The Old Ramen Shop

The 2 youths entered the worn down restaurant, luckily the insides looked better than the outside. although there were places with thick dust and some of the furniture broken.

Shiku - "so here's my place"

Shiku walked behind the table counter where customers would eat their food. Kelbi sat down one of the broken stools, it seemed unsteady and looked as if it might fall any time he moved his bottom.

kelbi - "so... this is your place?"

The child rotated his head to examine the building's interior, the air was damp and the place had a faint smell of decaying vegetation. There were broken chairs and tables aligned and a counter top with a ramen work station, this place really did resemble a ramen shop.

Shiku - "Thaaat's right! this place used to serve the most poluar ramen in the whole city!"

The hero exclaimed with his eyes sparkling in enthusiasm. He continued to tell the boy the story of the place.

Shiku - "Boy, back in the old days, customers would line up infront of this shop just to taste our delicious ramen. The lines would go far behind to the point where I couldn't see the end of it. It was hilarious"

He laughed, Kelbi looked at him in confusion and asked,

Kelbi - "Were you the only one who worked here?"

There was a brief moment of silence, but soon Shiku heavily sighed and place his chin onto his palm with eyes facing downwoards.

Shiku - "No, my dad, I mean "foster" dad- he used to run the place. He would laugh and make lame jokes to entertain the cutomers while they ate his ramen."

shiku brushed his fingers against the rusty wooden counter top and smiled warmly.

Kelbi - "Then where is he now? He sounds like a really cool guy!"

The little boy looked around the shop with a brightened face, eyes sparkling like little stars.

Shiku - "Oh, well uh... he's still gone at the moment. It's been a couple of years ever since he moved to another city, my dad had a really popular ramen restaurant in yokto, jopan."

Kelbi - "So that means you were left here, alone?"

Shiku - "I wasn't abandoned or anything, I made a decision to stay here. Moving to another city seems troublesome and adapting to the enviroment might be hard."

Shiku paused for a moment and decided to change the topic, he moved away from the counter and upstairs, signing kelbi to follow him.

Shiku - "follow me, I'll get you some food. Your friend must be starving right now."

Kelbi - "Oh yeah!"

Kelbi had almost forgotten about his starving friend. both of them climbed up the stairs, each step taking them further into small, dark stairway.

Shiku - "Be careful now. The light bulbs are broken and I haven't fixed them yet."

The hero chuckled akwardly. Luckily kelbi eyes adapted quickly due too always living on the dark streets of the city.

They finally reached to the top where the stairs had leaded them. It was a wooden door, compared to the door back at the entrance of the restaurant, the one they were facing looked new. Shiku opened it and walked in followed by kelbi,

Kelbi was astounded by the scenery that the door had led too, it was a bedroom! it had a balcony with no doors seperating the both, the place also had a lot of windows except with no glass, just frame, a clean bed, and a bright lamp that gives the place a warm atmosphere.

Shiku - "so here's my room, I'll got get you some food, you can seat down on the bed while you wait."

The hero walked to a spot on the floor and lifted one of the edge, it was a hidden door! he started to rummage through the contents of the small storage space that he had hidden.

Shiku - "hey, kelbi. Is your friend perhaps a vegetarian?"

Kelbi - "no, he can eat meat too."

Kelbi started to bounce on the bed, and roll around.

Shiku found a loaf of bread, a package of ham and a jar of crackers. He held them all into his arms and hugged it like a baby, the hero then closed the storage door and walked to kelbi.

Shiku - "Alright so here's the food."

Kelbi - "hooray!"

Shiku - "another question, can you tell me the adress or the street name that you and your friend lives on?"

The child thinks for a second, then looks back at Shiku.

Kelbi - "I think it was... melit- something, something?"

Shiku - "you mean melituro?"

Kelbi - "Yeah that!"

Shiku - "I know a shortcut follow me."

What shortcut will Shiku take so that Kelbi can unite with his friend faster? What will be the state of his friend right now???

To be continued...

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