"What can I get for you?"
Poised with a pad and pen, Hinamori Amu smiled at the table of customers as they poured over their menus for a couple of moments more before settling on their decisions. Coffee, sandwiches, an easy order compared with some. She jotted it down, gave them another beaming smile before taking their menus from them, slipping them back into their stand on her way back to the kitchen.
She passed the upstairs kitchen, where the drinks were made and called out the order before heading downstairs to the lower kitchen, reading out the food order before attaching the ticket to the side of the fridge with a magnet. Another bright smile to her co-workers before she returned upstairs, setting her black tray on the side, ready for the drinks.
As she waited, drumming her fingers idly on the counter, her honey golden eyes slid over to the clock that hung above the door and she sighed. Another three hours before her shift ended and she could go home and sink into a hot bubble bath. While she did enjoy her job, there were just some days where she wanted nothing more than a bath, hot chocolate and then to settle into bed with the TV on.
She tucked a strand of her bubblegum pink hair back behind her ear, the lock having fallen loose from her messy ponytail before she took her tray, now laden with the ordered drinks to the table. She placed each drink in front of her customer before going to retrieve menus for the new additions, who had just come upstairs. Another beaming smile. Another chirpy 'welcome'.
As she returned to the kitchen, she noticed the young man who sat in a corner, nursing a large mug of hot chocolate. It must have been Nagihiko who had taken his order when Amu had been held up downstairs. He was a new face, a rare occurrence. Most of their customers were regulars.
Slipping back to the kitchen, she decided to look him over as she leaned against the wall, waiting for the new table of people to make up their minds. It was clear that he was tall, his long legs crossed and clad in dark jeans, the legs falling over black converses. He supported his head on one of his hands, his slender fingers cradling his cheek. His other hand was stirring his hot chocolate and it was clear that he wasn't paying attention as he had his eyes turned to look out of the window. His hair was a midnight blue, long strands falling over his ears and down the back of his neck, the ends just touching the hood of his black hoodie.
"Nagi," she began, turning her eyes to her fellow purple-haired waiter. "Who is that gentleman on that back table?"
The boy gave a shrug as he wiped down the steamer of the coffee machine. "I have no idea, Amu. New in today," he sent a wicked grin in Amu's direction. "Why? Are you interested in him?"
Amu flushed a bright pink at this insinuation. "W-What?! No! I was just wondering! Never seen him before, that's all!"
Nagihiko let out a loud laugh at the pink-haired girl's outburst. Amu pouted and scowled at him before turning on her heel to go serve more tables, muttering under her breath.
As the cafe began to close, Amu was able to clear all of the upstairs tables and begin wiping down. She had to make sure that all of the smooth white surfaces were spotless before she felt that she could leave. So, armed with a bottle of anti-bacterial spray and a clean cloth from the cupboard, she began her task.
She cleaned everything on each table, from the surface itself to the menus and the salt and pepper pots. She was very thorough as she put everything back in its rightful place, ready for the next shift. As she reached the back table, she wiped down the surface and then picked up the menu, jumping in surprise when a slip of dark red paper fluttered out from between its folds and landed delicately on the floor.
Amu bent down to pick it up, ready to scrunch it up for it to go in the bin when she noticed its shape - a simple heart. She turned it over in her hands, looking for a name or a message but it was blank. With a slight frown, she pocketed it before continuing with her task. Had that blue-haired customer slipped it in there? If she recalled correctly, he had been the last person to sit at that table. Did he do it on purpose? Who was it meant for?
These questions played on her mind as she finished up her cleaning and finished her shift. She called goodbye to her remaining co-workers and left to go and catch the bus that would take her home.
For the next few days, Amu began to notice a pattern. At about one o'clock, the blue-haired stranger would come in, sit at the back table, order a large hot chocolate and stay there for a few hours until it neared closing time. When he left, Amu would begin to wipe down the tables and upon reaching his table, a red paper heart would flutter out of the menu onto the floor or table. Amu would pocket it and then finish up and head home.
She had kept each heart, putting them all into a little box that was decorated with sparkling shells. It had been a gift from her mother when the young woman had moved out, her mother telling her that it would be perfect for all her special little keepsakes. Amu had never had a use for it until now.
At the end of the week as it neared one o'clock, Amu began to get fidgety as she waited for the stranger to appear. She would serve him today and she was determined to do so. She had always been away when he had arrived before but today, nothing would stop her from taking his order.
At one o'clock, he came up the stairs and took the same seat he had been doing for the past few days. After a few moments Amu, full of nerves, plastered on one of her usual beaming smiles and with her pen and pad in hand, made her way to his table.
