The Devil Takes the Night Shift

Chapter 8: The Devil's Lunch Gets Rudely (And Dangerously) Interrupted

It appeared that this little 'date' wasn't going to be coming to an end any time soon. After all, what is a date, without a meal? Of course, if you asked Juuto about this. He'd still tell you that this wasn't a romantic outing. And he'd be right, considering the tone of how they acted with one another. Though that still wouldn't stop some from assuming that's what the pair was up to.

"Hey, guess who's here." Juuto announced himself as they entered the noodle store he was referencing. He was quite friendly with the owner of this establishment. Aside from being a regular and a friend, he had also helped the man through some tough financial and housing troubles. As a result, he earned himself the lifetime discount of 15% off every bowl.

"Looks like my best customer finally decided to show up again." The man, named Mikuto Kitaguchi, responded to him. "And I guess you finally decided to bring a-"

"Date. Yeah, yeah you're not the first person I've heard say that." He was cut off. Juuto was getting really annoyed with how often that was getting pushed on him. "And no, we're not on a date. She's the new co-worker and I was just showing her around."

"Uhuh..." Mikuto was not at all convinced about that. "Anyway, I'm guessing the usual for you, and the fine young lady would like..."

"Go ahead and get my order started." Juuto commanded, then directed his attention to his partner. "And you can take your time on building what you want. Don't overthink it too much, I'm sure it might be a bit overwhelming for someone not used to the menu.

"Whoa." She was in awe at what he meant with a complex menu. She had never thought that any of these things could be eaten with noodles before. The times when Mifuru would cook them, it was usually just the ramen by itself. If they were fortunate, then maybe there might've been a little bit of cheap chicken on the side.

However, there was so many thing for her to pick now. Not only that, but ramen noodles weren't even the only type of noodle she could work with. There was udon, soba, somen, and plenty more. She wasn't entirely sure what she wanted the base of her meal to be, but her stomach was growling loudly to the idea of all of them.

"Aww... I don't know what to pick." She gave up, plopping her head down onto the table. A small whimper could be heard from her as she laid down. What was she going to do? Things were looking hopeless for her, until Juuto decided to step in.

"Just get her some ramen, egg and beef combo." He said. "You said you ate a lot of ramen, so that's fine, right?"

"Well, what are you getting?" She asked, only turning her head up to look at him.

"I always get the udon bowl, would you want to try that instead?"

"Udon?" She pondered about it. She was a little impressed that those noodles were very large. "Sure." So he changed her order to that of udon noodles, but with the same combo.

"Oh boy, this is going to be nice." This was one of the few times he had a smile on, as he rubbed his hands together. It wasn't as if he was always mad, sad, or anything, but people were always turned off by the way his face looked. It was like he was about to snap at them, but the people of the neighborhood had learned the type of person he really was. Rame never thought he looked like a mean guy, but most of the 'people' she was used to seeing were actually of the bad variety.

However, as they were getting their food, an uninvited guest made his arrival.

"Break time." It was Asaga, who had headed to his favorite restaurant whenever he got work and a break during this time. "Chef, could ya get me the usu-" He stopped when he witness who else had already made their presence here. His jolly face turned to a scowl when he laid eyes on Rame. "Thought your schedule meant you'd be at home right now."