Chapter 4 - Canapes and Champagne

Merii Kurisumasu!"

    "Joyeux Noël!"

    "Merry Christmas!"

    "I am not wearing that."

    "But Eimiii! We need to match as a group!"

    "Yeah Eimi. I bet they'll suit you." Akira snickered at an increasingly annoyed looking Eimi Inagawa.

    The current predicament began, as so many such situations do, with Rinko getting an idea.

    "My Christmas jammies are so cute, I wish I could wear them all Christmas long…”

    To this end the decision had been made - entirely by Rinko - that on our holiday evening out it was absolutely crucial that each of our units wear matching holiday-themed apparel. This led to a last minute run to a department store this afternoon - a trek which I had hoped to avoid by finishing my obligatory shopping early - to pick out suitable adornments. For Anette and Yume - my own unit members in Aromatique - and myself, this ended up being an only slightly embarrassing red Santa hat which, if not exactly stylish, can be overlooked on this particular date. Plus it's actually surprisingly warm. Not enough of a pleasant surprise to wear it in the weeks surrounding the holiday like some people do, but enough for me to wear it without complaint for the sake of "spreading holiday cheer." Rinko selected for her unit a very fetching headband adorned with plastic antlers. They light up…

    "Please Eimiii!? Akira didn't complain." Rinko gave 'everyone's favorite idol' a stare with the big, watery reindeer eyes that she uses to get her way even when all logic says she shouldn't.

    "Fine. But I'm not turning them on! And they're coming off for dinner. And not just mine, all of them. Do you have any idea how hard it was getting a reservation on short notice? They'd ban me if you all act like a bunch of…"

    "Elves!" Yume shouted, removing the peppermint stick from her mouth to do so. Anette gave Eimi a little flip of her cap in acknowledgement. A moment later the lights on Eimi's antlers lit up, courtesy of the third Christmas elf, eliciting giggles of glee from Rinko. The blonde surveyed all of her holiday companions and muttered something to me under her breath…

    "Can't believe you're the normal one…"

    …before starting our evening's journey out of the lobby. Despite their offers to help, this year's agenda wasn't all that different from the last few. We would head downtown into a shopping district - by foot, instead of taking the subway - and enjoy the light displays and decorations that are in nearly every shop window this time of year. Once either our feet or stomachs started to give out - which this year would be happening right around a quarter past seven - we would have dinner. That was my sacrifice for this evening. By the normal conventions of the holiday, Christmas Eve dinner - if you were to do anything special at all - is reserved for a special someone, and in years past I always looked forward to the event, even if I was always a different sort of special to Rinko than I may want. Seeing how much fun she's having though, it's hard to feel the loss too keenly.

    The walk downtown advanced by leaps and drags. Leaps, when one of my companions saw something glittering in the distance and took off after it, usually dragging the others along with them. Drags, when we found a display particularly captivating and needed to take photos in excess. Solos, duets, units, the older girls, our juniors… We were going to have ample evidence of our holiday out on the town before the night was over. Eventually - right in advance of our seven-thirty reservation - we arrived in front of the restaurant Eimi had so generously chosen to show off to us with.

    "Everyone please be on your best behavior. If I get banned from one of my favorite restaurants you're all gonna have a very unmerry Christmas. Now, hats off."

    Eimi gave us all a very rude crash course in dining etiquette out on the sidewalk before allowing us in the restaurant. The moment we entered and the sharply dressed man at the counter saw us his eyes grew wide and he immediately barked orders to a man and a woman standing at the ready. They went into action immediately, swarming us and helping us out of our winter coats. Before we'd left the dorm I had only seen Rinko's choice of outfit - a long dark red skirt and ruddy brown sweater, not too different from the palette of her caribou pajamas. It was a bit of a relief to find that almost all of our group mates had gone with a similarly subdued choice - at least if you can count Anette's typical European flair as subdued, since I'm nearly positive that all three of our juniors had on something from Anette's closet. The lone standout, which honestly we should have all expected, was the girl who had made the reservation in the first place, who was dressed to show off. Underneath her long woolen coat she was wearing a tight, plunging red dress, no doubt very festive in her own mind. She basked in the looks she was getting for a few moments, hand on her outthrust hip, until she addressed the maitre d loudly.

    "Reservation for six. Under Eimi-"

    The sharp dressed man walked straight past Eimi and to another of my more sensibly dressed evening companions, bowing his head in contrition quite confusingly. "My apologies, Miss Hoshino. It's been some time since we've had the honor of your patronage, and I was unaware you would be dining with us this evening. Would you like us to clear your usual table? We have a full house, but it won't be more than a few minutes to move some reservations to accommodate you and your friends."

    "Ahaha! Thank you, Mr. Tanaka, but the reservation is actually under my friend's name. Eimi Inagawa."

    "Ah, yes. Of course. Excellent thinking, Miss Hoshino. If you'll allow us a moment, I'd still like to secure a nicer table for your party than we had planned."

    "Thaaank you, Hiroto." Akira smiled like a Cheshire cat, highly amused at what had just occurred. Eimi had turned red as a lobster, fuming at having been upstaged in her moment of social - not to mention physical - triumph. "Thanks again for making the reservation, Eimi! I love your dress! Let's make sure to take some pictures later so we can remember the evening." She curtseyed, demurely lifting the hem of a red and white dress that was much frillier than her usual attire.

