I’M Really Helpless In Tokyo

Toya Soba, Yokohama branch.

This is an exquisite shop with Japanese coarse cloth curtains, round lanterns and glazed tile eaves.

The tatami mats, Japanese-style low tables and waiters in kimonos in the store are filled with a strong historical atmosphere and traditional Japanese style.

The shop sign at the door reads "Iwate Head Office was founded in Meiji 40 years".

It is a branch of an authentic century-old shop...

Inside the store, except for Yutaro Kotori, who was absent from the shop, who was busy returning the car and taking care of the shrine, the other six people were sitting neatly around the rectangular tatami dining table.

The table is already full of snacks that are rich in variety and attractive in appearance.

Tuna, salmon sashimi, Japanese miso pickled radish, salmon roe, shiitake radish, minced pork, miso soup, fruit pudding...

"Zongsuke, are you ready? Once the war begins, there is no turning back!"

Higashino Xingping's eyebrows drooped, showing a wolf-like provocative look.

"Hmph, the package price has already been paid, of course it is full of firepower."

Araki Sosuke, who was sitting across from him, stared at him with sharp eyes.

"Ahem, as usual, I will still be the arbitration of this duel..."

Before the second, Ryoma clenched a fist and coughed lightly, also with a heavy face.

"This time? Still the same? Is this often held duel an important part of Mr. Araki's daily practice? Be sure to record the details in a while..."

Yu Mayumi, sitting next to Sosuke Araki, took out the notebook from nowhere and began to write carefully.

"I really miss it. It's actually this shop... It's been a long time since..."

Even sitting on the tatami, Siena, who is close to the petite waitress beside him, looked around the decoration of the store and sighed.

"Has Uncle Siena been here?"

Sitting beside him, Mochizuki Ling Nai, who looked like a doll and looked petite and cute, asked curiously.

"Twenty years ago, I happened to have a meal with Yueying-jun once."

As if recalling something pleasant, Siena was also interested, and a pair of big black hands like a fan of flowers lightly pressed on the table: "Hey, two brothers, why don't you let me join in..."

"Oh? We are a gamble on our lives. Are you sure you want to participate?"

"Those who lose, have to pay the bill for the entire table tonight? We are not willing to bully foreign friends..."

Kohei Higashino and Sosuke Araki, who were originally "looking at each other with passion", suddenly turned their heads to look at him, their eyes glowing like a wolf.

"Hey, although I don’t have any other skills, I have never lost to anyone when talking about this kind of'war'... I was trapped under the sand cave by the'jihadists' for half a month. The scorpions, snakes, and mice all ate them thoroughly."

With a grinning grin and showing white teeth, Siena exudes the wildness of the African savannah cheetah without giving way.

The atmosphere on the table was as heavy and peaceful as before the storm.The trio who originally had a criminal atmosphere, plus this strong, tall black priest, and two "coerced innocent girls" next to him...

Immediately, the image of this table was upgraded from a "local trio of punks" to "an international human trafficking group under the guise of religion."

Since a group of people entered the store, the dining and checkout speeds of the customers in the store began to soar.

Occasionally there are guests who open the door and are directly persuaded by this strange atmosphere.

"Zongsuke, Xingping, can I start, mother-in-law, my hands are sore?"

I don't know when the old lady waiter, who is waiting by the side and holding the tray, seems to know the three of them very well, and asks impatiently.

"Hey, the real protagonist, has he finally appeared?"

The bunch of exquisite "coquettish bastards" on the table is not the "protagonist" of today's meal.

This "Tokyo Soba" originated in Iwate. The most famous food is not ordinary soba, but "Wanzi Soba".

It was the large pile of dense red bowls in the tray in the hands of the old woman.

Wanzi is the dialect of Muwan.

There is a custom of using soba noodles to entertain customers in the Morioka area.

The origin of the small bowl of soba noodles is to provide many people with freshly cooked noodles at once, so a small amount of soba noodles are placed in a small bowl and served to the guests bit by bit until the guests are full.

When guests eat noodles, they will compete with each other for the number of bowls eaten. The waiter will also pour the noodles in the small bowl into the guest bowl while shouting "Hayi, Duobao" until the guest puts himself in the lid. Cover the bowl to show that you are full.

