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Christmas was all about Western-style food. Maybe it was more accurate to say that the holiday season was a busy time for the restaurant industry in general, with this day in particular seeing a lot of customers—though that also depended on the location of the restaurants, of course.
The Western-style restaurant where I worked had more customers than usual, but it wasn’t crazy busy. For the time being, at least, things seemed to have settled into a steady groove.
“I’m sorry to make you come in today, Misumai-kun. I’m sure you wanted to be on a date with your girlfriend right about now,” the owner said.
“Oh, no. She and I went to a party with our classmates just yesterday, and we’re also going on a date later tonight,” I explained.
“Is that right? Then are you two having dinner somewhere as well?” he asked.
“Well, we have some gift certificates, so we were originally thinking of eating somewhere where we could use those, but...”
After we got permission to spend the night together in a house by ourselves—albeit with certain conditions—Nanami and I were reconsidering what we wanted to do. Nanami must have heard it from Tomoko-san around the same time, because she had contacted me before I went to work.
We weren’t necessarily trying to copy the Christmas party from the previous night, but we wondered if it might be better to do takeout and just relax at home over dinner instead.
To be honest, I kind of preferred that idea, and since she’d been pretty out and about lately, Nanami also seemed to appreciate the thought of doing something simpler.
Though if we hadn’t had the recent class trip, the two of us probably would have had a normal Christmas outing.
I shared all this with the owner, after which he asked me what kind of gift certificates we had. On seeing them he let out an appreciative whistle, saying, “So this is the grand prize for a couple contest, huh? School events these days sure are fancy.”
“How did you know they were the prize?” I asked.
“Huh? Oh, because Shoichi told me about it.”
Oh, right. I forget that these four have been friends since they were kids. I guess he would know, then. While I was thinking that, the owner seemed to be studying the gift certificates closely, until he finally said, “You can actually use these here. If you’re just gonna stay home, do you want to take some of our dishes back with you? Cooking would be kind of a bother so late, wouldn’t it?”
“Really? Is that okay?” I asked. Wouldn’t something like this need more advance notice?
“Sure, as long as your girlfriend is okay with the idea. With an employee discount and these gift certificates, I feel like I can give you a pretty good deal.”
The owner said that I wouldn’t really get to choose what I’d get, but the price he quoted was so inexpensive that I, as a high school student who didn’t have much in his coffers, couldn’t be more grateful. Actually, it was so cheap that I half-feared I was getting away with something, though I couldn’t say what, exactly. But when he told me that it would be the restaurant’s birthday and Christmas presents to me, I couldn’t refuse the offer.
“Hee hee, Mai-chan, just accept the owner’s offer and stop fretting over it so much. The truth is, onii just likes feeding good food to young, growing kids,” Yu-senpai said.
“You’re not wrong, but when someone who’s not even much younger than me says it like that, it’s kind of annoying,” the owner grumbled.
“Excuse me? You have such an adorable gyaru childhood friend working for you, and yet you’re annoyed? I’m quite well-known for never annoying anyone, you know,” Yu-senpai joked.
“No need for all that,” he said. “Come on, go get ready.”
“Yessir!”
Yu-senpai teased the owner, while the owner’s wife watched the two of them with a warm smile on her face. It may have been Christmas, but this was a common scene at my workplace.
The only thing that was different today...was Yu-senpai’s outfit.
“You like cosplaying, don’t you, Yu-senpai?” I asked.
“Hm? Sure do, but why do you say that all of a sudden?”
“No, just... I guess I can’t not think that when I see what you’re wearing today.”
Yu-senpai was wearing a Santa outfit. It wasn’t completely a Santa outfit, though, since she was simply wearing a long skirt and an apron that looked Santa-ish, along with a Santa hat.
Since this was a restaurant, of course she wasn’t wearing anything too revealing; still, I felt like she was sort of pushing the limits even still.
“I actually wanted to wear a bikini today, but onii said no,” she shared.
“Of course not. We’re not that kind of restaurant. Save it for when we do the cabana,” he muttered.
I didn’t know they did business at a cabana. I’ve only seen that in manga and stuff, but is she really allowed to wear something like that there? Though I guess wearing a bunch of layers in the summer would be pretty tough.
“I’ll put one on you too,” I heard Yu-senpai say.
By the time I realized it, I was wearing a Santa hat as well. “When did that happen?!” I exclaimed. Seriously, it all seemed to have happened while I was momentarily lost in thought.
“If Shibe-chan were here too, the three of us could’ve dressed up like Santa Claus and done little skits and stuff. But no, he had to go to his meet and all,” Yu-senpai let out.
What kind of a skit would three Santas do? Is it some viral thing? I don’t watch TV, so I have no idea. Or maybe it’s a social media thing. Best not ask, I think.
“He went to nationals, right? Our basketball team is really amazing,” I commented.
“Right, right! Shibe-chan’s probably gonna go to college on a basketball scholarship. He wants to go pro and do sports-related stuff even after he retires, so he said college will be useful for studying all kinds of things,” Yu-senpai explained.
Even though she had sort of poked at him for being so committed to basketball, Yu-senpai somehow seemed happy about the whole idea. I, on the other hand, was surprised about something entirely different.
He’s already got his sights on what he’ll be doing after he retires? He hasn’t even gone pro yet. Is he just that determined to make it, or just that confident that he will? I feel like with Shoichi-senpai, it’s both. And if it’s senpai, he’ll definitely make it.
“But everyone ended up booing me just because Shibe-chan didn’t make it to our Christmas party,” Yu-senpai confessed. “What was I supposed to do, though? He’s working so hard.”
“That’s right, you had your Christmas party yesterday too, didn’t you? What do university students do at a party like that?” I asked.