Really sorry for such a long wait, guys! It's been so long, I don't even remember, haha. But I just got around to re-reading this fic, and I decided, what the hey, I should continue it. It wasn't such a bad start, after all. So, here's the extremely long-awaited chapter two of Restaurantia!
"Wh—where the bloody hell am I?" Arthur looked at his surroundings as he began to rub his head, as if it had just been hit by a hammer. He was in a rather familiar looking building, almost too familiar. It took him just a split second afterwards to realize that he was standing within his own home. He basked in the familiarity of it all, missing the feel of home sweet home. It felt so real, so pleasing. He looked down all of the halls and at the paintings on the walls; walked through the ever-pleasant kitchen in which he cooked his meals; and gazed at a picture upon his desk of a friend he missed dearly.
Depicted within the frame was Arthur himself, albeit several years younger with a smile on his face so wide and so genuine, it was almost a miracle if a smile even half that size would be found on the current Arthur's face. Next to him stood a rather shy looking boy, around the same age as the picture-Arthur, with hair contrasting with Arthur's and dark pools for eyes. They had their arms wrapped around the other's shoulders in a fashion the current Arthur would allow of no one.
Arthur sighed as he picked up the picture, delicately undoing the frame in order to hold the photograph in his hands. A small, sad smile crept upon his face as a tear seemed to fall from his cheek. Arthur, ever the proud man, would never let anybody find himself cry like this, but at this moment, he just let the tears fall. Daring to open his eyes through his tears, he gazed upon the photo once more. A horrid sight caught his eyes as the boy standing next to him in the picture disappeared.
"What the—" Arthur began, but was cut off as his house began to fall in ruins above him, crumbling to the floor for seemingly no reason at all. As Arthur began to panic, he grabbed the photo and the frame as he made a desperate dash towards the doorway, where an even more terribly sight caught his eyes. There, in the doorway, stood his long-lost friend from the photo, staring at him with glazed eyes and a bullet wound in his chest. The blood dripped freely, running down the length of his school uniform as he looked at Arthur, a creepy smile upon his face.
"Arthur…why didn't you save me, Arthur?" Arthur shivered at the menacing tone of voice.
"I—I don't know what you're talking about! I couldn't have saved you! I was on the floor…he had beaten me unconscious…! You were already dying when I woke up, I tried to call for help!" Arthur blurted out, but the ghost seemed to be unfazed by this little confession.
"It's all your fault, Arthur…! You picked a fight with him…you egged him on. And now, I'm dead and you'll live to regret it…Forever!"
"Noo!" Arthur jumped up, covered in cold sweat as his heart pumped so loudly, he could swear the rest of the world could hear it. He paused for a few seconds, taking everything in. His bed was covered in his sweat, but he felt a bit of moisture around the edges of his eyes, so he assumed some of that water was from his tears as well. He put a hand to his chest, trying to slow his heart rate down.
"Just…just a nightmare…ha ha…just a…bloody nightmare…" Arthur reassured nervously to himself, panting from a lack of breath. He took a moment to burst into somewhat nervous laughter following that, until he heard a loud knocking at his door. His head immediately turned towards the new sound, staring at the cheap door to his room, wondering who on earth that could be. He slowly climbed out of his bed and noticed that he was still dressed from the day before. He figured that he looked somewhat presentable after straightening a few of the wrinkles, so he walked over to the doorway and reached for the knob.
He pulled after turning the knob and saw the hotel manager at his door. A bit surprised at the strange visitor, he just stared dumbfounded at the short, rather grumpy looking man.
"This is an…Arthur Kirkland, right?"
"Yes. What did you need?" The manager looked up from some papers he seemed to be carrying before taking one and throwing it into Arthur's hands.
"Your bill. You owe me money for staying additional nights. I would like to see that money by the end of today, you understand?" That's when it hit him. The hotel fee! Oh, bloody hell! How could I forget? Unsure of what to say to the man, he just nodded slowly as the man left without another word. Once he was out of hearing distance, Arthur slammed his forehead against the back of his closed door. He turned so that he was leaning against it on his back, and he slid to the floor. This really wasn't working for him. He missed home. At least there, such bad shortcomings wouldn't be able to catch up with him as fast without him being at least prepared.
Then, another thing hit him. He looked towards the clock, only to be horrified to find the time to be 9:00 AM. He had overslept incredibly! Rushing to get his things, Arthur burst out of the door the moment he was presentable to the outside, and hurried through the busy streets towards the buffet. He wasn't sure of the consequences, nor was he thinking of them. All he was thinking of was getting to work. In his whole life, he had never been late to work. This felt like a scratch to his pride, a scar in his working record.
