A/N: Sorry for the long wait this time. I was doing NaNoWriMo again and wanted to focus on my original stuff.
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As each of the students walked into the diner, they were surprised to find their clothes magically transforming again. Though this time was a bit underwhelming compared to the last; rather than gaining fantasy costumes, they all promptly found themselves wearing matching diner uniforms and aprons, and each person had a nametag pinned on.
"This is degrading for a three-star Michelin chef… but I suppose there's nothing to be done," Teruteru sighed. "Now then! We're about to witness the rebirth of the Hanamura Diner! So it's time for us to discuss our roles! If we want this day to go smoothly, we must all be working in tandem! Like a well-oiled machine!"
"Eew. I never wanna hear the phrase 'well-oiled' out of your mouth ever again," said Hiyoko. "And gimme a break… this place is nothing but a grease bucket."
Teruteru was not to be deterred. "We must make do with what we have!" he declared. "Now Hajime. As my sous-chef, you'll be answering directly to me. We'll be preparing the meals, and I expect nothing less than perfection from you!"
Hajime was getting a little irritated. "Right… well, I think I can handle that."
"So what do the rest of us do? We're not all gifted at preparing food," said Mahiru.
"It's much easier to just not eat anything," Ryota sighed.
Teruteru suddenly looked ready to blow his stack. "You… how can you spout such blasphemy?!" he shouted at him.
Hajime decided to field this one. "We're going to need waiters. People who can go around taking orders and delivering the meals. Hiyoko, maybe you can handle that. There's not a lot of room to move around in here."
Hiyoko looked shocked. "Whaaaaat? Are you calling me short?!" she demanded. "In that case, why not make Fuyuhiko do it? He's tiny!"
"…Yes, I was just about to suggest you two work together."
Fuyuhiko did a double take. "…Wait, what?" He looked ready to argue, but seemed to realize he didn't know the first thing about working in a diner. "Oh, fine. God, talk about degrading…"
"Okay, so what other jobs are there?" asked Kazuichi.
Hajime thought back on everything he knew about Diner Dash… despite never playing it. "We should have someone manning the coffee maker. And they can go around filling up any empty cups."
"Ohhh… I'd better not do that. I'd just spill it all over myself…" said Mikan.
"KYAHAHA! Ibuki can handle the coffee job, no problem!" the guitarist laughed gleefully. "Did you know I once drank seventeen cups of coffee in one day? At least I think I did. I don't really remember what happened after that."
"How is this relevant?" the Imposter sighed impatiently.
Hajime tried to tune them out. "Mikan, Kazuichi, you guys can do all the cleaning up. There's probably going to be a lot of messes in here. You should go check the supply closet for anything you need."
Kazuichi raised a hand. "Question. Do those… things out there use the bathroom? Or can we just assume we won't be cleaning in there?"
Hajime pinched the bridge of his nose. "Let's cross that bridge when we come to it," he said. "Also, someone has to stand behind the podium and keep those… things in a good mood. That should be someone who's good at talking."
Nekomaru put his hands on his hips and laughed. "AHAHAHA! Leave this one to me! Pep talks are the most important part of any team manager's job!"
Hajime stood back and looked around at his classmates. "Okay. Well… that's all the important jobs, I think."
"That still leaves many of us with nothing to do," said Peko.
"Nonsense! The rest of you will all be dishwashers!" Teruteru declared.
Hajime glanced over at him. "Teruteru's right… there's not enough room for all of us to be out here together. Anyone who doesn't have a job already should stay in the kitchen and wash dishes."
"I see…" Nagito was looking at the ground in clear disappointment. "I was hoping my Ultimate Luck would aid us today. But if this is what my classmates have decided, I will accept it."
Akane didn't look pleased either. "Dishwashing? Really?" She balled her fists together. "Come on, that's lame! I gotta be where the action is! And the food!"
"Akane, you of all people should not be moving around on that leg. Now do what Hajime says," said Nekomaru.
Akane looked at him like she'd been betrayed. "What? C'mon, Coach! You gotta back me up here!"
