Wandering Light Truck Food Stall Chronicles 1: Once More, the Roasted Sweet Potato from My Travels

I renamed 'After Reincarnating from Another World, Various Things Happened and I Ended Up Working at a Strange Food Stall!'.

The title was too long, and I couldn't tell which episode it was on the thumbnail screen (a trivial reason).

Now, onto the main story!


There have been more topics related to autumn lately.
Rather than lingering on the remnants of summer, the season has become one where I can't quite keep up with the coolness and the changing way the sun sets.

However, summer isn't over yet!
There are days with heat that seem to say exactly that.

No matter what, it's certain that it will eventually get cold, and I feel a sense of resignation that I have to prepare for it.
The 'just right' period passes in the blink of an eye.

While I'm saying that, the season deepens rapidly.
It really goes by in a flash.


There are also joys to the cold season.
In my case, it's roasted sweet potatoes.
I compare and eat various types, and
I sometimes even go to campsites to roast them!

I like the modern, sweet, and soft varieties,
as well as the old-fashioned, fluffy ones.

When friends and acquaintances are with me, I also roast potatoes for those who don't like sweet potatoes.
Of course, it's also because I like them myself.

Needless to say, buttered potatoes are great, but eating them with a bit of expensive salt goes well with alcohol and is very much appreciated.

If there are leftovers, both types of potatoes can be mashed for salads, sweets, or even put into soup.

It's not an obsession, but they are useful, and there is no doubt that I just love them.
It is my policy not to force my affections onto others.


That was me, and last winter I encountered a roasted sweet potato I couldn't forget.
I ended up encountering it.
Did I manage to encounter it?
I'm not sure, but... anyway, it was delicious.

At a destination where I had traveled a bit further than usual, a truck was driving slowly while making a 'peee~' sound.

'Haha, this style, huh,' I thought.
I don't know what I was trying to act cool about.
Well, shall I take a look... with that feeling, I went ahead and waited.
I waved my hand and stopped the roaming roasted sweet potato truck.
I don't remember the detailed conversation.
It seems my memory was completely overwritten by the shock of eating it afterward.

All I remember is that when I stopped the truck,
other cars also gathered around, taking the opportunity.

And the sign on the truck's rear gate,
'Ken-chan's Roasted Sweet Potatoes'
That's all.

And anyway, it was delicious!

I want to eat it again, but I don't know much about the place I visited for the first time.

I tried searching for it, relying on the sign I remembered.

They use a cargo vehicle larger than a light truck.
It's elusive, and I don't know where it will appear.


If you happen to be able to buy one, you're lucky!
I heard the sound and went outside with my wallet, but it had already passed by...
It seemed difficult even for locals to buy it consistently.
'I ate it while traveling, but I definitely want to have it again!'

There were others who felt the same way as me.

I saw many posts from people worried, saying they hadn't seen it since the end of the last fiscal year and wondering what happened.

I feel like there used to be a classic trope in manga about running after a roasted sweet potato vendor...

In reality, I am
chasing after it in a different way.

Well, what should I do...
I talked to Seiko, who is a camping buddy, a classmate, a friend, and a band member.
We are members of a four-woman band called

'The Talk of the Town Parisiennes'.

I'm not expecting her to solve it.
I just thought that since she's fast, she might be useful if we go to buy it together...
'Ugh, around here it's not a 'pee' sound, but a recording, right? It's true that it doesn't often pass by exactly when you want to eat it. I'm confident I could catch up, but it's hard if you can't find it.'

So she is confident she can catch up...
A powerhouse who was lent to the track and field club while belonging to the light music club is different.

I think while eating the sweet potato that Seiko's father made.
I'm doing a taste test at Furaibo, the coffee shop run by Seiko's family, because they asked me to try it before serving it at the shop.
Hmm? It's hard to tell because it contains butter and other ingredients, but the taste of the potato itself is close to what I'm looking for!?

'Dad, why did you suddenly decide to serve sweet potatoes this year?'
Seiko asked her father at a good time. Well, why?

