Kirisan-ku

It was cold and a bit windy outside. The house seemed to be a bit empty and the bakery was closed today. Ai sat in her living room wearing a thick blue turtleneck sweater with a tight black turtleneck shirt underneath, a long skirt and thick woolen socks. In her right hand was a kiseru. She was waiting for an old friend to arrive as he had recently lost his parents and she had offered him to stay with her. If he needed work in the area, she was willing to offer him to assist her in the bakery. It would probably surprise him how long her peachy pink hair had gotten and that she already owned a house with an adjacent bakery and confectionery store.

It had taken some time to get to Kirisan-ku by train and find the address where Ai's place was, but Kenji had reached his destination at last, carrying two rather heavy suitcases that contained the essentials, clothing, and a few personal possessions as well. He couldn't help but wonder what Ai would look like after all these years, not to mention what she'd been up to in that time. A lot could've happened, after all.

When Kenji reached the front door, he tried going over what he was going to say to Ai face to face for the first time in years. After a few attempts, he found that he couldn't really think of much. Ai was usually the one who did most of the talking between them. Maybe she'd changed since then? Either way, there was no point in standing around outside in the cold. Kenji knocked on the door, waiting for his old friend to answer.

Ai heard a knock on the door and dumped out the at from the kiseru in a small bowl. She then set it aside and got up. Ai rather took a sprint towards the door and nearly slid past it. Looking into the peekhole, she noticed it was Kenji. Opening the door and ready with a smile, Ai said: "Oh! You finally made it! It is nice that you decided to stay here. Come in. I prepared a room for you upstairs. Anyways, are you alright? It must be hard for you to cope with what had recently happened." Ai held the door open and was ready to take his luggage from him.

"Well, I'll admit it's been hard to cope, but all things considered I think I'm doing okay so far," Kenji answered as he took a good look at Ai for the first time in years. She'd certainly grown up, there was no denying it, but Kenji was still taller than her by about a head. What she'd done with her hair was also quite a difference; Ai had always worn her hair short before, although... she actually looked nicer with long hair. It seemed to suit her.

Grateful for the chance to give his arms some rest, Kenji handed the suitcases over to Ai before following her inside. After his parents passed away, she was the only person who he could turn to for help.

"Thanks for taking me in on such short notice," he told her. "Let me know if there's anything I could do to help around."

"You are welcome." Ai said. She took his suitcases. They were heavy but it was nothing that she couldn't handle. She led him to his new room. It was a simple room with a simple bed, a desk and light blue walls. The room had a balcony and a view towards the river. "Well this is your room. The bed should be quite comfortable. There is a walk-in closet here for you to put your stuff in and a desk in case you need something to draw on or if you have any studies. The bathroom is the next door over. If you desire a hot bath, there is a public bath just a couple minutes walking distance down the road. Or would you rather sleep in my queen sized bed with me." Ai chuckled.

"By the way if you need work, you can help out in the bakery as an assistant and for the little extra money since I heard you are an artist, I know people at an animation production company who welcome people to help out." Ai continued. "Just let me know."

She headed back downstairs and said: "Are you thirsty or hungry? I can make something for you like tea and some mochi."

His new room was sparsely furnished, sure, but Kenji was more than willing to call it home. The balcony with the view that it promised was quite a bonus, too. There was not only room for his things, but also a place for him to work should inspiration suddenly bestow him with potential ideas for a story or a drawing. As he listened to Ai telling him where everything was at, there was one particular comment that certainly threw him for a loop, and she knew it.

"Wait, what? I, uh, don't think that would be necessary, thanks," Kenji managed to say. Thankfully, the subject was quickly changed to work. He'd need to earn his keep, that much was certain, although as tempting as it sounded, Kenji didn't really think that animation was for him. While he did indeed draw, he considered it more of a hobby than anything else. He wanted to aim for being a writer as a professional career, even if it would probably take years before said career got off the ground.

"Ah, so you finally got that bakery you always wanted? That's good to hear. How would the job interview work, though? Should I go look for a suit first, or should we do this right here, right now?" Hopefully Ai would be able to shed some light on how one would go about applying for a job that was a literal stone's throw away, with a boss that you'd known since childhood. Putting it into perspective, it did sound a little crazy. Still, a job means getting paid, after all.