When he saw the buffet in sight, he noticed that it had jammed lot, and there were a lot of noises coming from the inside. Great, I'm late to work on the day of the bloody grand opening. Good job, Arthur. Once he stood at the doors, he took a deep breath before entering the buffet. It was bustling with people, of all different nationalities, and business seemed to be booming. But one would not expect less of the grand opening. Arthur quickly ran into the kitchen and attempted to spy out his partner. He was trying to avoid the manager in case he got another sound lecture, or messed something up for his partner again. He noticed that Kiku wasn't in the kitchen as Arthur had expected. He did, however, notice Feliciano humming happily as he worked.
"Hey, Feliciano, was it? Do you happen to know where Kiku went?" Arthur asked the happy Italian. Noticing the absent man, he bounded over happily.
"Arthur! You're here! I thought something horrible had happened to you overnight, and that's why you weren't here today. Kiku's outside serving some customers in your place. I told him Ludwig would do it for him, but I guess he reaaalllyyy wanted to serve them himself. Kiku's such a busybody!" The Italian ended it with that, leaving Arthur alone. He took my shift for me? Arthur couldn't help but wonder to himself. He looked towards the kitchen doors, waiting expectantly for the Japanese man to appear from behind them. To his great dismay, Ludwig marched through them instead, picking up another plate from Italy. Ludwig noticed Arthur standing there, staring at the door, and put a hand on his shoulder.
"Kiku's outside entertaining some customers. You should go outside and assist him." Arthur looked surprised as he looked towards the German, who had a tiny smile on his face.
"Y—yeah, I think I will…" Arthur said dumbly as he gained control of his mind once more and dashed out the doors. He searched around to see if he could find Kiku, and found him in front of a table full of British men. He seemed to be explaining something to them about the food on the table. Arthur could almost feel Kiku's discomfort from where he stood, so he marched over to take care of the situation. When he got there, he put a hand on Kiku's shoulder, which caught the attention of the shorter man.
"Kiku, if you don't mind, I'll take it from here." The Japanese man seemed to sigh in relief as he looked at the British man.
"Of course, Kirkland-san," Japan said in response. "It is nice to have you here," Japan whispered as he walked right by Arthur. Arthur felt his heart skip a beat as Kiku found his way back into the kitchen. He was unaware of the British men before him mutter in disappointment at the departing Japanese man. What the hell was that? Arthur thought as he restrained himself from putting his hand over his chest. But then his attention was turned to the men at the table, one of which had "ahem"ed to catch his attention. Shaking himself out of his little reverie, he smiled his waiter smile at them and pulled a notepad out of his apron.
"And how may I interest you today?" Arthur said in a voice that made him somewhat sick to his stomach. Why the bloody hell do I have to cater to them when they can just get up and get food themselves? This IS a bloody buffet, isn't it?
"Yeah, you can bring that chef back out here. We're interested to know what…this is," the British man said as he pointed to a random food object on the table. Arthur looked in the direction the man had pointed in, to which his groupmates seemed to be nodding in affirmation at, and saw a rice ball with a seaweed wrapping on it. Arthur almost deadpanned. These men are…British, right? Arthur could almost feel shame coming to him for being in the same group as this lot of men. He tried to muster up enough of his niceness to answer them without seeming too…mortified.
"That, sir, is a rice ball with seaweed. I believe that in Japan, they have a special name for it. I think they call it an 'onigiri'." Luckily for Arthur, he had read about a few Japanese dishes before. Just basic ones, but this knowledge would help him in the long run. The British men seemed to be uninterested in this information as they looked past Arthur. Curious to know what was distracting them, Arthur turned his head around to notice Kiku walking out of the doors once more to request something of another worker. Arthur felt something clench in his chest, but ignored it as his mind reeled for ways to distract their attention. He brought up the subject of Britain, a subject they were well-acquainted and very interested in.
Arthur felt himself fall backwards on a chair in exhaustion as the doors to the buffet finally closed. Alfred shut the doors with a loud thud and threw on a small, cheaply made sign that said 'Closed'.
"Good work today, team! Not as good as me, but I'm amazing. My epicness is just too much for…" America continued to ramble on as the rest of his workforce just ignored him. After what seemed like forever of America blabbering on about something that nobody even bothered to catch, he dismissed them from work.
