Chapter Eighteen:

Hot Restaurant Complications

"Nothin' beats a good Japanese food chain." ShadowSquid9 said with a smile as he sat comfortably at the table by the window, for someone who'd seen something scary only several days ago, the Octoling was in a good mood.

However, the mere thought of the apocalyptic virus still lingered in his mind every waking hour. And yet, even during times of uncertainty, peace and comfort could be found, even when he was hanging out with the two hobos, who were sitting at their own table well across from the Octoling's table.

ShadowSquid's bowl of noodles was soon delivered by the waitress, the Mushroom Kingdom's resident anime girl, Saiko Bichitaru. ShadowSquid picked up his spoon and began to dig in, but then he turned and saw another familiar face in the restaurant; Meggy Spletzer, ShadowSquid hadn't seen the likes of her in a while.

Even before he thought of talking to her, the smell of his food reverted his attention back to his bowl. Across from him, Hobo 1 and Hobo 2 were chatting amongst each other, both in surprisingly good spirits for a pair of other worldly fellas trying to warn everyone in the Mushroom Kingdom about the impending apocalypse.

"...Then he flipped over the rock and got bonked by the branch." Hobo 2 said with a giggly tone, "Oh, it was so funny..."

Meggy walked up towards the table, wearing a Japanese headband similar to Saiko's. "What would you two like to order today?" The former Inkling asked.

It didn't take a genius to figure out that Meggy had apparently volunteered as a waitress, from the second ShadowSquid overheard her, he knew what was going on. However, he was beyond surprised to learn of this development.

The last he heard, Meggy had been working for the police force, something must have happened. In fact, how long had she been doing this?

"Miss, have you heard of our lord and savior..." Hobo 2 asked, he and Hobo 1 brought out flags with the number four on them, "...Four!"

"Uhhhh..." Meggy raised her eyebrows.

"Four! Our lord and savior four!" Hobo 2 cried, he then went crazy, "FOUR WILL SAVE US! FOUR WILL SAVE US!"

Reaching her breaking point right away, Meggy tipped over the table and knocked over the two hobos. However, they were just fine as Hobo 1 and Hobo 2 got back up, still wavering their signs around like lunatics.

"MAY THE FOUR BE WITH YOU!" Hobo 2 called after her.

Meggy was tasked by Saiko to deliver Fat Guy, a large Shy Guy, a huge bowl of ramen. Meggy complied and carried the bowl to the big guy's table, just barely placing it on there without hurting herself.

Fat Guy wasted no time digging right into the meal, eating every last inch of ramen, then he knocked over the empty bowl and cried, "50 more please!"

The next customer was a family of Goombas. Meggy delivered them their ordered plates of noodles and ramen, however, things went downhill fast no sooner than Meggy had delivered the order as the female Goomba began screaming like a lunatic.

"HOW DARE YOU!" She screamed, "WE'VE BEEN WAITING FOR MINUTES FOR OUR ORDER! I WANT TO SPEAK TO YOUR MANAGER! I READ THAT RAMEN THAT TAKES MINUTES IS BAD! I REFUSE TO EAT IT. NO I WON'T WEAR A MASK! I HAVE MY RIGHT AS A GOOMBA..."

Meggy was shocked, her mind reeling as the Goombas began shouting at her, she could even hear the Fat Guy begging for more plates from across the room. And then it got complicated with Hobo 1 and Hobo 2 chanting "four" over and over, Meggy became annoyed and her blood boiled, her fists clenched.

Oh, the nerve of it all...

ShadowSquid9 was finishing his next bowl of noodles and ramen when he smelled something burning, people shrieked and ran out of the restaurant. That was when he began to realize, the place was on fire, Saiko made a run for it and so too did Meggy.

The Octoling got off the chair, morphed into Octo-form and made a break for it. He slid across the bridge, avoiding the water around the area until he'd managed to get as far away from the restaurant, just missing Meggy and Saiko by inches. Behind him, Saiko glared at Meggy, who shrugged in a sheepish manner.

"Ok, so I may have overreacted..." The former Inkling explained to Saiko the circumstances behind the situation.

By this point, Meggy had tried cooking, which she was still obviously bad at, had tried to be an online influencer, which ended badly. Now she'd tried a stint as a waitress, which also would up being a failure, but there were a lot more jobs for Meggy to try.

Not far off, ShadowSquid9 caught up with Hobo 1 and Hobo 2, who were both shocked by how events had unfolded.

"Not how we expected today to turn out." Hobo 2 remarked.

"You're telling me, who sets a restaurant on fire?" Hobo 1 quipped.

"We can always go to a different restaurant, you know." ShadowSquid9 remarked, "The burning of one establishment is not the end of the world, there is like multiple Japanese restaurants and non-Japanese restaurants across the Mushroom Kingdom. You guys know that, right?"

"Of course, we do." Hobo 1 nodded.

"Yeah, we wouldn't we know that." Hobo 2 agreed.

"Honestly, we could go to that new Inkling diner that opened up downtown, I heard the Inkling food being served there tastes great and they do serve human food, including cooked lobster. You fellas wanna try it out?"

"To be fair, ShadowSquid, we haven't been too curious about Inkling culture..." Hobo 1 replied, "But perhaps that's a good idea, then me and my associate can continue trying to get everyone to know how dire our situation is and that the end of the world is coming. For crying out loud, people need to listen, we're not crazy..."

"We're just desperate and a little frightened, especially with how little progress we've made..." Hobo 2 piped up, "Every day, more folks are vanishing and he's gathering strength in the darkness!"