Chapter 124: Dinner Gathering (4)

ShinXian restaurant had just opened this year. An open buffet style concept, the food and atmosphere was nice, so during our first visit, father said that we would come here again. Located on the upper floors of Gilgamesh tower, separate from the lower level shopping mall concepts, we had to take a special elevator up.

A round, glass capsule shaped elevator that allowed us to see as we accelerated upwards. It was a rather trippy experience. Nina and Tiffany would exchange light conversations every so often. My father and I didn't really say anything, just that one individual  was glaring at the other, and the one who had a satisfied smirk on his face acted as if my glare never existed.

The upper levels of Gigamesh tower weren't all that accessible, mainly because there weren't many places to explore to begin with. Each floor consisted of an entire shop to itself. Leaving aside the few luxury jewelry brands, the rest were high class restaurant or dessert chains.

The elevator opened, we reached the entrance of ShinXian restaurant and waited in queue for a bit before being guided inside by a waitress.

The walls were painted black, funnels-shape orange lights dangling from the ceiling, gentle green-purple neon lights that shone on the plants present. The bars were chalked full of food, Chinese cuisine, Indian cuisine-- Japanese, Korean, Western, and Gilgian cuisine.

Each cuisine had its own section, making it easy to search for the food item you wish for. Kebab? Indian section. Kimbab? Korean section. Sushi? Japanese section. Sweet sour pork? Chinese section. Ham? Western section. Fresh kelp? Gilgan section.

Yeah. Gilgamesh is known for its kelp. Perhaps due to the kelp forest closeby.

Anyways, the waiter led us to one of the private rooms located close to the edge of the tower. A japanese styled paper sliding door, old ceramic decor, lacquer wares, a decorative samurai sword to the side placed on a stand, a small pond with koi and lotus flowers. Elements that just make you go, wow.

I'm sure they didn't mean to turn the shite sakura patterned kimono into a flag but to me, it looks like tiger skin spread out on the wall. Yep. I'll keep that opinion to myself.

Liliath and Novelle played with the scared-to-shit-koi with shadow puppets; Prune taking pictures of the city skyline using her phone; My mom was conversing with Prune's parents while holding french fry.

Noticing us, everyone stopped their errands and turned over here.

"Welcome, Tiffany. Glad you could make it." my mom greeted.

Followed by Prune's family the rest gave their greetings.

"Thank you for having me. Once again, I apologize for being late."

The table was made of blocks of oak interlocked together, wooden seats were complimented with cushions. The seatings were separated into two groups, one for the kinds, the other for the adults.

Tiffany sat in the middle. From what Nine mentioned, Tiffany was 21 this year, studying to become an English teacher through a scholarship she got.

I sat beside Liliath, the little devil obviously taking the seat closest to the window, which meant that Liliath was squished between me and the little devil. Prune and Nine sat on the opposite side.

And on the table…

A basket of french fries and at least two dozen different kinds of sauces on one large plate. What's this sense of incongruity? Why do the sauces look like a work of art with too much paint? I'm pretty sure a number of them I'm seeing are supposed to be salad dressing oils!?

There was a similar plate of 'art' on the adult's table. My mom holding onto one of the french fries dipped in a yellow coloured sauce-- mustard?

"Okay, i think everyone is hungry now, feel  free to get anything you want alright. It's a free for all buffett," my mom clapped her hands and said.

Owh. So these french fries were appetizers? I guess I should be grateful they were kind enough to wait for everyone to settle down before moving on to getting food.

Everyone nodded and left their seats in search of food.

"Big sister Liliath, let's go!" Novelle tugged at Liliath.

"I apologize but I would like to go around with Noel this time around. I'm glad I got to spend time with you," Liliath replied with a troubled smile.

"Alright then-- happy flirtings!" the devil said with a dissatisfied pout.

We watched as she walked off, carrying a plate towards the wetern cuisine section. She's definitely aiming for sunny side up eggs.

"There's an awful lot of food types here. Though I've snuck into a few noble gatherings before, this is the first time I'm seeing this many kinds of food items. Truly a sight to behold," Liliath chuckled. "It's an interesting concept of managing a restaurant."

"Yeah, there's a lot of food alright.. but why the sauces and french fries."

"I was curious about the tastes, that's the main reason," Liliath down a little of the milk she got in a cup.

"And why milk?" looking around, everyone had either clear juices or coffee. Oddly enough, there wasn't any tea around. Very unlike her.

"I recall that milk can help with one's height?" Liliath looked at me, bottom to top, and then at Nine in the distance.

"It doesn't exactly work that way.. but alright.."

Does Liliath feel like she's too short? She's only 14 though? Still in her growth phase.

Liliath and I moved towards the food section. Grabbing plates from underneath the counters, we filled it up 'modestly' with food. Our first stop was the Japanese food section, the reason being Liliath's curiosity to the kind of food heroes that visited her world ate. Sushi, wasabi, fish roe, cold-legendary tofu, bonito shavings, seafood, meat cutlets...

