August 2nd, 202X. Jonathan Cujoh's Apartment, Ueno, Tokyo, 10:30AM

The warm smell of Angela's perfume persisted through the early morning, as Jonathan woke up with the Swiss doctor nowhere to be found. He stood up and rubbed his eyes, trying to shake off any tiredness he had left, but it didn't seem to work. He walked over to his computer at his desk, the monitor of which had a post-it note attached to it.
"Off to work, will be back tonight. Remember to seize the day, Bigshot! ~AZ

...PS: I don't think McCree would appreciate me stealing his lines like that, haha"
"Bigshot"…now that was a name Jonathan hadn't heard in about seven years. His former high school home room teacher at the Royal Winstonian Academy, Jesse McCree, was big into cowboys and gave all his students nicknames to feel more "like a saloon in the wild west". Bigshot was the name he gave Jonathan, but he never explained why. Jonathan didn't have any idea either, not that it really mattered anymore.

Jonathan walked into the kitchen and let out a big yawn and checked his cupboard for his usual morning wake-up routine starter: some nice UCC instant coffee, the earthy texture of which would surely give Jonathan the start he thought he needed…
…if he had any left. Angela seemingly drank the last sachet. In fact, there was an unwashed cup beside the kitchen sink that he didn't recognise. "Making me do all the work huh…heh" he chuckled to himself. "Well, I need to get more. I better head out" he said, going back into his room to change into his regular day clothes. He was thankful that he had booked the next few days off work (moreso he decided to decline any work for the next few days, one of the very few perks he had as a freelancer was being able to choose when he could offer his services) so that he didn't have to wear a suit around all the time. He picked up his keys and wallet, out of which a piece of paper fell.

"What's this…" he said, examining it. It was the address of that coffee shop that the police station's receptionist, Yamagami, had told him about. It wasn't that far of distance away, only about 15 minutes on the subway, give or take. "Kitsune Koffee, huh? Cute name…" He figured a freshly brewed coffee from a barista would be just the right thing to wake him up on what looked to be a rather timid looking morning. Putting his wallet into his jacket pocket, he set off for the Ueno subway station.

Outside Kitsune Koffee, 11:00 AM

The storefront was certainly eye-catching, thought Jonathan as he looked at it up and down. The bright red wooden exterior, highlighted by a neon blue sign adorned with a fox, was arguably the best looking building on a street filled with nothing but chain cafés or office buildings. Opening the door, Jonathan walked in to find nobody there, other than one old lady in the back corner drinking from her cup while reading a newspaper. Jonathan looked around to see if he could find any staff, but to no avail.

"The young lady is in the back, she'll be out in a minute or two" the lady said to Jonathan, her eyes still fixed to the inky black letters on the daily paper. "Ah, thanks" he said back. He almost completely forgot that officer Yamagami said that her daughter worked here. If she was about Jonathans age, surely she was too young to own the place? Jonathan kept thinking until he heard the chime from the kitchen door play as a figure walked through, carrying boxes upon boxes of what looked like freshly baked treats, however, they were struggling with how many boxes there were…

"Uhm, you need help there?" Jonathan asked, putting his coat aside and walking over to see if he could help out in any way possible.
"Oh, uh, sure! That would be super swell right now!" said a female voice from behind the mountain of boxes. Jonathan carefully took about half of the boxes and set them down on the counter beside all the drink making equipment, the sweet smell of baked sugary treats filling up his nostrils, almost making him salivate, the thought of devouring them now was too good to pass up on…
"You alright there bud?" a female voice called out to him, snapping him back to reality very quickly. "Uhh yeah, sorry. I was just stopping by because I needed to just grab a quick coff-" he turned around to face the girl he just helped and was completely taken aback, in more ways than one.
Before him stood a relatively small Japanese girl, about up to his shoulders in height, long legs, small-ish chest, black hair tied up in a cute looking fox bandana and dressed up in a stylish yet very traditional shrine maiden outfit that was modified to allow ease of movement. It was certainly eye-catching to say the least.

"Man, you're a weird one huh" she said with a giggle. "You said you wanted coffee, right?" she said with a sweet smile, heading over to the machine to prep Jonathan's order.
"Y-yeah, uhh, Iced Vanilla Latté please" he said, not knowing if they actually had it on the menu or not. A quick glance at said menu though, thankfully, showed that they did in fact have it.
"Oh, been a while since I got an order for one of them! I think I still know how to make it, haha…uhm, anything else sir?" she asked, looking at him from across the counter.
"How about a donut of your choosing? You seemed to carry out more of them than anything else earlier" he said, looking through the display case at the several options available for donuts.
"Sure, one Iced V-Latté and one Kitsune Kream Special Donut coming right up! That'll be 660 yen please!" she said with a smile. Jonathan handed over the exact change and say down at the counter, awaiting what looked like a treat of a donut and some nice smelling coffee.

