I’m Back in the First Grade of Elementary School, so I’m Going to Live Well

“Do you want to go to the food court for lunch?”

“Sure, why not?”

Just as the clock struck 12:30, I took my father’s suggestion, holding an inflated balloon in one hand.

What was that? Is that the wakuwaku balloon? Well, either way, is fine.

Mom’s cooking is good, but I want to eat out once in a while.

As my father said when he invited me out, it’s important to spend time together as a family.

My sister isn’t here, though. It would be better if I didn’t.

Anyway, the food court.

I’ve been here many times as a part-time clerk, but I haven’t been here as a customer since elementary school. Of course, I was in elementary school for the first time in my life.

The crowded atmosphere of this food court tickles my boyish heart in no small way.

There are so many restaurants in one space.

Without a doubt, the food court is the place with the widest choice of menus.

I walked around the food court with my parents, slightly excited to be there as a customer.

There were a lot of people there, partly because it was the Bon Festival.

There were barely a few empty seats, but we managed to find a place to sit.

“You can order whatever you want today.”

“Yeah, steak, special burger set, whatever you want.”

The food court is full of items.

In any case, the food court has an extraordinary number of items.

It’s not that easy to decide.

While I was wondering what to have for lunch, one restaurant caught my attention.

It was a set meal restaurant called “Meshi Dokoro.”

This is the restaurant where I used to work in the food court for the first time in my life.

When I was so financially strapped that I couldn’t even eat a cup of noodles, I used to share the store’s food.

It had been a national chain for about 20 years, but by the time I was working there, most of the restaurants had been eliminated, and only the eighth restaurant, located in a different food court from this one, survived.

It was a place that had done me a favor in many ways. I’ll order one meal, it’s not enough to repay the favor, but I’ll eat the food here.

“I want to go there.”

“Yeah, that’s good.”

Dad enthusiastically took Mom and me to the “food court” line and waited for our turn.

“What do you want to eat?”

“Ah~ I don’t know.”

All the food here is delicious.

In a world where Western food is becoming more and more popular in Japan, this restaurant has managed to expand nationwide with only Japanese food.

I can guarantee the taste of every dish.

But I still think.

“Stir-fried vegetable set meal.”

This is what they used to serve me as a bribe.

Although it was a restaurant, it had a homey taste, and the vegetables were carefully cooked in a way that suited each of them, rather than all being fried at once.

You can’t talk about the goodness of “Meshi Dokoro” without eating this.

“What, stir-fried vegetables?”

“Yeah.”

“I thought you didn’t like vegetables.”

“No, that’s not the case…”

“……”

They were both stunned.

I was more surprised that they didn’t order stir-fried vegetables.

Despite them, the line went on and on, and eventually, it was our turn.

“One stir-fried vegetable set meal. What about you and Mom?”

I stood on my tiptoes, peeked out from the counter so that the clerk at the register could see me, ordered the stir-fried vegetables, and passed the baton to my parents.

“Uh, oh, well, I’ll have the… prawn tendon.”

“Umm, I’ll have the… zaru soba.”

The two taking the order seemed to be somewhat absent-minded as if they were preoccupied with something else.

I wondered if they were tired.

“Yes, yes! I understand!”

The female clerk greeted me awkwardly and looked for a number tag on the shelf next to the cash register.

Her name tag read “trainee” and had a beginner’s mark, and she still looked like a student.

So she was a new student worker.

It must be tough to be in charge of serving customers alone at this busy time of day.

“Umm, what? Where is it?”

I wondered if she was still getting used to this job. She hurriedly looked for the number plate.

Actually, one of the unique features of this “Meshi Dokoro” is that the color of the number tag you receive depends on the item you order.

This is because “Meshi Dokoro” does not have a system of asking customers to pick up their food, which is the mainstream system in food courts, but rather the staff goes to the customers and hands them their food.

This is why the waitresses use color-coded number tags and serve the food quickly so that they can instantly know which customer ordered what.

The reason for this rule is that the founder of “Meshi Dokoro” values the Japanese spirit of hospitality and always puts the customer first.

However, making things easy for the customers means that the waiters have to work even harder.

For the waitresses to serve the food instantly and without mistakes, they have to memorize which color is on which number tag.

In addition, there are 49 dishes on the menu at Meshi Dokoro.

For a newcomer, this is quite a devilish specification.

Well, once you get used to it, you can serve it smoothly, but I had a hard time when I was new.

She must have had some training, but it’s not something that can be mastered easily.

There’s a lot to do when you work part-time in a restaurant.

No matter how many menu names are written on the shelves, it’s hard to find them quickly when there are 49 items.

Besides, she seemed to be in a hurry and her vision was getting narrower.

The line was getting longer and some people were getting annoyed with the sluggish waitress.

As a future senior clerk, I’d like to offer a helping hand.

As I recall, this store has a uniform order for all the tags on the shelves, regardless of age or store, so that the clerks don’t get confused.

If I remember correctly, then, let’s see… 

“Clerk.”

I stood on my tiptoes and called out to the sales clerk, showing only my face.

“Oh, I’m sorry! I’ll have it ready right away.”

“The stir-fried vegetable set meal is on the third row from the top, first from the right, with a green tag.”

“Eh, umm, really?”

I interrupted the clerk’s misunderstanding of my complaint and politely told him where it was.

“Prawn tendon is the second from the bottom, fourth from the right, with a red tag. The zaru soba is the dark blue tag two steps up from the prawn tendon, to the right. You can’t mistake it for the blue tag for the grilled fish set meal next to it.”

“…… Wow. Everything is right.”

The clerk let out an exclamation of admiration as I guessed the order of the shelves, which should not be visible to the customers.

Well, I haven’t worked part-time at a restaurant for years.

The clerk put the bills on the tray as I instructed and handed them to each of us.

“Oh, um, thank you so much.”

“No, good luck with your work.”

I replied with a customer service smile, another skill I had acquired in the hospitality industry.

It never occurred to me that my part-time experience would come in handy in such a situation.

I guess you can make the most of any experience if you do it twice in life.

Well, normal people don’t have to do things twice in their lives.

“Well, let’s get a seat now…? Dad? Mom?”

As I hold the tray in my left hand and look for an empty seat, my mom and dad look at me as if I’m looking at something strange.

“I… no, it’s nothing.”

My dad was about to say something, but he stopped halfway.

I knew something was wrong with him today.

I feel suspicious while thinking of the lively balloon in my right hand.