Chapter 2 The Red Flags Megastore Hamburger Steak #4
“What?” I reflexively squashed the patty I had been shaping. “He borrows three million yen. Then he asks for a specific meal to be cooked for him. He does nothing himself and makes his girlfriend do all the work. And then he says he doesn’t want the cheese? What the…”
“Wow…”
Even Iori’s and Hozumi’s faces stiffened.
“I said, ‘I’m sorry, you like it with grated daikon radish, don’t you, Sho?’ And he said, ‘That’s my girl! You know what I like. Why didn’t you do that from the start?’ ”
“What a misogynistic little—”
Iori butted in. “Easy, Momo-chan. Why don’t you step away from the bowl for a second?”
I was enraged. “Hey, listen! Hamburger steak is hard labor! It’s not simple to make. It’s not the kind of thing you want to be doing after you’ve spent the day trying to source three million yen! It’s a lengthy process as it is. To think that he asked for grated daikon radish is just…”
The more I spoke, the more infuriated I became. I felt my face getting hot. For Nagi, who had been completely burned out both mentally and physically, a cheesy hamburger steak was her last hope of salvation. She needed as many calories as possible to heal her wounds. And yet!
“Don’t tell me he expects you to grate his fucking daikon radish.”
“Of course he does. He didn’t stop there! Because I hadn’t planned on the radish, I didn’t have any. I told him I would need to run to the store, and he said, ‘That’s okay, I can wait, no problem. But don’t forget the shiso leaves!’ ”
“What the…”
“At this rate, he’s going to have a horrendous afterlife,” Hozumi remarked.
“True. He can’t complain if he ends up in the animal realm.”
I put down the patty and gave my hands a wash. Leaving the kitchen, I walked up to Nagi.
“Listen, Nagi.”
“Y-yes?”
I grabbed her shoulders. “We will have a cheesy hamburger steak.”
“Oh?”
“You absolutely have to have your hamburger steak with cheese—you need to eat an unbelievable amount of cheese. Do you understand?”
Nagi shook her head. “But I feel bad. I wouldn’t want to impose any more than I already—”
“You don’t need to feel bad,” I cut in. “Eating isn’t just good for your body.
It nourishes the soul. Nagi, you worked harder than anyone else today.
You must have used up all the mental energy you possessed.
So you need to fill yourself with anything and everything that you love.
Would you like me to add anything else to it? ”
“But do you even have cheese?” she asked Iori.
“Don’t worry. Hozumi and I will run to the late-night supermarket.” Flinging his coat on, Iori gave Nagi a pop idol–like wink.
Turning back to Nagi, I asked her a tough question. “Why don’t you try being the one who asks for something for a change?”
When you’re the one who’s always giving, the one who’s constantly supporting others, you forget that you’re allowed to ask for help. When someone lends you a hand, you feel a sense of guilt. It makes you feel as if you’re being selfish.
When guilt becomes an ingrained habit, it’s not easily removed.
Before you know it, you begin to think that you need to give the other person something of value in order to have an equal relationship with them. Once that way of thinking gets stuck in your mind, it doesn’t let you go.
Of course, helping others is a wonderful way of life. But at least while she was here at Amayadori, I wanted Nagi to be the one asking for help.
She fidgeted in her chair, playing with the edge of her sweatshirt. Suddenly she made up her mind and said, “I would like the cheese inside the patty, as well as on top of it, and a soft-boiled egg on the side. Oh, and a big grilled sausage, too.”
She was almost shouting. Her eyes looked like two glass marbles as she gazed into me.
There’s no better feeling than satisfying someone’s food cravings after they’ve made it through a really long day.
“Coming right up!”
As Iori burst back through the door proudly proffering the cheese, Nagi’s face broke out into a smile. After I quickly melted the cheese, the steaks, as well as some accompaniments, were ready. I served them with rice and bowls of soup.
I sank my knife into the meal, letting the cheesy center ooze out and spill onto the sizzling hot plate. I lifted it to my mouth along with the cheddar cheese topping. The hot juices from the meat filled every corner of my mouth.
“I’ve been craving this for a really long time!” Nagi blew on her hamburger steak before taking an enormous bite.
As she chewed, her hands cradled her cheeks, and she squeezed her eyes shut. She let out an enormous sigh.
“This is heavenly! Wow…it’s been a long day.”
Nagi let her arms go limp and sank into the sofa with her eyes closed. She looked as though she had realized just how exhausted she was.
As requested by Nagi, I had topped each patty with lashings of cheese and had also garnished it with crunchy cheese crisps. Heavy on our stomachs? Damn right it was! Coupled with the rice and soup, she was going to be happily well-fed.
I figured it was time to ask the hardest question.
“Do you think you’ll be able to finally end things once you get back home?”
Nagi gulped down a mouthful of sizzling-hot sausage before answering.
“Yes. I feel like I can finally do it, thanks to this food.”
“The food?”
“It made me realize that I hadn’t eaten what I wanted in a really, really long time.”
Nagi sighed. She explained that, because Sho was dating several girlfriends at a time, she never knew when he would turn up to see her.
