Chapter Four

The weeks flew by while I was busy working at The Midnight Blue, and it was a blast. Business was booming, and the shop became more and more crowded as we got closer to summer, and sometimes Sora's friend, a guy named Riku had to come and help us bus tables. He was quick and efficient, and didn't complain, but he wasn't as friendly or as funny as Sora. He was very nice to me though, everyone was, almost. The people in Destiny Islands seemed to have had the surf and sunshine rub off on them, they were mostly calm, friendly, and laid back. There was the occasional hooligan that Cid had to deal with, usually teenagers trying to show off to their friends, once an ornery looking old man had smacked my behind and Sora and Riku had to haul him out by his arms.

For the most part, however, customers were happy to come in, enjoy their ice cream, chat a little and leave, and before long I even had my favorites. There was Olette, a smart studious girl who was currently pursuing a degree in history, Lea, a talkative young man who worked full time at the next door restaurant and would sometimes consume up to four scoops of ice cream at a time, and of course Aqua would come in every day after work in hopes of a free parfait. Sometimes she'd come and meet her friend Terra, on those days he'd pay for her ice cream, but usually it came straight out of my check.

Every now and then, Mr. Eyepatch would show up, I was never his server, but still I could feel his eye on me the whole time I was working, and it made me uncomfortable, it felt like he knew something about me, but whatever it was, I didn't want to know.

"Hey, Kairi?" Sora seemed a bit awkward as we finished closing up the shop on Friday night.

"Yeah?"

"Me and Riku are going out for Okonomiyaki after work at the restaurant next door," he scratched at his cheek with his index finger, " you wanna come?"

"Can I?" I asked, excited.

"I said so didn't I?" He said, a phrase I was becoming annoyingly familiar with, I reached out and pinched his nose and he laughed.

"What's an 'Okonomiyaki'?"

"You really must have been living under a rock, huh Kairi?"

"Maybe?" I shrugged my shoulders, anything was possible.

"Just say that you'll come," he said, "I promise it's good."

XxX

After work, Sora and I met Riku next door. The restaurant was usually dark and nondescript in the day time, but at night it blew up in a cluster of red lights and bright neon signs. The mouthwatering smell of grilling meat and frying vegetables wafted into the street like fragrant mist.

"Kairi's never had Okonomiyaki," Sora said to Riku, he looked at me and raised his eyebrows.

"Really?" He looked at me, "have you been living under a rock?"

"That's what I said!"

The three of us entered the noisy crowded restaurant. The atmosphere was so different from the Creamery, though it was similarly busy. People sat closer here, talked quieter, men and women sat cuddled up at the bar nursing their beers next to old business men with heavily lined faces and distant stares. It was strange and fascinating all at once, a few people frowned at me for staring at them and I tried to curb my curiosity.

"Come on, this way." Sora grabbed my hand and led me to a table in the corner. In the middle of the table there was a large flat iron grill.

"What's that?" I asked Riku, pointing.

"That's to cook the Okonomiyaki, we do it ourselves," he said, casually opening the menu.

"What kind do you want Kairi?" Sora asked, pouring over his own menu. I flipped through mine, hoping I could play it off like I knew what I was doing. Aqua had been teaching me to read a little on weekends, and I was really taking off, but even still I could only read about a 10th of the items on the menu.

"Surprise me," I said, folding my menu and placing it on the edge of the table, Sora and Riku exchanged a look.

"You're too trusting," said Riku.

"That's not fair, I'll go easy on Kairi." Sora scowled. I was confused as usual, so I just smiled and listened to the two boys squabbling back and forth.

"Oh hey, you brought the kiddo," Lea sidled up to the table in his waiter uniform.

"You look very dapper, Lea," I said.

"It's Axel here," he ran a hand through his flaming red hair, beside me Sora snorted with laughter.

"Why Axel?" I asked, tilting my head.

"It just sounds cooler, right?"

"You sound like a male stripper," said Riku, Sora burst into hopeless laughter beside me.

"I'll spit in your food," 'Axel' said, "hasn't anyone told you not to hassle the servers?"

"Remember I make your milkshakes," Sora said not looking up from his menu, Axel's green eyes narrowed.

"So what'll it be?" He said, resigned. He pulled his pad and pen out of his apron pocket.

"Me and Kairi want the seafood batter," said Sora, "and Riku wants spicy Okonomiyaki." Sora pushed the menus over to Axel who tucked them under his arm.

"Sea food, huh?" He raised his eyebrows at me, "okay, I'll bring it right out." He cast a last look at me and headed towards the kitchen.

"I like the name 'Axel'," I said, "I think it suits him."

"You're sweet, Kairi," Riku chuckled, Sora choked on his soda.

"Kairi's off limits," he said, wiping his mouth and giving Riku a stern look.

"Who says?"

"Off limits for what?" I asked, both boys looked unwilling to answer.

"Two seafood, one fire," Axel appeared and set 3 small bowls in front of us, "tell me what you think." I picked up my bowl and frowned, this food was entirely raw, I looked to Sora for direction and he grabbed my bowl, he mixed up the batter quickly and poured it onto the hot iron grill. I watched as he shaped it into a circle with a little metal spatula, he was good at this. My mouth began to water at the smell of sizzling shrimp and vegetables as the Okonomiyaki began to brown on the grill.

"You can cook the next one," Sora said, grabbing my plate from me and serving me up, "no one eats for free."

"It looks delicious," I said to Sora, "thank you."

"Eat up," he said casually, but his cheeks were flushed with pride. Without wasting any time, I took a big bite of the Okonomiyaki. It was amazing, I didn't know what all was in it, but it was savory and crispy and almost melted in my mouth.

"It's delicious," I smiled at Axel, "Thanks for the good work."

"Yeah, no big deal," he sauntered off, pleased with himself.

"and lastly, thanks for cooking it for me, Sora," I turned to him and he passed me his bowl.

"Yeah, well now it's your turn."

XxX

"I had a lot of fun tonight," I told Sora as he walked me home. It was a cool, clear night, the moon shone like a big yellow spotlight in the sky.

"Me too," he said, "Me and Riku go there once a week. You could join us from now on, if you want to."

"I'd love--" I paused, a rash of goosebumps went up my spine, someone was watching me. I turned around, my shoulders rigid, my jaw set. It was the man with the eye patch from earlier, standing in the parking lot of a cigarette shop a dozen or so yards away, his hands buried deep in his pockets, his one eye gleaming in the light of the street lamps. I opened my mouth to say something to Sora, but he grabbed my hand and tugged me along.

"Come on," he said, his voice was light but I could tell that he knew something was up because of how quickly he was walking. I squeezed his hand, grateful he was here. "We're gonna go to my place real quick," he whispered, "from there we can call Aqua and get you a taxi, I don't want him following you home."

"Do you know him?"

"I know his name is Braig, Cid knows a little about him, says he used to work as some sort of performer," he shrugged his shoulders. "At any rate, I keep seeing him around you and I don't like it, I get the feeling he's up to something."

"Wow Sora, I had no idea you were so paranoid,"

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?" He frowned at me and I laughed.

"Nothing, thank you, you're very kind."

"Yeah, no problem," he didn't look at me, but his grip on my hand tightened a little bit.