Youthful Days (Book 1)

34. Busted

The boys finally returned after an hour, red-faced and panting. While Ayuna and Sakuno busied themselves with handing out water bottles and spare towels, Momoko took charge of distributing snack packets. The rest of their break was spent with Eiji and Momoshiro deluging poor Inui with complaints while Fuji smiled innocently at his side.

After the boys were rested and fed, they decided to play a few rounds of Frisbee. They forged two teams of four against four: Eiji, Ayuna, Sakuno and Inui against Fuji, Ryoma, Momoshiro and Momoko. Shockingly, the former group prevailed against the latter, who turned out to be a chaotic team despite having stronger players.

By this time, the midday sun had risen to its apex. The beach area grew increasingly congested as more and more visitors packed into the narrow sandy stretch. Growing sick of the heat and the crowds, Momoko was the first to call it quits: it was time to put Inui's restaurant vouchers to use, and the others were more than ecstatic to be treated rather than tortured by the senior.

With packed bags slung over their shoulders, they ambled out of the seaside park and headed towards the shopping strip known as Tokyo Beach DECK. Lining the northern perimeter was a glossy boardwalk adjoined with an array of cafes and exotic restaurants, ranging from American to European to modern Japanese. Except, one glance at the menu made it clear that Odaiba catered to upscale diners instead of students.

"Thank goodness for Inui-senpai's vouchers." Momoshiro breathed a sigh of relief. "We would've needed to slog back to Tokyo otherwise!"

"That'd be horrible—I'm starving!" whined Momoko, her stomach releasing a timely growl. To Inui, she hollered, "How much further, senpai?"

"We're looking for a place called Kua'aina," answered Inui.

"Kua, what?"

"It's a Hawaiian burger and sandwich shop."

Eiji piped up. "Hawaiian? Wow, sounds fancy! I'm glad I stuck out the beach run for this!" Squinting at English words on various store signs, he muttered, "Now if only we can find it..."

"Isn't that it over there?" Fuji motioned towards a flamboyant sign to their left. A series of stairs led up to the colorful storefront decorated with an enormous cheeseburger mock-up.

Drooling with anticipation, Momoshiro bellowed at the lifelike model. "Now this is my kind of place! Let's hope they actually serve burgers this size!"

While Momoshiro, Eiji and Momoko charged at the shop, Inui appeared suspicious. "Hold on. Something doesn't look right..." He took the lead and examined the lackluster store sign and the darkened restaurant interior. Up close, he spotted a piece of paper stuck onto the glass doors:

Closed for the week. Aplogies for the inconvienience.

"Hmm... There seems to be a few spelling mistakes..." muttered Inui pensively.

"Stupid Inui!" Eiji complained, "I think that's the least of our concerns! The real problem is that the place isn't open!"

"You've got to be joking," groaned Momoko, throwing her hands up. "You mean we have to go around searching for another restaurant?"

"So it seems," said Inui, unfazed.

"Hey Inui," narrowing his eyes, Eiji interrogated, "you aren't trying to trick us, are you? Did you even have vouchers at all?"

"I have nothing to do with this!" protested Inui, fishing out the vouchers to show the group as proof. "See? I've got them right here."

Eiji remained unconvinced. "Yeah, but you could've still brought us to a restaurant that was already out of business."