Chapter 55: Movie Tickets
Hyuga Hinata woke especially early today. She changed into fresh clothes and spent extra time carefully brushing her hair.
From the moment she left her room, her left hand stayed buried in her pocket, seemingly clutching something. Her entire demeanor radiated nervous anticipation.
She'd just turned down a side street when she spotted Hyuga Kiyonari in the distance. He carried a bulging sack, walking with hurried steps as though rushing to accomplish something urgent.
Hinata opened her mouth to call his name, but Kiyonari seemed to sense her presence and turned first.
"Hinata?"
"Um... K-Kiyonari..."
The moment she remembered her purpose, her cheeks flushed bright red. Her voice grew smaller and smaller.
Kiyonari set down his sack and wiped sweat from his forehead. "Did you need something?"
"Well... um..." Hinata pushed her hand deeper into her pocket, then changed course. "It's nothing. I was just taking a walk."
"I see." Kiyonari nodded. "We can talk tonight then. I've got some things to handle. See you later."
Before she could respond, he'd grabbed the heavy sack and hurried off.
Hinata stood frozen, staring at his retreating figure. Disappointment flickered through her eyes, followed by... self-reproach.
"Why couldn't I just say it?"
Meanwhile, Kiyonari walked without stopping, heading straight into Ichiraku Ramen.
"Teuchi! Check out this rice—how's it look?"
"Thanks for hauling it over, Kiyonari."
Teuchi immediately opened the sack, revealing a bag of rice. But unlike the fresh rice they normally used, these grains had a yellowish, opaque color—clearly aged indica rice.
They weren't meant for eating, but for making rice noodles.
About a week ago, Kiyonari had stared at his ramen bowl and suddenly remembered rice noodles. He'd casually described the dish to Teuchi and suggested they try recreating it to sell.
But Kiyonari only remembered the general process. The finer details required trial and error. Only yesterday had Teuchi realized they should use high-starch aged rice rather than fresh.
Teuchi carried the rice into the kitchen, rinsing and soaking it thoroughly—a process requiring at least four hours.
Kiyonari began checking and cleaning equipment: grinding machine, steamer baskets, strainers, large iron pot, plus various molds he'd designed himself.
Four hours later, the rice grains had softened completely. They crumbled easily under finger pressure.
Teuchi poured the rice into the grinder... Then steamed the rice sheets... Finally, the extrusion process.
Kiyonari loaded the steamed rice sheets into a piping bag and squeezed them into boiling water. White strands rapidly took shape, forming flexible rice noodles.
Bubble, bubble...
The sound of boiling water echoed through the kitchen. Two minutes later, the first batch finished cooking.
Kiyonari carefully lifted them out with a slotted spoon and plunged them into cold water. When he saw the noodles maintain their shape—no breaks, no clumping—his eyes blazed with joy.
A week of work, finally paying off!
He pulled a single noodle from the cold water and popped it in his mouth. The texture was perfectly chewy and smooth, exactly matching his memories.
"Success!"
Hearing this, Teuchi immediately boiled fresh water, cooking the rice noodles and adding simple broth with toppings.
After his first taste, his eyes widened further than they'd ever opened before. "This texture... truly extraordinary! Smoother than ramen, and it absorbs broth beautifully."
"Kiyonari, how about we split the profits from selling these fifty-fifty?"
As a "completely new" food, rice noodles had considerable market potential in the shinobi world. And since they'd developed it together, splitting profits was undoubtedly the most sincere arrangement.
But the drawback was slow initial revenue, plus Ichiraku was a ramen shop—separate accounting would be troublesome. Of course, most importantly, Kiyonari figured he wouldn't lack money-making opportunities in the future.
He made his decision. "Let's make it a one-time deal instead, Teuchi. Just give me a buyout price for the technique."
"Two hundred thousand ryo?"
"Done!"
Kiyonari didn't hesitate. After all, it was basically free money.
Walking out of Ichiraku Ramen, sunlight bathed his body. The entire world seemed brighter.
Once someone had money, they felt like the whole world owed them something.
Kiyonari was no exception. He immediately began revenge spending, buying everything he'd ever considered purchasing. Passing the movie theater and seeing it had opened, he walked in and bought several tickets.
Carrying shopping bags and movie tickets, Kiyonari walked back toward the Hyuga compound with light steps.
To his surprise, Hinata still stood near the intersection where they'd parted. Her toes scraped back and forth against a small pebble on the ground, lost in thought.
"Hinata."
Hearing his voice, her eyes lit up instantly. She lifted her head, searching for him. "Kiyonari! Are you finished with your business?"
Kiyonari pulled four crisp movie tickets from his pocket. "I saw the movie theater opened when I passed the commercial district, so I thought I'd invite you, Ino, and Sakura to see a film. Evening showing—we could get barbecue beforehand."
He paused, noticing Hinata seemed hesitant. "What's wrong? Is it inconvenient?"
"No, no, no..."
Afraid Kiyonari might misunderstand, she finally pulled her hand from her pocket and slowly opened her palm, revealing two movie tickets crumpled from being clutched so tightly.
"What a coincidence... When I went out shopping today, I saw the theater opening... and bought two tickets too."
Kiyonari looked at those wrinkled tickets, then met Hinata's shy yet hopeful gaze. Guilt squeezed his heart.
You waited here for me all those hours?
"Six tickets, huh..."
Kiyonari kept his tone light as he took the wrinkled tickets and tucked them in his pocket, then waved the remaining four. "Hinata, do you have any other friends you'd like to invite?"
Hinata's head drooped lower. Her fingers twisted together. "Besides you all and Neji... I don't really know anyone else."
Kiyonari realized he'd said the wrong thing and immediately tried to fix it. "I don't have that many friends either. Sasuke counts as one. You might not know him—he's from the Uchiha clan. Nice guy."
"How about... you come with me to drop off my shopping first, then we'll go find him together?"
"Okay." Hinata finally raised her head.
The two walked side by side to Kiyonari's place. After a brief stop, they headed straight for the Uchiha compound to find Sasuke.
However, Sasuke's front door remained tightly shut. Kiyonari rang the doorbell several times, but no one answered.
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