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“Are you sure you wanna do this? I’ve been doing it on my own for this long, and I wouldn’t want you to feel obligated just because of me…” Gaku asked Tsumugi while he laid in bed half reclined and watched her tie up her blonde locks in a ponytail.
“It’s not out of obligation, Gaku. The Yamamura Soba shop is a part of my family now too, and I want to help out for the night. Besides, I did promise your grandfather and mother that I would come visit the shop in person one day during our reception.”
Gaku grinned doofily as he recalled their wedding reception a week prior. It had been a relatively small, private gathering of the Yaotome’s and Takanashi’s closest relatives, separate from the reception for friends and workmates. What would have usually been an awkward or tense situation between Gaku’s dad and the Yamamuras was a shining success thanks to Tsumugi’s pleasant demeanor placating any temperamental moods at just the right times.
“You know my family tends to run their mouths a lot, so I don’t think they are really expecting you to drop in. They know how busy our jobs are.”
“I know, but this is technically our last day off for our honeymoon, and I want to do everything we can together before we go back to work. We already spent half the day in the apartment doing nothing—”
“We were definitely doing something ,” a wry smirk spread across Gaku’s lips as he spoke and rolled up to hook Tsumugi around the waist and pull her into sitting next to him. He held her close despite her squirming and attacked the crook of her neck with soft kisses.
After a squeak of a giggle and a flushed smile, Tsumugi managed to get a hand between her skin and Gaku’s lips. However, that didn’t stop him from repeatedly kissing the palm of her hand even as she tried to push his face away.
“You’re impossible…~” she murmured as she wrinkled her nose with a resigned smile.
“You’re impossible too… impossible to resist kissing you all day,” he smoothly said while slipping past her hand while her guard was down and stealing more kisses on the other side of her neck.
“A-Ahh, Gaku, w-wait, that tickles~!” She managed to get up and escape his grasp once more, adjusting her camisole and blushing hard. “We’ll get nothing done today at this rate.”
“You’re right, you’re right,” he agreed with a chuckle, finally pulling himself out of bed with a bit of a grunt.
“What should I wear?” Tsumugi asked as she started brushing through her side of the closet to look at her work blouses.
“None of those, that’s for sure.”
“E-Eh—? Is there something wrong with them—?”
“No, they are fine, and you look adorable in them, but Yamamura’s is more laid-back than an office job.”
“Oh, right, of course,” she laughed lightly and moved on to her more casual clothes, choosing a more appropriate outfit.
“My mom probably can loan you one of her uniforms, she usually has a spare set lying around.” Gaku fished his uniform out of the back of the closet, snapping it out to release any wrinkles. He easily got changed into it, slinging the apron over his shoulder to put on later. While waiting for his wife to finish dressing, he sat on the bed and watched her with a small smirk.
Feeling his eyes on her, Tsumugi couldn’t help but glance over and blush. “W-What are you staring at?”
“My beautiful wife, what else would I be staring at?”
“G-Gaku— I-I don’t even have much makeup on at all…”
“You don’t need it anyways. I love you as you are.” Getting up and moving to her side, he kissed her cheek and gently pulled her away from the mirror she had been using to put on her makeup. “There’s nobody you’ve gotta impress, trust me.”
“I-If you say so…” she put her bottle of mascara back on the vanity table and straightened things up a bit. “I suppose then it’s time to go?”
After agreeing and grabbing their coats, the couple left the apartment and drove the short distance to Yamamura’s Soba Shop. Gaku donned a black pair of sunglasses and an old baseball cap, checked the parking lot to make sure nobody was around, then unbuckled his seatbelt.
“Do you always have to be so careful before going in for work? Ah— Should I put on a disguise too—?”
“No, you should be fine. You’ve managed to keep your face out of the news enough and there isn’t anyone really around that we should worry about. I just do this as an extra precaution for the sake of my family’s privacy.”
“Always putting your family first,” Tsumugi said with a smile as she held onto his apron for him while they got out of the car and walked to the service entrance of the shop.
