One step into the bakery, and the air was already different. It wasn't an overwhelmingly strong scent, but it wasn't something that was unnoticed either. It was pleasant and sweet and reminded Yamaguchi of soft taro bread.

In a small square of sunlight reflected through the large windows laid a gorgeous cat whose white fur contrasted against the deep color of the wooden floor. The tiny specks of black and gold that peppered the cat's back seemed to glitter in the sun. Yamaguchi wanted to pet it but didn't want to disturb the sleeping thing.

"You can pet her! She's a bit rowdy but she's friendly!" A bright voice called out and startled Yamaguchi a little bit.

Yamaguchi turned to see where the voice came from. A chipper redhead was behind the counter doodling something on a chalkboard menu. Even on the stepladder he had to tiptoe a bit to reach.

Yamaguchi bent down to get closer to the calico. Her nose twitched a few times as he gently pet her with the back of his hand. Her fur was soft and warm from the sun.

As Yamaguchi was petting her, something caught his eye. In the shadowy corner of the room he saw a dark figure swishing back and forth. Yamaguchi squinted and recognized what it was now. A little black brooding cat was laying there swishing his tail menacingly, with his eyes glued to Yamaguchi.

*GASP*

Yamaguchi heard the hasty kick of the metal step ladder echo through the quiet bakery and nearly jumped. "I didn't even see him here!" The only other person in the bakery excitedly ran over to the black cat. His hair looked an almost cartoonish shade of orange when it was in the sunlight.

The black cat seemed to calm down immediately in his presence.

Ahhh... this was nice. The guy next to him is the kind of person that isn't uncomfortable to be in silence with. The two of them were just happily petting the cats on an early Saturday morning in a peaceful bakery. At this point, Yamaguchi realised that this person must not work here, as he was wearing casual clothing, not a uniform.

Yamaguchi wondered if he should make small talk or not. After all, this person seems really nice and friendly. Yes, okay, he was going to do it. Uhhh… how should he start though...

Yamaguchi finds that he doesn't have to think about how to start the conversation, because the guy next to him started first.

"I'm Hinata Shouyou by the way." He stuck out his non petting hand towards Yamaguchi, so that he didn't give a hairy handshake. "What are you doing here so early? The store hasn't even opened yet."

"It... hasn't? I'm sorry; I had no idea. I came here to turn in my application to work here." Gosh, he just came here without checking the time? "Um, how about you? I'm guessing that you don't work here either because of your clothes? Oh, did that sound too accusatory? I'm sorry!" Yamaguchi was rambling.

"I don't work here but I'm friends with the employees here. Actually, I'm here to bug one of them." Hinata's face morphed into one of playful mischief.

As if on cue, the sound of a door somewhere in the back of the store opened. Yamaguchi could hear two murmuring voices and then a pause.

"Shouyou… is that you?" A quiet voice spoke but Yamaguchi saw no one.

"Kenmaaa!" Hinata called as he ran in the direction of the voice. Just then, a dark haired man walked out from the back but Hinata ran past him. Yamaguchi guesses that the person Hinata was calling to was not this person.

"Oh hello!" Yamaguchi said to the man walking behind the counter as he scrambled to get his application papers off the ground. "I'm here to submit my application?"

Just as he took a step forward, Hinata rushed out, dragging a long haired person by the sleeve who looked like they had trouble keeping up with Hinata's excitement.

"Yachi taught me how to make our menus look nicer! What do you think, Kenma?" Hinata beamed at the other.

Yamaguchi looked up at the chalkboard menu. He was impressed with how appealing someone could make tomato soup sound with just interesting lettering and embellishments.

"I like it." Kenma said simply but considerately. He then noticed the unfamiliar stranger in the bakery and suddenly became very focused on adjusting his sleeves.

Hinata looked over to Yamaguchi. "Oh right! You're going to be working here right? This is Kenma and Akaashi." Hinata pointed at the two people respectively. "Suga's the manager but here's not here right now."

"I can take your application though." Akaashi said, holding his hand out.

Yamaguchi walked up to the counter and handed in the papers. "Ah, I'm not exactly sure." He said in response to Hinata. "There are some other places I am looking to apply for that are closer to me."

Hinata looked as if he deflated a bit for just a split second. Then he perked right back up. "Well I hope to see you working here anyways! TI-84 Plus let you pet S'mores without pouncing at you!"

"Really?" Kenma looked up at Hinata, then at Yamaguchi curiously. Yamaguchi was surprised too. Maybe that cat really would have pounced on him if Hinata hadn't drawn its attention when he did.

