Whisper (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
whisperscrawls) wrote2023-05-05 02:00 am
whisperscrawls) wrote2023-05-05 02:00 am
Shuuen no Shiori 4: Chapter 1 Part 1
Our Days I —Hungry Ballad—
“E-ki~! Your movie yesterday was great!”
“Yeah! Thanks!”
“E-ki, why didn’t you even appear in the movie~?”
“Ahaha, I’m the director and producer~”
It was the second day of the school festival.
The school building was even more crowded and lively than yesterday.
I walked down the hallway, replying to my classmates’ words as I passed them.
The club I was part of—or, more accurately, pretty much forced people to join me in—was called the Film Club, and yesterday, on the first day of the school festival, we held a screening of a movie we made ourselves.
It was a massive success.
Our first screening went great, and because the people who came told others that it was interesting, our second and third screenings had more and more people come by.
By our last screening, there were even people standing while they watched.
Of course, it’s not like we had much money to use, so the lighting and other effects weren’t great, and there were some parts where it was hard to hear what was being said.
There are some parts that, now that I was rewatching them, make me wish we had a cut there, and if we got started on criticizing the quality of some parts, we could go on forever about it.
But even so, we were proud of what we created. This was the absolute best movie we could have made right now.
After all the public screenings were done, we held our own private screening, just for us.
After that, we talked about it at length; what scenes turned out well, how we filmed certain other scenes, and other topics like that.
Each and every scene had memories tied to it, enough that we couldn’t even name them all.
As we talked, I felt both fulfilled and a little empty.
I’m sure the others with me were feeling the same way.
The following conversation, however, suddenly took a strange turn.
“...Hey, by the way... In that one scene during A-no’s part of the story, wasn’t there some kind of... static?”
“Oh, I noticed that too!”
“It’s quite odd. I don’t recall seeing anything like that when I was editing it...”
“Don’t think it was there when I checked the recording after filming, either.”
“...W-What could it have been...?”
—Did we seriously end up filming some kind of supernatural phenomenon?
No way, that’s impossible.
An idea came to mind as the conversation continued.
“...Then, how about we try filming it again?”
Everyone grew quiet for a bit, but that last statement seemed to be the only possible conclusion.
Our expressions brightened, and we all began to laugh in sync.
No matter the reason we came up with, it didn’t actually matter.
We just wanted to continue filming together.
It started out as something I decided on a whim, something that I dragged everyone into just because it sounded like fun, but I’m really happy that we were able to do this together.
With this, we’ll return to those fun-filled days.
Even after I got home from school, that strange sense of elation I’d been feeling refused to fade, and last night, I basked in the lingering taste of it as I fell asleep.
And now, it’s the second day of the school festival.
Our film screening was a one-day-only thing, so today, everyone in the Film Club didn’t have anything in particular that we had to do.
Not having any particular place I wanted to go, I aimlessly wandered through the bustling halls.
But even that alone filled me with a sense of excitement.
Since we had to get everything set up for the screening yesterday, we didn’t have a chance to enjoy the festival at all.
So today, I’m gonna enjoy it to my heart’s content!
“Heeeeey, E-kiiii!”
“Hm? Mr. W?”
A male teacher, unshaven and with messy, unkempt hair, was walking down the hallway towards me.
He’s the current Film Club’s advisor.
He’s usually a mess, a teacher with no motivation to work whatsoever, but he really did his best for us.
He probably single-handedly raised the value of this year’s school festival.
“Thanks for your work! Need something from me today?”
“Hm... No, I was just told to patrol the school today, y’see... I gotta do night duty next month, too. It’s seriously a pain in the backside...”
“...No, it’s important, so keep yourself together...”
Mr. W looked kind of unsteady on his feet, wobbling in place.
“...Have you been drinking?”
“Ya idiot, no way I would...”
“Then why are you wobbling around...?”
“...I’m not in shape...”
“...Uh-huh.”
It was hard to even laugh at what he said sometimes.
It’s true that he wasn’t someone who gave off the impression of a lively go-getter, but even then, he’d have to be really weak to be wobbling like that.
“Don’t go overboard just ‘cause you guys finished with your film screening, got it?”
“Yep, Roger that!”
“...By the way, what happened to the other members of your club?”
