Me and Ai

Chapter 66: The Younger Bear Smiles

Chapter 66: The Younger Bear Smiles

The night is young and the moon is smiling brightly in the night sky. The air is filled with the smell of delicious food in this restaurant that Naoto-san has reserved. The restaurant is filled with the staff, composers, and singers that collaborated with Naoto-san for the album that he had recently released. Since Ai and I were part of the collaboration album, Naoto-san invited me and Ai so we came; he also mentioned that he was going to announce something important.

We were all excited to start eating the delicious food right in front of us but...we're all stuck waiting for Naoto-san who was supposed to start the toast minutes ago. Naoto-san is trying his best to open the bottle of alcohol that he had with him. We were all waiting for him to open the bottle but it seems that he really can't open it at all. Haha...we're all hungry already...I came here right after a job so Manager-san and I haven't eaten yet at all.

Ai looks at the food and then to Naoto-san. "At this rate, the food will get cold."

"Yeah, I think so too. Naoto-san should just give up and ask for help already...I'm really hungry..." I sighed.

Manager-san got impatient and stands up from his seat; he goes over to Naoto-san. "Naoto, you're taking too much time just to get that open. Let me help you with that or else we won't be able to start eating dinner; everyone is eagerly waiting and probably starving."

"Haha. You're right about that, big bro."

I guess Manager-san is really hungry too.

Naoto-san hands over the bottle to Manager-san who opened it right away. Naoto-san then poured some of the alcohol into the cups of those near him and then poured some into his own glass. Since there were quite a lot of guests, some waiters helped in filling up everyone's cups.

"Everyone's cups are filled? Good! Sorry for making you all wait for a while! With this, I'd like to have a toast for everyone's hard work! I'm truly grateful towards everyone who worked with me for the Kumalbum album! Thank you to those who composed some of the songs with me, to those who wrote lyrics for some of the songs, to those who sang the songs, and to those who gave support in producing this album that has become number one in sales and ratings! I really am thankful to everyone! Kanpai!"

Everyone yelled out kanpai and started drinking. I didn't want to drink any alcohol so I was given some iced tea instead; Ai on the other hand had some juice. After the toast and everyone finished their first glass, we started eating the feast that was on the table on front of us all. Dinner was buffet style so we were free to choose what we wanted from the variety of foods available; everything looks so delicious. I'll take of this and that, this looks delicious...

Ai and I were sitting in the same table as Manager-san and Naoto-san together with some singers; they're quite famous too!

"Wow, the food tastes really good! It's a good thing that the food didn't get cold yet."

"True. If Manager-san didn't assist Naoto, the food would have indeed become cold."

"Sigh, Naoto hasn't changed much over the years. He still makes people wait as usual. What am I going to do with a brother like him?"

"Hey! It wasn't my fault that the bottle was so hard to open!" Naoto-san pouts.

"Then why was I able to open it immediately?"

Naoto-san ignores Manager-san and turns to me and Ai. Manager-san must be thinking something like, "How dare that little brat ignore me!"

"Thank you for coming, Kaori-chan and Mikaze-san. I'm happy that you guys are here!"