Chapter Text
Kojiro knew something was up when Miya, Reki, Langa, and Hiromi waltz through the doors of Sia la Luce on a Monday afternoon.
It wasn’t that they never came and visited where he worked. His restaurant wasn’t really catered for kids, but it wasn’t like Kojiro would ever kick them out. Plus the kids knew that if they played their cards right they could get a free or at least discounted meal out of him. Kojiro was a sucker for puppy eyes.
But when all four of them strolled in like that. Reki doing a poor job of holding back a laugh, Miya not hiding his smirk, and Hirmoi looking very proud of himself, Kojiro knew he was in for trouble.
They sat down at their regular table in the corner. Kojiro walked over to them to take their order himself. He didn’t need any of his staff dealing with whatever mischief these kids had cooked up. They weren’t very busy right now anyways. The lunch rush had mostly gone and the amount of paying customers wouldn’t pick up again until dinner.
“Alright menaces,” Kojiro said. “What do you want?”
“Can you talk to us like that in this fine establishment, Joe?” Miya asked. Sometimes he reminded Kojiro too much of Kaoru.
“It’s my restaurant. I can do whatever I want.”
“Does that include getting us food?” Langa asked. “I’m hungry.”
Hiromi rolled his eyes. “You’re always hungry. I swear you could eat a whale and not gain an ounce of weight.”
“You really shouldn’t eat so much,” Miya said. “A top athlete needs to watch what they put into their body. Food is fuel and nothing more.”
“Loosen up a little.” Kojiro messed up Miya’s hair. He couldn’t just let the kid insult his life’s work like that. “Food is an experience, an art form, the great equalizer-”
“Yeah yeah,” Hiromi cut him off. These people really had no respect for good food. Maybe Kojiro should kick them out. See what they thought about his food then. “Can we order now?”
“Sure.” Koijro pulled out a notebook to take their orders. “Hit me. What do you want?”
“Chicken strips,” Langa said, with a completely straight face.
“Popcorn chicken,” Hiromi said, chuckling at the end.
“McNuggests,” Miya said, daring Kojiro to challenge him.
“Dino nuggets,” Reki said through bursts of laughter.
“OUT,” Kojiro said, pointing at the door. “Get out of my Italian restaurant and don’t come back until you’re ready to order Italian food.”
The kids scrambled out of the booth and raced out of the restaurant, Reki screaming, “I got the video! I got the video!”
Kojiro waited until they were outside and around the corner before he broke down laughing. “Is something wrong boss?” His waiter, Hana, asked.
“No.” Kojiro returned to the kitchen shaking his head and still laughing. He was going to have to go to the store later. Those kids thought they were so clever. He would see how they felt when he only served them dino nuggets for a month.
If the staff thought it was weird he kept a bag of chicken nuggets in the freezer they didn’t say so. There were certainly advantages to owning his own restaurant.