Author Notes:
Okay, at last I have returned. I have been thinking ahead for this story yet I hope everyone enjoys what I did so far,, xTheShadyShadowx : YES. THERE WILL BE ChAra.
Onwards then to the chapter.
Coffee Wars
Chapter Two: Challengers Approaching
Both Elsword and Aisha watched Elesis shuffling the tables around, putting a few chairs in different places. The time the trio reached back to the café, Elsword mentioned that he called Eve, Chung, Rena, and Raven to come over since Aisha has returned for a visit. They were all good friends back in high school. They wouldn't pass up the chance to see Aisha after years of graduation. So Elesis went ahead to arrange the tables around so everyone can sit down together and enjoy a cup of coffee. It was still morning after all.
"Honestly, I thought a few of our friends would forget about me since I have been gone for a while. I can't help but feel a bit surprised that everyone is willing to see me," Aisha said, having a small smile on her face.
"Hey, you were part of our friend group. If they did forget about you then I would walk right over to their house and slap them silly until they remember," Elsword said, in which both of the girls let out a small laugh. "It doesn't matter now though. You are here now. Didn't you say that you lived in a horrible place? Are there demons overrunning it or something?" Elsword asked, scratching the back of his head. "Also, hungry? I can get you something at the back," he offered, pointing his thumb back at the counter.
"Uh, I think getting a donut is fine for me. Plain donut by any chance," Aisha answered, briefly scanning over the donuts that were shown by the counter in a nice looking glass container. "And yes...you wouldn't believe what happened after the new senator was elected."
Elsword scrunched up his nose at Aisha's choice. "New senator, huh? That's something rather interesting. Also, you still don't like frosting? Or glaze? It's always a plain donut, try something new for a change."
"...Just get me the damn donut," Aisha threatened him calmly, causing Elsword to move quickly to get her the donut.
Elesis giggled after putting the last chair down. "It's rather nice to have a second person to boss little Elboy around. Sometimes I am not enough to have him do what I want," she commented and Aisha had an amused smile on her face.
"Pff… I'm not... little," Elsword muttered when he returned back with a donut and a napkin. He handed it to Aisha.
For a moment, their hands touched in which Elesis was watching with curious eyes. Yet both of them doesn't seem to be too bothered by the contact and Aisha took a bite out of the donut. They were oblivious to Elesis' disappointment.
It wasn't long that they heard a light tapping on the glass windows. The three turned their heads to the source of the noise and saw Chung and Eve who were right outside the café. Chung pointed at the door, hinting that they were unable to get it. Eve just stood there, looking emotionless like usual.
"Well shit, I guess I locked the door when we got inside," Elesis snorted and went ahead to unlock the door. She opened the door to let the two inside yet a cold breeze was quick to roll right in.
Both Elsword and Aisha shivered at the same time and Chung laughed. "Well, winter is coming after all," he stated and then smiled brightly at Aisha. "Aisha, it is so nice to see you again!" The blond boy said happily, going right up to her. He gave her a big hug, squeezing her a bit too tight for her liking.
"Haha, it's nice to see you too, Chung. Take it easy though..." Aisha complained, mostly because his clothes felt cold, his jacket most likely. Chung eventually let go of his hug and had a sheepish smile before taking a step back.
"I hope the trip getting here wasn't too unpleasant," Eve said, having a small smile. She even gave Aisha a hug in which the younger girl was happy to return.
"It was fine, besides the thunderstorm the plane went through. I really do miss the both of you guys. I can't believe you let your hair grow, Chung." Aisha was surprised to see Chung's long hair. "I am actually happy for that."
"Oh haha, thanks. I just wish people would stop assuming that I am a girl…" Chung commented.
Elsword let out a fake cough and Elesis went ahead to leave them be. Probably feeling awkward about it as well. As for Eve, she merely nodded her head in agreement. Suddenly Aisha had a hard time to view Chung as a man.
"...anyways! I didn't know you guys work here, in ElCafe," Aisha said, quickly changing the subject.
"Yeah, we all work here. It's not a bad job, especially with friends around to help out. Also, the pay is good, probably since we may be the best café here in Elrios," Chung said in a proud tone. "Though…I have heard that you only came here to look for a better place for your job, right?"
Aisha nodded her head in confirmation. "Yeah, I am hoping you guys can help me with this. We're in a tight spot back home and each day it gets worse and worse," she mumbled, taking another bite of her donut.
"What gets worse and worse?" A different male voice spoke out and everyone noticed Raven and Rena just recently walked in together, the two holding hands.
