Once Upon A Time In A Foreign Land (Horror Short)

Chapter 2

The taxi stopped with a jerk making the duo bump into the seats in front of them.

The driver who had pretended they didn't exist this whole ride, turned around to say something in Japanese that James deciphered to be words of encouragement based off of Yumiko's reaction. She paid the fare and got off holding James' hand.

"I guess I should have paid for it." he said.

"No, it's fine. You can pay for lunch instead." she replied with a weak smile. "I'm sorry about that, sometimes I can't control my emotions. I cry at the slightest things."

"It's okay. That's not a bad thing, don't be sorry for that. And thank you." he said tightening his grip on her hand.

"Thank you for what?"

"For understanding me. For feeling my pain. Even though we only met a while ago. You showed me the most compassion in my life. Thank you for that."

They both stood silently in the middle of the sidewalk, flustered, waiting for the other to say something to cut the awkward tension in the air.

"Should we get going? My stomach is rumbling." Yumiko said finally.

"Yeah...yeah let's go."

They both let go of each other's hands and walked beside each other to the ramen museum. It was a short walk before they reached.

'SHINYOKOHAMA RAMEN MUSEUM' read out above the entrance in tall golden english letters.

"Thankfully there's not much of a crowd at the entrance. I'll get the tickets." Yumiko said and went to the counter to pay for the tickets. She then beckoned James. She gave the tickets to the man at the entrance, he scanned both and gave it back to her.

James breathed in the fresh air-conditioned air. He couldn't remember the last time he had gone to an air conditioned place, let alone a ramen museum.

"Come here." said Yumiko excitedly as she locked her arm with his and dragged him to a wall that displayed the menus of several restaurants present there.

"Here." she said pointing at a menu in the middle of the wall. "Select what you want to eat from here. This is my favorite restaurant here. It's cozy and not many people go there."

"If people don't go there doesn't it mean that the food isn't good?" James remarked.

"No! The food there is the best! But the owner is a bit of a grump. That's why they don't get many customers. One time he beat up a guy just because he was being too loud. So just don't do anything annoying in general."

"Okay...I'll keep that in mind but I have no idea what to get because I don't know any of these. I didn't know ramen had so many varieties."

She chuckled and leaned on him playfully.

"In that case I'll order for us."

"Yeah, okay, sounds good." he nodded going along with everything she says.

"Alright let's go to the main floor." Yumiko said as she pulled him towards the stairs leading underground.

"Wait shouldn't we explore this floor first? I think I saw a miniature race track on the other side."

"We can do that after we finish eating! I'm so hungry that I could eat a baby alive!"

"You'd be doing the baby a favor." he whispered to himself.

She pulled his arm harder and guided him down the stairs. The walls were covered with mold and the stairs stained black. James couldn't identify if they were naturally deteriorating or they were an intentional design.