passed away in an accident a few years ago. |
| Zen | ......I see. |
| I thought it was strange that he stopped visiting with no warning, but I never knew he passed. |
| Omi | He used to visit your restaurant? He didn't seem the type... |
| Zen | Hm, hold on... You the "partner" he'd always mention? |
| Omi | ...! |
| Probably. |
| Zen | ...Let's have a chat while the stew simmers. |
| |
| Zen | I first met him here, at Gentiana. The restaurant was closed, and I was there by myself. |
| I spotted him taking shelter at the front of the store when I was looking around. His blonde hair stood out against the pouring rain. |
| He was still there even after the rain started to let up, so I spoke to him. |
| "What's wrong? You hurt?" |
| Nachi | "Could I stay here for a bit?" |
| Zen | Now that I was closer, I could see that he was bruised and hurt all over. Kid probably just got out of a fight. |
| |
| Zen | I let him into the shop and patched him up. Couldn't just leave him out there. |
| He told me he was part of a biker gang, and had gotten caught in a scuffle with another gang. |
| Turns out he was the leader, along with his partner. He grumbled about how more and more fights were breaking out recently. |
| That day, another gang went after him while he was alone, but he managed to give them the slip. |
| There was something about that kid that made him real easy to talk to. Like he was an old friend. |
| |
| Zen | He kept coming by after that, but only when the shop was closed. |
| Must've taken a liking to the place. |
| One day, he came while I was holding an audition for a new cast member. I still remember the way his eyes lit up, like a switch had been flicked. |
| Nachi | "Wow, you do performances here? In a restaurant?" |
| Zen | "It's a show restaurant. There's a stage right there." |
| Nachi | "Man, I never noticed!" |
| Zen | "You need to get your eyes checked." |
| Nachi | "Hey, lemme work here someday." |
| Zen | "What? Why?" |
| Nachi | "C'mon, please? You're looking for a new actor anyway, aren't you?" |
| Zen | "Yes, an actor, not a bodyguard." |
| Nachi | "That's what I want to be. An actor. Honest." |
| Zen | "Then why do you run a biker gang?" |
| Nachi | "'Coz there was a biker gang manga that I really liked. But, that's not all. I think what I really wanted was a place to belong in." |
| Zen | "Is that so?" |
| Nachi | "My partner's a weird one. He's my age, but acts like he's fifty. He doesn't care about anything other than his family. Since middle school, I've always been a lone wolf kinda guy, getting up to no good. So I kinda get how he feels, y'know? That feeling of not really belonging anywhere. So, I figured it'd be nice if I could create a place that nobodies like us could come back to." |
| Zen | "So you started the gang for you and this partner of yours?" |
| Nachi | "Yeah. He's more like a wolf than me, so I let him have the nickname Crazy Wolf. I look more like a fox 'coz of my hair, so I'm the Crazy Fox." |
| Zen | Even when he was laughing and joking about how cool these nicknames were, I felt for the first time that he was perhaps more mature than the kid I had initially pegged him to be. |
| "You better not bring any of your biker gang business to my doorstep if you want me to hire you." |
| Nachi | "'Course not! I made the gang for my partner, but because of how much fighting is going on these days, my buddies are also getting hurt a lot more. Lots of nasty rumors flying around too, so I think it's probably time for us to quit. Wouldn't want my guys to regret joining the Wolves." |
| "I don't want to leave them, though. Big talk for someone who's so clingy, huh?" |
| Zen | "It makes sense, though. Those who make their own place of belonging are often the most lonely." |
| Nachi | "You talkin' about yourself, too, Zen-san?" |
| Zen | "......" |
| He could be strangely sharp sometimes, that kid. |
| An awkward silence fell between us. Then, I laughed. He thought I was laughing at him, but I really wasn't trying to. |
| Nachi | "Hey, I know that the biker gang's not gonna last forever, especially when we all grow up! But I want to stay with my Wolves forever... Even after we all graduate, and even after we all start our own careers, I hope we can all be together. I'm going to protect my partner and everyone in the gang, so we can all stay together like one big, happy family." |
| Zen | "One big, happy family, huh? So, what would you do after you all get older? You're not going to just ride around on bikes the whole time, are you?" |
| Nachi | "Hm... Oh, right! How 'bout you hire all of us?" |
| Zen | "Do I look like an employment agency for biker gangs?" |
| Nachi | "My partner's real talented at cooking. I'm sure he could be a lot of help to you, Zen-san." |
| Zen | At first, I thought, "sell yourself first if you want to work here, not your partner," but... He always looked so happy talking about this partner of his. That, I've always remembered. |
| |
| Zen | I told him to bring me a copy of his CV, and he said it was good timing because he was just thinking of getting a few shots taken of him in a proper suit for auditions. |
| Omi | ...... |
| Zen | Then he stopped showing up, and I've always wondered why... |
| I didn't know that he passed away. I'm sorry. |
| I always hoped I could let him taste the menu I designed with his help. |
| Omi | He helped you with that? |
| Zen | He happened to come by when I was thinking of overhauling Gentiana's menu, so I thought I'd ask him for some ideas. |
| I started to regret it when he told me he liked cheesy cod sticks, but then I asked him what the one most delicious thing he'd ever had was. |
| Omi | ...Was it pork miso soup? |
| Zen | No, he told me it was French toast with a sunny-side up egg. I couldn't help but chuckle. It was so out of left field. |
| Omi | ...! |
| (That was the only thing I ever made for him... I'd almost forgotten about it, and only remembered by accident, but...) |
| (I never knew he liked it that much... Even though it was just something I cobbled together when he barged into my house...) |
| (timer beeps) |
| Zen | Let's take a look at the stew. |
| |
| Sakyo | Took you long enough. I almost walked out. |
| Zen | Just shut up and eat. |
| Sakyo | ...Thanks for the food. |
| ...... |
| ...Yep, that's the taste I remember. |
| Cast A | Whew, I'm exhausted! |
| Cast B | I'm starving! |
| Zen | Oh, practise is already over, huh. |
| Cast A | Do I smell... stew? |
| Cast B | Aw, Zen-san, you shouldn't have! |
| Zen | I didn't. |
| Cast A | Whaaat?! |
| Cast B | You're killing us, Zen-san! It smells too good! |
| Zen | There's not enough for all of you... I'll have to make some more. |
| Omi | I'll help. |