“Oh, nothing happened, but we didn’t make any plans together, so I guess we’ll just run across each other again at some point!”
“Hm~ Got it. Well, you deserve it, so go have some fun. See ya~”
Mr. W gave his farewell and staggered off.
He really isn’t walking right. If anything, rather than a teacher patrolling the grounds, he looks more like the suspicious figures the teachers are supposed to look out for.
As part of the festival, aside from what each class set up, there were also club showcases and a stage for anyone interested to perform what they wished.
All along the hallway hung posters advertising the showcases that classes had put together, as well as ones announcing particular times that events were going on at the stage.
According to the posters, all sorts of band performances and plays were scheduled to occur at the stage.
Different classes had set up things like cafes or haunted houses; there were a lot of cliche sorts of showcases like that.
But each class had put time into coming up with a specific theme for their showcase, and even just taking a quick look at what they’d done was fun for me.
There were also stalls outside run by members of the PTA and those who lived in the area.
There were mouthwatering scents coming from all directions.
As I walked, I picked up on all those scents, and it eventually made me hungry.
When it comes to festivals, there’re tons of tasty-looking things~ I thought as I headed towards the school exit.
＊
As I stepped outside to take a look, I saw a huge amount of stalls lined up next to each other.
There were the usual foods you see at festivals, like fried noodles, fried octopus balls, fried chicken, fried squid, fried corn, cotton candy, candied apples, and chocolate-covered bananas. There were also all sorts of activities, like target shooting, fortunes, and candy sculpting.
That was all that the stalls were selling, but it looked way more delicious than usual to me.
I want to try everything as soon as I can! I thought unrealistically, but a stomach has limited space. I should explore and take a closer look at every stall before deciding what to eat.
The line of stalls stretched from the school building all the way to the gate, forming a path with stalls on either side.
There also seemed to be a space to the right of the gate where some kind of event was being held.
After I’d finished taking a look at most of the stalls, I headed towards the stage. There, I saw someone I recognized from behind.
“Hey, D-suke~!”
“Hm~?”
D-suke slowly turned to face me.
He’s one of the people who’s in the Film Club with me.
When we were working on the movie, he put a lot of effort into filming, and he showed us that he’s a surprisingly good actor.
He has long hair that he wears loosely in a ponytail, but he keeps his bangs so long that you can’t see his eyes. I can’t tell what his expression is, so he always gives me the impression that he’s zoning out.
Just as always, he was standing there with his height made less impressive due to his slouch.
“What’re you up to?”
“Oh, I was wondering if I should sign up~”
As he said that, he pointed to the sign next to the stage.
What was written there was...
“...A-A ‘food battle?”
“Yep~”
With all the food stalls supporting us! We’re holding a food battle! Seeking gluttonous fighters!
A “food battle”... In other words, they were recruiting people for an eating competition.
Is he for real? E-ki thought, but when he glanced at D-suke, he couldn’t tell what he was thinking any more than usual.
“...Really?”
“Yep~ Wanna enter with me, E-ki?”
“Huh? S-Seriously!?”
“Oh? You don’t wanna? You can eat a bunch of food from the stalls, though? You can just give up when you get full~”
D-suke did have a good point.
The eating competition would serve as an advertisement for the food stalls, and many of the stalls I was looking at just now have written their names down to note that they’re contributing food to the competition.
Honestly, I have no faith that I’d be able to do well in an eating competition, but it’s the school festival, so...!
“Alright! Let’s do it!”
“Roger~”
With those words, we headed towards the reception desk together.
We were told that since they had just reached the participant limit, they’d start soon, and asked us to wait.
After a few minutes, they called us up to the stage.
Cups of water, chopsticks, and paper aprons had been prepared for everyone on the desk.
In the audience seats, quite a large number of both students and those who lived nearby had gathered.
“Ladieeeees aaaaaaaand gentlemeeeeeen!!”
“!?”
I jolted at the sudden yell, and when I turned towards where it had come from, I saw an old guy dressed in an extremely flashy outfit talking into a mic.
H-He’s probably the host, right? He’s even wearing sunglasses.
“Thank you for waiting, all of you who have gathered here today! It’s time for the result of the collaboration between all the food stalls, the fooooood battleeeeeeee tournameeeeeent! We’re finally about to begin!!”
W-What a weirdo...
