Sunlight poured into the cafe windows, warm and inviting, as Hinari looked beyond the windows and towards the doors. The light was blinding for a few moments and made it somewhat difficult for Hinari to keep an eye out for a certain someone.
"These days, I've only been working part-time here, very part-time with only one shift a week maybe two if someone calls in sick on a Sunday. Originally, I was really annoyed that I caved and let myself continue to work here but, ever since he's been coming in, I've been finding myself looking forward to these weekends." Hinari thought to herself as she was absently writing an order on a cup. Saturday mornings proved themselves to be quiet, but once the clock struck noon it somehow picked up quickly. But, the person Hinari was keeping an eye out for typically came around earlier than that, nine-fifty to be exact.
"Ever since I started working these Saturday shifts, you've been showing up; Ordering the same order everyday in that same toneless, aloof tone. It seems like you aren't interested in being friendly with the baristas here and I don't blame you, some of them are sorta...unfriendly. Sometimes, I'll be lucky enough to take your order, other times I'm not. But if luck is on my side and there's a flood of people in line, I get to ask for your name. You're stingy, only letting me having a single letter, but it's ok. I think you might just be playing hard to get."
As Hinari was day-dreaming about the guy she admired, the door swung and in came a tall boy with a backpack. Hinari flushed red and pushed the barista closest to the cash register out of the way and took her place. She felt her hands tremble as she felt around for her pen, keeping her gaze locked onto him.
"Luck is on my side today!" Hinari cheered in her mind, pretending that she hadn't pushed her fellow barista to the side.
"Hi, what can I get for you today?" Hinari questioned cheerily, though she already had his order memorized as she grabbed a small cup.
"I'll have a small cinnamon macciato.." The boy said, not even making eye-contact with her as he searched his bag for his wallet.
"Now to pull out my ace!" Hinari said in her head triumphantly," No foam right?"
"Now he's going to look in surprise, and I'll get to see those pretty grey eyes look at me in shock that I remember his order perfectly!"
"Yeah." The boy said flatly as he handed her a five dollar bill along with some loose change.
Fazed, Hinari took the cash and weakly said," Your order will be ready on the right."
The boy didn't say anything else and Hinari hung her head in defeat.
"My efforts to show I was interested in him...gone unnoticed." Hinari thought as she prepared his order," I should've known better, I'm so bad with romance! If I want to get anywhere with this though, I'll have to contact a professional."
"Kuromi, what do you mean you can't help?!" Hinari wailed into her cell phone a few hours later.
"I'm outta town next week, maybe another time ok?" Kuromi offered before hannging up, with Hinari sighing afterwards.
"This will be just like time in college if I have to see him again without Kuromi there to help me." Hinari moaned as her mind flashed back to a few years ago, where she accidently asked her crush to marry her instead of confess her feelings. That guy got creeped out and didn't ever speak to her again. Hinari reassured herself that he probably wasn't the one if he had been so easily turned off, but then again, how many people have been asked out of nowhere to get married?
"I guess I could either try look up something online to help me out, or I'll just call in sick next week and wait for Kuromi to come back." Hinari sighed to herself.
Next week, Gogo was walking to her brother's school, this time with Rumi coming along as Gogo invited her. She thought it would've been nice to hang out for a bit after school even if it was just to pick up her siblings and Rumi agreed to go.
"I hope it isn't too weird of me to ask you to hang out by walking with me to pick up my siblings." Gogo finally said, the thought being in her head for quite awhile now.
"No, it's fine, it's nice to take a walk around here where you get to see the sun just before it sets." Rumi stated as she looked towards the sky, minutes away from fully tinting orange.
Just as Gogo and Rumi reached the school, they saw the boys standing outside waiting for Gogo. The two girls seemed a bit confused as they would usually wait in the classroom with Hinari so Gogo walked up to them quickly to ask why they were waiting out here.
"Did Hinari have to leave early?" Gogo asked the trio, who collectively shook their heads in return.
"She wasn't looking very good inside the classroom." Ryu said," She was all jittery and kept scrolling through her phone."
"That doesn't really sound like Hinari..." Gogo responded as she lead the group inside the school and into the classroom where he boys usually were.
Inside that classroom sat Hinari at the teacher's desk, her phone beside her and her head on top of her folded arms.
