Give Me A Present

Ren rummaged through his trouser pocket with a thoroughly troubled expression and pulled out a thin, rectangular slab. As he removed a loop from one end of it, he said,

“Hey… here, Rinsir-san! This… okay? I’ll give you this as a present—a smartphone strap!”

What Ren held out was a fabric loop decorated with an adorable miniature ramen bowl. The bowl was filled to the brim with translucent broth, topped with chashu, a seasoned egg, green onions, bamboo shoots, and spiral fish cake, with yellow noodles submerged beneath them.

I had no idea what material it was made from, but its colors and textures made it look exactly like real ramen shrunk down to miniature size, so lifelike that I half expected it to give off an aroma and taste like the real thing if I put it into my mouth.

“O… oooh! I-it’s ramen… tiny ramen! But how can it possibly be made with such incredible detail…?”

As my eyes widened in amazement, Ren smiled gently at me and said,

“It’s a food replica. I’ll give it to you, Rinsir-san… okay?”

Wiping away my tears, I asked Ren,

“Sniff… A-are you really sure I can have something this wonderful…!?”

Ren nodded emphatically.

“Yeah, take it. You love ramen, Rinsir-san. It suits you perfectly, right?”

“Y-yaaay! Thank you, Ren! I shall put it away in my treasure chest!”

“No, no. It’s a strap, so you’re supposed to attach it to something you use every day and carry it around… Wait, Ouri-san!?”

When I looked over, Ouri was gritting his teeth and sniffling loudly.

Ouri complained in a tearful voice.

“G-ghh…! This ain’t right… This just ain’t right, Ren! I was the first person in this world to eat your ramen, remember? I love you and ramen just as much as that bastard Rinsir does… and yet you leave me out… while the two of you act all close right in front of me like you’re rubbing it in!”

“Huh? Rubbing it in…? No, no. Hold on, Ouri-san!”

Ren spoke with an exasperated look. But Ouri kept grinding his teeth, his face twisting bitterly in frustration.

“W-what am I supposed to do…? Let’s see, is there anything else I can give away…?”

Ren started rummaging through his trouser pocket again. Then he pulled out a small white box.

“…Ah! Ouri-san, you can have this! So forgive me, okay?”

With that, Ren offered it to him with a smile.

Ouri stared blankly at the little white box.

“What the heck is this?”

“They’re Frisk mints… If you pull it like this, this part opens.”

As he spoke, Ren firmly pinched the box and pulled, causing the lower section to slide out and reveal a small opening.

He shook it over Ouri’s palm with a click, and a tiny pure-white pellet rolled out.

“Then you put that white pellet in your mouth and chew it.”

Ouri tossed it into his mouth and crunched down.

“Whoa!? W-what the hell is this!? My whole mouth feels cool, and even the inside of my head feels refreshed!”

“O-Ouri… please! Give me one too!”

When I exclaimed excitedly, Ouri took the box from Ren and shook it smugly over my palm.

“Fine, fine, but only one, got it? …Here, Maria, Brad, you two try some too! They’re good!”

I immediately put the “Frisk” Ouri had given me into my mouth. The tiny pellet seemed like concentrated mint, and when I chewed it, an indescribably sharp coolness swept straight down my throat… Ahh, wonderfully refreshing!

Ren smiled at Ouri.

“You love unusual foods, don’t you, Ouri-san? When you run out, I’ll buy you more at the convenience store, so eat as many Frisk mints as you like.”

“Gahahaha! Thanks, Ren! Sorry for making you give me something this good!”

Ouri shouted with a delighted grin.

“Whew. Looks like he’s cheered up. Glad that’s settled…”

Then a resentful voice came from the corner of the counter.

“N-not fair… Everyone else got presents from Ren-san…!”

Ren clutched his head.

“D-damn it… Now it’s Brad!”

Brad appealed to him with tears streaming down his face.

“Ren-san! As a fellow ramen chef, I’ve always felt a sense of kinship with you, and I admire you! Right now, you’re still the one teaching me everything, but my new dream is to someday make ramen delicious enough to surprise you and become a rival who can push you to improve just as you push me! And yet… was our relationship nothing but a game to you, Ren-san!?”

Ren sat down beside the softly sobbing Brad, put an arm around his shoulders, and comforted him.

“No, Brad. I’ve never thought of our relationship as some kind of game. I’ve always taken you and ramen seriously.”

“B-but… Ren-san, you keep paying attention to Maria, Rinsir-san, and Father, while you barely pay any attention to me….”

“That’s not true. You’re important to me too.”

“Then why did you say everything was settled when I was still sitting here…?”

“W-well, that was… uh… Let’s see, what’s still on the cart that I could give you…? A kitchen knife… no, definitely not. Seasonings… stockpot… ladle… uhh….”

After agonizing over it, Ren picked up a translucent container filled with bamboo shoots.

“H-here, Brad. How about this? A plastic storage container!”

Brad raised his face.

“A… storage container?”

“Yeah. I normally use these to hold toppings. If you press down around the rim like this, it seals shut and keeps the contents fresh… Pretty amazing, right?”

Brad took it curiously and opened and closed it several times with soft popping noises.

“A-amazing…! Even when I turn it sideways, not a single drop of liquid from the bamboo shoots leaks out! And it’s easy to open and close, light, and flexible enough that it won’t break even if you drop it!”

“Right? Right? I’ll give you all four—the ones for condiments, bamboo shoots, chashu, and seasoned eggs—so cheer up, okay, Brad?”

As Ren stacked the containers together, Brad beamed from ear to ear.

“Of course I’ll cheer up! Thank you, Ren-san! I’ll treasure these storage containers!”

Ren sighed in relief and patted his chest.

“Ahh, good. That really is everyone this time, right…?”

Smiling happily, we all thanked Ren in turn.

“Ren-san, thank you for the beautiful stole!”

“I’ll treasure my ‘food replica’ too!”

“I’ll have some ‘Frisk’ whenever I need a little pick-me-up!”

“I’ll use these ‘storage containers’ as a symbol of the bond between ramen chefs!”

Ren looked around at all of us, shook his head, and gave a wry smile.

“Anyway, about the next ramen….”

“Will it be three days from now again?”

Ren nodded firmly.

“Yeah. Three days from now. But Rinsir-san, Ouri-san, there are some ‘people I want you to bring here’ that night. Because that day is….”

The yatai disappeared down the snowy alley.

…The last time we had seen Taisho had also been on a cold night like this, with powdery snow drifting through the air.

Surely we had remembered the night Taisho disappeared and suddenly grown afraid that Ren might vanish in the same way. That anxiety had tormented our hearts, making us selfish like children and driving us to seek something tangible—some definite “thing” we could hold onto.

We could not go to Ren’s world.

No matter how much trouble he found himself in there, we could not help him, and no matter how desperately we wanted to see him, we had no way of reaching him.

Even if Ren died in that other world, we would never know. We would only spend helpless days worrying about him after he suddenly vanished like an illusion… crushed beneath unbearably painful memories, waiting once again in this alley for someone who would never return.

An unbearable feeling welled up inside me.

I called loudly after Ren as he headed back toward his own world.

“Hey, Ren! Next ‘Christmas,’ we’ll have an amazing present waiting for you too!”

Before turning the corner and disappearing into the pitch-black alley, Ren looked back and waved with a smile.