Story of a Rhythm Game Couple

Chapter 2: A cozy evening

There was a little restaurant in the area called Dining Palace. Since Asahi strolled around the neighborhood quite often during his free week, the name wasn't foreign to him. But as Asahi himself was well capable of home-cooked foods, he never really felt like going in for once, except for now that he was invited by Sana.

Since they got into the restaurant at 8, there weren't a lot of customers, so they could easily find themselves a table in the far corner. The restaurant wasn't very large; in fact, it was barely larger than the typical residences in the area. The walls, decorations, and lights were all following a warming theme with a simple light-yellow color pattern. The yellow chairs and the white tablecloth matched really well with the cozy ambiance that made customers feel at home. Even someone who barely ate out like Asahi could understand that Dining Palace was highly rated for its relaxing atmosphere. From what he could tell, it seemed to be popular with young adults and established families alike, given its widespread presence nationwide and reasonably priced food.

"Do you usually eat out like this? If you live alone, cooking feels like a chore sometimes..."

It was common for university students who lived alone to eat out regularly, as cooking wasn't their strong suit. Besides, it was also possible that they avoided the trouble of preparing the meals because cooking was typically more difficult if it was for only one person. However, it wasn't the case with Asahi.

"No actually, I enjoy cooking at home, so I never had the opportunity to eat out like this... Thanks again, Katou."

Even though eating out wasn't his ideal dinner choice, Asahi still expressed his gratitude to Sana for the invitation.

"Why am I thanked again... Well, it doesn't matter anyway... Hmm, what should I choose?"

There were already two copies of the menus set up on their table. After looking through the whole menu, Sana decided to go for curry, and Asahi quickly followed suit.

After placing their order, they started to exchange their student cards.

As Sana gave him her card, he was able to tell most of her basic personal information. Her name was Sana Katou as introduced, and she was a freshman majoring in Linguistics. The information was all written to the right of her small photo with a blue background. Under her photo, her school-issued email address and her birthday were shown.

The student card exchange idea was Sana's proposal for the sake of "skipping the hassle of asking for basic personal information." Due to the fear of stalkers, student ID exchange became so rare that it could hardly be seen anymore nowadays. Asahi was slightly uneasy about it, but since Sana was so natural about it, he decided to keep his mouth shut.

Their majors were different, as Asahi was majoring in Economics. Their faculties were in separate buildings, so it was unlikely he would run across her during a typical school day.

"You look nice on your student card... Unlike mine..."

Suddenly, Sana spoke up and made comments about their photos on their cards.

Asahi promptly looked back at her card, and he thought it was a completely normal photo. In fact, it looked rather nice, at least compared to his opinion about the photo on his own card.

It was before long that their foods were ready, and they quickly returned the student cards to their respective owners.

"Thanks for the food!"

"Thanks for the food!"

When eating meals outside of their homes, Asahi never forgot to give thanks to the people who made the food ready, and it also seemed to be the case with Sana.