Revelation Of An Ordinary Life

Oneshot: Salt and Pepper Diner

Ryuuen POV:

A new diner had opened up recently. I didn't expect new things to pop up again and again, but I guess some poor guy couldn't pay his bills and got kicked out.

Maybe it was my own curiosity to see if it lived up to the reputation, or I was just bored.

Probably both.

"Salt and Pepper diner, huh?" I mumbled to myself as I looked up at the big plastic sign.

Walking inside and I was blasted by a bunch of ear grating loud pop music. It's like it was an echo chamber because it felt like it was getting louder every moment. Looking around, I saw the place was painted in colour, and all the tables had nice cartoonish shapes with cushy seats. If I'm gonna guess, this is a family diner.

And there's one thing I know about family diners. 

They appeal to 3 people; Families, teenagers, and homeless schizophrenics.

Most seats were filled, but I didn't really want to order yet anyway. This pop music makes me want to leave already, but then I realised where it was coming from.

And who was using it currently.

"Yo, Ayanokouji," I chuckled as I walked up behind him.

He glanced back at me and then back at the jukebox. It was emanating neon, fluorescent lights. Like a rainbow that was glowing.

"Do you know how to use this thing?"

"Hmm, it seems pretty simple. You pay a thousand yen, pick three songs then do whatever you want," I explained.

It was pretty basic, the instructions were even printed on the side in both Japanese and English.

"Well, let me rephrase then. Do you know how to change genres? Right now it seems to be stuck on pop music," Ayanokouji mumbled.

"I'm surprised you care about the machine that much," I chuckled.

I expected him to stay away from something that shows his music tastes to everyone.

"Curiosity. I've never seen a machine like this before."

Ah, so that's what it's gotten down to.

"This song really makes my ears bleed," I sighed.

I was standing so close to it so it was even louder. It's one of those annoying Christmas Pop songs that you hear get played at every store in the mall. It comes around every year and I want to shove a knife in some speakers.

"Would you like to pick one then?" Ayanokouji offered.

I nodded and he stood aside for me to look through the machine.

One thousand points for 3 plays, huh? That's pretty cheap. And I wonder if duplicates are possible.

Swiping through the music list they've given you, it's clear that it's all a bunch of old stuff. And I can see why changing genres was troubling. After some trial and error, I realised what you had to do. You have to click on the genre that is playing on the current song and then it makes you return to a screen where you can pick through the rest of them.

Pop, rock, classical, but no hip-hop. That's a shame.

"You going to pick one?" Ayanokouji asked.

"Hold on, give me a second," I dismissed his question.

I clicked three of the same song within the rock section. I never heard the song, but it alerted me to something.

Since there was no popup, duplicates are allowed. So then, I wonder what would happen if I paid 7000 points? 21 plays of the same song.