"Um, Hinari?" Gogo asked cautiously, trying to find out whether or not Hinari had passed out.
Hinari then lifted her head from the desk, her hair a bit messy now, but she seemed ok for the most part.
"Hey Gogo...how's it going?" Hinari asked with a near vacant look in her eye. Her tone made her sound tired, exhausted even as if something had been bothering her all day.
"She's a zombie..." Gogo said quietly as she stared at Hinari," Are you feeling alright?"
Hinari kept quiet for a few moments, wondering whether or not it would've been ok for her to tell Gogo about her personal issues. She knew better than to dish out her problems on a high-school girl, but keeping this secret to herself felt like it was doing more harm than good right now.
And so, Hinari confessed," I have a crush on a regular at the cafe."
"Then just ask them out or something." Gogo suggested, sounding mildly uninterested in the topic though she was aiming for encouraging. Hinari's reason for being disheveled today did seem pretty anticlimactic to her.
"But you don't understand!" Hinari blurted out," I've got bad luck when it comes to talking to crushes. I get all tongue-tied and then I say the wrong thing and then I weird them out! And it feels I get worse at confessing each time."
"Oh come on, I don't think your last confession could've been that bad." Gogo stated in a reassuring voice while Hinari rested her head onto her folded arms again.
"I asked my last crush to marry me." Hinari replied, her voice muffled with her head in her folded arms.
Gogo was at a loss of words now, and looked over to Rumi whispering," Any bright ideas?"
Rumi then said to Hinari," You know, I met someone who was having difficulty asking someone out. They told me they suffered from things like clammy palms and headaches when they tried talking to their crush. As you can see, they were insanely nervous. He told me how he would practice in the mirror trying ask out the person he liked for about half an hour for a week and he still felt unsure of himself. But despite all these panicky and anxious feelings he had, he told he would've felt worse even he didn't even try to ask out the girl at all."
Hinari sniffled and looked up to Rumi, evidently curious as she asked," So did he ask her out?"
"Yes he did!" Rumi beamed.
"And what did she say?" Gogo asked hesitantly.
"I- I mean, she said no." Rumi concluded, astonishing just about everyone in the classroom," But once we started talking he said he felt a bit more calm and he was finally able to remind himself that I was just a normal person. After that talk, he said he didn't feel as bad after that."
"So she let him down easy..." Hinari and Gogo both thought to themselves, eyes narrowed at Rumi.
"Well, one thing we take from this tale of Rumi's is that it's worth a try!" Gogo exclaimed, with Rumi nodding in response," You just have to ask yourself, is asking this guy out worth the risk? Do you like him enough to risk getting rejected?"
Hinari then thought to herself, and then she thought about the boy she was crushing on. The more she thought about him, the longer the image of him stayed in her head, the more overwhelmed Hinari was feeling. She started feeling a bit dizzy but then she felt her heart throb and the change in heartbeat outlived the dizziness.
"He's worth the risk." Hinari declared and quickly she added," But, I'm still scared to ask him out. I need moral support when I tell him how I feel."
"Ok, that's understandable," Gogo responded, feeling defeated on the inside as she wanted as little as possible to do with this. Romance wasn't something she was that experienced at and so, Gogo pointed to Rumi.
"She'll probably be great at that!" Gogo claimed, though Hinari didn't seem satisfied.
"Gogo please be my moral support~" Hinari begged with her hands clasped in front of herself," It's not like your the one asking someone ask anyways,"
Gogo sighed, knowing that Hinari had a point as as she said," I guess I'll do it. So we'll all go on Saturday and meet you there ok?"
Hinari nodded attentively as the group exited the classroom while she said," Make sure you're there before nine-fifty!"
During the walk back home, Gogo let the boys walk ahead of her, much more ahead than usual so that they wouldn't be a bother to Rumi. Gogo started thinking about how Hinari asked them to help her for moral support and just the thought itself was stressing her out. Of course, it wasn't because the problems arising in her mind had something to do with Hinari, it was more directed towards letting Hinari down.
"So Gogo, I take it you haven't been on a date before?" Rumi asked playfully, causing Gogo to turn red almost instantaneously. Though, Gogo gave away her answer without even saying a word, Rumi let her speak.
