Chapter 3: The Job at the Café

"Man, I really need to find a way to make some extra cash," I thought to myself.

So, there I was walking on the streets of Tokyo in search for ideas for making money. So far, I came up with either mowing other people's lawn or get a job. At that moment, I was still looking down on the pavement when I should be looking where I am going but I'm glad I didn't.

'THUMP'

A door suddenly slid open and hit me in the face causing me to fall on my back. Then, a girl in a waitress uniform came out holding a flyer. Unfortunately, she tripped on my leg as she turned right and fell face down on me. I opened my eyes and stared into the two most beautiful emerald green eyes that I have ever laid eyes upon. I stared at sweet innocent face as her sudden auburn locks tickled my face since our faces were just inches apart. For some reason, I can feel my head getting hotter and I suddenly felt warm on that cold winter night. Her face, however, blushed with a slight shade of pink. Suddenly, I realized what kind of position we were in.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, sir!" gasped the girl.

"That's okay but could you please get off me?" I said while flashing a smile.

"Oh…oh…alright," stammered the girl as she blushed again.

She grabbed my hand and helped me get back on my feet. We both brushed the dirt off our clothes. Then, I noticed something lying on the floor so I picked it up.

"Oh, Miss! I think this belongs to you," I called out to her. I looked at the flyer for a moment and saw the words 'CHEF WANTED' written on it.

"Thanks," she squeaked.

She was about to turn around so I called out to her again. 'This could be the answer that I was looking for to solve my money problem' I thought to myself.

"Hey, Miss!" I cried.

"Huh?" she said as she looked back.

"What's that?" I asked politely while pointing at the flyer.

"Oh, we're a little short-handed here so the manager decided that we should hire another chef," answered the girl.

"So, am I too early to apply for the job?" I asked with a smirk on my face.

"What? You want the job?" she asked looking surprise.

"Well…erm…sure. Why not?" I said. I was hoping that they wouldn't mind me coming in for an interview at this hour.

"Okay. Right this way," she beamed.

"By the way, what's your name? I'm Syaoran," I introduced myself as she led me inside the café.

"It's Sakura," she replied.

As she led me inside the café, I can't help myself but noticing how nice the place was. Sure it looked a little old fashioned but still it's so bright and made me feel energize to work here. Then, I noticed a big picture of a women sitting on a chair. The woman was wearing a bright red dress with two children standing next to her. One of them was a girl with red hair in a white dress and the other one was a boy with blue hair in an all-black suit. They were both smiling with their eyes close while the woman was striking a mysterious pose. Behind them was a huge window with a spectacular view of the moon. Strangely, all three of them were just as pale as the moon.

"Could you wait here? I have to go and ask the manager," squeaked Sakura. It looks as though the girl was still too embarrassed to talk normally to me.

"Sure, Sakura-san. I can wait," I said while giving another smile to her.

I wanted her to feel that I'm no stranger and there was no need to feel awkward around me. Sometimes, when a person is feeling uncomfortable, it'll help if you smile at them and tried to be friendly. Still, whenever I looked at her, I can't stop smiling.

Then, I watched her disappear through the door. Then, I continued to gaze at the painting on the wall. The family looked very happy. Looking at it made feel a little bit homesick. Father would get us together to have our picture taken every year kind of like the family in this picture. Then, I looked at the door wondering when the girl… I mean Sakura will be coming out.

'Why am I feeling so anxious all of a sudden?' I thought to myself.

Anyway, I continued to look at the picture of the happy family. Then, I realized something. Something seems to be out of place about the picture. How could I not notice it at that time? How could they be from the same family when every one of them have different hair colour? It's not biologically possible. Where was the father anyway? It could be possible that both the children dyed their hair. But no matter how weird they look, they sure looked happy. I leaned forward to the edge of the painting hoping that the painter had left a signature. I wanted to know who the painter was. As I gotten closer to the painting, I saw the painter's signature. It was written in romanized letters. The letters that I could make out of it is this:

C L O W

I was still gazing at the picture without realizing that someone had step out of the door. The person was walking steadily toward me. At least that's what I could tell since I wasn't paying much attention to whatever it was. Then, I felt something hard striking my head.

WHACK! 'Ouch! That hurts!'

"Hey, kid. You touch that and I'll have you thrown out of my café!