15th Night: Sashimi Garnish

Kokoro Tadao has become a supporting actor for 33 years. He is a regular customer and ordered sashimi garnish every time he visits the diner. He is a mere garnish as an actor after all.

One day, a legendary director has cast him as a lead actor. It was celebrated with his daughter, and other customers even took a photo with him.

Unfortunately, after quite some time, he resigned after he collapsed and rushed to the hospital due to the stomach ulcer. After being discharged, he still visits the diner but drinking at the corner. Instead of supporting actor, he looked as though he was merely an extra.

However, there is always hope. His daughter was selected as the main character in a drama, and he was chosen as the role for the father figure. He came to the diner and celebrated, and he looked like a sashimi garnish.

16th Night: Hiyajiru

Hiyajiru is a miso soup made with dried fish stock and served cold over hot rice.

Mayumi-chan has lost some weight by following the workout from "Bobby's Diet Gym". There will be a class reunion, and she will meet Egi-kun from the basketball club. She has to work harder to lose more weight.

Then a beautiful lady came to the diner and ordered hiyajiru. The lady has moved to Mayumi-chan's apartment building not long ago. Mayumi-chan caught a glimpse of the lady's boyfriend or patron who is bald and fat.

One day, the lady came with the man. The man recognised Mayumi-chan and introduced himself as Egi from the basketball club. Since then, Mayumi-chan stops watching "Bobby's Diet Gym", and she might never lose weight ever again.

17th Night: Egg Sandwich

One day, a lady came and ordered Tonjiru Teishoku. A guy came with bread and ordered for egg sandwiches. The diner owner added some ham and cucumber for some variety, and the guy invited the lady to have some of the sandwiches.

The girl signed up with a modelling agency but spent a lot of time with her part-time job. After two or three days later, the girl came with bread and ordered for egg sandwiches. The guy, Nakajima-kun has a scholarship from a newspaper. It's his third year at university. During newspaper holidays, he will bring some bread and comes to the diner every day.

The girl eventually became famous and engaged to a CEO. The day after the announcement, the girl and the guy had egg sandwiches. The girl mentioned that she will think of him every time she eats egg sandwiches.

After one year, the lady is separated from the husband. She came into the diner with the guy, together with the bread and ordered egg sandwiches.

18th Night: Sanma no Shioyaki

Sanma Shioyaki is mackerel pike grilled with salt and sudachi (Japanese citrus) is squeezed over it. It's best to have in autumn.

One of the customers can eat the fish so cleanly just because his grandmother raised him and only ever had fish as a kid. Marilyn wishes that his look can be as clean as the fish.

Her next visit was with the guy who appeared to be her masseur. The guy, Kimi-kun deboned the fish for her and Marilyn also praises him of giving her massage every night and his personality is better than his look.

On the night of Marilyn's performance, Kimi-kun couldn't stand with it anymore and had an outburst on the stage. Although she was happy, she asked him to respect her occupation and not to do it anymore. Everyone assumed their relationship will be short, but she takes care of him when he injured his arm after an accident.

19th Night: Ochazuke

Ochazuke is a meal that involves pouring hot tea over a bowl of hot rice and assorted toppings.

There are three women are known at the diner as "Ochazuke Sisters". Three of them ordered ochazuke while gossiping about their friend who just married to someone older than her for 8 years.

Three months later, one of their friends went back to her hometown. It seemed that there was an interview for an arranged marriage. Although the friend used to express her hatred in marrying an old man, the candidate is ten years older than her.

After that, the relationship between the other two women is deepened. Salmon sister, Kana-chan even took care of Ume sister, Miki-chan when she was hospitalised. However, after quite some time, they didn't come to the diner anymore. One of the customers mentioned that the Salmon sister apparently hooked up with Ume sister's ex-boyfriend and it caused a commotion at her place.

When the diner owner thought only one of them left, Salmon sister came and joined the Ume sister. She broke up with the hopeless boyfriend which Ume sister has warned her before. Salmon sister told her that Rumi also will be coming back to the diner.

20th Night: The Washroom Guest

One of the customers, "pinstriped guy," has not been to the diner for almost a year. The first time he came to the diner, he rushed to the toilet. After using the toilet, when he saw a guy in striped shirt eating urume, he ordered the same thing and sake as well.