"I've just haven't ever been interested in someone that way..." Gogo admitted sheepishly, " Maybe when I'm older, much older."
Rumi nodded in understanding," That's fair. As nice as being in a relationship seems, I don't feel ready for one right now either."
Maybe it was just her imagination, but Gogo could've swore that Rumi had this flustered, almost embarrassed look on her face for a second as she admitted this. Gogo then realized it was likely that quite a few of Rumi's classmates had to either had a boyfriend or be interested in someone right now. Meanwhile Gogo's classmates were just friendly with other, as far as Gogo knew at least.
They reached Gogo's house soon enough and the group parted ways with Rumi. The boys scrambled to the living room to play their video games while Gogo went up to her room and laid on her bed with her back against the wall. She looked out her bedroom window and stared at the sunset. She zoned out for a few moments, then looked towards Saori's bedroom and remembered how Saori was eating chocolates out of a heart shaped tin while doing homework a long time ago. It was around then when she was with her first boyfriend.
"Saori was in second-year by that time, next year I'll be in second year..." Gogo reminded herself nervously," Does that mean I might even be in a relationship by then? We Mitsugi sisters have shared many first experiences at the same age..."
Then Gogo thought about how that was only Saori's first actual relationship and started to consider the fact that Saori definitely had a few crushes before Kojiro, her first boyfriend. Gogo then thought about Hinari's crush on the mysterious boy and wondered if Rumi may've even had someone she admired.
"Could everyone around me have already had a crush on someone already?" Gogo thought to herself nervously before she shouted," I'm not letting this bother me anymore! I don't have time to worry about my own feelings!"
Having got that out of her system, Gogo stretched and looked straight ahead, a bored look in her eye now. She heard her brothers calling her crazy after shouting like that from downstairs and tried to think of something else to do.
"I'll worry about my friends' feelings instead." Gogo said to herself quietly as she ran a search entitled, "how to get a guy to notice you" on her phone.
On Thursday, Gogo was feeling a bit tired due to staying up a bit later than intended, immersing herself in an article that claimed it would help anyone get the person of their dreams in eight simple steps. After reading the article, Gogo wasn't all that satisfied with it, but that might been because the last twenty or so articles she read before it said the exact same thing.
"It's hard following the advice of a dumb article I found on my phone when no one can prove if it works or not..." Gogo thought to herself as she yawned, looking out the window during the class lesson that was almost over," But those articles mostly said the same thing, so maybe they aren't as useless as they seem."
As class ended and lunch time began, Masumi walked over to Gogo, who stretched her arms out the second she got out of her seat.
"Something on your mind?" Masumi asked, as Gogo looked at her sheepishly.
"I make myself too obvious huh?" Gogo responded with a half-smirk, questioning if she should ask for Masumi's input regarding the topic. By now, Gogo felt a bit more comfortable with Masumi, being on a first-name basis with her now. Though Gogo didn't quite know Masumi as well as Rumi, it was definitely easier to talk to her. Unlike Rumi, Masumi just exuded a more welcoming energy and was much more talkative than Gogo realized.
So, Gogo went out on a limb and carelessly asked," How would you go about asking out someone you barely know?"
The smile that had just been on Masumi's face vanished without a trace and Masumi looked at Gogo wide-eyed and suddenly sputtered out," Do you a crush on someone?!"
Gogo then mirrored Masumi's expression and waved both her hands in dismissal saying," No, no it's not me! I'm asking for my friend!"
"Goddamnit, why did she have to be so loud?" Gogo thought to herself, extremely annoyed by Masumi's outburst," Better question, why did I ask something so vague like that?"
Masumi calmed down and tried to think of a response for Gogo, offering her," Well, I'd tried bring it up casually. Don't make it sound like you've been wanting to ask them out for a long time, it sounds a bit creepy to some people. At least when you're asking out someone's who practically a stranger. Ask them to go get a coffee or something."
"That's actually some really good advice." Gogo commented in bewilderment, those sites she went on mentioned nothing of keeping it casual or as if the thought just came to the asker," Thanks Masumi, I wouldn't have ever thought of someone like that."
"Glad I could help! I'm hanging with some of my other friends so I'll catch you later!" Masumi said as she walked out of the classroom.
