Start a core cabin

[September 6, Friday, 8:05 pm]

Mr. Ueno is nearly eighty years old, but as Chitanda said, he is energetic and has a loud voice. He does not look like an old man at all.

"I have heard what Qingshui-kun said about you."

Looking at Duanmu Huai, Nanami and Chitanda in front of them, Mr. Ueno also laughed.

"I just didn't expect you, Airu-chan, to come too. Aren't you always in trouble with things like this?"

"Oh...my father asked me to come here to congratulate you, Mr. Ueno."

Chitanda said to Mr. Ueno with a slightly awkward tone. It seemed that the two of them had a pretty good personal relationship. At the same time, Chitanda also took out a gift box.

"A small gift is not a sign of respect."

By the way, it’s a good thing it’s not food, otherwise it would be impossible to survive this journey.

"The last time I met Xiao Airu was when you were in elementary school. I didn't expect that after a few years, you would become a big girl."

Mr. Ueno took the gift from Chitanda, nodded, and then looked at Duanmuhuai.

"Miss Duanmu, you may not know that I am your movie fan. I have been following your movies in the past few years."

"Thank you for your love."

"But it doesn't work now. The doctor said that I am too old to bear stimulation. Oh, what a pity. I obviously feel that I am still quite energetic. If you don't mind, can you take a photo with me and sign autographs in the future?"

"Of course no problem."

"But I'm glad you guys thought of food and weird topics."

"………………"

Hearing what Mr. Ueno said, Duanmu Huai and Chitanda looked directly at the culprit, and Mr. Ueno also looked at Yanami curiously.

"Is it this lady's idea?"

"Ahahaha, hello..."

When Yana saw him, he also hurriedly bowed his head and saluted Mr. Ueno.

"Well, actually this is a very interesting direction. You may not know that food has played an important role in folklore since ancient times."

"Huh? Is that so?"

Even Chitanda was a little surprised, while Mr. Ueno nodded.

"Of course, food was scarce in ancient times, and food was very important to ancient people. Therefore, there are many stories surrounding food - by the way, let me tell you a strange story about food."

"Why?"

Hearing this, Yanami's eyes suddenly shone, and Mr. Ueno was also very satisfied with her reaction and continued talking with a smile.

"A long time ago, three nuns went to a mountain to practice spiritual practice. Although they were practicing spiritual practice, they didn't even have a place to live on the mountain. They could only sleep under trees or in the grass, and because killing was prohibited, the only food they could eat was grass. And the fruit on the tree. One day, the nuns found three rice balls placed beside the mountain path, and they happily ate them. Then the next day, three more rice balls appeared on the mountain path. They all feed on it.”

"Yeah, I quite like eating rice balls too."

Seeing this, Yana nodded repeatedly, and Mr. Ueno continued with a smile.

"At first, the nuns all shared one equally, but soon some of them began to think, 'If there is one less person, wouldn't they have more to eat?' So the two nuns teamed up to give one of the younger ones one The nun pushed down the cliff, thinking that in this way, the two of them could eat three rice balls. However, unexpectedly, only two rice balls were placed on the mountain path the next day, which surprised the nun who originally thought that she could eat more. ”

"………………Um?"

"The remaining two nuns continued to divide the two rice balls equally, but one of them began to think that if she killed another person, wouldn't it all be hers? So she pushed the other nun down the cliff. Then the next day , the remaining nun went to the mountain road again to wait for the rice ball, but the rice ball never appeared again. "

"It's really a scary story."

Bana looked pale and trembling all over.

"I have everything to share with everyone, but I don't have it for myself."

Well, that's true. Although Yanami eats a lot, she will still keep the portion that should be given to others.

"Hahaha."

Yanami's reaction obviously made Mr. Ueno very satisfied, and he smiled and nodded.

"Stories like this are very common in folk tales. In ancient times, things were not as rich as today. It was common for people to go hungry. Especially when there were natural disasters and bad harvests, it was also common for people to starve to death. In order to survive, Everyone will also try their best, such as stories about man-eating ghosts , in fact, there are real records. However, many times, everyone wants to cover up this period of history, so they make it into a ghost story and treat it as non-existent... In fact, many times, folklore ghost stories are closer. As for local culture and history, everyone is more interested in this kind of thing, right?”

That's true.

Duanmu Huai also nodded secretly. In history class, everyone is sleepy when talking about official history, but if you want to talk about unofficial history, then I won’t be sleepy at all... It is human nature to eat melons.

Because there were other guests, Mr. Ueno left after telling the story to the three of them. Of course, before leaving, he also told the three of them to go find his students and collect folklore about food from them. Or urban weirdo.

Nanami also took out a pen and wrote down this story in his notebook.

Mr. Ueno was chatting with others, but his students were a little idle, so the three of them found them and asked about the situation.

"Strange stories about food... Well, I'm sorry, I do know a similar urban legend. Do you want to hear it?"

Sakura Jiahui seemed a little embarrassed, but still gave an answer.

"Listen, listen!"

"Then I said... Well, this is a story that happened to my friend's friend..."

Well, a very classic ghost story opening line.

"That friend works in a restaurant. There is a dining table with four seats that no one is sitting at. It is the innermost table No. 3 on the right side of the entrance. Every Wednesday around three o'clock in the afternoon, there are obviously no customers at that table. The bell will ring at the table, but whether it’s a working person or a person in the restaurant, everyone will take a glass of water and put it on that table as a matter of course.”

"Obviously no one is there?"

Nanami tilted her head in confusion, and Duanmu Huai and Chitanda also became interested in this story. After all, the story of the rice ball before was too far away from life, but now this story is very close to life - especially for Hanami who goes to the family restaurant to eat "dessert before meals" every day after school.

