Café Munio: Chapter 3

There were no more customers after the disastrous group of insane people.

Just like Tsuna had predicted, Lal had been furious at the blade-marks that marred the newly completed floor, but she didn't seem overly surprised. Tsuna was rather confused at that—actual knives used for battle weren't very common, were they?

In fact, Lal had seemed resigned to the fact that there would be blade marks in the floor, but when Tsuna came in the next day after school, the planks had already been replaced.

"That was quick," he remarked to Colonello, who was on duty. "Most repair men would take a few days to arrive and change the planks. They planks look just like the other ones, too."

"We only hire professionals," was his mysterious answer.

Tsuna was dozing off behind the cashier, since there weren't any customers, when Reborn appeared behind him and seemed to truly enjoy it when Tsuna gave an embarrassingly girlish squeak and toppled into the counter.

"You might want to watch out today on your way home," was his slightly frightening comment.

"O-oh?" Tsuna stuttered. "R-really? Why?"

"Ah, nothing much. Do be careful," and the man wandered away casually, Leon perched on his hat as usual.

Tsuna was a bit creeped out, but he brushed the warning aside. He relaxed again, leaning on the counter, and closed his eyes.

Only a few moments later a smooth voice sounded directly next to his ear, "There are many ways in which this counter can be used, you know."

Tsuna screamed, but even if he was known as No-Good Tsuna, it was rather hard to miss the blatant innuendo that had been waved in front of his face. He blushed bright red.

Is it normal to suggest sexual innuendos to your co-workers? Tsuna wondered. Whatever the answer was, he sure hoped it wasn't. Reborn (for of course it was Reborn) chuckled and walked away — again.

This time, Tsuna was able to properly doze off for ten minutes, only to be woken by the sound of Colonello greeting a customer. Tsuna opened an eye to find three people seated around one of the tables.

One had wavy red hair, while the other was blonde with a strangle curl on a side of his bangs. The third was bald, and all three seemed to be engaged in some deep and confusing discussion. Tsuna only caught small parts of the conversation, and from what he heard, all three were highly intelligent engineers.

Colonello had placed the menus on their table, but apparently, neither of them had noticed. Colonello had to cough three times to gain their attention, and the redhead looked faintly embarrassed as he picked up a menu. Within a minute they'd picked their orders, and had earnestly returned to their conversation.

Verde was on duty today, and when the energetic blonde passed him the orders, the green haired part-time chef and part-time scientist glanced out the kitchen window to cry out in surprise.

"Why, it's Irie, Spanner, and Giannini! I must join them! It has been such a long time. Tsuna, can you prepare their orders? There are instructions on a shelf, I'm sure you can do it." And the scientist darted out of the kitchen and sat down at the three's table.

"What…?" Tsuna asked, still in shock. "I can't cook! Every time I try to cook, I end up setting something on fire!"

"I'll help you, hey!" Colonello beamed. "I'm not very experienced in the cooking area, but it can't be much different from battle strategy, right?"

Tsuna sweat-dropped. They're entirely different, he thought in dismay as he entered the kitchen. This is going to be catastrophic.

Spanner had ordered strawberry gelato. That was relatively simple, since it came in a carton, but Colonello had tried to scoop it out with a spoon instead of the proper utensil. It took two tries for him to realize what was wrong, and half the carton was wasted.

Colonello was happily eating the deformed and therefore not customer-quality ice cream as Tsuna tried to figure out how to make traditional tiramisu, which was Giannini's order. Colonello was checking the fridge for butter when he noticed a container of tiramisu that Fon had made that morning, so that was another dilemma solved.

With two desserts done and in the fridge for the time being, Tsuna struggled with the last order：chocolate banana crepe, which was what Irie had ordered.

"It's pretty simple," Colonello observed from where he was reading the cookbook. They had all the ingredients laid out in front of them, and Tsuna scratched his head as he wondered what to do next.

"Hey, Tsuna! You forgot the bananas," Colonello shouted, and he was heading towards Tsuna with a bunch of them when one fell. Tsuna watched in growing horror as it landed right where Colonello was about to step, and there was a disgusting squishing sound as Colonello (accidentally) stepped on the banana and knocked over the chocolate bottle, sending chocolate sauce all over the counter and dripping over the edge.

"I've come back, do you need…" Verde, who'd come hurrying back after realizing that it'd been far too long since they ordered, stopped and gaped at the mess the kitchen was in.

Tsuna and Colonello stared at him guiltily, before dashing out of the kitchen and onto the street as Verde's indignant roars echoed after them.

After running five blocks and deeming it safe to stop, the two co-workers slowed down and panted. "That was close," Tsuna gasped.

"What's Lal going to say?" Colonello groaned. "This is such a bad impression!" Tsuna just rolled his eyes

"Should we go back?" Tsuna asked doubtfully.

"No," Colonello shuddered. "Imagine Lal's wrath!"

"Excuse me!"

The duo turned around to see a white-haired, smiling man who was eating marshmallows. "Do any of you know where Café Munio is?"

"Er, we work there, actually," Tsuna admitted, grimacing.

"Oh, that's wonderful, Tsu-chan!" the man laughed. "My name is Byakuran."

"Pleased to meet you…" Tsuna trailed off as he realized that he hadn't told the man his name. Café Munio hadn't created name tags for its workers, either, so what exactly was happening. "Why do you know my name?" Tsuna asked cautiously.

"Could you take me to Café Munio, then?" Byakuran said with the most carefree expression Tsuna had ever seen, but he was clearly avoiding the question.

"You'll take me there, won't you? Oh, thank you, Tsu-chan!" And with that, Byakuran dragged Tsuna down the street, with Colonello following close behind.

Nobody noticed the black-clad man standing in a shop, just a little distance away from where they were.

"I missed him, boss," the man whispered into his communication device. "The Arcobaleno was with him, as well as the marshmallow addict."

"Pah! You have bad luck. Send Number 473 instead!"

"Yes, boss."

Back at the café, the three engineers were eating their delayed desserts. Tsuna and Colonello entered the café nervously. "All seems clear," Tsuna whispered, giving the blonde a thumbs-up, and they entered the kitchen.

"Oh."

The blue-haired military woman sat in the middle of the mess, having apparently entered in a hurry and slipped on one of the bananas that were still scattered around.

Tsuna and Colonello looked at each other.

The only logical thing to do at the moment was unfortunately not very brave and not very manly.

They ran.

Byakuran popped another marshmallow in his mouth and chuckled as he watched a shrieking Lal chase the poor duo down the street. What an amusing pair, he mused to himself. Now, where's the marshmallow cake I wanted?