Shin-chan looked at the little toad, who seemed ready to curl up into a ball, then pulled out the last chocolate stick Rin had given him and broke it in half.
"Here. You can have half."
"What is this?"
"A chocolate stick. Something that makes you happy when you eat it."
Gamahiro cautiously extended his tongue and wrapped it around the half chocolate stick.
"So sweet!"
"Right?" Shin-chan stuffed his own half into his mouth. "Misae says sweet things can make people forget their worries."
"Who's Misae?"
"My mom."
As Gamahiro chewed the chocolate stick, much of his earlier dejected expression disappeared.
"Human food is really delicious." He licked the corner of his mouth. "But eating a chocolate stick still doesn't make me able to spit Toad Oil."
Shin-chan stood up and brushed the bits of moss from his backside.
"How do you feel now?"
"I feel... sweet?"
"What else?"
"I don't feel quite as sad anymore."
"Exactly." Shin-chan placed both hands on his hips. "When you're sad, nothing goes right. When you're happy, everything becomes easier. That is the second law of Nohara Style Ninjutsu Theory."
Gamahiro blinked.
"What's the first law?"
"Ramen and ninjutsu are connected."
"And the third?"
"I haven't thought of it yet." Shin-chan said this with complete confidence. "Come on. Let's go outside and try spitting oil."
Gamahiro led Shin-chan to an open patch of dirt where he usually practiced.
"This is the place."
Gamahiro took a deep breath, puffed out his cheeks, and blew with all his strength.
Poof.
Only a few tiny bubbles came out. They drifted less than half a meter before popping.
"See?" Gamahiro said dejectedly. "Even my bubbles are tiny."
"Where does the air inside you come from?"
"My stomach."
"How do you get it there?"
"Well... I take a breath and hold it in my cheeks..."
"That's wrong." Shin-chan shook his head. "What you're describing is breathing, not gathering power."
"Gathering power?"
"When you eat ramen, do you drink all the soup in one breath?"
"I... have never eaten ramen."
"You've never eaten ramen?"
Shin-chan stared at Gamahiro with wide eyes, looking even more shocked than when he had first heard about his chocolate-stick ban.
"No." Gamahiro honestly shook his head. "There's no ramen on Mount Myōboku."
"Then what have you been eating your whole life—no, your whole toad life?"
"Bugs."
"I've already experienced Granny Shima's menu. It tasted surprisingly good, but those things can't replace ramen."
"What does ramen taste like?"
A solemn expression appeared on Shin-chan's face—the kind he only wore when discussing the highest level of cuisine.
"Ramen tastes like happiness."
Gamahiro blinked, only half understanding.
"The noodles bounce between your chopsticks, the chashu has the perfect balance of fat and lean meat and melts in your mouth, and the moment the yolk spills out of the soft-boiled egg..." Shin-chan closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "The whole world lights up."
Gamahiro's mouth hung wide open, and a small puddle of drool was already gathering at the corner.
"I want ramen."
"Mount Myōboku doesn't have a ramen shop."
Gamahiro's face immediately fell.
"But." Shin-chan raised one finger. "Just because there's no ramen shop doesn't mean we can't make it ourselves."
"You know how to make ramen?"
"No." Shin-chan answered with complete confidence. "But I've watched Teuchi make ramen. A lot of times."
"Who's Teuchi?"
"The owner of Ichiraku Ramen. The future God of Ramen."
A spark of hope lit up in Gamahiro's eyes.
"Then can we make some?"
"I don't know," Shin-chan answered honestly. "But even if we fail, making ramen itself sounds fun."
Those words completely ignited Gamahiro's enthusiasm.
He jumped onto Shin-chan's shoulder and puffed out his cheeks.
"Then let's start right now! We'll make the first bowl of ramen in Mount Myōboku!"
"First, we need flour." Shin-chan thought for a moment. "Eggs, alkaline water, pork bones, chashu meat..."
As Gamahiro listened to the long list of ingredients, the excitement on his face slowly faded.
"Mount Myōboku doesn't have pork bones."
"Toad bones would work too."
"Toads don't eat toads!"
Gamahiro clutched his chest in horror.
"We can substitute something else. The main point of tonkotsu broth is to draw out a rich savory flavor. What does Mount Myōboku have that tastes really savory?"
"There's a kind of white mushroom that grows near the hot-spring steam vents. It makes really flavorful soup when boiled. Big Brother Gamabunta says it's the tastiest mushroom on Mount Myōboku."
"Good. We'll use that." Shin-chan wrote it down in his notebook. "That replaces the pork bones. What about the chashu? What does Mount Myōboku have with a lot of meat?"
"There's a bug called a 'Fat-Tail.' Its tail is really plump, and it smells amazing when fried..."
"Good. We'll use that." Shin-chan looked up. "It sounds weird, but it'll work. What about soft-boiled eggs?"
"We have those!" Gamahiro jumped excitedly. "There's a type of bird on Mount Myōboku whose eggs cook if you soak them in the hot springs. Sometimes, if you don't leave them in too long, they come out half-cooked."
"Hot-spring soft-boiled eggs." Shin-chan rubbed his chin. "That sounds even better than normal soft-boiled eggs."
"Right? Right?" Gamahiro became more excited as he spoke. "What about the noodles?"
Shin-chan frowned.
Noodles were the soul of ramen.
Without noodles, it couldn't be called ramen.
"Does Mount Myōboku have anything that can be ground into flour?"
"There's a plant called Rock-Powder Grass. If you dry its roots, you can grind them into powder. Elder Fukasaku once used it to make dango. It tastes a lot like mochi."
"If you can make dango with it, you can make noodles."
Shin-chan wrote another line in his notebook.
Rock-Powder Grass root flour + hot-spring bird egg + alkaline water = Mount Myōboku Special Noodles.
Gamahiro's eyes widened.
"You're amazing!!!"
"Misae says the most important thing about cooking isn't the ingredients. It's having the courage to try."
Gamahiro looked at Shin-chan with eyes full of admiration.
"Then let's begin."
Shin-chan rolled up his sleeves.
"Nohara Style: Mount Myōboku Special Ramen—officially underway!"
The news spread faster than expected.
Shin-chan and Gamahiro's ingredient-gathering operation quickly attracted the attention of the entire toad clan.
"Have you heard? The Child of Prophecy is making ramen on Mount Myōboku."
"Ramen? What's that?"
"No idea, but apparently it's the most sacred food in the human world."
"More sacred than Elder Shima's insect feast?"
"Apparently."
The temporary "kitchen" Shin-chan and Gamahiro built was really just an open space beside one of the hot-spring steam vents.
Gamahiro was responsible for making the broth.
He threw the cleaned white mushrooms into a stone pot suspended over the steam vent, then filled it with water.
"Will this really make the soup taste good?" Gamahiro leaned over the edge of the stone pot.
"You have to be patient." Shin-chan crouched beside him. "Good broth takes time. Tonkotsu needs twelve hours. Mushrooms, though..."
He tilted his head and thought.
"At least one hour."
~~~
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