'Ok, that's fine. I won't die, right? There is no way I will die. It already happened three times. I think that's enough confirmation. That should be enough, at least. I hope it is...'
Hayato took a step forward, edging the rooftop of a fairly tall building. This building was near the place he got teleported to after falling from his hotel room. Since he didn't know where he was, the boy was basically obliged to use his teleport again. This, or walking around asking people for directions, but the first option was way more interesting.
"Come on. You don't need to do much. Just close your eyes and let yourself fall. Headfirst, if possible, just to increase the danger", he prompted himself, though it wasn't helping much. No matter how he looked at it, he would never find it easy to just throw himself off of a building.
'But it's not like you are committing suicide. It's not suicide if you are sure you won't die!'
He was not sure, though...
Anyway, after just one more second of hesitation, he breathed in and out as slowly as he could, trying to calm down. Even before he gave the step that would decide his fate, his heartbeat reached levels that neared a heart attack.
Hayato, then, took a leap of faith. Soon, he was feeling the air hitting his body as he fell with increasing speed.
The heartthrob came, followed by the wave of electricity, which made all his hair stand on end. This time, however, his mind was not empty or thinking about aleatory things like before. He imprinted in his mind Mr. Satoshi's ramen place, trying to add as many details as he could.
This time around, the teleportation took way longer. So much that, for a moment, he thought he would actually hit the ground.
He made a face of shock when his body approached the streets. For a second, he thought that he was done for. However, what followed was not a strong impact but a tingling feeling that covered him from head to toe. Then, his vision got filled with blue light.
Hayato opened his eyes, but before he could look around, nausea came like a punch to his stomach. He rolled to the side again and puked. This time around, his stomach was nearly empty, so he agonized with the urge to vomit more than actually vomiting anything. His entire body shivered in disgust. This time, his head throbbed in pain. It was similar to having several needles impaling his brain.
He suffered for a long while. It took some time to make the nausea go away. He couldn't get rid of the pain in his head, though it diminished a little.
'What an awful feeling... But...' he looked around.
'Well, that's near.'
He wasn't in Mr. Satoshi's ramen place. He was in another one with a similar facade and slightly familiar surroundings.
'I think mentalizing the place helps a lot, but I need to create a clear image. Besides, I need a better way to activate this power. Had it taken a second or two more, I would be a dead man.
'But I have new information, at least. First, I can activate this power deliberately. Second, I can control the place I will get teleported to as long as I mentalize it perfectly. Third, going to specific places takes longer than just randomly teleporting. Fourth, the more I teleport, the worse the backlash afterward. The symptoms so far were nausea and headache, but who knows how many more there are.'
Hayato gladly accepted that result. Unfortunately, due to the backlash of the teleport, he couldn't use it as many times as he wanted to. Nonetheless, two tries were enough for him to learn many things, so he was satisfied.
'Tomorrow I will definitely try again after work. I better get used to nausea and fill my stomach enough to puke two times, at least.
'Now... where the hell am I?'
He looked left to right, at the empty streets.
'Hm... will someone appear when it's so late at night?'
Hayato spotted a shady group of people coming out of an alley, which made him gulp involuntarily.
'Well, I think so. But definitely not the kind of people I would like to ask for directions.'
Hence, he decided to find the way to the inn by himself.
****
The next day, Hayato came safe and sound to work at the ramen place. He was a bit dizzy as he went to sleep too late, but nothing he couldn't handle throughout the day.
"Ah, Hayato!" Mr. Satoshi greeted him as he entered the small ramen place. The old man had most things done, except for the little details that he let Hayato cover for him.
Mr. Satoshi came very early in the morning to get most of the work done. Besides, he needed to go to the shop to buy pasta, spices, and meat. The goods were fresh in the morning, so it was worth the struggle.
Hayato never asked how early Mr. Satoshi came, but he was sure that he arrived two or three hours in advance. Hayato dropped by at seven, which meant...
'This guy almost doesn't sleep. That's why he is so short-tempered to the point of beating his own customers.'
"You seem to be in a good mood today, Mr. Satoshi", Hayato commented as he took his apron and wore it.
"No, I am not in a good mood. Just glad you got here safely. I didn't think about it last afternoon, but sending you to your inn while under the effect of drugs and alcohol was not the most responsible thing to do."
"If I had died, it would be your fault and way too late to realize it, don't you think?"
"Bah! Forget about it. The important thing is that you are alive and without a bruise."
"Well, what do you want me to do, then?"
"Go cut that meat for me. And you better do it right, or else I will use your meat to make my ramen."
"Ok, but I will be the one holding the knife, you know?"
The way he said it didn't come off as a joke, which made Mr. Satoshi tilt his head in confusion. Only after a few seconds did Hayato notice what he just said and how he said it. Besides, he was not sure, but his face probably wasn't suiting the "joke" in the least.
His cheeks burned due to the embarrassment and he briefly put his hand on his mouth as if trying to swallow those words.
"I-I am joking, ok? Just joking."
"Ah... ok, boy. Don't worry, I got it. It's just that you are a good actor. The last time someone looked at me like this, I got stabbed in the belly."
'He is talking about his ex-wife, aka the owner of the sushi restaurant down the street, right?'
Hayato felt bad for him and ashamed of himself, so he just went to work.
'I should be more careful. It's not like me, acting in such a way.'
Carefully, he began to cut the meat as Mr. Satoshi prepared the noodles. In one hour, the morning customers began to arrive, which were the most familiar faces throughout the day. After ten o'clock in the morning, a lot of people showed up, some were customers who came occasionally, others rarely, and a bunch that had never visited the ramen place.
At the end of the afternoon, Hayato was cleaning the corner with a wet cloth. Thirty minutes had passed with no clients whatsoever, so they diminished the number of noodles they were cooking in advance and began to clean everything for the next batch of hungry customers.
Between seven and nine o'clock at night, usually people showed up for dinner. On that day, however, something unusual happened.
"Hayato", Mr. Satoshi suddenly called him, who stopped cleaning the corner to look at him.
"What's it? Customers?" his eyes were drawn to the entrance of the ramen place. Hayato couldn't see anyone, but he heard steps and chatting. He wasn't paying attention to any sounds before, so he hadn't noticed that.
"Ok, I will put more nood-"
The old man grabbed him by his collar, making Hayato look at him.
"W-What is it?"
"I need you to take out the trash. Hurry up and don't come back until I say to you to do so."
Hayato couldn't understand him, but obeyed his boss' orders. He took the trash bag, closed it tightly, and exited by the backdoor. Even before he could turn to close it, Mr. Satoshi had done it already.
'How strange...' Hayato left the trash bag aside, then leaned against the door, putting his ear against it.
Inside the ramen place, Mr. Satoshi pretended to be cooking when the guards arrived and entered without saying a word.
For a moment, they just looked around.
"How can I serve you today, my fellow customers?" Mr. Satoshi received them with a calm expression and a sympathetic smile.
"Actually, we are not here for the food, which is a shame. Some day, we should come here. The few customers that eat here once in a while have nothing but compliments about your ramen."
"How could I help, then?"
The guard sat on one of the round chairs, a curious look in his eyes.
"I came here in search of someone."