Start with a core cabin

Chapter 1654 Weird Stories (Feeling Lazy Every Day When I Get Up)
【Friday, September 8, 05: pm】

Mr. Ueno is nearly 80 years old, but as Chitanda said, he is energetic and has a loud voice, and does not look like an old man at all.

"I've heard what Shimizu-kun said about you guys."

Looking at Duanmu Huai, Yanami and Chitanda in front of him, Mr. Ueno also laughed.

"I just didn't expect you to come, Eru-chan. Aren't you always helpless with this kind of stuff?"

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

Chitanda spoke to Mr. Ueno in a slightly awkward tone, saying that it seemed that their two families had a good personal relationship. At the same time, Chitanda took out a gift box.

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

By the way, it’s a good thing it wasn’t food, otherwise I wouldn’t have survived this journey.

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

Old Mr. Ueno took the gift from Chitanda, nodded, and then looked at Duanmu Huai.

"Ms. Duanmu, you may not know that I am a fan of yours. I have been following your movies for the past few years."

"Thank you for your kindness."

"But now I can't do that anymore. The doctor said I'm too old to handle the stimulation. What a pity! I think I'm still pretty energetic. If you don't mind, can you take a photo with me and sign an autograph later?"

"No problem at all."

"But it's amazing that you guys could think of talking about food and ghost stories."

"…………………"

After hearing what Mr. Ueno said, Duanmu Huai and Chitanda turned their eyes directly to the culprit, while Mr. Ueno also looked at Yanami curiously.

"Was it this lady's idea?"

“Ahahaha, hello…”

Yanami also hurriedly bowed to Mr. Ueno.

"Well, this is actually 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, but old 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."

"Hey?"

Upon hearing this, Yanami's eyes lit up, and Mr. Ueno was also very satisfied with her reaction, and continued speaking with a smile.

"A long time ago, there were three nuns who went to a mountain to practice. Although they were practicing, they had no place to live in the mountain. They could only sleep under trees or in the grass. And because killing was forbidden, they could only eat grass and fruits from trees. One day, the nuns found three rice balls beside the mountain path, and they happily ate them. Then the next day, three more rice balls appeared on the mountain path, and the nuns ate them as well."

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

Yana nodded repeatedly at this moment, and Mr. Ueno continued talking with a smile.

"At first, the nuns were all equally divided into two groups, but soon one of them started to think, 'If there is one less person, won't I have more to eat?' So two nuns teamed up to push one of the younger nuns off the cliff, thinking that this way, the two of them would be able to eat three rice balls. But to their surprise, only two rice balls were left on the next mountain path, which surprised the nun who thought she could eat more."

"………………Um?"

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

“It’s a really scary story.”

Yanai saw that his face was pale and he was trembling all over.

"I have distributed them to everyone. I don't keep them to myself."

Well, that's true. Although Yanami eats a lot, she will still leave some for others.

"Hahaha."

Mr. Ueno was obviously very satisfied with Yanami's reaction, and he nodded with a smile.

"Stories like this are very common in folklore and ghost stories. In ancient times, people were not as affluent as they are now, and it was common for people to go hungry. Especially when there were natural disasters and poor harvests, it was common for people to starve to death. In order to survive, people would try all kinds of ways. For example, stories about cannibalism are actually recorded. But many times, everyone wants to cover up this history, so they make it into a ghost story and want to treat it as something that does not exist... In fact, many times, folklore and ghost stories are closer to the local cultural history, and everyone is more interested in this kind of thing, right?"

That's true.

Duanmu Huai also nodded secretly. In history class, when you talk about official history, everyone feels sleepy and wants to sleep, but if you talk about unofficial history, I won’t feel sleepy at all... Eating melons is really human nature.

Because there were other guests, Mr. Ueno said goodbye after telling the three people this story. Of course, before leaving, he also told the three people to find his students and collect folk legends or urban legends about food from them.

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

Mr. Ueno was chatting with others, while his students were doing nothing, so the three of them found them and asked about the situation.

"Food legends... Um, sorry, I know a similar urban legend. Do you want to hear it?"

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

"Listen, listen!"

"Well, this is a story that happened to a friend of my friend..."

Hmm, a classic ghost story opening.

"That friend worked in a restaurant. There was a table with four seats that no one sat at. It was table 3, the innermost table on the right side of the entrance. Every Wednesday around pm, the bell of that table, which obviously had no guests, would ring. But no matter whether it was the workers or the people in the restaurant, everyone would take a glass of water and put it on that table as a matter of course."

"There's no one there?" Yanami tilted his head in confusion, and Duanmu Huai and Chitanda also became interested in this story. The previous story about rice balls was too far from real life, but this story was very close to real life, especially for Yanami who would go to the family restaurant to eat "pre-meal dessert" after school every day.

