I Really, Really, Really, Really, Really Like Bubblegum Part 2

As a customer got out, the owner Akihiro Yamamoto, saw Hideki and said "Oh hey Hideki, I wasn't expecting you to be here" Hideki felt his soul sucked out of him, sighed and said "Well this is a really bizarre day for me Akihiro-ossan, is there a table for 3?" Akihiro looked behind Hideki and saw two cute girls and told Hideki "Oohhh, looks like Hideki caught some huh. Well, there's plenty of empty tables as lunchtime has yet to arrive, why don't you seat at Table 5?" Hideki thanked Akihiro and escorted the girls inside.

As they got in, and seated at the table, Momoi was shocked at the development and wanted to ask Hideki but he told the girls "Okay, get your orders girls, and let's order something, lunchtime rush also applies here so it's better if we can order early" So Momoi and Hideki both ordered Omurice, which was a really rare coincidence while Megumi ordered Katsudon as weirdly as it sounds, Katsudon is her favorite meal.

Seeing that the girls have their order, Hideki rang the bell and the latest weird turn of event was that Kanai was the server assigned to them, well how did they know? As soon as Akihiro got to the back, he called Kanai and told her "Kanai, why don't you serve Table 5?" Then Akihiro talked in a lower volume and told her "You'll be in for a surprise, and why don't you take a Lunch Break too?"

Kanai approached the table and was shocked to see Hideki and Megumi in the cafe and what's more shocking was Hideki was sitting beside this new girl, as Megumi put their shopping bags in the other chair beside her. So she approached the table and hugged Hideki and said "Oohhh Hideki-kuuun~ I didn't know you went on a date with two girls~" Hideki sighed and said "Mom, we're not on a date!" Kanai then looked at Hideki's seatmate who was now interested in looking at the table and asked her "Oh hi sweety, I'm Kanai Takeuchi, what's your name? Are you Hideki's girlfriend?"

Momoi looked at her and shook her head and introduced herself "Hello ma'am I'm Momoi Satsuki from Teiko Middle School, I'm a friend of Megu-nee. Uhm are you Hideki-san's mom?" Kanai then said "Yes, I am Momoi-chan, now let me take your order and I'll eat lunch with you, I haven't had lunch with Hideki these days." Hideki sighed, but would also love to have lunch with his mom, just not in this kind of setting.

After Kanai got the group's order, she got to the back and put their order, and asked her colleague Emi a server to serve the food to Hideki's table, Emi happily accepted it, so Kanai removed her apron and sat beside Megumi, who removed the bags. 

As Kanai sat, she said "Order's in so we'll wait for 10 minutes, don't worry I'm on lunch break now." Kanai then looked at Megumi and asked her in a whisper, "So what lead to this?" Megumi giggled and wrote to a piece of paper, hiding from Momoi or Hideki. 

Hideki rolled his eyes from his mom and friend and proceeded to ask Satsuki to break the ice. "So Momoi-chan. What led you to being Teiko's manager?" Momoi answered and said "Well, I also like basketball and I like helping my friend who is one of the regulars" Hideki slowly nodded at that answer and said "Well not the answer I was really expecting" Momoi giggled and asked "Why?" Hideki then said "Well I thought you were like most girls who got in because of a crush"

Momoi giggled and was shocked at that so Hideki said "Well, the Megu-nee you're referring to now? She was like that when she first entered the club last year." After Megumi was writing she talked loudly "Hey! I was done with that phase of my life!" Kanai then dropped the bomb and said "Oh yes, the time where you had a crush on Hideki. I remember it too well" Hideki was laughing as he heard this, not due to Megumi;s crush on him, but Kanai's out of place bluntness. 

Meanwhile Megumi was blushing too hard, you may have recognized her as a tomato. Megumi got a handkerchief and began shouting on it, so it was like a muzzled scream. As this was happening, Kanai was reading the letter written by Megumi which read:

"So, Hideki has this really big crush on Momoi-chan, I knew it as this happened on the Finals, a game where his focus shouldn't be diverted, well it was diverted by her and asked me to help him" 

Kanai looked at Megumi who was done shouting and Megumi looked at her and said silently "Don't worry I got this" so Kanai disturbed Hideki who was talking to Momoi and said "Hideki-kun, can you cook 4 servings of your special, ask Rina the head chef you'll borrow the kitchen"

Hideki looked at his mom suspiciously, then left the table to cook his special dish, as he left the table he then looked again to make sure his mom won't do anything suspicious, but this is Kanai we are talking about so he sighed and resigned to his fate in the next few minutes.

As Hideki put on the chef's apron and entered the kitchen, Kanai looked at Megumi and Momoi, Momoi felt that Kanai was looking at her intently and then Kanai asked "So Momoi-chan, what kind of guys do you like? " Momoi was shocked to hear this and blinked at least 5 times, or what can be counted in the span of half a second.

Momoi was now nervous and asked "Uhm, why ask this question Takeuchi-san?" Kanai then said "Just Kanao is fine, I'm comfortable with people calling me by my name. It comes with the job" Momoi then was fidgeting and looked at Megumi, Megumi saw this and sighed and said "Well, to be totally honest with you Momoi-chan, I was turned down by Hideki on my attempts to be more than friends with him, well it is most likely due to basketball. The other reasons, I don't know."