Hang on a second. "TI-84 Plus?" Yamaguchi asked amusingly.

"Yup, these cats are Kenma's," replied Hinata. "This one's TI-84 Plus… " He pointed at the black cat. "... and this one is S'mores!" he said, pointing to the calico.

"My roommate was the one who named TI-84." Kenma pointed out hesitantly.

"Did they just look around the room and picked the first thing they saw?" Yamaguchi asked.

"Actually, it's kinda the opposite. Kenma lost TI-84 the first night he brought him home. It was also right before finals week and Kenma couldn't find his calculator anywhere." Hinata recalled.

"Turns out, I eventually found both of them with my roommate. He thought it was funny so he chose the name based off of that." Kenma said, shrugging at the end.

"You got a cat during finals week?" Yamaguchi wondered.

"We rescued it, so it wasn't planned."

"Ah I see." Yamaguchi felt the conversation coming to a close. "Well, I really like this place. It's a nice environment to be in." He said as he stroked the underside of S'more's chin.

Yamaguchi gave one last pat pat to S'mores and said goodbye to the others. Maybe he would be willing to travel an extra 10 minutes to work in this bakery rather than at the cafe that was on the way to his school. But he wasn't sure.

As he walked out, he took out his phone. There was one person that he relied on to give him some rational insight.

Yamaguchi heard the familiar sound that told him his call connected. "Tsukki!" He sang happily into the phone.

"Yamaguchi, do you need anything?" Normally Yamaguchi doesn't call Tsukki. If he wanted to talk, he would just go over to talk in person.

"I just finished submitting the last application I have."

"That's good." Tsukki said as he yawned into the phone. It's probably a bit early still.

"I need your help. I don't know which place I want to work at."

"Well, which place has better pay?"

"I… don't know actually."

Yamaguchi could almost hear Tsukki making the 눈_눈 face, disapproving of him not thinking this through a little more.

Yamaguchi knew that Tsukki would be lecturing him right now, but he isn't because he knows Yamaguchi already understands. Also Tsukki doesn't like to waste his energy.

You have to think about things like this a little more. Ah yes, 'be more rational and decisive and practical'. Why would you work somewhere farther away if it didn't have any other benefits? But I liked the cats. Are you willing to sacrifice time commuting just for cats? :(

Yamaguchi knows Tsukki and knows that sometimes being too thoughtless can be irritating to him. Though Tsukki is patient with Yamaguchi and often doesn't show that he's irritated. He decided to not tell Tsukki every little detail of his irrational shenanigans.

Yamaguchi was still indecisive, going back and forth in his mind about working at either place. He then had the thought that he should organize his thoughts on paper.

As he was about to start scribbling a messy list of pros and cons, the sound of his phone interrupted him.

Yamaguchi picked up. There was an unusually long silence for the person that actually made the call. Finally, the other end spoke up.

"Umm this is Kenma. Our manager says you can come in before or after work for training starting next week."

Yamaguchi waited to see if there was more but Kenma didn't say anything else. "Oh uh thank you! For letting me know." Yamaguchi barely had a full breath after saying this before the other end quickly hung up.

Yamaguchi looked over at the paper and pencil he got out. He really didn't feel like going through the draining process of being indecisive. Alright then, bakery it is.

"So this is our new applicant!" A silver haired man said with a pleasant smile. His friendliness and warmth put Yamaguchi at ease.

"I'm Sugawara Koushi. I'm the manager here, but I also stop by the bakeries at the other locations to check up on them, so I'm not always here."

"It's nice to meet you, Sugawara-san!" Yamaguchi said as he gave a small bow. He looked around the bakery. Akaashi was setting up the glass display and preparing the counter area for another day of work.

"Let me introduce you to your coworkers and show you around. This is Akaashi Keiji, who works on the register and in the kitchen. He also keeps us organized. He's basically the manager when I'm not around." Yamaguchi followed Suga towards the kitchen in the back.

"In the kitchen we have Kozume Kenma." There was only Kenma in the kitchen who was adding some garnishes on some small apple pastries.

Across the kitchen was a small open room with a door leading to the outside alley. "Bokuto Koutarou handles the shipments and deliveries we get and also works with Akaashi on register." There was a large truck with a man unloading some shipments. He was too busy stacking boxes to notice the two.

They went back inside to the front of the bakery. "Ah! And here we have Kageyama Tobio, who makes the drinks." A calm looking man was replacing a component in one of the machines. Though, as he was focused on his task, his face easily scrunched up into what looked like mild irritation or frustration.

