Chapter 3-Ohno’s POV

The restaurant was not that big, but it wasn’t small either. The back of the store only had three tables, and in the middle, there was a small stage with a piano sitting on it. With the reasonable darkness from the lighting, I could barely make out three people sitting at the tables at the back of the restaurant. There weren’t a lot of seats at the counter either, but the store somehow gave a spacious impression. It was like a small bar for calm meals and relaxed meetings with friends.

“This restaurant has a really nice atmosphere."

“Yeah, I agree with Satoshi-kun.”

“Thanks! It was very hard to make it look like a restaurant because it’s originally a normal house…” No wonder it looked like a normal house from the outside.

“Anyways, here! Keep drinking, it’s my treat today! :)” Sho-kun’s friend placed two bottles of beer on the table and rushed to the customers at the back of the store.

“Okay, so Satoshi-kun, here’s to celebrate our reunion! :D”

“Cheers!” Laughing together, we drank to our reunion.

After drinking and chatting for a while, Sho-kun’s friend came back to the counter with a snack.

“Sorry, I only have this for now. I’ll make something later when the other people go home.”

“Yeah, sorry about that.”

“Sorry.”

“It’s alright! Honestly, don’t worry about it. And Ohno-san, you don't have to be so polite, I’m younger than you.”

“Oh, okay. You don’t have to be so polite to me either. And you can call me whatever you like, not Ohno-san.”

“Really?! Then can I call you Oh-chan? You can call me anything, like Masaki or Ma-kun.”

“Then…I think I’ll call you Aiba-chan. :) Do you run the restaurant by yourself?”

“Hmm? No, actually I run the restaurant with someone else… ooh, speak of the devil. We’re almost closing the store, please wait a bit more.” After gesturing for us to wait, Aiba-chan moved to the back of the counter. Sho-kun and I watched curiously as he walked to a machine with a lot of buttons and switches. As Aiba-chan’s fingers slowly slid down, the lights of the restaurant went down and the background music that was playing softly in the background slowly faded out.

“Masaki, what are you doing…?”

“Sho-chan, shh.” Smiling playfully, Aiba-chan put his finger to his lips and gestured for us to be quiet. There was a beautiful sound of the piano that echoed through the silent restaurant and I quickly turned toward it to see.

That was when I first met you.

There was a boy sitting in front of the piano in the spotlight, his fingers dancing and flowing on the keyboard. The boy played the piano beautifully with his eyes closed, but he somehow looked lonely and sad, as if he would disappear if I went out to touch him. After a short stunning introduction, he started singing in English. Although I couldn’t understand the lyrics, his voice made me feel warm and comfortable and I could feel that it was a very happy song. His clear smooth voice tangled with the melody of the piano and it gently spread through the restaurant. Mmm, he has a nice voice.

His song made me lose my sense of time and the performance was over in a blink of an eye. The last two customers who were still in the store gave a big round of applause and the boy bowed deeply. The background music and the lights were put back to normal and Aiba-chan came out of the counter and went to the customers at the back of the store.

“…shi-kun, Satoshi-kun?”

“…huh?” I suddenly heard Sho-kun’s voice and I looked at my friend who was sitting beside me.

“What's wrong, Satoshi-kun? You look like you’re daydreaming. :D”

“Oh… I just… thought that was amazing…” I couldn’t really express my feelings well and I searched my brain for the right words.

“Yeah, it was amazing. I learned the piano before but I would never be able to play like that…” I glanced behind me and I saw Aiba-chan taking the last two customers to the door and the boy who performed amazingly wipe the piano carefully with a piece of cloth. The two young ladies were smiling with beaming eyes.

“Can we come again?”

“Of course, we’ll be waiting.”

“Thank you for such a wonderful time.”

“No, thank you. I’m sorry for sort of kicking you out while it’s still early…” Aiba-chan went outside with the customers and came back a while later with a huge smile.

“Okay, now we’re closed! Sorry for waiting, Sho-chan and Oh-chan. What do you guys want to eat?”

“Oh, we don’t mind, you can make something that’s easy to cook.”

“Alright, I’ll make fried rice.”

“Fried rice? You work at a bar and you cook fried rice… Wow Masaki, you're awesome! :D”

“Well my parents do work at a Chinese restaurant. :)” I interrupted their cheerful conversation to ask Aiba-chan a question.

“Hey Aiba-chan, who is that boy…?”

“Oh yeah! I forgot! Kazu-kun, come over here.”

“Okay.” The boy whose name is apparently “Kazu-kun” replied to Aiba-chan, stopped cleaning the piano and started approaching us.

Looking at the boy up close, it was hard to believe that he was the same person who played the piano just now. He had soft brown hair that had small curls in them and his eyes were the same brown color. His skin was very white, and it was obvious that he didn’t go outside in the sun much. He was wearing a long-sleeved blue cardigan that made him look small and fragile. Although he was about the same height as me, he looked extremely young.

“Let me introduce to you my friend, Kazu-kun! He’s the musician of this restaurant!”

“Ma-kun! I told you so many times, stop introducing me like that, you’re embarrassing me!” The boy blushed and puffed up his cheeks a little to glare at Aiba-chan, and I couldn’t help but stare him. I have never met a guy who was so cute.

“I am Ninomiya Kazunari, Ma-kun’s friend from when we were small.” He bowed to us and gave us a wide angelic smile, and Sho-kun and I couldn’t help smiling back.

“Nice to meet you, I am Sakurai.”

“Sho-chan, I’ve heard a lot about you from Ma-kun.”

“…I’m Ohno Satoshi.”

“Nice to meet you, Ohno-san.” Hearing my name from his mouth made my body temperature rise with pleasure.

“Wait a second… you’re the same age as Masaki?!” Sho-kun asked surprisingly.

“Yeah, you can’t tell because he has a baby face, right? :D”

“Ma-kun, you’re so mean. You know that I hate it when people say that.”

“Come on, it’s fine. I’m just saying that you’re cute.”

“That doesn't make me feel better at all!”

“Guys, calm down, calm down. :)” Sho-kun soothed Aiba-chan who was still teasing him and the boy who was still glaring at Aiba-chan.

“Masaki, you’re making us fried rice, right? And Ninomiya-kun, you’re eating with us, right?”

“Yes, I’ll have some. And you guys can call me anything, Nino or Kazu or whatever.”

“Alright, I’ll call you Nino.”

“You too, Ohno-san.” The boy smiled at my diretion.

“Oh…okay.”

“Then let’s start making fried rice!”

“Are you sure you don’t need help, Ma-kun? Don’t burn your hand like lat time…”

"Hahaha, I know, I know.” After thinking for a while, Nino still went into the counter to help Aiba-chan cook.

“They’re really close, those two,” said Sho-kun and I couldn’t help but to feel a little bit… jealous.

“Yeah, I know.” Something stuck to me as I watched the two of them cook happily together and I tried to drain the feeling away with a big gulp of beer.