390: Chapter 389: The Urge to Confide 390: Chapter 389: The Urge to Confide Uesugi Izakaya was on fire.
More precisely, their food was on fire.
The once deserted alley nobody cared for was now bustling with people, with several long lines of custors making the already narrow alley impassable, and the queue even spilled out onto the street.
From a passerby’s perspective, the scale of the queue was indeed terrifying, with no end in sight, causing many pedestrians to stop and ask those waiting in line.
“Their rice balls are too delicious!”
A young man, wiping the water at the corner of his mouth, answered.
T.V.
station teams took notice of the anomaly here, reporters squeezed through, and approached a couple snuggling up to one another, extending the microphone to ask, “The fireworks festival is about to start, why are you still queuing here?”
The female intern reporter glanced at the queue that seed to have no end ahead.
Unexpectedly, both the man and woman gave her a look as if she were an idiot, with the young man naturally answering, “The food from this restaurant is worth waiting in line for.”
“Yes, yes!”
The woman nodded, “We just had a free taste of their limited octopus balls, and now we’re planning to queue up to buy so more!”
After speaking, the couple looked at each other with love.
The female intern reporter’s expression stiffened slightly, her complexion a bit unnatural.
She scanned the queues again, taking in the sight of all the couples, so holding hands, embracing, or whispering sweet nothings in each other’s ears, suddenly feeling as if she had been hit with a ton of bricks.
Next to her, holding the filming equipnt and sweating profusely, was the equally bewildered team mber.
The atmosphere seed off.
The sickeningly sweet aroma wafting from the vicinity was also a bit too intense.
“There are way too many couples here!”
Xia Yu complained inwardly.
At the entrance of Uesugi Izakaya, as custors ca and went, grabbing their food and paying, he and Uesugi Tetsuya ended up playing the role of odd-job n.
Morioka Makoto morphed into the manager who greeted custors with a smile, while Tiqie Helinai and Niho Fuyuka turned into employees, packaging food and helping to take paynt.
Uesugi Tetsuya distributed dining vouchers from Uesugi Izakaya to departing custors.
These were also voting tickets for the Sumida River Gourt Award.
It wasn’t hard to notice that Morioka Makoto’s takoyaki sales were the best, and it later beca so popular that supply couldn’t et demand.
Xia Yu and Uesugi Tetsuya decided to move the cooking equipnt outside and started making takoyaki at the entrance, selling them as soon as they were made.
Soon, the small shop faced a supply crisis.
“We’ve already used up the backup stock, and the warehouse is empty!” Uesugi Tetsuya said anxiously, “I just contacted the supplier, and they won’t deliver around the Sumida River area today!
Their supply trucks can’t get through!”
Typical food suppliers were indeed unreliable.
“Co and chop the octopus!”
Passing the knife to Uesugi Tetsuya, Xia Yu, without even wiping his hands, took out his cell phone from his pocket.
He didn’t log into the IGO ingredient shop, but instead called Main General Liangzi directly.
“Give 30 minutes!”
The person on the line answered and hung up the phone.
Before long.
Uesugi Tetsuya watched, stunned, as six or seven burly n suddenly burst into the izakaya, each carrying a sealed box of ingredients.
“Seaweed, eggs, low-gluten flour.”
“Yam, octopus, mustard greens…”
With a wave of his hand, directing this group of smartly dressed strong n to line up outside, Main General Liangzi handed Xia Yu a list of ingredients, “Sign for it.
I’ll send soone over to settle the bill tomorrow.”
Xia Yu waved his hand, “This bill’s on !”
These were all ordinary ingredients; he bought a bunch, but the cost was still less than half the price of half a pound of Fantasy Ingredients.
At that mont, the deep roar of fireworks ca from outside the store.
The Sumida River Fireworks Festival had begun!
About 20,000 fireworks would vie to bloom in the sky over the next while!
Gasps and excited screams echoed across the buildings around the Sumida River, and even the Uesugi Izakaya, tucked away in a corner of the bustling city, was lit up with the dreamscape glow of the colorful fireworks in the sky.
