alright,this girl definitely didn’t seem too interested in talking with him. maybe he shouldn’t have been offended cause, after all, he was a complete stranger. but still… he was an attractive stranger who knew how to make a conversation interesting. why not talk to him? ❝ do you think i’m a creepy person? ❞ he asked suddenly, still keeping his pace next to the girl. ❝ i swear, i’m not a creep. i’m nice~❞
“Creepy? Oh… not at all.” She replied. It was a reply that contained a white lie and she immediately dips her head down to let her bangs cover the embarrassment in her eyes. She didn't think he was creepy, but definitely not normal. A nice person would never admit they’re nice were thoughts that first came to her mind, she peeked at the stranger with curious gaze and gave him a polite smile “So.. are you a salesman? – ” She voiced out with each words laced with careful guardedness. “and.. i’m sure your nice !I just… don’t really know you ” She quickly added and gave him another polite smile of uncertainty. He was certainly handsome, but you can’t judge a book by its cover, right?
❝ Yes, of course. I didn’t mean to make it seem like I would want anything for this… ❞
( he answered; for a moment nervous that maybe he had come off stranger than he thought. watching her curiously when she spoke again, he found himself smiling again as she turned herself in circles before finding a place to sit. )
❝ We can do that, yes. ❞
( a nod of his head and he motioned for her to lead the way, half tempted to start picking at the bread already, finding himself hungrier than he had realized. )
[’ At his surprising agreeableness that contrasted against her original assumptions about the young man, she gave him a warm, unguarded smile that she was so used to at times that caused her to forget the dangers of being with a stranger. ]
[’ She skipped towards the secluded bench and sat down with the bag of bread at hand. Without pause, she immediately opened the package and took a bite down at the soft bread that immediately melted on her tongue. It was a familiar feeling she had expected yet it was a feeling that made her day all the better. She patted the seat next to her and grinned at him with bread crumbs stuck to the corner of her lips. ]
“So, what’s your name? I’m Tina, Tina Tamashiro” [’ She hoped she didn’t come off awkward. After all, she actually really wanted to know the stranger who had kindly bought bread for her. ]
And his gaze upon the woman is unbroken, strides made to make his way towards her. Today’s afternoon was one absent of both classes and homework. Rumors spread of some sort of budding hangout place among his peers, particularly the girls. The name had an odd sound to it, one he could not remember, but there were certain details which failed to escape his mind. One without many friends to spend his time with, it was a strong draw for his curiosity, to see if the whispers were speaking truth.
❝ Hello there! Er, would you happen to know where this love cafe would be found? Many people I am acquainted with have gone but I’ve never been myself! ❞
Holding the heavy boxes of materials needed for the cafe, Tina strode among the streets with a slight struggle that the sheer weight that the boxes provided her with. However, nothing was more important than transporting these boxes so that her cafe could continue to open. Just when she was about to turn a sharp corner did a young man suddenly appear within her peripheral view with a question that startled her. The already precarious boxes fell from her slim arms and in front of the young gentleman. “Oh my god… i’m so sorry” she apologised in great heaps of agitation before she caught the few significant words that she grew up knowing love, and cafe. She paused, half-bent to pick up the boxes and tilted her head upwards to catch a glimpse of the young man. “You mean, Cafe, Waiting, Love ? If so, Yes !I’m actually the owner of the cafe…” She replied with a warm smile and the boxes she half picked up slipped from her mind.
“I can totally bring you there !But – hold on let me pick up these boxes.. i’m so sorry about the mess” She replied as her train of thoughts returned to the boxes at hand.
he couldn’t stop laughing. what’s the big deal? he’s a seventeen year old boy with a knack for pranks and immaturity. he was rolled up in a fetal position from laughing so hard, because he could practically hear her irritation in her thoughts, cursing his existence for being such a dweeb. he let out a choke of laughter and sighed heavily. he was ready to send another message, this time jam packed with an annoyingly large amount of emojis — but she was progressing closer and he didn’t even notice it — until his head was locked in the hold of her small arms.
“e-euck! tina-chaaaan!” he cried loudly, his limbs flailing as he’s half laughing and half feigning the close proximity of his demise. “i—i d—won’t do it again!” miku’s laughing and whining at the same time, too amused by the scene unravelling between them to be even the slightest bit concerned of his near death! “aaaah! ah! okay! i won’t do it anymore, tina-chan, spare me onegaishimasuuuuuuuu!"