Be a hint!
'Ah, the boss of the food stall recently got into roasted sweet potatoes. He said, 'My food stall isn't just for ramen!' but that's probably it. Maybe his marriage prospect told him she likes roasted sweet potatoes.'

When I heard the story from Seiko's father, the master, I learned about the manager of the food stall, which is a converted light truck, whom I only know by reputation.

It's good that he learned the know-how of roasting sweet potatoes from a classmate, but because he's a perfectionist, it seems he produced a large amount of prototypes due to his tinkering with tools and roasting methods.

He was asked to cooperate so it wouldn't become food waste, so they decided to make it a seasonal menu item at the coffee shop.
I was told there are a lot of prototypes in the freezer, so I could even take some home as a souvenir.

I conveyed my impressions as a taster and asked to be introduced to the food stall manager.
The master asked his daughter if she was going to the snack bar today.
Seiko sometimes helps her sister at the snack bar during the night shift.
He must have felt that I needed time after seeing my reaction.

'He should be prototyping today too. Seiko, guide her to the boss's hideout. Also, tell him to take it easy on the prototyping.'
I put Seiko in my car and ask her to guide me.
The hideout was not far from the shop.
There is no sign, but I can tell it's some kind of repair shop.
There are many things I don't understand, but it wasn't cluttered, and waste products were properly sorted.
Suspicious, but not suspicious—that was the impression.
'Oh, Seiko-san, welcome. What's up?'


'Gen-san, thank you for your hard work! You see, my bandmate Micchan is looking for a roasted sweet potato, and it seems it's close to the one the manager makes.'

'Nice to meet you. I've been watching you from the audience at live shows. You're the bassist, right? My name is Gen. Please treat me well.'
We exchanged greetings.
Seiko introduced him as the fiancé of Hime-san, the leader of the rival band 'Limited Liability Company Eternal Youth Research Society,' commonly known as Furo-ken.


Come to think of it, it was a face I had seen before.
I'm glad I didn't carelessly say 'nice to meet you'.
'Boss~! You have a customer!'

The man who was working on the bed of the light truck, which was emitting a fragrant and sweet smell, stopped his hands.
'Ah, welcome! Just now, it's finally baked! Please, try it!'
He took two out of the roasting oven on the truck bed and sliced them diagonally with a knife.
He put the sliced pieces into a brown paper bag and beckoned us to a place that looked like an office.
When we entered, there was a simple reception set, and he said, 'Please, have a seat. If you don't dislike roasted sweet potatoes, could you taste this? No, actually, I'm prototyping right now, and I think today's batch is quite good, but I've eaten too much, so my judgment is... oh, sorry, I shouldn't talk too much. For now, please!'

He brought out a paper plate and put the sliced roasted sweet potato from the brown paper bag on it.
The color, shape, and smell are similar to what I remember.

The excitement and exhilaration, like before going on stage, are welling up!
I tell the manager 'Itadakimasu!' and reach for the plate.

I lift the whole plate and bring it to my mouth so that nothing crumbles and falls from where I bit into it.
However, no crumbs fell, and it gave a pleasant sensation that clung not only to my tongue and palate but to my entire mouth.
The taste... for a while, I was just dazed.
From the outside, I might have looked like a complete idiot.

When I suddenly looked at Seiko next to me, she was silently chewing and smiling, and was about to reach for a second piece.
'It seems you liked it. No, I'm relieved. Oh, what would you like to drink? We have green tea, coffee, black tea, and milk.'
Not bad!
I almost shouted out loud.
Both Seiko and I called for milk without hesitation!
Gen-san brought out two well-chilled bottles of milk from the refrigerator.

The fact that it was a bottle was also great! I even enjoyed the feeling of impatience in opening the cap, thinking, 'How cheeky!'

Before I knew it, I felt a sense of reflection about why I had suddenly come to someone's office, but I was wrapped in a wonderful sense of fulfillment.

The manager had taken a map out of the bookshelf as if preparing to explain after hearing the story from Gen-san.
'I learned it from a classmate, but if you've tasted the current prototype and approved it, it seems I've managed to grasp the tips he taught me. It's called Ken-chan's Roasted Sweet Potatoes, and the shop name comes from his father's name. How many years has it been since he took over? The local popularity is high, so I guess the know-how has been completely passed down.'
What I understood from the manager's explanation.

