Chapter 4: How Do I Even Begin?

"Seriously? It's only been two days and i'm already feeling stressed out…" I rubbed my temples with my fingers and tried to frustratingly assess the situation.

Just yesterday, I met the two of them again and we all caused a scene in the early morning. Well, I did apologize for starting it after the manager asked me to go talk to them for what I just pulled off. After that was over and they left, that's where L'Arc began to strike.

He held me by my shoulder with a snarky grin on his face. I knew what he was going to ask me about, but I wasn't sure if I was gonna have enough patience or even a state of mind to indulge him.

"So Naofumi~. Who were those little ladies that you talked with earlier~?"

He finally asked the question that I seriously wanted to avoid with him at that very moment after my little "outburst" with them.

I just groaned and I just rubbed my forehead with my thumb and index finger.

"Look. I'll tell you all about it later, but right now the lunch rush is about to begin." I just explained to him while trying to keep my composure together.

The lunch rush in these parts didn't always go crazy. If I were to sum up the entirety of the customers in the afternoon, it would be about 50 to 70 percent of our tables and booths lined up with customers, and that would just be pushing it as far as it can go.

It was one of the many reasons why I somewhat loved working at this place. The peace and quiet, the job not being so hectic all the time, and the pay grade is good since the place is very well known to nearby college students. I'm not really concerned with the last thing that I thought of, but you get the jist.

It was near the end of my shift that L'Arc started to grab onto my shoulders on the counter while the few customers inside were enjoying their orders and talking with one another. This just became an annoying form of bad timing since I know what he wants to talk about.

"So little Naofumi is already flirting with chicks~? Two of them even~!" He latched onto my shoulder again and just gave me that condescending smug ass smirk.

I sighed and I just surrendered at that point. Lunch rush had been a bit hectic this afternoon and at this point, I was nearly out of energy. A bad effect of my habits, I guess?

"Look. I didn't flirt with them or anything. I just met those two yesterday by pure coincidence. One bumped into me at the library downtown and one I had to comfort on the plains at the side of the bridge after she had a bit of a problem with her ass of a professor."

L'Arc was a bit surprised on how I told my story in a rather nonchalant way of speaking, like I had already prepared for an oral report. Even the way I speak like a stoic person sometimes makes him a bit hectic.

Then from behind us, our senior worker, Therese giggled as she carried a tray back to the kitchen.

"Looks like you've got a lot of interesting people around you these days Naofumi~"

She said in a teasing manner. I just sighed and was at a loss for words.

I know that she was one of the very first workers the Old Man hired when he started running the place, but the thing that surprised me when I first met her is how she's from New Zealand and just decided to move here to Japan because of her family.

How come she's the foreigner with a rather normal name, but L'Arc isn't? Even though the both of them are dating, which was the weirdest part for me to figure out. For me, it is still hard to believe how someone like him managed to snag up a foreign beauty like Therese.

Probably due to the fact that L'Arc is extremely nice and open-minded to everyone he meets.

I found out about it, the hard way. After I walked into those two nearly kissing in the corridor next to the break room. It was a seriously awkward moment for a newcomer to witness, and I still couldn't get it out of my head…

Anyway, after my shift had ended, everyone had already gathered in the locker rooms to change out of their uniforms.

Before I changed out of my outfit, I was asked by the Old Man to take out the trash today.

Luckily, that gave me enough time to think about everything that happened earlier with...Her.

"Wait! Why should I even be thinking about her?! What she does is none of my concern!" I told myself as I managed to slap some sense into me. It was already an embarrassing enough of a moment as it is!

After regaining my composure, I proceeded to carry the garbage bags onto the nearby alley dumpster and toss them inside there. I had wiped the sweat from my forehead and eyebrows by using my apron. I know it's still Spring, but this hair of mine is not really making things any easier, and I was still in my uniform, so my temperature at the moment is a bit too warm.

Or maybe I just have a weird metabolism or body temperature?

I finally headed back to the coffee shop and onto the locker rooms to change out of my outfit, and went to the break room to grab my stuff off the table. After I closed up the break room and was heading out, I also came across Therese and the Old Man before I left the building.

"Good work today, kid. But next time, try not to flirt with the customers in the workplace."

The Old Man told me with a big grin on his face.

I sighed and it made me blush a bit. Why did that have to be the final straw for my embarrassment to take over?

