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BRATBAX ファンミーティングイベントBRAT's CAFE
12月10日(日) 池袋グレイスカフェ
OPEN 18:00
CLOSE 21:00
チェキ¥2,000ご購入ごとに2-shot撮影が可能です。
※枚数限定で情報公開前の新アー写撮影時のチェキを12月10日から発売いたします。
(カフェでの撮影会への参加対象外となります。)
We waited half a street away from the cafe 5~10 minutes prior to opening because no one else was also waiting and I didn't want to be the first one to go in. At 6PM, there was one girl waiting outside and I saw the members open the doors. Then, Karyta and I walked to the cafe. I was super nervous!!!!!!! I wanted to take a picture of the outside before going in but I saw Tohga near the door. I was able to quickly snap a photo of the outside before he noticed us. Tohga noticed us while we were already approaching the door and he opened the door for us and welcomes us in. As we walked in, I saw XiAN behind the counter/in the open kitchen cooking while the others were waiting for something to do. He glanced back at me while I was looking at him and I think when he greeted us, he had a super serious cooking face...well, I think I had the same expression on as well because I was too nervous to smile or say hi. Ah~ XiAN looked so charming/manly when he was cooking seriously (even though he didn't really cook but just tossed everything together for his salad dish lol)! I couldn't remember if the other members welcomed us or not but my eyes were on XiAN the whole time till we were seated. They tried to lead us to a table in the back but then I pointed to the 2 seat closest to the door in the front because that spot will give us the best view of the members and so we sat there.
There was a menu on the table and I couldn't understand what Mel's dish was. Like what is cream "shuu"!? Mel was technically our main server of today's event (because they all know my top/one of my tops is Mel!?) He approached us and confirmed to us about the system charge and that it comes a drink and asked us what we would to drink. I told him I want green tea and I think Karyta said she wants cola. I noticed Mel had his hair done again! His hair was redyed with a nice lighter shade of brown and had the bottom ends dyed pink!!!!! It looked so pretty! I said to him, "ah, new hair! I like it!" and he said, "yeah! Thanks!" and I also asked him if he actually read the letters I wrote to him and did he understood the English. He said yes he really read it and said, "You mentioned that you had forgotten your Japanese right?" (omg yeah he really read it lol..) He then went away and soon came back after with a full set of utensils/napkins, water, and our ordered drinks. OMG MEL WAS AN A+ WAITER! I asked Mel what cream shuu is and he tried to explain what it is but I couldn't understand. I told him to speak English but he had a *help-I couldn't speak-English* face on him and he said it's difficult. He knelt down at our table waiting for us to order the main courses however I took forever to decided and in the end, I told him I needed some time to think and he said ok and will come back later. He got up and did some things and came back a few minutes later... again, he knelt down at our table. I felt so bad because I still couldn't decided but in the end, I told him one XiAN's dish and one Mel's dish. He said ok and he went to place our orders. Through the whole time, I was too nervous to look at Mel in the eyes and didn't know how to feel when Mel knelt down two times. *Ahhh~ fangirl heart exploded*
During the time when we were waiting for our food, I just stared at XiAN and Mel cooking in the kitchen while talking with Karyta. I kept saying to Karyta, "UGHH *with hearts in my eyes*, XiAN is so cuuuuute!!!" (I said that probably 10000 times throughout the whole event and Karyta had to kept saying, "I KNOW...")XiAN was finished making his dish and he came over to us and said in English, "This is nice guy salad!" And he told us to crush the chips on top to mix into the rest of the salad but then I had trouble understanding it and repeated what he said but in the end got it, LOL! And then XiAN walked back to the kitchen and he was proudly/happily telling the other members, "Haha! I told them it's 'Nice-Guy-Salad' because it's Otokonomae Salad!" (But Mr.XiAN... Otokonomae Salad literally means "Handsome Guy Salad" and not "Nice Guy Salad"... lol! Either name was hilarious though) I was surprised that XiAN chosed to make salad and not anything to do with blue curry since he used blue curry in his dish for at least two of the past Brat's Cafe events. But at the same time, I was not surprised because salad is a lazy dish for non-professionals since he just have to cut and toss things together.