The area he operates in is wide-ranging, and it seems there are days when he goes around mountains, days when he goes along the coast, and complex routes that change daily.
He has his own criteria, and sometimes he goes to areas he hasn't visited for a while.
It seems there are many people waiting for him at hospitals and nursing facilities.

However, if he sells out, he can't reach the end of the planned area and sometimes closes early.
In such cases, he doesn't even make the 'pee' sound with the steam and just heads home quickly.
So that's why the pattern can't be grasped, he said.
I see, that makes sense.
But then, how can I be sure to buy it...
'Tomorrow, I intend to report that I've grasped the tips and deliver the master's pizza as a thank you, so shall I buy some for you? Still, his experience is different, so I can't compare to the real thing.'
'But Micchan wants to try it fresh out of the oven, right? I want to try it too. Can we come along? Oh, but the route...'

'Well, it's a bit of a cheat, but we go to buy it before he leaves home. He told me himself that it's the most reliable way.'

'Yay! Then that's as reliable as it gets! Micchan, we did it!'
'However, please keep it a secret. If the information spreads, it won't reach people far away. There are elderly people waiting for him, and there's a child with a wheat allergy who can't easily eat sweets but can eat roasted sweet potatoes, and they are looking forward to it.'

I had thought that the reason there was no SNS for the roasted sweet potato vendor no matter how much I searched was surely intentional.

He chose to be a mysterious person.
That's why the song playing from the speaker is the ending theme of Devilman...

'Now, my food stall has something his truck doesn't, would you like to try it? We have butter, cream cheese, and red bean paste as toppings, and we also have cold items like vanilla ice cream and whipped cream...'
Seiko and I screamed!
What is this manager trying to do to people!


What a terrible person!
I see, the master asked if I was going to the snack bar because he anticipated this would happen.
Thinking about tomorrow, I desperately tried to save myself, but Seiko fell into a world of an infinite loop of sweet, salty, hot, and cold, and didn't return for a while.
The next day,

I ate until I was full the day before, but by morning, both Seiko and I were completely reset.
Amazing effect, my body feels light!

The things that were stagnating in my body have completely left!

Thanks to that, my skin's glow and firmness are excellent!

When I asked Seiko about yesterday's infinite loop, it seemed like she was doing a one-person relay with no goal in sight, but she was wrapped in euphoria and felt happy.

I put Seiko, who was still smiling as she remembered, in the passenger seat, and the manager and Gen-san in the back seat, and headed to the roasted sweet potato vendor's home.

On the way, there was a supplement from the manager about the mystery.

'My business vehicle was hit by a car, and I couldn't operate for a while. Well, since I couldn't operate, I went on a solo trip for a while, which was also the reason I didn't show my face. Is the ease of being single something to think about?'
'Manager, you're already more than half not single, but you're as free as ever.'
'Hmm, even if we register the marriage, we'll end up living apart, so maybe commuting marriage is better, so I'm still exploring.'
'Gen-san, you're almost a married man too, aren't you going to register with Hime-san yet?'
'I'm supposed to return to the studio once I get the OK from Hime-san after checking the condition of my old injury, so it's a story about doing it after I return to work.'

'If you follow Gen-san, are you going to close the acupuncture clinic?'
'No, he said he couldn't close it because there are many grandpas and grandmas who would be in trouble. He said he accepted the form of being transferred alone from the beginning.'
There are many different forms, I guess. Well, being close isn't the only correct answer.
In the car, the manager talked about stories related to sweet potatoes, like how sweet potato vines were used as ropes, soaked in miso, worn, and used as food during battles.
If you write 'imogara' (sweet potato vine) in kanji, it becomes 'imo-kan' or 'imo-gara'.
The word for 'human character' (hitogara) also contains the same character.
I became interested in the background of my classmate's roasted sweet potatoes—no, in this case, I think 'imo-gara' is fine—and the character of the person himself after hearing the episodes the manager told.