This is just an eating contest between highschoolers, so why is he so ridiculously excited?
But the cheers he’s getting in return are weird, too. People are even shouting things like, “We’ve been waiting for this!”
Wait, is this actually kind of a big deal?
“And now...! It’s time for those who dare to challenge the depths of hell... no, our warriors, to be introduced!”
What do you mean, hell!? What do you mean, warriors!?
I couldn’t help internally retorting to everything being said, but D-suke, who was sitting next to me, was unresponsive to what was happening.
“On my right...! Entry Number One! The Downtown Whale Shark, Whale Shark Macchaaaaaan!”
“I’m gonna eat till I drop!”
The downtown whale shark!?
Huh!? What kind of a nickname is that!?
Looks like there really is someone so massive they could be a sumo wrestler here, though!?
“Next, the queen of eating contests! Princess Fashionable Feaster!”
“This is gonna be a piece of cake~!”
P-Princess Fashionable Feaster!?
Whoa, they’re fashionable! was my first thought, but someone this tiny is the queen of eating contests!?
“And next up, we have he who masks all flavors in tabasco sauce, the tabasco tactician Señor Morita~!”
“Señoooor!!”
He’s holding a bottle of tabasco sauce!
Huh!? He covers all his food in it!?
W-Why!?
Is he a masochist!?
“This time, alongside our usual wonderful roster, two students from the school that sponsored this competition will be participating!”
“Haha, good luck~”
“Well, it’ll be a memorable experience for them, at least!”
“Even if they work together, we’ll be fine~”
I could hear the lightly mocking statements coming from all around us.
Wait wait wait wait, this is really just taking place on a stage set up at a high school’s festival, right, so why is this so intense!?
D-suke’s probably not even paying attention, like usual, but w-we’re total outsiders here!
I just entered because I wanted to try a bunch of festival food, but this contest isn’t like that, is it!?
Instead, it looks like we’re just gonna be eating a ton of one thing!
“The dish we chose for the qualifying round iiiiiis... This!”
The curtain opened.
Before us sat a completely unreasonably-sized pile of fried noodles.
The enormous metal plate was around the size of an entire straw mat, and atop that sat an even bigger pile of noodles.
It’s like a whole Mt. Fuji’s worth of noodles!
My brain made that comparison, but I had already begun to break into a cold sweat.
“The rules are simple! The one who eats the most within the time limit is the winner! The plates have been weighed prior, and if you finish the entire plate, you gain extra points! Only two contestants will proceed past the qualifying round, so this is quite an unforgiving fight!!”
“Woooooooo!!!”
The whole crowd roared in excitement.
Seriously!? There’s no way I can eat that much...!
Before I could prepare myself for what I was about to go through, heaps of noodles were already being piled onto my plate.
“And with that, we’re ready to go...! Food battle...! Commeeeence!!”
The gong rang, signaling the start of the round.
To start things off, I took just one bite. It really was tasty.
Well, when it comes to festival food like fried noodles, the more you make, the better it tastes.
But it is just carbs and sauce, so...
I ate it a bit at a time, but it was clear that it was too much for me.
Plus, these noodles are really thick.
Sure, the puffy texture is great, but it was clear that fried noodles weren’t meant to be eaten in this quantity.
How’re the others doing? I wondered, glancing at the leftmost participant.
Sluuuuuuuuuurp!!!
“Would you look at that! A display of the whale shark’s true power!! He’s begun eating fried noodles like they’re simply noodle soup, sending them directly to his stomach with a slurp!”
“Hraaaaah! I relish in the feeling of fried noodles sliding down my gullet!!!”
Huuuuuh!?
What kind of throat do you have!?
If it gets blocked, you’ll die, y’know!?
“Yeah, I’m drinking noodles like they’re water; what about it?”
As if saying that with his expression, he racked up points at a ridiculous speed.
I-Is this a landslide victory for the whale shark...!?
I looked away from him, thinking that, only to be met with another absurd sight.
“The Fashionable Feaster’s executing her special decoration strategyyyy!!”
The fashionista, sitting beside the whale shark, placed chocolate on top of the fried noodles and began to eat them together.
“I’ve got a separate stomach for dessert~!!”
What kind of taste buds do you have!?
“Man~ Random teacher passing by, if you would offer a comment; this is quite a fearsome battle, isn’t it?”