"Don't forget, 4 EVERY morning! Don't be late! Because if you are, I'll just rub it in your faces, along with my awesome amazingness!" Everybody just grumbled in defeat as they pushed past him and out onto the sidewalk. The four began to walk in the same direction once more, heading towards their homes. And then, a something seemed to remind him of his hotel fee. When he had remembered, Feliciano and Ludwig had already gone, and it was just him and Kiku. He stopped dead in his tracks as the realization hit him, and he began to almost cower on the street. Kiku noticed the disturbance and stopped in his own tracks to look at the man sitting on the floor.
"Kirkland-san…?" The Japanese man said, hints of worry almost obvious in his voice as he knelt down next to the other man.
"It's…it's nothing, Kiku." The Japanese man just looked him firmly, a frown gracing his features.
"If you are on the street like this, Kirkland-san, I am sure that everything is not all right. What is the matter?" Arthur looked up at Kiku for the first time since the realization and noticed instantly the obvious worry and concern on his face. After a bit longer of staring than he intended, his eyes darted away from the seemingly endless voids of the Asian man. That was strange…he reminds me of… Just the thought of the boy in the photo threatened to bring tears to his eyes, as well as some bad memories of the nightmare from before. Somehow, Arthur felt like he could trust this man. Although they had only met the day before, there was a bridge of trust that Arthur felt easily acquainted with in Kiku's presence. He sighed in defeat as he told Kiku of the problem.
"You see, remember when I told you I lost my wallet yesterday? Well, without money, I can't pay for my hotel fee because I only paid to stay for three days. It has been well over three days, and my job has yet to pay me for my rather poor services. The hotel manager expects the payment by midnight tonight." Kiku took a moment to catch all of that before rubbing his chin and "hmm"-ing thoughtfully.
"That certainly is a dilemma, Kirkland-san…I do not approve of, as they say in America, 'dodging your dues', but would you feel more comfort if I invited you to stay at my own lodgings until you are able to pay for your own?" Feel more comfort! Bloody hell, sharing a room with another man? Awkward, if you ask me.
"Kiku, I couldn't do that to you. I will be fine. I can just ask the manager to extend my fee for another day or two so that I can earn my wages and pay off some of it. I'll make ends meet somehow. But I appreciate the offer, really! I'm just not too comfortable sharing a room with another man, you know?" It took a moment for the Japanese man to nod in confirmation at that.
"I see. You are right, sharing a room with another man is indeed a bit awkward. I apologize for such a rash offer. But if I may assist you in any way, please feel free to ask me."
"That's really kind of you, but I'll be able to make it work somehow. I think I'll delay my sleep for now and go for a walk around town. It'll ease my mind."
"Very well then, Kirkland-san. I will be seeing you tomorrow at work." With that, the Japanese man bowed towards Arthur and continued to walk as Arthur watched him go. He took one final glance at the retreating person before turning and walking across the sidewalk. Indeed, he would try to make ends meet, but how? He could barely handle making it to work in time. Life was being less than merciful to him. He strolled down the street, not really taking any of the surroundings in, but rather just being lost in his thoughts.
"My dream from last night…" I've never had a dream like that before. That was the only time I had ever had a dream about him. I didn't even know him that well. Hell, I barely knew his name! But he made me feel…happy. Like nothing else really mattered. Not in that way, of course…! Oh, what the bloody hell am I doing? I'm arguing with myself. I grant I should be walking back now…I have an angry manager to deal with.
Arthur turned back towards his hotel room and took a deep breath before entering. He pushed the doors aside and prepared for the worst, only to see nothing coming his way. A bit uneasy at this lack of events, he decided to just go up to his room. Heck, if the manager wasn't going to come up to him, then it would save him the trouble. He decided this turn of luck was brightening his spirits a little, and he chose to take the stairs up to his room instead of the elevator.
Once he got to his room, he pushed the key in and turned the lock. Nothing seemed different, the manager hadn't taken all of his belongings out, and everything was as he had left it. The only difference was a slip of paper on the wardrobe. Arthur, curious, went up to look at it, and noticed that it was a receipt.
Scribbled on the receipt was a list of payments made for the next week or so. It was a list of his hotel fees, all paid off. A bit surprised at this strange turn of events, his eyes motioned lower on the receipt to check for a name. Scrawled in beautiful, smooth writing at the very bottom of the receipt, a signature had been scribbled for one Kiku Honda.
And that's chapter 2! It's a tad bit longer than chapter 1, but I guess it makes up for all of the time I've lost on this one. I guess all I have left to say is: R&R!