I saw the destination; it was adjacent to the grounds of a recreational facility, and it felt a bit different from a residential area.
Because it's hard to see the back from the entrance, it doesn't look like a roasted sweet potato truck is parked there.

'The inside is wide, so there's plenty of room for this car.'
On the premises, there were fields, a warehouse, and a main house, and there was indeed enough space that turning around wouldn't be a problem.
A truck was parked near the main house, and the oven was already operating on the truck bed covered with a hood.
'Oh? I heard from Kyo, but I didn't know you were the President's daughter! Thank you for coming all this way! How is the car?'

He remembered me!
Is it because of the car, or thanks to the car?
The early model President I received from my uncle, surely there aren't many women driving it.

It's old-fashioned, but I like it.
It's something I've been familiar with since I was little and was given to me.
My uncle was also happy, so I sometimes take my uncle and his wife out for a ride.

'Well, when you bought it last year, a woman driving an early model President with white gloves had such an impact that I looked for you to see if I could meet you again. Are today's requests from the president and others riding in the back?'
When I explained that they were my uncle and his wife and that the chauffeur-like style was something I did to please them, he laughed heartily.

'So that's why. Various people have always gathered around Kyo mysteriously. Well, maybe I'm the same.'
He sliced the freshly baked ones with a knife for tasting and distributed them to everyone.
This was what I was looking for!
The one the manager baked was also delicious, but the experience is different!
'As expected, I can't compare. Even compared to your father's, it's just as delicious.'


'Well, counting it, I've been doing it for 50 years, and besides, the oven is self-made, and using a small truck is to increase the oven's capacity, so the heat penetration is different.'
'If it were a light truck, the costs would be lower, but the width of the truck bed is also the secret to the taste, isn't it?'
'Since I'm tall, a light truck is tight, but I've heard there are people selling roasted sweet potatoes in a Century instead of a President, but I can't do that.'
While talking, he put each person's share into a paper bag.

'It's delicious even when chilled! Try it!'
When the manager handed over Furaibo's pizza as a thank you for the technical guidance, he put it in the passenger seat of the truck.
'Thank you! Today's lunch is pizza! I'll warm it up in the oven and eat it! I ate it before and it was delicious, so I'm looking forward to it!'
Oh, in that case, if I bring unbaked pizza, could I eat it freshly baked in his own oven?

'That's good! But only if the timing is right.'
I raised my hand and said I would carry it.
Since our interests matched to eat freshly baked food, we formed an agreement.
We exchanged contact information and decided to aim for the best timing for each other.
Since then,
I have been visiting to bake pizza with fresh ingredients in the roasted sweet potato oven,
and I have been able to receive the roasted sweet potatoes he kept for me.
This time, he also decided to come see our live performance.

He said he wanted to try driving the President, so
I sat in the back seat and tried playing chauffeur.
While we were going back and forth, the season changed,
and by the time the wind coming through the electric triangular window of the early model President became warm, the roasted sweet potato season was over.
The season of love also came to an end at the same time... it did not.


It seems he will redecorate the truck for watermelon sales toward summer.
I also love watermelon!
But the reason for visiting,

for both of us, any trivial thing had become fine.

As a result of our consultation, we, who both lived with our parents, rented a place at the midpoint and made it our base.
I used it as a place to practice bass.
He used it as a place to listen to his hobby records.

Because we were interested in each other and our interests matched,

we started dating, and now we live together
about a third of the month.

It's not a transfer, not a commuting marriage, and not a weekend marriage; I don't know the name, but it has become a better environment for the two of us.

After that, influenced by his roasted sweet potato truck and the manager's multi-purpose food stall, I asked the manager for a pizza oven that could be used with the President.
It seems it will take the form of a trailer.

If you can sell roasted sweet potatoes in a Century, why not sell pizza in a President!

Now, what should I sell in the summer? Watermelon smoothie or sherbet...
It would be interesting to sell roasted sweet potatoes, pizza, and ramen side by side...,

I pondered while feeling the seasonal wind through the President's electric triangular window.