Sleeping Princess

 

Once we made our way up to the next floor, the third year's hall, the butler cafe was booming with customers. With the entire cooking club's cast dressed up as desired boys in an all-girls school that was bound to happen. Even Mae-chan was going crazy over the idea of it.

“Close your mouth Watanabe-san.”

Conchi-san cried while pushing her mouth closed.

“They’re handsome, aren’t they?!”

It seems Mae-chan is weak to this sort of thing. But then I looked over to Sora-chan who seemed to be doing the same as Ma-chan. Like two rabid dogs hungry for meat, their mouths watered with a flood of excitement...Or better yet drool.

"Hey, that one looks like over there looks like Hasu-kun!"

Sora-chan shouted, grabbing onto Hana-san. When I looked over, certainly one of the female students had the same hairstyle and scars as the infamous Hasu-kun. She smiled handsomely as she made our way to us girls. I was a tad swooned by her stride.

"Oh wow...she pulled of Hasu-kun well."

I added to their praise. That caught even me off, guard. Hasu-kun was the sole survivor of the popular boy band "Rush." Not that they broke up, no he just excelled over his other members, and eventually, the idol sharks took him under their fins and used him to make a literal killing. He has fans both guys and girls alike. He is still rated the # 2 male in all of Hiroshima Japan by looks. # 1 being Daichi-kun, his rival. I could go on all day about gossips and such but long story short...Hasu-kun was going to be our butler today.

"Right this way, miladies."

The female student now under the alias of Hasu-kun guided us past a full lobby of dinners. As she made her way through the room cries of girls shouting words of praise to her was commonplace. That's to be expected...this is Hasu-kun in a gentlemen butler suit...but it's a girl. Ultimately, we landed in a spot by the window. Six seats were available but all we needed was five.

"Here is your seat miladies."

"Thanks, Hasu-kun!"

Ma-chan and Sora-chan sang as we all got in our seats.

"Onee-san, sit next to me!"

"Oh, sure thing Hana-chan..."

That's when it dawned on me...

"Hana-chan....you don't plan to feed me right?"

"Hm? What do you mean, Onee-san?"

Something told me she knew just what I was talking about. But instead of interrogating her, I gave up and lowered my shoulders.

"Never mind...The order is probably going to be a fair amount so I'll pay for it guys."

"Really, Mado-chan?!"

"Sure. My mom gave me a good amount so, why not?"

"Thanks, Onee-san!"

Sora shouted, causing me to shrink back. Wow, she certainly has energy...

Now with the menu in front of us, I could see a mountain of choices. They all had proper pictures next to them displaying the utmost care that went into this event. Everything looked super good and the prices were fair too...But with all the great choices I was starting to worry that I might be able to spend the entire 10,000yen if I got carried away here.

"Okay, listen here pretty boy."

Conway-san began with her rude mannerisms as the first to order.

"I want two servings of takoyaki with octopus in the middle, a helping of chicken yakisoba, and two bowls of white rice."

"Sure thing, madam. And would you like anything to drink with that?"

"Of course, I'm not a degenerate. I want oolong tea on ice. And if you have a fresh lemon It damn well better be squeezed for me."

The Hasu-kun impersonator bowed as she took Conway-san's menu from her.

"Certainly, madam."

Leave it to Conchi-san to make even Hasu-kun feel worthless. The others were more respectable with ordering their meals, I included. My little sister scowled as she glared at her now rival.

"Do you have a place for all that food, Conway-san?"

"My stomach. You got a problem with that, kid?"

 

 

"I don't see you paying for it! My Onee-san shouldn't pay for a glutton."

With her nose pointed to the ceiling the shark bit back at her.

"Your Onee-san offered to pay before I made my order. It's her choice, not mine. Take it as a life lesson that you shouldn't offer kindness before knowing what you're getting into."

I had to literally hold Hana-chan back from lunging at Conway. Not going to lie...I felt as though she targeted me on purpose here. She was acting more unruly than usual and this probably had something to do with Taylor-sensei I gathered. But that will have to be addressed later. I couldn't stand by and let her bring Hana-chan into this any longer.

 

"Hang on there, Hana. Conchi-san, stop bullying my little sister or else..."

The shark pushed her tongue out to me in response. I wasn’t expecting her to back down without a fight, but I won’t put up with her if she bullies my little sister.

"Conway Sophia-san, Do you hear me?"

I spoke as authoritatively as I could. When she gazed back at me I could see a ripple go down her spine. After a brief moment of hesitation, she turned back to me with a reddened face.

"Fine, I'll remove the second serving of takoyaki with octopus. But I'm keeping the two servings of white rice..."

That wasn't the response I expected but it was a victory on my side for sure.

After what seemed to be ten minutes or so our food arrived and we all began digging in. The food was delicious as expected. A few minutes later into our meals a plate was set across from the two wild ones, Ma-chan and Sora-chan. Sora-chan reached out her hand across the table and put open her palm. I glanced over to see what they were doing. Mae-chan had her hand in a fist.

“Eh, I lost!”

Ma-chan cried in dismay.

“Okay, now eat this one, Watanabe-san!”