“Oh, sure is~ Makes sense; girls really can eat an infinite amount of sweets, huh?”
Huh!? Mr. W, how’d you end up being a commentator!?
Weren't you supposed to be on patrol!?
Wait, forget that, shouldn’t you be doing something about this competition!?
As I continued to slowly chip away at my noodles, I took another peek at one of the other warriors.
I’ve gotten used to what to expect at this point, but...
“Hehehe!! You’ve got a long way to go if you’re using sweetness to change the taste! Here’s the real deal!!!”
“Here it iiiiiis!! Señor Morita’s ultimate technique! It’s the Tobasco Splaaaaaash!”
I figured. Is it okay that it basically looks like it’s been made with ketchup at this point?
But the taste is... Can you even call it taste?
I just entered on a whim, so all these characters’ve got me beat~ Well, at least the fried noodles were tasty, weren’t they? D-suke—...
With those thoughts in mind, I turned to look beside me, but the sight that greeted me was a plate that was far more depleted of noodles than any of the other participants’ sitting before D-suke.
“Wh—...”
“S-Seriously...!?”
“W-What on Earth...?”
Without a moment’s delay, the host began to speak.
“Well, would you look at this! W-What could be happening here!? This student, who’s been calmly eating at a consistent pace, has pushed aside the veteran food warriors and taken first place!”
“This is unexpected.”
“It’s just the preliminary round, so the food warriors must be taking it more slowly at first, right!?”
“Makes sense! So it was that, huh~?”
—That’s not it.
You could see it in the eyes of the other participants.
They were serious, but D-suke’s true power was just as much so.
As if remembering something, Whale Shark Macchan opened his mouth to speak.
“...C-Could you be... the food warrior of legend...!?”
“...S-Seriously...!?”
“No way...!”
“Food warrior of legend”? What are you even talking about...
“It is said there was once a man of legend who defeated Giant Kimura, known as the eternal champion of the food warrior world, and then retired, but... Could that have been you...!?”
D-suke, lost in his own world, merely continued eating in silence.
It’s a surprise to me that D-suke had that kind of past, but... knowing D-suke, it’s totally possible.
Seeing that, all the other food warriors turned back to their plates, focus renewed.
“I-I’m not going to lose here...!”
“I’ve gotta put in all my effort...!”
“Hehe, this is no time for acting...!”
Saying that, each food warrior continued to eat their noodles with great fervor.
“So you were acting?” I wanted to comment, but I lacked the energy, merely savoring the taste of my own.
And then, time was finally up.
The result was...
“Well, would you look at that! What an unexpected turn of events! The one who scored first place in the first round was a student from the high school that’s hosting this event, D-suke-saaaan!!! And in second place, we have the food warrior Whale Shark Macchaaaan!!”
“These two will be battling in the final round.”
“That’s the plan, but...”
The host turned to look at Whale Shark Macchan.
There sat a man who looked like he’d been pushed beyond his limits.
“So? Shall you fight in the final round!?”
“...Hehe, no, I’m done for... The difference in... our abilities... has been displayed clearly... But... It was an honor... to fight against... you...!”
Saying that, Macchan promptly collapsed. Not only he, but the rest of the participants, also seemed worn out.
Someone went to fetch a stretcher, and among the commotion that followed, D-suke was named the victor, ending the competition.
Some time had passed since the battle, and now, D-suke and I were sat on a bench in the school courtyard.
“D-suke!”
“Hm~?”
“No, not ‘hm~’! What you were doing as a food warrior—what was that!? There’s a legend about you!? I mean, those guys were nuts too, they weren’t even close to your level!”
“Ohh~... I think it was during middle school? The neighborhood held an eating contest, and I took part in it~”
“...”
I see. D-suke just nonchalantly entered a food eating contest, and nonchalantly crushed it... That’s kind of amazing in its own right.
“Oh yeah, I got something for winning just now, so let’s go ahead ‘n use it~”
“Ooh, really? What did you win?’
“An all-you-can-eat ticket for the food stalls.”
“Are they idiooooots!?”
That was about as chaotic as you’d expect a festival to be, but I got to see an unexpected (or not-so unexpected?) side of someone, so I had fun. By the way, it sounds like after that, D-suke went to the other stalls and got some fried octopus balls and other things to eat. He really fits his title... The food warrior of legend...
