As we made it to Station Arfa, Ed didn’t want to waste any time in setting up shop. He said we should hit the iron while it’s still hot, saying it’s not a smart idea to wait too long.

The idea isn’t too bad, right? Since Station Arfa is a sort of gateway, there’s high traffic, leading to more customers. If we could monopolize the Station then hire trustworthy employees to keep it afloat, we could get a fair amount of money just in royalties. Well, whilst it does make sense, rushing in head first wasn’t something we can afford to do at this point. We have enough money to rent out a small place and buy the ingredients, but doing everything at once could lead to us getting scammed again.

In any case, we should probably do some market research. Checking which shop has the lowest priced ingredients, which place has the lowest rent fees while also having a good location, and most importantly what food the locals want to see on our menu. The worst thing to do when setting up shop might be to place it right next to ten other competitors, but having unpopular food is probably the second best.

Back when we we’re working in Stringwood, we brainstormed all sorts of food ideas, with some being a lot more successful than others. For example, my mom’s cake had way more of an impact on our customers than Ed’s over the top sweet Frappuccino. As much as this hurts me to say it, maybe the people who pass by here will have different tastes, and may actually like Ed’s sweetness bomb more than my mother’s signature dish, so we shouldn’t just stick to what we know.

With our plans decided, we first went to look for a place to rent.

***

Looking around the town, it really did seem way vaster than we had originally thought. We spent at least 4 hours negotiating with landlords, then noticing faults all over the place and moving on to the next one. This process was tedious, repetitive and boring, and it was starting to show on our faces. We we’re running out of options, and we only had one or two places that seemed decent enough.

“I think we should buy the one at Mai Street.” Mentioned Anna.

“If we’re talking about location, then Mai Street doesn’t hold a candle to the place over near the gates!” Retorted Ed.

“Was that the one near Legacy Road? Y’know, our competitors?”

With a snarky remark, Anna had shut down Ed’s idea of making a restaurant near the gates leading to Leins.

This led us to only one other option.

“It’s a bit far, but I’ll be damned if it’s not our best shot yet.”

The place in question was a small little area perfect for a little restaurant, it had no faults in the architecture, no safety hazards, it was located a small walking distance away from the gates. The only issues were the slightly higher than optimal rent and another indie restaurant that opened a bit before us.

After renting it out for the month, we went to go buy some tableware and ingredients for tomorrow’s grand debut. Thankfully, in our search to find the perfect spot, we had a pretty good understanding of the city layout. This is good for multiple reasons, number one: we now know where and who to buy from, and number two: we got to ask around and found out people’s preferences didn’t differ all too much from Stringwood’s (Mom’s cooking: 1, Ed: 0).

With the initial impact having subsided, we spent the rest of the week cleaning up the restaurant and putting up advertising flyers on the news boards while spreading the news through word of mouth to some locals.

Our neighbors, who also serve as our rivals, weren’t all too happy about the situation that was unfolding in front of them, but we made sure to remain friendly on our part.

Having completed all of the prepwork, we went to bed with proud smiles. Although, since we we’re all way too excited about tomorrows grand opening, we mostly talked the night away.

***

*CLANG CLANG CLANG CLANG CLANG*

This loud and obnoxious sound was a familiar one. The sound reverberated across the entire room, such loud metallic clinging and clanging would have driven anyone mad, but we we’re well accustomed to it by now.

It was none other than Anna banging two pans together as a sort of wake up alarm. I’m sure there’s a better way to wake someone up than this…

“Alright! Rise and shine, guys! We’ve got a big day ahead of us!”

With those words we quickly snapped out of dreamland and went to get dressed into our uniforms. We had decided through a rock-paper-scissors match that Anna will be doing the cooking (since she won), and Ed and I will be the waiters.

Being a waiter is the worst job to have when working at a restaurant, since you have to remember a ton of orders in quick succession, then remember who ordered what. Worst part is, if you mess up or even if the cook messes up, you’re the person that has to listen to the banshee screams of the customer.

The day was pretty slow, all in all. We had some customers, but it definitely wasn’t the grand opening we had expected. Our original plan was to just fix this place up, have a ton of customers, then find some folks who are willing to hold the fort while we venture into the next town, but with how things are going we might have to wait a considerable amount of time before we can move out.

The days had turned into weeks, weeks into months, and we we’re steadily making profit, but it was barely enough to cover the rent and food. Worst case scenario we can just sell the place, but I don’t think Arthur would be too happy about us just giving up. Since we had nothing to lose, we had arranged to meet up with our rivals for some help.

***

“Good day, gentlemen (and madam),” the manager named Carl welcomed us, “from the letter you had sent us prior, you claim that your newly built restaurant was in dire straits?”

This man was definitely egging us on. They were never really that welcoming towards us, but I’d think it’s basic manners to not make such a punchable face in front of me. He sat us down on a vacant table and proceeded as such:

“As manager of the establishment, you have to realize how stupid of an idea it is to ask your competitors for advice, right?”

“Believe me, we know. But there isn’t any other choice, I’m afraid.”

“Well,” he sighed, “you’re asking the wrong people, sadly. Comparing your monthly income to ours, fees included, it doesn’t seem like we’re that far apart.”

His somewhat defeated tone indicated he was being serious, so we we’re back to square one.

“If there is nothing else,” Carl stood up, “then I will continue with my work.”

“HOLD IT!”

His statement had made me realize just how much we’re both staggering with money, and in a flash of inspiration I had come up with a potential solution to resolve both of our problems.

“Sir,” I continued, “we should partner up!”

Ed and Anna put on excited faces when they heard that, but Carl was left a bit confused.

“Partner…up?”

“To tell you the truth, our plan is to spread the name of our business all across TN, and we only need enough money to make that happen.”

“So?” he asked.

“So,” I digressed, “if we we’re to hire you guys, we could essentially double our earnings whilst halving the rent!”

His face lit up at the prospect, but he was still a bit hesitant.

“Kids, I understand you’re trying to make it big, but the world of business is a slippery slope. If you want to buy out my staff, then we want at least 70% of all earnings.”

He put on a smug face again, making such a greedy offer was probably his way of shooing us away, unfortunately for him we’re a dumb bunch.

“DEAL!”

“Wuh-”