JapanXReader Hibachi Restaurant

JapanXReader story

     "Hmm," you said thoughtfully as you looked around the restaurant. Your friends had told you that if you wanted to be a foreign exchange student in Japan, you'd have to visit a Japanese restaurant first and learn the language. As an American and always having a love for anime, you really wanted to visit Japan… but of course not just because of your love of anime. You loved the culture, art, music, everything about the country. A huge smile spread across your face and you walked up to the counter. "Hello, may I sit near one of the Hibachi grills?" you asked and motioned to the tables. The waiter nodded. "Follow me," he told you with a smile and led you to one of the tables where a man with black hair sat alone. Today was the opening day for this restaurant so all of the other grills were taken. "Excuse me sir, but may this young lady join you?" he asked and the man looked up with warm, friendly looking brown eyes. "Y-Yes," he sputtered and turned to look at you.

     You blush lightly out of embarrassment to have such a nice looking guy to sit with. Slowly, you climb onto the chair beside him and you accept the menu the waiter hands you. "W-What are you getting?" you ask the man that sat beside you as you studied the menu, trying to get rid of the uncomfortable silence. He adjusted his T-shirt; not seeming used to wearing it and blushed just as brightly as you had a moment ago. "O-Oh, fried rice, sushi, salad, and some soup," he replied and gave you a shy smile. You weren't sure what to order so you set the menu down between the two of you and point at it. "What would you suggest getting? This is my first time getting to eat here… well to eat any Japanese food to be honest and I have no idea what to get," you tell this guy. He leans over closer to you so that he could see the menu better, his face going an even darker red. "I'd suggest the soup, fried rice, hibachi shrimp, and chicken," he said quietly but loud enough for you to hear over all of the other guests. You nod and grin a bit before holding your hand out to him. "Thank you, I'm ___ by the way, what is your name?" you ask and finally actually look at your company. He had short black hair with bangs, warm brown eyes, and he wore a lose back T-Shirt, and a pair of blue jeans, his shoes were Nike sneakers. He squirmed while you looked him over, his face going as dark as a tomato. "Ja-… Kiku, it's very nice to meet you," he said and shook your hand very gently. He quickly pulled his hand back and gave you a small smile. "Are you Japanese?" you ask in surprise, mentally slapping yourself for not realizing this right away. The man nodded and glanced away from you once the waiter came over. You told the man what Kiku had suggested you should get and he walked over to go get a chef for the two of you. Now you turned to face him, your ___ colored eyes practically glowing with curiosity; you tuck your ___ colored hair behind your ear. "Do you live in Japan?" you asked, practically hopping up and down in your seat due to excitement. He nodded and laughed very quietly at your childish excitement. "Yes, I live and am from Japan. I am only visiting because Amer-… Alfred begged me to. He told me that he would meet me here but he hasn't showed up yet," said Kiku and he smiled one of his small shy smiles again. You squirm a bit in your seat. "You are sooo lucky! I really want to go to Japan as a foreign exchange student," you told Kiku, usually you weren't so open with strangers but Kiku just seemed so friendly. He looked generally surprised by this but this causes his smile to grow a bit more.

     The chef walked over to the grill at your table and he placed his hat on his head. "How are you guys today?" he asked and smiled at the two of you. Kiku nodded his head at the man and you smile at the chef. "Good thank you," you say and watch in fascination as the chef gathered all the supplies he'd need to make the food the two of you had ordered. You lean forward a bit as he started setting food on the grill, starting with rice. As part of being a Hibachi Restaurant, the chef has to make a show of preparing your food and you knew this, but even knowing you hadn't prepared you for what the chef was about to do. First the chef has spread butter along the grill, then he dumped the rice onto the grill, next he placed an egg on the grill and started to spin it around. "This is to give the egg a center of gravity," the chef explained before starting to toss it about on his spatula. You were amazed to say the least. He then cracked the egg and two others onto the grill before spreading seasoning and pepper throughout the egg and rice. The egg and rice were then quickly mixed together before green onion and garlic were added and some more butter. The chef picked up the Soy Sauce bottle and pointed it at you before squeezing it. This caused you to squeal and grab onto Kiku's arm. A little string shot out of the bottle instead of soy Sauce and the chef laughed. He picked up another bottle of Soy Sauce and squeezed it onto the rice then started to mix it into the rice. "C-C-Can you please get off of me?" Kiku asked, his face bright red again. You quickly let go of Kiku's arm and turn to watch the chef put the rice into bowls before handing both of you one. "Sorry," you tell Kiku quietly and rubbed the back of your head out of embarrassment, a nervous laugh escaped your lips. He shook his head as if to say that it was fine and the two of you watched the Chef continue to make your meal on the grill. Every once and a while the chef would pull a prank on the two of you, one of the pranks had scared Kiku enough to cause him to fall off his stool. The chef apologized a lot about that.

     Once the food was all prepared you smile and pick up the chop sticks that the waiter had left for you to use along with some silverware. You eye the sticks and carefully try to pick up some food with them. Kiku watched you struggle with the chop sticks then picked up his own and broke them apart. He placed them in his hand then held his hand out to you so that you could see how he was holding them. "Rike this," he told you and watched as you tried to mimic his hand. After a couple of minutes he set his chopsticks down and reached over. "May I?" he asked and once you nodded, he took your hand in between his two and he repositioned the chopsticks in your hand. You managed not to blush as he helped you and nod. "Thank you," you tell him and try to pick up one of your pieces of shrimp. You squeak as it went fly from your chopsticks and hit Kiku square in the face. "I'm so sorry," you repeat to him over and over again, your arms flailing about a bit. He just remained still, blinking as the shrimp slid down his face and then onto his lap. You stopped apologizing then and looked at him nervously. Then out of nowhere, the Japanese man started laughing. At first the laughs were quiet but they got louder as he kept going, his face going red because he was laughing so hard. You were sure he'd end up crying if he didn't stop laughing soon. 'I-I-I broke him!' you thought frantically and started to laugh also because of his laughing. Finally Kiku managed to stop laughing and he wiped a few stray tears from his face. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to laugh like that," he told you, becoming his shy self again. He picked up a napkin and wiped off his face and brushed the jeans out of his lap. "That was quite funny, you don't need to apologize," he said, his face the color of a tomato again. You nod and set the chopsticks down, deciding to eat with silverware for the rest of the meal would be safe.

     "Thank you for eating with me Miss ___-san," Kiku said once the two of you had finished eating at the restaurant and had stepped outside. He bowed and gave you another small smile. You grin and rub the back of your head. "No problem, I had a lot of fun and again, I'm sorry about the shrimp," you tell him and hold out your hand again. He looked down at your hand and shook it again. Kiku turned to leave and you quickly grab the back of his shirt. "Wait," you tell him and he looked over his shoulder at you. You quickly remove your hand since you remembered how he didn't like being touched. "Um… maybe I'll see you when I visit Japan.. okay?" you ask and his small smile becomes a bigger one. He turned to face you again and nodded. "I hope so ___-san,," he says and his smile grows even more, it was a very lovely smile that made your stomach do flip-flops.  You quickly pull Kiku into a hug and stand on your tippy toes, you place a kiss on his cheek before quickly backing away. His brown eyes widened in shock, too surprised to complain about you touching him. He placed a hand against his cheek and blinked a couple times. You wink and give him a huge smile, your face a light pink color. "See you in Japan Kiku, Sayounara," you tell him. You turn and walk back to your car before climbing in and starting it. "S-S-Sayounara ___-san," he whispered and watched you drive off with a smile on his face, forgetting all about how America had failed to meet him at the Restaurant and simply only thought about the time he got to spend with you.

End.