Aw yeah, it's finally time to reintroduce both Chie and Yukiko into the fray of the story. I'm going to try my best to rewrite them to be less gimmicky characters. Enjoy this story.

Chapter 2: Enter the 36 Steak Bowl Chambers

April 10th, 2011

"What are we doing today Yosuke?" I asked him while eating breakfast.

"Probably going to Aiya's for lunch, we're going to meet Chie and Yukiko there. They got some kickass Chinese cuisine there that you'll probably like." Yosuke said.

"Oh is it like dim sum? Or is it just normal Chinese restaurant food?"

"They're mostly known for their noodle bowls… omph… They got this special meat bowl challenge with a big ass bowl that you have to finish within 30 minutes… *chew* *chew*... Then you get a picture taken and it gets pinned onto a wall…" Yosuke said, stuffing bread in his mouth.

"Dude, try not to eat with your mouth full…" I groaned.

"You've been on my ass about this ever since we were kids, jeez!"

"Well learn your darn manners mister, I may not be your mom, but you gotta put some respect on my name… By the way, those headphones, where'd you get them?"

"Oh, these pairs are from Junes, lasts about a year, according to the box. Sound quality is great." Yosuke started to fiddle with his headphones.

We took a walk towards Aika's, the main advantage of living in such a small ass town is that everything is in walking's reach, Salem was about the same, but Inaba seems to be way smaller. Yosuke and I talked more in depth about our music tastes.

"I've been getting more into the Fishmans more lately, let me tell you, they got a good vocal range. Oh and I guess I'm also getting more into the Beatles. Both Rubber Soul and Revolver are growing on me… What do you think of Rise by the way?"

"Absolute nonsense, don't care about her… Plus she's got one of the most fake personalities in J-Pop. My opinion though."

"Sheesh, you always love to be so damn brutal with your opinions. Don't judge me, but I love Rise and also Kanami. They are so cute!" Yosuke started to squeal a bit.

"Kanami too huh? God you're a lost cause my friend, you even sound like a 80 year old for a bit. No shame on you though, power to you." I chuckled.

"I mean everyone has their own guilty pleasures, since Rise mostly appeals to girls. Though you can argue her sex appeal is designed for guys like me, and you."

"I never understood sex appeal for advertising, but that's just how some people like to buy. Prostitution exists for a reason." I scratched at the back of head, I just made things more uncomfortable didn't I?

"Yeah… I'll think about that, why do you always bring up some of the weirdest stuff to our conversations? I swear you lack any fundamental knowledge to even be talking about such ridiculous topics like this." Yosuke shrugged.

"You are talking to a former honors student y'know. Gosh I feel so pretentious just sayin' that. It's like I'm expected to know as much as my big brother did when he was my age." Yeah, my brother just so happens to be a honors student, his technical skill in music of all instruments is unmatched. He can literally play any instruments at a highly advanced level, hell that's probably the reason why he has a girlfriend. Like I have to play the second wheel in the family. My mom encourages me to be myself, but how can I be myself where people expect me to do as much effort as my brother?

"...Talking to your brother more would be a good solut- Hey, were you listening to anything I said?" Yosuke waved his hand in front of my face.

"Oh shit. How long was I staring?"

"10 seconds, man you're so bad at this stuff. Get a grip on reality stupid." Yosuke chuckled.

We walked into what seemed to be Aika's, being greeted by the smell of Chinese food, it was pretty nice. Salem had its fair share of Chinese restaurants, but most of them were ranging from average to absolute crap. At the bar, there was a tomboy wearing a light green jacket with yellow stripes and a girl wearing what seems to be her school uniform, a nice red outfit.

"We made it Chie, how long were you guys waiting?" Yosuke asked the girl in green.

"We just got here like five minutes ago. So is this the new guy you wanted introduce us to?" She asked.

"Wow Yosuke, I didn't know you were friends with Mario and Luigi? Anyways, I'm Kentaro Tachi, Yosuke's old childhood friend." I said in my weird deep voice, awkwardly taking a seat right next to Chie. Forced smile, my cheeks are probably way too high up.

"Uh… I'm Chie Satonaka, and this is my best friend, Yukiko Amagi, her family owns the Amagi Inn, you've probably heard about it in the tour guide." Chie said cheerfully. She seems like the kind of person who would be really into sports, that sports jacket she's wearing probably has a long history of being drenched in sweat or something.

"Dude that joke didn't even land that well." Yosuke whispered to me.

"Hi, I'm Yukiko, please to meet you… I'm going to become a manager at my inn someday. Uh… Am I supposed to say anything else?" nervously she said.

"You know what, let's just order something and eat, I'm not that big into small talk, uh, Yosuke, what is this place known for?" I asked, out of nowhere a girl with short blue hair wearing an apron popped out of the kitchen.

"We're known for our special meat bowls, we have the Mega Beef Bowl Challenge that people have been taking, if you win, you get a free shirt and a picture pinned up on the wall of this restaurant. Oh and the challenge is only available on rainy days only as our Rainy Day Special." The blue haired girl said.

"I've tried to challenge like twice already, I don't recommend doing it, even for a gal like me who is a connoisseur in all things meat, except for fish." Chie said.

"Yeah I'm not interested in food poisoning, uh how big is the Mega Beef Bowl Miss…" I asked.

"Aika Nakamura, the bowl is about this big..." She posed her hands to scale the size of the bowl, and it seemed to be a literal giant's meal.

"That's the size of the bowl? Jesus man, can we order now? This talk of meat is making me more hungry." My stomach quietly rumbles a bit. Everyone was handed a menu from Aika, the menu depicted pictures of meat bowls with rice, eggs, meat, and sauteed onions.

