Episode 140 - Aikatsu Restaurant

Aikatsu Restaurant (アイカツレストラン) is the 140th episode of Aikatsu! TV anime series and the 39th episode of its "3rd Season". The episode aired on July 2, 2015.

Story
''To celebrate Akari Ōzora and Sumire Hikami's new joint stage on the wedding ceremony of Elisa Bepp, the two of them are given an offer for a new theatre performance "Aikatsu Restaurant." On stage, with the issues of the crumbling restaurant, the emotions of their individual characters begin to unfold (?). What's the story...!?''

Summary
Akari fills the viewers in on the news that she and the others will be putting on a special play. It will be airing in front of a live audience and later be shown on Television. Everyone is excited to start the show and the curtains start to rise.

The play begins, with Juri as the chef and owner, and Madoka as the waitress. Juri is busy making something when she complains over their lack of customers lately. She blames a nearby restaurant, which always has a big line of customers. Madoka isn't very sure they can keep up with such a trendy shop. As this is going on, Johnny, Naoto, and Orihime are seated in the audience and discuss the play. He describes the problem before voicing his opinion on an ending, involving the girls going to leave on a journey to find some legendary ingredient. Naoto points out that if the girls left, then they would get less customers, and this makes Johnny wonder if they went ahead and read the script. They both claim they didn't though.

As Juri continues to wallow in despair, Madoka tries cheering her up by placing an order for her- but Juri points out that even if it gives her something to do, they won't make any money on it because its for the staff. Madoka remarks that it would be nice to have at least one order, causing Juri heavy depression. Just then, a mysterious girl -being played by Kokone- shows up. They watch as she looks around and comment on how suspicious she looks, leading Madoka to wonder if she came to collect money from them. Juri points out that even if they aren't bringing much in they aren't in debt, but before either of them can address Kokone, she scolds them for not being at the door to greet her like a guest of their cafe. She asks if being without customers is why they can't even do that, so Madoka quickly approaches to greet her and offers her a chair. Kokone insists she doesn't have the time though, revealing that she actually came to help them out. She introduces herself as the famous super-chef and removes her disguise.

As the play goes on break, Johnny begins to wonder if Kokone is actually there to help or not, saying that she might only be there to sabotage them and take over the shop. Naoto doubts this though, since the play wouldn't be that dark, and when Orihime agrees with him Johnny helplessly wonders why he keeps being so off-mark.

The play resumes and Kokone cleans a table, leading Juri to ask her why she's helping them. Kokone tells them the answer is obvious though, she travels all over the world to help restaurants with a pure intent. Juri is eager to get to work but Madoka is a bit doubtful and voices concern, but as she has little say in it she decides to let it go.

Johnny is happy with the turn of events, and mentions that Kokone is the most caring, concerned waitress he's ever seen before. Though to his confusion, Naoto and Orihime voice that they believe Kokone is hiding something.

Kokone deduces that for step one, she will be calling her master, a Fortune Teller over to lend a hand. She can do a reading on the shop while she uses the menu as a divining point and eats some of the food. In hearing this, Madoka quickly tells Juri that she thinks having to rely on a Fortune Teller is suspicious, though Juri believes she may have good intentions. The fortune teller -played by Sumire- arrives with her assistant, Rin. Kokone introduces them to the girls and right away, Sumire is able to tell them their names; though Juri and Madoka are aware that she just saw their name tags.

Rin helps Sumire sit down and she starts a reading, then requests that they make an omelette. Juri tells her they don't have that on the menu though, causing Rin to curiously ask how this may be possible. Usually Sumire has no problem summarizing a menu, even if she's never seen it before.

In the audience, Johnny voices his amazement in having such an ability. Naoto prefers to look over the menu though, and he is convinced that Juri may be hiding something as well, causing Orihime to compliment how sharp he is; poor Johnny is still confused.

Sumire then orders some Apricot Tea and Madoka runs off to prepare it. She returns a while later and after a moment, Kokone reveals she will be making her prediction now. As it turns out though, Sumire just wanted some tea, she wasn't trying to tell them anything. Madoka asks Kokone if Sumire can really be trusted at this point, but to their surprise she starts to do a reading. She is able to determine that the girls have forgotten something precious in their restaurant, so once they recover it, they will begin to prosper again. While the advice makes sense to them, the girls have no idea what that could be.

Johnny intervenes to mention his desire to actually see if anything was inside the crystal ball, and Naoto calls him out on being interested on something so trivial. He points out that what Sumire said probably related to the missing omelet item. Orihime agrees and compliments him again, leaving Johnny utterly clueless.

Madoka asks Kokone if she has idea as to what could be missing, and while she doesn't, she knows someone who can find whatever is missing. She called an expert detective -Akari- who joins them moments later. Juri and Madoka are confused until Kokone points out that detectives can find anything. She came to lend a hand, and Akari approaches them to point out that Juri's father owned the restaurant previously, which Juri confirms. She asks how long it has been since he last ran it, and asks if there's anything missing now that used to be here. Juri points out that there was one dish that used to be on the menu, but since she took over she removed it- because she can't make it like her dad did, which was the omelet Sumire brought up. It used to be the most popular menu item.

