Luki eventually drifted off last night and was stirred awake by several knocking sounds from the door.
Lily opened Luki's door and stuck her head in, saying, "Luki, your pretty friend is here," she quickly pulled out and walked downstairs.
Luki tossed his blanket open but stayed still. Pretty friend, pretty friend, he thought, his mind still not coming together. Pretty friend! He remembered the text last night about asking Luka to come with him to his restaurant. He rolled off the bed and came tumbling down to the floor. Rubbing his head, he bathed and dressed in his fitted, black, long-sleeved shirt, which he tops with a brown jacket. He pulled his jeans up and ruffled his hair a bit, not bothering to comb it and ran downstairs, stopping at the dining room, where he sees Luka. She has her hair braided low over one shoulder and pretty white earrings. She wore, coincidentally, a light brown casual dress that fell down to just a few centimeters above her ankles with a darker brown belt at her waist. The dress was evenly plaited and was buttoned up to her neck. It was sleeveless and thus showed her beautiful, white arms. Her white bag that matched her white, thick-heeled, strapped shoes and her earrings was below the table.
Her eyes noticed Luki and she stood excitedly, "Ah, Luki! You're awake!" She trotted over to him and pondered over his hair. As he was taller than she is, Luka had to lift her arms to fix his messy look. She took out four bobby pins out of her bag and pinned some of Luki's hair to the backs of his ears, making an X at each side of his head. "There. Much better," she crossed her arms and admired her work.
Luki touched the side of his head and grinned. "Yep, much better," and he noticed Lily with a big purple bag she's carefully handling. "Mom, what's that?" he walked over and peeked inside a bag to find out that it's filled with an expensive-looking red purse with a one-sleeved, fitted red dress to match. Not to forget a shoebox with black heels inside, its straps crisscrossing towards the ankle.
"I-it's from Luka. I refused but she-" Lily started but got cut off by Luka.
"I thought it would look really good with Lily. With your beautiful eyes and hair, actually anything would just look perfect on you," she honestly complimented her, lowering her head. "Besides, it's the least I could do after that delicious dinner," her head lifted and she smiled.
"Oh goodness, still about that. Alright then, thank you again for the lovely, lovely gift Luka," Lily caressed the side of Luka's face and went upstairs to hang her new dress, place her bag and set down her shoebox.
Luki, who was grinning happily the whole time took Luka's arm and dragged her outside, shouting, "I'm going out, mom!"
Luka walked awkwardly with her left arm being pulled by Luki. She poked his back and he noticed her discomfort so Luki let her go, saying, "Sorry," and tucked his hands in his pocket. They walked side by side in silence and after a few minutes Luki said, "You know, that dress, the color, it's my mother's favorite. Although she could never afford a color of anything which is that rich, but she loved the bright red that looked simple, but shocking," he explained, "That color comes right after her set of favorite pastel colors," he laughed quietly.
Luka smiled and said, "Well, I really pictured your mother in that. She would look amazingly beautiful. Remember, Luki, when she wears that dress, braid one side of her hair in a way that it reveals her ear. Just let the rest flow down, it's pretty just like that. She must wear the earrings in the bag," her tips flowed out, as she knows that Luki can do hair.
"Noted," he said.
In about fifteen minutes they reached their destination, the "Suzume Tanaka" was a unique, tan, house-like restaurant with sliding screens as the entrance. Luki jumped at the balls of his feet, clearly excited to let Luka see the interiors of the restaurant. He gestured for her to come in, opening the screens for her. And the restaurant immediately became her favourite.
It wasn't large, just perfectly sized for a restaurant. A U-shaped table stuck out of the furthest wall, with its conveyor belt that carried various kinds of sushi. The tables around it were very low, as it is styled like the Japanese tatami. The floor was made of dark-colored wood and the cushions to sit were red. The ceilings were lined with hanging lamps in paper rectangular prisms that gave the whole restaurant enough lighting but not too much for the eyes. The walls were embedded with windows, styled similarly to the entrance door in such way that people might mistake any window as the entrance.
"It's lovely," Luka managed to say, her eyes taking in everything at once.
Luki grinned at her reaction, which was exactly how he imagined it would be.
"Irrasshaimase!" a couple came out of the curtains on the back of the U-shaped conveyor belt table. They were both black-haired and their eyes creased with lines that indicated that they were people who smiled a lot.
"Suzume-san! Tanaka-san! Konichiwa! This, is my friend, Luka," Luki shook their hands and put his hand on the square of Luka's back, slightly pushing her forwards.
"Konichiwa," Luka bowed and smiled shyly.
"Aah, a pretty one nee~," the person who seemed to be Suzume-san shouldered Luki, making him grin. She and her husband both shook Luka's hand and gestured for Luka and Luki to sit down.
"Go on and order! It's on the house!" Tanaka-san shouted, arranging their table.
Luki grinned eved wider and rubbed his hands together, taking the menu for himself and Luka.
"Are you sure it's okay? I mean, it's my first time here," Luka's forehead creased with worry.
"Nah, it's fine, they do that to everyone they like," Luki winked, already into the menu.
Luka, still feeling the obligation to pay decided to be quiet and enjoy what's going to be served and talk about it later. Her eyes fell upon the pictures of the chicken ramen, which she decided to order, and Luki's fell upon the one of the beef katsu curry, which he also decided to order. They both had Japanese tea for their drinks.
"Itadakimasu," Luka and Luki both started digging in.
Meanwhile, Suzume-san and Tanaka-san, who were watching the two started whispering towards each other.
"Nee, don't you think they look good together?"
"Oh sure, sure, look at how their elbows touch, look! Look!"
"And their clothes match, oh, I love Luka's hair, really,"
A few of the restaurant's staff peeked from the kitchen.
"Hey, it's Luki!"
"They look good together, right?"
"Enough, enough, they're done, they're done, pretend we weren't staring!"
Just as the staff noisily returned to the kitchen, Luki shouted.
"Suzume-san, Tanaka-san, we're done!"
Luka politely finished her drink and wiped her lips with a napkin. She bowed her thanks and stood up as Luki did, walking towards the cashier. Without saying anything, Luka took out her wallet and snapped it's cover open just to be closed back by Luki.
"Nope, it's on the house," Suzume and Tanaka said in unison.
Luka's face flushed and she and Luki once more bowed their thanks and exited the restaurant, the sun already setting at the west sky, signaling the end of their day.
"Um, Luki, thank you, really. It meant a lot to me," Luka smiled with a tilt of her head towards Luki.
"It's no problem, Luka," He scratched the back of his head, returning her smile.
"Has been a long time," Luka said quietly, making Luki strain towards her, "Since I ate out with someone,"
The tips of Luki's mouth rose into a smile. He instinctively slid his hand into Luka's, squeezing it affectionately.
Luka, taken aback, lowered her head and smiled as well, squeezing their joint hands as well.
