Kays Translations

Just another Isekai Lover~

Chapter 56: Let’s Make Instant Yakisoba (Middle): The Ultimate Five Choices

Thinly split wood, medium-sized pieces, and fairly thick logs.

I want to use those along with straw to get the fire going in the stove.

Kirara helped me carry the firewood.

Ah, by the way, Kirara only looked like a princess from a fairy tale—like Otohime—for a short while. Apparently, she took on that form based on my mental image of a peach tree spirit.

Now she’s dressed like a typical village girl—just a shirt and a one-piece dress. Though, she has such a great figure and beautiful face that she doesn’t really look like a regular villager.

Anyway, I placed straw at the bottom of the stove and leaned some thin pieces of wood against it to make a fire.

Now, how should I light the fire?

A lighter would cost 100 yen, so maybe matches?

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Back in the days, you could get as many matches as you want for free anywhere. Cafés, pubs—almost every shop had them. Some came in boxes, some were the kind you tear off from a paper pad.

At home, we always used matches to light the bath fire instead of a lighter.

We had those big economy-sized matchboxes. I doubt kids these days have ever even seen those.

It just goes to show how many people used to smoke.

It sounds unbelievable now, but hospitals used to have ashtrays in the waiting rooms. Buses and trains practically had one at every seat. I bet a lot of people still have one of those heavy glass ashtrays at home—the kind that often turned up as murder weapons in Tuesday night suspense dramas.

Even the teachers’ lounge used to be full of smoke. And if you visited the home of a heavy smoker, it was normal to find cigarette burns on the tatami mats. Thinking back on it now… it was so dangerous.

Car cigarette lighter socket used to just be for lighting cigarettes. Not for charging smartphones…

I used to think the heads of the matchsticks were super toxic, but it turns out the phosphorus is actually on the striking surface, not in the head of the match itself. And even then, they use red phosphorus now, not the toxic yellow one, so it’s safer than I thought. Well, still toxic, but safer.

At our house, we always insisted on using matches to light incense for the family altar, too. That’s probably why I have a history of buying a pack of small matchboxes.

The ones with the peach logo is six for 110 yen. That’s about 19 yen per box. It was probably even cheaper back in the day. Honestly, I hardly ever had to buy matches at all back then…

I use 1,000 yen repeat, took out a box of matches, and struck one to light the straw.

If you’re bad at striking matches, you end up snapping them. Crack. It’s all in the angle, but once you’ve built a habit of doing it the wrong way, it’s hard to fix.

This time, it went well on the first try. The striking surface was still gritty and fresh, which helped.

Eventually, that gritty part wears down and becomes harder to light.

The straw caught fire and was supposed to transfer the flame to the thin wood. But… maybe the wood was a bit too thick? The flame weakened before the fire could get going.

Ah, I need some straw. I should have brought some more.

Just then, Mimi, who’d been watching, walked up to the stove and opened her mouth wide.

FWOOOSH! Fire shot out of Mimi’s mouth.

“Um, Mimi… what was that?”

“Fire. It’s lit now!”

Yep, the wood’s burning just fine now. Thanks!

Well, she is an earth dragon after all. It’s a dragon. So yeah, breathing fire checks out…

The kid is so talented, it almost hurts.

Wait—so I didn’t even need matches!?

I quickly added more wood, bit by bit. No need to rush. Start with the thin pieces and work my way up to the thicker logs.

I stacked the wood carefully, making sure not to block the airflow. You have to nurture the fire.

Once a good chunk of the wood char and glows red, the fire’s a success.

Back when I used to light the bath fire, I could stack the wood neatly over newspaper and light it in one go. Sometimes it would fizzle out midway, though.

Heating the bath with wood was convenient because it allowed me to burn all sort of things.

Like documents with personal info. Or tests with low-scores.

Though, you have to be careful— the writing can still be read even after it turns to ash.

When paper burns, it is carbonized and can still be read in that state, and sometimes even after the charcoal turns to ash, it can still be read until it crumbles completely.

Just burning something isn’t always enough, so please be careful when disposing of important confidential information.

I placed a pot of water on top of the stove and added firewood as needed to keep the fire steady.

… Adjusting the heat of firewood is tricky. When heating the bath, I would just go all out, so in a way that was easier. I’d sometimes overdo it and have to take out logs and douse them with water. We even had a ceramic container called a charcoal pot for storing the embers. I threw it out just recently, though.

Kirara looked like she wanted to try it too, so I handed her some thin sticks.

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“Add these to the fire gently.”

Wait, maybe “add” wasn’t the right word. I meant: place them gently on the fire.

“Place them gently on the burning part,” I clarified.

“Got it!”

Kirara carefully inserted the sticks. The fire was already quite hot, so they ignited quickly and the heat gets stronger.

All right, the water is boiling.

Now, what should I do with this milestone hot water?

I feel like I’ve been eating a lot of noodles lately, but I guess I have to go with cup ramen here.

Actually, wait—if my digestive system is like it was when I was younger, then I want something else. Cup yakisoba. Just thinking of the smell makes me hungry. I’d stopped eating it lately because of the salt content.

Alright, time for the ultimate five-way choice:

The round UFO-shaped one that I remember fondly.

I think that taste is one of a kind. I loved it. I’ve probably eaten it more times than I can count.

The usual rectangular large-serving one.

Always tasty. Sometimes the flavors go a little wild and surprise me. They’re so adventurous. They once did a collab with medicated shampoo—why?! Just hearing the name takes me back to my younger days.

The one with the mustard mayo.

Tastes like something you’d get at a festival food stand. Super good. The trick is, when you open the packet of mayonnaise, you only put a little bit and the appearance changes depending on how thinly and neatly you can squeeze it out. This brand often has wacky flavors too, so sometimes it’s a bit surprising. Like… shortcake flavor? What the heck is that?

The one from the north.

It sounds similar to a bento box that comes with a punch. I like that it comes with soup powder, which is a nice bonus. If you use the whole soup packet, it’s a bit salty, so I usually hold some back. You can make soup from the water you drain from the noodles, which is brilliant in its own. I liked it so much after I tried it, I started ordering it online. I wish they sold it nationwide; it was so hard to buy.

The lesser-known salty yakisoba.

Not as well-known as the others, but I loved the salt-flavored fried noodles. Thin noodles, ready in 1 minute with boiling water. Comes with scallop-like bits, cabbage, and wood ear mushrooms—delicious. There were so few places to buy this that I had to order it online. I wish they’d sell more of it everywhere.