During this ti, the alley where the izakaya was located finally emptied out.
On the street outside, couples each held a steaming box of takoyaki, savoring them while simultaneously looking up at the fireworks in the sky, feeling the intense atmosphere of the midsumr festival, whether in the world of gourt food or in reality.
This was the sumr of beautiful love.
After being busy for nearly two hours, everyone finally got the chance to take a break and watch the fireworks.
Uesugi Tetsuya glanced at the sky a few tis before silently heading back to the kitchen to continue chopping vegetables.
His ho was right here, and every year he could see the fireworks rise above the Sumida River, so after seeing them so often, they had lost their novelty for him.
Main General Liangzi and the IGO staff mbers quietly slipped away.
Thus, only Xia Yu, Morioka Makki, Tiqie Eriina, and Niho Hizaki remained in the alley.
“Hmm?!”
In his field of vision, the fireworks were a blur, but Xia Yu wasn’t particularly interested.
He glanced to his childhood friend on his left side.
Seeming startled by his sudden downward gaze, his childhood friend quickly withdrew her left hand back into the sleeve of her yukata, and her cheek flushed with an intoxicating shade of red.
“Thirsty?”
He asked casually and handed over the bottle of green tea he was holding.
“A little…”
Morioka Makki was sowhat flustered, replying subconsciously, taking the bottle and unscrewing the cap to take a small sip.
Wait a minute!
After taking two sips and detecting a subtle offness, Makki blushed furiously, casting a furtive glance at the boy looking up at the fireworks, as a multitude of thoughts could not help but race through her mind:
Had he noticed?
Or was it intentional?
Her heart fluttered chaotically.
“The fireworks are beautiful this year as well…” Xia Yu remarked offhand.
“Yes, they are!”
Morioka Makki replied softly, her gaze drifting.
A while later, Xia Yu sensed sothing again and looked down to find soone tugging gently at his left sleeve.
The girl who had once boldly confessed to him on the rooftop of the school building had beco timid three years later, hanging her head low, standing to the left of the boy, only ten centiters apart.
Although they were within arm’s reach of each other, they seed so distant.
Startled at first, Xia Yu felt utterly helpless.
His childhood friend, who was usually so perceptive, was inevitably consud by her emotions in this atmosphere.
His glance swept over to the couples huddled together at the entrance of the alley, illuminated by the dreamy colors of the fireworks, and with a shrug, he decided to indulge for the evening and carry this good mood into tomorrow’s cooking competition.
Pop.
The delicate hand that had been gently pulling on the boy’s sleeve was suddenly enveloped by a warm palm, so forceful and dominating.
It jerked reflexively.
But within a few short seconds, the girl cald down.
The ten-centiter gap that initially separated them quietly closed.
Later on, the girl grew bolder, reverting to the image she once left on Xia Yu, tightly clinging to his left arm without letting go.
Even so, she opened her mouth, overco with a strong urge to pour out her feelings.
Xia Yu’s heart skipped a beat, not daring to look at her directly.
On the surface, he was looking up at the fireworks, but his peripheral vision was entirely focused on the girl leaning against him.
After a while, the girl blurted out sothing she had been holding back, which left him bemused.
“…Good luck in tomorrow’s cooking battle!”
“Of course!” Xia Yu chuckled, “Makki, you also need to do your best!”
She took it the wrong way imdiately and blushed with embarrassnt, hanging her head so low, her chin almost touched her chest.
“I ant the ‘Autumn Elections’…”
Her belated second half of the sentence elicited a playful scolding from the girl.
anwhile.
Tiqie Eriina had already diverted her gaze from the splendid fireworks-lit sky, biting her lip as she watched the figures sticking together under the night sky.
“Miss Eriina!”
Niho Hizaki murmured in her heart, feeling complex emotions as the outsider, the fourth party to this scenario.
In simple terms, she was deeply affected.
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