<-- Prologue || Chapter 1 Part 2 -->
“E-ki~! Your movie yesterday was great!”
“Yeah! Thanks!”
“E-ki, why didn’t you even appear in the movie~?”
“Ahaha, I’m the director and producer~”
It was the second day of the school festival.
The school building was even more crowded and lively than yesterday.
I walked down the hallway, replying to my classmates’ words as I passed them.
The club I was part of—or, more accurately, pretty much forced people to join me in—was called the Film Club, and yesterday, on the first day of the school festival, we held a screening of a movie we made ourselves.
It was a massive success.
Our first screening went great, and because the people who came told others that it was interesting, our second and third screenings had more and more people come by.
By our last screening, there were even people standing while they watched.
Of course, it’s not like we had much money to use, so the lighting and other effects weren’t great, and there were some parts where it was hard to hear what was being said.
There are some parts that, now that I was rewatching them, make me wish we had a cut there, and if we got started on criticizing the quality of some parts, we could go on forever about it.
But even so, we were proud of what we created. This was the absolute best movie we could have made right now.
After all the public screenings were done, we held our own private screening, just for us.
After that, we talked about it at length; what scenes turned out well, how we filmed certain other scenes, and other topics like that.
Each and every scene had memories tied to it, enough that we couldn’t even name them all.
As we talked, I felt both fulfilled and a little empty.
I’m sure the others with me were feeling the same way.
The following conversation, however, suddenly took a strange turn.
“...Hey, by the way... In that one scene during A-no’s part of the story, wasn’t there some kind of... static?”
“Oh, I noticed that too!”
“It’s quite odd. I don’t recall seeing anything like that when I was editing it...”
“Don’t think it was there when I checked the recording after filming, either.”
“...W-What could it have been...?”
—Did we seriously end up filming some kind of supernatural phenomenon?
No way, that’s impossible.
An idea came to mind as the conversation continued.
“...Then, how about we try filming it again?”
Everyone grew quiet for a bit, but that last statement seemed to be the only possible conclusion.
Our expressions brightened, and we all began to laugh in sync.
No matter the reason we came up with, it didn’t actually matter.
We just wanted to continue filming together.
It started out as something I decided on a whim, something that I dragged everyone into just because it sounded like fun, but I’m really happy that we were able to do this together.
With this, we’ll return to those fun-filled days.
Even after I got home from school, that strange sense of elation I’d been feeling refused to fade, and last night, I basked in the lingering taste of it as I fell asleep.
And now, it’s the second day of the school festival.
Our film screening was a one-day-only thing, so today, everyone in the Film Club didn’t have anything in particular that we had to do.
Not having any particular place I wanted to go, I aimlessly wandered through the bustling halls.
But even that alone filled me with a sense of excitement.
Since we had to get everything set up for the screening yesterday, we didn’t have a chance to enjoy the festival at all.
So today, I’m gonna enjoy it to my heart’s content!
“Heeeeey, E-kiiii!”
“Hm? Mr. W?”
A male teacher, unshaven and with messy, unkempt hair, was walking down the hallway towards me.
He’s the current Film Club’s advisor.
He’s usually a mess, a teacher with no motivation to work whatsoever, but he really did his best for us.
He probably single-handedly raised the value of this year’s school festival.
“Thanks for your work! Need something from me today?”
“Hm... No, I was just told to patrol the school today, y’see... I gotta do night duty next month, too. It’s seriously a pain in the backside...”
“...No, it’s important, so keep yourself together...”
Mr. W looked kind of unsteady on his feet, wobbling in place.
“...Have you been drinking?”
“Ya idiot, no way I would...”
“Then why are you wobbling around...?”
“...I’m not in shape...”
“...Uh-huh.”
It was hard to even laugh at what he said sometimes.
It’s true that he wasn’t someone who gave off the impression of a lively go-getter, but even then, he’d have to be really weak to be wobbling like that.
“Don’t go overboard just ‘cause you guys finished with your film screening, got it?”
“Yep, Roger that!”
“...By the way, what happened to the other members of your club?”
“Oh, nothing happened, but we didn’t make any plans together, so I guess we’ll just run across each other again at some point!”