Gogo sat back in her seat as she remembered that today she had some homework she intended to finish during lunch. Just before she started working though, she then thought about Masumi's response for a few moments. Only now Gogo realized that Masumi gave her a response she wasn't exactly expecting from someone like herself. It was thoughtful in it's own little way and it most definitely gave Gogo a bit more insight on the topic, but for it to have come from Masumi...it was surprising to say the least.
Just then, Gogo's eye had been caught by a flash of yellow from beyond the window beside her. She looked down and found Masumi standing in the schoolyard with a small group composed of boys and girls from their grade. They looked like the sporty type to Gogo and she then noticed Masumi was standing suspiciously close to one guy.
"Go figure." Gogo thought to herself as she grabbed a bottle of chocolate milk from her bag and started drinking from it.
On Saturday, Gogo and Ms. Hightower sat at a table, their faces devoid of any interest in their surroundings as Gogo started to feel sleepy while Ms. Hightower was just zoning out. The cafe was quiet as usual for a Saturday morning and it hadn't had a customer in over fifteen minutes. There was little to no sound except for music playing from someone's headphones, and the tapping against a laptop keyboard on the other end of the cafe.
Gogo was just about ready to admit that she had come here a little too early and now she had to wait around for Hinari's mystery boy. But, it wasn't like she was the one asking someone out in less than an hour. But it sure did feel like that last night when she continued her search for Hinari's sake. Despite being originally reluctant in helping Hinari out, she really wanted to do everything she could for Hinari and so just gave up a lot of her time last night to looking up as many ways as possible to ask out a person. It had been awhile since a friend had been depending on her like, so the last thing Gogo wanted was to let them down. Plus it would've been nice for Hinari to have found happiness with the help of Gogo.
Folding her arms on the table and placing her head atop of them, Gogo looked over to the person who's music could be heard quietly from their headphones. Sure, it was quiet for Gogo and Ms. Hightower but it was probably blaring in their eardrums. Gogo sighed, wondering how someone would be able to listen to music so loudly at this early hour.
"Hey, Mitsugi did you even hear me?" Ms. Hightower asked impatiently as she started to scroll through her phone.
"No, sorry." Gogo answered bluntly as she pressed her face against her arms.
"I asked why am I even here?" Ms. Hightower questioned while Gogo slowly lifted her head from the table.
"Because me and Rumi wanna treat you to coffee?" Gogo said, though even knew she was doing a poor job in veiling her lie and Ms. Hightower clearly wasn't buying it.
"Ok, we heard something about a corrupt coffee brewer that's making the coffee impossible to drink because it's so bitter and we started thinking it might've been an Endopath trapped in the machine." Gogo explained
"While it's a good theory, one part seems off." Ms. Hightower stated," We haven't seen anyone complain about their coffee being too bitter and we've been here for a whole forty-five minutes."
Gogo kept quiet, being unsure of what else it could've possibly been before it came to her," Then, maybe it's not a something ruining the coffee, but a someone."
Just then, Rumi walked over to the table with a pair of drinks in her hands as she said," Two medium London Fogs; one for me and one for Ms. Hightower."
Ms. Hightower seemed much more at ease now with a cup of coffee in hand to sustain for the rest of the morning. Gogo wasn't even surprised that all it took was a cup of coffee to change her teacher's mood. She had seen the same thing happen a bunch of times with her mom, dad and sister Saori on the earliest of mornings.
"Now to be productive." Ms. Hightower said as she whipped out a small lavender laptop from her purse. As she tried turning on the laptop, she realized it had been drained of it's battery and searched for a power outlet around the cafe. She did end up finding one, though it was located far away from the table.
"Looks like I'll have to move from here..." Ms. Hightower observed as she collected her things," If you see something fishy going on at the front, call me over."
Gogo and Rumi nodded just before the two of them looked over to the desk and saw Hinari leaning near to the cash register, possibly day-dreaming right now.