Ai started to go back downstairs, which seemed to mean that the job interview could wait for a bit. That, and it was getting close to lunchtime. "Well, I guess it wouldn't hurt to see how far your baking's come after all these years," Kenji answered, a slight smile starting to creep across his face. Just like old times, Ai hardly failed to get a smile or a laugh out of him.

"Aw, guess I'll head over to the cafe then."

A young, blue-headed man stood in front of a vacant bakery. The sign on the front doors clearly said, "closed". This saddened the man as he was a common customer at the place and enjoyed just about anything he ever ordered from it. Local, it wasn't too famous, but that just meant the time spent producing the goods was more valuable. Larger companies, restaurants, and businesses all tend to skimp out on the work in favor of production. Quantity over quality, for them. But this place was certainly not the same. Bread had taste, cookies were warm and delicious, and don't get him started on the cake. Takeru was sure if he hadn't the metabolism he did, he'd be obese with the amount of food he ate there.

But, it was closed today, so nothing could be done.

He made his way across the street to yet another local business. It was a cafe that had a few customers and definitely had great strawberry shakes, but otherwise it had remained unnoticed. The waitresses were kind and there was never much of a wait - save weekends - so he wasn't going to die by eating somewhere else. Takeru took his common seat.

Near the window, of course. All protags sit there.

...and he then waited to be served. He ordered, of course, a strawberry shake as well as something for lunch. A hamburger was fine. As he waited for the food, he relaxed back into the seat. "Hmm, always the gloomiest weather when I'm off..." he mumbled to himself.

"Job interview? Pfft! No interview is needed. And about clothing, I will organize some work clothing for you. Until that arrives, all I need you to do is make coffee and tea for this afternoons coffee and cake session in the bakery. It is when I open up for a couple hours every Saturday to see cake and beverages. We got a dining room with ten tables in the bakery. If you have something nice to wear like a suit, then it would be great for today. Otherwise, business casual or looking like a host should be fine. Now please, have some cake and tea while I get changed. I will be opening the session in half an hour." Ai said. "Too bad I do not have clothing for you at the time being. Or would you want to wear a wig and makeup?" She then chuckled.

Ai went upstairs and put on a bakers outfit that was more like a dress and a loosely worn neckerchief (example: http://www.uniformdesignz.com/images/MNT-K-BLK.jpg ) without a hat. She then headed back done to prepare the tables. She already turned around the sign. She was normally able to handle the flow of customers alone.

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Ah, the life of a student living on her own was hard. At least it was Sunday, but Yuka could never get a weekend off, not when she had to pay her own rent. Instead she was spending the day at the lovely little music shop where she worked whenever she wasn't in school or trying to keep up with her homework. To top it off, it was freezing today and the young adult was stuck riding a bike. Of course this was something she had to deal with every winter, but that didn't mean she was used to it.

She was doing her usually thing, just stacking some old records along the back shelf where all the oldies belonged while her headphones played more up-beat music into her ears from the blue Ipod stuffed into the pocket of her grey hoodie. On most days she took advantage of the cute winter clothes that she could put together, but not today. Today was a baggy sweatpants and hoodie kind of day with tiger slippers. Oh yes, now that was true, comfortable, warm bliss.

She rolled up the sleeves of her hoodie, feeling the strength from the heater now after being in the small shop for a couple hours. She'd get to go on her break soon, luckily, not that she was doing much work anyway. The place was always so quiet during this season. Who cared about going to a music shop in the winter when they could be sipping a hot cup of coffee at a cafe instead? Practically everyone really, but not Yuka. She stood up as the song came to and end. The end of songs were always her favourite parts, strangely enough. Something about the closing of the instruments, how the musicians reluctantly let their music fade away, was beautiful to her.

Heading back to the front register with the now empty box, she let the arms of her hoodie slide back over her knuckles and she tossed the box behind the desk before taking a seat and propping her tiger slippers up on the desk. All she could really think about was going home and curling up into a warm bed. Well, that and the assignment that was due tomorrow that she hadn't even started on yet...but details, details. Sleep was more important in her opinion.

