Heaven's Senses

XVIII

~~~~~Mayumi~~~~~

The day was nice and the air was warm, a perfect day to walk home from school with my friends. But it wasn't the same walking through the Sumire-Dori shopping district without the Yukihira twins walking with us.

"Man, I'm getting hungry. Wanna get some ice cream, guys?" One of my friends asked us.

"Nah. I need something more filling."

We walked past the Yukihira diner, and I stopped for a minute just to take a good look at it. It had been closed since the beginning of our high school year, and everyone in the district missed its cooking.

"Every single day." Aki Koganei, sighed, tearing my attention away from the diner, "You look at that place whenever we pass by."

"Huh?! Not really." I stuttered.

"Don't you 'not really' me. You're really thinking about Soma again, aren't you?"

I blushed, knowing that it was true, but how could I talk about my love life so casually? I couldn't even speak properly with Soma unless his sister was around.

"You should've told him how you felt about him while you were still gushing over him in middle school." Aki said smirking at me, "Or at least when you found out he was going off to his fancy cooking school with his sister."

I teared up and Aki panicked seeing me begin to cry.

"Oh, no! I'm sorry, please don't cry, I didn't mean it like that, Mayu." Aki apologized, "Anyway, I don't think it's too late to go after him. Maybe you should try calling him or sending him a text or something. Or maybe you could even confide in Hikari. Weren't you two good friends in middle school before she left?"

I shook my head, "I'm nothing special. Soma would never notice me!"

All of a sudden, right next to me , the shutters that closed down the Yukihira diner opened up, revealing the long lost Yukihira twins.

"Oh, hey there, Mayumi, how's it hanging?" Soma asked smiling with Hikari by his side.

"Oh my god! When did you two get here?" Aki shouted as the others panicked from their sudden appearance.

"Hey, guys!" Hikari greeted, "What's up? It's been a while."

"You guys should've told us that you were coming back. Gonna reopen the shop?" One of the students asked, wrapping his arm around Soma's shoulders.

"Nah. I just came here to air out the place for my dad." Soma answered.

Just then, the surprised shouts of the people passing by caught their attention. We turned towards the shouts and saw an old man pointing towards their shop.

"Yukihira's open again?!" He shouted.

"A dream come true!" Soon, several people came up to the twins, begging for them twins to cook for them.

"Well, then big brother? We must never turn away a hungry customer, right?" Hikari smirked, grabbing her headband from her wrist.

Soma nodded, "You're absolutely right, sis. Don't worry, folks, we'll get to prepping right away."

The twins tore off their white shirts, revealing the Yukihira logo on the back of their work shirts, tied on their aprons and secured their headbands.

"Eatery Yukihira! Reopened for a limited time only!" The twins shouted, followed the happy and excited shouts of their customers.

~~~~Soma~~~~

Hikari and I quickly got settled into our previous normal work schedule, cooking for all the hungry people in the restaurant. While I was out on the floor serving the customers, Hikari got to cooking the orders in the kitchen.