"I can't believe this is happening, if all goes right, I could be in my first relationship after this shift. Oh gosh, I didn't even start to think about what we should after that, when we should hang out, just what days am I free again? Wait, what if we can't make time if we have incompatible schedules? Just calm down, I'm sure if he really wants to get to know me and hang out, he'll try to make time for me. I wonder what he does with the rest of his Saturdays? Surely he has a part-time job of some sorts if he's gotta wake up early and grab a coffee. Could he be working in a restaurant? Somehow I doubt it, he's doesn't strike me as outgoing like a waiter. So then maybe he's a cook, or what if he works in retail? That doesn't seem to fit either. But, for all I know, he could very well be either of those things, I probably don't know him as well as I think. I only see him once a week, and only for less than five minutes. I don't get to see what he faces for the rest of his day. This could easily be the highlight of his day as it could the part he dreads most."
"What if he secretly dislikes coffee and just buys it for the caffeine?" Hinari thought aloud anxiously before the door bursted open.
"Morning guys! Yet another lovely morning here at the dreamiest cafe in town~!" The boy who swung open the door declared with delight. He was of an average height, with short caramel brown hair, a peachy complexion and bright hazel eyes. He dressed in a simple plain white polo shirt and black pants with a yellow backpack with the name "Asahi Saito" written on it slung over his shoulder.
"Saito, you're late!" One of Hinari's fellow baristas called out in agitation
"Aw don't worry about Ms. Rina, it's only five minutes! It's not like we're busy right now anyways." Asahi pointed out to her while Hinari started to star at Asahi with a blank look on her face.
"No, how could I have totally forgot about the rookie working today? Saito may be a nice kid, but he's got a big mouth and if he finds out about him I doomed!" Hinari thought to herself as she remembered last week how Asahi mentioned a rude customer Hinari had to deal having a big mouth just before that customer left the cafe," Maybe I still have a shot at this, if I just play it cool and maybe even pretend Saito's not here, I should be good."
"'Morning Ms. Hinari!" Asahi greeted in an upbeat voice while tying an apron onto himself," Did you have a good week?"
Rumi quickly took notice of Asahi and the fact that he seemed rather, unusual for lack of a better term and whispered to Gogo," What if he's the one poisoning the coffee? Don't you think he seems suspicious?"
"He just seems like an idiot to me." Gogo commented flatly.
"Wow really? I can imagine how stressful your other job must be." Asahi remarked as he re-orgazined a tray of cups near the cash register," I don't know how you do it Ms. Hinari."
"Well, it's rewarding in the long run and the kids are actually all very kind even if they are bit bratty every now and then." Hinari explained as she polished a plate.
Asahi nodded in response and just then, the door was opened by Hinari's crush. Hinari froze up upon just looking at him, her eyes wider than usual and her breathing getting quicker. Gogo and Rumi examined the boy from their seats, Gogo having a feeling that she had seen him somewhere and Rumi just wishing her eyes were playing tricks on her as she got a good look at his face.
Hinari started fidgeting with a cup and looked around for a pen while Asahi looked at her in suspicion. Though, one he saw Hinari's mystery boy, he looked rather happy and waved to him.
"Hey Kei!" Asahi called out," I haven't seen you in a few days."
"K-kei?" Hinari stammered awkwardly as Asahi reached over to a cup to take his order.
"Oh Ms. Hinari," Asahi began, just remembering that she was there," This is my friend from Uni, Kei! We don't have any classes together but we've known each since the first day of school."
"I've been reading way too many English books, how could I have been so stupid to think he was just dropping hints when his name was really Kei?!" Hinari fumed in her mind," Um, pleasure to meet you."
"I'll have a small cinnamon macciato." Kei ordered tonelessly as he reached for his wallet in his bag.
"Ok, Hinari you ring him up and I'll get started on his drink." Asahi declared as he ran off with the cup for Kei's order in hand, with Hinari looking at him desolately.
"My chance...it's gone isn't it?" Hinari said under her breath as she punched in his order on the cash register," Wait, Saito's making him a drink over there, so maybe if I just bring it up casually now...I can still make this work! My chance isn't gone, it's right here in front of me!"
"That Saito kid sure is always chipper, I like people like that." Hinari began, though she really had no idea where she was going with this," We need more people like that in the world."
Kei didn't comment as he waited for his change.
Frantically, Hinari grabbed his change and said," You know, something tells me that you're chipper and happy like him deep down."
This caught Kei's attention and instead of giving her a thank you or something for the compliment, he just wore a snide look on his face that seemed to scream," Oh really?"