No interview needed, and all he had to do was make coffee? Kenji reckoned that this was the easiest money he'd ever made. As for what to wear, he'd didn't have a suit, so business casual it was to be. No way he was gonna wear a wig and makeup though. Kenji opened up the suitcase that contained his clothes in search of something that would be suitable to wear until he had a uniform of his own. A few minutes of carefully digging around yielded a result in the form of a dark blue sweater vest with an argyle pattern. If that wasn't business casual, then what was? The shirt and jeans Kenji was already wearing seemed to suffice as well, so a drastic change of outfit wasn't exactly required.

With the question of attire answered, Kenji made his way back downstairs. He figured that for lunch he could wait until the end of the coffee and cake session, maybe grab something that was left over from that. Didn't feel too hungry right now, so he reckoned he could hold out that long. All that was left was to wait for Ai to come get him. He didn't really know his way around, and there was no point in going off and getting lost, so Kenji stayed in the front room of the house, leaning against the wall.

There were already two in the cafe enjoying some tea. Meanwhile Ai went back into the house to get Kenji. "Okay, the bakery and cafe is this way. Those arent exactly the clothes I intended but it shall suffice." She said. She then led him over to the cafe when another had just entered. There was a counter that showed all the cakes and pastries Ai offered. The decoration was bright and friendly. It was a comfortable environment to eat cake and drink a warm beverage in.

"Okay over here is the coffee bean grinding machine. The bags of coffee beans are label so if anyone requests Java, you take the bag labeled Java. If you run out, there is more in the storage room. We generally offer Arabica, Java and Africana. Occasionally we get something special. Anyways the grind machine is hand cranked which is slow to medium speed is fine. Too fast can either jam the machine or spoil the coffee. To make coffee you just add the coffee grounds here and water here and turn the machine on. The light turns green when it is done. If someone requests special coffee, come and get me. I will be next door in the other room making more cake." She continued.

Aside from the strawberry shake he so very much enjoyed, the cafe had turned out to be disappointing. For some reason, they had ran out of buns, beef, and ketchup for the day, having not restocked their supplies this week. So it would seem that Takeru was not going to get something to eat here, as he didn't particularly enjoy the food aside from the hamburgers. After paying his bill and giving a friendly wave to the waitress, he left the cafe in search of someplace to get some grub.

This route had led him to pass back by the bakery that was closed earlier. However, Takeru noticed one big change in the bakery since he had passed it by when he was going to the cafe - the sign said it was open! "Ah, maybe I can finally eat!" without much further delay, the young man stepped into the bakery, the little bell above the door ringing to signal someone had entered the store.

Kenji listened carefully to Ai's instructions. It all sounded simple enough, and in the unlikely event that there were any problems he could always ask Ai for help. Taking position behind the counter, Kenji nervously awaited his first customer. As it turned out, he didn't have to wait that long. A guy with blue hair entered the cafe with a grin on his face. Probably a regular customer, or at least one who had been waiting for the place to open for the day.

"Can I get you anything?" Kenji asked the stranger after a while. Judging from the look on his face, the answer was probably gonna be yes.

Takeru realized something upon first entering the bakery. That, namely, was the fact that the person approaching him was not someone he was familiar with. He knew the staff here, owner and all. He did come here quite often, so this much is to be expected. So, of course, he took interest in the young man who offered to serve him. "Carrot cake would be lovely." he said, glancing over the man.

"Hey," he asked. "Is today your first day? I don't believe I've seen you before."

"Yeah, first day," Kenji replied as he took a slice of carrot cake with the tongs provided and set it on a plate with a napkin. This guy had to be a regular customer, or at least one who stopped by often enough to know what's what around here.

"Okay, that'll be, uh... that'll... be..." Ai hadn't told him how much to charge for the cakes, hadn't she? There might have been a price list somewhere, but Kenji felt himself starting to panic a little. Imploringly, he looked at the customer, hoping that he would have the answer, and an honest one at that.

Ai heard Kenji's plea for help and came to his assistance. "Well cake generally is 200 yen unless it is a special cake. Special cakes are normally 300 yen. Truffles are 250 yen a piece. Coffee 150 yen, tea the same and water is free. I just got done with a batch of cookies and they will be 100 yen a piece. Fountain drinks like melon soda or calpis are 150 yen. Any other questions?" Ai said.

