Karaoke was SO much fun! It was awesome!

I'm kind of hungry now, after all of that singing.

Me too. How about we go to a café? There's supposed to be a place with delicious cakes a street over.

Will we be in the way if we go there with all of this shopping we have?

There's a lot of us too…

Oh, I know, I know! Come on over to my place! Let's have monjayaki!

Monjayaki?!

[Fade in/out.]

Huh. So, this is the restaurant that your family runs, eh?

You guys can use this table. Leave your stuff right here.

Thanks, Ai! I've been dying to visit ever since I heard what your family does!

Really? I'm so glad to hear it! Now, I've totally gotta put my back into prepping some great food for ya!

Smelling all of the aromas wafting around the restaurant makes me more and more hungry. What should we order?

I don't even really know what “monjayaki” is to begin with.

I'll give you the lowdown! Monjayaki is one of the many soul foods proudly consumed in Japan! It's supposed to be super delicious!

I would've appreciated a more specific explanation.

Gimme the most popular one—the mentaiko, cheese, and rice cake one! I also want a seafood, pork and kimchi one, and one with extra cheese, a ramen one, tuna and corn…

You're ordering way too much, way too soon. How much are you planning on eating?

We'll start with one mentaiko, cheese, and rice cake, and one seafood monjayaki.

Gotcha! Coming right up!

I like the sound of this chocolate, banana, and marshmallow one.

Save that one until the end, Emma!

[Fade in/out.]

Sorry to keep y'all waiting! Here's the mentaiko, cheese, and rice cake monjayaki, as well as the seafood one to start with!

So, this is a monjayaki! The time has come for me to finally try it!

Uh, so how do we eat this?

Huh? You don't know? But you were acting like you'd looked everything up just now.

First, put the ingredients onto the hot griddle, then use the metal spatulas to finely chop them up. Then, open up a well in the middle and pour the flavored batter into it.

When it's all cooked, mix the ingredients into the batter and you're done! Use these tiny spatulas here to eat it.

So, you cook it yourself, huh? I'm all over it now that I know how it's done! Give me the spatulas and the monjayaki mix! Leave it all to me!

W-Wait! We haven't oiled the griddle yet!

HYAHHHHHH!

Whoa! I told you to waaaaaait!

[Fade in/out.]

So, I open up a well in the middle and make a donut shape out of the ingredients… Like this?

Yes, I think that looks okay. Next, we pour the flavored batter into the middle and then let it simmer and cook out. In it goes!

Gah! Ack! It's leaking out! The batter is spreading everywhere! What do I do about this?!

Maybe we didn't make the wall of ingredients high enough. It's okay, though. Just stay calm and use the spatulas to push it all back in.

R-Really? No matter how many times I scrape it up, it just keeps flowing back out.

It's totally fine. See? The batter's starting to thicken. All that's left is to mix the ingredients into the thickened batter with a chopping motion.

Aren't you glad that you have such a nice teacher showing you the ropes, Mia?

Sh-Shush! I can pick something easy like this up in a flash. I suppose I should thank you though, Ayumu.

*Giggle* You're welcome!

[Fade in/out.]

*Huff* *Huff* *Huff* Mmm! This is delicious!

The monjayaki at Ai's place is always amazing, no matter when I have it.

The savoriness and saltiness of the charred bits are so addicting… *Huff* *Huff*

Yum! This is tasty! I've never eaten food like this before! I guess that means that there are still many things in this world for me to learn about!

I'm glad that you seem to like it. Seeing first-timers enjoy their monjayaki experience here makes me super happy!

To tell you the truth, I was a little sus at the beginning about whether it'd actually taste good.

Mia, I don't think you should say things like that…

It's okay, Shio-ti. Listening to the customer's input is part of the job too. Anyway, keep going, Mia-chi.

Okay. It just seemed like you could add anything into it, like a bunch of meat, vegetables, fish, mountains of cheese, or even fruit.

But then, my perception changed when I tried it. The ingredients seemed like a hodgepodge, but they blended perfectly on the griddle and became a great dish. It's super tasty!

*Giggle* Thanks!

You're right, Mia. Anything goes with monjayaki. You can throw in anything that sounds delicious. The more you put in, the tastier it gets. There's so much freedom to it.

Ingredients that seem like a bad match end up forming a harmonized dish that accentuates all of their best parts. That's what makes monjayaki the best food in the world!

Things that don't match combine to become the best… It's as if…

Yes, as if all of the best parts accentuate the other best parts to increase the flavor factor. How wonderful!

You could say that again! It's tastier than anything I've ever eaten before! *Munch* *Munch* Ah, it'sh sho hot! *Munch* *Munch*

Awww, there's barely anything left already! Are you trying to eat all of that yourself?! Leave some for us!

You're asking for the impossible here! It's so delicious that my hands just keep shoveling it into my mouth!

*Laugh* It looks like everyone still has room in their bellies. Could we order some more, Ai?

You totally can! Eat up until you're all full!