Wheelchair Girl: Chapter 4-3

RAWS: https://novel18.syosetu.com/n2611p/19/

Chapter 4-3: Okonomiyaki Restaurant 2

―3―

After confirming that the griddle was warm enough, Kazutaka picked a bowl containing the ingredients for okonomiyaki and got started.

While watching him, Haruka said:

“Could I try?”

“Can you?”

“It has nothing to do with me being from the Kansai region. Making takoyaki or okonomiyaki is not difficult.”

Haruka replied with confidence.

“Well, then here you go.”

Kazutaka handed over the bowl.

Haruka skillfully mixed the ingredients and formed the dough.

She spread a thin layer of oil over the heated griddle, her spatula handling was skilled and she spread the dough evenly. The sound she created as a side effect rang pleasantly in Kazutaka’s ears.

“For okonomiyaki, the most deciding factor is the timing of when you flip them.”

She grasped the spatula with both her hands and looked at the griddle with a gaze resembling some experienced cook in their thirties or something.

Haruka’s long hair dangled down.

Since that bothered her, she brushed them away and tucked them behind her ear.

Watching Haruka with his elbows on the table, Kazutaka casually asked:

“Harukawa, isn’t your hair a bit too long?”

Haruka looked up at her bangs.

“…You think so?”

“Yeah”

He won’t deny that she had beautiful long straight black hair but it was ‘that’ kind of style.

Her long hair went down to her shoulder blades on her back, with rather messy ends and her bangs almost covered her eyes fully. She resembled Sadako a bit.

It almost felt like she could mask her whole face with just her hair. Give it a month and she’d perfectly become one of these characters that have their eyes hidden by bangs.

(TLN: Side characters resp. hentai MCs)

“You don’t want to cut it?”

“Hm…”

When he asked, she made a difficult face.

Was she perhaps attached to her current hairstyle?

“You don’t have to cut all of it drastically but you could cut the tips or perhaps just tie them up with a ribbon or rubber.

“I don’t think any of those will suit me though.”

With an unclear expression, she shook her head.

“That’s not true.”

Kazutaka got up from his seat and moved behind her.

“Please bear with me for a bit.”

Curious about how she’d look with a different hairstyle, his started to touch her head.

Grasping the long hair gently, he made a ponytail.

Then he formed two cute pigtails.

Actually, wouldn’t it be quite nice to pull out a hairband and expose her forehead for a bit?

Kazutaka lifted Haruka’s forehead and laid her forehead bare. Her face which was mostly hidden was now fully exposed.

Her gloss hair rustled like hair in those commercials. It felt good to touch.

“Actually, wanna go all out and do a shortcut? Harukawa will surely look good with short hair as well. Hm, yeah short-cut seems quite nice.”

Haruka responded with doubt.

“Really?”

“Yeah, to be honest, it’s just me being into shortcuts.”

Kazutaka had a thing for girls with short hair. They were always so lively and gave off cheerful vibes. 

As for Haruka, he was certain she could pull off any haircut, she was just that good of a base.

“Actually, I really think it might be better to go get a haircut soon. Isn’t this a bit too much?”

“Uhm, that aside, how long do you want to touch my hair?”

Kazutaka found himself just fiddling with Haruka’s head, making the “Pineapple Hair” and stuff. Haruka twisted her body as she felt tickled.

“Please stop.”

She blushed and quickly pulled away her hair in embarrassment, they fell down on her forehead and hid her face.

“Sorry, Sorry.”

Kazutaka returned to his seat while laughing.

I think I’m fine with it as it is.

“Ah, you could have just cut the tips at the hair salon, that alone would have been enough.”

Kazutaka felt like that alone would make quite an impact on her appearance.

“…If you tease me too much, I might burn your okonomiyaki.”

Haruka, as if trying to end this conversation, quickly focused her gaze back on the griddle.

On the hot plate, the okonomiyaki started to turn brown.

☆

“I think it’ll be done soon.”

While muttering such, Haruka fixed her grip on the spatula, gazing intently at the okonomiyaki. It felt like she was about to bet all or nothing on a gamble.