“Hm~ Got it. Well, you deserve it, so go have some fun. See ya~”
Mr. W gave his farewell and staggered off.
He really isn’t walking right. If anything, rather than a teacher patrolling the grounds, he looks more like the suspicious figures the teachers are supposed to look out for.
As part of the festival, aside from what each class set up, there were also club showcases and a stage for anyone interested to perform what they wished.
All along the hallway hung posters advertising the showcases that classes had put together, as well as ones announcing particular times that events were going on at the stage.
According to the posters, all sorts of band performances and plays were scheduled to occur at the stage.
Different classes had set up things like cafes or haunted houses; there were a lot of cliche sorts of showcases like that.
But each class had put time into coming up with a specific theme for their showcase, and even just taking a quick look at what they’d done was fun for me.
There were also stalls outside run by members of the PTA and those who lived in the area.
There were mouthwatering scents coming from all directions.
As I walked, I picked up on all those scents, and it eventually made me hungry.
When it comes to festivals, there’re tons of tasty-looking things~ I thought as I headed towards the school exit.
＊
As I stepped outside to take a look, I saw a huge amount of stalls lined up next to each other.
There were the usual foods you see at festivals, like fried noodles, fried octopus balls, fried chicken, fried squid, fried corn, cotton candy, candied apples, and chocolate-covered bananas. There were also all sorts of activities, like target shooting, fortunes, and candy sculpting.
That was all that the stalls were selling, but it looked way more delicious than usual to me.
I want to try everything as soon as I can! I thought unrealistically, but a stomach has limited space. I should explore and take a closer look at every stall before deciding what to eat.
The line of stalls stretched from the school building all the way to the gate, forming a path with stalls on either side.
There also seemed to be a space to the right of the gate where some kind of event was being held.
After I’d finished taking a look at most of the stalls, I headed towards the stage. There, I saw someone I recognized from behind.
“Hey, D-suke~!”
“Hm~?”
D-suke slowly turned to face me.
He’s one of the people who’s in the Film Club with me.
When we were working on the movie, he put a lot of effort into filming, and he showed us that he’s a surprisingly good actor.
He has long hair that he wears loosely in a ponytail, but he keeps his bangs so long that you can’t see his eyes. I can’t tell what his expression is, so he always gives me the impression that he’s zoning out.
Just as always, he was standing there with his height made less impressive due to his slouch.
“What’re you up to?”
“Oh, I was wondering if I should sign up~”
As he said that, he pointed to the sign next to the stage.
What was written there was...
“...A-A ‘food battle?”
“Yep~”
With all the food stalls supporting us! We’re holding a food battle! Seeking gluttonous fighters!
A “food battle”... In other words, they were recruiting people for an eating competition.
Is he for real? E-ki thought, but when he glanced at D-suke, he couldn’t tell what he was thinking any more than usual.
“...Really?”
“Yep~ Wanna enter with me, E-ki?”
“Huh? S-Seriously!?”
“Oh? You don’t wanna? You can eat a bunch of food from the stalls, though? You can just give up when you get full~”
D-suke did have a good point.
The eating competition would serve as an advertisement for the food stalls, and many of the stalls I was looking at just now have written their names down to note that they’re contributing food to the competition.
Honestly, I have no faith that I’d be able to do well in an eating competition, but it’s the school festival, so...!
“Alright! Let’s do it!”
“Roger~”
With those words, we headed towards the reception desk together.
We were told that since they had just reached the participant limit, they’d start soon, and asked us to wait.
After a few minutes, they called us up to the stage.
Cups of water, chopsticks, and paper aprons had been prepared for everyone on the desk.
In the audience seats, quite a large number of both students and those who lived nearby had gathered.
“Ladieeeees aaaaaaaand gentlemeeeeeen!!”
“!?”
I jolted at the sudden yell, and when I turned towards where it had come from, I saw an old guy dressed in an extremely flashy outfit talking into a mic.
H-He’s probably the host, right? He’s even wearing sunglasses.
“Thank you for waiting, all of you who have gathered here today! It’s time for the result of the collaboration between all the food stalls, the fooooood battleeeeeeee tournameeeeeent! We’re finally about to begin!!”
W-What a weirdo...
This is just an eating contest between highschoolers, so why is he so ridiculously excited?