As for the fact that the "appetizer" was a hamburger set, Duanmu Huai was too lazy to complain.

"Well, it seems to be some kind of routine. Even the manager doesn't know when and why this routine started. Of course, usually no one sits at Table 3, but there are always times when it's full, and then the guests will be directed to Table 3. However, especially on Wednesday afternoons after p.m., the guests who sit at that table will feel very uncomfortable and leave immediately after eating. Of course, some guests will turn around and leave when they see that table."

"……………………"

Duanmu Huai and Chitanda looked at each other. Although they didn't say anything, it was obvious that if this table really existed, they would like to see which one was stronger, Yanami's appetite or the ghost...

"One staff member said that after she finished work at 9 o'clock, she accidentally looked back when leaving the restaurant and saw a woman with very long hair sitting at table 3. She just stared at the water on the table and looked very lonely..."

"Of course."

Hearing this, Yanami nodded vigorously.

"I went to a restaurant, but the waiter didn't serve the food and only gave me a glass of water. I would be very sad if I were in your shoes!"

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

6◇9◇Book◇Bar

Hearing Yanami's sigh, Sakura Jiahui smiled and continued speaking.

"Then, around 4pm on a Wednesday, four customers who looked troublesome came to the store. There were quite a few people that day, so the waiter took them to table 3. After a while, someone who seemed to be their companion also came to the store. The customer directly motioned for them to sit at table . The waiter tried to stop them, but the other party said, 'There was only a glass of water on this table at the beginning, and no one was there at all. It doesn't matter who sits there'... So there was no choice but to let the other party sit there."

"and then?"

Yanami asked curiously, and Chitanda subconsciously wanted to cover her ears.

"Well... then the guest sitting at table 3 started to feel very uncomfortable. He didn't even finish his drink and forced himself to leave with his companions sitting next to him. Later..."

"later?"

"Later, every Wednesday after 3 p.m., if there were guests that made the waiters feel uncomfortable, they would take them to table 3, and then the troublesome guests would leave on their own."

“……………………”

After hearing this story, not only Yanami, but also Duanmu Huai and Chitanda were speechless.

I was originally thinking that the ending would be that the guests would be cursed to death by evil spirits, but I didn’t expect it to be an act of revenge filled with resentment towards the service industry…

In this story, is it the ghost or the human that is scary?

The troublesome guests in the restaurant were led to the haunted seats by the resentful waiter...

"Is this... related to food?"

Chitanda held a pen and looked at the notebook in front of her, not knowing whether she should write it down.

"Of course!"

Yanami nodded vigorously.

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

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

"Hey?"

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

"Really?"

Yanai looked around curiously, but the whole restaurant was filled with tables with four seats, and because they were covered with tablecloths, they all looked the same and it was difficult to tell at first glance.

"Which table is it, Miss Sakura?"

"I don't know about that. The teacher heard me tell him about this urban legend, then he investigated and found the table, brought it over and placed it here. As for which table it is... you'll only know if you sit on it."

Yana was in high spirits, Duanmu Huai didn't care at all, while Chitanda was trembling all over, hiding beside Duanmu Huai uneasily, looking around.

Next, the three found Mr. Ueno's second student, the hot girl Ueda who was dressed in fancy and fashionable clothes. However, unlike her fancy and fashionable clothes, Ueda told the three a rather ancient 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, the 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 Aki. The official liked Aki and had tried to woo her but failed, so he felt resentful. At the New Year's banquet, the official asked Aki to take out the ancestral plates and use them. On the day of the New Year's banquet, the official secretly hid a plate and then falsely accused Aki of breaking it. Not only did he beat her, but he also cut off one of her fingers to apologize for this. The wronged Aki decided to die to make her determination, so she jumped into the well and committed suicide. After that, the official often saw Aki's ghost counting plates in front of him. When she counted to the ninth, she would walk towards the official with blood all over her seven orifices and say, 'Sir, there is still a plate missing.'"

"…………………"

"The official was so frightened that he drew his sword and chopped, only to find that it was his own wife who was chopped to death. The official went mad and thought everyone in the family was Okiku, so he chopped them all to death overnight, and finally committed suicide. I heard that there seems to be a well called Okiku Well in Osaka Castle now."

At this point, Ueda chuckled.

"Oh, actually, in this story, the nine plates that Ah Ju left behind were also kept here by the teacher. Maybe the plates used in tonight's banquet are the ones that Ah Ju left behind."

"Why------!"

Hearing this, Chitanda's face turned pale, and it seemed that she had lost all her appetite.

“Is this considered a food-related weird talk?”

Duanmu Huai looked at Banaijian with a strange expression, and the latter hesitated for a moment and nodded.

"A plate is for food, so it counts!"

Then according to what you said, all pots, pans, kitchen knives, stoves are included...

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

"Forget it, let's move on. There's another story, right?"