Chapter 9: A Nice Lunch At A Restaurant
With that, the three of them returned back into the town. They walked through the park and the two kids noticed Christopher still in his Crepes stand. "Hey, is that Chris?" Robyn said before jogging towards the Crepes stand.
Ender and Annie hurried after her and found Robyn harassing the poor guy. "Wow, Chris! I didn't know you work here too, did Emilia fired you?" she asked him.
Annie bopped Robyn on the head. "That's rude Robyn," she said before bowing a little at Christopher. "I'm sorry Christopher."
"It's alright," Chris said while looking at Ender warily. "Where are you from anyway?"
"From the Great Lake!" Robyn exclaimed.
"Eh? That's dangerous, can you two swim?"
"Ender is with us so it's fine,"
Ender coughed a little. "I found you, I didn't come with you," she said.
Robyn smiled at her sheepishly. "Yeah, but I can swim so there's nothing to worry about," she said. "Oh, and we also caught some fish! Ender cooked two of them for us and would you like the last one?" she showed Christopher the bucket of fish.
"No thank you… And what do you mean by cooking it there?"
"Ah, yes, I have experience in outdoor cooking," Ender said confidently. Then she looked at the children. "Say, do you want some dessert? My treat,"
"Yeah!" Robyn exclaimed before Annie could say a word. "I have chocolate ice cream crepe," she said.
Annie shot Robyn a pointed look, but Ender just patted her head. "It's okay Annie, I have plenty to spare," she said.
The blonde haired girl bit her lip before relenting. "Okay… I'll have vanilla ice cream, is that alright Miss Ender?"
"Don't worry about it," Ender said.
After that, the Christopher handed the two of them their crepes. Ender took this moment to take another picture."No, Chris, I'm going to show this to Rena, I'm sure she'll like it," she said when Chris was about to hide himself.
Ender snapped a picture of the three of them together. Then she took a selfie with them before finally pocketing her flip phone. "Okay you two, let's go back, you both need a shower," she said.
Robyn held up her bucket of fish with one hand. "Shouldn't we bring this to the Secret Garden first?" she asked.
"I'll go take it to the Secret Garden, you two go back home and clean up. Then we'll meet at the restaurant," Ender said.
Annie nodded a little while Robyn saluted at her. "Sir yes sir," the latter before taking Annie's hand. "Come on Annie, let's not keep Ender waiting," she said.
"W-wait! I almost drop my crepe!"
Ender just chuckled in amusement as she watched them running away back home. She can imagine Emilia being dragged around by the two of them. It's a wholesome fun, the kind of fun that will definitely make Marshall vomit in disgust.
"Well Chris, I'll be taking this to the Secret Garden," Ender told the errand boy.
"Yeah, see you later Ender," Chris replied.
It was 14:00 when Ender made it to the Secret Garden. Marshall's magical hand drawn map was a blessing to be had when trying to navigate navigate through the city. The amount of turns, bridges, and alleyways made this town into a very pretty labyrinth.
"Secret Garden huh?" Ender said in amusement. True to its name, the restaurant is quite hidden. It resides at the end of a road. The only telling is the numerous sign that led to it once she's near enough.
Ender thought about going straight in, but then she realized that barging into a a restaurant with a bucketful of fish is a bad idea. She walked around the restaurant and saw the backdoor. She knocked on the door a few times before taking a step back.
The door opened, revealing a girl around Rena's age. She has long black hair and bright green eyes. She wore a white and green waitress uniform. "Oh, hello," she said. "How can I help you?"
"My name is Ender, I'm told by Robyn to bring this to you," she handed the girl the bucket.
"Oh my… oh dear…" she said in surprise. "Come in, please,"
Ender walked through the backdoor of the restaurant and found herself near a large kitchen. It looks like modern restaurant kitchen, but smaller. There's only one chef, a man wearing standard chef uniform.
"Ah, let me help you with that," the girl said, taking the bucket from Ender's hand. She put it near the wash table. "I'm so, so sorry about my cousin, you must be very confused right now," she said.
"No, it's okay," Ender replied. "We had fun," she said with a smile.
Then, Ender took out her flip phone. She opened the gallery and let the girl looked through it. "You cooked that?"
"Don't worry, I'm used to cooking in the wild," Ender replied.
As she browsed through the gallery a soft smile appeared on her face. "Uwaa… Thank you so much for playing with her Ender…" then she gasped a little. "Oh dear, where are my manners?" she bowed deeply in front of Ender. "You may call me Lalatina, this one thanks you for attending to her cousin and her friend."
Ender waved her hands dismissively. "It's alright, I had fun, children are so easy to impress," she told her.
Lalatina giggled a little. "I suppose you're right, oh, here's your phone back," she handed her the phone. "Would you like anything to eat?" she said.
"How about the fish we caught? I'm planning to meet Robyn and Annie here."
"Of course, follow me," Lalatina said.
The two of them walked out of the kitchen straight to the floors. It's just a little bit crowded but not too crowded. Lalatina motioned her to sit down on one of the table beside the window. Ender sat down on the chair and looked at the menu.
"Anything else I can get you?"
Ender looked at the menu. "Maybe some potato wedges, lemon tea, the fish from earlier, and… surprise me," she said.
