Chapter Text
RRING! RRING!
First customer of the day!
Minori felt her heartbeat start to rise slowly as she watched from behind the counter, waiting for the new customer to order. Well, no, she didn't feel it rising, but she imagined it.
“Should I take them, or should you?” asked her coworker, Airi. Minori kept mistakenly clocking Airi as her boss due to Airi’s habit of ordering her around, but they were still only coworkers. Airi had simply been working at this diner longer.
“I'll take them!” Minori responded confidently, preparing to head out. Airi arched an eyebrow at her sarcastically, but stayed silent.
“Hello there!” Minori said cheerfully as she walked over to the table in what she hoped was a graceful manner. “My name is Minori, and I'll be taking care of you today! Would you like any drinks to start?”
The two boys at the table glanced up at her, only one responding. “Not yet,” he said dismissively. “We’ll wave you over in a bit when we decide.”
“Alright!” Minori smiled warmly at them. The bell rang twice more as two more girls walked in. Minori recognized one of them- it was her friend from school, Kohane! The other girl had long blue hair with stars in it — it looked like the night sky. Airi glared sharply at Minori, letting her know almost telepathically — this one's mine.
Minori made her way back, almost having forgotten about the encounter with the boys when— “You went too early!” Airi spat. “Those guys haven't decided.”
“Eek! Sorry!” Minori shielded herself from Airi’s sharp gaze with her hands, almost comedically throwing up a gesture of surrender. Airi rolled her eyes in response and turned to watch the two girls carefully.
“Do you think they're ready now?” Minori whispered.
“Sure!” Airi snapped, her tone dripping with sarcasm. “I don't know. What do you think?”
“Oh, they said they'd wave me over!” Minori glanced over nervously, afraid she’d already missed her cue. “I guess I should wait some more.”
Airi sighed dramatically and glared over at the new girls. “I'm going to get their orders, they look ready. Don't mess up too badly while I'm gone.”
Minori sighed and smiled at Airi as she left. Despite her attitude, Minori just knew that Airi was a lovely person in reality. She’d break through that shell, no matter what!
.... And, of course, Airi was also really pretty. As in, super duper pretty. Ack! Minori! She smacked herself gently as she felt her face heat up. Focus...
The boy waving at Minori snapped her out of her trance. “Oh, I'll be right over!” she called, making her way to the table. She whipped out her notepad and smiled at them. Ring! Ring! Two more customers.
“Two waters for the table, one strawberry milkshake with whipped cream, and one chocolate milkshake with no toppings — Also, we're ready to order our meal as well.”
Minori scribbled down his order as he listed off the meals they had picked. With a slight giggle she noted how much they were ordering- either they could eat a lot more than their appearance betrayed or they simply planned on having leftovers.
In any case, Minori had finished soon, and she glanced up to take a look at the new customers. But these weren't any ordinary customers, oh no- Minori knew them.
Two girls walked into the diner with music setup in their hands, laughing and chatting about some strange wise things (probably). Minori almost felt time slow down as she lost control and was almost totally overwhelmed by how gorgeous they were. Extremely famous and talented and beautiful street performers Haruka Kiritani and Shizuku Hinomori, in her diner that she worked at. Right here. In the flesh.
Minori waddled back to the counter, breathing in so fast she thought she might have been hyperventilating- an exaggeration, of course, but she was in full on panic mode.
“MINORI.” Airi’s voice cut through the air, arriving back with a notepad of their own. She grabbed the order Minori held and shoved the two papers towards the kitchen, and then turned back to Minori. “Haruka?? And Shizuku?? Here?? Why?? Did you hire them??”
“No!” Minori squeaked. “No, I didn’t-!! Did Saki-?? Ahh, ahh-!! Oh, what do we do....”
“Ha, isn't it obvious?” Airi put her hands on her hips and gave Minori a confident grin. “This is a once in a lifetime opportunity!! We have to go say hi.”
“Wh- we do??”
“Of course we do! Come on, follow me.” Airi made her way towards the small stage in the corner of the room, where the two girls had set up their instruments.
The girl with short blue hair- Haruka- noticed them first. “Hello!” she said, her voice angelic and clear.
“Hiya!” Airi responded. “I’m Airi and this is Minori- we’re the waitresses of this fine establishment. Can we get you two anything to eat?”
“Nope,” Haruka said at the same Shizuku said, “Oh, yes please!”
The two girls glanced at each other and started giggling. “Oh, okay,” Haruka laughed, “I actually am super hungry. What does your menu look like?”
Airi threw a toothy smile at Minori, before puffing up her chest and reciting what she had memorized. “The menu here is short and sweet, but we offer a variety of burger and salad options! We also have milkshakes and smoothies if you prefer a heavy drink. Would you like to hear the flavor options?”
Shizuku laughed and tilted her head at Airi, letting her pale hair fall over her shoulder and catch the light from the far window. “The milkshakes sound nice. Haruka, dear, should we get a milkshake?”
Haruka pondered the question for a moment, before sighing and letting her shoulders fall. “No, we shouldn't have anything cold before singing. Maybe we could share a burger?”
Shizuku pouted and leaned backwards. “Oh, I don't feel hungry enough... and I'm not craving anything savory either.”
Haruka turned to Airi and Minori apologetically, as it seemed neither wanted to order from the menu, but an idea hurled itself into Minori’s mind at the last second. “Wait!” she blurted out. “If you don't want to have anything here right now, you should let me and Airi take you to another restaurant.”
Silence. Haruka, Airi, and Shizuku all stared at Minori- Airi's jaw hung slightly open. Minori felt the blood rush to her face and heat it up, turning as red as the tomato slices in the burgers. What had she done? She mourned herself internally, as surely she would die from the embarrassment.
“That would be lovely,” Haruka giggled. She smiled and Minori, and Minori felt like floating. High, high into the sky.
“Great!” Airi said loudly, almost too loudly. She shushed herself and glanced around, before grinning uncontrollably at Minori. Minori smiled back.
“Hehe.” Shizuku stood up and stretched. “Well then, Haruka! Let’s get to our performance now, shall we?”
“Alright then.” Haruka stood up as well and smiled brilliantly at Minori and Airi. “It's a date, then! Excited to see you two... tomorrow? Does that sound good?”
Minori nodded vigorously, resisting to the urge to jump around and giggle like a small child. Airi bobbed her head up and down as well, joy gleaming in her eyes.