I am proud to announce that 'Culinary Rivals', almost two years since publishing, is approaching a MILESTONE. With 110 reviews and over 9000 views, we have crossed over 100,000 words! That puts it in the league with 'Serendipity'! (which I have respect for) Thank you, loyal customers, for keeping up!

"It's OVER 9000!"

"What, 9000?! There's no way that can be right!"

Unfortunately, a kitchen FIRE has delayed the food that was supposed to arrive (this chapter was supposed to be uploaded days ago). The reason is that for some reason has problems with file uploads and has yet to be resolved. For now, I'm using old files to serve your courses.

However, at least I can carry on business. Gosh! Why did the site have to break down at the right time?!

Ahem...

So everyone has noticed something between our two receptionists...

To SelfiesWithSprinkles, dawnleaf1234, LEAGLE-EAGLE53, and That Anonymous guest: please, have a seat, and enjoy a nice spinach and cheese pie from Cynthia. It might be a little overcooked due to the kitchen fire.

Chapter twenty-five: Problems of Keeping Calm

The two former Champions continued to eat in relative silence, save for the gentle breeze that continued to blow from the direction of Cyllage City. Steven finished his croissants and Chansey eggs, and only began starting on his pieces of LaBrie, whereas Cynthia was partway through eating her Bluk berry pie. Garchomp herself did help herself to pie as well, but she kept eyeing Steven's LaBrie. Skarmory looked partly disapproving.

"What is it you like about rocks, anyway?" she said suddenly.

Steven was just about to bite into a piece of cheese when she asked this. Out of respect for her, Steven looked at her and put down the cheese.

"Call it an obsession or a passion," he answered. "You'd be amazed at the beauty of the rocks you could find. You know, the patterns on each one can tell different stories. It's for the same reason why some people like to collect ribbons, and or the occasional ruin maniac who's always hoping for a discovery."

"Take the menhirs for example," he added, before Cynthia could react. "I noticed they held a lot of energy within them, and was about to conduct an excavation there until I realised that they –"

"– were the graves of Pokémon," Cynthia finished the sentence.

This prompted Steven to be curious. He then popped a bit of the cheese into his mouth, swallowed, and looked at her. He could tell Cynthia's face was partly red and her ears were pink.

"How did you know that? What about you? What do you like?" he then added.

Sighing, he decided to give her a moment to answer, and in that time he was amused at how long it was taking.

Silence. Just utter silence.

"I suppose you could say I'm a bit of a ruin maniac myself," she said in a small voice.

Steven raised his eyebrows. He supposed he shouldn't be surprised, as he didn't know her that well. Nor was he interested in getting to know Cynthia better, although Martine and Wallace would beg to differ. However, she might have misinterpreted the eyebrow-raising as a go-ahead to continue.

"I adore ruins and history," she added. "Did you know that these graves were…?"

She stopped, hoping she wasn't annoying Steven. But Steven merely nodded for her to go on.

"These graves were part of a process to supply energy to a so-called 'ultimate weapon' many years ago," Cynthia explained, saying this as she tried to recollect her knowledge. "I'm talking thousands of years. It's a shame Pokémon had to be sacrificed to do so. That is, if you knew what was going on back in those days, a war was…"

Steven's mouth drew a humourless smile.

"No wonder these rocks have some degree of energy output," he said.

Cynthia became aware of how much she was saying and wished she hadn't spoken any further. Instead, she looked the other way, and tried to think of a pretext to steer the conversation elsewhere.

However, Steven was just slightly ahead of her. "Perhaps I ought to come back to Sinnoh one of these days and get back to the Underground. Have you ever been there? It's an excavator's dream."

"Nah. Only my old fellow Gym Leaders Byron and Roark would be interested in that stuff. Oh, and the Underground Man," Cynthia said. In her heart she really needed to think of a pretext to divert the conversation.

Yet her mind absentmindedly slipped elsewhere. "I hear Hoenn has a vast amount of ruins, including where the three titans laid to rest. You know, Regirock, Regice, and Registeel. I hope maybe when I have time, I'll try to explore those places myself."

"Do you really?" Steven's eyes tweaked with interest. Finally, he was actually sinking deep into some conversation here! "Maybe I ought to show you around, as a fellow Champion. In return, perhaps you could tell me about Regigigas."

Cynthia realised just what kind of position she was in right now, and really had to talk about something else before something bad could happen. Bad for her, anyway.