"Ah, there you two are. I almost thought you guys gonna show up late," Elsword sneered and Raven rolled his eyes.
"Whaat~? Such nonsense you speak of, Elsword. We're never late," Rena said and the two couple let out a small laugh. Both Elsword and Chung glance at each other, knowing too well about the couple. "Besides that, it seems that our precious Aisha is here," Rena said happily, having such a warm smile and pulled Aisha to a hug. Aisha was going to say something but her voice was muffled when her face was right into Rena's boobs, unable to even let out a single word. The poor girl even made an attempt to pull away but Rena's grip didn't waver.
The time Rena finally let go of Aisha, Aisha could finally talk. "Nice to see you again, Rena," Aisha jumbled her words as Raven started to fix Aisha's hair since they gotten a bit messy from the tight hug. "And Raven. It's nice to see the both of you again."
"You look pretty well! Healthy too," Rena commented and gently patted Aisha's cheek.
"Heh, thanks," Aisha said, smiling at her. For a moment, Aisha took a quick glance at Rena's chest. She felt some form of jealousy for the older woman yet she didn't say anymore and just kept on smiling.
"It seems that everyone is here! I already got the coffee set up on the table. Please help yourself to the donuts I left in the middle too," Elesis announced, already have everything set up when they were busy among themselves. She took a seat on one of the chairs, smiling at her handy work.
"As usual, you are the best sister," Elsword complimented, taking a seat right next to Elesis.
"Why, thank you, Elsword!" Elesis said and smiled at her brother. "Such a shame that you're still not getting a raise for flattering me, though," she added, receiving a few chuckles from the two other males.
"Drats."
Everyone settled down on the chairs and were very content with the coffee. Elesis made them after all; her coffees always have such a nice touch that the flavor lingers in for a good while. Not to mention that the donuts were good as well.
"Alright, Aisha, you can start explaining that problem of yours," Elesis said before sipping her hot coffee.
"Right," Aisha said and cleared her throat before she begins her story. "As you know, I live in a place where demons are around but not all are bad as you think…as long as you don't mess with them, that is. About two months ago, a senator recently died of unknown causes and automatically a new one rose into power. You see, senators are just a step lower from being in absolute control of a city from where I live. Yet they still get a lot of authority and unfortunately...the new senator isn't so kind to us specifically. So…this is how it exactly went down…"
Two days before Aisha left to Elrios…
Aisha wiped her forehead and let out a light sigh, happy to finish cleaning up the floor after the tables were moved away thanks to one of her good friend/co-worker. The café, Royal Café, was currently closed after a busy day. She was glad that none of the customers gave trouble them this time today, everyone seemed to be awfully kind despite the past recent events.
"Aisha, are you done with the floor?" A female voice piped up, catching Aisha's attention.
"Ah, yes, mind putting the broom away for me, Ara?" Aisha kindly asked and the other girl nodded.
"Sure, also we will be having a little meeting up in the office. Be sure to be there, you know how our boss hates it when her workers don't show up on time," Ara told Aisha, taking the broom from her.
Aisha nodded and stretched out her arms. "Okay, see you there then," Aisha said before heading over to a hallway. She heard a bell going off yet didn't bother to check since Ara was there to handle on whoever walked in the café. Aisha approached an open doorway and walked in the office.
"Great, now we need to wait for Ara," complained another female voice, a cute one yet not to be taken lightly.
"Ahh..sorry, I told her to put away the broom for me, Lu," Aisha apologized and blinked when she saw Lu having her face planted on the desk, grumbling some unknown things under her breath.
Ciel, Lu's personal servant, was sitting next to her and repeatedly slapping away a wandering hand that tried to steal one of Lu's cookies.
"Peasant, leave the damn cookies alone already," Lu grumbled and stared at a man with white hair who was standing right next to the desk. "I'm not in a mood, Add."
"Tch, don't call me a peasant…" Add grumbled, rubbing his hands as they were already hit by Ciel and Lu just let out a loud sigh.
"I think it's best if we don't stress out Lu too much right now," a blond girl in the room commented and Lu looked pleased.
"Rose gets the idea on how I am feeling right now. You know what? Let's just start without Ara, she eventually will catch on," Lu said and started to sit up a little straighter on her chair. "Now, about Ais-"
"Lu! Karis is here!" Ara interrupted in a shrill voice, causing Lu to perk up suddenly in alarm.
