Our Teacher is a Yakuza Princess

Chapter 34

Love was rediscovered…
...
...
...
...
...
...

Ami was hungry. She had been studying for her midterms most of the day, and needed to get out of her small apartment. Wandering aimlessly, she tried to think of what she was in the mood for.

There was a crepe place, but she had crepes just a few days ago. She didn't feel like sushi or tempura.

"Hmm… oh! Ramen!" She hadn't had ramen in ages. Glancing up at the sign, she saw a bear wearing a cooking shirt next to the name. "Kumai Ramen." Ami thought a moment. That name sounded familiar somehow. Ah well. It'll come to her later.

She walked in and studied the posted menu, then walked up to the counter.

A large, blonde boy was manning the register. "Hello, how can I-"

"Kuma-kun!" Ami shouted in surprise. The boy stopped, then stared.

"Ami-chan!" He realized loudly. His mouth fluttered open and closed as if he was trying to think of what else to say.

"I didn't know you worked at a ramen place." She looked around, then thought of the sign outside. "Wait, Kumai Ramen… do you ownthis place?"

Kuma finally swallowed and nodded. "Well, it was actually my dad's, and now it's mine, I mean, it's my family's, but I work here, and it'll be mine later. I think." He looked up and tried to go back through his sentence to see if it made sense.

Ami was very impressed. "That's amazing." She told him with a smile.

He nervously half-smiled back.

"I'm taking a business class at university, but I imagine that actually running your own restaurant is much harder."

"Oh, well it is hard, but, I'm sure that classes are a lot of work too, and um, I don't run everything, but I, uh, I help with stuff, and I bet that a class is probably helpful and, um… um…"

She looked up to see why he had stopped and found him gazing at her with an almost wondrous stare. She unconsciously blushed and bit back a smile.

"Terou! Why are you spacing out?" A voice called, and an older woman came around the corner to see what was going on. Ami quickly smiled at her and the woman took in Kuma's daze and who he was staring at.

A wide grin appeared on her face. "Hello, I'm Terou's mother. Can I help you?"

Ami bowed. "I'm Morisaki Ami. I'm a friend of Kuma-kun's from high school."

"Ah," Mrs. Kumai-san nodded. "Well, what would you like? It's on the house, of course."

"Really? Thank you! I was actually thinking of getting the special."

Mrs. Kumai-san smiled. "One special, on the house, coming right up. Terou!" She shouted, smacking him upside the head. "One special for the pretty girl!"

Ami went to find a seat as she watched Kuma bustle around behind the counter. For all of his shyness, he moved confidently in the restaurant kitchen, adding spices, stirring pots, flipping potstickers, and somehow keeping an eye on everything.

Seeing him again was certainly a surprise, albeit a welcome one. He had always kept a special spot in her memory after the entire incident with that gang. Mostly because it convinced her to dump Mukai's sorry butt the next time she saw him. She had always been content with Mukai, who was really the first boy to show any interest in her, and looking back, Ami realized that he had been controlling and cowardly the entire relationship. Naturally a peacemaker, she might have stayed with him forever, forgiving his faults and trying to ignore her own misery in order to keep everyone happy.

But, when your boyfriend gets you captured by a pipe-wielding gang, even by accident, and then leaves you there without so much as a backwards glance, something has to be done. Beating her with pipes and leaving her for dead would have been the kindest thing those thugs would have done. She shuddered even at the memory of it.

Of course, that memory led to the next one, where Kuma appeared suddenly, shouted, "Keep your hands off her!", then ran at them. And it wasn't because he was fearless, or stupidly brave, but because this boy, whom she had dumped her parfait on once, and had spoken with twice, cared more about her than her gutless chicken of a boyfriend did.

She looked up at him again, and when he caught her stare, he blinked and gave her a small, nervous grin. He suddenly looked down with a muffled curse and quickly grabbed a spatula. Ami smiled, then decided to keep her eyes on her own table and not distract him anymore.

"Um, here you go."

Kuma had brought over her ramen personally! She thanked him, which he returned with a bow, then hurried back to the kitchen. She was not surprised to discover it was the best tasting ramen she had ever had.

When she was done, she took her bowl back up to the counter.

"Thank you, it was truly delicious. And it was great seeing you again!"

Kuma nodded emphatically. "It was! I mean, it was great to see you too. Feel free to come back…"

"Terou! It's time for your break!" A loud voice came from the other side of the kitchen.

He looked back, confused. "I have breaks?"

The loud voice changed to a loud whisper. "Take her out for dessert!"

Horrified, Kuma turned to see if Ami had heard. She had covered her mouth with her hand and was doing her best not to laugh.

"Go on! Ask her!" The stage whisper encouraged him.

Keeping his head down, Kuma mumbled, "Would you like to have dessert… um… with… me?"

The only thing that kept back her laughter was how hopeful and unsure the small glance Kuma gave her was.

Grinning gently, she nodded. "I'd love to. What's the best place?"

Now that he was asked about one of his areas of expertise, his shyness started to disappear.

"Well," he started, hanging up his apron after being reminded by another loud whisper, "it depends on what you want. If you like ice cream, there's this place down the road that had this monster sundae, but if you want crepes, there's a cart near the high school that sells this chocolate tornado crepe, but if you just want sweets…"

And as they left the ramen place, Ami realized that she had not smiled and laughed this genuinely and this often in a very long time. She smiled again, and walked a little closer to Kuma. It was something she could get used to.