Editing Rapid Fire King:Volume1 Chapter 3 (section)

===1===

Takamura was late leaving thanks to cleaning up and chatting with his teammates.

He rode a bike back from his local station: JR Higashi-Akiru Station.

He lazily rode his old mountain bike alongside the road heading west.

His watch’s digital display said it was 6:47 PM. The sun was setting, but some calm blue remained in the sky.

He descended the hill in front of his home and stood in front of the ramen shop down below.

Piano music leaked from his headphones while he viewed the weather-beaten white sign with Kazuyo Ramen written in thick, red characters.

It had no special meaning. The owner’s wife was simply named Kazuyo.

That owner’s surname was written on the nameplate next to the curtain covering the entrance.

That surname was Iwata and the given names Takashi, Kazuyo, and Ren were written next to that.

This was Iwata’s home.

Long ago, Takamura had asked Iwata where the shop’s name came from and this had been her response:

“Well, my dad is really obsessed with ramen, you see. And there was apparently a time when he took it to the extent of seeming a little crazy.

“I’ve heard that cooks tend to start out wanting to make people happy with what they make. And once they reach a certain level, they start going crazy seeing just how good they can make their food. I don’t really get it myself.

“He apparently married my mom and built this shop during that time. They were trying to come up with a name and when my mom thought about my dad’s…situation I guess you could call it? Anyway, she thought about calling it Crazy Ramen.

“I’m serious.

“But that apparently snapped my dad out of it. Made him realize how much of a dumb weirdo he was being. Well, maybe not, but I hope it did.

“Regardless, it was apparently a shock to him, so he named it after my mom for showing him the truth.

“It ends up being a nice story, right?

“But if you want the whole truth, my mom says she meant it as Crazy ''For'' Ramen but misspoke.

“She had meant it as a compliment for how seriously he took his ramen, but it all got twisted around.

“So I have to wonder.

“Maybe even back then, my dad was the same cheerful ramen deliveryman he is now. …That’s what I like to think anyway.”

He would sometimes remember that story in the bath or on the train and laugh.

It amused him that miscommunications like that could happen.

And he was only here now due to a slight miscommunication.

“I just don’t get it.”

Iwata had not shown up to the practice tournament for some reason.

…''Did something happen?

He was worried.

So he removed his headphones and stepped through the curtained entrance.

He went inside.