Gaku walked in ahead and kept the door open for Tsumugi, calling out a cheery hello to whoever was around. She walked through, holding Gaku’s apron to her chest with slight nervousness as she looked around the back room. It was rather spacious, with one wall covered in a large refrigerator and a rack of shelves filled with cooking wares and dry ingredients. A large work table was against another wall, along with a secondary cooking area for especially busy nights. An elderly-looking man was working with a giant bowl of dough at the work table while a college-aged man scrolling on his phone sat at a small table next to a water cooler on the third wall. Both men casually greeted Gaku, not bothering to look up from their tasks.
Now standing in the middle of the room, Gaku cleared his throat dramatically and pulled Tsumugi in front of himself as if presenting her. “I’ve got an extra pair of hands with me today!”
“What, didja drag in another half-starved kitten from off the streets again?” the young man asked in jest. However, once he finally looked up, he sputtered and bit his tongue, almost tripping over himself as he stood up and clumsily bowed. “Gramps, quit working for a sec!”
With a grumble the elderly man dropped a massive lob of dough onto the floured table top and turned around. The sight of the newlyweds brought a bright smile to his wrinkled face, and he hurriedly pawed at his apron to try to clean his hands. “Tsumugi-chan! You did come to visit!”
Finding herself wrapped in a tight hug, Tsumugi gasped lightly and giggled bashfully. “I came to help if I can in any way—”
“Satou, go get your aunt and tell her her son and his new wife are here!” Gaku’s grandpa ordered, sending the young man jogging to the curtain partition and yelling out into the main part of the shop.
Soon a lady with her hair tied up in a clean bun arrived from the front, boisterously exclaiming her joy in seeing Gaku and Tsumugi. “I wasn’t sure you’d show up! Thought you two love birds would be making the most of your free time while you can, heh.”
“Oh, trust me, Mom, we have been,” Gaku piped up with a gentle smirk as he rubbed the side of Tsumugi’s arm.
Tsumugi blushed and shuffled her feet a bit, getting more embarrassed as her mother-in-law chuckled knowingly. “I-It was no trouble to come! We wouldn’t want to leave you short-staffed, and I wanted to make good on my promise to visit. But I won’t just sit around, I can help out too!”
“Such an honest worker! You really did find a catch, Gaku,” she laughed heartily and clapped her son on the back before she went to the bottom shelf of the large unit on the wall. She pulled out a plastic bag and presented it to Tsumugi. “I had these made for you in case you ever decided to help out around here with Gaku.”
“A-Ah, you shouldn’t have gone to such trouble just for me, but I am very grateful, thank you!” Tsumugi bowed then pulled out the pristinely folded uniform, though it was in one way quite different. Rather than in the blue colors of everyone else’s uniforms, it was a fair pink that quite complimented Tsumugi’s style. “They look perfect for me!”
“Since you’re special staff, you get a special uniform, plus I think this color suits you better anyways. I even put in an order for two baby-sized sets in blue and in pink, since I’m sure that time’ll come before we know it.” She gave her a wink that made it obvious from which parent Gaku inherited some of his mannerisms while she watched as both Gaku and Tsumugi blushed from their cheeks to their ears. Letting off a mischievous laugh before they could try to deny her, she began heading back to her work at the front. “I’m sure Gaku and Dad can show you the ropes of everything, but come out to the front some time and visit me!”
With a flustered word of agreement and another look down at the uniform in her arms, Tsumugi smiled broadly. “I’d better get changed and get to work then!”
“You can use the staff bathroom through that door there, then I’ll have Gaku show you how to make soba noodles while I take a break to rest my aching bones.” To emphasize his point, Gaku’s grandfather massaged his lower back and shuffled wearily towards a chair at the small table.
After a short nod, Tsumugi trotted away to get changed. She came back a few minutes later in her uniform and her bangs pinned back with a few bobby pins to keep them out of the way. Gaku had a stupid grin on his slightly blushing face as he tied his apron strings around the front of his waist. Blushing under the weight of his stare, she glanced away as she set the plastic bag now filled with her clothes onto the empty spot on the shelf.
