FyreDraagyn12 - I will send that message. Sorry I get sidetracked extremely easy.
This is Lotus
This is Saiki
This is Saiki and Lotus
~Thoughts of others~
Boxed Coffee? - The Bond Is Too Strong Now
Was she staring? She hoped not. Maybe she was. Gosh, why did everything feel so awkward right now?
Lotus had her hands tightly clasped together resting before her on a table. She was looking off to the side not making eye contact with the person before her. She was currently at Café Mami, with her fellow pink-haired psychic.
Saiki sat across the table from Lotus, a blissful look on his face as he ate his coffee jelly. Lotus had seen this look before, and it made her happy to see the always stoic Saiki look so euphoric, especially since the cause of it was something as simple as a dessert. But now...after her self discovery of her budding feelings that look evoked new emotions.
Lotus glanced out of the side of her eye to Saiki, and she felt her cheeks get a bit hot seeing his face. Eyes closed and lips upwards in a small yet delighted smile, as he chewed on his coffee jelly.
"Has...Saiki always been this cute?"
Lotus shook her head and finally turned her attention to her own dessert, a plate of mochi. Before she could take a bite, Saiki's delighted expression dropped suddenly, and around the corner came Mera.
"Saiki! Lotus! I didn't see you guys there. Thank you for spending so much money at our café," Mera said
"You need to work on your tact."
Saiki grabbed his cup of coffee taking a sip.
"Saiki and I are regulars here. I think he likes the fact that no one really comes here, so it's nice and quiet. But…"
Lotus and Saiki started to look around the café taking note that no one was here, they were the only customers in the entire café.
"Were the only ones here?"
"We haven't gotten new customers these days since that new place opened up across the street," Mera said
Lotus looked out the window seeing a coffee spot called "Box Coffee", and it was almost overflowing with customers.
Lotus frowned a bit, "A place called 'Box Coffee' sounds unappealing, like the coffee actually comes from a box."
"The manager has been taking it pretty hard." Mera gestured to a man sitting in a booth, head in his hands.
The manager slammed a fist on the table. "Tall?! Grande?! It's small or medium! Who are they trying to impress?!"
"He's furious one minute and calm the next," Mera said
The Manager stood up from the booth a gentle smile on his face. "Our café days are over."
"And then he just starts mocking them," Mera said
"Yes, two strawberry grenade macchiatos please!" The Manager mocked
"Seems like he's emotionally unstable."
"I had to apologize a lot at first cause I was always dropping plates but now I've learned to apologize before the dishes even hit the floor," Mera smiled
Both Lotus and Saiki gave the smiling waitress a flat look.
"Maybe you should work on not dropping them at all."
The Manager approached the trio. "That's enough chit-chat you're on the clock, you know."
"I'm sorry," Mera apologized
"If your not busy you should be refilling water and busing tables from other customers," The Manager said
"Yeah but there's no one else here so…."
Mera's words trailed off as the light in her Manager's eyes died out.
Lotus shifted in her seat starting to feel uncomfortable.
"We should go home now."
Saiki started to stand up but then the Manager freaked out.
"You're going to that new place aren't you?!"
"No, we're going home."
"Isn't he aware that we just dined here?"
"I get so worried when I think about how this café could be going out of business soon," Mera said
"~Aw, Chisato, you really care about this café, don't you?~" The Manager looked heart warmed by Mera's words.
"I can't memorize all those sizes. I'm mean Tall, Grande...and Piccolo?" Mera said
"What!? You plan on working for the competition as soon as we go bust?!" The Manager shouted
"I do need to earn a living," Mera countered
"It's all over! We might as well close up shop now!" The Manager exclaimed
At the front of the shop was Lotus and Saiki, the latter of the two had his wallet out ready to pay for his and Lotus's bill. But since Mera and the Manager were the only two people working, there was no one to pay to.
"I have an idea! Let's brainstorm a way to boost business and bring in new customers! We've got Lotus and Saiki right here so we can ask them what patrons want." Mera said
"I just want to pay."
So Lotus and Saiki found themselves sitting next to one another in a large booth, with Mera and the Manager sitting across and adjacent to them.
"We will now commence the meeting to discuss how to increase business for café Mami," Mera said
"Or how to put that other coffee shop out of business," The Manager grumbled
"No, we can't do that since I may have to work there," Mera said
"What a pain."
"I've actually been thinking about this, the exteriors turns people off. Plus the name makes it sound like it's a bar," Mera said
The Manager glanced down sadly, "But we don't have the money to renovate."
"We don't have to pay for renovations! We can just cover up the font with flyers advertising our new low prices!" Mera said
"That'll turn people off more."
"It's not a bad idea, but we can't lower the prices," The Manager said
"He does have a point. The prices of the dessert here are pretty low."
"Don't worry! We only have to lower everything by one yen to make everything seem cheaper!" Mera said
"You're not a car dealer."
"Alright, I'm in! Let's do this!" The Manager shouted determined but then his determination turned to anger. "No! Don't be stupid!"
"This guy is a mess."
"He's kind of starting to worry me now."
Lotus subconsciously slid a bit closer to Saiki, to put some distance between herself and the Manager. The side of Lotus's hand brushed against Saiki's but she paid little mind, too focused on the unbalanced man to her right. Saiki peered down at his hand that lightly brushed Lotus's. If he just moved ever so slightly, his hand would be atop of hers. Before anything could actually happen the Manager slammed a fist on the table.
