Yeah, well, it's my money, so I can waste it if I want.
It's not like I'm an old man or something, you know. The best time to indulge is when you're young, so that's exactly what I'm going to do.
And besides, I'd say I live a pretty healthy lifestyle generally, so there's no harm in engaging in cheat days every now and then.
Today's the 26th of March, 2168, the following Saturday. The first General Education exam was held yesterday, and I breezed through it.
I mean, we haven't gotten the results yet, but I think it's safe to say I aced it. I only needed Ai's help for about a quarter of the questions, though I did have her confirm that I got the rest right after I was done, just in case I'd made any careless mistakes.
The tests were sent to each student's I-Watches, with a link that takes us to a webpage. And we can't exit the webpage until we finish the exam, so it's pretty much impossible to cheat...unless, of course, you've got a super advanced AI on your side.
Anyway, to celebrate the end of the first set of exams of the year, I figured I'd go out and treat myself.
There was a popular dessert place called Decadence nearby, they have this sweets buffet I've wanted to try for a while, but had to hold off because it's pretty pricey.
But money is no longer a concern and I have cause to celebrate, so yeah, here I am.
It's currently around midday, I skipped breakfast to make sure that I'd have plenty of room to gorge myself. Gotta get my money's worth, after all.
The place is pretty crowded, hope I don't have to stand in line for an extended period of time. There were two separate counters, one for customers who opt for takeaway, and the other for dine-in customers.
I was in the latter, of course, and there were about ten people ahead of me. There aren't a lot of unoccupied tables left, I hope at least a few of them are here as a group, I'll definitely have to stand and wait for a while if everyone ahead of me are here by themselves like I am.
I doubt most people would be okay with sharing a table with a stranger, and it's unlikely that the staff would force them to.
Looking around, I see a lot of tables with multiple chairs but only one person seated. There were also a number of pairs, presumably couples on dates or maybe some friends hanging out, and hardly any of the tables were fully occupied.
"Hm? Oh, hey, fancy meeting you here," Suddenly came a familiar voice from behind me.
"Huh? Oh, hello," I responded with a polite nod as I glanced back, a head of vibrant red hair coming into sight.
It's Ariella Velle, didn't think I'd run into any of my classmates here. I haven't really spoken to her all that much, I tend to keep to myself in class, for the most part.
I'm not cold or rude, not intentionally anyway, I try to be cordial and polite at the very least. But I usually don't speak unless spoken to, I hardly ever initiate conversations with my classmates unprompted.
"Did you come here to celebrate the end of the exams too?" She asked me with a smile.
"Yeah, pretty much. I felt good about yesterday's exam, so I figured I'd treat myself," I replied, before glancing ahead as I shuffled closer to the front of the line.
There are two people ahead of me and two tables left. Come on, please be together...
"We'd like a table for two, please."
Yes! Let's go!
"Will you be ordering off our regular menu or would you like to go with the buffet instead?" Responded the staff member with a smile.
"The buffet, please."
"Understood, that's 20,000 Credits for two people."
Sweet, looks like my boosted luck came through for me, the last available table is mine!
"Hm? Oh, crap...," Muttered Ariella behind me.
She must have noticed that there's only one unoccupied table left. I glanced back at her, a dejected look on her face, before her expression turned embarrassed as her stomach rumbled.
Did she skip breakfast too? I'd planned on enjoying this outing by myself, but I kinda feel bad...
"Hey, uh...we can share a table, if you'd like. It might take a while before any of the other tables are free again," I offered, her expression lighting up.
"Really?! You don't mind?"
"No, not particularly," I shrugged, before stepping to the front of the line, as the couple in front of me paid and were shown to one of the remaining tables.
"In that case, I'll take you up on that. Thanks," She smiled gratefully.
"Sure, no problem," I responded, before requesting a table for two.
Ariella stepped up to pay for herself, which was a relief since I certainly had no intention of paying for her. It would've been a bit awkward to tell her to pay if she hadn't stepped up, so I'm glad she did.
Another staff member showed us to the last remaining table, we took a seat across each other before going through the options.
There was a device in the middle of the table, which displays a holographic screen when tapped and shows us everything that's available in the buffet.
Instead of having to get up and serve ourselves, we just select what we want and then we'll be promptly served our selections by robots.
There's a limit to how much you can select in one go, but it's an all-you-can-eat buffet, so you can keep ordering more and more until you're satisfied.
The human staff in restaurants and stuff primarily focus on customer service, but the actual serving is usually done by bots.
There are some 'retro'-themed cafes and restaurants that use human waiters and waitresses, and a lot of fancy restaurants have a few human staff too, but other than that, it's pretty rare.
I think I'll start off with some smaller options to get warmed up, let's see here...woah, this is a pretty wide selection. I can choose upto five things each time.
I opted for a serving of cookie fries, which were cookies in a long, narrow shape like French fries, and came with a number of dipping sauces, I went with a white chocolate dip.
Next, I added a couple of slices of brownie roll, which seemed to be a Swiss roll but with brownie and mousse instead of cake and cream.
I also went for a sugar-glazed donut and a couple of lava cake pops, and finally, a chocolate milkshake. Can't go wrong with the classics, after all.
Girl, please...I'm just getting started.