We tried XiAN's dish and to our surprise, IT ACTUALLY TASTED VERY GOOD. To be honest, I was a bit skeptical about it due to the chips LOL! But actually, IT TASTED PRETTY GOOD ALL TOGETHER! I loved everything about it. There was tandoori chicken, Calbee Potato Chips, lettuce, cherry tomatoes, cucumber, and dressing. I have nothing to complain about this and I would rate it a 10/10. The tomatoes were the best cherry tomatoes I've ever had in my life and I am not exaggerating. The tomatoes were not sour and their skin were thin and easy to chew/bite in. The chicken tasted very tender and good. At first I thought they bought pre-made chicken to just throw into the salad but XiAN mentioned about the preparation for the chicken was difficult so I guess it meant that he made the chicken from scratch?!?!? If so, I would be impressed. Super impressed. I am a huge fan of salad AND I know how to eat salad.. this is nothing close to high class salad but I love it still.
Next, Mel came with his dish. He introduced it as "Pot Pie" (He said it in English) and I had to repeat it to confirm he said "Pot Pie" because I heard it as "Popeyes". Basically it was cream of broccoli~! After he placed his dish down, he went and brought an extra set of bowl and spoon (since Karyta and I shared all the dishes). Seriously Mel was such a great waiter!! I'm 100% certain that Mel made most of the soup from scratch but was also sure the bread was bought from stores but they did make the right choice on which bread to use because so soft and light. Since 2015 (when I became a fan), I heard Mel was a great cook from other members and he used to always post about dished that he cooked so it was one of my biggest fangirl dreams to try food that Mel cooked. AND TODAY, MY DREAM WAS FULFILLED. I WAS LOOKING FORWARD TO THIS DAY. I love cream of broccoli so I am picky about this kind of soup. Mel's cooking did not let me down! His cream of broccoli soup was very good! Like it tasted like actually cooking <3 (Random: Karyta said Mel's tiny butt looked cute when his back was facing us. LOL.)
After we finished XiAN and Mel's dishes, we decided to get dessert since we were also trying to stall time while waiting for them to sell chekis of the day. I called Mel over and told him we'd like to order one Tohga's crepe. When Tohga came with the crepe, he asked us what we would like him to draw on there and I said a neko. And so he drew a neko with chocolate sauce. It was a neko that doesn't look like a neko. LMAO. But it tasted like a normal crepe so it's kk. (Karyta said to me that was the saddest looking cat she had ever seen drawn on things. HAHAHHA.) Tohga wasn't as observative as Mel and didn't bring us an extra fork.. so I had to wait for someone to be facing our way for me to ask them. Mel looked busy putting away/wiping dishes so I didn't want to bother him but it seemed like he was the only one close to us so I asked Mel for a second fork. (If I can give Mel a "BEST WAITER" award, I totally would!)
Tetola made beef nigiri but it looked pretty bloody to me based on his sample so I didn't want to try it (I'm scared of bloody beef made out of non certified restaurants. SORRY!!!)
- Although Mel didn't stop by to chat with us, he was super polite, nice, and patient with us the entire time even though I was a slow decision maker.
- They broke about 2~ dishware with an average of 30~60 minutes in between each one. During the first one, it was either Tetola or Tohga who broke it. He was trying to pass a cup or plate to the sink/or XiAN in the kitchen but no one was aware of it. It slipped and just fell to the ground and everyone froze in placed while looking over at the kitchen. Mel laughed but XiAN, who kept a serious expression during the whole time it happened, just looked at the floor and looked at the member who passed it. I forgot who broke the second dishware but it was either Mel or XiAN. This time Mel kept a serious face while XiAN reacted playfully to it.
- The members not only did the cooking but they also washed the dishes. (It was kind of a nice view when XiAN was washing the dishes <3)
- One of the girls who came alone brought a customized cake for XiAN! XiAN was soooo happy. He kept taking selfies with the cake and fanboying over his cake. It was a panda XiAN head cake. XiAN talked with the girl for a ridiculously long time (about 10~20 minutes..) and they cut the cake and took half of it while giving back half of it for the girl to eat. The girl looked so happy that XiAN was so delighted.