"Oh god, I got him right where I want him. I can't screw this up though, remember, be casual, act natural. Just ask to hang out like Gogo told you to," Hinari reminded herself and looked straight into Kei's grey eyes," Want to go out for a coffee?"
Kei narrowed his eyes at her and responded with," No thanks."
Gogo and Rumi, who had been watching the entire scene from their seats, sat with their jaws dropped at Kei's reply.
"Am I the only one feeling a draft here?" Gogo stated as she winced at the sight of Hinari's defeat.
"Kei, why do you have to be so mean?" Rumi said quietly with her brows furrowed.
Hinari was staring down at the cash register now, lost in thought as she tried registering what exactly happened. Ok, so that was most likely a total rejection, but it could've been worse, right? This was always the hard part, trying to pull herself together after a rejection, her ears getting all hot and eyes feeling ready to tear up. But then, Hinari heard a gagging sound from out of nowhere. She turned her head over to Asahi and Kei's direction and saw Kei glowering down at the coffee cup in his hand.
"Asahi, your coffee sucks." Kei stated as he gave Asahi a look of disapproval.
"Kei you're so cold, I'll have you know it was my first time making that drink." Asahi declared, soundly prideful oddly enough," You could at least try and spare my feelings."
"Next time try and spare my taste buds, at least that girl makes a decent cup of coffee." Kei responded as he looked over to Hinari's direction," She even remembers my exact order."
Hinari felt her face get hot for a second and looked over to the boys saying," No foam, he doesn't like the foam and one extra spoonful of -! And sometimes he takes it extra hot, depending on whether or not he's in a rush."
"See?" Kei said to Asahi.
"You could've told me all of that stuff!" Asahi griped while Kei put the cup back on the table, trying to decide whether or not he should pay for a new one or just take the cup Asahi made for him.
"I can make you a new cup if you're not in a hurry." Hinari offered kindly before Kei looked down at his watch.
"Maybe next time, I'm gonna run late at this rate." Kei observed as he picked up the cup and walked out of the cafe.
Hinari nodded attentively as he made his way to the cafe doors as she called out," Next one's on me!"
"What just happened?" Gogo asked quietly once Kei left as the cafe fell quiet again," And, did that guy seem familiar to you?"
"That was my brother." Rumi informed without hesitation as Gogo looked at her in shock.
"And you didn't know he came here?!" Gogo guffawed louder than intended, acquiring the gaze of some of the others in the cafe," Well, at least Hinari wasn't hurt too bad. Maybe this might lead to something good."
"Or maybe it shall bring her to demise." A voice suggested as Storm appeared on a empty table.
"Isn't that the other new guy?" Rina questioned while Storm threw a black star onto a coffee brewer. Before the black star landed on the coffee brewer, it multiplied and one of the stars went straight for Hinari. Hinari collapsed to the ground and Asahi rushed to her side.
Storm then disappeared and reappeared outside with the coffee brewer in hand, throwing it up high as he said," Turn their cheer into absolute fear, Endopath!"
Gogo and Rumi followed him outside, hiding by the side doors of the building as the brought out their lockets.
"Pretty Cure, Turn that frown upside down!" Gogo and Rumi shouted.
"A warm ray of sunshine to brighten up your day, Cure Joy!" Joy introduced.
"A soothing sensation to bring you at peace, Cure Delight!" Delight introduced.
Storm briefly surveyed the area and then said," If the Pretty Cure aren't here then I guess we're free to leave."
"Not so fast!" Joy cried as she and Delight appeared in front of the two of them.
"Manipulating the innocent feelings of a love-struck maiden is lower than low!" Delight shouted as she pointed a finger to the Endopath.
"We won't let you get away with this." Joy declared sternly while Storm rolled his eyes.
"Let's take this battle somewhere else, it's too cramped here on this narrow path." Storm stated as he and the Endopath vanished in an instant.
Joy and Delight looked for the pair vigorously for a few moments until Delight located them on the rooftop of the neighboring building. The two Cures leapt up to the top and dashed towards the Endopath.
The Cures and the Endopath started to fight with each other, but this Endopath wasn't like the ones from before. It had unmatched speed and the Cures soon found themselves becoming unable to catch up, plus there was something about this Endopath that made it seem like it was holding back, as if it had a few of it's own tricks up it's sleeve.
