What is this talk about Iekei ramen?

I had been curious about it for a long time.

"Oya"

It's not the Pharaoh kind. Apparently, it's read as "Oya." It's a shop located past the shopping street in front of the station. The place is always bustling with a line, and while I was curious, I could never quite bring myself to step through the noren curtain. It's a so-called Iekei ramen shop.

Speaking of Iekei, it's oily and voluminous, and I didn't have the confidence that my weak stomach could handle it.

But today, for a change, my stomach feels fine.
I feel like I could eat anything right now and be just fine.

When I arrived in front of the shop, even though it was past 1:00 PM, there was a line stretching outside. I waited for about 20 minutes under the scorching sun while playing a game on my phone, and finally, it was my turn.

I stepped through the noren curtain and shoved a torn 1,000-yen bill into the ticket machine.

After a moment of hesitation, I chose the most orthodox option: the black ramen with an egg topping. I poured myself a glass of water and sat down at an empty counter seat.

"Phew..."

In the air-conditioned shop, the cold water felt pleasant.

Perhaps because I stepped on the greasy floor, my shoe soles made an unpleasant squeaking sound, so I instinctively rested my feet on the legs of the chair.

When I handed my ticket to the shop owner, I was asked about the firmness of the noodles.

"Firm, please..."

A reflex order of "firm" to pretend I know what I'm doing.
Honestly, I don't have a preference for noodle firmness. It's the same as being asked how you want your meat cooked and saying "medium."

I suddenly looked at the seat next to me and saw a muscular young man in a black tank top slurping his ramen.

The tank-top guy finished his meal, slammed his bowl onto the counter, and shouted loudly.

"Yeah!!"

!?

Startled by the sudden loud shout, all the customers in the shop shouted back, "Yeah!"

Huh? No way. You've got to be kidding. That's so ridiculous.

Could it be... could it really be the 'Yeah-kei' style?!

Then what? Does that mean the name of the shop is... 'Oh-Yeah'?

While my head was filled with question marks, the black ramen I ordered arrived.

It was certainly delicious. The rich pork bone soy sauce soup clung to the slightly curly medium-thick noodles.

As I neared the end of the bowl, the 'Yeah!!' from the tank-top man earlier kept playing in my head.

No, no way. Seriously? I can't do that.
Shouting out loud in front of other people.

But since it's 'Yeah-kei' style, is it proper etiquette to shout 'Yeah' after finishing the meal?

The other customers looked like regulars, and they all shouted back, so it must be common sense in this shop to shout.

What should I do? I was thinking about this while scooping up the remaining noodles with my spoon, when—

"YEAAAAAAH!!!"

An exceptionally loud 'Yeah' echoed through the shop.

I looked at the shop owner, but he was just making ramen without saying a word or changing his expression.

To not even twitch an eyebrow after such a loud shout... this must be a common sight.
After all, the shop's name is 'Oh-Yeah'.

The shop owner's energy is incredibly low, but I have to do it.
In times like this, being shy and doing it half-heartedly is the most uncool thing you can do.
I'm going to go for it!

As I finished the last of the soup, I stood up and shouted with all my might.

“YEAAAAAAH!!!”

I made eye contact with the shop owner in front of me.

He glared at me and muttered a scolding.

“Customer, the ‘Yeah’ call is only for those on their 10th visit or later.”

Whaaaat

The ‘Yeah-kei’ style is difficult. As I thought, the ‘muttering’ style is just right for me.

I think I’ll go to the ‘Shiro-kei’ ramen shop in the next town over next time. They say you just mutter quietly there instead of shouting.