What Is ‘Real Ramen’...!?

The place was that same alley.

Seated on the chairs lined up beside the Yatai were me, Ouri, Brad, and a woman named Maria. She was Brad’s younger sister, and she now lived with him and helped out at the restaurant.

Brad had said he absolutely wanted to eat Ren’s ramen together with his sister, so he had woken her up and brought her along.

Maria looked around the area and spoke with deep emotion.

“Brad-nii-chan… this alley brings back memories.”

Brad gave a strong nod.

“Yeah. We’ve got plenty of painful memories of this alley too, but the reason we’re able to live happily now is because we met Taisho-san here.”

Maria spoke with tears welling in her eyes.

“That’s true. If it had just been the two of us, we probably would’ve been too lonely to ever come back here, wouldn’t we…? Taisho-san really died, huh. I hope you’re doing well in heaven too, kind Taisho-san.”

As if to shatter the melancholy atmosphere, two bowls were set down in front of them.

“Here ya go, two ramens, thanks for waiting! Now eat ’em while they’re hot!”

Brad and Maria, who had been feeling sentimental just moments ago, peered into the bowls placed before them and recoiled.

Their faces were plainly twitching… Heh heh heh. So this was how they reacted after all!

Still, a contest had to be fair.

They had to taste it first before they could judge.

Ouri and I gestured at the two of them with our hands, urging them, ‘Hurry up and eat!’

Seeing that, Brad and Maria exchanged glances, both looking pale, then nervously picked up their disposable chopsticks, plunged them into the bowls, and began to eat.

Some time later,

Brad, having finished his meal, raised his head and spoke hesitantly.

“Well… it was extremely delicious! I was honestly amazed by the flavor of this rich soup! But… when you call this ‘ramen,’ well…?”

Ren’s eyes widened, and his mouth twisted into a frown.

Naturally. Brad in particular had his pride in the ramen he had desperately devoted himself to making.

There was no way he could accept something like this as ‘ramen’!

But then,

Maria, seated beside him, raised her head and slowly spoke.

“I think this… is ‘ramen.’”

Ouri, Brad, and I were all shocked by this unexpected challenger.

But Maria puffed out her chest confidently and continued.

“Because when you really think about it, what exactly is ramen…? All of us believed that only the ramen Taisho-san made was ‘real ramen.’ But after eating this dish, I found myself thinking, ‘This is ramen too.’ Even if someone told me now, ‘This isn’t ramen,’ my heart wouldn’t change.”

Maria peered into her empty bowl as she spoke.

“This bowl had noodles, soup, garnish, roast pork, and bamboo shoots. And it was really delicious… Hey, Brad-nii-chan. If there isn’t any fish cake on top, does that mean it isn’t ramen? If there are three slices of roast pork, or if they’re thick, does it stop being ramen? If the soup is darker or lighter, can you really say it isn’t ramen anymore?”

When questioned, Brad answered timidly.

“W-Well… even without fish cake, ramen is still ramen. Having more slices of roast pork, or changing their thickness, isn’t really a problem. The richness of the soup differs from shop to shop too, and that should still count as ramen…”

Maria tilted her head and pressed him further.

“Does ramen have detailed rules deciding every single noodle and every ingredient in the soup? It doesn’t, right? If it did, then even your ramen shouldn’t be called ramen.”

Brad was left speechless and fell silent.

Neither Ouri nor I could say anything either.

Maria looked sadly around the alley and continued in a quiet voice.

“Taisho-san, the man who fed us ramen, is dead. There’s no longer any example for us to follow. So if that’s the case… where in the world does ‘real ramen’ even exist?”

Suddenly, Ren shouted loudly.

“That’s it! Exactly!”

Ren planted his thick, muscular arms on the counter and smiled at Maria.

“You really get it, don’t you? That’s right… there’s no such thing as ‘real ramen’ in this world!”

My mouth fell open.

There was no such thing… as real ramen…?

Ren lovingly stroked the counter of the Yatai and spoke with a distant look in his eyes.

“I think Dad’s ramen was delicious too, you know. That’s why I still remember the recipe properly, and I haven’t changed the seasoning for the roast pork either. When I finally open my own shop, I want to put up the name ‘Ramen Taiyo’ too.”

Ren looked around at all of us.

“…But listen. The old-fashioned Chinese-style ramen Dad made was only one form of ramen, you know? In the world where Dad and I came from, there are far more kinds of ramen. Ramen is supposed to be something much more ‘free’! Salt, miso, tonkotsu, dipping noodles, chicken paitan, soy-sauce tonkotsu, curry, champon, oil noodles, salad ramen, thick-sauce ramen, tomato ramen, chilled ramen, sanma-men, Kurume ramen, Iekei, rich seafood ramen, Ganko, Jun-Sumi, back-fat ramen, Toyama Black, even something called Taiwan Ramen American… There are way too many to list them all. Ramen has infinite possibilities. There aren’t any rules. As long as it tastes good when you eat it, that’s enough!”

W-What…!? There were that many different kinds of ramen in their world!

And… r-ramen was supposed to be something much more… ‘free’…!?

I suddenly froze.

I felt as though some profound truth was hidden within those words.