'Finally... finally found it!'
Amai was still unfamiliar with the layout of Konoha, so it took a while to find the ramen stall, that's to say, an hour. But alas, there it was.
Ichiraku Ramen, in the flesh—or rather, in the wood and fabric.
The curtains with those symbols she didn't yet understand, the simple wooden counter and stools to sit on, and that smell... Oh, that smell.
'I haven't smelled something this good ever since the orphanage. Did I ever get to have a proper meal during this life?'
Even now that she had some control over her own diet, she still had to stick to a strict budget, so it wasn't like she could cook anything really good.
'I'd cook more elaborate meals, but that would mean more dishes to wash and more steps to follow, and it would sometimes be more expensive! Time and money, both of which I cannot afford to waste. This'll be the one and only time for this month that I'll splurge, because I need to save up for other things.'
She approached the stall, pushed aside the curtain and stepped in, noticing an old man working in the back.
This was the second canon character she had met since arriving in Konoha—Teuchi, the man, the myth, the legend! The Sage of Six Bowls!
And beside him, was an observing girl who looked slightly older than Amai—around two years? She had brown hair tied into a short ponytail, and wore a white apron over her clothes.
'Oh, that's Ayame! That's gotta be Ayame, right?!'
Albeit, before she could finish her thought she was snapped back to reality by Teuchi's voice, whom had turned his head to look at her.
"Welcome, little miss! What can I get for you?" He asked, his eyes closed—how do you manage to see like that?
I had already decided a long time ago what I'd get. The only thing I'm worried about though... the price.
"Can I get a miso ramen with pork?"
"Comin' up." Teuchi responded without missing a beat and immediately got to work.
Amai sat there, waiting for a while. She made some idle conversation with Ayame—mostly about the ramen shop, how long she had been helping out, and a little about her own time at the Academy. Not that she had spent much time there yet.
It turned out that Ayame was indeed eight years old and had only started helping out a few months ago. Amai thought she was friendly and approachable—even kind.
"So, so, what kind of cool stuff do you guys do there? Can you shoot water beams?" Ayame asked, leaning forward on the counter with curiosity.
"Uh, it's just the stuff you'd learn in a normal school for now. Like writing in Hiragana," Amai replied absentmindedly, half-focused on the conversation and more on the old man's craft. "But we'll eventually start learning some nice things, like walking on walls."
"Really?!" She almost slammed her palms against the counter. "I've always wanted to go there, but, y'know..." Ayame looked "I like it better when I'm helping out my father in his shop. One day, I want to be just as good at making ramen as he is! Hey, are you even listening?"
That suddenly snapped Amai to reality.
"Sorry," Amai muttered in slight shame as she looked back at Ayame. "I was thinking that you'd definitely accomplish your dream one day, and most probably go beyond that."
"You think so?"
'If only she knew,' Amai thought to herself, already knowing the future that was eventually going to come. Ayame would be the one to take over management of the restaurant. It would expand and become one of Konoha's biggest restaurants!
Of course, she couldn't tell her that.
"Yup."
And just as Amai said that, Teuchi came back with a bowl of steaming ramen noodles.
"Here ya go, little miss." He placed it on the counter. "Miso ramen, with not one, not two, but three slices of pork. I'd normally charge you for this, but since it's your first time here and you're still growing up, it's on the house."
Amai couldn't believe it. On top of the service being fast, she was getting extra food—for free!
"Thank you!"
She wasted no time digging in, and by the gods, it almost brought her to tears with the first bite.
'This is... this is so good! No wonder Naruto ate this every chance he got. It's much, much better than instant noodles and definitely worth it's weight in gold. I'm becoming a regular, that's for sure.'
"You seem to be enjoying that. Tell me, how did you find this restaurant?" Teuchi asked from the counter, trying to make some conversation.
"A friend told me about it—said it was a good spot with insane food," Amai casually lied, still in the process of slurping noodles.
