Welcome, to Arséne

Maragaturra? No. Pacamara? No. Catimor? No not that one either.
"Kurusu-kun~~"

Akira turned his attention away from the wall of coffee beans, to look for the source of the oddly familiar sing-song voice.
"Ms. Chouno? What brings you here?" Akira had to admit he was not expecting his former English teacher to drop into his café, but here she was.

"Well, I heard my favorite student had opened his own café, so I simply had to come check it out" the teacher said, leaning over the counter of the café.
It had only been a few years since Akira graduated from Shujin Academy, but he was still surprised to see, just how little Ms. Chouno had changed from back then. She still wore the same neon-pink dress, she still wore gratuitous amounts of makeup and she still had a look in her eye, which was a clear sign, that this was a woman who loved gossip.

"Favorite student? My, such flattery. I hope you aren't trying to cheat yourself to some free coffee?" Akira turned back around to the beanwall, found the ones he was looking for and set to work over at the coffee grinder.
"Not even a single cup for your dear old teacher?" Ms. Chouno sighed in mock-hurt, "Mr. Ushimaru would have your hide at your lack of manners." She teased back.

Akira put on a small smirk, "Pfft, Old Man Ushimaru would have my hide for a lot of things, he's tried a lot of times too. But not once did he succeed." Meanwhile, the coffee had finished brewing and Akira poured it up into two cups, which he promptly brought to the only other guests in the café. An elderly couple, that had been regulars since Sojiro started the café. As he walked past her, Ms. Chouno got a whiff of the coffee's aroma, closed her eyes and almost let out a longing sigh at the wonderful smell.

Slowly opening her eyes, she bit back into the thing her former student had said. She smelled a story.
"Oh? You mean to tell me, that you have escaped the feared Death Chalk of Ushimaru? I will need some more details, because I find that hard to believe."

"That is correct. Not even once, in my albeit only two years at Shujin, did Mr. Ushimaru's chalk hit me." Pausing for a moment Akira put a hand on his chin in thought, "I guess I caught it and threw it back one time. I remember he was really angry about that." He mused with a smirk.

"Oh. My. God. I am definitely going to ask him about it tomorrow. I cannot wait to see his face." Ms. Chouno's own face was one of pure excitement, as juicy new teasing material had dropped into her lap. As far as was concerned, this trip to Yongen-Jaya had already payed off.

Akira gave a short laugh and said, "You know, you still haven't answered my question. I know you didn't just come here to see me. And might I remind you, that as a teacher you shouldn't provide false info to your students. New or old."

"Don't give me that Kurusu-kun, I've seen your tests, and there have been questions we both know you knew the answers too, where you put some ridiculous answer instead. Didn't you once write "The World" to a question about Chronostasis?" The gaudy teacher questioned.

Akira stifled a laugh reminiscing about some of his more creative test answers. She was right, he definitely knew the answers to those questions, but he was never particular worried about exams other than finals, which had been the only time he took 100% seriously. So, instead he opted to get a rile out of…

"Well, by being a couple points short of a perfect score I ensured that my teachers still felt useful" The barista teased, "And it made her annoyed. And she's so cute when she's mad" He thought out loud.

That caught the gossip-happy teachers attention. She raised both eyebrows, curiosity getting the better of her.
"You've got a girlfriend Kurusu-kun?"

Akira looked at his former teacher once again.

"Come again another time and you might find out."

Ms. Chouno pouted as she was not entirely satisfied with his response, despite it being a promise of more gossip.

"And stop dodging my question. Or you're not getting any coffee." Akira said obviously faking annoyance. He found it quite fun, talking with his old teacher.

From the booth in the back, the elderly couple rose and made to leave the café.
"Thank you very much for the coffee. The money is on the table, as usual." The elderly man smiled at Akira behind the counter. "Give our regards to Sojiro."

"I will, thank you for your patronage." Akira smiled back at the couple.

As the couple left the café, Akira sighed to himself.

"Damn, Sojiro wasn't kidding about those two. They really did sit here for 3 and a half hours, with only a single cup of coffee."

"Well, I honestly did just come to see your café, but seeing it in person is different than I thought it would be." Ms. Chouno looked around the now empty café. "How do you make it work, it's around lunchtime already, the place should have way more customers than this." She gestured to empty café.

"I have regulars, who keeps on coming back for more." Akira assured, almost dripping confidence in his work.

"Oh? And what might they come back for. The café looks rather plain. And while you're a handsome young man, I don't believe that your entire clientel consists of middle-aged housewives coming to look at you." She pressed with a small smirk.

"So, you haven't heard the rumours?" Akira's mouth was now back to the smirk he wore as a Phantom Thief, "About a small café with curry so good, it will enslave you to the taste." Akira walked closer to his former teacher, looking her directly in her eyes, and intense gaze upon her, "With coffee so delicious and aromatic, it will steal your very heart?" Akira was now standing directly in front of his teacher.

"Try it for yourself." He added with another smirk.

Ms. Chouno hadn't noticed him placing a cop of coffee and a plate of curry in front of her, caught up as she was in his monologue, but the aromas now assaulted her senses in a flurry of spices.

"Let us see, if I can steal your heart as well." Akira finished with an enigmatic grin across his face.

Ms. Chouno slowly picked up the spoon next to her plate and took a bite. Next she carefully pressed the coffee-filled mug to her lips and sipped it. The combination of flavours almost knocked her out, right then and there, it was that good. One bite and a single sip, and she understood how he made the café run around.

As she greedily finished her meal, Akira looked her dead in the eyes and with a confident voice exclaimed,

"Welcome… To Arséne!"