Her eyes laid on Garchomp, who was still looking at Steven's plate of LaBrie. "Oh, Garchomp, are you hungry?"

"I suppose she hasn't had enough of cheese," Steven suggested. He tried to smile. Silently, he passed Garchomp a couple pieces. At the same time, he held up some of the cheese to Cynthia as well. "Would you care for some?"

For the moment, Cynthia had no idea how to answer. She was finished with her pies, so she had little excuse to not accept the cheese Steven offered before her. She could opt for the mochi balls, but that was a dessert, and cheese always came before dessert.

Awkwardly, without looking directly at him, she slowly ate the LaBrie. Steven proceeded to finish eating his portion too, whilst feeding another portion to Skarmory. He seemed oblivious to her that she was struggling with the circumstances.

Why did she invite him to have lunch with her in the first place?

"How's Diantha doing?" she asked.

"She's still recovering," Steven replied. "When she discharged, I'll have a load of questions for her, and I might as well give her an apology. That might soften the media's grip on me."

Cynthia's face turned into one of worry, and she looked away from him.

In truth, Cynthia was a bit jealous of Steven and his restaurant. With all the media coverage Steven was getting, she saw across the street dozens and dozens of people trying to get into the restaurant earlier in the morning. She simply couldn't comprehend what sorts of business was occurring at Steven's restaurant, but she was more surprised that Steven himself wasn't there. Although, she understood it wouldn't help him much if he went back, which was why he was on a break. What a coincidence that they two of them met up in the same place.

After finishing her cheese, she glanced over at her chilled mochi balls.

"What is it you have there?" Steven glanced at the dessert treat once more.

Holding her breath, Cynthia reached for a spoon with a shaky hand and scooped up one of the white, goopy, treats. Then she held it to Steven for him to hold.

"It's… something you might find 'weird', but I trust you might like it." She couldn't believe she was saying this.

He hesitated, but slipped the ball into his mouth anyway. All he needed to do was bite.

His eyes, Cynthia watched, narrowed.

As soon as he bit into the mochi ball, he felt the explosion of strawberry burst out of its mochi capsule and expand into all areas of his mouth. It was a weird sensation as Cynthia had promised! But Steven found the complements of the expanding fruit and liquid combined with the softness of mochi to be extraordinary.

"I'm… wow, Cynthia," Steven remarked.

Cynthia felt like almost blushing, but she felt more unnerved at the prospect of Steven going to see Diantha once she could leave the Pokémon Centre. Faced with a flood of emotions, she began to worry. The way she saw Steven enjoying her food and realising she had just given one to him.

She thought eating one of the mochi balls would help, but it didn't. It helped for a minute, but eventually she grew increasingly uncomfortable.

Her hands became partly twitchy too.

To calm herself down, she took out a stick of perfume spray to merely use it. Steven raised his eyebrows while he chewed on the mochi treat, which caused Cynthia to grow nervous again, but he simply did this because he found the mochi and the strawberry to be very delicious indeed.

After swallowing the dessert, he pulled out the Damp Rock to show it to her. "But you know, this is a kind of rock you normally apply to Pokémon. The rumour has it that it extends the duration of Rain Dance, which would be useful for dry days, you know?"

"Hmm…" Cynthia muttered.

"You can hold it if you like." He offered the rock for her to hold, but stopped short upon realising Cynthia was no longer paying attention. "You okay?"

He didn't notice it at all, but her eyes were fixed on his face, as if she was in a dream. He stopped short wondering if there was a correlation between her trance and his offer to hold the rock, but she had her eyes tracing down from his eyes to his lips…

Sophie had no idea how long she had been staring at the desk for until she was interrupted by the approaching of footsteps. Snapping out of her trance, Sophie smoothed the front of her black hair once before greeting the customer, as she was trained to be.

"Bienvenue au Stone Restaurant and Bistro," she said. However, Sophie realised she was talking to someone she recognised. The female friend of Steven's friend, and alongside was the girl whose hair was very similar to Steven's friend.

"Salut," Winona greeted. "Pour trois, s'il vous plait."

"Let me guess: is that flamboyant friend of yours with you?" Sophie asked, albeit it wasn't really a question. "Quel est votre nom?"

"Je suis Winona," Winona replied. "Remember me? Yeah, he'll be coming here soon."

