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After a long day at the excavation site, Rui finally came back home.
It’s been around a week since Rui set off looking for more gems, but after the long week has passed! And so, Rui finally gets to come home to his dear star with pockets full of different rocks to examine later on.
Tsukasa just recently started this new business with his tavern, but while Rui’s all for supporting him as best he can, it hasn’t exactly been doing the greatest recently…
There’s no denial that Tsukasa’s cooking and drinks are probably some of the best, but sometimes it’s just hard to get new customers to come into an unfamiliar restaurant.
Ah, but as Rui gets closer, there seems to be a decent amount of chatter in the restaurant.
That must mean Tsukasa’s business is finally starting to go well!
He hears the chatter get louder, bit by bit, as he slowly but surely walks towards the tavern. He places his hand on the door.
‘...hm… wait, isn’t it almost closing time by now?’
He walks in.
“EMU! GET ME THREE SETS OF ORDER 4, AND ONE SET OF THE DINNER SPECIAL AB PLUS!”
“ROGER THAT CAPTAIN!”
“NENE! FIVE MORE BEERS, THREE MARGARITAS, AND 15 DIFFERENT TYPES OF CAPPUCCINOS WITH NO WHIPPED CREAM, MILK, SUGAR, COFFEE-”
“No, just, WHAT!? T-TSUKASA! I can’t make a fucking cappuccino with no coffee-”
“15 GREEN TEAS THEN! THEY’RE DRUNK THEY WON’T NOTICE THE DIFFERENCE!”
…
‘Oh dear.’
“RUI! You’re here! Sorry to spring this on you, but can you help out?”
“Right on it, my star~”
“NENE! WE’VE GOT AN ORDER FOR ANOTHER ROUND OF GREEN TEA!”
“A-Again!? Shoot… I gotta get back to it-”
“EMU…! We.... don’t have any orders for food yet, can you help out Nene?”
“ROGER THAT CAPTAIN KASA-KUN!”
After a long, grueling hour of just trying their best to get all the customers out, Tsukasa finally got the chance to close down shop and take a little break for the day.
And thank goodness for it. It seemed like customers kept pouring in each time one left.
He looks over to Tsukasa, currently cleaning up extra dishes and sweeping up the floor.
Rui would help, but god he’s too exhausted to do anything at this point.
He then looks over at Nene and Emu, to which the latter is currently bouncing around up and down, quickly wiping away all the dust from the windows and tables.
Meanwhile, Nene looks like she’s about to pass out on the floor.
Who is he kidding, she’s already on the floor, not passed out though. Thankfully Tsukasa already cleaned the spot she's laying on. It’d be bad if her outfit got stained.
Tsukasa turns to him while he’s mopping. “I’m sorry you got dragged into this whole ordeal, I didn’t think you’d be home so early tonight.”
“I don’t mind helping out every once in a while~ What was with the extra customers today?”
Tsukasa looks over to him.
Nene looks nervous.
“It’s a bit of a long story…”
“So, Nene, what’s this potion you’re offering me?”
“Me… and… me and Emu decided to make it together. A little thank you, for always letting us crash at your place during our travels.”
“Nonsense! You’re always welcome! Still, what does it do?”
“It’s nothing special. I’m not sure of the entire effects of it, but it’s mainly a potion used to attract people, y’know, like how bakeries use the scent of their bread to get more customers, stuff like that.”
“Yeah! We’ve heard you’ve been needing help with the tavern! It’s a super duper WONDERHOY potion we made! Look! It even goes all sparkly when you shake it!”
“Well I’ll gladly accept the gift then! Thank you!”
“The potion didn’t work exactly how I thought it would… i-it was my fault anyways, so I ended up helping out today.” Nene pants out, curled up a tiny bit into a ball.
Tsukasa flashes a smile at her. “Don’t fret over it Nene! Besides, I think it turned out splendidly! I haven't had many customers come for the last month so it helped out a lot!”
I’ll make the potion better next time… I should’ve checked it-”
“We still had to close your tavern early though…”
Just then, Emu scooped up Nene into her arms and started carrying her. “NENE-CHAN! NENE-CHAN! IT’S STILL BRIGHT OUT! WE’VE STILL GOT TIME TO SET UP CAMP! C’MON! I MADE US EXTRA FOOD FOR US TO EAT!”
Nene was clinging onto Emus' shirt for dear life at this point. “What!? Hey- wait-!”
“Bye Tsukasa-Kun! We’ll see you again soon!”
And just like that, they (or at least Emu) ran out the door.
Tsukasa and Rui look at each other, before looking at the door again and bursting out into laughter.
Their little laugh session ended after a little bit, and Rui just got to watch as Tsukasa finished up preparations to fully close for the night, but not before he saw Tsukasa start drizzling some oil into a pan.
“Oh? Starting a new cooking session? I thought you were closing?”
“Well, I haven’t eaten much today, and I know you haven’t either! I’m a star chef! And besides, I can’t let my last customer go home on an empty stomach, can I?”
Rui beams at him.
“Fufu~ Well, let’s see what the star’s special will be tonight then~”
Rui carefully watches Tsukasa start cooking.
There’s a certain charm about the way Tsukasa does everything that just makes Rui feel so happy.
The way he seems so elegant while cooking, how he does the classic move of somehow frying an egg without using any sort of spatula, how he spins whenever he moves onto the next step of a recipe, it all feels very show-like. Like he’s constantly on TV performing to the masses.
And Rui can’t help but want to watch every step of the process.
It’s too bad that earlier Tsukasa was on waiter duty and wasn’t cooking. (not like he had enough break time to be able to look at Tsukasa anyways)
The smell of soy sauce and other spices lingers in the air for a little bit, and not before long Rui’s sitting in front of a hot piping plate of ginger fried pork.
And process to take it apart and start inspecting it.
“RUI! C’mon! Don’t play with your food- and to think I actually decided to put in the effort of getting rid of the vegetables!”
Rui gasps, “you did that for me…?”
“Just this once, don’t expect it to happen again!”
“Tsukasa-kun truly is the best~! Thank you!”
They start digging in, it tastes heavenly. Not a surprise, Tsukasa’s cooking is always good. Star worthy, as he’d put it.
“My my~ Tsukasa-kun, this certainly tastes different than your usual. What’s with the sudden difference? The taste is amazing today!”
“A star’s secret recipe! I’m glad you enjoyed it!”
“Will this dear archaeologist be able to hear this secret recipe of yours?”
“Nope! Star’s secret!”
“Aww….”
Not long later, and they’ve both practically cleaned out the plates. They were starving after all.
Tsukasa takes a minute to quickly clean the plates and shut off the lights before they headed outside.
As the stars slowly start to peek out from the sky, Tsukasa takes Rui’s hand and gives him a small peck on the cheek.
“Well then, shall we go home?”
“We shall.”
‘...Thank god Rui didn’t notice the carrots I mixed into the batter.’