Music major Ran Mitake couldn't believe the deal she had just scored. She had just bought a house for dirt cheap. Now, most houses aren't ¥10,500,000, and usually a house that price has something wrong with it, but Ran's a poor college kid, it's the best she can do at the moment. The college Ran attends, Silver Valley University, is extremely expensive, especially for music majors, like Music composition.
Ran sighs, moving the last of her boxes into the small house. "That's it. I guess the place is officially mine." She says, putting the boxes on the ground. Ran wipes her forehead, looking at her cellphone to check the time.
It's only 10 am, meaning Ran has a lot of time to blow. "I could stop by Hazawa cafe…" She mumbles, moving the boxes farther from the door so she won't hit them later on. "I'll head over now, hopefully Tsugumi will be there." Ran grabs her bag and heads out the door, somewhat skipping down the porch, heading towards the cafe she frequents.
Once Ran arrives at the cafe, she stops to admire the little shop. It's brown walls look freshly painted, and the sign reading 'Hazawa Cafe!' are glowing as bright as ever, and then she opens the door, smelling a fresh pot of coffee and recently made cakes. A small girl with short brown hair and mocha colored eyes runs up to her. "Hello and welcome to Hazawa cafe- Ah! Ran! It's you!" She smiles widely, Ran smiles back, nodding her head. This is Tsugumi Hazawa, a culinary major at Silver Valley University. Ran and Tsugumi have been friends since childhood, and are extremely close, taking the title as each other's best friend.
"Did you move into the house yet?" Tsugumi gestures towards an empty table.
Ran's able to understand Tsugumi's motions at this point, as she visited the cafe ever since she was old enough to remember. She sat down, grabbing the menu from the table. "I did, but I haven't started unpacking yet. I'm saving that for later. The house altogether is super nice, though. I'm surprised it was so cheap. My realtor said something about a complaint with the house, but he didn't want to elaborate."
"You want the usual? Also, you couldn't force him to tell you?"
Ran hands the menu she didn't even need back to Tsugumi. "Sadly I couldn't, the last owner moved out 4 years ago, he doesn't have to tell me about it if it isn't in that 3 year period."
Tsugumi gives her a worried look.
"I'll invite you guys over once I'm officially done unpacking. I don't want you guys near the mess that will be unpacking. The house is fine though, it's probably just a plumbing issue."
Tsugumi giggles a bit. "Hard to imagine you being messy, though. You're pretty organized as it is. Oh! I'll be right back with your order."
Ran nods, checking one of her social media accounts on her phone as Tsugu leaves, looking at all the recent pictures the people she followed posted. Ran was just looking at a few of her favorite musicians posting their daily photo, and, as any fan would, she likes the photo faster than lightning.
As Ran's looking at her phone, the smell of fresh coffee hits her nose, and she looks up, seeing her personal little waitress, Tsugumi, set a fresh cup of black coffee and a dark chocolate muffin down in front of her. Ran grabs the muffin and takes a bite out of it right away, smiling like a child who just got a the newest toy, or in Ran's case, a brand new guitar.
"I'm not sure how you can eat such bitter things, Ran. It's actually pretty impressive." Tsugu says, sitting down across from Ran.
Ran swallows and puts her muffin down. "Eh, it's nothing really; Are you on break now?"
Tsugu nods. "Mom said I could rest until you leave, she knew we'd want to talk." Ran sighs, a bit jealous of how Tsugu could get a paying job so as soon as she hit her teen years. Both of her parents owning the best cafe in town really did have its perks, as Tsugu was the first of her friends to get a paying job.
Ran takes a sip from her coffee. "So how's school for you?"
Tsugumi looks slightly defeated. "Well, Himari and the other critics have been taste testing all of our food in class lately, and Himari's being extremely picky. And I mean extremely picky, even for her."
Ran laughs lightly, pulling out her composition notebook from her bag. "Definitely sounds like Himari though, she's the queen of picky eating." Tsugu nods, confirming the fact that Himari is extremely picky, right as Ran starts writing something down with her pen. "Our next project is to prepare a dinner for our chosen critic, I got Himari." Ran laughs, she felt bad and goes to just lightly chuckling.