“You look perfect… I might have just fallen for you again, heh,” Gaku managed to say, almost immediately regretting saying it when he heard his grandfather snicker from the sidelines. “Anyways— let’s finish what Gramps started. He was in the middle of rolling the dough out.”
He gestured to the large lump of half-rolled dough and picked up the rolling pin. Starting out with a few slow rolls to better flatten the lump, he began showing her how to do it. Once it started resembling a thick square, he dusted it with more starch and placed the rolling pin into his wife’s hands. She began mimicking his movements, smoothing the dough into a larger, flatter shape.
“Make sure you use even pressure, we don’t want any thick spots,” he advised, gently placing his hands over hers and adjusting her pressure on the rolling pin so that it was a bit firmer. “Once it’s as thin as 3mm we can add more starch and fold the dough for cutting.”
“So precise…! How can you tell when it’s that thin?” Her voice was quiet as she concentrated, occasionally smoothing her hand over the dough to make sure it was even.
“We all know it by sight by now, but if you notice on this end of the table, we’ve got a ruler nailed down that is exactly 3mm thick. You’re almost there.”
“Ah, I see!” Tsumugi smiled as she kept rolling, soon having it at the right thickness. “Now we fold the dough you said?”
“Yep, just add the starch to this side, then carefully fold it in half, then in half again.” He watched her carefully, quickly grabbing one end of the dough and helping her fold it before she accidentally tore the dough. “That’s it, good job.” Grabbing a cutting guide and knife, he set it up for her and gave her control of the knife. “Now just cut them into 3mm thick slices, and we’ll have our noodles.”
She hesitantly cut, almost smushing the noodles as she tried to cut into them. Her strips were turning out a bit on the thick side, which Gaku gently and patiently tried to help her correct. “S-Sorry I’m not very good at this yet… I should practice at home.”
“You’re doing great for your first time, don’t worry about it,” he spoke warmly to her, rubbing his elbow against her arm to reassure her.
Gaku’s mother poked her head in through the curtain and yelled, “Dinner rush is coming in! Make sure the next batch of noodles is ready to go!”
“Got it!” Gaku replied in turn, gently taking the knife from Tsumugi. “I’ll finish this up for us.” Taking the guide away, he deftly and quickly chopped through the rest of the dough and shook the excess starch off the noodles then transferred them to a tray.
“Amazing… You’re such a pro at this, Gaku…!”
“It’s nothing special, hehe.” His ego stroked, he couldn’t help but puff his chest out as he picked up the tray to bring out to his mother. “You can grab that other tray of noodles that’s under that towel there.”
Doing as he said, Tsumugi followed Gaku through the curtain to the front of the store. Behind the counter Gaku’s mother and another employee were working on boiling more water to cook the noodles and preparing fresh ingredients for toppings and a new batch of stock. The stools at the counter were already full, and the additional booth seating was beginning to reach capacity already. They set the trays on the counter next to the stovetop and were immediately given new tasks by Gaku’s mother.
“Tsumugi, cook the noodles, and Gaku, watch her while you prep the leeks and radishes. We’ve got delivery orders for eight, for three, and for two, so let’s work fast and efficiently.” She spoke quickly between the clatter of her knife hitting the board every time she sliced through the onions.
They went right to work immediately, meshing into the flow of the preparations. Gaku’s directions were clear enough that after the first serving of noodles were done, Tsumugi was able to handle it without much supervision. After breezing through the vegetables, Gaku moved on to cutting up and cooking the requested side orders of beef. Soon they had everything prepared and packed up ready to be delivered. Between Gaku and his cousin, Gaku got the short stick and was tasked with delivering the two larger orders while his cousin delivered the third.
“Why don’t you take Tsumugi along, let her see what it’s like on the delivering side of things. We’ll be fine for a bit now that the first rush is through,” Gaku’s mom suggested with a playful upturn of her lips. “Plus, I’m sure she could use a break from all this hustle and bustle.”
