1 The Restaurant System

Before you continue reading the story, make sure that you read the tags that the story has before deciding to read on. I know this story won't be for everyone, it's hard to satisfy everyone's tastes after all. Anyway, if you did read the tags, you probably saw the Harem tag.

Just making note that the harem will be slowly progressing, not one where after like three or more chapters after one another he gets another girl, that's just unrealistic. I'll try to make the progression of relationships as realistic as possible.

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"Dad, the order for table seven is ready!"

"Got it, thanks!"

"Ryota, here's the order for table fifteen."

"Thanks, mom."

At the current time, three different voices could be heard speaking with one another occasionally. One of them looked to be quite young, appearing no older than fifteen or sixteen years of age, and the other two were well into their thirties or so.

The younger male was currently seen working rapidly in the kitchen, steps smooth and precise, and every movement was made with purpose and efficiency. He had fair skin and a lean build from what could be seen, having smooth black hair and a pair of deep blue eyes.

Despite this young man's age, he gave off a rather mature aura that was enhanced by the sharp eyes that he possessed. His current attire consisted of a casual set of clothes, black sleek pants and a blue t-shirt, along with a pair of black running shoes.

Aside from those casual articles of clothing, he also had a white chef's apron tied around his body, tightly enough that it was safely secured and sticking to his body, though not tight enough that it'd cause any breathing difficulties or pain. The male also had on a simple white mask that covered his mouth and noise.

This young man was Ryota, more specifically, Kasuga Ryota.

The two individuals he was speaking and calling out to before were his parents, and the three of them were currently busy getting through the day of working in their family restaurant. They didn't have a lot of staff, in fact, it was literally just the three of them.

While both his parents dealt with taking orders and bringing out the food, Ryota's job was entirely to cook everything that was asked for. Anyway, the number of customers was thankfully starting to slow down, at least for now. Ryota knew just how many people could start coming in the next two or so hours.

'Man, if it wasn't for this system, I'd be pretty screwed right now...' Ryota thought to himself as he was casually and skillfully chopping multiple different vegetables. 'How long has it been? Fifteen damn years since I was reincarnated, time sure does fly by.'

"Oi, Ryota!"

Ryota didn't stop chopping, but he did turn his attention over towards the open wall leading to the restaurant. When he did, he saw a man with black hair just like himself, although much shorter compared to his own. This was Ryota's father, Kasuga Koga.

"Your friend is here again, she's waiting at her usual spot. Why don't you talk to her for a bit? I can take over, business is starting to finally slow down."

"Hm? Oh, if you're sure."

While Ryota was without a doubt the main chef here in the restaurant, his parents obviously both knew their way around the kitchen as well, just not as well as Ryota. Anyway, giving his dad a nod before walking out, Ryota headed towards a female who could be seen sitting silently at one of the tables that were set up close to the open wall that led into the kitchen.

As he walked over, a number of people greeted him, and he politely greeted them back with a smile. A lot of the customers were regulars, all of which took a loving for his food and kept coming back day after day. As he approached the familiar female, her appearance became more apparent.

She was a girl no older than he was, having a rather petite build with red eyes and wavy long blonde hair that had an orange tint to it. From what could be seen, she held a constant dull and emotionless look as she patiently sat on her chair.

This girl's name was Koizumi, someone he had met two weeks ago when she first visited their restaurant. He had come to learn that she was an absolute ramen addict, it was the only thing she ordered whenever she came, which was every single day since the first.

During that time, he had actually gotten to know her quite a bit since she would always sit and watch as he cooked in the kitchen through the open wall. She didn't really speak much with him at first, but it eventually got to the point that they both talked quite a bit.

"Back again, Zumi-chan." Ryota smiled as the girl in question turned and looked up at him before giving a nod as a greeting. "I assume you want to order another bowl of ramen?"

"Gold Stream Ramen, large bowel."

"Right, right. I guess you really liked it yesterday, huh?"

"Yes, it was very delicious." Koizumi nodded and stated with utmost honesty. Gold Stream Ramen was Ryota's own specialty that he had received from the system at the start, its recipe was automatically printed into his memory. "Keep it all the same, nothing extra."

"No worries, I'll be back soon." Ryota chuckled as he patted the girl on the shoulder before making his way back towards the kitchen. Unlike the other ramen bowels she had ordered previously, Koizumi had never requested extra toppings or garlic when it came to his Gold Stream Ramen. She seemed to adore it as it was. "Dad, I need to make some Gold Stream Ramen."

"For Koizumi-chan, right? Not surprised." Ryota's father, who was currently flipping the contents within his pan, gave a small laugh as he heard this. "That ramen of yours has been an incredible hit, and it was only introduced yesterday. How did you think of it?"

"Just some creative thinking." With a shrug, Ryota replied. He wasn't going to try and take any true credit for the ramen, it was the system that gave him the recipe after all. 'It's been two weeks now, I wonder when my cooking skill will improve.'

The system that he had received was a very simple one, its functions just included giving him quests that he was to complete and it would reward him in various ways. Though, since it was called the Restaurant System, its rewards naturally were related to the kitchen.

His only current two skills were Cooking and Knife-Wielding.