"Aw hell no, not this fucking bitch," Lu grumbled, ignoring Ciel's comment about her language. She quickly gestured Ara to close and lock the door, in which she did. "Okay, okayokayokay. We all going to be just fine...for now," Lu said and turned to Aisha. "You already got your plane ticket, right?" Aisha nodded her head. "Not bad timing at the very least. Since Karis is rather an impatient hoe, I'll just discuss what I want to happen. Aisha, you'll go to Elrios City and have your friends help you on searching for a place that we can stay over for a bit. As for us, we just need to gather up our things, get ourselves a plane ticket and move right on out. I can handle the money issue but it is very important that-" Lu was cut off short once again as there was a knock on the door.
Aisha flinched from the loud knock and everyone took a step back at first. It was really quiet until the door knocked again. Of course, no one bothered to budge. Lu bit her lower lip and look at everyone, suddenly noticed how Add was reaching for a cookie once again.
"…Add, answer it," Lu whispered harshly and the berserker blinked at the sudden order, retreating back his hand.
"Why me?" Add grumbled, glaring at Lu. Before she could even answer, the door was knocked again yet rather hard and more power behind it. Lu aggressively gestured Add to answer it in which he finally complied. He approached the door, taking a glance back at his co-workers before opening up the door. "...Hellooo?"
"Is Lu in there?" A female voice spoke out, sounding impatient and upset.
Add first took the time to look back as if he was actually checking. Lu was busy trying not to make a noise and urged Add to find a way to get rid of Karis as she already recognized the voice. "Uh…yeah no. I hope you realize that it's closing time, miss. How about you come back later, okay? Bye," Add responded, using his usual customer-friendly tone. He closed the door after doing a small wave at Karis and held his breath.
"…"
"…"
The knocking returned and Add took in a deep breath, rolling his eyes at their current situation. He eventually opened the door again and did his very best with his smile. "You're back again? I swore that I said my farewells to you recently…"
"Yes I am back again and you did. Of course, I won't leave until I speak with Lu," Karis responded, sounding awfully upset.
"I already told you, miss. She is not available at this very moment. Please come back later. I don't want to force you out of this shop if you're not willing to cooperate with me," Add said, his tone dropping for a moment to show that he was serious. Everyone behind him gave each other nervous stares.
"Excuse me? Do you know who I am?"
"...should I know?"
"How dare you! I am Karis, your superior!" Add took a step back as Karis was suddenly getting dangerously close to him. "I demand that you step aside or I will do it for yo-"
Before she could even finish her sentence, Add quickly slammed the door right in her face which emitted a painful noise of wood hitting skin and bones. Everyone gasped at the sudden brutal act. They were even more surprised that Karis was still standing. She had all sorts of emotions set on her face. Most of it was pure anger.
"Oh my god, you're like one of those bugs that you can't kill in one hit," Add said in disgust as he swiftly landed a solid punch in Karis' face.
Aisha gasped when Add straight up punched Karis in the face and she was knocked out just like that. Unconscious on the floor.
"I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU JUST DID THAT!" Lu exclaimed and ran out of the room to check if Karis was actually knocked out cold. She even kicked the girl's body several times. Aisha was just as surprised as Lu.
"How else she will leave? She started to threaten me too and the suspense was too much for me. I just had to use the door to my advantage...and punch her," Add growled though he knew he made a mistake.
"Shit, the time she wakes up, we'll be dead! Okay, Aisha, get that ass of yours on that plane as soon as the day comes! I will be closing the shop from now on. It's a good thing that this ratchet doesn't know where we live," Lu said, repeatedly kicking the woman's body until Ciel forced her to stop.
"What do we do with the body though…?" Ciel asked and everyone stared down at the body.
"…we could kill her right now," Add suggested, having a wicked smile. He suddenly received judgmental stares and frowned at them. "Just a suggestion…"
"No, then more people will be after my royal ass. Just…dump her on the street or something," Lu said and frowned. "Hopefully the time we move out of here, she won't bother to follow after us…"
Back to the present time...
"In truth, I have no idea why Karis is after Lu but she had been threatening us so it felt very unsafe over there. Now here I am, in hopes that you guys can help me...well, help my co-workers and I, with finding a place that we can stay," Aisha said, finishing her story and noticing on how all the donuts were gone from the middle of the table.
"Interesting, very interesting!" Elesis commented, her eyes were wide with curiosity. "Well, we'll do our best to help you guys out, right guys?"
Everyone around the table agreed with Elesis with a nod. Aisha smiled, happy that they are able to help her. She hoped that everyone back home was doing just fine without her.
Author Notes:
Okay, hmmm I going to stop here for now because I need to like…rest and shit. Peace out.
[Chapter Updated: 6/6/17]