After Tina receives confirmation from him, she unlocks the grip around his neck and immediately snatched his phone away from him with her slim fingers that held the phone with a surprisingly tight grip. "Good, and i’m going to take this phone with me for the night !” She announced with the phone strap tightly bounded around her index finger. She gave him one haughty glance before she bounced out of his room in a few quick steps accompanied by a joyful skips of victory.
Having arrived to her room, she swiftly locked the door behind her before she plopped onto her messily made bed and giggled with glee at her success. It was not long before she heard the pounding sound against her door “I told you !I’m going to keep your phone for the night, Miku-kun !” she yelled in return before she returned to her giggles. Along with her curious nature, she flipped the phone around in circles and wondered if she should see what he had in store… perhaps even secret love messages? Or… secrets? At the mention of secrets, her heart pounded in anticipation and curiosity. However, one part of her says that its better to not know at all and that maybe some things are better left unknown.
“It’s just fascinating, isn’t it?” he replied a little too quickly and a little too enthusiastically. The smile that controlled his lips made no indication of moving, and his head only perked at her suggestion. “No, no—we should totally do it!! That’d be so fun and different and cool.. but, um, where’s the nearest cranberry field? Because I’ve never been to one before.”
Tina’s shyness turns into a widened smile as she notices the increasing enthusiasm from the other she hadn’t initially expected. Her fingers quickly intertwined with one another into a clasp when he agreed to take in her silly idea. "Yep !It sure is… i’m glad you brought it up” She nodded avidly. However, the question he brought up made her pause and her lips temporarily downturn into deep thought. Where would they get the cranberries from? Tina wondered silently as her nimble fingers fingered her own glasses with nervous energy. After a moment of thought, she immediately thought of a place where there possibly may be cranberries. “Follow me” She whispered eagerly at him as she hooked her arms around his and dragged him to the destination she had in mind.
Kou was silent as his fingers slowly traced over the bandages in the small kit on the table in front of him. His normally big eyes were squinting at the small lettering scribbled in the corner of each package. “Mnn, I still don’t understand how you managed to cut your leg walking” His voice was soft, comforting as he turned with a medium sized package in his fingers. “You’re lucky I studied spiritual medicine when I was growing up” As he leaned down to kneel in front of the woman a smile appeared against his lips. Slowly he moved his hand to hover over the cut, closing his eyes briefly before a pale blue light began to glow beanth his fingers. A moment later the light faded, his fingers working quickly to placed the banage over the wound.
She couldn’t say, and even when she wanted to, the words seemed to stop at the tip of her tongue. She didn’t get the cut from merely walking, a few girls had decided it was funny to trip Tina when she wasn’t paying attention while she was delivering coffee to a customer. She suppressed her anger, swallowed it, and in a few moments she gave a tight smile while apologising to no one in particular. Instead of getting her leg treated, she had decided to just leave it, while tears threatened to overflow from the brim of her round eyes. It was later when a young man offered to treat it that she noticed the cut on her leg. “I’m… not sure either. Maybe, i’m just clumsy” She replied in a relaxed manner in order to lighten up the mood, or more like, her own mood.
Just before she began to slip back into her own thoughts, a faint light emerged from the young man’s palm. Staring at him wide-eyed she wondered “How… how did you do that? It’s beautiful…” the words slipped from her lips unknowingly before she quickly added “Wait, can you show me again?” her tear-brimming eyes immediately became overtaken by curiosity and admiration as he bandaged her wound.
He settled the glass mug back upon the small plate as he looked up at the owner he stood beside him, eyes crinkling into crescent moons as he smiled. His hands gestured to the chair across from him, offering the friend a seat.
“ Tina-chan, sit down. You’re making me uncomfortable just standing there. “
A chuckle passed his lips as he insisted she sat down as he was the only customer in the cafe.
"Oh right” Tina replied, and felt rather foolish for standing next to him. It was a habit, to stand next to customers so to say. She gave him a sheepish smile before sitting across from him, noting his distinct features and ambient smile that she was once so familiar with but now have become foreign with after she lost contact with him. In all honesty, she wasn’t sure how to act around him. In just a mere few months, he had changed, he was different.