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『Skills』

● Cooking - [Rank: Tier 3 Veteran] [Description: The ability to both understand and perform the practice of cooking on a deeper level, as well as understanding the factors that come along with the art. Examples are the understanding of ingredients, combinations, and global techniques]

● Knife-Wielding - [Rank: Tier 2 Expert] [Description: The ability to wield a multitude of various knives from around the world, both in the practice of cooking and other forms of use]

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Ryota wasn't certain just how high the ranks of Veteran and Expert were since he didn't know what the highest rank was, but considering their names, they must be pretty high levels. In regards to Knife Weilding, he wasn't really sure if there'd be any point in time he'd use it other than for cooking.

He wasn't looking to get into any kind of dangerous fight.

"And... done!"

It didn't take long at all for Ryota to complete his signature dish. Looking down, the ramen bowl was revealed to contain a beautiful shining golden broth with many strands of pale-gold noodles that made it look as if they were rising and falling waves within the broth.

The most prominent toppings that could be seen included a very finely shredded nori sheet seemingly sprinkled all over, along with a snow-white fishcake beautifully carved into what looked to be a sailing ship that was riding along the waves of noodles.

『Skill Rank - Cooking has been raised to Tier 1 Expert』

Immediately after that notification sounded, Ryota suddenly felt a series of information rushing into his head like a raging river. Information regarding cooking from around the world, including ingredients he had never even heard of before and more.

The obvious advantage this system gave him was the speed at which his ability in the fields could improve. Others would have to practice tirelessly for months and perhaps even years, but him just simply repeating the actions over and over would eventually cause them to rank up.

That in itself was an incredible cheat. As long as he continued performing the skills, he was certain to always improve eventually.

'What convenient timing.' As soon as the information stopped flowing, the corners of his lips raised up into a small amused smile. He wasn't sure how it worked, but just raising the levels of both his Cooking and Knife-Wielding skills granted him the knowledge he didn't know prior. "Zumi-chan, hope you enjoy."

"Mm." With a nod, Koizumi stared with star-filled eyes at the large bowl of golden ramen in front of her. She quickly tied her hair back into a ponytail, she then picked up her pair of chopsticks and stared hungrily at the bowl. "Itadakimasu."

Just like that, Koizumi quickly dug into the bowl, literally shovelling the contents into her mouth without pause. As she did, her face gained a constant look of utter bliss as the flavour of the ramen completely took over her taste buds.

"Don't eat so fast, you'll end up choking."

Ryota chuckled before leaving her to her own devices.

『Reputation: Koizumi has been raised to 3』

Ryota blinked upon seeing the notification, he still wasn't entirely sure what the point of the reputation was. Aside from telling him how close he was with the person, there wasn't much of any other point to it, so he kinda thought of it as useless.

Opening up his system's menu upon arriving back in the kitchen, he made sure to look around for a second before doing so though. Once the close was clear, he began examining the menu before tapping on the 'Relationships' menu.

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『Relationships』

● Koizumi - [Origin: Ramen Daisuki Koizumi-san] [Reputation: 3/5 - Sees you as a close friend] [Affection: 0/5 - Holds no romantic interest in you]

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Despite having served hundreds of different customers over the days of working here at the restaurant, Koizumi here was the only one to be recognised on the system's menu. For whatever reason, she held a significance higher compared to other people.

'Is it because she seems to be a prominent character in this world?' Ryota couldn't help but consider seeing that there was a literal label on the menu for their origin. 'If I'm not mistaken, that title is the name of an anime. I think I saw it while scrolling through the website for something to watch...'

Even if building a reputation with her didn't do him anything, he was glad to see that she saw him as a close friend.

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The rest of the day went by smoothly just like any other working day, Ryota was able to finish all the orders within record time and every customer left the restaurant satisfied. Since it was very near the end of the day, there were no more customers coming into the place.

So, since Ryota didn't have any orders to do, he was currently tending to the tables and cleaning them thoroughly with the help of both his parents. The restaurant wasn't huge, having at most twenty to thirty four-seater tables.

Of course, such a number wasn't much for higher-end restaurants, but for a family restaurant like theirs, it was quite the damn workload for the three of them alone. Both Ryota's parents could easily admit that they would suffer greatly without Ryota, he was their restaurant's main backbone after all.

"Hey, Ryota."

"Hm?" Ryota stopped wiping down the table and looked to see his father walking over. "Something wrong, dad?"

"Nothing in particular, but I wanted to ask. Are you still not considering trying to enter Totsuki?" Koga couldn't help but ask as Ryota merely blinked at the sudden question. "Your skills in the kitchen are incredible, I feel like you'd have a good chance at getting in."

"My answer still remains the same, dad. I'm satisfied working here." Ryota chuckled slightly as he continued wiping the desk. "I'll admit, I'm curious what Totsuki would be like, but that interest doesn't outweigh my content with working here."

Ryota knew all about Totsuki, it was the ultimate culinary school from Shokugeki No Soma. He hadn't completely finished watching the series, in fact, he had only watched until the end of the first season. His previous life was just as busy, if not busier, than his current lifestyle.

He also knew just how isolated Totsuki could be, and the access students have to the outside world would be quite limited due to how much work they have at the school and more. They obviously had breaks, but a majority of students would choose to just remain in the school during those times to continue their cooking.

Ryota wasn't looking to become some world-famous chef.

"Whatever your decision, your mother and I will respect it." Koga smiled as he gave a small sigh. "I just feel like you accomplish so much more."

"Perhaps."