The interior of the restaurant was fairly impressive. It feels elegant and lavish with dozens of crystal and golden chandelier hanging about on the ceiling, well dressed waiters and waitress, the mouthwatering food being served and what’s most impressive is how clean the place is. Not a single speck of dust could be seen. I feel out of place here, since I rarely indulge in fine dining. For years, takeout has been my best friend.

As the three of us were awed by the scenery, a waitress came up to us.

“Welcome to Shino’s, I’m Mayumi and I will be your waitress for the day. Now, please let me lead you to your seats.” The beautiful waitress said with a warm and sincere smile as she led us to our table.

“Mayumi-san are all the waitress here as beautiful as you?” Yusuke flirted

“Haha, I thank you for the compliment, but I must ask you to refrain. Flirting with the guest are against company policy.” she said without batting an eye

“Hahaha, Yusuke-kun got shot down immediately. That’s what you get for flirting all the time, Lover-boy” Yuna teased

“Shut up, Yuna! Like you’re any better. You’ve been rejected by so many guys by now I’m amazed you still keep trying.”

The bickering between those two went on as we were seated. “Here’s the menu, call for me when you need to order.” The waitress said

“Everything looks so delicious!” Yuna salivated as she scanned the menu with delight.

“What the hell are these prices…,” Yusuke muttered quietly and I agree, what the hell are these prices?! Twelve thousand yen for a steak? Seven thousand for a burger and fries, four thousand yen for just a soup….I know that it’s fine dining, but jeez, what goes into these stuff?

“Yuna-Chan, why did you bring us here? Everything’s so expensive that my wallet might get drained immediately by just looking at the menu,” Yusuke despaired.

“What? I thought the prices are reasonable and affordable.”  She said with a clueless expressions. The both of us bore into her with expressions full of envy.

“I have to agree with Yusuke here. These prices are absurd, let’s go eat somewhere else.”

“Eh? Come on, I’ve been wanting to eat at this place like forever. How about’ this, I’ll pay for both of your meals, no strings attached.”

“I don’t really like owing you things, Yuna-Chan." Yusuke said

“Its fine, it’s fine. You don’t have to pay me back. Let’s just call it a celebration of …our…friendship, yeah, to the longevity and everlasting friendship of ours!” she splattered for excuses. If it’s about food, Yuna gets really pathetic sometimes. 

We both sighed. ”Fine, let’s just order already, I’m getting quite hungry myself.” I said

We called the waitress and ordered. I didn’t want to burden the bill too much so I ordered the cheapest meal, the chicken cordon blue, priced at three thousand and five hundred yen. Yusuke did the same. Yuna, on the other hand, ordered a plethora of things. Wagyu steak, pasta aglio olio, grilled salmon, fillet mignion. She ordered at least six different main courses. 

The waitress' eye bulged out as she listed all the food she ordered. "is that all? " She asked

"Yup, that's all!" Yuna practically chirped. 

"A-ll right, then. Please wait for your order patiently, " The waitress rushed out to the kitchen with the order quickly. 

"Whew, can't wait for all the food!" Yuna said. 

"I've known you for two years and to this day it still amazes me at how much you eat. How are you not gaining weight? What kind of bullshit is your metabolism? " Yusuke ranted

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

"Eh, you know, I'm a growing girl, hehe." She blushed. 

"I wasn't complimenting you!"

I chuckled at their usual banter. 

"It's already summer, huh? In a year an a half, we'll all be graduating. Time sure does fly by us, huh?" I thought aloud. They both stopped bickering and then reared their heads towards me.

"It sure does. Man, i still have a lot of things to do. I haven't even won any major tournaments yet. What kind of ace can't push their team to victory? I'll be a huge disgrace to the soccer community," Yusuke gloomily said.

"Well, there's still a while left to school, better spend it wisely," i said

"Well, I can't wait to graduate. Looking at your lover-boy face everday bores me to death,"

"Jeez, Yuna-chan. Don't be so cold. I'm sure you'll cry a river for me, right?" Yusuke teased.

"L-Like hell i will," Yuna stammered.