Lisia stood silently beside Winona, waiting, but she couldn't help but notice Sophie's face. Although Sophie realised Lisia was looking right at her, she wasn't unnerved.

"Hey, mademoiselle," Lisia said. "Why is it that your cheeks are red? Love trouble?"

Sophie brought a hand to her cheek and realised it was that hot. Quickly, she turned away from Lisia, and held her breath. In fact, she wasn't even smiling, but rather showed signs of annoyance. She was asked something like this by Wallace only two days ago.

"Let me ask you this," Sophie's tone became 'menacing', although her face was so red that Lisia found it very funny. "What is it with you and – and – that Wallace? Why do you always have to ask these things?!"

"Let's be honest here…" Lisia started. It was clear she was enjoying the moment, and tormenting Sophie of her love life. "There is someone."

In Winona's eyes and ears, Lisia's words could even mirror Wallace's. True, she agreed with Wallace that Steven and Cynthia belonged to each other, but Wallace's 'help' didn't seem to be effective. Indeed, Lisia was attempting the splitting approach with Sophie here.

As a result, Winona placed a hand on Lisia's shoulder.

"That's enough, buddy," she calmly said. "We need to eat, and so does Wallace."

Sophie took a deep breath, and showed a sign of relief as Lisia and Winona were escorted by a waiter to their table on the ground floor. As soon as they were gone, Sophie used the time to catch her breath. How could she have lost it like that? Not that Lisia was trying to dig that deep into her personal life?

No sooner were Winona and Lisia seated at their table. From the looks of it, it appeared their view was partly obstructed by a construction project going on outside. But it really didn't matter that much to them, as they hadn't intended to stay for too long. The atmosphere was partly quiet, but there were of plenty of customers to compensate. The way Lisia saw it, there was one customer eating alone, and then there was Martine. That was all. The plenty of other customers – mainly the media – didn't count.

Speaking of the media, Winona was even more surprised that the media didn't bother with the two of them. Lisia was a contest star, and Winona herself a Gym Leader. Sure, Steven's restaurant might be the scandalous talk of the town (or city, for that matter), but still.

No sooner did Wallace actually show up at the Stone Bistro's lobby, which was pretty unfortunate for Sophie. Here she was, wrestling with the personal humiliation Lisia had bestowed her. Oh, where was Laurent when she needed him, in her 'darkest hour'? Sophie had to face Wallace alone.

No really. This really was her darkest hour!

"Ah, my dear," Wallace greeted, adding a wink. "Where is my man, Steven?"

He loved the face he was getting from the pretty receptionist. The latter appeared partly flustered still, but she regained her form.

"He's not here," she replied, although a little on edge, "and if you did try visiting him, you'll have a ton of trouble with the media."

"You're hiding something," Wallace said accusingly.

Sophie blushed.

"I'm trained with these eyes to see things, buddy," Wallace added. "So, have you found someone yet? We need to talk about this."

"I don't want to talk about it!" Sophie cried. "Just – just go inside. Your girlfriend is already there, and so is your… daughter?"

"That's my niece you're addressing. But hey, did I hear that you're jealous that I have a girlfriend, eh? You ought to find a boyfriend yourself," Wallace added playfully. "At least your odds of getting one are probably higher than Steven's, I'll admit."

"No!" Sophie denied. She ended up burying her face into the desk. "I don't want to talk! Just – just go inside. They're on the ground floor."

Subsequently, Wallace did end up walking into the area to rejoin his companions, and left Sophie to her misery. Winona and Lisia were sitting across from each other, so Wallace opted for the seat right next to Winona.

"What took you so long, uncle?" Lisia asked.

"I was practising," he replied.

"Practising what?" a voice said from behind. It caught Wallace by surprised.

Wallace, unnerved, looked behind to see Martine bring a bottle of wine to the table, with two glasses. He laughed, and gestured Martine to pour a glass. Winona's eyes lit up at the sight of the bottle, however. "Oh, something I might try on my friend Steven, eventually," he said, as he watched his glass filled partway with red wine. "Hard to believe it works on his workers but not himself. He's never going to get far in life at this rate."

The redhead shrugged, but all the same said, "If only that were true…"

"Martine," Winona interrupted. "Do you mind if I see that bottle?"

Martine raised an eyebrow, but indeed left the bottle on the table on condition that they wouldn't drink from it further.

