The first thing Jay noticed was the sheer number of food items on the menu. The menu was 4 pages, and each page was filled with different food items. If there was one thing Jay had learnt from watching Gordon Ramsay's YouTube videos, was that restaurants, especially those that are failing, should keep their menu simple. Jay wasn't a foodie, nor was he a chef, yet he still had the advantage of modern knowledge. And he was going to put these to good use. There was no way he was going to let first and possibly only job slip away.
Jay spent the rest of the evening looking through the menu and streamlining it. He had reduced the over 100 food items to just 10. At the same time, he planned to introduce a few new dishes, with the help of his knowledge, finally settling on pizza, spaghetti and milkshakes. He had asked Rei, confirming that these foods do not exist here. Dinner service came and gone, with only a quarter of the tables being filled. The chef, his assistant, another waiter and Rei all spent the night aimless wandering around the restaurant and listening to the radio, while Chang was at the counter looking through his finances with a glum look on his face.
The day soon ended, and Jay went up to his sleeping area. As part of being a staff, Jay was provided with uniforms, as well as given the option of sleeping above the restaurant in the dorm, though his pay would be reduced to pay for his accommodations. Jay was more than happy nonetheless, since now he had clothes that blended in, as well as accommodations for as long as he worked. That is if the restaurant could survive.
The next few days came and gone. Jay managed to find a few culinary books from the library, although they were not much help either. For now, Jay had put his research on hold, intending to solve the restaurant crisis first. After reading books ranging from agriculture to cuisine, he was able to conclude that pizza, spaghetti Bolognese, as well as milkshakes were feasible, although the ingredients may need some modification. These food were unheard of, novel and bound to attract the attention of the people in Republic City. If it was similar to his world, Jay reasoned, then the people here would be living at the forefront of advancement, and hence were more ready to accept new things.
Confident, Jay decided to approach Chang with his proposal. Although initially in denial, Chang finally acknowledged that his business was failing and agreed to hear Jay's plan. Gathering all the staff, Jay soon introduced to them his plan. They all unanimously agreed that streamlining the menu was the best decision and managed to reduce the 100 items to 12 that were most liked by the customers. Chang, although disappointed since he had come up with most of the food ideas, soon realised that it was smarter to cater to the customer's taste buds, since it would be their money that would keep the business going. Also, an added benefit would be less ingredients needed to be bought. Jay went on to describe plans to introduce new food that would differentiate them from other restaurants. Chang, despite realising that this new kid was smart, had his doubts.
"Since they are all new, what if people do not like it?" Chang asked, while the rest of the staff nodded. Jay smiled. He went on to describe to them his proposal - he would make small samples of these new dishes for market testing, offering them to people on the streets - simple marketing strategies, yet everyone was surprised. Jay noted that handing out samples and market testing were unheard of in this era. Smiling to himself, he came to realise how seemingly simple concepts could be the next revolutionary idea here.
Eventually, Jay managed to convince everyone of his plan. As for the handing out of free samples, Jay pointed out that the costs were little. Should it fail, the restaurant will only close a few days earlier, but should it succeed, it could be the turnaround that was so desperately needed. With Chang's blessings, Jay got to work, researching and experimenting with the new foodstuffs he had described.
"I like this kid! Less than a week here and already coming up with new ideas to save the restaurant," Chang remarked to Rei as he watched Jay. Inside the kitchen, Jay was preparing a new batch of pizza, finally having got the dough right.
"Yea, I guess he's kinda smart too," Rei said as she watched the young man moving about the kitchen gathering the ingredients. She chuckled as she watched Jay spilled a small pack of ingredients, cursing under his breath as he cleared the mess. Shaking her head, she went back to continue washing the dishes.
That night, as Rei was about to sleep, she suddenly heard a crashing sound in the kitchen. Worried at what may have caused it, Rei quickly rushed down to the kitchen, only to see Jay clearing up the mess - a pile of pots on the floor. On the table, were the ingredients prepared for Jay's new dishes.
"Are you alright?" Rei asked as she helped Jay clear up the mess.
"Yeah, I guess I wasn't careful enough," the young man sheepishly admitted as he placed the pots back in place.
"You know, you have been working pretty hard ever since you came here, maybe you should go easy on yourself?" Rei asked, noting that Jay had spent most of his time in the kitchen trying out dishes after dishes. He would make a small batch, before scribbling some notes down on pieces of paper. Then there was the time where he would be muttering incoherently as he experimented with different combinations. 'Wait, why am I watching him so often?' Rei suddenly realised. She had been subconsciously drawn to this mysterious young man. He was smarter than anyone she had seen before, and the way he talked and carried himself did not correspond to him being from the lower ring in Ba Sing Se. While he was comfortable talking to others and not really shy, he did not talk much about himself, adding an air of mystery.