- XiAN was basically a slave to the kitchen during majority of the time
- Tetola was just weird eff! Sometimes he would walk past us and somehow by accident he and I would accidentally exchange glances and I ended up laughing for no reason and Tetola imitated me laughing back at me. This happened for about 2~3 times.
Due to Karyta, two members came over to talk with us: XiAN and Tetola (acually Tohga came with XiAN as well so we could have spoken with him too but I forgot about his existence when XiAN was there.. sorry) So I guess the only one who didn't came over to chat was our main waiter Mel.
Karyta needed to go to the bathroom but found that it was occupied and had to come back to the table. When Karyta was back at the table (almost sitting down), XiAN (who was somehow leaning his back on the counter across from us) asked Karyta where she was from (Tohga was also there too but I'm so sorry but he was completely ignored since I forgot he was there m_ _m). I think he asked her in Japanese so I replied for her, "America" and XiAN seemed so surprised! I said, "I'm from America too..!" and XiAN said, "Eh!? haha! Really!? hahaha! I'm so sorry!! I forgot!" I gave him the *are you for real face* because I swore I've told him I'm from America/I will return to America for at least a total of 2~3 times between 2015~early 2017.If Mel can remember, XiAN should too right? (I know, their live doesn't revolve around fans... but still LOL) I tried to ask XiAN where did he think I was from. He mentioned something the word Australia.. I was sure if he meant he thought I was from Australia or what but in the end, we weren't able to smoothly communicate LOL Sorry. But it was a fun laugh with him though. He was so freaken loud when he was so sorry and was apologizing while laughing from forgetting where I was from. He didn't get what I was trying to ask and he took and chair and sat next to our table and tried to listen to what I was trying to ask. Then Karyta said she needed to go to the bathroom and she stood up again (since the person in the bathroom came out already) but I didn't want to be alone with XiAN (and the silent Tohga) so I blurted out, "DON'T LEAVE ME!" and Karyta stopped walking, lol. XiAN kept repeating my phrase to himself, "don't leave me.. don't leave me.. don't leave me?" and then he finally seemed to understood it and said to me, "Ah! does it mean you are telling her not to go to the bathroom/you are not letting her go to the bathroom?!"(something like that) I laughed and said yes. And XiAN had burst in laughter again and he playfully slapped my arm. I'm not sure if he said anything to me during that moment but then I remembered I told Karyta she can go to the bathroom. And so, I was left alone for a few minutes. I tried to repeat my previous question and he answered "America". And I tried to rephrase it AGAIN(the 4th time!?!?!?), "No.. before I told you where I was from, where did you think I was from?" But he never got me so I just said never mind and I suddenly remembered that I needed to give him my letter so I told him I wrote a letter for him. He said, "woah! Tegami!?" And I opened my bag to get his letter and handed it to him and said I wrote it in Japanese. He was about to open it on the spot to read it but I immediately stopped him and said, "ah... 後で!" He started laughing again and repeated my 後で once or twice and he said my Japanese is good. (Was he mocking me!? T_T Why does he kept repeating things that I say regardless of it's English or Japanese..?) After that, Karyta came back and XiAN asked me how to say お帰り in English and I told him it's welcome back. And he said "Welcome back!" to Karyta. Then XiAN got up and said in English, "I will be back!" and then he went back to doing whatever he had to do. I immediately regret that I didn't let him read my letter on the spot because like Karyta told me, now I will never know if he really read it or not after the event nor I would know his reaction/reply to it. I was too embarrassed and shy to have him read it right in front of me though!
And as for Tetola, at first he was just standing around near the door (which was to the right of me) and I think he prob looked over at our table/at us and Karyta said hi to him when their glances met and Tetola came over to chat with us. At first when he came over, I dunno why but I started laughing again and he imitated me again... I felt so embarrassed for no reason and I turned my face slightly to the left to hide my face against the wall. Then I think he pointed out one of the band name tattooed on Karyta's arm was one of his favorite bands, Dir En Grey. So we spent the next 5~10 minutes chatting about favorite bands. He currently likes Dadaroma but it took forever for him to remember the band name, like forever. (haha, that shows how much he likes them right!? LOL) I forgot for what reason but there were 1~2 times where he playfully slapped me on my right arm. (wtf did I say!? I have no clue anymore..) and at some point, he literally grabbed my arm right at the armpit height and he kind of shook me a little. I totally did not felt comfortable with that nor could remember what I said to result in him doing so but for sure we were joking around all together with Karyta as well.