1 hour later…

The meat was really good, the ratio between the rice, eggs, sauteed onions and the occasional peppers mixed well with the meat. I ordered the beef bowl, the beef was pretty nice and salty. I give it a 9 out of 10

"Damn, that hit the spot just right..." I said as I patted my stomach and slouched on the chair. Next to me, I see that Chie is already finishing her 2nd beef bowl, either she's got good metabolism to have such a nice body, or she's some exercise nut. Yukiko on the other hand, was only halfway done with her bowl.

"It most certainly did, but the amount of cholesterol in this meat, which is why I only eat here like once every few weeks." Yosuke commented.

"Yeah, but the meat here is like so high in quality, unlike the meats at Junes. Their steaks are okay though" Chie said in a nonchalant manner.

"That's because that meat is mostly for fast food consumption, there's a reason why those vendors at Junes sell that meat for cheap, and get it out fast." Yosuke groaned.

I took a look at Chie, and thought to myself, Her personality trait better not be just all meat meat meat. She seems to be the kind of person who can beat someone's ass in 20 seconds. Better to keep the conversation friendly, or she might put my ass in the street street. Yosuke looks down trodden, bet he gets this kind of shit daily in a town like this.

"So… I presume you really like meat?" I asked Chie.

"Hell yeah I do! Meat is the essential element of life… Along with kung fu movies." She smiled pridefully.

"Okay… Bacon or sausage?"

"Bacon obviously, duh!" I really tried really hard to stop my laughing. Just the way she said it like that.

"Hell yeah Chie, bacon is superior to sausage, uh what about you, Yukiko?" I smiled at her.

"I'm not really into either of them to be completely honest, besides, I need to focus on maintaining my weight." I just stared at Yukiko blankly at her statement. Not because of what she said, but for how deadpan her reaction is, Yosuke's friends are really that animated. Either that or Japanese teens are getting more and more weird. But I'm Japanese also, but I also lived in the states for almost 10 years, being surrounded by white people. My mom always talked about how weird Americans can be compared to Japanese people, but I digress.

"Well as for me, I really like the taste of sausage, it's a lot more diverse of what you make it out of, bacon just seems a bit basic." Yosuke said.

"Guess bacon wins, two against one Yosuke. You lost." I smiled as Yosuke rolled his eyes at me.

"You're a pretty funny guy Kentaro, I think we're going to be really great friends." Chie said.

"You're an amusing guy, I just received a text from the inn about important business. It was very nice meeting you Kentaro-san." Yukiko waved towards us, left money over the counter and left the restaurant.

"See ya Yukiko!" Chie exclaimed.

A little bit later, we left the restaurant. The three of us just stood in a awkward stance of silence for a minute until Chie started some small talk.

"Do you have any Japanese friends in America?" She asked. The closest thing I had to a person of my ethnicity was this Korean senior named Jin. Dude is a wannabe gangster. And as for friends who can speak Japanese, this black kid named Bill can speak and write really coherent Japanese.

"Not exactly, however, I am friends with a guy who was adopted by a Japanese couple, he left America a year ago to attend high school in Japan, and he's black. Just to clear things up." I said.

"What school is he currently attending?"

"Gekkoukan High School in Tatsumi Port Island. Big school in a big city."

"Ah, that school, our sports teams occasionally visit there for sporting events. Here in Inaba, our school is freakishly small compared to the one there, from what I've heard."

Damn, is she not in any sports club? Maybe she's just a gym type of gal.

"Are you in any sports clubs Chie?" I simply asked.

"Nope, I usually train by myself, like in those kung fu movies. Speaking of which…" Chie turned to Yosuke. "... You better have my Trial of the Dragon to me by Monday." She slightly growled.

"Yeah, I'll try to find it later today. My room is still a bit of a mess, let alone I had to help Kentaro with his own room." Yosuke groaned.

The rest of the day was filled with idle chit chat about a lot of random stuff, mostly about Inaba, learning that there's a fox that protects a shrine in the town was pretty cool. Learning that Chie owned a dog was a bit concerning, since I have minor allergies to dogs, it sometimes can lead to violent outbursts of pure sneezing. Which is why I take allergy medication to avert that problem. Yosuke and I went back home to eat leftover Junes food Yosuke's dad brought home. I finished unpacking the rest of the various boxes I had laying around my room, including a signed Minor Threat poster from Ian Mackaye himself when he toured in Massachusetts in 2006.

"So what's school like here?" I asked as I was watching TV in Yosuke's room, my room was lacking a television. All the TVs in the Hanamura household looks like it was from Junes, in fact, most of the kitchen appliances looked like it was from Junes.

"I'll just say watch out for Mr. Morooka, he's probably going to be your homeroom teacher, he doesn't like any of the students here. We call him King Moron here. He's also got this ugly front buck teeth." Yosuke said in disgust.

"Sounds like an oldhead to me. Gee I'm so excited for school." I said sarcastically.

"Let's just hope that we'll be in the same homeroom together." He chuckled. "We can survive King Moron together."

April 11, 2011

I don't want to bother with the details of how this day went, Yosuke's dad introduced me to the employees of Junes, it was pretty nice meeting the employees. Then he took me to the town's school, Yasogami High, a much smaller high school than the one I went previously. I was given my uniforms, and learned the sad, sad news that I was in Mr. Morooka's homeroom, thankfully with Yosuke at least. That's a plus, also this school surprisingly had a Chinese course that I was going to get enrolled in, since I took part of studying Chinese ever since I started high school, just as a fun study. Also learned another transfer student was joining our homeroom tomorrow. I would never know how much this guy would change everyone's life on that fateful day…

That was Chapter 2 finally finished, finally school is over, I graduated with high hopes for me to get into college, so I'm spending some of my summer doing this fanfic. Like, review, and follow. And Chapter 3 will come out much sooner (I hope).