Hajime was running out of patience. "We don't have time to argue, everyone. We only have a few minutes before the diner opens and – "
He was cut off by a sudden pounding on the front door. Everyone froze up in horror, turning and facing the door without daring to move, afraid of the wave of murderous creatures that was about to come forcing its way in…
And then the door swung open.
"Ohhhhh, I've just had the worst night ever!" Monomi wailed as she stood in the doorway, blood dripping from a wound on her head. "I had to gnaw my way out of the cage all by myself and – you're all ignoring me again!"
"Oh, it's just you," said the Imposter as everyone else relaxed. "Well if you're going to drip blood all over, then wait outside. We need it to be clean in here."
Kazuichi looked at the rabbit distastefully. "How does a robot even have blood?"
"She's not just a robot. She's the digital avatar of a robot," said Mahiru.
"Oh, yeah. Now it all makes sense."
Monomi seemed to instantly forget about her own problems. "Oh? What's going on in here? Are you going to be preparing food for those things out there?" She put on a determined frown. "Then let me help! You shouldn't have to do all this by yourselves!"
"Don't be ridiculous. There's nothing here for you to do," said Peko.
Predictably, Monomi looked crestfallen. "N-nothing?" Her ears drooped. "You're turning me away? Again?" She started blubbering. "A-all I wanted was to help my students…"
Hajime started rubbing his forehead. He really didn't have time to deal with this right now… not that he ever did. "Monomi, knock it off… look, if you're that upset, I have a job you can do."
Monomi brightened up just a little, like she hardly dared to hope. "Really? You do?"
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Several minutes later, Monomi was stationed outside the entrance while wearing a signboard over her body, looking rather dejected.
"Please come to the Jabberwock Island Diner… all our competitors are a dine a dozen!" she said. Then she frowned. "Wait… that pun doesn't even work in Japanese! What language am I speaking right now?"
While she was outside having that existential crisis, Hajime and the others were inside making their final preparations for when their customers arrived.
"Now, does everyone understand their jobs?" Teruteru addressed everyone. "Because Hajime and I will be busy preparing the most scrumptious meals this island has ever borne witness to! So we won't be available to help you."
"We'll be fine, man," Fuyuhiko muttered.
"Right then! Let's get out there and show some enthusiasm! And try not to embarrass me."
No sooner had he spoken than the clock above the counter struck 9 am, and right on cue, the front door flew open, revealing a queue of hungry, colorful creatures.
"Geez! Give us some breathing room, why don't you!" Hiyoko exclaimed, realizing it was her job to seat them. Several of the students hurried back to the kitchen as everyone else got into place. Hiyoko grabbed the first two creatures and led them over to the booth in the very back. Then she scurried over to the counter and came back with two menus, giving one to each of them.
As the two creatures perused the menus, Hiyoko simply stood there waiting, feeling rather awkward. "…So how do we know what they want? Do they talk?"
She immediately got her answer as two cartoony speech bubbles appeared over the creatures' heads. Each one displayed the image of a cheeseburger.
"This place is weird."
Hiyoko scribbled the order down on her notepad, ripped it off and hurried it over to the ticket station on the counter. Once she'd clipped it in place, Teruteru spun the station around and grabbed it.
"Right then. Two double cheeseburgers with lettuce and mayo… WHAT?! This is a complete waste of my talent! I was going to prepare my smoked salmon pâté and rice pilaf!"
Hajime gave him a warning glare. "Teruteru. We have to give them what they want, or else…"
Teruteru wilted under his gaze. "Right… you're right, of course. I just have to accept that my true talent always goes unappreciated."
The two of them quickly retreated to the kitchen and prepared the orders. Despite never having made this particular meal before, Hajime didn't even have to think about what he was doing. He actually finished before Teruteru, though he kept that to himself. Then Teruteru balanced one plate on each hand and slid them back onto the counter.
"Orderrrrrr UP!"
"Yeah, yeah, keep your pants on," said Fuyuhiko, grabbing both plates and running them over. Hiyoko was already busy seating the next group of creatures, and for good reason. Each one of them had a cartoon smiley face over their heads indicating their mood. But if they stood in line for too long, or had to wait too long for their meals, it would turn into a frowning face. And if they had to wait even longer after that…
Well, Hajime could imagine what would happen.