"I told you, it wasn't like that, Old Man. It was just unexpected, okay?" I fired back with a hint of anger in my voice. Why is everyone picking on me today?

"Sure~ whatever you say Naofumi~. It must be fate that you met those two again~." Therese spoke out and giggled again for a bit.

"Yeah yeah...See ya."

I waved my hand goodbye as I began to head for the train station. I was just generally exhausted from their teasings all day, even though my house is just twenty to thirty minutes away...

The train wasn't relatively packed to the brim. Just enough for almost everyone to be able to sit down and for a few people to stand up on. I sat down onto an open seat and looked out the window for a bit.

The city life isn't so bad, once you get used to it anyway. The city can become relatively peaceful at night, a lot of bright city lights are always making the city glow, and you can see some cars or people moving into opposite directions.

I didn't notice that I was slowly nodding off and I didn't really do much to stop it either.

The next thing I knew, I was in a dream again. This time, it was on a shore. There were people playing in the water. It looked like everyone was having fun. Until a certain brown-haired girl reached out her hand to be and tried to pull me to the water to play with them.

I reached out for the hand and I heard it. My name being called out in a soothing and gentle voice of...love and happiness..?

"...Naofumi-sama…!"

Then I woke up in a daze and suddenly I was back on the train.

I forgot that my house was at this stop and I rushed out of the gate where I nearly got closed off by the train door.

I made it back home and just proceeded to make a few "onigiri" for dinner. I wasn't really feeling hungry at that point because of what happened. I just wanted to go to sleep after I ate, but I needed to take a bath first.

I took a quick shower and changed into my sleeping clothes and just proceeded to sleep.

After a few weeks later, I haven't seen much of those two. They must be busy, I guess. I had an early leave from work since I had classes until seven at night. They were gonna teach us about the different methods of curing and the use of preservatives in meals that can last longer than usual meals.

It wasn't much of a bad topic and experimentation. It was a pretty interesting thing to learn. Maybe I can do that sometimes so that I could also save up money instead of buying from convenient stores whenever my allowance is about to be drained…

As classes had finally ended, I realized that we were let out an hour earlier this time. So with nothing else to do, I just proceeded to go to the town square.

On my way, I saw a little blonde girl along with a girl with blue twintail curls.

"Huh. You don't see that kind of thing so normally. They must be foreign middle schoolers or something?" I told myself as I saw the blonde girl energetically talk to her friend.

For some reason, I had a weird feeling in my gut that felt like I knew those two. That's pretty weird, I guess?

As I took a visit to the town square, I looked over the Cherry Blossom Tree. Then I remembered that the Spring Viewing Festival in the square was growing closer. I found out about it from L'Arc, who took out Therese to the festival, when I accidentally bumped into the two of them on their date.

How did those two even get together? One is crude and one is graceful. But it's probably the "opposites attract" sort of thing.

Anyway, he told me about the weird part about this town is their local mascot. A weird mixture of a Japanese Tanuki and a Raccoon Dog. For some reason, I have an even weirder form of liking to their mascot. Like a part of me is screaming that I want it.

But the thing about the town is that the Cherry Blossom Trees are growing near the town square, with their biggest tree in the center of town. I didn't really pay attention to the legends of the tree, but I guess it was important to the people here? But L'Arc did explain that it has something to do with the "Tanuki" thing.

The truth is, I never really did enjoy going out whenever it happened, since there's a lot of passionate couples who sometimes flaunt their relationship in public. It made me angry, but not for the fact that I was single and an introvert. I was already content with my life as it is. No, it was because they won't stop doing it, even if I look away or don't pay attention to them.

It's like they're doing it on purpose...

As I went to move along the crowds of people on the sidewalk, I bumped into someone and she fell on the floor on her knees.

"I-I'm sorry. Are you okay?" I held out my hand and tried to help her up and when I saw the person's face, I realized that I knew the person.

It was Raphtalia. And she was crying. We looked into each other's eyes and she tried to look away. She also looked like she was exhausted and rather messy. Her knees have a bit of scratches and a reddish bit of what seems to look like a bruise...

What happened to her..?

The End

Notes: This is where Raphtalia's relationship with Naofumi as acquaintances will begin. By the way, I'm sorry guys for not releasing this sooner. I was in a slump and I was also busy with other things. Hope I didn't make you wait for too long. Thanks for reading.