"See? you're even stuttering like that,"

"S-shut up." Yuna stammered once again. "Dammit,"

Yusuke and I laughed our guts out while Yuna sat there flustered. You know, Time really does fly by when you're surrounded by people you like, and before I knew it, the food has arrived. Two small, individual plates for me and Yusuke, And the rest of the dinner table was filled with all kinds of food ordered by Yuna. Her expression when the food arrived could only be described as 'pure joy'

"I believe that's everything," Mayumi, the waitress said.

"Yes, yes. that is all." Yuna dismissed.

"Now, if you need me for anything, please don't hesitate to call me anytime," Mayumi smiled gently

"Yes,yes, I'll call you when i need to," Yuna once again dissmised the waitress, eyes glued to the food.

Seeing that we're all eager to dig in, The waitress soon left our presence. "Well, let's dig in then!" Yuna said

"Ittadakimasu!" we all said simultaneously as we dig into the food.

The bite I took of the chicken cordon blue could only be described as heavenly, and it instantly dissolves in my mouth. I know the phrase 'melts in your mouth like butter' is heavily overused in the food industry, but it genuinely feels like it melts like butter. Each element of the dish is perfectly done and is harmonized with each other, like a symphony. One bite becomes two, two bites become three, and before i knew it, i had finished the dish in a matter of minutes. Man that was something else entirely. No wonder the lines are at least an hour long, the food here are the best I’ve ever eaten in my whole entire life. Yusuke, like me, had also finished his food in a matter of minutes, and his expression was of deep satisfaction. truly a sight many restaurants wants to achieve.

"Shee? de Foud ere is elly good, uh?" She mumbled with her mouth stuffed with food. Completely incoherent.

Yuna was stuffing herself with all kinds of gourmet foods. By now, she had already finished three whole plates of main courses and appetizers. All I could do was stare at her with a slight tingle of envy.  I’ve been friends with her since elementary school but it's still hard to get used to her monstrous eating habits. she truly deserves the title of "Glutton" I often wonder why she choose the piano as a career path rather than just, you know, eating, a lot. The people around us were glaring daggers at us. Even a person as dense as I can tell what they're implying. But it's fine. This is the one thing I’ve grown used to. People are always envious and full of hate. It can't be helped.

"Yeah, the stuff here are really something else. I wish it didn't end in a blink of an eye though," Yusuke sulked.

"Wanna Have some of mine?" Yuna passed a plate with a half-eaten steak on it.

"I'll pass. I'm not that desperate," Yusuke sighed.

After a while, Yuna finally finished her stack of food. Being uncomfortable by getting stared at by literally everyone there, Yusuke quickly asked for the bill. "Huh? But I haven't even ordered dessert yet!" Yuna Protested

"You've ate a whole family's worth of food! We're leaving!"

"There's always room for dessert!" Yuna protested once more.

As promised Yuna paid for all the expenses and we soon left. Yuna kept grumbling on about dessert so we went to the nearest convenient store and bought ice cream. We stood in front of the store, being sheltered from the heat by the building.

"Nothing's better than ice cream on such a hot day!" Yuna said.

"Yup! Ice cream is truly the food of the gods," Yusuke said.

We ate our ice cream in blissful peace, ignoring the scorching hot sun. "What a day, huh? I'm about to head back to the music hall, where are you guys heading to?" I asked.

"I got soccer practice in an hour. Coach said he'll be whipping us into shape after our humiliating defeat. Can’t imagine what sort of hellish training that geezer has prepared for us." Yusuke shuddered.

"I'm going home. After eating that much i feel like taking a long nap."

"Can't believe I’d be hearing that from you," Yusuke said.

"What? You think my stomach is an endless black hole or something?"

"Something like that," 

We conversed for a while as we finished our ice creams.

"Well, I guess this is it. See you guys later!" I said

"Good luck with the Announcement Da-chan. I'm sure you'll win!"

"Yea, man. Good luck!"

We all went our separate ways. Well, that was fun. Days like these are what i won't forget. Now, it's time for me to confront my father. I really don't want to. But it's for the best. To improve as a musician!