"Yeah I could, but I'm not willing to lose my job due to the restaurant closing down," Jay replied as he cleared up the kitchen to prepare to sleep. Smiling, Rei place her hand on his shoulder, reassuring him, "Don't worry, with you I'm sure we won't close down." Nodding his head, Jay hung up his apron, before retiring for the night.
When the new foods were tested, they were an instant success. Market testing amongst the middle-upper class proved to be effective, showing that the foods were popular amongst the people. Also, the giving out of free samples as market testing - something uncommon then, proved to be great as publicity. Within a few months, Chang's restaurant, now renamed Chang and Jay's, was one of the most popular restaurants in Republic City. "Jay, one of the chefs have a new idea. I would like you to hear about it," Chang called out to Jay. Ever since Jay almost single-handedly saved the restaurant from closing down, he has been promoted to head chef. As the restaurant began to expand and hire more chefs, Jay eventually stopped cooking the food himself, instead focusing on coming up with new ideas and supervising the other chefs.
"So, the other day, I had some extra dough from the spaghetti making, so I decided to flatten them into sheets. Then I had the idea of layering these sheets with ingredients to form sort of stack," a young man, not much older than Jay, spoke. Jay immediately recognised the chef's new idea as lasagne. 'Interesting, I introduced something that doesn't belong here, and it seems it's causing people to invent stuff that shouldn't be here too. What effect would this bring?' Jay thought as he eyed the prototype lasagne lying on a plate.
"I think it is a great idea. How bout you try melting cheese over the top?" Jay spoke up as he continued observing the lasagne from different angles. Nodding, the chef took the plate back into the kitchen while Chang smiled, happy that his restaurant went from failing to the success today.
"Hey Chang, if you don't mind, I would like to take the rest of the day off. I was thinking of going to the library to do some research," Jay said.
"Take all the time you need kid, you deserve it," Chang replied, heartily slapping Jay on the back before heading back into the kitchen. Jay grabbed his coat and headed out to the library. As Jay stepped through the door, he smiled at Rei who was cleaning a nearby table, who smiled back weakly. Unknowingly, she continued looking at Jay as he crossed the street to the trolley stop.
"You know, I could always reserve a table for you two should you decide to ask him for a date," Chang spoke behind her, sending Rei jumping in shock. Letting out an annoyed breath, she stared back at Chang who was trying to contain his laughter, before heading back to the kitchen. Nonetheless, his words still rang inside her head and she thought to herself, 'Maybe I will…' She had become attracted to this handsome young man. He was polite, unlike many other guys she had seen, not to mention intelligent - he seemed to be more similar to nobility than working class.
Jay walked up the familiar steps of the grey imposing building. It has been three months since Jay arrived here, and the library has become his number one hangout spot. Anytime not spent working, resting or sleeping would most likely be devoted to the library, where he is now a regular. Through the library, Jay had acquired the much-needed knowledge of this world, transforming from the clueless young man who woke up in the park to an amateur historian of this world.
Through his research, Jay's knowledge had increased exponentially. He had learnt much about the history of the world, from books and historical accounts, and also from ancient scrolls. This world was very different from the past, and also from his own. Here, spirits and humans are linked, and they had inhabited the world together in the past. The spirits lived in the spirit wilds, while humans lived on the back of lion turtles, huge island-sized turtles with the head of a lion. At some point, the spirits returned to spirits world and humans moved away from the lion turtles, who gradually faded away.
In this world, some people had the ability to bend the four classical elements - earth, fire, water and air. These people could bend one of the four and were called benders. Together with non-benders, they made up the human population on earth. Some animals could bend too, with Badgermoles bending earth, Dragons bending fire and Sky Bisons bending air. It is said that they were the ones who taught humans how to bend the elements, with only the water tribe learning from the moon. A fifth bending - energy bending had existed, but was only recently rediscovered by an Avatar - Aang. The bending had specialised sub classes too, like lightning bending, which Jay learned was also providing electricity to Republic City, healing, bloodbending and metal bending.
Jay had also learnt about the four nations - earth kingdoms, fire nation, water tribes and the air nomads, along with their history. The earth kingdom was easily the largest, with the most landmass, much like China from Jay's world. It was comprised of large swaths of land, with certain key cities, namely Ba Sing Se and Omashu, along with a multitude of smaller towns and even more villages. A large part of the kingdom, however, was occupied by the Si Wong Desert. It had a long history of wars, with different states fighting, but eventually, the kingdom was united by one of the kings, with Ba Sing Se as its capital. However, due to the sheer size of the kingdom, an effective centralised government was unable to be established, leading to a confederate monarchy with the different states having some form of autonomy.
