Mei POV
We were in the middle of our conversation when the door to the backroom suddenly opened.
Despite it being his restaurant, Uncle Su carefully stepped in with a sheepish but bright grin.
"Sorry to disturb your fun," he said, scratching the back of his head. "I just wanted to let you guys know the shop will be closing soon."
The peppy mood grew unexpectedly solemn as everyone hung their heads, realizing their fun was coming to an end.
Uncle, seeing this, let out a panicked, hurried laugh in an attempt to lift the mood back up.
"But if you guys still want to stay, I can just give my Son the keys and lock up whenever you want to leave," he offered. "It's no big deal."
Seeing Uncle try so hard seemed to snap everyone out of their slump.
Yu raised his head and gave Uncle a wide, happy smile. "No, it's fine. We've asked too much from you today, anyway."
Yu stood up and gave a deep bow to Uncle Su. "Thank you so much for letting us stay here again, sir!"
Uncle let out a bashful giggle before walking up to Yu and giving him a solid pat on the shoulder. "I've told you this before, Yu. You're always welcome here!"
Uncle then shifted his gaze from Yu, looking at everyone in the eyes until they settled onto me. His face seemed to soften as his voice took on a slightly calmer tone.
"And that goes for every one of you."
Without waiting for the mood to turn awkward, Uncle spun on his heel.
"Well, I'd better start closing up. You guys should get ready, too."
He gave us one last playful wink before walking out of the room and closing the door.
We all sat in silence for a few moments until Remi pushed herself off the floor with an exhausted groan.
"Nnngh! I don't think we should waste any more time here," she said, stretching her arms out wide.
As if waiting for someone to call it first, we all began to pack our things. Once we were done, Hoshino led us out of the backroom.
Only a couple of hours had passed, but the main area of the shop felt completely different compared to this afternoon.
The shop trapped the chilly summer evening air, while the empty seats and dimmer lighting gave the establishment an almost desolate feel, which made it seem strangely peaceful.
Uncle was busy wiping down a few glasses dry as we walked out.
Just before we reached the exit, Luna turned and gave him an energetic farewell wave.
"Bye-bye, Hoshino's Dad! See you—well, whenever I do!"
Remi and Sora followed her lead and said their goodbyes as well.
Uncle Su gently set the glass he'd been holding down and returned our waves, even offering us some guava candy as we departed.
We filed out of the store one by one until I was the last one remaining. Just as I was about to leave, Uncle called out to me from behind.
"Wait!"
In the reflection of the glass door, I saw him dashing from the counter toward me, stopping about a meter away.
I turned around, meeting him with a cheery smile, but he didn't even look at me. He just rummaged through his pocket as fast as he could. I didn't say anything, I simply waited, curious.
Suddenly, the movement stopped, and he held out his hand, fist closed.
He was clearly trying his best to conceal whatever it was he was holding—except it was so long the ends poked out the sides of his fist.
Still, I tilted my head and played along.
"What is this supposed to be?"
Uncle should have known his gift wasn't much of a surprise, but hearing me ask, he let out a soft, regretful, yet delighted chuckle and opened his hand, revealing a pair of chopsticks.
"It's the shop's signature chopsticks. We got them custom-made just for looks, but I'd like you to keep a pair."
My hand twitched before reaching out and taking the chopsticks from his hands.
I didn't do or say anything; I just stared at them, feeling their cold surface against my palm.
It wasn't anything special; just a simple black pair of chopsticks with the restaurant's name engraved in what was supposed to be gold—but clearly fake.
I had plenty of chopsticks at home, but I found myself carefully sliding them into my bag, ensuring they wouldn't scrape against the leather or my notebooks.
"Thank you," I said, looking Uncle in the eyes. "I'll cherish them forever."
Uncle stepped back and planted his hands on his hips proudly. "Hihi. I hope you do!"
Uncle then turned around, but not before giving me a small wave. "Well, don't keep your friends waiting. I'll see you next time, Mei!"
