Chapter 10

"Welcome," Sayumi's voice harmonized with the other waitresses'. Sayumi's eyes wandered to the new customer. She immediately recognized the unnaturally tall boy.
[Ah. It's the guy from the convenience store. Omg. I hope he didn't see me. Oh. Thank god. His table is not in the section I'm serving.]

"Kineno-san," the manager called.

No. She is not going to ask me to do what I think she wants me to do.
"Yes, manager?" Sayumi replied sweetly.

"Sorry for calling you here so suddenly again," the manager apologized. "I didn't interrupt you from doing anything right?" the woman asked innocently.

Well, I was in the middle of hunting for my priceless basketball that my late brother gave me.
"Don't worry about it," Sayumi said and turned away to collect the finished dishes from the tables she was in charge of.

"Wait Kineno-san."

Sayumi hesitated, but responded at the end. "Yes?"

"Do you mind taking care of the customer that just walked in?" The manager clapped her hands together and smiled. "The other waitresses are a little shy." The manager's sweet cherub face was something that Sayumi had yet to learn to be immune to.

"Sure." The girl answered weakly. She approached the table where the tall boy sat.

"Hi. Can I get you anything to drink first?"

The purple-haired boy flipped lazily through the menu. He closed the menu after a few more flips and laid his head down on the table.

Sayumi turned around to look at her fellow colleagues. Every one of them pretended not to see her plea for help.

"Um..." The childish boy turned his head the other way. Sayumi scribbled something down on her ordering note pad and went to punch in the order.

"What did he order?" the curious waitresses asked when Sayumi came back behind the counter.

"Nothing."

"Then what did you punch in?" asked the manager.

"I'm treating him. Put it in my bill."

The other waitresses and manager watched as Sayumi brought the order to the sleeping boy's table.

"Enjoy," Sayumi said with obvious sarcasm. The boy slid upright in his seat and stared blankly at the huge parfait in front of him.

"I didn't order this."

"You didn't order anything. This one's on me."

For the first time, the boy actually turned his head to see who his waitress was. His eyes twitched. Sayumi handed him a long spoon.

"We're even now?" The boy took the metal silverware and ate as she stood idly next to him. He finished the order in less than a minute. Only after he ate the last strawberry did he bother to look up at the waitress.

"Do I know you?"

This time, it was Sayumi's eyebrow that twitched. "We met at the convenience store once."

"Oh. You were the girl who cut me in line."

"I was in front of you." The boy doubted her claim. "I was there. You just didn't see me." Sayumi looked at the boy as he processed what she just said. He then eyed her up and down.

"Now that I think about it, you're pretty short."

"You're just abnormally tall," the girl defended.

"It's in my genes. I can't help what I'm born with. Your family must be tiny like you, though."

"Don't drag my family into this. But just so you know, my brother was only a few inches away from you.

"Oh, really?" The boy stood up from his seat.

Sayumi looked up at the human towering over her. "Yup. Only a little away. He would've easily reached your height by now, if he didn't -" The spunky girl's mood suddenly dropped and the boy noticed. "Can I get you anything else?" Sayumi changed the subject.

"No. Just your name and number. That'll be all."

"Kineno Sayumi. My number is ...Wait. What?"

"I need your number so I can call you the next time I want free dessert." The simple boy stuck out his phone and Sayumi typed in her contact information and returned the phone. The boy carelessly shoved the device into his pocket and walked out.

Sayumi watched as the boy almost hit his head on the low door-well, door for "average" height people.

"Kineno-san! Do you know him?" the manager asked as she rushed towards the waitress in the ponytail.

"I met him once at the convenience store." Sayumi told it as is.

"AH. Young girls like you shouldn't give out your numbers so easily to strangers. You gave him a fake number right?"

"No. I punched in my cell phone number." It was quite entertaining for Sayumi to see the manager stress like this.

"Oh. What am I to do with you? Kineno-san. Please remember that you're own sixteen. You need to be more careful and less reckless." The manager shook her head disapprovingly and walked to tend to her other duties.

Thanks manager. I don't usually give out my number to random strangers. So don't worry. It was just that I felt a little something between us. He felt...I don't know...special? There was something about him...his extraordinary height for one, but there's also something else that made me feel like I'll like him if I get to know him better. Let's just say it's my intuition.

The purple-haired boy turned to see the girl through the window one last time. "That shorty isn't as bad as I remembered."

{Incoming Text from unknown number}: What time do you open in the mornings? Are there sweets? -Murasakibara

Sayumi looked through the window and saw the lanky Murasakibara browsing the shops across the street.

{Incoming Text from Kineno Sayumi}: I'm not working tomorrow. I'm on call so I won't be here 24/7. But I'll be here until 9:00 tonight.

Five minutes following her text, Murasakibara opened the door and sat down in what will soon be known as his "usual" table.

"Welcome back."