The fire nation comprised of small volcanic islands located near the equator, reminiscent of the Japanese home island chain. It too had a long history, starting as small clans and villages before being united by the first Fire Lord. Unlike the earth kingdom, the fire nation had an effective government, due to its smaller size. It also had a powerful military, which it used to great effect during the hundred years war.
The water tribes were split into two - the northern one and their southern counterparts, inhabiting the north and south poles respectively. In the past, there was only a water tribe in the north, governed by a chieftain system. However, at some point, a small group broke off from the northern water tribes, becoRei the southern tribe. The southern tribe continued to prosper until it was ravaged during the hundred years war, reducing it to small independent villages. After the war, aid was given, and the southern water eventually reached to some degree of its former glory.
Unlike the other three nations, materials regarding the air nomads were sparse. Most of the books on them were recently written, based on what was still remembered about them. Much of the history of the air nomads were lost, and according to the librarian, the little that remained were in a library on the Air Temple Island just off the coast of Republic City, where what was left of the air nomads lived.
Jay also found the answer to why an entire civilisation was all but reduced to a small island - the Hundred Year War. Through his research, it appeared that the Hundred Year War had greatly influenced recent history. Long story short, the Fire Nation had attacked the other three nations, starting with the genocide of the air nomads, save for the Avatar. It went on to decimate the southern water tribe, while the northern one became isolationist. For much of the war, the Earth Kingdom bore the brunt of the Fire Nation, but even then, progress was slow, due to the vast expanse of the Earth Kingdom. In Jay's opinion, the war almost mirrored World War 2, with the Fire Nation being Imperial Japan and Earth Kingdom being China. Eventually, the war was stopped before the Fire Nation could tap onto a comet that would increase the strength of the soldiers, and peace returned to the world. The team that had ended the war then went on to found United Republic of Nations and its capital, Republic City, as a place for all to live together. It was not smooth sailing though, as there were a few crises along the way, such as the Battle of Yu Dao.
Apart from historical events, another part of Jay's research is also focused on important individuals. Amongst them was the Avatar. Apparently, it is a fusion between Raava, the light spirit, and a human, and the cycle continued such that the Avatar would be reincarnated when he or she dies. They would still have connections to past lives but are essentially a new person with new personality. The cycle repeats following the pattern fire, air, water and earth, but the Avatar could bend all elements. In addition, they could enter the Avatar State, making them exceptionally powerful, but exact details of this is rare. The only known fact is that the cycle would cease if they die during this state.
There were many Avatars who at least have some details of their lives in the library. However, by far, the Avatar with the most books on was Aang, the previous Avatar. Not only was he the one who ended the war along with his team, they also went on to create the United Republic of Nations. Aang was aided by a group of friends - namely Zuko, the ex-Fire Lord, Toph, who went on to become the Chief of Republic City Police and inventor of metalbending, Sokka, an ex-councilman and ex chief of southern water tribe, Katara, Aang's wife and the most powerful waterbender of her time. Jay had also seen Aang's, Zuko's and Toph's statue at the Aang Memorial Island in Yue Bay, Central City Station and the police headquarters respectively.
Last but not least were the contemporary history. This was greatly focused on Republic City, covering key events in its history such as the Battle of Yu Dao, its formation and also during the time when Yakone, a bloodbending crime lord, wreaked havoc. Also mentioned was the technology, which confirmed Jay's suspicion that the time period was similar to the Roaring Twenties. Radios, telephones, automobiles, electricity, film cameras were some of the common technology present. Despite that, Jay had also noticed some discrepancies, most notably the absence of guns and airplanes. By the 1920s, the machine guns and sleek all-metal passenger airplanes were already present, but not in this world.
"Going off so soon? Do come again soon," the old librarian called out to Jay as he left the library. A school teacher in his youth, the librarian had become fast friends with Jay, after having to help the young man find books of all nature, ranging from cuisine to history, sports to technology. Also, this young man was a smart one too, often having discussions with the librarian about anything and everything. Nodding in acknowledgement, Jay walked out the library, tucking his notebook in which he wrote what he learnt into his coat pocket.
"Are you interested in technology? Do you have what it takes to be at the forefront of innovation? Future Industries, the leading technology company in Republic City is hiring new designers and engineers. Come down to Future Industries headquarters located at Sokka Avenue this Friday for the interview!" As Jay waited for the street trolley to return to the restaurant, a flyer attached to a nearby lamppost caught his eye. 'Friday isn't that tomorrow. Wait… Future Industries, isn't that the company that created the automobile and many other technologies? Should I go for the interview?' Jay thought as he pulled down the flyer. The trolley soon arrived, and Jay quickly stuffed the flyer into his pocket.