Even though the truffles were a bit pricey, they often went away quickly. And at moderate amounts of customers, business generally went well. It was rare that the place was full or empty.

Kenji received 300 yen in his hand before Ai had even made her way over. Carrot Cake was nothing special, so there was a bit extra in his hand, but that was simply a tip for the young man. Takeru smiled, giving a small chuckle as the watched the man. It was probably the most amusing thing in the store at the moment.

"Keep one hundred of that for yourself." he said, noticing Ai walk over. Of course, she began instructing him about the different prices on the various items that the bakery sold. Aside from Truffle, which Takeru had never purchased before, he already knew the pricing and found each of them to be as what he remembered. He was a regular here, after all. When she finished, Takeru spoke up before Kenji could.

"You know, not only do I come here to eat often, but I typically take walks around here. But I don't recognize your new employee." his glance shifted over to the young man and he was still smiling. "Did you just move here, perhaps? Ah, but I probably should not keep you too long. What with your work and all."

Kenji gave a grateful smile to the blue-haired person he was lucky to have as his first customer. He even gave a tip! Ai, having noticed Kenji's faltering, came over and explained the price of each item to him. He was about to ask Ai a question when he was interrupted, although he was willing to let it slide. The guy gave him a tip, after all.

"Well, if you want to talk, you could just wait around until my shift's over, if you have the time," he replied. "Oh, and... I'm Kenji. Pleased to meet you." When the amiable customer had gone to take his seat, Kenji knew exactly what question he had for Ai.

"So... how long would my shift be, anyway?" he asked his boss. Felt kinda weird, thinking of her as his boss. Still, Kenji intended to work through the full shift. He just didn't want to keep the guy waiting for too long.

"So... how long would my shift be, anyway?" Kenji asked Ai. Ai then replied: "Mostly it only goes until 5 pm, so another three hours about." She sat down. "It depends sometimes. If business is slow, we might close early. But that rarely ever happens. Business is always good. Some people who come here are even from out of town. But anyways, when we are done here, I can go change and I can show you this great restaurant in town. Plus it would be nice to learn more about you and what you have done the past years we hadn't seen each other."

So it wouldn't be too long until the shift was over, then. Okay, three hours was a bit of a stretch to wait for, but when you're busy the time simply flies past, right? Hopefully that guy would still be here by then.

However, Kenji couldn't help but be interested in Ai's offer of showing him around town and catching up on things. It had been years since they'd seen each other, after all.

"Well, I certainly can't say no to that," said Kenji. "But first, I'll see if that guy over there is still here when our shift ends. I didn't catch his name. After that, well, we could definitely go out for dinner."

Time went by as they had many customers. Ai and Kenji did well as a team in the cafe. Ai felt that Kenji showed competence even for a newbie at the job. After a couple hours it was time to close. It was late afternoon but not exactly late as in an evening. "Okay Kenji. Let's wrap it up!" Ai said to Kenji. She turned the sign at the door around to "closed" and turned off the ovens. She grabbed a plate with her famous Prinzregententorte and hovered it in front of Kenji's face. "Here's a treat for your effort." She said and smiled. "Well I will go get changed. I will be back down in about half an hour." Ai went upstairs to take a shower and change.

Takeru Kagoshima

Takeru had enjoyed what he ordered and was about to leave when he saw an old friend. It had been quite some time since they had spoke face-to-face, as he moved to a different city, but there was a message he left Takeru about coming back sometime soon. Takeru just did not think it would be now. Because he knew the young man would be busy, Takeru was never able to leave the bakery, instead staying to chat with his old friend. They talked about many things, such as what each of them were doing now and reminiscing about childhood events. It was very fun to hear about those times again. However, time flies, and soon it appeared as though the shop was closing.

"Goodbye, bro." he said as his friend stood up and exited (after paying, of course).

"We'll speak later. Good seeing you."

So saying, he departed for good. Takeru smiled, happy to have met him. It was good to know he was still doing good as usual. Hopefully they would be able to catch up more often, as they had taken too long of a break from that in Takeru's opinion. But for now, it would seem as though that'd have to wait. With nothing else to do, Takeru got up and was heading for the door.