Of course, during the meal, guests will also enjoy some side dishes and miso soup with noodles.

Over time, this custom spread from the local area to all parts of Japan.

Even during the solar terms and the New Year, many places will hold a bowl of soba noodle contest to see who can eat more bowls within the specified time.

The Wanzi Soba competition was originally one of the "reserved items" of the gourmet showdown between Sosuke Araki and Kohei Higashino.

Today, the war between the two ushered in a powerful intruder: Father Siena, a priest with black robes and white teeth, who returned from the barren Middle East and claimed to have not eaten a full meal in ten years.

"Tired folks, how are you? I'm Ryoma before the second host of justice... Not much nonsense. Next, I announce that the 21st Bowl Soba War... is on!"

Following Ryoma's exaggerated rap declaration like a nightclub DJ before the second, Kohei Higashino who was sitting at the table picked up his chopsticks with a knife and cut his belly, and moved exactly one bite of soba noodles along the wall with lightning speed. In the rush to the mouth, he chewed violently and swallowed quickly.

The whole action was smooth and smooth, and it took no more than a second.

"Wow, our ‘Hungry Dog Higashino’ player seems to be full of momentum. Today, he took the lead by surpassing Mr. Kato’s hand speed and took the lead..."

Sousuke Araki, who was sitting across from him, followed closely behind him, picking up his chopsticks and inhaling the soba noodles in his bowl, and swallowing it without chewing.

"YOOOOOO...'Hungry Ghost's Rod' Sosuke Araki is also determined to win today, and he used the secret combination of'storm inhalation' +'refusal to swallow' at the beginning! Is there a beauty by the side or a strong challenge? What is the reason for the chaos?"

Araki Zongsuke's abnormal eating method immediately caused Ryoma's tongue-in-cheek praise before the second.

"Hayi, duo."

The old woman who was waiting at the side, with a hand speed that did not match her age, at the moment the two swallowed the noodles and took the bowl away from their mouths, she poured the noodles in the small bowl into the bowl with lightning speed. Inside the bowl of the two.

It gives people a sense of sight that the noodles in that bowl have never been eaten.

"Appeared, Grandma Yudou's stunt makes people too late to flip and say no,'Lightspeed cheats to add face'!!"

"Hmph, young people are really aggressive... But sometimes they charge too fast and they may fall to the ground severely..."

Siena on the side didn't race against time like the two, instead, he swallowed the noodles unhurriedly, and carefully closed his eyes and savored the pleasure of savoury soba noodles breaking in the mouth.

"Oh, our new challenger '20 centimeters per second' has finally taken action! He didn't use any special skills, instead he ate soba noodles with a face of victory in his hands. Is this the legendary return to basics? ?"

"Hey, Mayumi-chan... It's so boring to eat with these rough guys... Wow, it's so fresh..."

Looking at the "passionate" match in front of him, Mochizuki Lingnai disdainfully stuffed a piece of salmon thorn into his mouth, and immediately showed an expression of enjoyment.

"The secret technique is'Storm Inhalation' +'Refusal to Swallow'? Maybe it implies the secret of Buddhahood?"

Tori Mayumi, who was on the side, was sweating notes, carefully watching the fierce competition scene, and had no time to enjoy the food on the table.

"Hayi, duo."

With the rhythmic slogan of "One-on-Three" and her face-adding action with afterimages, the small red wooden bowls piled up in front of the three began to increase rapidly.

Kohei Higashino, who started first, has always maintained a leading position with his wild chewing and high-speed movements.

And Sosuke Araki also relied on his unique way of inhaling, biting him hard behind him.

"Well...the'Hungry Dog Higashino' player took the lead to break through the 50 bowl mark. It seems that today, are you ready to break through to the end in one breath?"

"Host" before the second Ryoma enjoys the food while not forgetting the passionate commentary.

"'Hungry Ghost's Rod' Araki Sosuke followed with two secret skills, and also broke through the 50 bowl mark...unfathomable and unfathomable, the new challenger Siena just used the most simple noodles The way, catch up quickly!!"

Siena maintained the seemingly ordinary way of eating, and seemed to slowly and quickly eliminate the "refreshing" soba noodles in the bowl, and unexpectedly broke the 50 bowl mark after the two.

"It was so fierce at the beginning...According to the usual practice of previous games, the game after 100 bowls has just begun. Please look forward to it."