"God, this thing is way too fast!" Joy lamented as she leapt up high in the air. The Endopath jumped up to and tried to grab Joy by her leg but Joy saw it coming and preformed a somersault with a kick driving into the Endopath. When the two of them landed on the ground, the coffee inside the Endopath's pitcher swished around a little and just then, the Endopath had an idea. The Endopath removed it's coffee-filled pitcher from it's position and poured the coffee all over Joy.
Joy was livid and started coughing, being resentful of the slightest smell of it made this dilemma all the more worst for her as she tried drying her arms by flailing them around. Not to mention it was quite sticky.
"Joy are you alright?" Delight said before she sent a punch straight in the Endopath's core.
Joy coughed again, feeling just about ready to gag with her clothes soaked in coffee as she said," I'll be fine. We have other things to worry about anyways."
The Endopath came falling back down and it landed on it's feet, awaiting the Pretty Cures next move. Delight narrowed her eyes at it and zipped towards it, her fingertips glowing a faint blue. Joy noticed the glow from Delight's fingertips and wondered if she was planning to attack, but appeared she instead was just focusing her magic into her hands with no intention of releasing it just yet, granting her much stronger punches than before.
"I don't why I never thought about doing that..." Joy said as watched Delight battle against the Endopath. Delight seemed quite pleased with this surge of power, it appeared to be giving her edge in her fight against the Endopath. Delight had a near ravenous look in her eyes as she continued her fight with the Endopath, realizing she was coming close to matching the speed of the Endopath. Just then, Delight lost balance and tripped, with the Endopath glaring down at her.
The Endopath inched toward her and just before it swooped down to pick her up, Joy shouted out,
"Pretty Cure, Vivacious Spark!"
Joy ran towards the Endopath and running towards it while saying her attack seemed to have made her attack stronger. It was like she was charging it up as she ran to the Endopath. The attack landed directly to the Endopath and collided with the hot water dispensing button on it's control panel. Hot water started pouring into the Endopath's pitcher and just then, the Endopath decided to grab both of the Cures and holding the above the pitcher, now brimming with hot water.
"Let go you big dumb coffee maker!" Joy growled as she rapped her hands against the fist of the Endopath.
"I wonder which would happen first, burning or drowning?" Delight wondered quietly as she tried to think of a way out of the Endopath's grip. The Endopath brought the Cures closer to the pitcher, so close that they could feel the steam surrounding them. Delight then started to look around for the weak point, the black star on the Endopath while Joy continued to try and beat her way out of the Endopath's grasp.
Delight scrutinized the control panel on the Endopath, in hopes that the black star would be there and not on it's back. She read through the list of buttons and nothing seemed like it would've been useful for their situation; All that appeared to be here was different settings for coffee blends. But, Delight saw a button that may not have had a black star on it, but should've been enough to put an end to this Endopath temporarily until they found the black star.
"Joy, I've found a way to restrict the Endopath's movements." Delight said in a low voice, hoping that Storm wouldn't hear her," There's a power button on the control panel."
"How am I supposed to reach that though?" Joy asked as she tried to beat her way out of the Endopath's grip, but at the point it was just hurting her hands.
"You haven't noticed yet?" Delight asked, a chuckle following after her question. Joy looked at her in question but once she noticed how much she was starting to sweat, she caught on.
Joy began pushing down on the Endopath's closed fist with all her might and to her surprise, she slipped out within seconds. Joy stood on top of the Endopath's fist for a moment and then leapt towards the control panel. The Endopath just stood clueless in the meanwhile, unsure of just where Joy had escaped to. The Endopath then realized just where Joy was hiding and swatted around it's control panel, trying to grab Joy.
"Joy that's the button!" Delight shouted as Joy came near to the largest button on the panel. Joy pressed it immediately and shut down the Endopath just before it grabbed her. Joy leapt off of the Endopath and Delight wiggled free from it's grip and stood on it's head after it toppled down.
The Cure clad in white scanned around for the black star and found it in the center of it's back. Delight leapt up and smashed her heel down on the black star jewel, leaving a crack on it for a dark aura to escape from it.
"I'll take it from here." Joy declared as she summoned her candle.
