It was a quiet and rainy day in Japan. A man in a Hawaiian shirt was trying to make his way down the street. On each side, high school students were walking past him. They had came prepared with their own protection against the rain. The man felt stupid for not having brought his umbrella. He could feel a slight cold coming on. Lucky for him, he'd almost reached his destination. Just one more store, and he'd be there. Even though his beard was soaked, and his feet were cold, he was happy to make out the name of the café. He never quite understood why it had to be situated next to a florist, who was conveniently named "Fleuriste". The man looked at the map on his phone, despite being close to his 80's he knew how he could navigate with the piece of technology in his hands. Most of the guests at Stile were on their way out. A small Japanese girl was wearing something that looked like a sheep hat. He had trouble not laughing, what kind of place had he been led to?
For Maika, it had been a few weeks since her sister had last visited, and she did seem interested in the unusual customer. Most of the customers had ordered the special and left it at that. She smiled to herself, would this grandfather be satisfied with the banana crêpes the café had to offer? There had been a cosplay event, so some of the customers were still sitting there, there was one dressed as a butler, and one as a cowboy. Secretly she thanked god that there were no real oddities today. What would the elderly man think of those? Instead, she noticed that he tried to pretend everything was fine, and requested to see the manager. The man had carefully draped his coat over his chair, and was now talking to something he called Shiki. Without alerting her colleagues, she saw that most of them had to adapt to the unusual presence at the cafe.
'Shiki-chan, have you seen Dino too? I wish he would just visit instead of those stupid letters he makes Akizuki write' the man said, seeming slightly annoyed at this point. Maika could hear that he wasn't natively Japanese, but she respected him for the attempt he was making. 'Customer?' she asked 'I do have to tell you that you cannot bring your pet turtle in here. It might make the other customers uncomfortable' the man just looked up at her and gave her the biggest smile. 'I think they will make an exeption for Dino's grandfather, don't you think?' For a second, Maika was baffled. Dino's grandfather. Why hadn't she made the connection any sooner? Why was she being polite? She was at work. Instead she switched back and told the man to 'eat dirt' while she looked for Dino. He basically ran out upon hearing that his grandfather was there. 'Nonno!' he practically screamed, as he pulled the man into a bear hug. Without wanting to, Maika eavesdropped. For Maika, it was an unique opportunity to hear a language other than Japanese. The only things she could make out were Italian names of food. Things like 'pizza', 'pasta' and 'lasagne'. The concept of these foods weren't foreign to her.
Last week, she and Dino had gone out to dinner, and he had introducted her to lasagne. The thought of it pretty much made her mouth water. 'Maika' someone next to her hissed. 'Stop being such an idiot and serve the remaining customers!' Kaho said. She must've stood there for quite some time for Kaho to come over and nag at her. There were three customers remaining, and one of them was a Hideri fan, that left two more customers for Kaho and Maika. Mafuyu was close to the end of her shift, and had already left to get changed.
Maika was fascinated by the conversation, but couldn't understand any of it, until Dino called her over, and his grandfather started talking about Italy. He'd tell her about the food, the people and it just made her fall in love with another foreign country more. She could have stayed to listen to them for another while, but instead Nonno had to leave. He received a concerned text from his wife, and had to bid them farewell for now. He picked up his turtle, put on his coat and headed back into the rain.
For a few seconds, Dino seemed completely dazed. 'I can't believe Nonno visited' he muttered, scratching his head. 'He seems like a really nice and open person to be around' upon hearing that, Dino smiled. 'He is, he's one of my favorite people' he said, smiling. 'It's too bad that Nonna couldn't make it outside today, maybe I should send a taxi for her next time'.
Outside, Nonno looked at his phone once more. The text hadn't said anything special, but he knew the meaning behind 'Is everything alright?'. Instead of heading back instantly, he headed into the store next to Stile, and picked up a bunch of flowers for his wife. In doing so, he was reminded of Dino back when he was little. 'You used to run around in the apple orchard, telling us you'd never leave Italy. Look at you now, you're an amazing entrepeneur in Japan.' His grandfather looked outside once more 'I'm proud of you Dino'.