Madoka is sure this can fix their problem, but before they can say anything else, they are joined by someone else. Hinaki introduces herself as a writer and blogger for the magazine "This Restaurant is Too Crazy Good!". Madoka greets her and Kokone reveals Hinaki is another friend of hers, and knowing she's done Akari prepares to leave. Kokone explains her reasonings for bringing in Hinaki, saying that if they get some customers in they might be able to determine what changed and fix it, when Hinaki intervenes to point out her work won't be for free, or cheap. Kokone isn't surprised as Hinaki asks to show her what they have on their possession at the time. She wants their gratitude upfront for her services and she offers three various plans; the highest costs a lot but is guaranteed to score tons of customers, the middle will get a fair bit, while the lowest will just snag the bare minimum.

Madoka isn't so sure what they should do, so Hinaki points out the best bet would be to take the highest offer, since she can get the blog made and posted by the next day and they would gain more customers than they know what to do with. However, to the girls surprise, Juri refuses to accept any of her offers. She explains that while she wants customers, she refuses to resort to dirty tactics just to get them back, it wouldn't be fair for Hinaki to write them a really good article if she hasn't even tried the food and lying to the customers isn't good. As it turns out though, Hinaki was only testing them- because of Juri's honesty she will try the food and right an honest article.

Quickly, Juri and Madoka go to make and bring her the food items and have her try them. Hinaki is able to eat everything, but she's puzzled since everything tastes good. She can't understand why they don't have any customers but promises to write a good article and help spread word, then she asks if they changed any menu items or recipe. Juri admits that everything has remained faithful to their original recipes, she did remove a dish she couldn't replicate. Hinaki finds it odd that one dish could have that much effect, even with the regular customers. She decides to leave and write the article and wishes them luck in solving their problems.

Juri brings up how special the omelet was in the past, saying that her dad spent a lot of time trying to help her make it whenever he could. But it never worked out no matter how many times she tried. He kept encouraging her to keep going though, and Madoka comments on the shop used to be back when he was working there and everyone came by. This makes Juri realize that by taking it off of the menu, she was essentially cutting the bonds between the customers and the shop.

Suddenly, Akari arrives with the news. She holds up a ringing bell and wonders if that was what went missing, and the girls recognize it as the bell they would ring whenever an order came in. After they remodeled the interior they got rid of the bell since they didn't think it fit with the store anymore. Juri gave it to a regular, who Akari reveals she tracked down. Miyabi -playing the long-time customer- steps inside and apologizes for not coming by in so long, but it wasn't their fault. She believes that it was probably hard for Juri to fail at reproducing the recipe her dad won everyone over with, and after losing him it probably felt worse. Juri claims she should have continued to cook the omelet despite, because it was her duty to inherit the bonds between everyone. Suddenly, Miyabi requests that she makes her one and Juri agrees to it. Madoka picks up the bell and returns it to its rightful spot, then puts in the order as Juri gets to work.

After finishing, they bring Miyabi the omelet. She tries it and comments that it reminded her a lot of the omelet that Juri's father used to make and deduces that Juri probably had a really close bond with her father. Juri cheers up and Akari decides to leave again, only to stop and inform them of the suddenly long line of customers that have shown up. Juri asks Kokone if she had anything to do with it and she claims all she did was relay a message. She then produces them a brand new menu and the girls thank Kokone, who claims she actually owns her effort to this very restaurant. A few years ago she grew tired of her dream job as a waitress and felt saddened until she tried the omelet. It reminded her of how special food could be for others, and how it could rekindle love. So with new determination, she continued to bring food and energy to her customers. The play comes to an end as Miyabi compliments the restaurant.

The audience applauds as Johnny happily cries, claiming everything went the way he thought it would. Naoto has doubts over such claims, but Orihime tells him to let him have the moment before handing him a handkerchief.

Characters

 * Juri Kurebayashi
 * Madoka Amahane
 * Kokone Kurisu
 * Sumire Hikami
 * Rin Kurosawa
 * Akari Ōzora
 * Hinaki Shinjō
 * Miyabi Fujiwara
 * Orihime Mitsuishi
 * Johnny Bepp
 * Naoto Suzukawa
 * Juri's father (cameo appearance/flashback)

Trivia

 * Instead of a television drama or a special drama episode, Aikatsu Restaurant is a play performed in a theater.
 * Below are the roles for each character in the drama Aikatsu Restaurant:
 * Juri Kurebayashi - Aikatsu Restaurant Female Chef (アイカツレストランオーナーシェフ)
 * Madoka Amahane - Aikatsu Restaurant Waitress (アイカツレストランウエイトレス)
 * Kokone Kurisu - Mysterious Girl/Super Waitress (謎の女/スーパーウエイトレス)
 * Sumire Hikami - Fortune Teller (占い師)
 * Rin Kurosawa - Fortune Teller Assistant (助手)
 * The assistant has mentioned that the fortune teller didn't actually come to do a fortune telling, but only arrived at the restaurant for a cup of black tea.
 * Akari Ōzora - Famous Detective (名探偵)
 * Hinaki Shinjō - Food Blog Writer (フードライター)
 * Miyabi Fujiwara - Old Customer Friend (昔なじみの客)
 * The new menu of the restaurant:
 * Omelette of Bonds (きずなのオムレツ)
 * Napolitan (ナポリタン)
 * Milan Style Pork Cutlet (ミラノ風ポークカツレツ)
 * Hamburger Stew (ハンバーグシチュー)
 * All dishes comes in regular and large sizes.
 * The song Sweet Heart Restaurant appears for the first time