"Well, whoever your friend is, they definitely know what they're talking about. This ramen is the best there is—other restaurants have nothing on us!" Teuchi declared, puffing out his chest with pride as he struck it with a closed fist.
Amai ate for a few minutes longer and was finally done. She paid for her portion, which came out to exactly 100 ryō—a single silver coin.
It was a fair price, considering the size of the bowl and the ingredients used. Noodles were relatively cheap to source, and even cheaper if you had a regular supplier. Definitely not something to buy on a daily basis
She bid the father-daughter duo goodbye and left the establishment feeling satisfied.
The road back home was easy—Amai wasn't quite used to calling the apartment her home yet. She was planning on what to train on for the rest of the day, and couldn't help but feel like she was forgetting about something.
Until she remembered.
'Fuck, I got so caught up in the food I completely forgot to ask them for a job! I'm such an idiot!' Amai thought in frustration as she dragged a palm down her face.
"I guess I'll just go tomorrow or the day after."
She continued walking, resigned. It would be too awkward to just come back, and besides, she was too far away already. Damn her memory.
Soon enough, she reached her apartment once more.
'3:47 PM. Guess I've been out for a while... Now, where to start? I've never really stuck to a proper routine and just did whatever felt natural in my life, so perhaps this is my chance to build up some discipline.'
Instead of just plopping right down on the bed, she took her notebook out and a pencil, and then sat down on the singular chair she had. Placing down her tools, she got to work.
'This feels really weird. It's like trying to write all over again after your school break, but ten times worse and with tiny fingers. At least I can still write in English, even though I'm insanely rusty. Anyway, if I want to get stronger, then the best thing is to use every second available to me, even in the mornings.'
As she wrote, she noted that it was getting progressively less difficult to write. That was good.
'So, I'll sleep at 11 PM and wake up at 5:30 AM every day. I won't do it any later even on weekends because I know I'll easily fuck it up. A light pre-prepped breakfast—I still need to figure out a recipe.
Brush my teeth, then go outside for a quick workout as I don't have the space needed for it. A 10 kilometer run, 100 push-ups, 100 sit-ups and 100 squats, every single day!
Let's be honest. I really had no idea what to work on, so I stole it off a certain bald man. It should be difficult but doable. By the time I'm done, it should be around 7:00 AM at best. 7:30 AM at worst. After showering and going to the Academy, I'll have a few ration bars before training my physical condition from 2:30 PM to 4:30 PM, and from there, chakra control training. I'll have to list every single chakra control training method later.
At around 6:15 PM, I'll have a small break and continue to practice my handwriting in Hiragana. I'll try to drop some subtle hints to Mika-sensei that I want to learn about the Kanji, so that I can finally get started on Fuinjutsu.'
Except, she forgot about one thing. Money, again.
'Ink is probably expensive and out of my budget. Do they even use normal ink for seals? It's probably chakra-conductive ink, so that would be even more expensive. I fucking despise the economy! Every single good thing costs money!' Amai buried her head on the notebook in frustration.
Indeed, she really did need a job.
'Still, it'll be useful when I manage to get my hands on it. Once I'm done studying, I'll continue practicing the Leaf Concentration Technique from 8:00 PM to 9:30 PM, if I'm not almost out of chakra by then, of course. I hadn't noticed back then, but just doing that yesterday drained more than half of my chakra. Are my reserves small, or is it just that draining? Likely the former.'
Little did she know, she was right.
'Once I'm done with that, I'll cook up some quick dinner and go straight to sleep to prepare for the next day. It should be a solid plan if I stick to it, even if I'm kind of horrible at making these. The old me would consider this a big step forward!' Amai chuckled to herself as she scribbled down the last parts of her routine.
She noted to go buy some tape later, or anything to stick the paper on the wall.
'Might as well get started on it right now. I've wasted more than enough time writing this, considering it's almost been more than half an hour.'
With that, she stood up and stretched, before snatching a leaf from her bag. Amai knew she'd probably look like a weirdo back in her world, having a bunch of these just stored. They really had a purpose here, though.
'Time to keep going.'