AN: Hi, guys! For those of you who have favorited, followed, or reviewed my story, thank you so much! It means a lot to me. It will encourage me to continue updating! Anyways, enjoy! :D
Someone knocked on the door.
"Hm, I wonder who could that be," China thought.
When the middle-aged man opened the door, he faced his slightly younger friend Japan who was drenched in the heavily pouring rain.
"Good evening, China-san," the short man greeted. "It's rather a depressing day, isn't it?"
"It sure is, aru. You should dry yourself first. Let me get you a towel."
The older man returned with a wide, silky towel and handed it over to Japan.
"Ah, thank you very much."
As he put the towel on his damp hair, he smiled at how fine and smooth the towel felt when it touched his hands.
"This is obviously high quality silk, China-san. I never thought you had the money to afford something so... exquisite..."
Japan finished drying his hair and gave the towel back.
"Thank you, Japan! I'm currently brewing a special kind of tea, so please make yourself at home."
'What kind of tea is it?" Japan beamed.
"Oh, I'll tell you when we get to taste it," China smirked.
"Italy and Friends looks sooo much better in color, aru!" Yao exclaimed.
"My parents were lucky enough to buy this television. Color televisions are known to be rare."
Italy and Friends was an educational cartoon that both boys strongly enjoyed watching. The episodes usually ranged from five to ten minutes long. The main protagonist of the series was a man, Giovanni Mancini, representing the country of Italy so he was called Italy by the other characters. The other characters also represented the countries they originated from. All of the episodes taught you about as many foreign cultures as possible in some way, shape, or form.
"It's almost ready, Japan!" China called out from his kitchen.
"Hai, I'll be right there!" Japan replied.
China thoroughly mushed up parts of the plant that was used to make the tea and dumped them into his beautifully hand-painted teapot. Next, he poured hot water from his kettle and mixed the ingredients. After he finished, he eventually poured the tea into two separate cylinder cups.
"Come take a whiff of the yellow tea, Japan!" he said.
Japan held up his cup and smelled the tea.
"It certainly smells amazing, China-san!"
He took a small sip and and smiled.
"Mmm! I could taste a variety of fruits and hints of cocoa and vanilla in just one cup! You must tell me where you found the plant for yellow tea."
"Unfortunately, the plant is extremely difficult to find so yellow tea is one of the rarest teas in the world. I had to go to an island very far away from here to get the plant. Sorry about that, aru."
"It's fine, but if you do find the plant somewhere closer, could you make this tea for me again? It's one of the best ones I've ever tasted in my entire life!"
"I'll try my best, aru! I won't let you down!"
"I want to make yellow tea now, aru!" Yao said. "I'm sure it would make a bestseller in Hungry Panda because of its rarity!"
"How will you go to the island then?"
"Oh yeah..." Yao hesitated. "I'll ask my mom, aru. I think she would know."
XxXxX
"Can we take a trip to the island, mom? Pretty please?" Yao desperately begged.
"We can't go there, Yao! It's too expensive paying for an airplane ride! You know we're poor!"
"Mom, think about all the money we can earn from selling yellow tea to our customers. Don't you remember telling me why you started this restaurant, aru?"
"I... I set up this beloved place to share my culinary talents with the people of Japan..." she said softly.
"There was something else besides that, aru."
"I have this dream of buying our ideal home which is located in Shanghai, the city I was born in. It's huge, well-kept, and beautiful. You'll have nice views of the entire city and the sea..."
She began to tear up and many strands of her smooth and lengthy brown hair covered her face.
"But I don't know if I can achieve that goal..." her voice broke down. "Especially with the amount of money we have now. I blew most of my budget on just this place. Sometimes I wish that we never opened Hungry Panda..."
"Mom, please don't say that!" Yao cried out and reached out to comfort her. "Everyone says that they love your food and they want to go back here as much as they want! If you do close down, they'll be as disappointed as you are now and they'll head to a Chinese restaurant with lowly food. You'll regret it, aru."
"Sweetheart..."
"You have to learn how to believe in yourself, mom. If you can't build up the ego and trust in yourself, you'll go nowhere, aru."
More tears appeared out of her pretty chocolate eyes and she smiled big at her dear son. "You're right, sweetie. In order for my dreams to come true, hard work comes first!"
"That's the spirit, mom!" Yao grinned.
XxXxX
"REALLY, SHINATTY!?" Yao hollered in his face. "Where do you keep it then? Tell me, tell me, tell me!"
"Sheesh, calm down," Shinatty groaned as he was really tired after coming home from work. "I barely had any sleep, aru."
"Show me where it is, aru! I wanna see!"
Shinatty, feeling weak, roamed to a kitchen cabinet and opened both compartments. He grabbed all of gigantic plastic containers in there and handed some over to Yao.
Yao stared at each of the containers, filled with the yellow tea plants, in shock.
"These look exactly like the one in the Italy and Friends episode! Shinatty, how'd you get them?"
"It's a secret," he smirked as he answered in a melodious voice.
XxXxX
"Thank you very much, aru!" Yao chimed as he received his customer's money. "Enjoy your yellow tea!"
Everyone in Chinatown and Yokohama soon found out about Hungry Panda selling yellow tea. Yao and his mom had to experience their busiest business days ever. The lines were long already as early as five in the morning! Kiku was one of those early birds, arriving in his blue kimono like on the day of Hungry Panda's grand opening. The day that he met Yao.
"Good morning, Yao-kun!" he bowed when he was next in line. "It's a beautiful day, isn't it?"
"Definitely, aru! What would you like to order, Kiku-chan?"
"A cup of yellow tea, please," Kiku beamed.
"That's all, aru? Aren't you hungry?"
"I'm eating breakfast at my home so I came here to only buy yellow tea. I'm so excited to try it!"
"All right!"
Several seconds later, Yao arrived with it.
"Here you go! Enjoy your tea as long as possible!"
"I will!"
He carefully sipped a small amount as it was hot.
"This is great!" Kiku smiled broadly. "Actually, I changed my mind. Could you get two more for my parents, please?"
"Sure thing!"
By the end of the day, Hungry Panda received a total of 509, 350 yen (about 5,000 USD)!
AN: If any of you know the name of the cylinder cup used for teas, please let me know by PM! Thank you and I'll see you next chapter! :D