"You at least know what Himari likes, so that's good, though the queen of food may still kill your grade, good luck Tsugu." Tsugu smiles a bit, still looking defeated. "Thank you, but how are your classes though Ran? The move hopefully isn't getting to your grades?" Ran shakes her head, sipping her coffee again, then writing down something. "We actually didn't have any graded assignments recently, which is surprising. We usually have a lot." Tsugumi nods, playing with her apron strings.
"I guess that's normal, you guys have to show you know what you're writing about, is it technically called writing?" Ran shrugs. "I guess in some form it is writing, as we are writing music, musical composition definitely isn't as easy as you would think, the professors are kicking our butts everyday, showing us what it's like to be a real song writer. The homework they throw at us just for terminology is scary. Makes me worry for all the finals. And then there's the essays." Ran shivers, and Tsugu just laughs. "I think essays are terrible for every college kid, we also have to do them when explaining how to make a dish, Tomoe said she has to do the same for fashion design." Ran nods. "Tomoe does have to explain her extremely cool taste. She's succeeding though I bet." Tsugu nods.
"You and Tomoe have always had a similar taste in fashion, so I guess you think her going into fashion design is the best thing ever. You'll be raiding Hot Topic once her clothes are out there." Ran looks slightly hurt. "Hey! Tomoe's gonna get her clothes in more than just Hot Topic I bet!" Tsugumi laughs, making the darker haired girl sigh. "You're mean to me Tsugu." She mumbles, Tsugu blushes. "I'm just teasing you Ran, though, I bet Tomoe's clothes will be on commercials one day… She's really talented."
Ran nods, "it's true. Tomoe really is great at she does. Though, I would've imagined her joining me in the music major. I mean, we were both super into the band." Tsugu nods, tapping her fingers on the table. "We all were, and we were great, but it was…" Ran nods, Tsugumi doesn't need to finish her sentence. "It wasn't for our future career, I know. I'd still like to play with you guys again though, perhaps we could do it once my house is set up!" Tsugumi smiles widely, nodding at Ran's idea. "I'd really like that Ran! Even if we're not doing it as a career path."
Ran smiles, not sadly, she just smiles. She loves the way Tsugu can be cheerful, even if it isn't in the brightest of situations; she's the center of power for their little friend group. Ran finishes her coffee off, sighing. "Ah… That was really good. 10/10 Tsugu!" Tsugu chuckles. "I should just make coffee for Himari! She'll have to give me a 100 then!" Ran gives her a high five. "She likes extremely sugary coffee, I'm sure you can handle that Tsugu." Tsugu laughs again and stands up. "I can take your dishes if you're down, I'll be over to get the money in a second, ok?" Ran hands her the dishes, slipping a $10 bill on the dishes.
Tsugumi tries to give it back. "It's your tip Tsugu! You are still my waiter afterall!" Tsugu blushes and runs off to put the dishes, and money, away. Ran puts her composition notebook back in her back, as well as putting her cellphone in her jacket pocket. Before closing her bag, she grabs her wallet, then stands up and heads to the register, seeing Tsugumi's dad there. "Hello Ran! Did you enjoy the food today?" Ran nods, handing him her credit card. "It was really good, I could tell Mrs. Hazawa made the muffin today! Her cooking never fails to impress me!" Tsugumi's father smiles, ringing the credit card up.
"Well, Tsugumi did get her skills from the best there is. I'm proud she wants to take over the cafe once she graduates at least, hopefully she'll have a boyfriend by then." Ran laughs at that one. "If she would talk to any of the boys on campus. Himari told me she just sticks to her usually." Mr. Hazawa sighs. "A father can dream, can't he?" He hands Ran her credit card and she puts it away. "I believe everyone can dream if they try, really. So Mr. Hazawa, keeping believing!" Tsugus father chuckles and shakes his head at Ran. "You're quite the exotic one Ran, see you soon." Ran nods and waves, walking out of the small cafe. "Thank you for the food, send my regards to Mrs. Hazawa also!" She says finally, leaving the store and heading back to her new house.
The walk to the house was normal, Ran just played some music through her phone and jammed out, of course getting a few stares from bystanders. Ran opens the gates to her newly bought house, hearing them creak a bit. "I guess I could oil them sometime…" She mumbles, then closing and locking the gate, then heading up to the front door.
Humming, Ran pulls out her keys and unlocks the door, moving into the front door, then tripping over a thing of boxes.