Ha ha ha ha ha!

I was laughing together with Rof, Hunley and Fara. We were inside a fast-food restaurant, eating a different kind of meal. I choose a salad, my brother the smoked seabeef served on a plate, Hunley a catfish cheeseburger and his sister a standard one. Everyone, except me, had French fries as side dishes and a soda to drink. I only had a bottle of Inkling Water.

I was sitting near my brother and I was in front of Hunley, while his sister was near him. He did a big smile, while looking at me and holding his dish.

"Hey, this place is so much fun! I never eat anything this good!" Hunley took another bite at his meal.

"'ell sa', big bro!" She took a big bite at her food. "Munch munch, Imunchit toomunch!"The little girl swallowed it…

"Eh?" Hunley looks at her.

"I sa' 'hat I 'ove it too!" She took another bite.

"Aaaah, ok!" He returns to eat his meal.

… ugh… I could see the stuff inside her mouth, while she was talking: I almost puked on my salad!

"Hope you are enjoying eating vegetables, Mirii! We almost always eat it, every day." He took another bite: Hunley was almost finishing.

"Munch munch, Imunchit toomunch…" … d-don't look at her, please!

"What?" Hunley looks at her, again.

She swallowed.

"I sa' 'hat I hat' it too mu'!" Fara picks the soda can and drinks from it.

"Huh?! Th-that's new! You always eat it!" He gulped the last bit of his dish.

"Yuck!" She catches out her tongue. "Mah bod' 'ants mo' 'eat!"

"Oh… you could have told us sooner, Fara! I'm sure that mom and dad didn't mind…" He drinks from his soda can.

"'eally?! Yahoo!" She raises both her fists.

… how about a balanced meal?!

"Anyway… is there something wrong, Mirii?" Hunley looks at me.

"Uhm? Why that question?" I flipped my fork multiple times.

"You didn't finish your meal, yet…" He looks at my bowl.

"… to be honest… I wasn't really hungry." I looked away.

"And now you say it?!" I heard my brother asking.

"I thought that the appetite would return once I saw the salad." I looked at him.

"But it didn't… so? What are you going to do?" He puts the last piece of smoked beef, inside his mouth.

"Nothing: I'll leave it here." I took another look at my meal.

My stomach was twisting inside me… d-darn! Could this be my fault for looking at that girl while chewing down that indescribable, disgusting substance?! … actually… I lose appetite after I reached the others.

"Mirii! You can't waste the food you ordered! I mean, people worked hard to serve this salad!" He folds his arms.

"Brother, I don't want to force my stomach… please understand." I twirled my right tentacle.

"No!" He slams on the table, with his fist. "I don't understand! Leaving food is terrible, Mirii!"

"But I can't eat it anymore…" I sighed. "I'm sick of food, for now."

Rof lies his palm on his forehead.

"Sigh… I don't feel like eating salad…" He shakes his head.

"I'm sorry, brother." I looked down. "I was being too carele"

"Mirii."

Hmm? Hunley said something.

"Yes?" I looked at him.

"Can… ehm… eat your salad?" He looks at it.

…

"Do you really want to?" I grabbed the bowl.

Hunley nods. … after looking at it, I passed the bowl to him along with my fork. He starts eating it almost immediately. No one else talked for a while: I notice that Rof and Fara were looking at Hunley eating my meal. He finished the salad, shortly after.

"Aaaah!" He pushes the empty bowl. "Not bad at all! Just a little bit of salt…!"

"Ya 'id it, bub!" She hugs him.

"Eh eh… it was nothing!" Hunley kissed the top of her head.

"Thank you, Hunley." I smiled.

"Oh, you shouldn't really thank me…" He looks at me, while being hugged by Fara.

"You helped me solve this problem. It was getting really troublesome too…" I twirled my right tentacle.

"No really. This is nothing, compared to what YOU did for me!" He lies his palm on himself.

"… you mean, defending you from the scheme of those two Inklings?" I raised my leg, lying it on the top of the other one.

"Yes!" He clapped once. "You were incredible at finding that last decisive... uuuhh… how you call it, again?"

"Evidence." I massaged my right tentacle.

"Right, evidence! You found it, early!" Hunley nods.

"My brother did all the work: I just pointed out their biggest flaw." I tapped multiple times on the table.

"Ye'! He wa' incrdibl'!" Fara claps.

I took a quick glimpse at Rof: he smiles towards the small girl.

"But you also contributed! It may have been one or two, but they impacted a lot!" He hits his open palm with his fist.

"Hunley…" I clasped my hands.

"Mirii, please hear me out." He leans forward.

Thank you for all your help.

… I smiled, without saying anything. Hunley does the same.

"You are my best friend, Mirii. I… I hope to keep staying with you, for a long time." His smile grew wider…

… WHY I'M BLUSHING?! HE JUST SAID TO… stay with me… for a long time… …

"Me too… Hunley." M-my heart is beating faster…

… Fara and Rof are looking at me… nodding once. W-what was that all about?! Now my brother took his smartphone…

"Oh, look at the time! It's very late!" He stares at its screen.

"'uckily we 'idn' ea' in 'hat risturan'!" Fara grins.

"Yeah, we would finish the dinner next morning! Also… after all those things, that the chef did to us…" Rof rubs his hands, while frowning.

"He was acting like a buffoon, insisting to be forgiven for his mistakes." I was remembering his embarrassing speech.

"Couldn't said it any better!" My brother stood up. "All right, let's go home before I fall asleep on this nice table…"

We all laughed loudly.

After that event, I didn't tell to my brother about my last decision… but after such experience, I'm now sure of what position I should really take, on this whole vicissitude. For now, I must get some rest… tomorrow is going to be very important, so I need to stay sharp.

Good night, Hunley. Sleep well.