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Review Responses:
JustSomeoneElse: Ah, I feel so honored that you are willing to read my coffee shop!AU even though you're not a huge fan of them - thank you so much! And thank you so much for your kind words! I'm so glad that you liked the first chapter and hopefully this chapter will be up to par with the first one! o(^▽^)o
hakaze1010: Thank you so much for your kind words! And to answer your question, more characters will be added as the story progresses! \^o^/
Chapter 2: An Invitation to Par-tea
A month had passed ever since the cute girl came into the coffee shop - and his life, he must add - and she hadn't returned ever since then. Enma tried coming to work twenty minutes earlier than usual and stayed back an hour after his shift ended but to no avail. She never came back to the shop. After the third week of coming to work early and leaving work late, the redhead decided that perhaps they were not meant to be and made the decision to stop his antics. After all, from what he's seen, she seems to be in a very happy and healthy relationship with her boyfriend and they look like they won't be breaking up any time soon. And besides, even if they did break up, why would she choose him, Loser Enma? Enma would bet every yen in his wallet - not that there is much to begin with - that there must be a line of other boys lining up at her door. In short, there would be no way that she would even look his way, nevertheless date him.
The bell above the door chimes, signaling a new customer. Enma spares a glance at the new customer just as Kouyou greets the standard "Welcome to NamiCoffee. What can I get started for you?" greeting before turning his attention back to the blenders. From his appearance, he must be a college student what with the Namimori University t-shirt and whatnot. Enma makes a mental reminder to himself to avoid any interaction with this customer - he really hates seeing people who go to the same school as him and it doesn't matter whether or not he's ever seen him before or not. Which is ironic, seeing that most of his co-workers - who are also his friends - go to Namimori University as well. But they don't count. So the redhead does what he does best - in his opinion - hide within the blenders and hope that the guy won't linger around the shop any longer after getting his drink.
"Haha, hi!" The customer laughs cheerfully and his voice sounds so familiar that Enma swears he must have heard somewhere. "Hmm, I think I'll get the green tea frappe in a Grande."
"That'll be 320 yen." Koyou clicks away on the cash register before fishing out a cup and scribbling away with a black Sharpie the drink. "Grande green tea frappe." He addresses Enma before turning his attention back to the customer, who had produced 320 yen during that time period.
It is then that the redhead faces the customer and fully takes him in. He's rather tall with short, spiky black hair and large brown eyes -
"Yamamoto?" Enma blurts out before he can stop himself. The customer then turns his attention from Kouyou onto him and Enma silently prays that it really is Yamamoto to spare him from being embarrassed.
"Enma? Haha, hey, I didn't know you worked here! It's been awhile, huh?" Yamamoto laughs pleasantly and the redhead's shoulders near immediately sag in relief. "I haven't seen you on campus all that much." Enma and Yamamoto had sat next to each other in a history class together in their first year of university and became good acquaintances - Yamamoto called him his 'friend' but because Enma hardly ever spent time with Nami U's star baseball player out of class, it didn't feel right calling Yamamoto his 'friend'. When they were both done with the history class, they would smile to each other whenever they ran into the other on campus...well, more on Yamamoto's part that is - Enma is so sure that his smile must look like a grimace to the other.
"Haha, well, I usually go to the library right after class so..." Enma laughs awkwardly as he sheepishly runs his fingers through his hair.
"Haha, is that so? No wonder why I never see you around campus - I never go to the library." The baseball player answers cheerfully, and the redhead silently thanks Yamamoto for being such a pleasant person. "Oh! That reminds me! Are you busy - "
"I'm sorry to break up this conversation," Kouyou interrupts, not looking very sorry, "but could you continue this conversation elsewhere? There are customers behind you."
"Oh!" The baseball player's eyes widen as he turns around to find himself face-to-face with an elderly woman, who is tapping her foot with an annoyed look on her face. "Haha, I'm sorry about that, ma'am - I just got caught up with catching up with a friend, is all."
"Hmph!" The woman harrumphs, pushing Yamamoto as she makes her way towards the register.
"My shift ends in five minutes, so I'll talk to you then, Yamamoto?"
The baseball player beams. "Sure!"
xoxo
"Are you busy this Friday, Enma? The baseball team's throwing a party this Friday, and pretty much everyone is invited." Yamamoto asks, leaning back in his chair. It is now Enma's 10-minute break and not wanting to waste his precious minutes, the old history classmates are situated at an empty table with the redhead eating the leftovers of his bento and the baseball player sipping on his drink.
"Oh, well, uh..." The redhead stalls. He really isn't busy on Friday but he really doesn't want to go to the party. He's not a huge fan of parties, what with the excessive drinking and loud music and sweaty bodies all cramped together in one small room and whatnot. Which explains why he has never been to a single party his entire time dorming at Nami U. At the same time, though, he really doesn't want to say 'no' to Yamamoto...