    The remaining four of us stifled our laughter and repeated the sentiment. "Thank you, Eimi. It's a very nice dress." Or at least the half of it that she bothered to wear. Isn't she freezing? No more than three minutes later the maitre d returned to show us to a table, quietly nestled in the corner of the restaurant. Akira was shown to one head of the table and helped into her seat by the staff, while the rest of us filtered into the rest and were nearly settled, until…

    "Rinko, why don't you come sit next to me?" Eimi plopped down in a chair and put her hand on the seat to her left - the opposite head of the table - and prevented Anette from sitting down, until she and Rinko switched intended seats, placing me in between Yume and Akira and as far from Rinko as possible. Which, granted, was only two seats away at one end of the table, but it was still obvious that Eimi had done it on purpose, and Rinko was frustratingly ok with the idea.

    "What are we going to order? Would it be bad to have fried chicken two nights in a row?" Yume inquired, prompting a sharp "hah!" from the blonde across from her.

    "This isn't the kind of restaurant where you order. We'll be dining omakase. The chef has never made a bad dish in his life. He certainly isn't going to start now, and it's polite to trust his judgment."

    While I saw no problem with that - this is, as Eimi explained, the sort of restaurant where this is the norm - our dinner companions looked a bit nervous and all glanced at the other end of the table for reassurance. A glance which caused Eimi to once again turn red, all the way from the tips of her ears down to her, um. Well, it's a very low cut dress…

    "Chef Uchida is fantastic. She studied for five years in France before opening her first restaurant. I've never had a bad meal here, and my parents used to bring me here a lot." This seemed to relieve the other girls, who settled in and started, instead of wondering what they should order, guessing what wonders would find their way to our table.

    "Maybe it'll be coq au vin? That's basically French fried chicken!" Anette excitedly guessed, not entirely accurately.

    "I bet it'll be French toast. Or… French fries?"

    "It'll probably be French onion soup. It's one of Chef Uchida's specialties." Satisfied to be told that at least one item on the menu would both be authentically French and include the word itself, Anette and Yume - who are both not yet accustomed to this sort of dining - were satisfied. Normally I would expect Rinko to have joined in their game, but she was just sitting there quietly, playing with her cloth napkin absentmindedly. Spirits were raised once the starter course arrived, a variety of small one-bite canapes accompanied by… My, how unusual.

    "Thank you, Hiroto." A small fizz came from the glass bottle as Akira dislodged the marble. The other juniors quickly did the same. Even Rinko pepped up a bit, but then smacking the marble loose in a bottle of ramune always has been her favorite part. Only one bottle remained unopened once I had broken the seal on mine. Normally I'm not a fan of overly sweet drinks and their often artificial flavors, but if the chef has decided this is the optimal drink pairing for her meal then who am I to argue?

    "Grape soda!? Are you kidding me?" Eimi, on the other hand…

    "It's good! You should try it. It really compliments the… uh… the little pastry things." Yume held up one of our appetizers so Eimi could be sure of what she was referencing.

    "Oui. The sweetness of the grapes perfectly mellows the smokiness of the prosciutto. And, the acidity helps cut the creaminess of the gruyere. It is no less than an inspired choice."

    Everyone focused on Anette. That actually sounded like it made perfect sense…

    "I love cooking shows. I bet I would be a magnifique chef, if only I knew how to cook. But I am a très magnifique eater." She daintily shoved another hors d'oeuvre into her mouth, bringing her commentary to a close amid our laughter.

    "Grape ramune is basically champagne for those too young to drink the real thing." Akira explained the real reason why we had been given such an unorthodox beverage with an otherwise classy French spread. "Plus it's my favorite, so they always have some on hand, just in case."

    "It's a shame you won't be coming around much after this, then." Eimi spat back across the table.

    "I know! Thanks again for treating us, Eimi! I thought I may never eat here again, and here you are, being our personal Santa. To Eimi!" Several clinks rang out as Akira clanged her bottle off of mine and Anette's. It traveled down the table, accompanied by giggles until it reached Eimi's unopened bottle at the other end. Faced with a challenge between her patience to wait it out and both Yume and Rinko's amusement, the blonde eventually relented, picking up her bottle and touching it to each of the girls' lightly. Shortly before the next course arrived we all heard the tiny sound of carbonation escaping underneath the table as Eimi tried to stealthily open the bottle, but only because "They didn't bring us anything else to drink yet!"

    The rest of the meal was a delight. True to Akira's prediction the next course was an onion soup that could have been the main course on its own, though two of us didn't particularly enjoy it.

    "Onions are gross. Who makes a soup out of just onions?" Eimi…

    "Magnifique! Perfection! A marvel of French cuisine! I wish I liked onions more…" And Anette.

    Yume was delighted that the main course was a small roasted turkey, which is only one step away from being fried chicken by her accounting. Even Eimi liked it, which I was starting to believe was an impossibility. Akira drank four bottles of grape ramune alongside generous helpings of everything, which can't be healthy, and Rinko… Rinko acted like she was having fun, but every once in a while, when the attention was directed elsewhere, she made an extremely sad face. The kind of face that just breaks your heart…

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