Ruri groaned as she walked home from school, her book bag felt as though it was full of lead, and during PE she nearly fainted from her lack of energy. She stopped and leaned against a fence, clutching her midsection with a free hand. It felt like her stomach was trying to eat out her insides, and it was painful. She had no idea that starving oneself could be so excruciating. With some reluctance she acknowledged that she had no choice but to dip into her personal funds to fill her imploding gut.
"I need a place where my money can go the farthest" she grunted as she started walking again. A buffet seemed like the logical choice but Japanese food buffets were fairly expensive and she needed her money to go as far as possible. Ruri had heard of a western style buffet from her classmates which had opened nearby a few weeks ago and western food was sometimes cheaper-if lower quality, and it was the closest place as far as she knew so she summoned the last of her strength and started in the direction to find it. Her stomach even stopped hurting as if to encourage her, but also saying 'you'd better feed me'.
The buffet wasn't hard to find, it was among a group of small office buildings and a large sign saying "All you can eat western grub" indicated where she needed to go.
"What a tasteless title" she muttered. Her hunger didn't give her the option to be picky however and the hourly charge seemed reasonable enough so she gritted her teeth and went inside.
The interior was as tacky as the title. The inside was full of 'cowboy' type paraphernalia, like wagon wheels, wooden barrels, ropes, and even cattle skulls.
"This just gets worse and worse" she muttered but her stomach was starting to act up again so she pressed forward to the cashier.
"Howdy, welcome to Western Grub" she greeted cheerfully.
'They even try to greet you in English.' "One hour of all you can eat please."
"Sure little miss" The cashier took her money and printed our her receipt. "Pick a table, grab some grub and chow down!" She said as Ruri walked off.
'How corny can you get?' Ruri thought as she found her self a secluded spot in the corner to set down her bag and then went to the buffet line.
It was currently the twilight between lunch and dinner rushes so there weren't very many people. She grabbed a plate, which was quite large, and looked at the spread of food before her. She recognized some like mashed potatoes, beans and steak but there was so much else.
"This your first time?"
Ruri turned her head and saw another girl wearing a yellow one piece dress uniform in contrast to Ruri's dark blue sailor fuku. This girl was a from another school, a fancy one judging by the uniform. Her hair was a medium brown and her eyes a bright green. She was also fairly tall, not as much as Saori but at least 165cm.
"Y-yes." Ruri answered simply. "Much of the food looks strange to me."
The other girl giggled. "Yes, it does look different from what most Japanese people eat. Here let me help you out." The girl dumped a large mound of mashed potatoes onto Ruri's plate and then started heaping ham, sausages and something she didn't recognize. She then went over to a dispenser and drowned the mashed potatoes in gravy before handing Ruri back her plate.
"C'mon, let's eat together."
As much as Ruri wanted to eat alone she doubted the girl would take 'no' for an answer and besides that she didn't want to be rude after she had helped her, although Ruri had never carried such a heavy plate meant for one person before. She lead the girl to her table and the two sat down.
"I'm Yuuki by the way" the girl said. "It's nice to meet you."
"Ruri Gokou."
"Ruri? That's a cute name."
Ruri grimaced slightly. Yes she had a cute name and it bothered her a bit sometimes, hence one of the reasons she preferred to go by 'Kuroneko', but if she was honest she didn't hate the name.
"Now let's dig in before it gets cold" Yuuki said as she started cutting up her steak.
Ruri sighed and picked up her fork. She took a bit out of the gravy soaked mashed potatoes and put it in her mouth. She moaned softly as the taste hit her tongue, the gravy, which she'd never tasted before, seemed to enhance the taste of everything it touched and as she savored the taste her stomach seemed to shout 'GIMMIE GIMMIE GIMIIE!' She swallowed and her whole body seemed to relax a bit, finally with something to sustain it and knowing more was on the way.
"It's good isn't it?" Yuuki grinned, watching the smaller girl's reactions.
Ruri blushed slightly. "Y-yes. The food here is surprisingly despite the tacky decor and lazy presentation."
Yuuki laughed. "Don't you think if it was presented fancy like other places it wouldn't match the atmosphere?"
"I suppose that's true" Ruri said right before she shoveled more gravy lathered mashed potatoes into her mouth. "I suppose here the theme is quantity, not quality."
"It's a buffet, that's how it should be" Yuuki grinned. "Now speaking of quantity, let's dig in and get this quantity in our bellies!"
Ruri needed little encouragement. The food was delicious and she was starving so she began shoveling the food in as fast as she could swallow it. She finished off the potatoes and then gobbled up the ham and sausages with a speed and gusto that surprised herself. It took barely ten minutes for Ruri to clean her plate and the girl leaned back and put a hand on her stomach, now happy to have some real food in her.
"I hope you're not full yet" Yuuki said as she finished. "You paid for an hour right? It's only been about fifteen minutes since you got here probably so let's make the most of our money and take up the whole hour!"
"Eat more?" Ruri wasn't sure. True she had only been here for a small fraction of the time she paid for but she'd already eaten a fair amount and though her stomach still yearned for more 'grub' she wasn't eager to make a pig of herself either.
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