Ugh. Sorry that tonight hit a delay. We are back now though! Even if it's gonna be a short night.
>>5523361You take in a deep breath and slowly exhale. “Look, I… I don’t want to impose. He’s only really been around in this time for about a year, and he kinda needs to adjust, y’know? It's a little crush yeah, but I'm young, I'm allowed that much right? Maybe later it'll be more than that, or less, but as long as he's still my friend I'm good.” Your drink finally arrives, and you wait a bit before trying it. “And if I’m being honest, I’m in no rush either. I’ve got a lot on my plate still, plenty to do, see, accomplish, before I really need to start thinking about that kinda’ stuff.”
“Huh. That’s… a surprisingly mature outlook.” Cheelai remarks.
“As expected of your boss, ey?” you reply with a grin, and take a sip from the drink you were given. It’s… matcha… mint… m-melon? Mwhut? … “Midori Maelstrom” is the drink name. That’s… unique.
Cheelai and Hakka seem to be enjoying it, at the very least. As you wait, you notice a different table with an… uncommon chef ending up there. An alien, with olive-green skin and some bits of hazelnut-orange hair. Cheelai and the Para Para bros notice him too, though they don’t seem as surprised as you are. Hakka shrugs it off. Gonna need to think on that one later.
The chef for your table finally arrives, a pig beastman with a formal demeanor. “Hello hello, good patrons! I, Chef Zhu, will be serving you all today.” He stars pouring some oil on the grill as he talks. “I see here we have the Spicy Veggie Tofu meal for you, kind sir!” he addresses Hakka as he chops an onion in half and stacks the layers of the rings on top of each other. “For you sir, the Triple Threat!” The chef rolls a trio of bowls containing shrimp, calamari, and scallops as he addresses Don Para. “For you sir, the Crustacean Battle!” A lobster tail and crab meat end up stacked as part of a now-growing pyramid of bowls. “Ah, and young miss, the Yakisoba!” A bowl of noodles joins the pyramid as he starts chopping vegetables. The onions end up a small mound of them, to which he pours a bit more oil into, then gives a spray of cooking oil at the top. It starts smoking… and then the chef snaps his finger, a spark hitting the top of the mound, and the smoke becomes a jet of flame! …Was that a trick, or did you just sense his Ki spike slightly?
(cont.)