"Hello, sir," she began. "Can I take your order?"
He turned from looking out of the window to look at her and her breath hitched. His eyes were beautiful, a brilliant sapphire blue. They bore into her, meeting her own liquid gold ones. She swallowed thickly and parted her lips to ask again.
"C-Can I take your order?"
A corner of his lips quirked upwards slightly in a smirk as he leaned forward slightly. "I think you know what I usually have,"
His voice was smooth and low, a seductive tone. Amu had a hard time concentrating. She settled for a nod, scribbled down his usual drink and swiftly moved away from his table. As she reached the kitchen, Nagihiko noticed her pink cheeks and increased breathing.
"Are you alright, Amu?" he asked, tilting his head slightly in question. "Are you ill?"
Amu ripped off the ticket she had written, passing it to the purple-haired waiter and simply muttered, 'something like that' before she headed downstairs.
Nagihiko blinked and looked down at the ticket, joining the dots when he read the order for a large hot chocolate, Amu's normal fluid handwriting unnaturally scruffy. With a smile to himself, Nagihiko retrieved a mug from the shelf above the coffee machine. Maybe he would accidentally let slip to the gentleman the name of the poor girl who had gotten herself all flustered.
Tsukiyomi Ikuto smirked as he watched the waitress dash away back to the kitchens, her cheeks a shade of pink that would rival her own hair. As he waited for his drink, he produced from his pocket a square of red paper and a pair of scissors and expertly cut out a red heart and, after a quick glance around, he slipped it into the folds of the menu in front of him. The remaining scraps of paper were scrunched up and slipped into his pocket, along with the scissors.
Souma Kukai, his best friend, had told him about Amu and had let slip where she worked day in and day out. She had sounded interesting and funny from what Kukai had told him and Ikuto had not been disappointed. She was charming and polite when she served her customers, quick to serve and quick to clear tables. She was a brilliant waitress and seemed to have a lovely, bubbly personality.
However, there was obviously something that he could exploit. Her rosy cheeks had given away that he had embarrassed her, somewhat, when she had tried to take his order. He smirked at the thought. She was going to be fun.
Kukai had told him that the girl had been single for some time, eyes turning cold and angry at the mention of her previous boyfriend. Ikuto had decided to give the girl a chance and had been leaving hearts in the menu in front of him for almost a week. Each time he opened the menu to check, his previous heart would be gone. He knew that she was taking them because, when she left the cafe at the end of her shift, he would see her with a blushing face and fingering the small pieces of paper.
His large hot chocolate was brought out to him by the purple-haired waiter who had served him on his first day in the cafe and he gave him a bright smile as he leaned down, cloth in hand and wiped the table over, even though the surface was spotless. With a sly smile, the boy gave him a sideways glance.
"That was cruel," he whispered and he arched an eyebrow at him. "Getting our poor Amu all flustered like that..."
He pulled back from wiping the table and gave him a conspiratorial wink before he returned to his place in the kitchen, humming to himself. Ikuto smirked into his hot chocolate as he lifted the mug to his lips. It seemed that he had gained an accomplice.
Weeks passed and Amu and Ikuto fell into a routine. He would come in at the same time, sit at the same table, in the same seat and order the same drink. He would spend a couple of moments getting Amu all flustered and leave her stammering and almost stumbling back to the kitchen. This happened every day and every evening, before she left, she would find the heart that he would leave in the folds of the menu.
After another long shift, she was glad to return home. Immediately, she headed upstairs to her room and pulled the heart-shaped paper from her pocket and placed it gently in her little keepsake box. They were piling up fast and Amu found herself smiling and blushing at her little collection. He was infuriating, the way he smirked at her and made her stutter and practically forget everything she knew, including her own name. She didn't even know his name and yet, she found herself going to work each day, hoping to see him and hoping to get the little red heart.
After another few short moments looking at the paper hearts, Amu closed the lid gently and headed to her bathroom for a long soak and let her mind wander to what he may say the next day that would make her blush.
At the end of her shift, she eagerly went to clear and clean the tables, starting with the one closest to the kitchen as she always did and making her way around until she reached the back table. She didn't even hesitate to reach for the menu and open it. The smile slid slowly from her place when she found nothing inside it. She checked the floor and on the windowsill, on the chairs and underneath the table but there was no little red heart that she had been waiting to retrieve all day.
She bit her lip as the back of eyes stung with unshed tears but she refused to cry. She should have expected that the hearts would stop. He had just been messing with her. In fact, they were probably never meant for her.