It had taken a while for their food to arrive, in which Wallace spent the time talking with his niece about pointless topics about Steven. On the other hand, Winona spent her time analysing the wine she was drinking. Why did this remind her of a certain food she had not too long ago? Like… chocolate.

Eventually, the food arrived, courtesy of Martine. Lumiose-style salad for Winona. Onion soup for Wallace. A portion of roasted chestnuts for Lisia. All of the dishes looked very appetising, and it was a good thing they were hungry.

"Bon appetit," Martine stated.

"Merci beaucoup," Winona replied.

Wallace picked up his spoon and was about to eat, but he seemed to remember something.

"By the way, Martine, the woman over there wants to see you," he said.

Martine looked over to the lone table, to the customer dressed in orange clothes who had been taking her time with her food. It appeared she was still working through her meal, but she was calling for a server.

James d'Arc was still as busy as always with the amount of orders and customers coming through. He had been to see the media coverage, and he figured that the irony of the media spreading plausibly false rumours of the Stone Bistro was helping attract customers. Oh, if only Steven was here to see this. Sure, it had been quiet for most of the day, but there were customers still. As he was cooking more onion soup, the cooks still did their best to attend to their respective dishes. They cooked and baked in the same manner Steven Stone had shown them.

Martine, at some point, walked into the kitchen.

"Uh, Monsieur d'Arc?" Martine said. Her voice was cool and deprived of its usual casual tone. "The customer would like to see the chef."

Suddenly all eyes were on Martine, and then subsequently James. James, while a little surprised, looked left and right before he breathed again. His face was very neutral as he walked towards the doors. The eyes of the kitchen followed him and Martine until they were well past the doors.

They approached the customer at last.

"Bon après-midi, madame," James greeted. "Besoin d'aide?"

Not far from where Martine and James were standing, Winona was still examining the bottle as Wallace and Lisia ate their respective lunches. While Lisia watched the scene unfold between Martine, James, and the customer, Wallace was halfway through with his onion soup. However, he noticed Winona had barely touched her salad.

"You should be fortunate you can eat that thing cold. You haven't touched it!" he commented. "Interested in buying that bottle?"

"It's just… No, I just –" Winona was at a loss for words. "I need to tell Steven about this."

"Ah, you must really like this wine, eh?"

"No!"

Wallace grinned like an idiot. If only it was this easy to fluster Steven too. The next moment, he and Winona were silent, and the only sounds that could be heard were the indistinct conversations from nearby customers, and the munching of Lisia's chestnuts.

Eventually, they looked at Martine who was headed in their direction. Wallace looked like he had intended to say something, but stopped at the sight of her face.

"Oh. Martine," Wallace said. "Is something the matter?"

Martine's lips stiffened, but she then replied, "It seems like we have a customer that Steven will be interested in. We'll have to let him know about it."

Wallace rolled his eyes. "Martine. You and I know better than that that Steven has one woman who is best for him. A certain platinum blond. Even Lisia understands."

"I do understand, but that's completely irrelevant!" Martine cried. "You're thinking through this too hard! The point is that this isn't that! It's company business."

Wallace wanted to continue his tormenting, but Winona figured she had enough. Knowing that she couldn't overpower Wallace's endlessly speaking mouth, she buried her head in her arms on the table even if there was a plate of salad before her. That, though, was enough to catch everyone's attention.

"She seems quite annoyed by you, Wallace," Martine remarked.

"Nonsense," Wallace countered, and he extended an arm to pat Winona's shoulder. "We've known each other too long. Right, Winona?" Winona didn't respond to Wallace at all. Nevertheless, Wallace kept up this vein until Martine went over to talk to Lisia.

"Speaking of which," Martine added. "In light of Steven's relationships, I found out something which you might find entertaining!"

Wallace looked at Martine whereas Lisia's eyes twinkled. "Okay," the latter said. "What is it?"

Martine could only giggle. "Yesterday, I was told to clean up Steven's office while he was away. Guess what I found?"

I've got a good feeling about this, Lisia thought.

"A copy of 'Apples and Oranges'; the one from the magazine!" Martine said, as she laughed. "Don't you think that says anything more than what Steven is now?"

Wallace and Lisia looked stunned at first, but they joined in with smiles. Very, very, wide smiles.

"I don't know…" Winona added, though her voice was muffled as her head was still buried in her arms. "It sure looked like it until what happened last night. Who knows what he's going through? Cynthia might feel the same."