But the cheers he’s getting in return are weird, too. People are even shouting things like, “We’ve been waiting for this!”
Wait, is this actually kind of a big deal?
“And now...! It’s time for those who dare to challenge the depths of hell... no, our warriors, to be introduced!”
What do you mean, hell!? What do you mean, warriors!?
I couldn’t help internally retorting to everything being said, but D-suke, who was sitting next to me, was unresponsive to what was happening.
“On my right...! Entry Number One! The Downtown Whale Shark, Whale Shark Macchaaaaaan!”
“I’m gonna eat till I drop!”
The downtown whale shark!?
Huh!? What kind of a nickname is that!?
Looks like there really is someone so massive they could be a sumo wrestler here, though!?
“Next, the queen of eating contests! Princess Fashionable Feaster!”
“This is gonna be a piece of cake~!”
P-Princess Fashionable Feaster!?
Whoa, they’re fashionable! was my first thought, but someone this tiny is the queen of eating contests!?
“And next up, we have he who masks all flavors in tabasco sauce, the tabasco tactician Señor Morita~!”
“Señoooor!!”
He’s holding a bottle of tabasco sauce!
Huh!? He covers all his food in it!?
W-Why!?
Is he a masochist!?
“This time, alongside our usual wonderful roster, two students from the school that sponsored this competition will be participating!”
“Haha, good luck~”
“Well, it’ll be a memorable experience for them, at least!”
“Even if they work together, we’ll be fine~”
I could hear the lightly mocking statements coming from all around us.
Wait wait wait wait, this is really just taking place on a stage set up at a high school’s festival, right, so why is this so intense!?
D-suke’s probably not even paying attention, like usual, but w-we’re total outsiders here!
I just entered because I wanted to try a bunch of festival food, but this contest isn’t like that, is it!?
Instead, it looks like we’re just gonna be eating a ton of one thing!
“The dish we chose for the qualifying round iiiiiis... This!”
The curtain opened.
Before us sat a completely unreasonably-sized pile of fried noodles.
The enormous metal plate was around the size of an entire straw mat, and atop that sat an even bigger pile of noodles.
It’s like a whole Mt. Fuji’s worth of noodles!
My brain made that comparison, but I had already begun to break into a cold sweat.
“The rules are simple! The one who eats the most within the time limit is the winner! The plates have been weighed prior, and if you finish the entire plate, you gain extra points! Only two contestants will proceed past the qualifying round, so this is quite an unforgiving fight!!”
“Woooooooo!!!”
The whole crowd roared in excitement.
Seriously!? There’s no way I can eat that much...!
Before I could prepare myself for what I was about to go through, heaps of noodles were already being piled onto my plate.
“And with that, we’re ready to go...! Food battle...! Commeeeence!!”
The gong rang, signaling the start of the round.
To start things off, I took just one bite. It really was tasty.
Well, when it comes to festival food like fried noodles, the more you make, the better it tastes.
But it is just carbs and sauce, so...
I ate it a bit at a time, but it was clear that it was too much for me.
Plus, these noodles are really thick.
Sure, the puffy texture is great, but it was clear that fried noodles weren’t meant to be eaten in this quantity.
How’re the others doing? I wondered, glancing at the leftmost participant.
Sluuuuuuuuuurp!!!
“Would you look at that! A display of the whale shark’s true power!! He’s begun eating fried noodles like they’re simply noodle soup, sending them directly to his stomach with a slurp!”
“Hraaaaah! I relish in the feeling of fried noodles sliding down my gullet!!!”
Huuuuuh!?
What kind of throat do you have!?
If it gets blocked, you’ll die, y’know!?
“Yeah, I’m drinking noodles like they’re water; what about it?”
As if saying that with his expression, he racked up points at a ridiculous speed.
I-Is this a landslide victory for the whale shark...!?
I looked away from him, thinking that, only to be met with another absurd sight.
“The Fashionable Feaster’s executing her special decoration strategyyyy!!”
The fashionista, sitting beside the whale shark, placed chocolate on top of the fried noodles and began to eat them together.
“I’ve got a separate stomach for dessert~!!”
What kind of taste buds do you have!?
“Man~ Random teacher passing by, if you would offer a comment; this is quite a fearsome battle, isn’t it?”
