Chapter 21(Part 1) - Refaui Restaurant

“Hey sisterssss…” Lily slumped on the bed beside Nagie and Cassie.

They just woke up after three hours of sleeping.

“Should we go now?” Qeru asked from the other side of the bed, making them laugh.

“Really? That is the first thing you will ask after waking up?” Lily asked incredulously.

“We are excited, bruh.” Jillian replied, acting seriously.

“Okay! Change your clothes then!” Lily brightly said and exited the room to inform Hazuka.

She knocked twice before the boy let her enter. She saw Hazuka sitting on the bed, leaning on the headboard, feet were casually crossed lying on top of the bed. He was wearing his reading glasses, which gave Lily the thought that he was really handsome in that look, but she decided to ignore it.

“Hey bruh, we getting ready.” She said while picking at the door with a ‘bruh’ accent.

“Right.” Hazuka closed the book he was reading and stood up from the bed and removed his reading glasses. Lily just nodded with a light smile before closing the door and going back to the girl’s room with a pounding chest.

“Girls, are you ready?” she asked and all the girls nodded their heads in excitement. “All right. Let’s wait for our tour guide to get ready.” She said and went downstairs to sit on the sofa.

Meanwhile, Catte was thinking about the answer to Lily’s question earlier. Lily noticed her troubled expression so she asked her with worry.

“Catte, are you okay?”

“Yes, I was just wondering where we would go.” She answered and forcefully smiled. Lily, not convinced, just nodded her head.

“Shall we go?” Hazuka interfered when he was finally downstairs.

“Yayyyyy!!!” he was answered by the girls’ excited exclaims.

“All right.” He said and casually grabbed Lily’s hand before going outside. The group looked at each other meaningfully before chuckling in secret.

“This trip is a bus.” Catte whispered to Qeru.

“Huh? bus?” she looked at her with a confused face. “Yep, I am the third wheel, you are the fourth wheel, Jillian’s the fifth and so on.” She replied while gazing at the sky like a comrade in relief.

They both just laughed because of Catte’s corny joke and just followed the two.

“Where are we going?” Jillian asked the two people walking in front of them.

“The refaui.” They said in synch. They didn’t plan this out so they looked at each other with shocked faces. After about three seconds, they just chuckled about their telepathy ability.

“Refaui?” Nagie repeated. That is a word they are not familiar with.

“Our uncle’s restaurant.” Lily replied and looked back at them. “Huh? I thought we were going somewhere?” Poui asked.

“Restaurant is a somewhere.”

“I mean some kind of place like a beach?” Poui explained, then Lily smiled at him like she was keeping a secret, “That’s for the last day.” She said and winked.

“Oh, okay.” With that, they continued walking and arrived at a place that looked like a hut but with a lot of food.

“Lily? Is that you?” a voice of a man was heard to their right, so they turned their heads to look.

“Uncle Jahy?” Lily also asked while looking at the man like she was trying to recognize him.

“’Uncle’? You never ca—“ Jahy was cut off when Lily suddenly ran towards him and hugged him tightly.

“Uncle Jahy!” she said once. She hugged him and whispered, “You are my Uncle from now on.” Understanding what she meant, he hugged her back and asked.

“Is Hazuka with you?” Lily let go of the hug and pointed at the people behind her.

“Is that your friends?” Jahy asked for clarification, still not getting over what happened years ago. The girls waved at him and smiled.

“No! They are my sisters!” Lily answered with a bright tone, making Jahy smile in relief.

“Right, where do you want to sit?” Jahy asked her. She actually had her usual spot here for Hazuka and the people years ago, but he asked her because she might want to change the table to avoid remembering unwanted memories. No, she will.

“Uh… there!” Lily looked around before pointing at the spot under a pine tree where it looked peaceful.

“Sit there, then.” Jahy said and walked away for a while to get the menu. Meanwhile, the group took their seats at the spot Lily pointed at.

‘This place looks like a replica of a place in the human world.’ Catte thought to herself while looking around. There are pine trees and huts, just like a province in the human world. If she observed, the trees and vibes in this place exist nowhere outside.

