AUTHOR'S NOTE ABOUT WHAT YOU MIGHT WANT: If you'd like a chapter to be a reader insert where the reader enters the café, say so in a review ^^ It's a one-time thing, meaning that the reader won't appear later on in the story, but you'd get to sit in a corner and watch all the characters scream at each other.
If you do, should I use _, (Name), (y/n), or what to show that your name goes here? I'd use all 'she's, but it would be confusing and there might be male readers so I'd rather not risk it.
And this is the early Halloween chapter! (Exams are coming up, so the next two weeks or so will be without an update. )
Café Munio: Chapter Ten
"You're late!" Colonello shouted accusingly as Tsuna tossed his backpack into the back room and changed into his work shirt.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," the brunette apologized frantically and darted to the counter to pick up the order, "I needed to stay after school for a bit."
"Eyyy, okay then," Colonello said with a shrug. "That hot chocolate's for the only pretty girl in the shop."
Tsuna looked over the counter. "There's only one girl in the shop."
"Eh, she's still pretty," Colonello said nonchalantly. "Her name's Haru."
"Colonello," Tsuna began, almost afraid of the answer," You haven't been chatting up every customer, have you?"
"Nah, she just refers to herself in third person," Colonello assured Tsuna with a grin. "Hurry up, or the drink's gonna go cold."
The hot chocolate sloshed around in the mug as Tsuna hurried across the café. "One order of hot chocolate?" he said anxiously, and the girl beamed at him.
"Correct! Haru has been craving hot chocolate for days!" she declared, immediately taking a sip of the drink. "Ah, this is really good!"
"Do you need anything else?" Tsuna asked politely, and when the girl—Haru—shook her head, he realized that he was a lot better at interacting with customers now. Had he outgrown his shyness?
"Doubt so," the girl said cheerfully, her slightly curly ponytail swinging as she reached down for her backpack. "Haru thinks you're just pretending."
"Eh?!" Tsuna yelped, "Did I say that out loud?!"
"Yep," Haru confirmed with another nod.
The bubbly brunette stayed in the café for the next few hours, busily typing away at her computer and occasionally pausing to mouth annoyed words at the screen.
Tsuna's work shift was over sooner than usual, and he exited the back room to see Haru packing up as well. "Are you done?" he asked politely (as usual).
"Yep! That took a lot longer than Haru hoped…" the girl sighed. "And Haru was hoping to buy cake, too! It's so late, and the cake must have been bought by all the other girls by now!"
"The cake shop?" Tsuna asked curiously.
"They sell the best cake!" Haru nodded enthusiastically.
"Haru-chan!" a sweet, feminine voice called from outside the shop. "I saved some cake for you!"
The said girl let out a squeal of delight and raced out of the shop, vaulting over a chair in her hurry. "Kyoko-chan! Really?!"
"I bought two slices of the new cake, and I couldn't eat the second one because it'd be too much," Kyoko explained, "So you can have it! I remembered that you had a really long essay to do and wouldn't be able to buy cake today, so I decided to give it to you."
Haru made a noise of delight as she peered into the box. "Ooh, that looks so good!" she gushed, bounding up and down on the sidewalk in glee, "I can't wait to get home and eat it!"
"I saw Halloween-themed cupcakes in the display while I was there," Kyoko announced as the two began to stroll slowly down the stone paved sidewalk, "They had the cutest bat decorations!"
"Oh! That's right!" Haru exclaimed, shifting the box of cake onto her other hand, "Halloween's coming up, isn't it? Are you going to go trick or treating?"
"A few ladies gave us strange looks last year when we walked up to their doors," the other girl laughed, "I think they thought we were too old for trick-or-treating!"
"Well, that isn't going to stop Haru!" the brown-haired girl declared fiercely. "I'm going trick-or-treating, no matter what other people think! I already have a costume planned out!"
"Ah, I'll come with you then," Kyoko smiled, "I've grown out my hair this year! I might fluff it out and go as a paper doll," she said thoughtfully.
"Ooh, that would look cool! Let's invite a lot of people to come with us!" Haru spun around and pointed at Tsuna, who was about to make a tactical retreat down the other end of the sidewalk. "You!" she shouted. "Would! You! Like! To! Come! Trick! Or! Treating! With! Us?!"
Tsuna was a bit overwhelmed by her demanding enthusiasm and was forced to nod. "Ah… ah, okay," he said uncertainly.
"That's great! Invite your friends too!" Haru ordered, "We'll meet at this corner on Saturday. Remember to wear a fabulous costume!"
"Eh?! A costume?!" Tsuna shouted after her in a kind of horrified dismay, but the two girls were nowhere to be seen.
"Eh, Halloween?" Gokudera snorted gruffly. "We're too old for trick-or-treating!"
"Ah, it'll be fun," Yamamoto shrugged, "Besides, I haven't gone trick-or-treating in years!"
"I don't have a costume," Tsuna groaned from where he had faceplanted into the floor.
"Hey, my dad has a bunch of old costumes from when he had to act once!" Yamamoto brightened up. "We could look through those. I'm sure he'll let us borrow them."
Gokudera was clearly about to object but he shut up once Tsuna leapt up and said eagerly, "Are you sure? What are we waiting for, then?! Let's go!"
