Two Identities

Chapter 40: Moon Festival 2 (Pt.2)

(3rd Person's POV)

Day 4 of the 'Moon Festival'...

"Good morning, all! Our 'Chinese Cuisine RS' scored yet another victory in top sales in the 'Central Area'! I only have high praise for you all! Let's keep up the same pace today!" Kuga gave his speech.

"Yes, sir!!" everyone, including Tsukiyo, responded.

The customers filled all the areas as the booths yelled out what delectables they have at their booth to attract more customers, wanting to break the record of getting more customers than the yesterday, and the day before that as well.

Everyone had their own goals. However...

Some were still far behind to reach it...

While some were getting so close to reaching it...

Just like Kuga.

"Only two more days, Tsukassan".

-

A few minutes later...

Tsukiyo was about to start performing for the customers when her eyes landed on Soma's booth, and they widened. She was about to turn and inform Kuga, but one of the staff had already beat her to it.

"Um, captain Kuga! You need to see this..." he urged, and Kuga blinked before following him outside to see Soma had added chairs and tables. He then noticed Tsukiyo standing and watching the red head, and smirked, sneaking up behind her.

"It's not good to keep the customers waiting, Tsuki-Chin" he playfully said from behind her, making the platinum-blonde haired girl yelp. "S-Sorry, chief!" she stammered. After steadying her breath, she played the music and began dancing gracefully. Kuga watched her with sparkling eyes as her body was moving as light as a feather. The boy felt like they were the only two who existed, he felt relaxed as if all the weight on his shoulders had been lifted. He could just walk right up to her, grab her hand and dance with her.

But just like any other dream, it has to end...

"Captain?" one of his bald men called, worriedly. Snapping Kuga out of his daydream and cleared his throat before walking to Soma's booth with a sinister smirk.

"You're not very smart, are you, Yukihira-Chin? This is what you finally came up with after wracking your brain?" Kuga degraded, his index finger and thumb on his chin. "You think you can just up your customer numbers by increasing seat numbers? That's pretty simplistic, isn't it, even if you know you can never beat my flavours?".

"It's true that this is my first 'Moon Festival', and I'm a newcomer to the scene who only transferred here 6 months ago. But as far as my experience in the service industry with actual restaurants goes...I've got about 10 years on you, Senpai" Soma retorted, grinning. As Kuga glared daggers at him.

"Besides..." the red head cooked up a dish with speed, and the bald staff looked irritated. "W-What's he making??", "It's 'Mapo Tofu'!", "He's going to face Kuga Terunori head-on with 'Mapo Tofu'?!" this commotion caused Tsukiyo to lose focus on her performance as she almost tripped, causing the audience to look at her weirdly. She mentally panicked as she continued as if nothing happened.

"He's adding noodles to the 'Mapo Tofu'!", "I see. It's 'Mapo Noodles'. He's put a bit of a twist on it, but that doesn't mean it's anything novel!", "It's laughable that he's trying to go up against 'Chinese Cuisine RS' with so little impact!" the two bald guys mocked. But their eyes widened as soon as they saw a giant meatball on the center of the dish, while Kuga looked completely unfazed.