I Could Never [Aiden, Sam]

Just a hole in the wall ramen shop not more than two blocks away from one of the busiest streets in Karakura Central. That was where Aidan worked. And yet two blocks was all it took for traffic to die down by over half. What was left of the population who came this way was more than enough to keep this little shop running, even with as few customers as they ended up getting. The shop's owner was frugal, perhaps so much that he bordered on being a cheapskate, but not quite. He was just barely willing enough to hire help, but only if that help was part time.

And that part time help was Aidan, someone who kept up with the world only somewhat, who was about as aware of its events as the average human being, and who he himself was just as average. He tried not to be, to be more than just some guy, but some things were just not meant to be. Still, he would keep on trying.

Just hearing the door to the shop open up, he'd throw a look over his shoulder as he was cleaning and drying the dishes that they were running short on. The new customer, one he'd never seen before, got a cursory glance at best, but a genuine "Hey, welcome!" Followed by a kind smile from a soul that could never hurt anyone. "Menus are in the baskets, and we've got specials on anything with beef today if that's your thing."

"Our Sukiyaki's pretty famous around these parts." He offered cheerily. It was their most ordered dish, and the special was designed to rake in more money while there were tourists in town. "Don't feel pressured though, if you want something else we've got plenty of other kinds as it is." And sure enough the menu was full of maybe twenty or so different kinds of ramen, categorized by the different broths they had with a fifth section for specialties like Tsukemen.

It was worth noting there were a few high school students towards one end of the bar chatting away amongst themselves. The only other person there was Aidan's boss who was in the process of cooking more broth, because he always was, and pulling out more eggs to boil. Aidan in the meantime was just making sure everything was clean so the shop owner himself could work on the actual food.

"Don't think I've seen you before, though. What brings you around here, if you don't mind me asking?" Aidan wondered out of habit. It was normal for him to just chat with the customers here and there, and his boss didn't mind. Anything to help keep him sane while he spent 6 hours washing near endless dishes.

The moment that Sam mentioned she'd like a Sukiyaki, the shop owner set into motion wordlessly to fill that request, first grabbing a bowl and beginning to fill it with the necessary soy and broth. "It'll be ready in just a moment." Aidan said as he set the last of the dishes to the side and stepped over to wash his hands at a sink. "Yeah the tech really boomed here over the past few decades. I can't imagine what it was like beforehand."

But just being asked if he had seen something piqued his interest. Turning around to look at the symbols he was provided, Aidan blinked and just stared in confusion. What the hell was that? "No... I don't think I've ever seen anything like that." He mumbled, then looking up at Sam to get a proper look at her. "You said you were here for a job? Looking for symbols like that?" Turning around so he could dry his hands on a towel, he then took another step over and began to work on peeling a fresh batch of boiled eggs that should have cooled down by now. "What's that for? Just looks like nonsense to me."

Aidan was a little wary of things like that, especially now that he knew something of the sort could be around the neighborhood. Whatever it was, it didn't sit well with him, but he was sure things would be fine. "Yeah, things are gonna get crazy in about an hour or so." He chatted casually, even though part of him was still worried about whatever those symbols were. "Dinner rush is gonna come in and we'll be busy until the moment we close."

That was normal for them at this point, and both he and his boss had worked together long enough to coordinate together pretty damn well, which meant they'd actually get done by closing and not hours afterwards like did when Aidan first started. "Oh and, thanks for your service. Whatever is it you're doing, I'm sure it's good, right?" Probably not the best wordage but he felt it was only necessary.

Aidan was handed a bowl of broth by his boss and instinctively took it and begun placing in the ramen, the beef, a mixture of local ingredients including bean sprouts, dried and shredded seaweed, green onions, and shredded carrots, spinach, and topped it off with a soft egg. Handing it over to Sam, Aidan gave a brief bow and returned to his work at the counter. "Let us know what you think of it. That's a new dish we've been working on for months now. Still trying to get the broth right but we think it's pretty good so far."

Aidan nodded along as the woman gave a rather grave response. "Nothing's always good, but hopefully people are more appreciative than not. I remember reading about investigation work, it can be pretty wild." Boy giving a rather casual response while he tried to think of something to keep the conversation flowing properly, while at the same time turning around and returning to his surprisingly labor intensive job. He'd give her a few moments to start trying out her food, getting used to it, just eating, before his mind would wander like it always would and he'd end up asking,

"Do you know much about the spiritual world? Investigate anything like that?" What with a couple of his customers being more... spiritually inclined, he supposed the term was, he couldn't help but wonder about it all the time. There was plenty of news about these sorts of things happening, it wasn't like it was that abnormal, but you never really saw it, just heard about it through the grapevine or the media. Aidan wanted to know what it was really like, so even if Sam had no clue, he couldn't help his catlike curiosity at times.