They say that there is a rundown café in Yongen-Jaya where the famous Miracle Maker creates miracles through coffees and cocoas, changing the hearts of people as they drink. Nobody knows the secret behind the miracles. If you are a regular with some heavy burden weighing you down, the barista will always know what to get you. That drink will make you see life in a completely new colour and while it won't make your problems disappear, you will know what to do about them. The catch is, you can't get this miracle coffee as a regular order. It appears in the right time, when you need it the most and for free, too.
This rumoured drink made the cafè quite famous among regulars, but newcomers, who heard about it in urban legends often disappeared after a few visits or just dropped in for special occasions, never really reaching the title of a regular. Even if the wanted to get that Miracle Coffee, the location required way too much time as travelling there could take an hour at best. This alone disheartened them from visiting the place more than once. Though, the famed barista of Leblanc, Kurusu Akira didn't mind this a bit. Becoming popular would only mean more work and that he couldn't focus on the individuals, who visited him on a daily weekly basis.
Furthermore, considering the newest visitor of Leblanc, he couldn't afford slacking off right now.
Akechi Goro came into his life on a cold day at the end of March. Akira could clearly see that the boy, despite the rather warm-looking trench coat, was shivering. His cheeks and nose were red from the cold wind. However, his tense shoulders seemed to thaw out as soon as he sat down in one of the booths and with great curiosity, started reading through the list of beverages the café had to offer. Either he didn't want to greet the barista or simply forgot in his frozen state.
From the youth's looks, the serious expression he wore from the moment he entered the place, Akira had already knew that he will probably order some espresso-based coffee. People like him tend to feign seriousness, after all. They often don't even like the pitch black liquid, but keeping their mask in place, they drink it, hating every bitter drop of it.
Then they sigh.
It looks like they enjoyed their drink, but in reality they are just happy that they managed to keep up their act.
To his surprise, the process of choosing took some time, he had to make four cups of coffees, and by the time his gaze wandered back to the booth, the newcomer already got rid of his beige coat. Akira couldn't help but smile at the determination what clouded the boy's face as he kept turning the pages of the menu back and forth. Then, he closed the small notebook shaped menu at once, looked at the ceiling, then at Akira, then reopened it again.
However, when the brunet walked over to the counter and made his order that surprised even the young barista.
"Have you decided?"
"Yes. I think I did manage to find something in the end..." a faint smile crept its way to the stranger's face. "Can you brew sweet ginger coffee, please? It has piqued my interest and I'm rather curious about it."
Akira couldn't help but stare at him with slight disbelief. Probably for the first time since he started working at Leblanc a stranger managed to contradict his interpretation.
"O-of course. Something else, perhaps?"
"Have I said something weird? You look confused, betrayed, even."
Great. This is his chance to start some kind of conversation with this stranger. This could help him.
"No. Not at all. I just rarely get to brew that coffee," he gave the youth a small, apologetic smile. "You just surprised me with you order. That's all."
It was a half-lie. One of the many harmless fibs, which he made up on the spot whenever he was confronted by a situation above his league. Actually, that popularity of that drink resurfaces every autumn, though nobody would think about ordering them past December. "It has that December-ish Christmasy taste." Futaba, his friend, once explained to him.
And there, he saw it. The small glint of curiosity in those brown eyes.
"Interesting. Would that make me one of a kind then?" he supposed, touching his chin with his gloved fingers.
"Absolutely." He quickly turned away, pretending to be overly occupied by the art of coffee. He decided it was a now or never chance to get to know this peculiar stranger a bit more. "Is this your first time in Yongen?"
The boy was seemingly taken aback. He hesitated and averted his gaze before answering. "Well, kind of. Rather, my first time in this part of Yongen-Jaya."
"Oh. So that means, you do live around here."
"Okay. Wait."
Suddenly, the youth walked back to his booth. At first, Akira thought he had said something weird or acted overly familiar and scared him away. But soon, a sense of relief came over him when he saw the boy collecting his belongings; the trench coat and a brown bag. When he returned he took a seat on the bar stool in front of Akira and arranged his stuff on the one next to him.
"Sorry. It's easier to talk when I don't have to constantly glance at bag." then once he realized what he'd just implied, he quickly added "I-It's not like this place looks unsafe. But better safe than sorry."
"It's all right. I understand," he nodded, and then turned back to the cup of coffee in front of him adding ginger, then milk while he was at it. "Here." He put the cup down in front of the boy. "So, back to the question; do you live around here?"
"Hm..." the youth looked up from his coffee. " …Yes. Well, actually I live in the neighbouring district. Few stops away from here... but I started working at the local police office about a week ago."
"Then welcome to Yongen-jaya, where nothing ever happens!" Akira smiled at him proudly.
"It's not something you should be saying to a police inspector. A too calm district might make me go to Shibuya instead." The boy chuckled, then took a sip from his drink.
Akira expected some kind of flattering. "This coffee was better than I expected" or something along the lines, but the boy only sat there, staring holes into the brown liquid. Lost in thought, he raised the cup to his lips again. He must've been one of those people who tell no opinions when they like something and solve everything with one single "It's good" when someone does ask for a rating.
Furrowed brows and a troubled expression accompanied his obviously fake smile.
"Is everything okay?" Akira inquired after several minutes of silence. The brunet yelped. Probably the barista's voice brought him out of the daydream.
"Ah, sorry. I-I didn't intend to be rude."
"Long day?"
"Just longer than necessary." The stranger corrected Akira with a tired smile. It was one of those reassuring kind of fake smiles.
"In this case, you are always welcomed here for a cup of coffee. Or two." he added.
"If every cup of coffee will be this pleasant, then I'm looking forward coming here more often."
"In that case, the name is Kurusu Akira. The one and only barista of this café, 'cept for the the boss of course."
The stranger finished his coffee before looking around as if he was searching his surroundings for someone.
"Akechi Goro." he introduced himself, then continued in a much softer tone, following Akira's example. "Ex-detective prince. Nowadays nobody special."
His voice was barely audible but Akira still made out a myriad of emotions hidden behind his words. Emotions he wished to explore more. To understand and to use them.
It was the clash of two contradictory thoughts, of selflessness and selfishness.
Akechi Goro caught his attention and did not release it. However, he will need more than one miracle in the youth's life if he wants to replace that fake smile of his.
Fortunately for him, Akira was always up to these kind of challenges.
A shiver ran down his spine after he stepped out to the cold air. The day has already turned into night and the streetlamps weakly lighted his way as he walked through the narrow streets.
As he went forward, he felt that all the warmth had left his body. Reverting back to his everyday self was everything but comfortable. However the taste of ginger and cinnamon still lingered in his mouth and reminded him that the little miracle of the café had indeed happened.
Come to think of it, that was actually one of the best things that happened to him lately.
"Leblanc…" Akechi made a quick mental note to return here whenever his time allowed. He wasn't so keen on returning to his apartment sooner than it was necessary.
To set his plan into motion he decided to stop by a used bookstore on his way home. He can't bother the barista all the time, after all.