Chapter 25 Chapter Four

That day, I worked extremely painfully.Not only did he have to stay in the kitchen with Mr. Nagamine for a long time, but in the afternoon, Umezaki, who was sent to help in the coffee shop, also began to come in and out of the kitchen from time to time. Umezaki not only has to help make coffee, but also goes in and out of the kitchen and delivers desserts.My workbench is the closest to the aisle leading to the coffee shop, so Umezaki has frequently passed by me who is in charge of arranging the dishes since the afternoon. I handed out the plated dessert, and he silently placed it on a silver tray and sent it to the coffee shop, repeating the procedure like this.Umezaki's attitude made me extremely uncomfortable.I knew he had a problem with my way of arranging the plates, because he looked at my every move with a contemptuous look of "if I did it, it would be better".Although the eyes were disgusted with the way I arranged the dishes, they walked away without saying anything.

"Please! I don't want things to turn out like this either!" I couldn't help shouting in my heart as I was concentrating on making cakes. As soon as the business hours were over, I started to make the custard sauce for tomorrow. Meizaki didn't go back to the kitchen, as if he was helping to pack the biscuits purchased online.He chatted with the female shop assistants from the next room, maybe he calmed down a little!Laughter was also mixed in between the speeches.It's a pity that starting today, we won't go home together again.Because I don't know what to talk about, I always feel that I will be ridiculed if I open my mouth.

The kitchen work finally came to an end, and the cleaning work in the store began.Umezaki mopped the floor, then vacuumed the carpet, working alone without complaint. After the pre-get off work meeting, we ran into each other in the locker room without saying hello.Just as I quickly changed into casual clothes, I yelled: "Let's go first!" Umezaki suddenly stopped me: "Wait, don't go by yourself!" "I'm going somewhere else," I said. "Then make it clear here!" Umezaki's attitude was very strong. I am usually used to his frivolous appearance. To be honest, I, who have always hated violence, was a little nervous, afraid that I would not be able to resist.

"Will you be in charge of arranging the plates during the period when I go to the store to help?" "It's not just me...but I'm a newcomer, so I just need to do more." "Then let me teach you the trick! Starting tomorrow, arrange the dishes according to my instructions." "There's no need for that!" I rebuffed indifferently: "I know you're good at arranging plates, but the guests want to eat 'Iwata' cakes, so the arranging doesn't have to be too gorgeous." "Do you really think so?" "Of course, there may be guests who are very particular about the presentation of the dishes, and they will take pictures with cameras every time and upload them to the Internet for discussion, but so what? None of the guests know me and you, no matter how gorgeous the decoration is, they will not come next time. I will not specifically name who will place the plate."

Umezaki remained silent, and after a while murmured: "I see." "You're right. Sorry, forget what I just said!" I felt that my tone was too harsh, and I felt sorry for it, so I invited him to an izakaya for a drink before returning home. In fact, I also wanted to relax with a drink. After leaving the store, we walked into a cheap izakaya. We sat at the bar silently drinking Japanese wine and eating potato stew and skewers. Umezaki yelled "I'm going to kill Nagamine!", "I'm definitely going to kill that guy!" while gurgling and drinking heavily, I had no choice but to echo a few words, but I thought in my heart: Mr. Nagamine doesn't seem so bad The man... Although his tone was cold, he was right, and it was a reasonable deal for his future development to transfer Umezaki to the store to help.Maybe this decision was made by Chef Iwata, but someone must prompt him to make this decision—could it really be Mr. Nagamine's complaint?But he doesn't look like the type to take revenge.

"I said!" Umezaki said. "Everything is really expensive in Tokyo! Don't you think it's hard to live on your current salary?" "No way! Who said that Tokyo is the most expensive city in the world." "You live alone?" "yes!" "Me too, why don't we be roommates! This way, we only need to pay half of the rent, and we can take turns cooking..." "I do not want." "Alas! Listen to the others!" "It's really good for two people to share! But I need alone time, and the rent is affordable now."

"what the hell!" "If a person has no place to breathe, he must live a miserable life. In other words, freedom is bought with money." "It's so heartless..." "Umezaki, you are very strange! There are other stores to go to, why do you choose to stay in 'Iwata'?" I saw that his expression was a little distorted, and he murmured furiously: "I like the desserts of 'Iwata', and I also like Chef Iwata, and I want to learn a lot here. If I retreat now, won't I become a lost dog? " "Since this is the case, I can only stay and continue to work hard. In fact, I am too. In order to stay in the industry and work hard, some principles cannot be compromised. I hope you can understand this."

Umezaki couldn't help sighing: "If you have money, you can solve everything." I felt that Umezaki seemed to be going crazy with alcohol, so I hurried him to go home. We took the tram together as usual, and after watching him get off, I suddenly remembered something. Umezaki once said to Chef Iwata, "I'm running out of time!" What does this mean?Could it be related to his reluctance to resign?