It didn't matter to Wallace, though.

"We have been told of one of Steven's harshest secrets! Don't you know, Winona, that when his love is on the line, we need all we can get to help him. This is a bonus!" he said. "Besides, this will be the final nail in the coffin of his world of denial."

Cynthia.

Winona suddenly remembered something. Something so familiar that had to do with the wine bottle she was observing.

"I think…" she started.

She was interrupted by Wallace's hand covering her mouth, and then she was silent for certain. In spite of her thoughts of yesterday, that Steven's relationship with Cynthia might have approached a low, Winona had to admit that the magazine Martine showed her might have a point. But she still had doubts.

As for Wallace covering her mouth, Winona was very annoyed. The latter shook off the former's hand after.

"You're paying the bill!" she cried.

"Of course, milady," Wallace sang, like he was enjoying this too much.

Winona sighed. She expected as much from her boyfriend. Steven would have to wait.

As for Martine, she figured she had done her part to provide Wallace and Lisia with what they needed to know. "I'll leave you to finish your meals, vous trois," she nodded and walked away to rejoin James. Upon leaving, Lisia and Wallace looked very content, and they happily ate the rest of their chestnuts and soup. But Winona, Winona had something else on her mind, and ate her salad slowly.

Sophie still had her face buried on the desk in embarrassment. She felt so embarrassed that there were even tears streaming from her eyes. Oh, why did Wallace have to act like the way he did? And Lisia too?

At the very least, the pace of customer intake was slow still. She knew she had to stay professional, and anything less would probably mean she would get a scolding from James. But how could she work in this state? She would have to get someone to relieve her of duty for now.

"You're not going to work well in that state," a familiar voice said.

Sophie looked up instantly, and her face went red just as fast upon the sight of her co-receptionist. Laurent was standing right there, with a small paper box in his hand.

"Are you crying?!" Laurent's voice was half-amused and half-uncertain. "Sophie, what's gotten into you? One moment you're fine, and then you're not."

"It's – it's nothing," she sniffled, wiping away her tears.

Laurent looked unconvinced, but instead of pressing the question, he placed the box on the desk and went around the desk to take his usual position. He could tell Sophie wasn't crying because she was unhappy, but because of other reasons unknown.

"Still," he continued, "I did get you something sweet. You might like it! The man at the café said it was a new addition, so he insisted on buying it."

Sophie opened the box herself, and found four pieces of white mochi balls. Just by touching the box itself, she could tell that these were meant to be served cold and chilled. However, she still sniffled at the sight of it. Laurent offered her a spoon to scoop one of the mochi balls.

"Come on, we need to work, so cheer up!" he said with a grin. "After that, we can talk to Mr. Stone about getting time off for the fan club."

Eventually, the two receptionists each had a mochi ball in their hands and they ate them at the same time. The result was looks of surprise, with Laurent trying to comprehend the burst of fruity flavour from the mochi ball as he ate. On the other hand, Sophie seemed equally surprised, but the sweetness of the fruit combined with the surprise of an exploding and expanding fruit was enough to wipe her embarrassment away.

"This is really good!" Sophie's voice was s cheer. "How did she do it?"

"You're telling me," Laurent said rhetorically.

Afterwards, both Sophie and Laurent felt a lot better after having the sweet treats. Now, they felt more motivated to get back to work, and in time for more customers to arrive. It was a good thing that this time, they weren't media.

"I'm – I'm sorry, Steven, but I have to go!" Cynthia said rather uncomfortably.

She took off with Garchomp and her basket, leaving Steven alone.

"Wait! You dropped…" he trailed off, and kneeled down to pick up a stick of perfume spray. But by the time he stood and looked up, Cynthia was gone. She had disappeared like she had vanished into thin air.

That was fast, Steven thought. Looking at the perfume in his hand for a moment, he pocketed it after. He decided he would have to give it back another time.

Speaking of time, he figured it was also time to go as well. It was a beautiful day, but Steven thought that at this point the media would have left his home by now. He packed up his Explorer Kit, the rocks he found, and whatever of his lunch he couldn't finish. Truth be told, he did finish it all.

Deciding not to make a noticeable entrance, Steven went back to Cyllage City on foot. However, he had Skarmory accompany him on the way.

I better remember to give this back to her.

