Specialized Countermeasures Committee Squad

What She Found...

Shiba Seki Ramen, Daytime

Abydos was one of the big districts in the Academy City known as Kivotos. It used to be a thriving, flourishing place that could rival other famous big ones. However, because of particular phenomena that kept undermining it till today, many areas were piled up in the sand and most of its buildings became nothing more than ruins, leaving their pristine forms.

One of the few buildings that still remained standing was the local ramen restaurant that's famous within the sandy district.

Shiba Seki Ramen. Owned by an adult anthropomorphic canine named Shiba, it's one of the few restaurants still running in the Abydos district, as few people currently live there, making it difficult for any business to run, let alone find success. Although the owner seemed content with the way he runs his business so far, serving a handful of regulars.

Though strangely, today was quite special as the place was packed with a lot of customers, more than its usual numbers.

"Welcome to Shiba Seki Ramen! How many in your party?"

"Two tonkotsu ramen with one spicy and another extra egg, got it!"

"Here are your orders! Enjoy!"

"Thank you for coming! Please come back again!"

"Serika-chan, take this order to Table 4!"

"Yes, Master!"

And for one Kuromi Serika, this meant she wasn't given a chance to relax even for a second.

A black-haired nekomimi with white, fluffy ear fur wearing a thick black shirt with a dark blue skirt that had its front labeled 'Shibaseki'. Strapped around her waist was a holster pocket containing a handgun, something that looked out of the picture for a waitress, but in Kivotos, it was seen as not unusual since the majority of the population—especially the students of Kivotos such as herself—carried weapons everywhere and daily. And now she was holding a menu and a small notebook meant to list down orders of customers.

"What would you like to have?" Serika asked a family of three—a father, a mother, and a child—all were avian.

She patiently waited for them to browse their menu before the mother spoke up, "We'd like to have two miso ramen and two green teas for me and my husband." She looked at her son. "How about you, dear?"

"Ummm... Ah! This!" The child pointed his wing to a particular food; a Shibaseki speciality ramen. "I want this!"

"Also one regular of your Shibaseki ramen and a glass of water, please." She finished as the waitress was jolting down the order.

"Two miso ramen, one Shibaseki ramen, two green teas and one water. Is there anything else?" They shook their heads. "Then please wait for your order!" Serika immediately went to the counter where she could see her master was cooking the noodles.

As she ripped the order paper and put it among the rest of the orders, Master Shiba lightly commented, "Didn't expect to have so many customers coming here. Wonder if I'm missing something special."

"There's nothing special going on as far as I'm aware," Serika said. "Maybe people like your food so much they tell everyone and we gain more customers to serve."

The chef laughed. "Yeah, that's probably it. Now stop standing and get them what they want."

"Yes!"

With that command, she went back to attending. Despite how busy the place had become, it changed nothing to her performance, for she always gave it her all to the maximum.