Shining Stars

Chapter Thirteen: Reality Check

Ai was on the couch as she sat down on a couch in their studio, wiping the sweat off her head with a towel. Nino and Takamine walked over to her.

"Hey, Ai, are you feeling alright? You've only just recovered, so don't push yourself, alright?"

Takamine asked as Ai, who nodded and smiled at the two.

"Oh, it's nothing like that, I just missed lunch and now I'm starving!"

Nino put a hand to her mouth in a cute way and smiled down at Ai.

"What, are you some kind of big eater all of a sudden?"

Nino giggled, while Takamine nudged her on the side as she cut her giggling.

"Sorry, didn't mean to intrude! Just didn't think you'd be worried about missing a meal. Well, at any rate, we should go over that last part again, let's go Takamine!"

"Okay, gotcha!"

As the two walked away from Ai, she frowned.

"I'm not feeling up to this today… Maybe some egosurfing will clear my head…"

She muttered as she pulled out her phone and began to scroll through Twitter, until she came across a comment from a user named Tanujirou.

"For better or worse, Ai's smile is that of a pro. It lacks human feeling… I can't fully support her…"

That hit her where it hurt. Sighing as she stood up and decided to leave a bit early and head to go get something to eat, slipping her food into her pocket and picking up her bag, she left the studio, heading out. Though as she was deciding where to eat, she had a bright idea in her head. Walking towards a specific restaurant, she entered and was greeted by a hostess.

"Good afternoon, ma'am. Are you wanting a table for one?"

Ai nodded as she was brought to her table, given a menu. Looking over the menu, she waited a few minutes before her waiter finally arrived.

"Hello, I'm sorry for the wait. My name is (Y/n) and I'll be your server for today, now, could I get you started with something to drink?"

Her boyfriend was looking down at his notepad, ready to write down what she needed.

"Oh… could I just get some water please~"

He froze as he looked at Ai, who was smiling at her boyfriend.

"Ai, what are you doing here?"

"To eat dummy…"

Ai said as (Y/n) slowly nodded as he left and quickly returned with her water. And just as she was about to talk to him, he ran off to go work on his job. She saw him figuratively running across the restaurant, taking orders, delivering drinks and food, cleaning tables. He really was slammed but he soon returned to her with a smile.

"Sorry for the wait again, have you decided what you wanted?"

Ai nodded and smiled before she looked at her boyfriend.

"Oh, it's no trouble! Can I get the grilled Salmon please?"

"Of course, anything else?"

Ai shook her head as (Y/n) went back to give her order to the kitchen. Though Ai noticed something. He was doing so much, out of all of the servers, he had the largest area by far. When Ai got her food, she noticed that he didn't have much time to get a breath as there were so many people. Despite that, he was still getting to people in a timely manner.

Ai felt bad, even at work, she was doing so much. No wonder he was so tired. When (Y/n) came back to refill her water, she grinned.

"Hey (Y/n) you wanna do something fun with the kids Friday night?"