"Pretty Cure, Brilliant Elation!" Joy shouted. Their surroundings dimmed into a pale yellow and the Endopath was purified, getting restored to a normal coffee maker and with another white glossy charm inside the coffee pitcher.
"They're stronger together." Storm noted, the concept reminding him of himself and Nijoux as he vanished.
The Cures detransformed once they left the rooftop, Gogo being pleasantly surprised to find that she was no longer soaked in coffee. The two of them walked back into the cafe, finding it to have been much more crowded than when they left. It was surprising to say the least but the girls didn't question it. Gogo and Rumi found Ms. Hightower at the spot where they left her. Ms. Hightower was still sitting by herself and was the only solo coffee drinker in the cafe it appeared, though she seemed a bit on edge as she rigidly tapped against the keyboard on her laptop with a distressed look on her face.
"I'm assuming everything went ok." Ms. Hightower stated, though it sounded more like a question as she pushed her laptop to the side when the girls approached her.
Gogo nodded in affirmation," Is Hinari still doing ok?"
"See for yourself." Ms. Hightower stated as she returned to her laptop," After you guys left, the annoying kid started talking to that Hinari girl and told her that sometimes Kei's prone to misunderstanding things that sound sorta vague. So when she asked if he wanted to get a coffee, chances are he thought she meant just that."
"He must've thought she was asking him if he wanted another coffee." Rumi said with a sigh as she pinched the bridge of her nose.
"Guess that was my fault then." Gogo commented sheepishly.
Gogo saw Hinari taking orders with a bright smile on her face, despite what had just happened after Kei left. She was clearly still thinking about how Kei noticed how she memorized his order and gladly struck up conversations with all of her customers.
"At least she's in a good mood." Gogo smirked as she placed her hand under her chin," Oh yeah Rumi, I was wanting to ask you something. Have you ever had a crush on somebody?"
Rumi appeared to be surprised at the question, but not as surprised as Gogo was expecting. Then again this was Rumi she was talking to, and Rumi was usually anything but predictable.
"Two years ago, I fell for an upperclassman. He was captain of the basketball team and he was incredibly popular. Everyone at school knew him, they all thought he was coolest guy at school. One day I found him sitting at the bench I always sit at and of course, deciding that I was going to let him take my seat, I sat beside him. I didn't expect him to talk to me at all, but then he did. It was weird, no one ever talked to me and so for him to just casually start up a conversation, I was almost at a loss of words. We started seeing each other often at that bench. He needed a place to seclude himself in and I just needed a place to eat so somehow that wound up to an...abnormal friendship." Rumi began with Gogo looking quite interested as she eagerly waited for her to continue.
"I was painfully shy in first-year, I didn't really say much to him but he didn't seem to mind. I assumed it was because he was always around such lively, loud people that he just wanted a place to relax. His sister found about me and approached me one day saying that he might have a crush on me. She encouraged to confess, like his life depended on it. I think she was just very concerned about him because he just got out of a really bad relationship. Well, at least that's what I heard from her. Anyways, so the day I decided to ask him out at the bench, I see him sitting very close with this other girl and I watched them for a few minutes and then out of nowhere, she kissed him." Rumi said, staring into the back of Ms. Hightower's laptop for a few very long moments.
"They kissed for awhile, it was strange of me to watch them the entire time I guess but, I couldn't help it. I was confused and hurt. They when they broke the kiss he said 'I love you Eiko but...' I walked off, feeling, disturbed I guessed. I kept running that phrase through my head, trying to remember where I heard that name before. Turns out Eiko was his ex." Rumi disclosed as she started looking out the window.
"You never found out the rest of what he said to Eiko though, did you?" Gogo asked with Rumi shaking her head," Well, what is he said,' but I've fallen for a girl named Rumi?' "
Rumi almost seemed revolted at the thought for a split-second, but then she laughed off the thought in dismissal as she said," I think I left because I realized after watching them that I didn't want to be with him anymore. He was older and I was naive. I think I liked the thought of us being together and only that. The actual thing seemed...daunting."
"Well then, guess everything happens for a reason then." Gogo stated as she scratched the back of her head," I'm sure you'll find somebody though, someday."
"Yeah, maybe someday." Rumi repeated thoughtlessly as she continued to stare out the window.