Kazutaka asked her:

“Are you okay? Can you turn it over by yourself?”

Since the okonomiyaki had been spread to quite a wide size, flipping it might be more difficult than expected for her.

“Well, just watch me.”

Haruka slipped the spatula below the okonomiyaki dough and took a deep breath.

Right afterward, she flipped it with a loud ‘Yahh!”

“Oh”

Kazutaka was genuinely impressed and found himself clapping.

“See? Told you.”

Haruka felt proud.

“Yeah, that was actually really cool.”

As Kazutaka was about to press the flipped okonomiyaki into the griddle, Haruka quickly raised her voice and stopped him.

“What?”

“That’s no good, if you do that all the air would leave and the fluffy texture would be gone.”

“Huh…, really?”

“There are various tricks but also taboos you know? Even if it looks simple to most people, the art of okonomiyaki making has quite some depth in it.”

She started to go on a lecture as if she was a scholar or something.

Kazutaka wondered if this was to be expected from someone from the flour cultural sphere, maybe they fussed over that stuff.

(TLN: I guess the Kansai region is popular for their flour-based products?)

“Haha…, the more you know I guess.”

“They put their lives on the line for this food, you know?”

“Okay, now you’re exaggerating. Putting your life on the line for just grilling okonomiyaki goes too far.”

“If someone dares to press okonomiyaki from above, then that person will receive a fever that will make them feel like they were pressed onto a scorching hot griddle.”

“Scary… what kind of torture is that…”

Understanding that he was deemed unfit for this job, he entrusted it to Haruka, obediently put the spatula away, and waited.

After that, Haruka’s handmade okonomiyaki was done.

“Should I put mayonnaise on it?”

“Yes, please do.”

Haruka garnished both finished okonomiyaki with sauce and mayonnaise. Then she sprinkled them with dried seaweed pieces and bonito flakes. Lastly, as an addition, she also put sunny-side-up eggs on top of the okonomiyaki.

“And done, here you go.”

“Oh, damn that looks delicious.”

Kazutaka wondered if they couldn’t actually use that for the menu photos at this point, that’s how photogenic her okonomiyaki looked. The bonito flakes, the steam rising from it. His stomach grumbled.

“I’ll cut it so it gets a bit easier to eat, okay?”

Haruka used the spatula and divided the okonomiyaki in a grid-like pattern.

Seeing that, Kazutaka tilted his head.

“Huh, so can I cut it like that as well?”

“Eh? How would you cut it normally?”

“Well, like pizza or cake, no?”

As Kazutaka gestured with his hands, Haruka’s eyes widened as if she couldn’t believe it.

“No way?!”

“No, I mean isn’t that a bit of an overreaction?”

After all, it was rather common to do it that way, Kazutaka had seen plenty of people around them who did the same.

“In the Kansai region, most people tend to cut it like a grid, we kind of prefer cube-shaped slices I guess”

“Wow, really?”

Another unexpected regional difference has been revealed.

If you eat the edge pieces, the thicker and more difficult-to-grill part in the middle will taste better at the end and also…”

Haruka went on about okonomiyaki, and how to cut and prepare them. She really does seem to like okonomiyaki.

“Okonoyami is a side dish, you know? We eat okonomiyaki with rice.”

“No, that’s a lie.”

Kazutaka felt slightly put off. What is this? A carb festival?

☆

That aside, they finally started their meal.

Both clasped their hands and said “Ittadakimasu.”

Haruka replaced her spatula with a smaller one for eating. She picked up a scorching hot piece and blew on it to cool it down a bit.

And then she suddenly presented it to Kazutaka.

“Here you go.”

“Hm? Why?”

“I think I did it right, so wanna taste it for me?”

Haruka requested him to sample it for her with pure innocent eyes.

Kazutaka was amazed and couldn’t help but just stare back at her for a moment.

“…Seriously?”

Isn’t this what was commonly referred to as this ‘Ahn’-thing?

The very ‘Ahn’ thing that many boys longed for.

And it was also homemade food…

Well, technically speaking, she still made it in a restaurant where the customer could cook.

Kazutaka stiffened up.