Looking at the two teenagers in front of him who were smoking soba noodles at high speed, Siena's thoughts began to drift.

"Hey, if you don't eat a few hundred bowls, you still call yourself a spirit remover."

The scene before him began to overlap with a memory that had been sleeping for more than 20 years.

...

Twenty years ago.

"Hayi, duo."

"Sister Chino... We are just here to do a folk survey... Is it really necessary to challenge two hundred bowls of soba... Ah, thank you."

Asked a handsome young man with black-rimmed glasses, messy long hair, but a close look, with a bitter face and soba noodles in his mouth.

Facing the noodles being poured into the bowl quickly by the waiter next to him and the urging slogan, he kept nodding his head and thank you very well and was mechanically forced to eat the "continuously refreshing" soba noodles in the bowl.

"Hehehehe, Qingren's little brother, he doesn't eat a few hundred bowls, and he claims to be a spirit eliminator. He could kill him with the donated tofu, right, Siena?"

Sitting across from the youth was a blond and blue-eyed vigorous girl whose whole body radiated light no matter where she walked.

She was quickly stuffing soba noodles in her mouth, and enjoying this traditional Japanese delicacy with her face puffed up.

The petite chest did not tremble at all from the quick movements."Hey, that's natural. If you don't have enough food, where is the strength to do an investigation?"

The black boy dressed in a priest's robe with a cross on his chest stuffed the soba noodles into his mouth with a heroic attitude.

"Hey, you are the spirit exterminators, okay? I'm just an ordinary folklore scholar who is entrusted to assist you..."

"Hayi, duo."

"...Ah, thank you...Why do I have to be here for me to eat under people!!!"

The teenager who was ignored by the two of them could only honestly, respectfully and painstakingly continue to suck the noodles that the waitress poured into his bowl, and had no chance to pick up the lid next to it and cover it on the bowl.

"Hayi, duo."

...

"Hayi, duo."

"'Hungry Dog Higashino' is like a rainbow...Look at this high-frequency shaking hand speed, who can stop it...Wait, it seems..."

"Cough cough cough..."

After eating the 151st bowl at a high speed, Higashino's throat moved slightly, as if he was choked by the noodles.

"Oh, the big thing is not good, "Hungry Dog Dongye" seems to have an accident and was choked by the face? This is a big blow to his original aura like a rainbow..."

Kohei Higashino hesitated, took a sip of the miso soup on the side, and then continued to eat noodles.

"Fortunately, he chose to drink miso soup to solve the problem with great experience, and then found his own rhythm... However, excessive miso soup will cause the noodles to absorb water and swell in the stomach, which will affect the players' performance on that day. The upper limit of food...The "Hungry Dog Higashino" who drank the miso soup at the beginning of the game, how far can we go today, let us wait and see!"

"Hayi, duo."

Just when Higashino Yuppei was drinking soup, the small red bowls piled up in front of Sosuke Araki were already as high as his.

"Eh, eh, with the help of two secret skills, the "Hungry Ghost's Rod" that has been secretly speeding up, unexpectedly took this opportunity to overtake a corner. It seems that today's game is still unclear..."

"Hayi, duo."

With the slogan of Mother-in-law's unhurriedness, and the speed at which she can serve three brawny men at the same time and can easily add noodles, the red wooden bowls in front of the three of them are constantly stacked high.

"Cough cough cough..."

Kohei Higashino coughed again with soba noodles in his mouth.

As Ryoma said before the second, from the first choke to the beginning, his speed has gradually slowed down, and he was relieved by continuous drinking of miso soup in the middle.

Spontaneously, he reached out again to pick up the miso soup bowl on the side and put it to his mouth.

"Oops……"

Immediately, he sweated on his forehead and showed a pale face...

"How come?! I clearly calculated the remaining amount of miso soup carefully and used every bite of lubrication accurately and fully..."

The bowl in his hand should have left more than half of the miso soup, but he didn't know when it was empty.

"Wow, ‘Hungry Dog Higashino’, who just broke the 200-bowl mark, seems to have encountered the worst situation... The miso soup is drunk!!!"

Suddenly, Higashino Yuping suddenly realized, and looked at the opposite Araki Sosuke resentfully: "When did you despicable guy... do it..."

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