In an instant

[WP] A new merchant just appeared outside of your town. They are selling strange food items called "instant noodles".

******

When they first appeared, I used to ignore them.

If it wasn't in McDonald's, I wasn't eating it. They had the fastest 'fast food' in all of America, so why the hell would I want to try 'instant noodles'? It was probably a gimmick.

Until I saw my girlfriend, Evie, eating it.

"What's that?" I asked curiously, peeking into her bowl. It didn't look like spaghetti, because there would have been a stew or sauce to go along with it. This just looked like spaghetti floating in a little sea of brown soup, and honestly, it smelled delicious.

"It's instant noodles. Those guys outside town are..."

"Instant what now? Don't tell me you're eating that bullsh!t!" I said, snatching the bowl from her hands.

"Well I was until someone snatched it away from me," she said, frowning as she snatched it back, "it's like ramen. You know, the meal from that shitty cartoon of yours."

"You mean Naruto? You're calling the greatest anime of all friggin' time 'a cartoon'?!"

"Yeah, that."

"Screw you! And that doesn't mean it's safe to eat! I mean, Naruto was like the only ramen-crazy guy in the series and he was a complete dunce. You shouldn't be eating that rubbish."

"Suit yourself. All I'm saying is that it's good and you should try it. It costs just 3.99 dollars, bruh. And it's much better than that over-priced bucket of cholesterol nuggets you buy at (blergh) McDonald's," she said, strolling out of the room.

I didn't hit a nerve.

I was sure I didn't hit a nerve.

I couldn't have hit a nerve.

Did I hit a nerve?

"I'm sorry!" I shouted.

"Took you long enough, dumbass," she shouted back as she climbed the stairs.

Instant noodles, huh? I thought.

Well, Evie was going to be the death of me anyway. I might as well give it a shot

The next day I stopped by the little stand. Coincidentally, it was named Ichiraku Instant Noodles. A cheap rip-off, but well, I was here for the food and I already knew it was going to be a gimmick anyway, so why bother?

But there were so many people there. They were all eating, ordering, laughing, sleeping; it was basically a community there. All munited by the craving for trashy and cheap non-mainstream food.

"What's on the menu?"

"We have the meaty instant noodles; it has cutlets of pork and beef, vegan instant noodles, spicy instant noodles, and then, our shogun special." the Asian-looking man answered, staring at me with this twinkle in his eyes despite them being squinted.

This definitely looked suspicious.

"Shogun Special?"

"It's a secret recipe. Reserved for only the bravest of diners."

"And how much does that cost?"

"Eight dollars."

"Well, now I see why it's reserved for the bravest. It requires a lot of bravery to fork out eight bucks for this piece of..."

I heard a giggle and looked behind the man, There was a really nice-looking Asian broad back there. She blushed and averted her gaze when I met hers.

"My daughter has always wanted someone who would eat the shogun special. She has a... thing for knights in shining armor," the man said with that suspicious twinkle in his eyes,.

"Well, Indiana Jones, at your service, I said, forking out the eight dollars and heading for my seat. According to the geezer, my food would be ready in five minutes. I guess that was what the 'instant' meant.

"Here you go," the girl said, giggling and hanging around. Her father was almost leaning out of his stand, watching to see if I'd eat it. What the hell was wrong with these people?

There was definitely a lot of meat in the meal, as I told them I wasn't a vegetarian. I quickly used my fork to pin down some meat, wrapped it in steamy noodles, and took a bite.

Woah, that was amazingly good... and spicy! I grabbed my cup of orange juice, and as I gulped it down, I suddenly realized two things.

When I came there, my orange juice was in a bottle, not a cup.

And that didn't taste like orange juice.

I spewed it from my mouth as I looked around my surroundings. There was a big man in a kimono looking at me hatefully. His entire back was wet.

Oh shit, I sprayed him mouth-alcohol, I said, looking at the cup.

It read 'Sake'.

The man was shouting loudly, cursing in loud tones at me.

Then I realized something else. The word 'sake' was written in Japanese Kanji. SO was the language the man spoke. And I could understand them both.

When did I take Japanese classes?

The man kept shouting, and then I was pissed off.

"Well shit up, you big-for-nothing moron!"

I shouted, before realizing I had spoken in Japanese too. The man reached for his waist and drew forth a sharp, glistening Japanese Katana.

Sh!T. I must have overslept at the shop and this night was probably for the Asians to have their festivals or something. I reached for my picket to grab my phone, but when I drew it put, I got the shock of my life.

It was a Japanese Katan I was holding as well.

It was the days of the Meiji Revolution, and apparently, I was a swordsman for the Bakufu.

******

@Hanzell @Leo_kitti I think this one is the most difficult I've worked on yet.