Shaking her hands in front of herself to show polite disagreement, Tsumugi smiled back. “It’s definitely very busy, but I really don’t mind! It reminds me of that rush of getting all of IDOLiSH7 on stage as they are supposed to. It’s quite exciting!”
“See, she gets it, ahaha.” Gaku stacked up the trays of the order for eight and waited as Tsumugi picked up the order for three. “We’ll be back as soon as we can.”
The couple made it to the delivery car and loaded everything in then got in as well. Tsumugi sat up straight and watched the road as Gaku pulled out. “Tonight has been fun so far. I’ve been really happy to be helpful and watch everyone work with such love.”
“I’m really glad to hear that. It’s been nice having you. We’re a family business, and I want my favorite family member to be happy there too.” With a quick doofy grin at his attempt at flirting and a gentle squeeze of her upper thigh, Gaku began driving to the first address.
As they approached the location of the order for three, both of them felt vaguely familiar with the area. Neither of them wanting to be wrong, they both kept their suspicions to themselves, however. Tsumugi helped grab the tray out of the insulated travel bag, and Gaku hopped out to grab it.
“Looks like a pretty nice place for wanting takeout. Wanna handle this one and see what kinda client it is?” he asked her with an inviting smile.
“A-Alright, as long as you don’t think I’ll mess things up—”
“You’ll do just fine. They already paid over the phone, so you just have to give them their food.” Taking no more hesitation, he gave her the order and gently guided her forward.
She took a deep breath and rang the doorbell, which was quickly given a reply by the opening of the front door. Almost choking on her next breath, Tsumugi realized she recognized the man who opened the door and stood before her. “Okazaki-san—” she cut herself off from saying aloud, instead clearing her throat and letting out a squeaky “Good evening!”
Rinto pushed up his glasses and stared a moment, tilting his head to the left before shaking it and finally answering her back in kind. Before he could say more, Momo appeared behind him, slapping his hands on Rinto’s shoulders and peering around him. “Is that our food, Okarin— Heyyy! You look a lot like that cute little manager of IDOLiSH7!”
“E-Eh!? U-Umm…” Panicking a moment, Tsumugi blurted out, “N-Never heard of them, ahaha! I’m just a simple soba shop girl, helping my family while they’re under-staffed…!”
Momo held his chin and hummed in doubt for a moment, then winked playfully. “Well, whatever you say, maneko-chan-lookalike!” He accepted the food and went further inside, calling out, “Yuki, the food’s here! Oooh, Okarin remembered to order an extra helping of meat for me and an extra helping of veggies for you!”
“Thank you very much,” Rinto said with a tired but grateful bow.
“Of course! Have a wonderful night! Ah, and thank you for choosing Yamamura’s!” She smiled until the door shut, then slumped with a deep sigh of relief. “How does Gaku do it so well…?”
“Looks like it went fine,” Gaku said with a grin as he leaned against the front of the car.
“It did, but I almost got recognized. It was apparently the house of Re:vale’s manager Okazaki-san!”
“Huh, who knew he lived over here. Well, let’s get a move onto the second stop. It’s not too far away, and I think you might recognize this one too.”
They made their way deeper into the city, arriving at a dorm building Tsumugi knew all too well. “Of all nights for them to order…” she murmured and squirmed in embarrassment. “I… sort of lied to Momo-san about who I was… Do you think I should do the same with them…?”
“Well, they somehow still haven’t figured out that it’s me, so I bet you can do the same too. I’ll go up with you this time to help you with your cover.”
With his promise in tow, they each took half of the order and went up to the door. Tsumugi resisted the urge to just input the security code and enter as she normally does, instead buzzing in on the intercom. Soon the door unlocked and Tamaki opened the door with Sougo right behind him.
“Guys, it’s the soba man! Woah, and he’s got a soba lady with him!” Tamaki practically yelled to the rest of the group as he let them come in.