“Oh, sure is~ Makes sense; girls really can eat an infinite amount of sweets, huh?”
Huh!? Mr. W, how’d you end up being a commentator!?
Weren't you supposed to be on patrol!?
Wait, forget that, shouldn’t you be doing something about this competition!?
As I continued to slowly chip away at my noodles, I took another peek at one of the other warriors.
I’ve gotten used to what to expect at this point, but...
“Hehehe!! You’ve got a long way to go if you’re using sweetness to change the taste! Here’s the real deal!!!”
“Here it iiiiiis!! Señor Morita’s ultimate technique! It’s the Tobasco Splaaaaaash!”
I figured. Is it okay that it basically looks like it’s been made with ketchup at this point?
But the taste is... Can you even call it taste?
I just entered on a whim, so all these characters’ve got me beat~ Well, at least the fried noodles were tasty, weren’t they? D-suke—...
With those thoughts in mind, I turned to look beside me, but the sight that greeted me was a plate that was far more depleted of noodles than any of the other participants’ sitting before D-suke.
“Wh—...”
“S-Seriously...!?”
“W-What on Earth...?”
Without a moment’s delay, the host began to speak.
“Well, would you look at this! W-What could be happening here!? This student, who’s been calmly eating at a consistent pace, has pushed aside the veteran food warriors and taken first place!”
“This is unexpected.”
“It’s just the preliminary round, so the food warriors must be taking it more slowly at first, right!?”
“Makes sense! So it was that, huh~?”
—That’s not it.
You could see it in the eyes of the other participants.
They were serious, but D-suke’s true power was just as much so.
As if remembering something, Whale Shark Macchan opened his mouth to speak.
“...C-Could you be... the food warrior of legend...!?”
“...S-Seriously...!?”
“No way...!”
“Food warrior of legend”? What are you even talking about...
“It is said there was once a man of legend who defeated Giant Kimura, known as the eternal champion of the food warrior world, and then retired, but... Could that have been you...!?”
D-suke, lost in his own world, merely continued eating in silence.
It’s a surprise to me that D-suke had that kind of past, but... knowing D-suke, it’s totally possible.
Seeing that, all the other food warriors turned back to their plates, focus renewed.
“I-I’m not going to lose here...!”
“I’ve gotta put in all my effort...!”
“Hehe, this is no time for acting...!”
Saying that, each food warrior continued to eat their noodles with great fervor.
“So you were acting?” I wanted to comment, but I lacked the energy, merely savoring the taste of my own.
And then, time was finally up.
The result was...
“Well, would you look at that! What an unexpected turn of events! The one who scored first place in the first round was a student from the high school that’s hosting this event, D-suke-saaaan!!! And in second place, we have the food warrior Whale Shark Macchaaaan!!”
“These two will be battling in the final round.”
“That’s the plan, but...”
The host turned to look at Whale Shark Macchan.
There sat a man who looked like he’d been pushed beyond his limits.
“So? Shall you fight in the final round!?”
“...Hehe, no, I’m done for... The difference in... our abilities... has been displayed clearly... But... It was an honor... to fight against... you...!”
Saying that, Macchan promptly collapsed. Not only he, but the rest of the participants, also seemed worn out.
Someone went to fetch a stretcher, and among the commotion that followed, D-suke was named the victor, ending the competition.
Some time had passed since the battle, and now, D-suke and I were sat on a bench in the school courtyard.
“D-suke!”
“Hm~?”
“No, not ‘hm~’! What you were doing as a food warrior—what was that!? There’s a legend about you!? I mean, those guys were nuts too, they weren’t even close to your level!”
“Ohh~... I think it was during middle school? The neighborhood held an eating contest, and I took part in it~”
“...”
I see. D-suke just nonchalantly entered a food eating contest, and nonchalantly crushed it... That’s kind of amazing in its own right.
“Oh yeah, I got something for winning just now, so let’s go ahead ‘n use it~”
“Ooh, really? What did you win?’
“An all-you-can-eat ticket for the food stalls.”
“Are they idiooooots!?”
That was about as chaotic as you’d expect a festival to be, but I got to see an unexpected (or not-so unexpected?) side of someone, so I had fun. By the way, it sounds like after that, D-suke went to the other stalls and got some fried octopus balls and other things to eat. He really fits his title... The food warrior of legend...