After we finished all of our food, we ordered chekis. At first Mel took our orders and he said we can choose members and there are two kinds of chekis: cafe event chekis that they will take on the spot per order and there are the pre-taken new outfit chekis(that doesn't count towards getting the satsuei tickets). I asked if I can request for two shots (I really really wanted a XiAN and Mel two shot ugh.. so I tried my luck on it. I mean it doesn't hurt to ask right?) and to my surprised, Mel said it's ok! So I placed my orders for myself and for SS. I was aiming for a total of 4 photo tickets. Kayta also bought chekis too to take a photo! After a while, Ebi(BRATBAX's staff) came over and clarified my order list and we had it fixed and she had to confirm with Mel once again about it's ok doing 2-shots. The members take the cafe-day chekis on the spot so I watched them going back and forth outside to take chekis.
While waiting for our chekis to be given to us, I asked them for the bill from Ebi and paid her. They bill turned out to be lower than what I thought it would be so I paid but later on had to ask about it. It turns out that when Mel took our order for the add-on crepe, he had forgotten to add it to our total bill so they actually haven't charged us for the 3rd plated until I told Mel when he came over (he also came over with two boxes of chekis). And also it seemed that the pre-taken new outfit chekis were to be paid separately so that also caused a confusion. Mel didn't know we already paid for the first bill and I had to tell him we've paid Ebi this amount already so we should be paying you that amount instead, and etc. Mel went to Ebi to confirm and he came back and said yeah. When Mel took the money for the second payment to the register, he left the two boxes of chekis at our table.. I was being a brat and I wanted to slightly pull one out to look at it so I kind of did but I quickly pushed it back down... and then shortly Mel came back (I wonder if he saw me peaking at them...) And he said those two boxes are the new cheki outfit chekis, one box is XiAN's and one's Mel's. I didn't know what was running through my head but I casually asking Mel if I can choose the chekis, like literally take the chekis and choose them faced up.. and Mel said yes. I was super surprised and I confirmed with him asking if it was really ok and he said it's really ok. So ok... I first choose XiAN's and I went from intentionally buying 2 to end up buying 3 chekis because I couldn't choose between those 3. And for Mel, I went from intentionally buying 2 to buying 5~6. It took me forever to choose which chekis I want to buy and it was kind of stressful since of course Mel was standing right next to me waiting for me. I WAS SUPER STRESSED. And also I was trying to look for a happy smile/laughing expression but none of the XiAN nor Mel's had any. After I was done choosing and adding more chekis to buy, I paid Mel the money for the add-on chekis but apparently he had forgotten literally 5 minutes ago (or even less than that), he took the money for 4 of the new chekis already in the second payment. So I should only pay the amount of total new outfit cheki total minus the total for 4 chekis. Yeah it took a while for him to understand that haha, we had to go through pencil and paper and using diagrams and list. It was intended to be used for them to show us what we owed but it was reversed back to us telling them what we owed and paid already. It was just so hilarious when Mel kept forgetting things even though I felt bad about it. In the end, I wasn't sure if they really understood nor remember what we paid and not paid or just let us off on whatever we said we paid... I hope they really got the payments straight though because I do not want to look like a bad fan since we did paid everything.
After we were done with everything, I told them we were ready for the satsueikai. I asked Mel if it was ok to do a 5-shot. Mel said it was ok at first and them someone told him they couldn't (due to someone has to be there to cook I guess) and then Mel turned to me and said sorry, they couldn't do 5-shots and it's only 2-shots. I told him it was totally fine with me as well to just take 2-shots and I'll just do two with Mel and 2 with XiAN. Then Mel confirmed the total of photos with us, he said, "Miyujika-san has 4 photos. 2 Mel and 2 XiAN. And as for your friend, she has one photo. Who would she like to take it with?" Karyta said Mel and Mel was like, "Thank you!" (OMG I think it was the first time hearing him say my name!!!)
