My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Wrong, as I Expected / My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Wrong, as I Expected

"Oh..."

I pointed at the photo on the menu and explained it to her, but Yuihama looked like she couldn't understand.

"You dip the yellow noodles in this brown soup?"

"Right, right. Then add those seasonings over there however you like."

I pointed at the little silver containers on the table.

"There are so many... It's kind of like Turkish food..."

Indeed, I had heard that Turkish cuisine alone used several kinds of chili peppers.

Maybe it had something in common with tsukemen shops, where even the pepper came in several varieties... No, hard to say. Was it similar? Not at all, right?

"What about this? What is it?"

Yuihama pointed at the other little containers.

"That's vinegar. There's white vinegar, black vinegar, and fruit vinegar. You use them to adjust the flavor of the dipping sauce."

"Fruit vinegar? That sounds healthy. I'll get that one too!"

Yuihama briskly headed over to the ticket vending machine, decisively pressed the tsukemen button, then carefully returned holding the meal ticket in both hands.

"Excuse me—I'll have this."

She handed the ticket to the clerk over the counter.

The clerk didn't say a word.

"...Is that person angry?"

"No. It's nothing like that. They'll still answer if you have a question."

It was a matter of personal distance.

When I had first met Yuihama, she had also asked me several times, "Are you angry?" The distance that felt comfortable and natural to regulars probably made some first-time customers feel rejected.

Besides, this shop itself didn't seem particularly interested in attracting new customers.

Newcomers and veterans.

No matter the world, it was difficult to satisfy both at once.

The issue was which one to prioritize. Since this shop's policy was to preserve the flavor it had always had, it naturally made more sense to