Kanai then butted in and said "As far as I know Hideki, I know that his love for basketball is immense and you can say he loved basketball more than anything, family is second." And then Kanai dropped another bomb, "Well not to say Megumi-chan here is not cute or anything, she is one of the cutest girls that Hideki talks to, but I think Megumi is not his type. He only sees her as a younger sister or something. Even if Megumi is older than Hideki by 1 or 2 months" Kanai ended her points by saying "Hideki is really mysterious like that" 

Momoi then talked and said to the pair while fidgeting her hands, "Well, on that point, I also like people that are mysterious." Megumi looked at Momoi and then at Kanai and said "Looks like your woman's intuition is working again Kanai-san!" Kanai giggled and said "Well it comes with age, Megumi-chan" 

Kanai held Momoi's hand and said "Please don't be pressured with me saying that Hideki has a crush on you, don't reject him for now, you can certainly try this first as I asure you that Hideki is a gentleman beneath his basketball-first mantra." Kanai then said "It is really totally fine, even for adults like us that relationships start and run slow" 

Momoi then was silent for a while and responded "Okay Kanai-san, I'll look at it." Momoi think for a while before saying "I am also interested in Hideki, not in a romantic way but, he is considered a prodigy amongst other basketball players in the Middle School Basketball Scene" Kanai giggled and said "Well, I think that side comes from his father, and also his gentleness, but his loyalty most certainly comes from my side." Kanai had a solemn face as she said that.

After a few minutes of talking about Hideki, Hideki came with a push cart with their lunch, even the ones they ordered and placed it in the table, after he brought back the cart to its place, the four of them ate. 

But there was something wrong and Hideki can feel it.

Momoi was now catching glances at Hideki and Hideki saw it, after the third time he caught her, he just looked at his mother blandly most likely saying "What have you done now?"

Kanai and Megumi giggled, so Hideki voiced his concern and said "What have you both done to Momoi-chan?" Kanai giggled and said "I can't divulge that Hideki-kun, it's mostly girl talk amongst us girls"

They just ate silently for an hour and was called by her parents and she was needed back home. Megumi bowed to Kanai, Hideki and then Momoi as she has to leave early, Hideki then wanted to call off the meetup but Megumi said "Be a gentleman Hideki and go with Momoi-chan on shopping for clothes?" Hideki sighed and just said "Okay"

---

Hideki and Momoi left the cafe and they got back to the mall to shop for clothes, Hideki also needed some new clothes as he outgrew his clothes, Momoi can't go back as Megumi told her to enjoy the date. Hideki told Momoi "Sorry about that Momoi-chan, its just that mom and Kanai looked more like a mother and daughter and wanted me to suffer" Momoi laughed and said "It's okay Hideki-san, I'm sure they want you to enjoy your day as much as I do. I haven't had this fun in months aside from basketball"

As the pair were walking, they talked various things like basketball, Hideki asked her why she liked basketball to which she replied that her childhood friend got her into it and she loved it after that. Momoi then asked that same question to Hideki, Hideki just told her that he liked how players develop into superstardom and be successful in their own right, and he said it's as if him and basketball were a match made in heaven. 

And Hideki got rizz in him as he accidentally said "But of course if I had a special someone, they will be the same level as basketball"

Hideki covered his mouth as it was loud enough that Momoi heard it and she giggled, she was not offended by that as she saw her childhood friend loved basketball, live basketball and breath basketball.

---

As they got into the girls clothing part of the mall, Momoi then tried to wear different clothings and Hideki was her judge, she found out that Hideki knows what is okay for fashion, not that it is a skill but seeing his mother have an aura of beautiness in her, she connected the dots from there.

All of the clothes that Momoi tried were really cute and beautiful and Hideki was mesmerized by them all.

In the end Momoi only selected 1 pair of outfit.

By 4PM Hideki and Momoi got back to the cafe to get their things and Kanai told Hideki to walk Momoi home and he can drop the things at home afterwards, they'll have dinner at home.

---

As Hideki and Momoi walked, Hideki addressed the hidden elephant in the room, what the girls talked about earlier, or what he thought they talked about earlier. "So Momoi-chan, I'd guess my mom spilled the beans and told you that I kind of like you?" Hideki's volume got lower and lower as he said the sentence. Momoi heard some but understood what Hideki meant and said "Yes"

Hideki then said "Look, I won't deny it and will say that I like you, but I won't go fast on this, I'd say let's have an occassional dates here and there. And I just don't want you to freak out if I invite you on lunch on weekends." Hideki breathed and sighed and said "But most importantly, is it okay with you? I mean, me courting you? I won't ask you to go out with me in this instant but…" Hideki then fidgeted his thumbs and asked "Are you fine or okay with me?"

Momoi saw Hideki's fidgety actions and giggled, she said "Don't worry Hideki-kun. I won't deny that I don't have feelings towards you for now, but we can start from there." Momoi then had a light bulb flashed on her head and said "For starters, I call you Hidekin and you call me Sa-chan?" 

Hideki smiled and said "Yes! Of course Sa-chan, you can call me whatever you like!"

Both of them smiled as Hideki let Momoi enter her house, as she entered, she waved Hideki goodbye.

It only took this date for Hideki to get out of his 'light' burnout with basketball, and is enthusiastic on training for next week.