Ramen Shoppe

R4

I swung the door open and I knew that there was no turning back. Summer would be over soon and there was a possibility I would not be remembered after my short stay. I lingered in the entryway before I stepped inside, took a deep breath, and approached them.

"Good morning," I said, walking towards them. "I'm Rie. I start today as part of the floor staff."

My heart was racing as they introduced themselves. All I heard was Anita...Tony and did he say, Haruto Lee? What, I will be working with the manager's son? As he talked, I kept nodding my head. Punctuality? That would never be a problem.

"If you'll excuse us," he said, motioning for Tony to follow him and they disappeared down the long corridor.

"Don't let him scare you," Anita said.

"Huh?"

"Haruto, he's like a bear. He may seem scary, but he loves hugs and is very sweet to everyone," she replied.

"Ah, I blanked out for a while, so I did not get that vibe from him though, he's the manager's son?" I asked.

"Yup. Well, he technically is the manager because his parents are rarely here," Anita said. "You can have locker fourteen. No one uses it."

"I guess luck is on my side then. It's my lucky number," I replied, hanging my stuff inside.

"The default code is four zeros so you can put your code after the shift," she said. "Haruto would need to help you with that."

"Do you know when I end today?" I asked. "Since I am just training."

"I guess when I end my shift, at five," she said. "I suggest you have your break around the same time as Haruto so that he could help you out with admin stuff." She had this weird smile on her face whenever she said Haruto's name. Were they a couple?

"Sure, just tell me when."

We ran through a couple of floor instructions and I crammed a few Japanese phrases that rolled off my tongue like butter.

"You're fast at learning!"

"Years of Anime does that to you," I replied softly.

"Okay, this is it. Are you ready?" Anita asked. Without waiting for my reply, she edged me towards the door and whispered, "You got this!"

A group of customers walked in within a minute and I jumped into it.

"Irasshaimase!" I said and gave a bow. Anita giggled quietly behind me. Maybe that was too much? I led them to a table and handed them the menu as Anita brought them glasses of water.

When I turned around, Haruto was staring at me. I did not know what to do so I smiled and gave him a big thumbs up. The second I did that, I realized how uncool that was. As he looked away, a smile spread across his face and I could swear his cheeks turned pink.