Since then, he became friend with the striped shirt and every time he comes to the diner, he will rush to go to the toilet. The last time he came to the diner, he didn't go to the toilet anymore.

When the diner owner and the guy with striped shirt were talking about the pinstriped guy, a lady came and told them that her husband has passed away and she came on behalf of him to express his gratitude. He is a timid person. He really had an upset stomach on the first time, but after that, he felt too shy to enter the diner without saying that. The wife said her husband was glad to be able to meet a friend like the "striped shirt" guy.

21st Night: Onion Rings

After 20 years running the diner, it was the diner owner's first time of getting a customer who ordered onion rings. The customer will eat the onion rings with a squeeze of lemon, salt and pepper, following by the Worcestershire sauce as well as ketchup and mustard. There was once he even asked to cook them with eggs. Later the diner owner called him the "Onion Prince".

Then, one day, a customer told him that the "Onion Prince" caught a thief and he ran very fast. The "Onion Prince" dropped by again after a long absence. He came with crutches and ordered the same dish, but since then, he has stopped coming to the diner.

After two years, there was news that he is the new national holder for the 50 km holder and he will be qualified for his Olympic debut in Beijing. When being interviewed what was his sacrifice during these two years, his answer was beer and onion rings. Then, he appeared at the diner, and the diner owner made him a special version of onion rings on that day.

22nd Night: Crispy Bacon

Takizawa-san is a retired police officer. On the day he retired, he got his ear pierced. His regular order is crispy bacon and scrambled eggs or called "mornings" and with a beer.

One day, a punk guy came and ordered the same thing as him. They had their breakfast in silence. They frequently came to the diner with the same order. Whenever the other person wasn't there, the other one will be wondering about it.

Then, one day, Takizawa-san heard the guy's song, and he told the guy that he likes the song. The guy revealed that the song was about his father when Takizawa-san asked him about it.

As it turns out, a reunion occurred between Takizawa-san and the guy's mother. Both had known each other since they were young as bikies. Takizawa-san who had divorced his wife and was currently single was happy to start a new life with her. He has three piercings now.

23rd Night: Kaki Furai

Kaki Furai is breaded, deep-fried oysters. Muratsu-chan who always has terrible timing came to the diner and missed the last kaki furai. It happened the same thing in the afternoon. Faced with his sadness, Mukai-san who ordered the last plate willingly to give it to him.

Then, Mukai-san started his own story which leads to the story of his 43-year-old daughter who is still single. Muratsu-chan who is 45 years old and single advised him not to worry about it. Mukai-san took the opportunity to become the matchmaker between his daughter and Muratsu-chan.

After quite some time, Muratsu-chan got married to Mukai-san's daughter. Mukai-san was so happy that his daughter finally got married, but unfortunately, Muratsu-chan is not happy with his marriage. His wife's eyes always full of anger after what happened to him during the honeymoon. Muratsu-chan kept thinking what would happen if he had never ordered kaki furai back then.

24th Night: Nikujaga

One day, the diner owner wanted to eat nikujaga and cooked a batch of it. Nikujaga is a beef and potato stew. He invited Shima-chan to have some of it. The dish reminded him of his mother who kept pestering him to get married but passed away after he stopped visiting her.

Then, another customer, Kita-chan who is a butcher brought his beautiful fiancee to the diner. His fiancee promised that she will cook nikujaga for him every day in the future.

After the lovely couple has left, Shima-chan mentioned that nikujaga, his mother and devoted women are appealed to a man's heart. Then, Horie-san came in. The diner owner invited him for the nikujaga, but he strictly rejected the offer. He even found an earring which the diner owner believed that it belonged to Kita-chan's fiancee.

After rejected the offer for the second time, Horie-san began his story about his bad experience before his transfer. When he was in Fukuoka, he met a girl and soon they lived together. She cooked nikujaga every day. He wanted to try something else, but after hearing that she wanted to improve her nikujaga, he felt touched. However, two months later, she disappeared along with his savings. And since then he can't have nikujaga.

At that time, Kita-chan came back with his fiancee, looking for the lost earring. Horie-san recognised Kita-chan's fiancee was his ex-girlfriend. Later there was news about Kita-chan's fiancee is a con artist and she had scammed more than 30 victims. Since then, no one ever orders nikujaga anymore.

