Chapter Text
You could honestly say, that you liked working in Café Rengatei. Sure, sometimes the customers got a little annoying but it paid well and you always had a bit of a love for sweets, and getting to take some leftovers home for your family was great! It meant you never had to worry about buying a lunch at school or taking the time to make one at home after you got off work.
Recently however, the well known delinquent from your School, Josuke, started frequenting your place of work as a hangout spot with his friends. You didn’t pay much attention to them, as you were mostly working at the register, when they were there and not as a waitress but you couldn’t help but feel like someone was watching you everytime they were there. Sometimes, when looking around to see if anyone was actually watching you or you were just paranoid, you’d make eye contact with Josuke, who’d turn away the second you saw him. Weird.
The Bell went off, signaling the long awaited end of another school day. While packing up your things you semi-listened to your Friend Yukako rambling about having found her Soulmate; a guy named Koichi, who you shared a few classes with. She had never really talked to him but apparently it was a gut feeling and she just knew it was meant to be. Sure, you were curious as to who your Soulmate could be, but you never made an effort to search for yours. There were a few things that needed to happen for Soulmates to find each other after all; not only having to touch them, but also look in their eyes at the same time to see, wether or not there would be a flash of purple across the other persons eyes. And as someone who was not very fond of eye contact, you just couldn’t bring yourself to actively search for the one person brought to you by destiny itself.
“So [Name], do you finally have time to hangout after school for once?” Yukako lightly chuckled, likely knowing the answer already.
You sighed, “No I’m sorry Yukako, You know I have to get to work. I promise we’ll find a day where we can actually have fun after school” you said, giving her a guilty smile. Times like these were really the only times you hated the fact, that you had a job. It made hanging out with friends all the more difficult and you hated having to let Yukako down so often.
”It’s alright, [Name]! I know you can’t change the schedule! Say, could you reserve a table for me and someone, when you clock in?” Yukako said, suddenly seeming shy.
”Of Course! Is this about Koichi again? Did you finally ask him on a date?” You laughed thinking about your friends’ borderline obsession with the guy.
”Well, yeah actually… I didn’t really ask him out yet but I did ask him to meet me at the Café, so that’s a step right??” She said, becoming more nervous by the second. “It’s a great first step, don’t even worry! I’ll get you your table and you can talk to him in peace” you tried calming her, knowing how quickly she got to overthinking, when suddenly Yukako threw her arms around you “Oh thank you so much, [Name]!! What would I ever do without you!”, you couldn’t help the giggle that escaped you at her words, she was such a rock to you at times, that her asking what she would do without you seemed impossible to think about.
Seperating from Yukako, you finally made it to work, even getting there five minutes earlier than usual. You did the usual things needing to be done after the morning shift got off; sweeping the floors, restocking products, polishing dishes and cutlery and cleaning the tables outside from any leaves that have fallen throughout the morning. You thought of this a very relaxing, like a calm before the storm, as more and more people would soon show up, looking for their lunch in between work hours or students looking for a sweet treat before they went on their way home. Soon enough, Yukako showed up and sat at the table you had reserved for her and Koichi, patiently waiting for him to meet her. You could see the nervousness in her eyes and you couldn’t help but feel for your friend. She was such a sweet person but had trouble expressing herself and knowing, that Koichi didn’t know her nearly as well as you did, there was a possibility of her scaring him off with her determination.
Thankfully, Koichi soon showed up and the two got to talking. As you were cleaning the last of the tables outside, you felt someone looking at you. At first you didn’t think anything of it but the feeling persisted. Looking up, you were met with the eyes of none other than the school delinquent Josuke Higashigata, who was hiding behind a tree with Okuyasu. Not knowing what to do you simply gave him a small wave and a nervous smile, starting to feel uncomfortable given the situation you were in. He quickly ducked back behind the tree, dragging Okuyasu with him, but they did a very poor job of hiding from your sight, as you could still see their wide frames sticking out. Truthfully, it was funny how these huge highschoolers thought they could hide behind this small tree and you couldn’t help but chuckle.
Yukako’s meeting with Koichi ended up not going as planned, much to your dismay. You wound up taking your break early in order to comfort her and walked her to the bus stop so she could get home. The rest of your workday went on virtually uninterrupted, which you were grateful for. After a bad day at school and your friends’ failed date, you weren’t up for dealing with any rude customers.
When you finally got off work it was already getting dark outside. There had been a few customers, who stayed past closing, so you didn’t get to clean up the messes of the day until 30 minutes after close. Now, you were an hour late but atleast that meant you got another hour of pay. It was quiet outside, the gentle sound of the wind rustling the leaves of the nearby trees making you feel more relaxed by the minute. You had just rounded the corner, onto your street when you heard a sound. You didn’t even have time to turn around when you felt something hit your neck and blood trickling down your collar. It all went so fast and suddenly you found yourself on the ground loosing consciousness.
When you awoke, you saw that you were still on the street. It didn’t seem like much time had passed, but it was now completely dark outside. The street lights had turned on and there was not a soul in sight. You quickly rushed home but couldn’t shake the feeling that something had changed.
Going inside, you knew your mother wouldn’t be home yet, she had probably left for her second job a few hours ago, and your little sister was most likely fast asleep. You went into the kitchen, trying to make yourself an easy dinner before you had to start on your homework; relieved to find that your mother had already cooked for you. It wasn’t a fancy dinner by any means but it would fill you up and tasted good, which was all that mattered to you. Fixing yourself a plate of the Butter Chicken (it’s one of my favourite meals don’t judge me), you did your homework while eating, so you could at least get a fair amount of sleep in to get through tomorrow without falling asleep.