As for the "dessert before meal" being a hamburger set, Duanmuhuai didn't even bother to complain.

"Well, this seems to be some kind of convention. Even the store manager doesn't know when and why this convention started. Of course, no one usually sits at table 3, but there are always times when it is full. At that time The customers will be directed to table No. 3. However, especially those who sit at that table after 3 pm on Wednesday, they will feel very uncomfortable and will leave immediately after eating. , will turn around and leave.”

"……………………"

Duanmuhuai and Chitanda looked at each other. Although they didn't speak, it was obvious that if this table really existed, they wanted to see which one was stronger, the appetite or the ghost...

"A staff member said that after 9 o'clock when her part-time job ended, she once accidentally looked back when she was leaving the restaurant and saw a woman with long hair sitting in front of table 3. She just kept staring at the table. The water above looks very lonely..."

"Of course."

Hearing this, Nanami nodded vigorously.

"I obviously went to a restaurant, but the waiter didn't serve the food and only gave me a glass of water. I would have been very sad if it had been the other way around!"

Well, these words coming from Yanami’s mouth are really convincing.

6◇9◇Book◇Bar

Hearing Yanami's emotion, Sakura Kahui smiled and continued.

"Then, around 6 pm on a Wednesday, four customers who looked like they were in trouble came to the store. There were a lot of people that day, so the waiter took them to table No. 4. After a while, like The guests' companions also came to the store, and the customer directly asked them to sit at table 3, but the waiter said, "There was only a glass of water on this table from the beginning, and no one was there at all." It doesn’t matter who is sitting, so I have no choice but to let the other person sit there.”

"Then what?"

Nanami asked out of curiosity, while Chitanda subconsciously wanted to cover her ears.

"Well... Then the guest sitting at table 3 started to feel uncomfortable. He didn't even finish his drink, so he forcibly left with his companion next door. Later..."

"later?"

"Later on, every Wednesday after 3 p.m., if there was a customer who made the waiters feel bad, they would bring them to table No. 3, so that the troublesome customers would leave on their own."

"…………………………"

After hearing this story, not only Nanami, but also Duanmu Huai and Chitanda were speechless for a while.

I originally thought that the ending would be that the guests were cursed to death by evil spirits, but I didn't expect that it would be an act of revenge filled with resentment from the service industry...

Is it the ghost that is scary in this story? Or people?

A troublesome guest is lured to a haunted seat in a restaurant by a resentful waiter...

"Is this... also related to food?"

Chitanda held the pen and looked at the notebook in front of him, wondering whether he should write it down or not.

"certainly!"

Yanami nodded vigorously.

"The dining table is also very important! How can we eat without a table? This is also a weird food-related story! By the way, Sakura-san, which restaurant is that table in?"

"I want to say that this is just an urban legend. Actually, I don't know...but in fact, this table is actually in this room."

"Why?"

I have to say, this is indeed a bit surprising.

"real?"

Bana looked around curiously, but now the restaurant was full of tables with four seats, and because they were covered with tablecloths, they all looked the same from the outside, so he couldn't tell for a while.

"Which table is it? Miss Sakura?"

"I don't know about this. After the teacher heard me tell this urban legend, he investigated and found the table, brought it over and put it here. As for which table it is...then the only way is to sit on it. Just found out.”

Nanai was very interested, but Duanmuhuai didn't care at all. Chitanda was trembling all over, hiding uneasily next to Duanmuhuai, looking around.

Next, the three found the second student of Mr. Ueno, the hot girl Ueda who was dressed in fancy clothes. However, unlike her fancy and popular dress, Ueda told the three a very old legend.

"Do you know Sarayashiki? Legend has it that in Osaka Castle, there is a mansion that belongs to the widow of Toyotomi Hideyoshi. This hot-tempered lady often killed those who disobeyed her and threw them into the well in the backyard. When she died, her house was deserted and dilapidated. Some people said that ghosts often appeared here. At that time, an official did not believe in evil and moved in with his servants. One of the servants was named Aju. The official liked Aju and had tried to woo her but failed, so he felt resentful. When the New Year's banquet was held, the official asked Aju to take out the ancestral plates to use. On the day of the New Year's banquet, the official secretly hid a plate and then falsely accused Aju of breaking it. Not only did he beat her, but he also cut off her The official asked the official to apologize for this by sticking a finger on his head, and the wronged Aju decided to die to show her determination, so she jumped into the well and committed suicide. After that, the official often saw Aju's ghost counting plates in front of him. When she counted to the ninth, she would walk towards the official with blood coming out of her seven orifices, saying, "Sir, there is still one plate missing." "

"…………………"

"The official was so frightened that he drew his sword and chopped it, but he found that it was his wife who was chopped to death. The official went crazy because of this, and thought that everyone in the family was Aju, and chopped them all to death overnight, and finally committed suicide. I heard that there seems to be a well called Aju Well in Osaka Castle now. "

Speaking of this, Ueda laughed.

"By the way, in fact, the nine plates of Aju were also received by the teacher in this story. Maybe the plates used for tonight's banquet are the ones left by Aju. "

"Ah——————!"

Hearing this, Chitanda's face turned pale, and it seemed that he had no appetite at all.

"Does this count as a food-related weird talk?"

Duanmu Huai looked at Yanaijian with a strange expression, and the latter hesitated and nodded.

"Plate is for food, so it counts as well!"

Then according to your statement, pots, pans, kitchen knives, stoves, etc. are all counted...

Duanmu Huai turned off the recorder and glanced at the hall where people were chatting happily.

"Forget it, let's continue. There is another story, right?"