And that was how it went. The creatures would come in through the door seemingly nonstop, sometimes alone, sometimes in groups as big as five or six. Fuyuhiko and Hiyoko were running themselves ragged placing each party at one of the booths or in the seats around the counter, depending on where there was enough room for them. Meanwhile, Nekomaru had to stay behind the podium in front and chat up all the creatures waiting in line so that their patience didn't run out.
Once the creatures had gotten their menus and "spoken" their orders, Fuyuhiko or Hiyoko would write it down and bring it back to Teruteru, and he and Hajime would get to work preparing the meals. It was all traditional diner food, and Hajime was fairly certain he could have prepared it all in his sleep. He chopped onions, flipped burgers, fried baskets full of hash browns… to be honest, he understood why Teruteru was disappointed. Preparing some fancier meals would have held his interest a little more.
He would place each order on the counter when he was done preparing it, and one of their waiters would hurry it over to the correct booth. Ibuki was also running back and forth, coffee pot in hand, filling up the empty mugs whenever she passed by. She looked like the only one who was actually enjoying her work.
Their customers frequently made huge messes, and Hajime couldn't help but feel it was always done on purpose. In any case, Mikan and Kazuichi would then have to rush onto the scene, wiping the table or mopping up the floor. They always had to scramble to clean everything up quickly; if the mess stayed for too long, the creatures would quickly start displaying frowny faces over their heads.
Then their customers would finish their meals and bounce out the door, leaving their empty plates behind. One of the students resigned to dish cleaning duty would collect all the dirty dishes and bus them back to the kitchen, where the sinks were crowded with everyone washing and drying.
And then the process would start all over again.
The students had to work all day long. Hajime watched the sun travel across the sky from outside the wide windows, wishing he could get out there and stretch his legs. But the creatures kept on crowding through the door one after another, each one as ravenous as the last. There was no down time.
"Man, this is the pits… when do we get to eat?" Kazuichi complained several hours later.
"You really think Monokuma cares enough to give us a meal break?" said Hajime. "We'll be fine, Kazuichi. The diner closes at 6. Then we can all get out of here."
And so the minutes crawled by. Everyone was growing exhausted. Even Ibuki seemed to be running out of enthusiasm. But they all kept working for fear of what those creatures would do to them if they got too angry.
As the sun was sinking low in the sky, things finally changed. "Hey everyone! I think it's closing time! The line's finally starting to let up!" Nekomaru called over his shoulder.
Hajime glanced up at the clock and saw the time was indeed drawing close to 6 pm. "Perfect. Good job, everyone. I knew we could handle this."
Several minutes later, the final creatures to be led inside were finishing their meals and getting ready to bounce out the door. Kazuichi quickly cleaned up after them, and the rest of the students came stepping out of the kitchen as they sensed their workday was finally done.
"Ohh… thank goodness that's over with," Mikan sighed deeply, wringing her apron in her hands. "B-but… what about the Monocrystal? We still don't have it…"
"Monokuma said we'd have to battle the Monobeast in order to get it," said Ryota. "But where could it be?"
"He didn't exactly give us any hints," Hajime sighed as he finished toweling off his hands. "I suppose after we get this place closed up, we'll have to – "
He didn't get to finish before the door came flying open again. This time it was Monomi standing there, and she was looking panicked.
"Everyone! You have to get out of here now! Quickly, before it's too late!" she cried, flailing her stumpy little arms in the air. "It's the Monobeast! It's headed this way!"
Rather than listen to her, the students just stood there staring at her. "The Monobeast… is coming here?" asked Hajime. "Wait… you don't mean – "
The windows shattered as the front wall of the diner came exploding in, sending dust and debris flying everywhere and causing the ceiling lights to fall to the ground and shatter. Everyone cried out and reflexively jumped behind the counter. The hapless Monomi was sent flying away by the creature that had just emerged.
"ASHLEE SIMPSON!" Teruteru screamed.
A giant Monobeast was looming over them. Its long, segmented body was covered in metallic plating, and its tail was tipped with a huge metal spike. Its eyes were glowing red, and its mouth was covered by two enormous fangs that looked like they could have bitten through solid concrete.
It was the Snake Mecha. And it was looking hungry.
