In a Different World with a Smartphone (LN) - Volume 7 - Chapter SS2

Author Story: Honest Words Can Make Time Stand Still 

It happened when I was visiting my grandmother on my father’s side. Thoroughly bored and without anything else to do, I decided to go for a walk around town. I went here and there without any destination in mind, checking out any second-hand shops and looking for anything that might pique my interest. After buying several books I figured I could use to kill time, right when I began considering where else to go, I became somewhat hungry. This made me slightly regret going for a walk before lunch. 
I looked at my smartphone’s map app to find a place to eat and found a conveyor belt sushi restaurant, but it was a considerable distance away from me. Still, I didn’t feel like going back, so I walked toward it. However, on the way over, I saw a ramen shop. In all honesty, it didn’t look too attractive, nor did it seem the least bit popular. But at that particular moment, I really felt like eating some ramen. That happens, you know? 
Anyway, I casually walked inside and saw just about what its outside appearance would have you expect. The inside was almost completely barren. The only customers there were just an old man at the counter and a father-son pair at the table behind him, making up a grand total of three. I sat two seats away from the old man at the counter and ordered miso ramen, a highly inoffensive choice. Behind me, I could hear the sound of the father-son pair slurping on their ramen. The inside of the establishment was gloomy and dark, adding to my impression that it wasn’t popular. I could see the shopkeeper of the place, a man probably in his sixties, make the ramen I ordered. Perhaps it was just the overall state of the shop shaping my preconceptions, but as strange as it was, I didn’t think he was any good at it. 
Did he mess up? I thought as he finally brought some hot and sour noodle soup to the old man at my side and my miso ramen to me. I dug right in and sipped some of the soup in my ramen and man, was it salty! Then, I slurped some noodles and found they were on the hard side. It felt like some strange al dente, rather than ramen, and to be frank, it wasn’t very good. The shopkeeper had definitely messed up. Still, it wasn’t completely inedible, so I curbed my opinions about it and continued slurping. Taste came second. My only real goal was to fill my stomach. That was when I heard the father-son duo have a little exchange. 
“What’s wrong...? No, keep eating. You’re not supposed to leave any food.” The father said. 

Apparently he was scolding his son for not eating his ramen. In response, the boy spoke nothing but his most honest thoughts. 
“But Dad, it’s so bad that I can’t eat it.” 
At that moment, I felt like I understood what it meant for time to stand still. Those words resounded loud and clear throughout the silent shop. Both me and the old man stopped eating and turned around to see the father looking thoroughly panicked. Seriously, the poor man was completely out of it. 
“A-Ah, oh, so you’re full! Th-Then I’ll have the rest!” He forced himself to say. 
He took his son’s cup in hand and began slurping the ramen. I could almost hear his desperation in the sound. Once done, the father quickly paid for their food, took his son, and rushed out of the shop. I glanced over the counter and saw the shopkeeper making the most heartbreaking grimace. Unable to bear it, I quickly ate the noodles, left the unbearably salty soup behind, and walked out of the shop. 
There was not a hint of malice in that boy’s words. He had just responded to his father as honestly as he could. It was then that I came to understand that mere words had the power to kill. When I passed through the same road a year later, the ramen shop was closed, and I couldn’t help but assume that the incident with the boy was the cause.