"Do you see why I don't put Kageyama on cashier?" Suga lowered his voice and said this quietly to Yamaguchi. Yamaguchi chuckled. Kageyama was completely oblivious.

"Rather than try to make Kageyama try to force a pleasant smile and do something outside of his comfort zone, I just work around these things. He doesn't have to worry or stress over presenting himself in a way that he's expected to." Suga made finger quotes as he said this. "I want to make things easier for people."

Yamaguchi looked to Sugawara. At that moment, the room seemed to gain a heavenly atmosphere for a split second. Yamaguchi could almost hear the strumming of a harp in the distance. "Wow… that's very respectable." Yamaguchi admired.

Suga's voice returned back to a normal volume. "Bokuto and Akaashi can help you get started with how things work around here and help you with register. Eventually Kageyama can help you with making the drinks once you are more familiar with how things work."

"Thank you!" He gave another small bow. As lifted his head back up, he heard the sound of a heavy door in the back opening. Yamaguchi stared down the hallway to see who it was. Suga turned around to follow Yamaguchi's gaze. A man with white and grey hair popped out into the hallway, rubbing his shoes on the door sort of reminds Yamaguchi of Oreos.

"Good morning Bokuto!" Suga called out. Bokuto looked up and waved. "Mornin' Suga!" He said and walked up to the two. "Oh oh! Who's this?"

"Bokuto calm down." Akaashi whacked the side of his head with a rolled up newspaper that was conveniently in his hands from going to change the newspaper and magazine rack.

"But Akaaaashi! I haven't even said anything yet!" Akaashi looked apologetic for acting instinctively.

"Besides!" Bokuto said, rubbing the spot he was whacked. "We haven't had anyone new work here in like forever!"

Akaashi narrowed his eyes at him. Does… does he not remember that guy from only 3 months ago? Akaashi was questioning whether he should scold him or let it go. He sure had the urge to tell Bokuto off.

Suga simply chuckled lightly at this interaction. Yamaguchi guessed that this was a normal affair for them.

"Now now, Akaashi." Suga said as he patted Akaashi on the back reassuringly, as if he could read his mind. He then turned to Bokuto. "This is Yamaguchi Tadashi." He gestured towards Yamaguchi. "He will be working the register and drinks, so I expect you to help him the best you can!"

"Um hello! Nice to meet you." Yamaguchi said politely.

Suga continued to explain more about how everything works. When it came time for the bakery to open, Yamaguchi observed Suga as he worked at the register for a little while.

"So, how was your first day?" Tsukki asked him, fiddling with the buttons on his shirt.

"It was interesting! I like the people I'm working with so far. And the environment is really lively with this one guy Bokuto."

Tsukki smiled. "That's good."

"Oh and cats." Yamaguchi added. "One of the cat's names was TI-84 Plus." Yamaguchi was reminded of the amusing backstory behind the name and retold it to Tsukki. Then something then crossed Yamaguchi's mind. Now that I have this job, maybe I can save up to get something for Tsukki's birthday. It's in three weeks, which isn't a lot of time though.

"Interesting environment for a bakery." Tsukki commented. Oh right, Yamaguchi was working at a bakery now. Maybe he can do something pastry related.

"Oh! How's working at the museum?" Yamaguchi asked, directing the conversation to Tsukki.

"I met this one historian who works there and we talked about the new ancient Greek history and mythology exhibit."

"Oh, that reminds me. I've been meaning to read Percy Jackson lately."

"I love Percy Jackson." Tsukki reminisced.

"I always hear you talk about it. You know what, I'm finally going to read it and then we can talk about it!"

"That's what everyone says but they never end up doing it."

"Oh yeah, well I'm going to prove you wrong."

Tsukki simply smiled at this. Is he not fully convinced that Yamaguchi is going to do it?

"In fact, I'm going to pull up the book right now and read the first chapter. Out loud. To you." Yamaguchi said as he got out his phone and bought the e-book.

"Alright." Tsukki said, leaning back against the couch as he hugs one of the pillows to his stomach. Did his response sound more excited than usual? Definitely, and he was trying to hide it.

The two of them ended up reading a bit more than a single chapter, with Tsukki encouraging Yamaguchi to keep going to get to a certain part of the book.

Eventually, after a few hours, Yamaguchi left with nearly a fifth of the first book finished. His throat was sore from reading out loud for so long, but he wasn't complaining. As he walked home the thought of Tsukki's birthday came back again. Maybe he'll try his hand at baking one of Tsukki's favorite foods, strawberry shortcake.

"Yes!" Yamaguchi said to himself excitedly. He took one last look at the golden rays of the setting sun before stepping into his house to rest after a long day.