On the way back to the restaurant, Jay kept thinking about the job. This job was the most similar to his previous job, not to mention that it would give him the opportunity to utilise his knowledge about technology. While he enjoyed his current job at the restaurant and the pay was good, Jay was not talented at cooking or as interested as he was in technology. He had saved the restaurant not using his cooking prowess, but with his modern knowledge. Furthermore, now that the restaurant was famous, having its growth and popularity aided by the media, many talented young chefs were excited to work there, and lack of skilled chefs were no longer an issue.
Back at the restaurant, Jay spotted Chang standing outside the door, while a few people gathered. As Jay got closer, worrying what was happening, he soon noticed old-fashioned cameras, as well as the people writing on note pads. 'So they must be reporters,' Jay thought, as he walked towards the restaurant.
"There he is!" Chang called out and waved to Jay, prompting the reporters to spin around. Before long, Jay was being interviewed along with Chang. Apparently, the restaurant's quick rise to fame has caught the attention of the newspapers, who wanted to do a story on it. After asking Jay some questions, along with a picture taken, Jay quickly slipped into the restaurant while Chang continued sharing his story.
"Hi Jay," Rei called out as Jay stepped into the restaurant. "Hey," Jay replied as he hung his coat on the rack. As she watched Jay pull of some papers from his coat pocket, Rei thought to herself, 'Now's your chance to ask him.' Twirling her long black hair between her fingers, she slowly started, "Uh… Jay…"
"Hey, what do you think about this?" Jay spoke up, interrupting her. He handed over the flyer to Rei, who quickly read it.
"What do I think about it? Umm it's cool, I guess? I mean Future Industries is one of the largest companies here, and certainly the most technologically advanced. Wait, are you going for the interview?" Rei asked, looking up from the flyer at Jay. Jay nodded excitedly. "But you are a chef, not an engineer or something."
"Well, I have always loved technology, more than cooking in fact. Plus, now that the restaurant has grown, we have so many more chefs who are better than me. Things here will be fine, I'm sure," Jay replied, taking the flyer back from Rei. "By the way, did you want to say something just now?"
"Uhh, well since today we are closing early, I wanted to ask if you wanted to go out for dinner tonight," Rei asked, looking down to hide her blush. Not that it mattered though, since Jay was almost hopeless when it comes to reading women.
"Yeah sure I don't mind. Honestly, despite how good the food here is, it's kinda getting boring. Let's call Nosen and Guo too," Jay spoke, putting aside stuffing the flyer back into his pocket. "Uhh, well, I was thinking just the two of us," Rei said, this time a more prominent blush creeping over her face.
"Oh, you mean like a date, right?" Jay bluntly replied, causing Rei's face to turn crimson red. "No, I mean..."
"I'm just kidding. How bout Narook's Noodlery tonight at 7?" Jay said to Rei who quickly nodded to avoid the embarrassment.
"Alright then, see you here at 7."
If the night at Narook's Noodlery had to be described in a word, without a doubt it would be - awkward. The seaweed noodles were great, and the restaurant certainly lived up to its name of being one of the best noodleries in Republic City, but much of the dinner was in silence. Jay tried to clear the awkward atmosphere by starting conversations, yet almost all of them ended within a minute or so.
"So, umm, I have given it some thought… and I think I will go for the interview tomorrow. I mean there's no harm trying right?" Jay started, once again trying to clear the awkward atmosphere.
"Oh, the Future Industries Job? I did mention it to Chang, and he said that if you have an interest then you should go for it. After all, you have done more than your fair share for the restaurant," Rei replied, although the look of disappointment crept across her face. Despite her attempt to hide it, this time it did not escape Jay's eyes.
"Something wrong?" Rei shook her head, but her eyes betrayed her. Sensing that something was wrong, Jay decided to press on.
"Hey, you know you will feel better after you share right?"
"I just don't want you to leave the restaurant, leave me, uh leave us. After all these times working together, you have become a part of all our lives. Things would really be different without you here," Rei admitted. It was true. Over the past few months, Rei and Jay had grown closer, almost becoming best friends. Rei was attracted to his outgoing yet down to earth personality, not to mention that he was also smart, while Jay viewed her as sort of confidant, someone he could talk to when he was feeling down.
"Nah don't worry too much. I will still come back to visit you guys," Jay cheerfully said as he paid the waiter for the meal. "Come on, it's getting late, let's head back."
"But…" Rei started before being interrupted by Jay. "Like I said, don't worry too much. I promise you I will come visit often," Jay cut her off, before heading towards the door, leaving Rei behind in her seat. As she watched Jay turn around and beckon her to leave the restaurant, she sighed to herself, "…you don't get it, I think I like you…"