"So, I hope you don't mind me asking but, I take it you're not from around here are you?" asked the barista, fiddling with some equipment and dishes whilst the hum of the coffee machine filled the air. "Oh, no. I moved here about…six or seven years ago now I think?" he said, thinking to himself that the passage of time truly is too quick sometimes. It's really been seven years since…he slowly began putting his index fingers on his chest, lightly feeling his scars. The barista was busy with his order, so she didn't notice. Her next words caught him completely off guard though

"Oh, that's right! My mom did say that I should expect a foreign guy to come in as a customer soon! I didn't expect it to be today though, haha. You must be that freelance translator the police hire right? You must have met my mom, Yamagami?" she said, walking over with Jonathan's order. She took a seat next to him, her gaze half fixated on him, the other half on the rather delicious treat she knew she couldn't eat, but wanted so badly.

"Oh yeah, she kinda came in clutch actually, I ran out of coffee today so if it weren't for your mom, I'd have to go to one of those big chains which are fine and all but, I imagine something more authentic will taste much nicer than anything Starbucks or UCC can make, haha" he said with a grin, one of the first he'd made to a stranger in years.
"Well, I'm glad you came here. It's awfully lonely and boring 'round here these days, ol' lady Ayako over there is the only company I really get these days, what with the big chains taking over the district and all. My name's Kiriko by the way, Kiriko Kamori" she said with a quick smile and bow of her head. Jonathan returned the bow.
"Jonathan Cujoh, nice to meet you, Kamori-san"
"Oh please, just Kiriko is fine" she said, waving off his formalities. "It's rare to see anyone else here, especially someone around my age…wait, you ARE around my age right?"
"Would it be rude to ask your age?" he said, raising his eyebrow.
"Let's just say I'm somewhere between 24 and 26" she said sticking out her tongue playfully.
"Ah, I see…me too! Hahahahah" he said, chuckling, as he began to take his cup of coffee and bring it slowly towards his mouth, getting a quick sniff of its light vanilla aroma before taking a small sip (to check the temperature, of course. He didn't like it too cold).

"Man, this is heavenly, Kiriko!" he said with genuine delight in his voice. It was true, Jonathan had never had anything quite like this coffee before in his life. It tasted pure, earthy and had just the right amount of sweetness to it that added that slight bit of complexity to its flavor.
"Oh, really? Thanks! It's been sooooo long since I had to make one so I was unsure if it was gonna be good or not, but hearing those words from you…means a lot to me. I really try my best here, because one day, I wanna own this place. I wanna have my own shop! But I still have a ways to go, so for now I gotta put in the work." she said with determination, a fire in her eyes. Her determined energy was almost infectious, lifting even Jonathan's melancholic spirits for the briefest of moments.

"Well, I'm sure with drinks as good as these, you'd make a fine owner of any coffee shop in the world" he said, taking another sip from his cup, savouring it even more than the last. He was so engrossed in the coffee that he almost forgot the donut sitting there on the plate. If the coffee was this good, he could only imagine how delicious this donut would be…

…and delicious it was. The creamy icing and smooth, fluffy interior of the donut itself combined into a flavour and texture that was simply divine, like something that his mom would have made for him as a child, it brought back that nostalgic home made feeling.

"...this is so nice…" he said, unable to even show the joy on his face, he was THAT stunned by how amazing this simple pastry's flavour was.

"I'm glad you like it, Jonathan" she said with a warm smile that made him feel right at home. If there was anything that he was thankful for right now, it was Yamagami introducing him to this nirvana amongst the concrete jungle of the Tokyo Metropolis. A familiar violin tune began playing on the café radio, a version of the famous song "Fly Me to the Moon" that Jonathan had heard many moons ago in an anime.

"Oh, I really like this song" he said, his coffee and donut about half gone. "The instrumental is so soothing, and Claire Littley's voice is absolutely gorgeous. A perfect song for a little establishment like this" he said. Kiriko tilted her head slightly, as if she was amused by his comments.
"You think so? I didn't think it really fit here at all, I wanted to go for more of a lo-fi vibe than anything but I guess 50's jazz music works too, haha" she giggled.
"Oh that's right!" she said somewhat loudly, jumping out of her seat and rushing her way to behind the counter. "I forgot your receipt!" she said in a flustered tone, as if she'd forgotten a part of routine or script she'd been practicing. Does this girl really not get that many customers? How desperate is this place…, Jonathan thought to himself. Within a minute or two, Kiriko rushed back to Jonathan's side, handing him over his receipt with what looked like a handwritten note…

"don't read other side until you leave"

