The Ominous Ramen

The instant I laid eyes on that ramen, every pore in my body opened and sweat burst out.

Every ramen Ren had made for us so far had tasted completely different from anything we could have predicted.

But this time, I could easily imagine exactly “what kind of flavor” this ramen would have.

After all, the “ramen” gave off a piercing aroma of chili peppers, and the broth was an ominous crimson, like the bubbling lava of hell itself…

Without a doubt, this was “spicy” ramen!

It had happened three days earlier.

As we were about to leave, Ren had given us a fearless grin and said, “Everyone, when you come for the next ramen, make sure you’re in perfect condition. If you’re feeling even a little under the weather, you’ll be better off staying home in bed, all right?”

It had sounded like a parting challenge before a duel. We had all laughed and said, “What kind of joke is that, Ren!?”… but hmmm, it seemed he had not been joking at all.

Looking around at our stiff expressions, Ren folded his arms, raised his chin, and said,

“This belongs to a ramen genre called ‘extreme-spicy style.’ Well, you can probably tell just by looking at it… Anyway, it’s hot! Insanely hot! Nothing but heat! …But it ain’t just spicy, you know? The true appeal of this ramen can’t be explained with words alone. You’ve just gotta experience it with your own body. Now, dig in!”

Yet not a single one of us moved to touch the ramen.

We had all lost our nerve, frozen in place with our disposable chopsticks in hand.

…To be perfectly honest, I was afraid too.

This ramen looked dangerous just sitting there!

But we could not remain frozen like this forever.

Ramen was at its most delicious the moment it was finished. The longer it sat, the more its quality deteriorated. The noodles softened, and the soup cooled. Would it not be terribly rude to Ren, who had worked so hard to make it for us, if we let his ramen become unpleasant before eating it?

Someone had to make the first move if we were going to break this deadlock… and so, it would be me.

Because my heart was filled with trust in Ren.

I liked Ren. I loved Ren’s ramen.

There was no way anything Ren served us could possibly taste bad!

Ouri had beaten me to the first bite of the veggie-potage-style ramen, but this time I would take the lead, eat first, and guide everyone else!

I took one deep breath… then snapped my disposable chopsticks apart.

At the sound, the other three suddenly came back to their senses.

I smiled brightly at them, as if to reassure them.

“Everyone, has there ever been a single bowl of ramen Ren made for us that tasted bad? Come now, tonight as well, let us open the door to yet another new world of ramen together!”

Pure white bean sprouts sat atop the almost poisonous-looking crimson broth. The vivid contrast of colors was beautiful, like snow-white drift ice floating upon molten lava.

When I plunged my chopsticks into the bowl, the bean sprouts collapsed and sank into the broth. Pushing them aside, I lifted the yellow noodles and found countless flecks of chili clinging to them.

I stared at them for several seconds… then steeled myself and, still smiling as if to make a show of it for everyone, brought them straight to my mouth and slurped them down with gusto.

Slurrrrrp!