I nodded. "Yeah…"
My gaze lingered on his retreating figure for just a bit longer before I pressed my hand against the door and pushed through.
Before I walked towards the car, I spared the shop one last glance. I'd only spent maybe four hours here at most, and yet, my legs refused to budge.
Still, the others were waiting for me, so I had no choice but to pry my gaze away and move forward until I finally arrived at the car.
"What took you so long?" Hoshino asked, eyes on his phone, as if he didn't actually care about the answer and was only asking to be polite. It might've worked on the others, but I knew better than that.
I seamlessly crossed to the driver's car door and pulled it open.
"Nothing. Your Dad just wanted to give me one more piece of candy," I said, pulling out two wrapped guava candies from my pocket.
Of course, one of them was the empty wrapper from the candy he'd given me when we talked in private. Still, with how dark it was out and how far away he stood, he wouldn't be able to tell it was empty.
Hoshino didn't ask anything else; he just opened the passenger seat door and stepped inside. The others followed suit. Once we were all buckled in—well, Hoshino and I; the people in the backseat couldn't, since there were four of them—I drove off carefully.
Since Hoshino, Luna, Yu, and I lived pretty close together, I dropped Sora and Remi off first.
Then, it was Yu's turn. He didn't leave the car right away. Instead, he did something with his hands between Luna and Hoshino that caused a loud clap before extending them toward me.
I stared at his outstretched hand, unblinking and confused.
"I'm sorry," I said as politely as I could. "But what is this supposed to be?"
Yu gasped, his mouth hanging open wider than I'd ever seen it. He was always dramatic, but I'd never seen him like this.
"YOU CAN'T BE SERIOUS!" he shouted, causing Luna to wince and Hoshino to lean away from him.
I blinked before letting out a small giggle. "Hehe. Sorry, but I actually don't know what that is. I've never done anything like it before."
His face morphed from shock to something almost… sympathetic? I didn't understand what there was to be sympathetic about. Still, I maintained my composure as I asked, "Can you teach me?"
"Heh—I was going to do that anyway! You can't be my friend and not know this tech."
Without thinking much of it, he reached over and grabbed my hand.
My stomach churned the moment he touched me, and my body tensed for half a second. I felt the food I'd digested earlier climb up my throat and press against my teeth, burning my gums as it threatened to spill out. At the same time, a ghostly, pungent odour stung my nose.
It wasn't that I had anything against Yu; I just couldn't stand a man's touch—not anymore. Not after my Uncle.
Such an extreme reaction would raise too many unnecessary questions, however, so I quickly put on a cheery smile, swallowed the burning acid down, relaxed my body until it almost felt limp, and let him do as he pleased.
But before he could start, Hoshino cut in.
"Sorry, Yu, but I don't think you're the best one to teach her—you suck at it. Get Luna to do it instead."
I glanced at him from the side. He was watching Yu with a sarcastic grin, as if he had been waiting to poke fun at his friend this whole time.
"Hey!" Yu shot back, offended. "What's that supposed to mean?! I think I'm great at it."
"I don't know," Hoshino said with a shrug. "When you tried to teach Luna, she didn't get it until I stepped in. It's either I'm just that good—which trust me, I'd love to think—or you just suck."
Hoshino then looked to Luna, egging her on. She didn't waste a beat as she pushed Yu's hand aside.
"Yeah, Yu. Let a professional handle this."
Yu shot each of them a disgruntled scowl, but in a two-versus-one situation, he had no choice but to cross his arms and sink back into his chair.
With Yu down, Hoshino returned his gaze to the windshield, his eyes lingering on me for a bit mid-movement.
Luna spent the next few minutes teaching me what it was to "dap someone up." It was quite an archaic concept to me—something like a handshake and a high-five at the same time. I didn't know when I'd ever use this, but seeing how other people my age did it, it was best I learned now.
Once I felt comfortable with it, I "dapped up Yu" before sending him off. After he left, I dropped off Luna, leaving me alone with Hoshino in the car.
The moment we were alone, his smile dropped—and so did mine.
Without another word, we drove off into the darkness.