“b—but,” miku’s pout always had her. always. if it wasn’t for how small and tiny and annoyingly cute he was, there was no hope for aegyo to save him anytime soon. though, he had to admit. texting her while she was on the other side of the room, and texting her ‘banana boob’ every two minutes on the dot could get particularly annoying. he was having too much fun. “okay, fine.”
he gave a sneaky smile though, texting her phone once again with the words ‘boob banana,’ and for some reason, he never felt so fulfilled in his life. he’s just bored. there was a reason why he hung around her— someone could actually speak his first tongue—and annoying her like this to no end was almost as fun as annoying her by waking her up at 5am in the morning for jogs. he was hardly sorry, but it was okay. miku was almost sure that tina reciprocated the love in some way, even if it was smacking him or scolding him everytime he would mess up aesthetics in her cafe.
he was like the annoying little brother, but despite how much you say you don’t like him, you love him even more, right?
“Ugh ! you are so lame” Tina exclaimed and her face and brows were scrunched up in fury as he continues to text the repetitive, vulgar message to her phone. Ding… Ding… Ding… continued to ring from her phone. Just when she believed that he would stop his pranks after her threat, another ring sounded from her phone again and the words “banana boob” reappeared on the top of her notification screen.
Having enough of what she considered was a “childish prank”, she stalked towards his room with her face still scrunched up into an angry expression and spots him on the bed with the phone in-between his hands. With a few wide strides that quickly closed the distance between them, she curled the bent of her arm around his neck and playfully strangles him. “Take this, Miku !” Although his aegyo was probably one of the cutest expression she had ever seen on a boy, Tina tossed away any sisterly feelings she had for his aegyo and continued to scold him “Are you going to do that again? If you are, i’m going to continue to strangle you” She chided with a cheeky smirk playing on her lips, since, at this moment, she had the upper-hand in the fight.
A grin appears just at the very corners of his lips instead of the odd look she expects from him; he knows much better than to do anything but smile around her. She was the shining ray of sunlight someone needed — and he wouldn’t be the rain cloud to ruin the skies. “I think…” His fingers turned their hands around to flip, his gaze giving attention on her palm for just a moment as he spoke the latter of the sentence. “You need to be more selfish for yourself, this year. Do you realize how much you think of others, when you should be spending most of that thinking about yourself?” He remembers the amazement that stirs up all inside of him when he speaks; it catches him mid-sentence.
He held a hand in his own hands he probably wasn’t good enough to keep near.
The air remained with the nerve-chilling temperature he had been hit with the moment he left the music, alcohol and the parties, yet he was warmer now. The physical aspect of it didn’t matter, as there was a different kind of warmth burning up inside of him where it did matter. Kindling fires of new beginnings, the endless possibilities of fonder memories and the new rising chances of better. His grin had simmered away and been replaced with a childish smile instead at the new thought — a thought only attained from her words. The bad thoughts seemed to disappear; they wouldn’t be able to do so forever, but they only lingered around weakly. The smile’s still there as he begins to speak again. “And you’re really insisting on comparing me to some puppy? I don’t ask you to take me out on walks… why am I half offended by this?” The bad thoughts were weak because of the light shining so radiantly by him — only the brightest he had by him.
“Who are you calling sad? Don’t put labels on people, tch. Especially not me.” The loud crack in the distance ceases his words for just a moment, and that same moment seemed all but a dream. Colors in the sky which are more than just blue — with the subtle heat exchanged between touching hands. He was thankful for everything at this moment. A moment he took in silence, just by himself. It caused his eyes to close and his muscles to relax; lungs to take in the fresher air of the night. Gravity soon pulled the weight of his head to the side a bit, and it rested upon the girl, and he remained comfortable. He could catch the natural scent she carried, and it laxed him further; an aroma of crushed berries with a tinge of lavenders in the wind.
“Happy New Year, Tina.”
Surprisingly, she felt her hands turned around by the other that exposed her palm to the cold. It took her awhile but she eventually garnered some courage to peek over at the other, only to see him contemplating with a genuine smile that, in return, made the tip of her lips upturn. “Well, I try to… but I don’t know what to wish for. ” she mumbled slightly as her focus returned to the tiny beaming lights plastered across the sky, while the occasional hanabi that rocketed into the sky would temporarily outshine the tiny stars to steal their spotlight. She had everything she wanted. She had friends, she developed relationships she never thought she would’ve developed this year, and she was honestly happy. “Ehh… but you are a Shiba inu though” Tina jutted out her bottom lip into a pout as she reached over to ruffle his cropped hair in a sisterly way.