"There is however-- no curry?" Liliath scanned the bar a few times but to no avail. There isn't any japanese curry here.

"There's curry in the Indian food section. To begin with, curry originated from India."

"Is that so? Then I would like to have a taste of it."

"Gotcha, this way."

Grabbing a small plate of surrey in a soup bowl, we returned to the table. Nine had returned with a large platter of oysters. Looking at his gloomy face in contrast to the speed and gusto he was downing those god damn oysters was a sight to behold.

"You sure you're only going to eat that tonight?"

"Hm? I've prepared two empty stomachs. I should be able to eat two portions, so it's alright," Nine said, gulping down the previous oyster. "I heard of this concept of 'beating the buffet' before, I'd like to give it a try. So I picked the few more expensive items on the menu.

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"Beating the buffet? So different items here are priced differently despite the initial charge of entry?"

"Yup. It's just a personal challenge."

I remember doing something like that last time, trying to stuff myself as much as I could to see if I could eat to the point where the value of the amount I ate exceeded the restaurant entry price. The only thing I got out of it was a stomach ache. I didn't vomit, luckily.

If Nine is planning to beat the buffet this time around.. well. He'll have to eat at least 15 people's worth of food since we booked this special Japanese suite. The entry fee is much much higher this time around. Hehe, good luck.

"Okay, I'll go get my drinks," I said, turning my back to them. Now, I wonder what I should get-- tea?

"Remember to get some milk for yourself alright? Noel?" Liliath said.

"Milk? Why milk?" Nine asked.

"To grow taller."

"Hey Noel, get me a glass of milk too."

"You know it doesn't work that way right?" I said. Obviously, milk helps you grow taller, but it's not like it MAKES you grow taller. It's a marketing scheme.

"Doesn't matter," Nine continued to eat his oysters.

And so I returned with one glass of full cream milk and a small cup of matcha tea with milk. I don't know how but Liliath suddenly had a new glass of milk on her table.. hm.. there's no way this would become her go-to drink after tea right?

Finishing my plate, I got up for seconds. This time with Tiffany, Nine's elder sister accompanying me. Liliath accompanied the little devil who just couldn't stop yapping.

"What kind of food do you usually eat during buffets like this?" I asked, hoping i could get Nine's elder sister a little better.

"I don't really like seafood. Ah, something like rice and noodles. I think if I were to choose, it would be chinese food. After that would be desserts," Tiffany replied, a plate filled with salad vegetables and cherry tomatoes in one hand, and an empty one in the other-- which I suppose will be filled with chinese food. "There's actually Peking duck here."

"Really?" the last time I came-- it was a large roasted pig. You can request for it and the chef would slice a few sliver of the meat for you per request.

"You should try it, I'm going to take a little more of it."

"Yeah."

The both of us went to the chinese food section, bumped into my mother who was also choosing her dishes.

I didn't really mention this but amongst the geographically different food origins, the busiest one by far was the chinese cuisine section. We had to queue up for a few minutes just to get a few slices of duck meat. It was also a bummer to grab the mapo tofu, fried rice and stir fried noodles as everyone was gathered around them like ants.

Well, in the end, we managed to make it out unscathed. Looking at Tiffany's share, two plates had become three. She was balancing a plate between her upper and lower arm.

"Did you work as a waiter before?"

"Ah. I was, it's convenient to be able to hold so many plates at once don't you think?"

"I suppose.."

And we continued walking. On the way, we were halted by a cart pulling fresh seafood to the bad kitchen. Probably to restock the seafood section.

"Noel," Tiffany called out. "How's Nine these days?"

"Nine is alright. If anything I'd say he has been a fairly good girl."

Akk.. I can't believe I said that. Disgusting. Nine, a good girl? How could I accept calling that lecherous, cajoling, stalking, bisexual, transgender-dynamic streamer a good girl?!

Thought for the sake of formality, and my self image, I swallowed my honest opinions and had no choice but to filter out all those shitty parts.

Tiffany gave a laugh.

"That's great."

"I guess.."

"You were funny."

"Funny?"

"I saw his-- no. I saw her stream with your girlfriend," Tiffany said with a straight face.

I wanted to punch Nine right now but-- stream highlights aren't going to disappear even if I did. It's all over the internet now. I wonder if mom and father saw it, I'm guessing not. Hopefully.

You know what, fuck explaination. This itself is a huge misunderstanding-- and I'm sure it'll only turn for the worse if I tried explaining that Liliath was summoned.

Let's change the topic. Assume I never learnt that Nine's elder sister watches her stream. Hnngg..

"Actually, I've been wondering, was it your parents' decision to put Nine into our apartment or was it his? There's the school dormitory isn't there? Not that I wish for NIne to leave.."

"Ah. Nine pays his own rent."

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