The satsueikai was held outside in front of the cafe. I took the cheki photos first. Mel and XiAN took turns being the camera man. I did not choose the pose for the cheki ones. Next, I used my phone for the remaining two photos. I took it with Mel first and I asked Mel what pose and Mel did the finger stretch mouth pose and so I did that too. I tried to smile with a finger in my mouth (=.=) within 2 seconds of us posing for the photo, I heard XiAN burst in laughter like LITERALLY I thought I saw him laughing to the point where he had to slightly bend over and had his hand on his stomach. I couldn't see because I also ended up laughing but I closed my eye to calm myself down and refocus on doing that pose. XiAN finally stopped laughing and he took the picture for us. Right after that, XiAN thought that we were done and he started to head inside already but then Mel was like, "There's one more!(of Musica's)" and XiAN went like, "Oh! there's one more with me?" and he came back lol. I had the worst time deciding what pose to do with him. I asked him to come up with a pose but I liked none of the ones he suggested. I just kept saying "no", "no", "no", to everything lol. Karyta suggested a flower-like-hands near face pose and XiAN copied and did that already but I was like, "no". LOLOL. I was so picky... and in the end I got frustrated at myself and told XiAN let's just do a hug pose. And he literally threw himself on me which I was a bit caught off guard. It felt 100% like a sincere hug and Karyta told me that she saw XiAN looked happy when he was hugging me even though the angle of the photo doesn't show his face. After my photos were taken, Karyta took her photo with Mel. When I saw them handed Karyta her cheki, I asked them where my satsueikai chekis were. And Mel suddenly remembered he put them in his pocket and he took them out and gave me mine. LOL. So I guess if I didn't ask about them, Mel wouldn't have remembered to give it to me.
(Random: when I was taking a photo with one of them, I spotted the regular XiAN saizen girl standing at the door from the inside and she was looking at us. I quickly forgot about her existence so I wasn't sure how long she stood there to watch but her face expression didn't make me felt comfortable lol..)
After the photo session was over, we said bye, thank you to each other and I grabbed my things and left with Karyta. After we walked about 2 streets, I forgot that I didn't buy the Mel session chekis from him yet! So I went back and found Mel in the kitchen but still I went up to him and asked him about it and he said, "oh yeah! The chekis! Wait a moment please" and he went to the cashier area, took out his backpack, sat on the floor, and spent about 5 minutes digging for it. He then looked at me with a super worried, helpless, and sorry big smile face and said he couldn't find it.. he said he thought he was so sure he put it in his backpack last night... He dug through his backpack once more. It was a bit exaggerating though because he pulled out his clothings/things from his back pack really high up and dropped them to the floor. He looked at me with that same helpless and said it's really not there. There was nothing to be done but to just say sorry for having him dug his backpack inside out lol. In the end, no Minion Mel chekis *sob* Today Mel had forgotten at least 3~4 things. I thought Mel always has better memories than that, ha.
I had an amazing time at the BRAT's Cafe. It was literally one of my dream events in fandom to experience and I am so glad I experienced this with my bestie, Karyta!
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I got another twitter cheki!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! One of the XiAN chekis that Ebi handed to me after I placed my order for the chekis was the exact same one that XiAN posted on twitter! It was so funny because I actually saw the moment when XiAN was looking at his chekis and taking photos of it. That moment, I thought to myself *hm... I wonder who's going to get the cheki(s) that he is taking a picture(s) of..*. And from Mel's tweet, I happened to have chosen the left cheki to buy! The fun part about this one is since I was able to directly choose from the pile, that meant Mel and I have similar taste on chekis we like. (I do remember seeing the right one as well but I choose another similar shot one to buy instead)
Here is BRATBAX's new look! It's more casual than their other outfits but I like it still. I really love XiAN's outfit however, I wished he changed up his hairstyle because it looked similar to when BRATBAX first debuted. I love Mel's new hair the most and his sunglasses!
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Right after the instore, we rushed to take purikura to record our memories of the day and then we ran off to take the last bus to Narita airport to stay there for the night so we can just hop on to the plane to Sapporo the following morning. Intentionally, I planned on sleeping on a sofa at the airport but all the sofa were occupied and what was available was just tables and chairs so we just pigged out and looked at our chekis. I've tried to sleep on two chairs placed together but barely could sleep for more than 30 minutes. Brat's Cafe was way too unforgettable and fun.
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