“Psh, it’s super easy to tell, Shiba-kun needs lots of love” She replied as bubbling laughters welled up inside of her. Her laughters was stopped when the sky crackled again ambitiously to steal the star’s spotlight and a moment of silence covered the air. It was a time for reflection, it was a time where all of one’s memories gathered together to form a perfect picture of the year together, and it was Tina’s favourite time of the year. Just when she delved into deep thoughts, his next words brought up another smile on her lips. It was honestly, an imperfect way to celebrate the New Years, but at this moment she was content and she knew that 2015 was going to even better.
There were times where Kei would forget about Tina’s tight hugs, and now was one of those times. Thankfully, they weren’t too tight to the point that she was unable to breathe, and she truly missed the other girl, especially since she had been away for so long.
“Osaka? Well, it’s been good,” Kei answered, sitting back in her chair, something she did out of habit. “I live on campus, for one. Although it’s kind of hard when you have a concert later on and then you come back and you have to do homework or you have a class later on in the day.” She chuckled softly, looking around the cafe as Tina gestured around it. “Ah, I see, that’s completely understandable. It seems like there’s been more customers as of late! Which is always good, of course.” She flashed a thumbs up at the girl, smiling widely. “Has anything else been going on with you?”
Tina nodded as she listened to Kei before she replied “That’s good… and ew homework” At the thought of homework, Tina’s face contorted into a small pout of disgust “but, at least you’re smart so you shouldn’t have any problems” Tina’s small pout is quickly replaced by features of pride at the fact that Kei was smart when it came to schooling compared to Tina.
“I guess it’s kind of good, but it’s usually because of Christmas and the New years. After the festivities, my cafe is going to become eerily quiet” She explained, while she adjusted her roundly framed glasses that had fallen near the tip of her nose. Tina went over to the counter and began to prepare materials, spices for the other’s coffee “Hmm… nothing much really. Though, I have been meeting and befriending many celebrities around the area… which is kind of weird considering how you usually meet celebrities in the tiny bright screen” musing over the various situation Tina had faced over a span of a few months, it had been kind of hectic. “What do you want to drink today? It’s my treat” Tina glanced at the other with a cheeky smile.
NAME: Tina Tamashiro
AGE: 20
PROFESSION: Owner of Cafe, Waiting, Love.
RELATIONSHIP STATUS: Single
RELATIONSHIP PREFERENCE: Unsure…
HAIR COLOR: coffee brown
EYE COLOR: light brown under sunlight~
ACCESSORY: carries glasses around at all times.
❝不愉快です. // How unpleasant.
Tina watched the time pass bit by bit, customers come and go, and every story unfold. She remembered the strong, unwavering love her parents had for each other. She remembered their love as clear as the clear sky, but she couldn’t understand it. She couldn’t understand how they could love each other so much despite all their flaws. Tina had witnessed many unpleasant aspects of love; yet, when she recollected her memories, she remembered the laughters and innumerable stories that only her parents knew, like a shared secret between the both of them that Tina had no part of.
However, life wasn’t kind and laughters didn’t last long. When her parents passed away due to a unfortunate accident, they had left the cafe shop they had built together to her as a reminder that Tina would one day find someone, no matter how long she had to wait. Hence, the name: Café. Waiting. Love, was born. Of course, Tina didn’t believe in what her parents had said to her. However, they were words she took to heart. Tina’s mother was originally from an affluent family. However, her mother was chased out from her own family and removed from her family register due to her love for Tina’s father. If Tina could say so herself, it was the classic Romeo and Juliet. The only difference in the two stories was that a child was born. Tina was born out of love.
Tina was normal, regular and enjoyed chatting with customers while watching busy walkers take hurried steps to reach to their destinations as she sat by the window sill with her head leaned against the clean glass. Regardless of her past, Tina had witnessed the miracles of the cafe. It was as if her parent’s love had permeated and placed a special love charm on the people who walked into the cafe. She had witnessed first- time customers go from lonely singles into committed lovers in a coincidental meeting of another partner in the cafe. Ironically, she still had not met her faithful partner. Did it bother her? Not one bit, but she always found a indescribable joy when she was able to help a lonely person find an anchor, a support. After awhile, she noticed how the city is filled with isolation and empty dreams, Sometimes, instead of returning to her apartment, Tina would fall asleep in the cafe. It was just as if she lives in the cafe.
❝THE CAFE? — //
每一個人,都在等一個人. Everyone is waiting for that someone. This is what the cafe is about. It is for the people out there who are looking for that special someone. It is for those people out there who just needs a place to pass time, and fill in the emptiness they may feel from the coldness of society with a warm cup of coffee.