She pointed to a takoyaki on the plate and Mae-chan throws it in her mouth. After biting down bliss enters her face.

“Sooo good! Hehe, I lucked out. Alright, next round Hino-san.”

“What are you two doing, Sora-chan?”

Hana’s curiosity peaked and now she was engrossed in their game too. The firey-haired lifted her finger in the air as all eyes gandered at her explanation.

“We’re playing rock, paper, scissors. The winner decides which takoyaki the loser eats. The game aims to force the other to eat the takoyaki full of spicy wasabi.”

So in other words, they were playing Russian roulette with food. Conway-san’s face grew visibly intense.

“You both are crazy!”

She shouted as her expression soured.

“You can win Sora-chan! I believe in you!”

“C’mon, Mae-chan, you can do it!”

Hana-san and I looked at each other. It Seemed we’ve both became cheerleaders for the other team and now we’re cheering on our respective teammates. Conway-san seemed to not want to be a part of this and took a deep breath. With a harsh exhale she scorned…

“If either of you two gets hurt, I won’t care.”

With a huff, she turned back to her second serving of white rice.

“One, two, three!”

Mae-chan cried letting her hand shoot forward. Scissors shot out and Sora-chan came back with a fist of her own.

“Haha! I win! Take this one now!”

Mae-chan accepts defeat and bites into the next choice of takoyaki.

“Oh, this is good too!”

There were only three left on the plate as their battle was getting intense. Hana and I couldn't look away as Sora-chan took the initiative.

“One, two, three!”

She finished up with a hand of paper. Mae-chan cut her with scissors. A sigh of relief escaped my mouth but Hana-san was panicking.

“This one, Hino-san!”

“Here I go…”

Sora-san fearlessly threw the takoyaki in her mouth. She waited for a moment…her face began to shrieval before she brought out a bright smile.

“Got ya! Thought it was the wasabi-filled one, eh Watanabe-san?!”

She laughed wholeheartedly. Wow, these two do get along too well.

There was one left meaning this round will be the deciding factor. With a breath the shot forward.

“One, two, three-!”

“Oh, look who we have here!”

From behind us, Okabe Kasumi-san walked up. With a conning grin and her little sister by her side, she approached waving to us. Not someone I wanted to meet today only because I wanted Conway-san to enjoy herself. The said girl scoffed as I expected.

“Great…when you’re having too much fun…”

Conway-san complained, nibbling at her meal now.

“Hey, I’m not here to mess with you Conway-san. I saw Nakagawa-san’s adorable little sister and wanted to come over and say hi.”

Beside her, Nagumi her little sister gazed at my plate of nikumaki onigiri. Something told me that she...might be a little hungry.

"Nagumi-chan, do you want my Onigiri?"

 

 

She didn't say anything but instead timidly approached and reached her hand out to me. Her eyes mirrored her Onee-san's as they were almond-shaped as well. But she certainly was the innocent of the two. So, I offered her a couple of the nikumaki onigiri. For someone who's likely done eating she has quite the appetite as she wordlessly scarfed them down. She was super adorable though eating like this...but suddenly, a cold chill went down my neck as I turned to see Hana-san bleeding her eyes into my back. W-Was I doing something wrong?

“Ahhh! Okabe-san!”

Mae-chan cried in a panic.

“I’ll pay you back, Watanabe-san.”

 

Hearing the commotion, I looked over to see Okabe-san holding up the last takoyaki on Ma-chan and Sora-san's plate.

"O-Oh no, Okabe-san!"

I tried to warn her but she dropped it in her mouth before I could. Now the damage was done and Conway-san had a smirk mirroring one-thousand demons. That's when the sudden fits of coughing assaulted Okabe-san.

“Karma’s a bitch! Isn’t it, Okabe-san?!”

The shark shouted in ridicule.

“Water?! W-Water.”

She coughed as both Hana-chan and I held out our bottled water to her. She took them both and gulped them at the same time. If she were a fish, she’d drown at that rate. But it seemed to do nothing for her as she was as red as a beat. Her coughing persisted as tears rained down her face. Conway-san was holding her stomach now in complete amusement.

I’ve never seen her smile this much…too bad it’s at Okabe-san’s expense though. Unable to gain her composure Okabe-san pulled her little sister and trumped away still coughing up a storm. Before leaving she turned back to Conway-san who still couldn’t control her laugher. She extended her middle finger to her then left the restaurant in a huff.

“Eh…hope she’s not too mad.”

Ma-chan dejectedly plead. Sora-san just shrugged indifferently.

“Well, she did ruin our game.”

“What are you talkin’ about Hino-san?! She completed it perfectly!”

Conway-san jested while laughing her head off. She then took out some money from her back pocket and handed it to both Mae-chan and Sora-san.

“Here’s your money back you two. Thanks for the good time.”

Sora with a new burst of energy turned to her best friend.

“Oh Hana-chan, guys it’s time we hit up the haunted house isn't it?!”

“Oh yeah! Let’s go Onee-san!”

Hana agreed, taking her hand as they formed an unspoken alliance. The middle schoolers cheered with a fist pump. No doubt, they were motivated and nothing could stop their hype now...not even my unwillingness to go...