Lalatina bowed politely once more. "Thank you Ender, I'll start making your orders now," she said before walking back to the kitchen.
'Secret menu huh?' Ender thought to herself. 'Could it be that it's the fishes Robyn and Annie caught? Wait, Annie said that she's going to be cooking it, is it Annie's cooking then? But that doesn't explain why no one knows about the secret menu. If either one is true then I was right and this is just a red herring.'
Soon after Lala returned to the kitchen, the restaurant's front door was blasted open. A certain dark haired little girl stood at the entrance and looked around. Then she saw Ender and started running towards her.
"Ender!" she exclaimed before sitting right beside the agent. She looked at Ender with expectant eyes. "So, have you met big sis?"
"Yes I have, she's…" Ender thought about her and Lalatina. "She's nothing like you,"
Robyn grinned and made a peace sign. "Hehe, I'm my own person,"
"So, where's Annie?"
The little girl pointed at the kitchen. "She's cooking the fish, she said she wanted to avenge the fishes you cook," she said.
"Avenge?" Ender blinked a little.
"I dunno, people in the TV uses that term all the time," Robyn replied with a shrug. "So, what did you order miss?"
"The fish, potato wedges, surprise menu, and something popular with children," Ender replied.
"Children?" Robyn pouted a little. "I'm not a kid anymore Ender, I'm a grown up you know!"
Ender chuckled a little. "Right, right," she said while petting the girl's head. "By the way, you should bring Emilia along next time. I'm sure she'll appreciate it."
Robyn looked down a little. "I tried, but she's just too busy with her work," she sighed a little. "I thought after Rena moved in, she would have more free time but…"
"But?"
"They just add more menu!" Robyn said in frustration. She plopped her head on the table. "Why can't she use her magic?" she whined.
"Magic?" Ender asked in curiosity.
Robyn looked up and held up her hands. "N-no, I mean, like magic tricks!" she said sheepishly.
Ender raised an eyebrow at that. She thought about prying some more, but realized that Robyn here might be being watched by Alicia just like Chris. So, she decided to be the cool, mysterious, big sister who seems to have the answer to all their problems.
"Say, Robyn, you said that Emilia needs to stay at the cafe because there's no one helping her right?"
Robyn nodded a little. "Yes, it's just Rena and Emilia,"
Ender smirked a little and leaned towards her. "Then, what if we ask someone to work there?" she asked her. "Go around the town and see if anyone is interested in working there," she said.
Stars seemingly appeared on Robyn's eyes. "Whoa! You can do that?"
"I don't mind," Ender replied. "I don't really have anything to do."
"Sorry for the wait!" a very familiar voice appeared near them. Annie and Lalatina stood beside their table, each one of them holding a large tray.
Annie held a plate full of roasted fish. It looked a hundred times better than the ones Ender cooked and is probably much more delicious. It is slightly glazed with sweet soy sauce and it has a bunch of condiments sprinkled all over it.
Lalatina on the other hand held a tray full of all sorts of snacks and drinks. There's the potato wedges, chocolate brownies, and more.
"Enjoy the meal," the two of them said before serving the food.
Robyn quickly helped herself with fish before Annie could even sit down next to her.
"How is it Robyn?"
"It's really great Annie," Robyn said with a toothy grin. "A bit too sweet though," she added, licking her fingers a little.
Annie looked a bit flustered after hearing that. She too, tried her fish and grimaced. "Aah… Sorry… I added too much sweet sauce…"
Ender also took a bite and realized what she meant. Roasted fish isn't supposed to be this sweet but, "It's still better than my cooking," she said before trying out the potatoes.
"W-well you didn't use anything to cook it so, mph!" Robyn stuffed Annie's mouth with some a potato wedges, cutting her off. The girl just chewed on the potato in defeat before swallowing.
"Your cooking tastes great Annie, don't worry."
Annie sighed a little bit before finally joining everyone else. She seems to have a particularly sweet tooth judging by how quickly she went for the dessert. Robyn however doesn't discriminate. She eat the main dish, the side dishes, and the dessert one after another.
Ender on the other hand, spend her entire time watching Robyn and Annie. She wondered what else is odd about these two other than their fishing skills. Though, so far, the only thing she noticed is Robyn's appetite and Annie's schrodinger confidence.
After eating for a while, Robyn finally voice Ender's thought about Emily. "Annie, do you have anything to do today?" she asked her.
"Umm… I have my piano lessons in half an hour," Annie replied.
"Aww man," Robyn looked back at Ender. "What now Ender?"
"We can do it tomorrow if you want," Ender replied simply. "Besides, it gives me time to look more into the cafe's situation and see what kind of people we need."
Robyn nodded in agreement while Annie just looked at either at them in confusion. "What are you talking about?" the latter asked.
"Ender wanted to see if she can ask some people to work at the Black Cat Cafe, maybe then, Emilia will have more time to play with us before the vacation is over," Robyn explained.
"Waah, I'm sorry I couldn't help you…"
Ender smiled at her patiently. "Don't worry Annie, we'll do it tomorrow," she said before taking a sip of her lemonade. "Hmm… Sweet," she muttered.
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