“Here. There are also some human foods on the menu, so order it if you like.” Jahy gave them 3 copies of the menu.

“Human foods?” Qeru repeated with a slightly disgusted yet confused face.

“Yes, but you are free to choose whatever you like to eat.” Jahy said and smiled, so Qeru just said okay.

“All right. Call me if you have decided on your order.” He said and Lily saluted before he walked away.

“Why is there any human food here? Aren’t humans and vampires supposed to be enemies?” Qeru innocently asked while browsing the menu. Though she knows it herself, that there’s nothing wrong with having human food on the menu—her mother didn’t raise her like those hypocritical vampires.

“It’s because this place, Yulioe, is where vampires and humans interact peacefully. But the outsider vampires didn’t like it, so they put a curse that would make the human’s memories disappear so peace wouldn’t be made and they were also afraid that the Yulioe vampires would rebel them.” Lily explained and peeked at Catte, who was just playing with her phone and seemed like she was not paying attention at all.

“I don’t know what those vampires are thinking, but this is such a great place to have a peaceful time with humans.” Qeru replied with a determined tone. It’s like she has always believed that making peace with the other world was the one thing she liked.

Lily meaningfully looked and smiled at Hazuka. She was like saying that Qeru has the potential of something.

“You think so?” Jillian joined the discussion.

“Yes.” Qeru replied with a confident tone and Jillian just smiled to agree.

“I want to try human foods.” Nagie changed the subject and the others immediately agreed. That made Hazuka smile secretly and Lily smile brightly.

“All right, I’ll order for you.” Lily said and raised her hand. “But won—“ Cassie didn’t continue her sentence when Lily called for her uncle,”Uncle Jahy!”

“Hmm?” Jahy walked towards their table and could see Lily’s bright smile he had never seen before.

“We would like to order these.” Lily slid her index finger from top to bottom on a page on the menu.

“What!?” Cassie was shocked, and so was the whole group. Even the human Catte.

“Okay, it will take about fifteen minutes.” Jahy just wrote a single sentence on the paper and seems like he wrote the title of the menu for humans.

“Noted.” Lily answered and saluted before Jahy walked away.

“Hehe, why?” she asked innocently. The group was still shocked, they knew that it would cost her some money, but she still ordered it all.

“I was touched by your mindset, so I will treat you.” She casually said before looking at them preciously with her two elbows on top of the table, her left arm under her chin while she was leaning on her right arm.

“Isn’t it just normal? Wanting peace?” Jillian asked her but she just smiled, “No, in this world which is full of greed, it is not.”

The table was filled with silence. The group agrees with Lily but can’t say anything .

Soon, their order arrived, filling the whole table with human food.

“Ooohhhh, that looks delicious.” Poui commented when he saw the carbonara.

“That stew looks refreshing.” Nagie, who loves stews, immediately turned her attention to the beef stew.

“These foods look delicious.” Jillian commented while looking at all the foods being served at their table.

On the other hand, Catte cannot wait to try these human world foods. She can’t help but miss them. Lily could feel her impatience so she said, “All right guys. Time to eat! Woooo!!”

Each of them placed food on their plates, and ended up grabbing too much and their plates were full. They looked like they were going to be hanged tomorrow and this was their last meal.

The vampire members each had a tension between them and the food, putting the spoon in their mouth in slow-motion. Their faces lit up in brightness once the food touched their tongue.

“Holy shit Lily, these are so fucking good!” Jillian commented and ate faster, then grabbed another food for her second batch.

“Lily, you must have really eaten these kinds of delicious foods in your childhood, I’m envious!” Poui commented that made Lily laugh.

“I hope the vampires outside can taste this too.” Qeru commented while energetically eating.

“Yep, you have a point.” Lily replied, that was also her wish ever since she first tasted these.

“These tastes familiar and I somehow miss it.” Catte commented, and chewed a takoyaki. She has always eaten rice porridge ever since she lived at Tina’s house, so tasting the food she always ate in the past would give her nostalgia.

Catte’s comment gave Lily a heart ache. She forgot for a while, that Catte forgot that she was human and always ate those foods in her world.

