Kazehara Tetsu stopped and looked up at the Western Restaurant in front of him.
This is a store that exudes a high-end feel from its facade decoration.
Frankly speaking, this is not Kazehara Tetsu's first choice on weekdays.
For students who are in the period of physical development and consume a lot of food, the first attribute of food should be "satisfaction".
This kind of place where the plate is huge, but the food is only a small amount in the middle, and where you have to sit upright and hold the Knife and Fork to eat, is usually classified by him as a "social place with extremely low cost performance".
"Huh..."
Kazehara Tetsu exhaled a breath of white mist, adjusted his collar which was slightly chilled by the wind, and pushed open the door.
Soft violin music played, and the volume was extremely well controlled. It would not become a noise, but could just enough cover up the small conversations at the next table.
"Good evening, sir. Do you have an appointment?"
A waiter wearing a straight waistcoat came over immediately, with a professional smile that was so standard that there was nothing wrong with it.
"Don't bother finding a seat."
Kazehara Tetsu waved his hand, and his eyes did not stay on the couples in Lobby who seemed to be enjoying a romantic dinner but were actually testing each other. Instead, he looked directly at Spiral Wooden Staircase leading to the second floor.
"A friend is already here."
"Okay, please help yourself." The waiter bowed slightly and didn't ask any nonsense questions.
Kazehara Tetsu walked up the stairs.
The space on the second floor is more private and quieter than the first floor.
There is no dense arrangement of tables and chairs here. There are only a few tables sparsely placed in the huge space, and most of them are vacant.
The huge floor-to-ceiling windows occupy the entire wall, and outside the windows is a bright night view.
And in this empty corner, that figure was so conspicuous that the moment Kazehara Tetsu stepped onto the last step, his vision was firmly locked.
Sakayanagi Arisu.
She sat at a round table by the window.
Instead of wearing her usual school uniform, tonight she put on a set of private clothes with a very personal style.
It was a finely tailored white dress.
She was holding her chin with one hand, and her eyes seemed to be observing the busy pedestrians downstairs through the glass window.
Hearing the footsteps, Sakayanagi Arisu did not look back.
"Here he comes."
Kazehara Tetsu walked over, pulled out the chair opposite her and sat down.
"Why did you choose a place like this?"
Kazehara Tetsu glanced at the surrounding decorations and raised his eyebrows helplessly.
"When I saw the name of the store you sent me, I thought it would be some kind of more casual cafe, even with elements of cats or maids."
"Haha, Tetsu-kun's imagination is really rich and... down-to-earth."
Sakayanagi Arisu turned his head and his eyes fell on Kazehara Tetsu.
"At this time, instead of drinking those energizing coffees, wouldn't it be better to enjoy a proper meal?"
"What's more..."
Her eyes became somewhat meaningful, and her eyes glanced at Kazehara Tetsu intentionally or unintentionally.
"In this Special Day, the consumption of Tetsu-kun should be quite large, right?"
"You have to deal with so many 'cute' requests and have to travel back and forth between different locations... If you don't supplement enough calories and protein, I'm worried that you will die from overwork."
"Not bad."
Kazehara Tetsu was not choked by these words. He had long been accustomed to this way of speaking.
"That level of exercise is just a warm-up for me."
He leaned back on the chair, crossed his hands on his knees, and looked directly at Sakayanagi Arisu.
"It's you, Arisu."
"Although you said you 'think about it' before, is the time of your reply a little late?"
"You actually waited until it was almost dark before sending me a message. It almost made me think that I was going to spend tonight alone at Dormitory eating Instant Noodles."
"Really?"
Sakayanagi Arisu chuckled. She did not deny it, but gently rubbed the cane with her fingers.
"Originally... I really didn't want to do this."
She lowered her head slightly, and her tone had just the right amount of resentment. Although everyone knew it was staged, her acting skills were enough to make anyone's heart flutter.
"I originally thought that as long as I was a little more reserved, Tetsu-kun would take the initiative to invite me."
"But... it seems that Tetsu-kun is much more popular than I thought... If I don't take action, I'm afraid this 'big fish' will completely swim into other people's fish ponds."
"In order to prevent this Christmas from becoming too boring, I have no choice but to put down my posture and take the initiative to send out invitations."
Kazehara Tetsu looked at her and couldn't help but laugh.
"You're really good at teasing, Arisu."
"I don't see you having this so-called 'worry' at all."
"The reason why you contacted me so late is probably not because you were worried that I would run away, but to make sure that I had 'handled' all the chores, so that I could only leave the entire night to you, right?"
"This is your plan, isn't it?"
Being exposed in person, Sakayanagi Arisu was not embarrassed at all.
On the contrary, the smile on her face became even brighter.
"Oh, I've been discovered."
She did not deny it, but nodded generously.
"Now that the 'other noise' has been cleared away, the next time will be a... quiet time for the two of us."
At this time, the waiter came over with a heavy leather menu and interrupted the conversation between the two at the right time.
"You two, would you like to place an order?"
Sakayanagi Arisu did not open the menu. It seemed that he was already familiar with this place, or he didn't care about the contents on the menu at all.
She looked at Kazehara Tetsu and made a "please" gesture.
"I'm treating you tonight. Tetsu-kun, what do you plan to eat? Just order it, you don't have to save money for me."
Kazehara Tetsu took the menu and glanced at the fancy dish names and Illustrations, which was only the size of a fingernail.
He was indeed somewhat uninterested in this kind of dish whose name was scary but whose actual content was puzzling.
"Since it's Arisu's treat..."
Kazehara Tetsu didn't even turn to the second page, he closed the menu and handed it back to the waiter.
"Then just be like this lady."
He pointed at Sakayanagi Arisu opposite.
The waiter was stunned for a moment and looked at Sakayanagi Arisu subconsciously.
Sakayanagi Arisu was startled for a moment, then looked at Kazehara Tetsu in a funny way.
"Tetsu-kun... You're really lazy."
She let out a soft sigh, with a hint of helplessness in her tone as she looked at a disobedient child.
"Even at this time, you don't want to use your brain to think about what to eat, or try to show your taste by ordering dishes?"
"This is not laziness, this is called 'trust'. As long as Arisu likes it, I can do it."
"I believe that based on your taste, the food you selected will definitely not taste bad. Instead of letting an amateur like me ruin the atmosphere by randomly ordering food, I would rather just follow your footsteps."
If these words were spoken from the mouth of an ordinary licking dog, it would probably only make people think that they are following the crowd and have no independent opinion.
But combined with Kazehara Tetsu's somewhat flirtatious attitude, he forcefully told me a feeling that was irrefutable.
"Haha... this mouth..."
She shook her head slightly.
"This set of rhetoric is really suitable for deceiving those little girls who are not familiar with the world. What about 'whatever you like'... it sounds so affectionate."
"Presumably those people just now were also coaxed by this kind of talk, right?"
Although she was being sarcastic, she obviously didn't resent this interaction.
She turned her head and nodded to the waiting waiter.
"Then follow his wishes..."
"Okay."
The waiter withdrew.
Quietness returned to the second floor, with only the melodious sound of the violin continuing.
"But forget it."
Sakayanagi Arisu looked at Kazehara Tetsu again, folding his hands on the top of the cane.
"Since you 'trust' me so much, then I will reluctantly accept this laziness."
"After all, I want to have someone who is completely obedient and willing to eat everything I arrange... whether it's food or anything else..."
"That's an interesting thing, isn't it?"