"I've kept the prices the same for all of the 26 years since this place has been opened, and I'm proud of that! I have no desire to lower them even by one yen. Or see them raise…" He whispered the last part.
"I'm sorry I didn't catch that last part."
"But we do have to make some changes. Were as modern as the new place is. Oh! How about we do a maid café? Those are pretty popular right now?" The Manager said
The teens before him stared blankly.
"They were."
"~They were.~"
"We can put you in a maid outfit, Chisato," The Manager said
!
"No way!" Mera said
"I'll even give you a 20 yen raise!" The Manager added
"Make it 30 yen okay," Mera said
A few moments late Mera was in a cute maid outfit, her hair pulled up into pigtails.
"It looks good on you!" The Manager beamed
"She does look cute, but hearing it come out of that guy's mouth just sounds wrong."
"I'm never coming back here."
"I'm second-guessing this outfit," Mera said
"In fact, you look so good I think I can give you a 50 yen raise," The Manager said
"That sounded even worse than what you previously said."
Mera however did a 180 at the prospect of a higher raise. She put a smile on her face.
"Wel-come Ma-ster!"
"She's getting into it now."
"But can you really afford to give me that big of a raise?" Mera asked
"Oh, yeah I'll be fine. I'll just raise all the prices by 100 yen," The Manager said
"What happened to your pride?"
"Then we can use my 99 yen idea from earlier!" Mera said
"Oh, perfect! We're doing pretty well here!" The Manager said
Lotus was sweatdropping as she watched the two.
"I feel like I should say something...but I have no clue as to what."
Lotus stood there at a loss of words until something gently grasped her hand.
"Uh-?!"
She silently gasped as Saiki held her hand pulling her towards the exit, she felt her cheeks once again flush and was hoping that her palms didn't start to sweat. The bell to the door chimed overhead as Saiki opened it.
"Now let's start making flyers!"
Mera's cheerful words were the last thing they heard before they left.
"Uhm...Saiki...Are we not gonna help them?" Lotus aked
"I could easily use my powers to bring customers in, but even it's to help a café I like, I'm not going to. That café is done for."
Saiki tried to continue on his way, but was stopped as two hands grasped his own. He looked back to find Lotus, her head down, with her hair obscuring her face.
"Saiki...I….I don't want to ask you to use your powers to draw customers in. It's your powers and your decision and it would be wrong of me to try and get you to do something you wouldn't want to. But...I also think it would be wrong to not at least express my feelings. I really like this place, the desserts are good and more importantly…" Lotus looked up at Saiki, her eyes glossy and a faint blush on her cheeks. "It's a place that helped build our friendship, and I find it really special. I guess..I know how much you like this place and how other dessert shops are too crowded….So...I guess I'm more worried that if this place closes we won't be able to get dessert together as much."
Lotus looked down shyly staring at her and Saiki's hands, she was too embarrassed to even look up at him.
*DOKI DOKI DOKI*
"Idiot."
Lotus blinked wide-eyed with a dumbfounded expression as Saiki lightly chopped her atop of her head. It didn't hurt in any way, just confused her.
"We're not going to stop hanging out because this place closes. I will admit it'd be hard to find another place like this, but something tells me you're too stubborn to allow this friendship you created to die away like that."
"Oh, uhm…" Lotus felt her face go red.
"I don't know what to say. Those words were really embarrassing but I don't regret saying them."
Suddenly Lotus found her surroundings different.
"Eh-Wha?!"
She looked around and found herself atop of a building, Saiki only a few feet away leaning over the railing of the roof. Perplexed, she joined Saiki and saw that they were on a building across from Café Mami.
"Listen in."
Lotus focused in on the Café hearing Mera and the Manager.
"Saiki and Lotus went home," Mera said
"Yeah, I wonder why they left?" The Manager said
"Well, then what should we change up next? We could spruce up the inside and make it look cute. Better yet change the name of our coffee to Angles Sweet Relief?" Mera suggested
The Manager said nothing caught in his own thoughts.
"No...I think I'll keep it as is. We may have fewer customers now, but they still come, and for the sake of our regulars I don't want to change anything," The Manager said
"Sure! We'll stay true to ourselves til the day we go belly up!" Mera cheered
"Don't jinx it!" The Manager shouted
"Good decision. People aren't stupid they know. No matter how unstable that guy is, his coffee jelly and coffee have always been great. That's the mark of a true professional."
"Ah…" Lotus smiled looking at Saiki. "Now I get why he didn't want to use his powers."
Two men walked by the café but one stopped backpedaling.
"Hey, I like this place. They got good coffee and it's quiet too."
The two men approached the doors but saw the closed sign.
"Man I haven't been here in ages. What? They're closed? Man, and I was really craving their coffee jelly."
The men started to walk away.
"Oh, fine."
Before the two could get far they heard a clattering noise and turned back around to find the closed sign now switched to open.
"Guess it couldn't hurt to give them a little help."
"Hey, they're open! Let's go in!"
Lotus smiled at Saiki happily and this time he didn't turn away and actually gave her a small smile in return.
"I just wonder…" Lotus let out a sigh tucking her chin in her hand leaning back against the railing. "If the café, unfortunately, does end up closing I wonder where we'll hang out for afternoon desserts?"
"Well, your coffee jellies are pretty good. Guess I'll just have to come to your house for afternoon dessert."
Lotus was still for a moment before she slowly turned to Saiki, her eyes wide. He was looking away from her staring out at the city skyline, but also hiding a small smirk. Lotus's face went cherry red, and she felt her heart skip a beat.