He couldn't help but show a cautiously confused look on his face. What could have awaited him on the other side of the paper? Why wouldn't she just tell him now? It didn't seem to make much sense, but he did as instructed and didn't flip it over…yet.
"Everything in order? Can I get you anything else?" said the foxy barista, flipping out her notepad, bravely prepared for whatever adventurous order her new customer had waiting for her.
"Yeah, can I get two more of those absolutely scrumptious donuts to go please? They're absolutely gorgeous" he said with a beaming smile whilst simultaneously producing a 1,000 yen note to pay for the goods.
"Well, compared to what I'm looking at now, they may not be that gorgeous, but I guess they're alright" she said with a wink while sticking her tongue out, catching Jonathan completely off guard. It had been a long time since a woman of any capacity even jokingly flirted with him. Angela knew that he was uncomfortable with it since what had happened with Hana, and Aki never really did anything like that at all with him. He began to feel anxious again, like he was trapped in a room with no way out…just like seven years ago. It sounded silly when he told others how he felt but, nobody really knew what went on that night seven years ago. Angela and McCree only saw the aftermath…

…the scars, the pain, only Jonathan - and Hana - really knew what happened. But Hana was dead. Jonathan knew he had no real reason to be afraid but…the pain was too much for him to bear sometimes.

"A-ah, t-thanks I guess" he muttered out, his tone was much different now to how he was speaking earlier. Kiriko looked like she caught on as she brang him over his change and second receipt (nothing written on this one though), but didn't say anything else to him.
"If you need something, just let me know" she said with a soft smile, leaving to go back behind the counter and work on organising her display case with the treats they brought out earlier. Jonathan quickly finished his donut and coffee and decided to get out of there before his anxiety became a full on panic attack.

"Haah….hah…haah…what the hell…was that?" he asked himself as he walked back towards the station, trying to regain his cool. He went into a nearby alley and grabbed a bottle of water from the vending machine. Didn't taste as nice as the latté he just has but it certainly helped him calm down a bit.
"Am I gonna freak out like this every time a girl talks to me again?" he wondered, solemnly. He took out his phone to check the time, before noticing that the receipt from earlier was sticking to it.
"I wonder what she wrote…" he questioned as he slowly turned around the paper receipt…

…it was a LINE ID. Kiriko's evidently. Was it a marketing ploy, or did she really want to get closer to him? He thought about all the possibilities, but the off-hand compliment and her warm attitude seemed to send off some kind of friendly vibe his way. It may not have seemed like it to anyone else, but for Jonathan Cujoh, it was a critical decision.

He slowly typed in each character of the ID. Every letter taking longer and longer to press than the last. Seconds felt like minutes, which felt like hours, which felt like days. He hovered his finger over the send button, his anxiety on one shoulder, and his curiosity on another, both telling him to press it but not press it at the same time. He took another quick sip of water to try and do this with a clear mind.

"...what's the worst that could happen?" he said with uncertainty as he hit the send button, quickly throwing his phone back into his pocket as soon as he could.
He walked back out of the alleyway to continue his way toward the station, in a hurry. He didn't notice another small girl ahead of him, bumping into her as he made his way past her quite quickly. He excused himself, and tried to get a look at the girl's face, but she was wearing a dark face mask and a large cap, so he couldn't see anything. She had stopped dead in her tracks but didn't even try to look at Jonathan. Her clothes looked awfully raggedy and well worn though, as if she'd been through the ringer recently, or perhaps even for years. He turned his attention back towards the road and continued to make his way back to the station.

"Angela's probably finishing up now, maybe I can meet her for lunch in Shinjuku…" he said quietly as he brought up his chat log with Angela on LINE.

"You free for lunch? had a funny run in with a…unique girl this morning lol"
"OMGGGGG YESSS! You HAVE to tell me all about her! YOU meeting a girl? That's not like you at all! I'll meet you at Shinjuku Station, East Gate in about an hour…don't be late"
"You and your punctuality, hahah. sure, i'll be there then, i'm actually about to get the train there now, so if anything YOU'RE the one who's gonna be late, hahah"

Jonathan boarded the train for Shinjuku, music playing through his headphones to help pass the time.
"Fly Me to the Moon, huh…" he said as the familiar song came through his headphones.
"God's got a wicked sense of humour alright…" he mumbled as he closed his eyes, the scent of donuts and a sweet lavender perfume coming back to him from this morning.

It certainly made a change from cherries, he thought.

(Thanks once again for reading everyone. This chapter introduces us to our main female lead (thought not the only female lead) for this story, Kiriko! With so many new and interesting characters in Overwatch 2, I felt like she was the best one in terms of age and compatibility for Jonathan going forward. How will their relationship blossom and develop with Jonathan's fears and anxieties taking over? Will Angela approve? And of course, who knows what - or who- else is waiting for our heroes in the wings...please be sure to leave a review guys! I love seeing all your comments, both the good and the bad! See you next time for the third chapter of Trapped in Her Heart, Forever!)