25th Night: Sauce Yakisoba

Sauce Yakisoba is fried wheat noodles in and flavoured with Worcestershire sauce.

A girl always comes along with the night wind. She ordered sunny-side up eggs on top. When she left, there were two customers recognised her as Kazami Rinko, an ex-idol who now appears in a lot of dramas and films. They used to join her fan club and even know that she had a difficult childhood. Her father fell into debt and ran off.

After another month passed, she came again and ordered the same dish. She even told the diner owner that she often ate it as a child. On that day, the diner owner lost his wallet and didn't have any small change for one of his customers.

On the next day, a stranger came and returned his wallet. He rejected the diner owner's reward but accepted the invitation to have breakfast at his diner. Then, Kazami Rinko's news appeared on TV. The diner owner told him about her frequent visit to the diner and her favourite food. Then, the man told the diner owner that yakisoba is tastier if dried seaweed flakes add on top of it.

When the next time she came to the diner, the diner owner served the sauce yakisoba with dried seaweed flakes on top of it. The dish reminded her about her childhood when she was served with yakisoba topped with seaweed flakes.

26th Night: Disposable Chopsticks

Mizoguchi-chan is always terrible in splitting disposable chopsticks. Kayoko-mama always bring her personal chopsticks because she also has the same experience as Mizoguchi-chan. For Mizoguchi-chan, if he is able to split the chopsticks well, it is like winning a lottery. Kayoko-mama felt he is amusing and gave her card to him.

After half year, Mizoguchi-chan came to the diner. He split the chopsticks badly and revealed that his wife has brought their children back to her parents' home. She caught him having an affair with Kayoko-mama.

When it was almost the end of the year, he came to the diner and split the chopsticks well. Unfortunately, during the time of new year, when he was on his way to collect the winning for his lottery, he was hit with suicide jumper and expect for a full recovery within three months.

27th Night: Crab

It was a Christmas Eve. The diner was crowded with regular customers that didn't have any connections with Christmas. After a few of them sharing their experience about Christmas, Ryuu-chan came with a box of crabs sent from Hokkaido.

The diner owner cooked grilled crabs, and everyone was enjoying eating the crab. When Takizawa-san and his partner came, they thought no one was around because the diner was so quiet.

28th Night: Itadakimasu

Itadakimasu is a hand gesture signifies let's eat or thanks for the food. Everyone is so impressed with her when she does that. She is a newly debuted AV actress although she doesn't look like one. She is working together with Tanaka-kun.

Two months later, her adult DVD became the bestseller, and a lot of the diner's customers had bought it. The DVD cover also showed her with the 'itadakimasu' hand gesture. Tanaka-kun is really fallen hard for her and couldn't perform well in his acting.

The following year, Tanaka-kun came with her to the diner. That was the last time the diner owner saw her. She retired after that and disappeared. Tanaka-kun was heartbroken. When the sales of her final DVD reached an unprecedented level, Tanaka-kun received a postcard from her. She is studying at Harvard University at that time.

29th Night: Pudding

Kitamura-san, Higashida-san, Nishiyama-san and Minami-san have their meals after the mahjong game. Judging by their meals, it wasn't hard to guess who is the winner and the loser. Minami-san has an expensive dinner and even asked for a pudding.

As time goes by, they had an agreement that only the winner is allowed to have pudding. Although the diner has extra pudding available for them, Higashida-san and Nishiyama-san rejected to have it as they preferred post-mahjong victory pudding. Unfortunately, the one who usually ended up with pudding was Kitamura-san and Minami-san.

One day, they even wanted to sell their commemorative stamps due to their loss at mahjong game. The diner owner asked why they still want to continue if they keep losing in the game and they said because it's the pride. They wanted to defeat the other two and eat the victory pudding so that they can tell them "too bad" or "isn't that right?".

After some time, Minami-san is hospitalised due to high blood sugar level, and Kitamura-san has gout. On that day, both finally had a taste of the diner owner's pudding.

Rating: ★★★★★
Previous volume: Shinya Shokudo 1.
More reviews can be found on Goodreads: Shinya Shokudo 2.