“It is really delicious that it will be familiar to you.” She replied and smiled. She meant that the food was indeed delicious and that it would give you a familiar taste even though it is your first time.

But that didn’t work for Catte, since she had already tasted it in the past. Lily just made that up so Catte would not think about it too much.

On the other hand, Hazuka was energetically eating his favorite food, Quesadilla.

“Does it still taste the same?” Lily turned to him. “Yeah, it will always if Uncle Jahy cooked it.” He said and proudly smiled.

“Yep, he keeps improving.” Lily agreed with a smile and they all continued eating.

“Hm… If I will be honest, I think this is better than the vampire food.” Nagie commented, she was really courageous to voice her opinion and go against her race.

“You think so?” Qeru turned to her and Nagie nodded. “I think so, too.” Qeru added and took a bite of her food.

“I don’t really know guys, I think there’s something in the vampire food that also makes it taste unique.” Poui was puzzled because of his friend’s different opinion to his.

“Uh… animal blood?” Cassie jokingly said and they all laughed.

“Nah, each food from each world is unique. Whatever your opinion on the world’s government style, it should not affect your opinion on the foods some innocent people make, since those two are different topic.” Qeru seriously replied and they all nodded in agreement.

“Whatever it is, these are good. I can’t stop eating.” Jillian said, and grabbed her third batch.

“Jillian, easy, girl. You might vomit later.” Lily said, but Jillian just continued on eating, “I can’t.” she replied with food in her mouth.

They just continued on eating. The vampire members almost finished most of the food while Catte was just savoring it, missing the somehow familiar taste. Lily and Hazuka were just happily watching them while eating his favorite food.

Later on, they finished and relaxingly strode on the roadside to go back to the house. The streets were so well-lit that it looks like the oldtimes yet modern.

“Haaaa…. I think I might poop later.” Jillian said while caressing her stomach.

“That’s because you ate five plates full of food, how can you not poop later?” Nagie said and they all laughed.

“Yow, Lily. You really grew up eating such delicious foods.” Qeru said, and looked at Lily.

“Yep, and I would always brag about it.” Lily replied with a bright smile. But the truth is that, she always ate pasta and vegetables since she can’t eat what a vampire normally eats, like all kinds of animal meat. She can’t eat her cousins, of course.

“This town is really well-lit.”

“It’s relaxing here.” Jillian and Cassie said while looking around their surroundings.

Once they arrived at the house, they went upstairs and played their phone for a while before sleeping early since they planned a beach hangout tomorrow morning.

“Goodnight, guys.” Lily said before closing the door of their room. She hadn’t come in now since she needed to talk to Jahy after business hours.

“Lily, you are not coming in?” Qeru asked her while covering herself with her blanket.

“Ah? I need to inform Uncle Jahy about what happened to Boss’ restaurant. You all go to sleep first.” She said and fully closed the door before going downstairs with Hazuka.

They sat on the couch to wait until Jahy’s restaurant was closed.

“What if… Catte won’t help us outside?” he asked her after a moment of silence, referring to Catte dropping her cooperation with finding the Antiques.

“Although her memories are replaced, she is not that kind of person. Of course she will have her ear open for us.” Lily said with full of hope and trust in Catte.

Although she knows Catte’s personality, what Hazuka said is a possibility.

“That’s why we will ask Jahy for help.” She added, dropping the honorifics and calling him what she actually called him.

“All right, it is already ten-thirty, shall we go?” Hazuka looked at his watch before standing up, looking down at Lily with a questioning expression.

“Okay. Let’s go.” She said, and Hazuka let her walk first.

continue next part~

A/N; Hi! I hope you're liking this so far! I really really really really appreciate your presence! I have an announcement though.

Sadly, I had to schedule my chapter publication for only twice a week, starting now. I really am busy because of my new work plus my school works so I'm still trying to see when I can have my free time to write the chapters. But school's only maybe 3 weeks left before we have our recognition! And there comes holy week! So I might have time to write the chapters. I just made the twice a week sched coz I don't want you to hope that I'll be publishing chapters every day and also coz new work's giving me a lot of items to be finished per day until April 14. 

Chapters will be published every SATURDAY AND WEDNESDAY

Thank you for your understanding!