"If you can't make it on Friday, I'm throwing a little party on Sunday with a few friends - my girlfriend's coming to visit for a few weeks." Enma doesn't miss the happiness in Yamamoto's voice when he mentions his girlfriend. The redhead's never met her, but from what he knows, she and Nami U's star baseball player are battling a long distance relationship, as she is smart enough to be able to attend a prestigious university in America and still...Yamamoto is very much in love with her. Whenever Enma would ask him how his girlfriend was, the baseball player would animatedly talk his ear off about his girlfriend, how she's one of the top students of her class, how she's always making time for their video call dates, how he much he misses her -
"Y-Yeah, okay. I - I can make it on Sunday." Enma says before he can think it over. Kami, he really hopes he won't regret this -
"Haha, awesome! Thanks, Enma! I gotta go - I got class soon, but the party starts at 3:00! I'll text you the details later! I'll see you then, okay?" Yamamoto gives him one last grin before Enma can say anything as he walks out of the coffee shop, his drink in hand.
"I didn't know you liked parties." Kouyou states, quirking an eyebrow as Enma makes his way back behind the counter.
"I don't." Enma admits, turning his back on his friend to wash a blender.
"Then why did you agree to go?"
"Couldn't say 'no'." He says, nonchalantly. Which is partially true. Enma can't say 'no' to anything. Could you help me pick which flowers to give Adelheid even though she hates your guts? Sure. Help me touch up with batting even though you suck at sports? Of course. It's honestly a curse at this point, being unable to say 'no'. But that wasn't the only reason why Enma agreed to go to Yamamoto's girlfriend's surprise party.
He knows what it's like to yearn after someone, the desperation of wanting them. And even though Yamamoto already has a girlfriend and isn't longing after someone else's girlfriend, the feelings are still the same. Hopefully.
"You are aware that this Yamamoto is the only person you know at the party, yes? And that he would be too preoccupied with his girlfriend to pay attention to you, yes?" Kouyou quirks yet another eyebrow.
Oh. He hadn't considered that. "Sh - Shut up." Enma says with no malice, scowling when his bespectacled friend grins smugly.
xoxo
It wasn't even an hour into the party and already, Enma wants to go home. Kouyou was right when he mentioned that Yamamoto was the only person he knew at the party, but that's where his predictions coming true stopped. While the baseball player was preoccupied with his girlfriend - a raven-haired girl with Harry Potter-esque glasses - he still made the time to introduce the redhead to his friends.
Yamamoto had a lot of friends - which, makes sense - but only a handful really stood out to him. There was an irritated guy with silver hair named Gokudera. A brooding, menacing-looking raven-haired guy named Hibari who sat by himself in a corner of the room. The university's loud and boisterous star boxer, Sasagawa Ryohei. Two high school students by the names of Lambo and I-Pin. A guy with navy hair and heterochromia eyes - Mukuro. A girl with navy hair and an eyepatch - Chrome. Enma would have never guessed that Yamamoto would be friends with people who look like this, but hey, appearances can be deceiving. Even if your good-natured history partner has a friend group that looks more like a mafia gang than anything.
"Oh, Takeshi-kun, where's Tsuna-san and Haru-chan?" The baseball player's girlfriend - Sara? Sakura? See, this is why Enma is horrible with names - asks. Tsuna...that name sounded so familiar. Now where had Enma heard of that name -
"Tsuna sent me a text that he might not make it, but Haru should be on her way any minute now - "
"Hahi! Sayaka-chan! Welcome back!" A loud, familiar feminine voice interrupts Yamamoto. Oh, so that's Yamamoto's girlfriend's name. Sayaka. Wow, was he nowhere near close. Enma turns his head, curious to see as to who the newcomer is and his breath was caught in his throat.
Because standing a few mere feet away from him was the girl from the coffee shop all those weeks ago.
Okay, so maybe Enma doesn't want to go home just yet.
End of Chapter 2
(3/3/22): Okay so...I am not dead, LOL. I apologize for taking nearly 9 months to update this work! I was at a complete loss on how to move the plot forward, and just pushed it to the side. However, I FINALLY found a way to get the story moving, so here we are! This isn't the best chapter in the world, but I'm just glad that I have something out to get me out of my writing rut. (ಥ _ ಥ)
Anyways, yay, new characters! Let's give a warm welcome to Kouyou, Yamamoto, Gokudera, Ryohei, Hibari, Mukuro, Chrome, and Lambo and I-Pin! I should probably mention that Yamamoto's girlfriend, Sayaka, is an OC of mine - can't a girl imagine that she's dating her favorite KHR! character, Yamamoto? She'll be more of a background character in this work, so if you're not into OC's, don't worry! We'll only see her here and there. `(*﹏*)′
But anyways, AHH! The ending - the ENDING. Enma gets to meet the girl of his dreams after so long! What'll happen when he is officially introduced to her? Guess you'll have to stay tuned to find out~ ψ(｀∇´)ψ
Please leave a review and let me know what you thought of it! I'll try my best to update this work more frequently! Ciao ciao! o(*^＠^*)o