“Was this her goal from the very beginning?”

He wondered if she was teasing him there but when he looked into her eyes, she just stared back at him with a puzzled gaze.

“Hm? Is something wrong?”

“N-no…”

Kazutaka shook his head.

Well if she wanted to feed him directly like this, he might as well take it.

“Ahhn..”

Feeling slightly embarrassed, Kazutaka opened his mouth wide and leaned forward.

But, right at that moment.

Kazutaka felt a gaze on his side.

Right behind the table next to theirs, Gramps was squatting down.

His eyes were the only thing that was above the table, intently staring in their direction with a ‘jii’.

(TLN: ‘jii’ = stare sound effect)

“Hoho, isn’t this nice? The Spring of Youth.”

Gramps’ was making a disgustingly irritating smile.

“Woah!?”

In surprise, Kazutaka quickly leaned back.

He then asked with a slight stutter.

“What on earth or you doing gramps’?! Why the heck are you hiding behind the table like that?!”

“Well, this is your ole gramps’ place, y’know? So it’s pretty much up to me where I’m at.”

Gramps responded in a classic elderly fashion, completely and utterly shameless of his action, making Kazutaka just gaze at him with ‘Now you’ve done it, Oi’

“That said, isn’t this quite nice? As piping hot as the griddle.”

“Don’t freakin’ watch your customers while hiding behind a table!”

“Ah, youth is great, isn’t it? As for good old Gramps here, the time I spent with Granny, who has passed away, during my youth was…”

“No seriously, listen to what people are saying!”

Ignoring Kazutaka’s complaints, Gramps went back on a trip down memory lane all by himself.

Haruka responded in Haruka-like fashion, ‘Ah, does Gramps want to eat with us too?’ and presented the okonomiyaki to Gramps’

“Hell no!”

Kazutaka prevented Gramps from being fed by Haruka with all his might.

Are there only bokes here?

(TLN: Boke is the guy who plays the idiot, whereas Tsukkomi is the guy who reacts. It’s a typical Japanese comedy found everywhere when you look for it. In this scene, Kazutaka plays the Tsukkomi, whereas Gramps’ is the Boke and now Haruka too.)

“Oh my, how cold you are.”

Gramps started to pout and complain like a small child.

“Shut it, don’t just appear out of nowhere.”

Kazutaka shooed Gramps away once again.

“Tsk, I just can’t let my guard down huh…”

Regretting bringing Haruka to this place again, Kazutaka let out a deep sigh.

After confirming that Gramps was out of sight, he focused back on testing out Haruka’s okonomiyaki.

“Here you go, ahn~”

Haruka presented the okonomiyaki piece once again.

Kazutaka really wondered if this little devil wasn’t a schemer after all, did she want to kill him with these attacks?

Kazutaka swallowed his embarrassment, leaned his body forward to Haruka, and took her okonomiyaki with his mouth.

“Ahn…”

“And, how does it taste?”

Haruka tilted her head and asked.

“Yeah, it’s tasty.”

Haruka’s okonomiyaki were as delicious as expected.

“No seriously, isn’t this way too good?”

Kazutaka looked at the okonomiyaki pieces on the griddle with a surprised expression.

He was very familiar with the taste of this place but now even he doubted if this was actually from here. Did it really taste this good?

Seeing Kazutaka’s overreaction, Haruka couldn’t help but smile and ask: ‘Really?’

“I mean, it’s totally different from whenever I make them. So I guess you were onto something when you insisted on the fluffiness of the dough. Although the ingredients we used were exactly the same…”

Indeed, she made this using the normal ingredients from this restaurant and she didn’t use any secret seasoning either. Just the way she grilled it made the difference in taste.

Or was it the way she made it overall? Or how she fed it to him? Was that the reason why it tasted so delicious?

Maybe the important thing wasn’t ‘what’ you eat but with ‘who’ you eat with.

Kazutaka nodded to himself.

“Yup, it’s really good. Honestly, you could probably make money with this. Wanna open your own restaurant?”

“No, now you’re exaggerating a bit.”

Being confronted with so much praise, Haruka scratched her head shyly.