Different Angles
A Bit Of Help
Mochi was the one who helped her out this time.
"Oh no…" Aunt Cass muttered to herself when a group of people suddenly came storming into her café. "Rush hour."
Rush hour that day seemed to be so much worse than the previous ones. She had more customers coming in for some reason, which obviously meant that there were more people to serve, more food to prepare, and more stress for her.
That also meant that there would be more tips for her by the end of the day- that is, if she did a good job. But by the looks of it, she wouldn't be getting so many today because boy, did she have her hands full. People were definitely going to get their orders late.
"Excuse me, I'm ready to take my order!" a customer called out as their arm shot up in the air.
"Um, I haven't been served yet!" another one called out, their arm shooting up as well.
"I'll be right with you!" Cass called back before turning back to the customer before her. She pulled on the sweetest smile she could muster, "Hello, what can I get for you?"
"I'll have an extra hot, half-whole milk, one quarter one-percent, one quarter non-fat, one shot decaf, two shots regular, no foam latte with whipped cream, two teaspoons of sugar, a dash of vanilla syrup, and a sprinkle of cinnamon," the customer replied quickly and monotonously.
Her eye twitched, and Mochi, who stood on a stool next to her, gave the man a weird look. She asked, "Will that be all?"
"Yes, and my break's about to end, so please make it fast," they said, bringing their wrist up to check the time.
"Of course," she answered through gritted teeth. She turned around and went straight to making their drink, when she realized she was out of sugar. She clicked her tongue, and ran out of the room, but not before poking her head back into the café room and telling her current customer, "My sugar ran out. I'll be right back." After this, she ran up the stairs in a hurry and went straight to the counter in her kitchen. Mochi finally made it up the stairs, and walked over to his owner.
"He was a big meanie, huh?" she asked Mochi, who meowed in response. She laughed, and looked back up at the cupboards, "The sugar should be in here…" Cass muttered to herself. She opened up one of her cupboards, face brightening when she found what she was looking for. She reached out for the bag of sugar lying on the top shelf.
"Need any help?" a voice asked, followed by a laugh.
Cass turned around and found Tadashi sitting at the dining table. He had his elbow on the table, his palm rested on his cheek, and his leg was crossed over the other.
"Rush hour again, huh?" he asked.
She shrugged, laughing, "I can handle it. You have nothing to worry about." Mochi gave her a funny look after her reply.
Shaking his head, Tadashi got up from his seat and walked over to his aunt. He smiled, "I'll take care of the big orders. You go take care of the small ones, all right? You need more help than you think. Remember last time?"
Cass looked down at the bag of sugar in her hands, and sighed, "Alright, fine. I'll be back in a few minutes to pick up the BLT's and all those." She took out her notebook from her pocket, ripped out a page, and gave it to him.
Halfway down the stairs, Aunt Cass called out, "Oh, and can you cook some more tapioca for the bubble tea?"
"Gotcha," he called back.
Cass took care of her customers without stress, knowing that her oldest nephew was upstairs helping her out. The line in the café quickly disappeared, and all she had left were to serve the customers sitting around tables.
She walked up the stairs alongside Mochi holding a tray of donuts and cookies she grabbed from her display cases down in the café. Her nephew deserved a little reward and break for helping her out.
She called out, "Tadashi, I'm coming to pick up the orders." She received no answer, and just laughed; he was probably too concentrated in making the food that he didn't hear her. When she reached the top of the stairs, she smiled, "Working hard, Tada…"
She dropped the tray that was in her hands.
There was no Tadashi, no finished BLT's lying on the table, and no tapioca cooking on the stove. There was nothing but an empty space staring back at her.
She fell to the floor, covering her face with her hands. Mochi walked up to her and rubbed his head against her arm worriedly.
Mochi looked back up at the empty room, frowning because he knew who Tadashi was- he was that boy who saved him from the streets- and he hadn't come back home yet. He often wondered what happened to him. He assumed it was something bad because Hiro had been acting weird, and now Cass was as well. They kept calling out to him even when he wasn't there.
Mochi meowed once more, and his face brightened up when Cass lowered her hands. She smiled down at him, "What do you say, Mochi? Wanna help me finish up the last of the orders?"
Later that night, Aunt Cass found herself crying into her bowl of pistachio ice cream all by herself in the dining room. Earlier's illusion made her heart break even more, and stress eating was her only way of coping with it.
Mochi noticed her not smiling like she always was, and this worried him greatly. He silently made his way to Cass and upon reaching her, he hopped onto the empty chair next to her and rubbed against her.
"H-huh?" Cass sobbed, turning to her left. Mochi stopped what he was doing and looked up at her with a smile in hopes of cheering her up. Despite the fresh, new tears flowing down her face, Aunt Cass found herself smiling again, and Mochi jumped up happily knowing that he was able to make her feel better, if only just a little. Cass put her spoon down and picked Mochi up.
"Thank you, Mochi," she cried into his fur, hugging him tightly.
Mochi meowed in return, and snuggled into her touch.
A/N: I'm not sure if I made it very clear, but basically, Aunt Cass was hallucinating that Tadashi was there. (And I hope you understand the title! If not, basically Tadashi usually helped Aunt Cass by helping her run the café. This time, Mochi was the one who helped her- not with the café, but by cheering her up). (I hope that makes sense oh gosh I'm so bad at titles sobs). Thank you for the request, Apocryphal Reality! :D (But I'm crying now).
FINAL CALL FOR REQUESTS! ONCE TOMORROW'S ONESHOT IS POSTED, I WILL NO LONGER BE TAKING ANY!
Oh, and be sure to check last chapter; a few headcanons about GoGo have been added! Thanks to those who gave me their headcanons!
That's all I have to say for today! THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR EVERYTHING! :D