He took out the perfume to look at it again. Out of his curiosity, he sprayed a bit of it to get an idea of its smell. It smelled of coconut.

That smells nice.

Suddenly, Steven realised what he was doing and desisted, blushing as he did.

It wasn't before long that Steven had made it back to the premises of the Stone Bistro. As expected, there were a lot of people gathered around his restaurant but no one was trying to get in. He supposed that being away from the place really did pay off, since he had no desire to face another onslaught of questions from the public.

He had to owe it to James and Laurent, though.

But Steven was determined to see how things were going on there anyway. As he walked on the Cyllage City sidewalk, he noticed Vue sur la Lune was also equally swarmed by news crews. But they were also enjoying good business too. He could tell.

When it came to entering his own restaurant, Steven expected none of the people gathered outside to recognise him in his current attire. But it was better to not take any chances. In addition, he was well amused that the media had still crowded around the front doors but that was all. They hadn't bothered with neither the bakery, bar, nor the museum. So when it came to entering, Steven chose the bar, as it had direct access into the restaurant.

He did greet the barman as he walked in, and was met with equal response. Casually, Steven walked into the restaurant's lobby shortly after; only to find a group waiting for a table. It didn't matter if the people waiting were speaking behind Steven's back either. Instead, he went up to approach the receptionists.

"Bon après-midi," Steven greeted.

Both Laurent and Sophie looked up with brief expressions of shock.

"Mr. Stone!" they said simultaneously.

Before Steven could say anything, Sophie beat him to it. "So, how's life with the media hunting you down?"

"You can't imagine what life has been without you," Laurent added.

Steven had no idea if he should take that as an insult.

Even worse, though, he noticed that there was a paper box on the desk in front of Laurent. It had, no doubt, the decals of Vue sur la Lune.

"Where did you get that –?" he started.

"Laurent got it for me," Sophie cut in. The smile on her face was too apparent. "It was really tasty."

Before Steven could find the words to make a counter, his thoughts were interrupted by a third voice entering the conversation.

"Where have you been, boss?"

Steven wasn't the only one who looked, as Laurent and Sophie followed his gaze. Martine Grenadine was standing near the side, appearing like she had come from the dining area.

"Qu'est-ce que c'est, Martine?" Steven said, but not before shooting a glare at Sophie and Laurent (who were oblivious to it). "I was just on a break, but I should be okay now. As-tu un problem?"

"Non," Martine denied. "It's just that you need to see James right away. There's something you need to see."

Steven wished he had brought his suit with him, as he clearly wasn't in the right clothes to make an appearance at his restaurant. Why didn't he just go home and grab his clothes? Oh right, it was swarmed with reporters and a helicopter who were ready to berate him with endless questions as ammunition. No, it was safer to stay here.

"Very well, I'll go there," he said, and then he seemed to remember something. He pulled out the perfume spray Cynthia dropped and tossed it to Martine. "Do me a favour and put this in my office."

"Oui, boss," Martine replied, although she seemed slightly weirded by her boss carrying perfume in his pocket. Was it something he only just started? To attract the ladies, perhaps? "Whose is this, boss?"

"It's Cynthia's," Steven said flatly. "Don't ask any more questions."

Martine's eyes shined and her eyebrows were raised. "Ooh, this is Cynthia's? Did you see her today? Did she give this to you? Oh, boss, I knew it. I knew it! So, what were you and her up to today? Something romantic, I bet? Come on…"

Steven sighed. He expected as much from his 19-year old red-haired waitress. Furthermore, Martine's eyes simply shined at the mention of that name.

Martine's eyes lit up. "Oh, I know! You two went on a date!"

But before Steven could even think about anything, Martine was on her way to the office – and happily whistling while she was at it. Steven figured he had to attend to his own business too, and went into the dining area to meet James. Even so, he had no idea how to quell that simple attitude of Martine's.

Even worse, that outburst from Martine could plainly be seen and heard by the two receptionists in the lobby. Steven turned his head to look at Sophie and Laurent: whilst Laurent was giving Steven the nods, Sophie's nods had smiles all over them.

Watching those two receptionists also makes me smile.

Review, and you can - I seriously insist on it - try out one of these delightful fruit-filled mochi balls that 'explode' in the mouth the moment you bite on it. Picture that soft mochi ball in your mouth as you bite onto it and once it opens fruit just gushes around your mouth...