Amu finished wiping the table and returned to the kitchen, dropping her cloth into the washing up bowl and undid her apron, setting it quietly on the side. She didn't even bid goodbye to Nagihiko or to any of her other co-workers as she silently left the building and caught the bus home.
After the short walk from her bus stop to her house and unlocking the door, she removed her shoes and went straight upstairs to her bedroom. She let the door click shut behind her before she slid down the white wood and then, finally, let herself cry. How could she have been so stupid and naive?
He didn't turn up the next day and nor did she expect him to. She pretended like nothing had happened, forcing her lips to smile at the customers and her voice to be light and chirpy. Regardless of whatever she felt inside, she still had to be polite and welcoming.
Nagihiko finally cornered her and scowled at her, his normally bright face dark with anger. "For goodness sake, Amu, what is the matter?"
"Nothing," the girl responded, trying to keep her voice light. "I need to go serve the cust-"
"They can wait a couple more minutes," the purple-haired boy interrupted. "What's the matter?"
Amu's gold eyes met Nagihiko's brown ones and she crumbled, shedding a few tears. "He didn't leave a heart yesterday. It's the first time it's happened."
Nagihiko's eyes softened as he looked at the girl. He had known that the young man had been leaving little red hearts in the menus. In fact, Nagihiko himself had provided him with the times of when Amu began and finished work and when she began to clear tables. He pulled the whimpering girl into a hug and patted her lightly on the back.
"He's probably just run out of red paper," Nagihiko said, attempting to cheer the girl up. "He was leaving you one every day, after all. The paper has to run out at some point."
Amu calmed down and pulled away, looking at the waiter. "Yeah, you're right," she mumbled, wiping away her tears. "He's just run out of paper."
Nagihiko nodded and returned to the coffee machine to complete the orders that were waiting while Amu composed herself, splashing her face with some cool water before she turned to the boy. "How do I look?"
Nagihiko looked over his shoulder at her, smiling at the girl. "Wonderful as always."
The two shared a smile as Amu went out to carry on serving tables, repeating Nagi's words in her head. He had just run out of paper.
At the end of her shift, she went about her usual routine of clearing all the tables and wiping them down. She made sure the chairs were pushed back underneath the tables and that everything was in order and was pristine before she even dared to take off her apron. As she began to return to the kitchen, she heard footsteps coming up the stairs. She turned, opening her mouth to apologise to the late customer and tell them that the cafe was, in fact, closing.
Words failed her.
The customer coming up the stairs was, in fact, the blue-haired gentleman that she had been serving for weeks and had also developed a crush on, collecting all his paper hearts that he left and keeping them safe in a box. None of them had been thrown away. She had kept every single last one.
After a few silent moments, she straightened her back and told him, "I'm sorry, sir but we are closing now. You are more than welcome to come back tomorrow. Now, if you'll excuse me..."
She made to go back to the kitchen, reaching for the bow at her back when he called out, "Wait!"
She paused in her steps, turned back to face him and folded her arms. "Can I help you?"
From behind his back, he produced a bouquet of white roses which were wrapped in transparent cellophane and secured with a red satin bow. He extended his arm to her and asked, simply, "Will you go on a date with me?"
She opened her mouth, closed it and then opened it again but she seemed to have lost her voice as she took the flowers from him, the wrapping rustling in her hands. Finally, she managed to say, "A date? With me?"
He nodded, shoving his hands into the pocket of his jeans. "Yeah."
"I thought you were just messing me about," she told him, frowning slightly. "There was no heart yesterday."
He tore his eyes from hers and looked down to the side. "Yeah... I ran out of paper."
Why was Nagihiko always right? "Oh..."
There was silence for a few moments and Ikuto began to shift his weight from foot to foot. She hadn't given him an answer yet and as much as he hated to admit it, he was struggling to keep his nerves under control. Just as he was about to open his mouth to apologise and leave, she finally answered him.
"Yes," she told him, the familiar pink blush crawling over her cheeks. "Yes, I will go on a date with you."
He mentally punched the air but, outwardly, he smirked at her and took two strides forward and kissed her cheek. "See you later then, Amu."
He turned to head down the stairs, leaving her blushing madly and stammering like a fool. Realisation hit her and she rushed to the stairs, just catching him as he reached the bottom.
"Wait! I don't even know your name."
He looked up at her, his eyes meeting hers. "Tsukiyomi Ikuto,"
With that, he turned and left the cafe, the front door shutting silently behind him. With a blush and a smile, Amu held her bouquet of roses tighter to her and looked down at them. Her blush only grew when she found, nestled in the middle of the roses, a little slip of red paper in the shape of a heart. Only this time, in the middle of it in elegant handwriting, was a time and a place.