He would contact her out of the blue, telling her he was on his way.
For years, she constantly kept her kitchen well stocked with the ingredients needed to make Sho’s favorite dishes, so that in case he did show, she could offer him the best hospitality possible.
“Also…when he told me that he wanted something lighter, that wasn’t too heavy on his stomach, I was like This guy cares about his stomach?
It was a total buzzkill. He had an affair with a married woman and wrecked her family.
He was completely fine with his girlfriend giving him all her life savings.
Yet he cares about his stomach getting upset?
That was the biggest shock of all, more than the money and the affair. ”
“So true!” I giggled.
Sometimes the flame burns out when we least expect it.
As Iori wrapped a generous amount of melting cheese around his hamburger steak, he said, “I guess the stresses of the relationship had been accumulating inside of you, so when he mentioned his stomach, that became the last straw. It probably turned off your maternal affections.”
Nagi sighed. “Maybe you’re right. I think I was trying to get him to live up to my expectations of the ‘ideal bad guy’ while pretending to accept him for who he was.
The cheating, the affair, and the pain he carried made him seem all edgy and musician-y.
But the upset stomach thing was too human.
I didn’t want to see that side of him. It’s been six years of this, so I can’t remember exactly how it all started, but I think the original dynamic was more like organized girl versus sloppy guy in the beginning. ”
Nagi gave a self-conscious laugh.
“Did things change gradually?” I asked.
“I started to pretend like I was the girl with infinite patience, and he became the guy who carried pain. We both continued playing those roles. I think we gave it our biggest shot to make it work. We really did.”
Having made that statement, Nagi ate the remaining food I had made for her.
She shoveled the rice into her mouth, finished every drop of her soup, and polished off her plate of hamburger steak.
She demolished everything, clearing all of the broccoli and every grain of corn.
She ate with so much enthusiasm, it felt good just to watch her.
“Thank you for the meal. For everything. I feel much better now. I’m going to go home and properly break up with him.”
She tightened her long ponytail as if to say, I’m ready now.
I smiled at her. “If you get tired of being the girl with infinite patience again, whether in romance or at work, you know where to find us. I’ll make you a cheesy hamburger steak anytime.”
Nagi suddenly remembered something. “Oh! And according to the poster, I’m supposed to give you the recipe of my ex-boyfriend’s favorite dish?”
“Doesn’t matter! Your favorite recipe, forgotten because of a toxic partner, can work, too! Right, Iori?”
“As you wish, President.” Iori opened his hand toward me.
With that, I winked at Hozumi, signaling that it was time for him to play his part. Straightening his back, he cleared his throat.
We all pressed our palms together and said, “Our condolences.”
I prayed that Nagi’s six-year love—a complicated relationship that had twisted itself out of shape—would rest in peace. That the quiet Nagi, who had been hiding inside her own heart, would be able to come out fully, even if it takes her a long time.
And one more thing.
That she would not hesitate to say “I want that,” whenever she craved a cheesy hamburger steak.
As Nagi walked out the door, Iori turned to me with a twinkle in his eye. “I have an idea…”
“Cheesy hamburger steak for Adachi, Takamura, and Kimura, please!”
“Got it! Oh, Iori, these are for the customers on the sofa. Two lunch sets.”
Amayadori, which had been practically deserted seven days a week, was now starting to see more customers after the cheesy hamburger steak gained some fans in the neighborhood. Although we only had twelve seats, when there was a constant stream of orders, it was hard to keep up.
After the lunchtime rush, I took a break and drank some water. I had just let out a big sigh when the bell rang.
“Momoko! Iori! Hozumi!”
I glanced over to find Nagi standing by the entrance. Her hair had been cut into a short blunt bob.
“Wow! I didn’t even recognize you! You have a gorgeous forehead.”
Nagi giggled sheepishly at my compliment.
“Did you manage to break up with Sho?”
“Absolutely. In fact, I got him to prepare a letter pledging to pay his debts. He’s even signed it with his thumbprint.”
Nagi gave me a thumbs-up. It appeared that, thanks to her accounting knowledge, she had formally sorted out the money and paperwork side of things.
“By the way, I’m dying for a cheesy hamburger steak today. Could you make me one?”
“Of course! But first, its official name is…” I handed her a copy of the recently printed menu. “The Red Flags Megastore Hamburger Steak!”
“Pretty direct!” Nagi chuckled.
“I suggested ‘Hamburger Steak of Love and Desire,’ ” Iori chimed in.
“I told him no, because it sounds weird. And erotic.”
Iori’s suggestion made Nagi grow all fidgety.
“I wouldn’t mind it if Iori wants to call it that,” she said, her cheeks flushing.
“Oh, no. Nagi, do not fall for this man! It will not end well. Anyway, let’s eat first, shall we?”
We chatted, we cooked a delicious meal, and we ate. What do I hope to achieve at Amayadori? That, I still don’t know, but for now I’ll do the things I can do.
A warm breeze slowly drifted inside.
Spring was nearing.