A portrait hangs on the wall, looking over Jiro and his father as they're working. Jiro smiling from ear to ear, his mom and dad hugging him from both sides. Another picture hangs next to it; his parents covered in pasta sauce and flour, smiling at each other as they cook.
Jiro looks up at the pictures and smiles, he's wrapping up the last of the dishes left in the sink.
He still remembers that day like it was yesterday. When his dad used to be a different person. He used to be a mountain of a man who seemed like he could rule the world. Jiro thinks back on that day…
Flashback
His dad turned to him, flour covering his hands and some of his face as he picks up young Jiro and lifts him onto his burly shoulders. They were making pasta from scratch that day.
Jiro's dad liked to experiment with dishes from his country, while his wife tried toning it down with a Japanese twist, trying to make it editable for the locals. Every night was something different. Many of the locals weren't fans of his creations. The only person who would try his experiments was Naku, and he was belligerently drunk every time.
It wasn't always happy, though. Jiro remembers many nights where he'd watch his parents fighting through the gap in the kitchen door. One night he remembers vividly, he could hear his parents screaming at each other, both matching each other's volume. Back and forth they went, arguing about something. He woke up and went downstairs to see what was happening. He peeked around the corner leading from the staircase into the restaurant.
He saw his parents, his father was pacing around the table, his mother sitting on top of it.
"I told you this was a bad idea! My mother told you too! Why don't you ever listen to anyone Mark! You live in some fantasy world where everything works out perfectly!"
"You think I'm going to take your mother's advice?! She couldn't keep a husband if she was paid to. If we would've listened to her, we'd be in a far worse situation than we are now."
After a few more minutes of yelling. The animosity in the room had died and their yelling ceased.
His mother with a paper in her hand put one of her hands over her face and started tearing up. There was a brief silence.
Her voice shaken from the yelling, with tears rolling down her cheeks she manages to let out, "How are we going to pay the mortgage this month? We're so behind on rent that they're going to kick us out of here. Where are we going to sleep Mark?! Where is our child going to sleep?" She breaks out into a full cry.
Mark calms himself and walks towards Jiro's mother.
He gently places his hand on her shoulder and says, "We'll find a way; we've made it this far already. I'll take up a graveyard shift at the docks if I have to. We'll be alright, Maki."
The conversation is interrupted by Jiro with a river of tears streaming down his face.
He walks in with tears in his eyes. "Areee, you guys *sniffles* leaving each other? Because Kiro's parents just left each other, Kiro says he doesn't see his parents anymore. And I don't want to not see you guys anymore."
*Jiro starts bawling his eyes out* Mark walks over to Jiro and picks him up and hugs his little body to his.
"Jiro, your mother and I aren't leaving each other. We just have to work some things out with the shop, everything is fine."
Maki gets up and hugs Jiro and his father. She is a foot shorter than Mark; Jiro is a ways away from her on his father's shoulders but just knowing she's there comforts him.
"Everything's going to be okay, honey." She says, rubbing her hand through his short spikey hair. "Someone needs a haircut."
Jiro wipes his nose on his father's shirt, "Mom, no! I'm growing it out! All the cool kids have long hair!"
"Whatever you say." Jiro's dad looks down at his shirt in disgust.
They all laugh and then head to bed. Jiro falls asleep in his parent's bed snug in between his giant father and tiny mother.
There were some days that didn't end like this one. There was the day he found out about his mom being sick. He remembers coming home from school and seeing her deathly pale as she was preparing food for some customers. As he made his way into the restaurant, she looked over at him then collapsed to the floor. The pan full of food fell beside her, all of the food now on the floor. Jiro ran over to his mother and yelled for his father.
"Dad! Hurry! Mom's hurt!" Mark rushed over, turned off the stove, then picked his mother off the floor and brought her to the car.
"Jiro, listen to me. I need you to be strong right now and handle the restaurant."
Jiro, with tears running down his face, "Dad, no! I want to go with you guys!"
"Jiro! Listen to me. I need you to be a big boy right now! I have to go your mother needs to go to the hospital! Please Jiro! I will be back as fast as I can, and I will come get you. Just do everything we normally go over together. You got this son."
Jiro wipes his cheek, "Okay, I'll do it."
"Thank you, Jiro." Jiro's dad speeds off in the car to the hospital.
Jiro breaks down in tears as his father drives away. Naku comes over to him and puts his hand on his shoulder.
"Come on, Jiro-kun, we have some work to do, this restaurant isn't going to run itself. You promised your father you don't want to be a liar so let's do it."
Jiro wipes his tears again, nods his head, and follows Naku into the kitchen. They both start to clean up the mess.
Hours later
Jiro's father returns, late at night by himself. He walks through the door to see Naku sitting on the counter, helping himself to their sake stock. Jiro is sound asleep on the floor, his apron covered in stains, and sauce is still on his cheek.
"Naku, thank you so much, I'm really sorry, but I have no way to pay you back."
"Don't worry, Mark-san, I helped myself to some of your sake. We can call it even." Naku gets up, pats Jiro's dad on the shoulder, and leaves.
Mark goes to pick up Jiro off of the floor. He wipes the sauce off his cheek, takes off his oversized apron, and then takes him to bed.
The next day they go to the hospital together. Jiro quickly enters the room. His mother sitting there with tubes in her arms and a pained expression on her face. Jiro jumped on the bed and hugs his mother; he didn't know if he would have another chance to while she was alive. Jiro's dad quickly pulls him off of her.
"Jiro! She's in pain; calm down!"
Maki waves off Mark. "It's okay. I want you guys close to me right now."
Mark goes to the side of the hospital bed and places his hand on her small pale hand.
She didn't live for long after that. She spent her last days in the hospital room with Jiro and Mark by her side. The doctors said she suffered from a stroke, and 3 days later, she suffered another one, this one fatal. Jiro remembers standing at her gravestone with a single flower in his hand. Rain poured on him as he stood there staring at it in disbelief. His father tried to get him to leave, but he refused. He sat there until it was dark. Until finally, Mark picked him up and forced him to go back home.
Jiro busts through the door, yelling at his father. "It's all your fault! Mom would still be here if she didn't have to work so hard around here! She didn't even like it here! She told you she didn't!"
"Jiro. I.."
"No! She wanted to move somewhere else and work a normal job! But you wanted to live out your life at some broken-down restaurant that no one likes!"
"Jiro."
Jiro runs up the stairs with tears in his eyes and slams his bedroom door. With tears in his eyes, Mark grabs a bottle of whiskey and a glass and takes a seat at the counter.
Jiro wakes up later that night and still sees the lights on in the restaurant. He walks down the stairs rubbing his eyes, dried tears cover his cheeks. He sees his dad's head slumped over the counter with an empty bottle of whiskey next to him. Jiro approaches his father and pushes his shoulder to wake him up. His dad comes to his senses, looks over at Jiro, and struggles to get a word out. "Jiro I…" Jiro hugs him and cries into his chest. The both of them hug each other while letting out their cries.