Sougo shut the door behind them and carefully advised, “Tamaki-kun, try not to yell, please. Eh, is that— no, m-must be my imagination…” He shook his head and dismissed the thought after looking at the pair of soba shop employees.
They headed into the kitchen area where the rest of IDOLiSH7 was, along with Banri who was apparently visiting after dropping MEZZO back at the door. Riku was clearing off the table, waving at the pair. Once Tsumugi saw him, she almost blurted out his name but she managed to recover. “Ri— Really hope you enjoy!!”
“Hey, Mitsu, doesn’t she look a helluva lot like our manager?” Yamato gestured at Tsumugi with the beer in his hand.
“Hehhh…?” Mitsuki tilted his head and stared for a minute. “Sort of, I guess… Now that you mention it, yeah, she does! Manager, is that you?”
“E-Eh!? M-Me!? I’ve never managed anything in m-my life…!”
“She’s a new part-timer, so excuse her nervousness,” Gaku interrupted as he put his arm around her and smiled. “We would be lost without her help right now, heheh.”
“Couldn’t be your manager either, she never pins her bangs back like that,” Banri spoke up, giving Tsumugi a subtle wink. “Besides, she's still on her honeymoon, right?”
“Eh, that’s true. Sorry, our mistake. Boy, Yamamura’s must be a family full of professional impersonators.” Yamato and Mitsuki had a laugh over Yamato’s comment, both a bit too buzzed to particularly care more.
“Happens less often than you might think. Well, we’ll leave you to your meal! Enjoy!” Gaku threw up his hand in a goodbye and walked with Tsumugi outside and back to the delivery car. “Phew, that was a close one.”
“Banri-san could tell, I think. But he was kindly discreet enough. I’ll have to thank him next time…. Hahhh…” She relaxed against the back of the seat as Gaku drove, looking relieved. “Maybe when we get back I’ll just help your mom in the front again.”
“She’ll appreciate that I’ll bet. Deliveries aren’t for everyone, but it’s kinda fun for me since I get to chat with so many different people without the formalities of being an idol.”
“You do always look so relaxed and happy when you’re delivering to the dorms or office.” She smiled warmly at her husband, recalling all those times she didn’t realize she was talking so casually to her future husband.
Once they made it back, Gaku already had more orders to deliver, and Tsumugi was quite quickly whisked into helping get food out to hungry customers’ tables. The rest of the night sped by, the couple exchanging sweet words and smiles every time Gaku returned to pick up more orders to deliver. It was just busy enough to keep the workload flowing, but not nearly laborious enough to be overwhelming thanks to Tsumugi’s extra help. Before they knew it, it was closing time and the last customers were clearing out. Everyone cleaned up and closed down the store, making sure everything would be ready for the next day.
“Thanks for helping out today, you two! You are pretty good at this so far, Tsumugi,” Gaku’s mom grinned proudly as she folded up her apron and set it on the back shelf. “The Yamamura spirit musta rubbed off on you, ahah. You should come help out again if you can.”
“It was my pleasure, really! And I might just come by again. I have my own uniform, after all,” Tsumugi added with a giggle. Suddenly, a yawn overtook her, making her eyes tear up slightly from sleepiness.
“That’s our cue to head home,” Gaku said as he gently put an arm around Tsumugi’s shoulders and started guiding her to the door. “Good working with you all as always!” With a wave and exchanged goodbyes, Gaku and Tsumugi left the soba shop and got back to their car.
“Tonight was nice…~” she mumbled as she settled into her seat. “It was busy at times, but really fun… working with you… working with your mom…” Another yawn stopped her from saying more, a soft sigh of contentment following it.
“You really did fit in well, especially cute in that uniform too. Kinda sexy in a way too,” he said with a flirty smirk, expecting it to spark some sort of reaction from her. However, all he heard from her was a soft moan and sigh. Glancing away from the road, he could see that she had promptly fallen asleep mid-thoughts. Warmly smiling and shaking his head, he murmured a soft, “Good work today, Tsumugi…~”