"Ayyy, this is nice," Yamamoto said with a grin, lifting up a pirate costume decorated with gold and lace. "There's even an eye patch and hat to go with it!"
"Er, Yamamoto, did your dad really have to act all these characters in one play?" Tsuna wondered in bafflement. "There are at least fifteen different costumes here…"
"Maybe it was a one-man play," Yamamoto said absentmindedly as Gokudera rolled his eyes and huffed in exasperation.
"Hey, hey, look!" Tsuna opened a box and pulled out three costumes. "We could be the Three Musketeers!"
"Cool! We'd all match! I think it's a good idea," Yamamoto slid over from where he had been sitting and examined the jackets and hats. "These are so fancy. Look at all the lace, gold thread, embroidered pockets and collars! There are even shining buttons on the cuffs and edges."
"I think we've been getting more and more conservative on cloth through the years," Gokudera deadpanned, thumping down onto the floor and scooting over to where the two were huddled. "I want the black and silver one," he said firmly.
"That's good! I'll take the blue one, unless you want it, Tsuna."
"A-ah, I can use the crimson one."
"Okay! Then we're all set. I think I have a pair of loafers… I don't know why, really," Yamamoto laughed, "But it's definitely at the back of the cabinet somewhere."
"I have boots," Tsuna said uncomfortably, "They're the hiking kind, but they're not really bulky and have laces and all that. Actually… they're not even for hiking. I think kaa-san bought them saying that I would probably need them one day. And she was right, wasn't she?"
"Eh, I'll just wear these," Gokudera pointed down at the floorboards, "My sneakers, that is."
"You'd be a very modern musketeer, but okay," Yamamoto shrugged, "This is perfect! My hat even as a feather in it!"
"Let's try them on," Tsuna suggested, and they slipped the coats on.
"Ooh, one of us can hold a sword! The other two have a dagger each," Yamamoto pushed a box towards them as he rooted through the next few chests.
The three of them dressed up and went down the stairs to where Yamamoto's father was in the kitchen, washing some of the fish.
"You all look better in that than I did," the sushi chef chuckled, drying his hands off on a towel and walking over. He adjusted the embroidered gold collars and dusted off the hats. "There, now you're all set for Halloween! I swear you can charm anyone in that outfit."
Yamamoto drew out the fake sword from its scabbard and pretended to challenge his father with it.
Tsuna swore he saw both their eyes harden for a second, but he dismissed it as a figment of his overactive imagination. These costumes were far too realistic!
The next few days leading up to Halloween included Haru sitting down in the café and doing her homework there. "There's a nice atmosphere," she explained, "And having a drink while writing a boring essay is always helpful!"
Tsuna was pretty good friends with the girl by then, and he'd go over and try to help with her essay sometimes, but they were concentrating on completely different subjects and he often didn't understand her project at all.
"Do you have a costume yet, Tsuna-kun?" Haru asked, as she twisted her curly hair into a bun.
"Er, yes," Tsuna said as he wiped the nearby table, "I'm coming with two of my friends—is that okay?"
"Perfect!" Haru brightened up. "The more the merrier, anyway!"
"You're all going trick-or-treating?" Colonello asked interestedly as he walked by the table.
"Yep! Do you want to come too, Colonello-san?" Haru offered.
"I might tag along and watch," the blonde shrugged. "No harm done, eh?"
"Nope! It won't be problem at all," Haru said sincerely.
Tsuna had a bad feeling about this—but once again, it was too late to back out, wasn't it?
The setting sun cast long shadows over the streets as children and teenagers swarmed around Namimori, the excited chatter setting the mood for Halloween.
"You all look very smart," Yamamoto's father praised with a grin.
"Thanks, Dad," Yamamoto laughed as the three walked out the door. He turned to poke Gokudera gently with the hilt of his fake sword. "You're the sourest looking Musketeer in the history of Musketeers, Hayato!"
"I told you not to call me Hayato!" the silver-haired boy hissed.
"This coat is so bright," Tsuna said uncomfortably.
"It looks more like dark orange in the sun," Yamamoto observed cheerfully. "Oh, there they are!"
Gokudera sulked at the back of the group, tugging at the fancy jacket. It reminded him too much of his childhood for Gokudera's liking—daily life at the castle had consisted of wearing stiff jackets stitched with gold and silver thread.
"Hi Haru," Tsuna said, "Who else is…"
The three rounded the corner as Tsuna had been talking, and the brunette nearly fainted. Walking down the street, they had seen Haru dressed as a sushi roll and talking animatedly to an unseen person around the corner—Kyoko, perhaps.
But once they turned the corner, the source of the chatter that Tsuna had thought came from the many trick-or-treaters became known—the entire stretch was full of people in groups, wearing costumes ranging from the simplest cloak and hat to a complete Loki outfit.
"H-Haru?" Tsuna gasped, "Are these random pedestrians, or…?" Gokudera looked slightly green.
"I invited them, of course!" Haru announced with a grin, waving a packet of seaweed in her hand. "Okay, everyone!" she shouted through a megaphone, "Let's begin!"
The crowd cheered, and Tsuna paled as he noticed the Varia walking past them in their usual outfits.
"That boy's knives look so real, don't they?" Haru said in awe, as she gestured toward's Bel's knives.
Tsuna cursed his bad luck.