The cafe that Toru passes by everyday..

-everyday that he doesn't have a driver to take him, or everyday that he decides to ditch the driver and take the bus instead.

is buzzing with various activities on a usual weekday morning. The small corporate workers and students who come and go through the cashier ordering their favorite coffee blends, the fair few that chose to idle around and sit on the tables can be seen and heard.

Yet, Toru wandered past the cafe doors and walked to the parking lot beside it. He then went directly in front of a massive wall that was facing the streets. It has become his everyday habit to check that huge space and the writings on it. A certain hashtag that is.

The area was a supposed wall from a previous building beside the cafe which was recently torn down and made into the parking lot. For some reason the owner left that wall standing and painted it white, then asked his customers to write their thoughts and musings. Thus, it became a Freedom Cafe Wall.

While others have lover's lock and screaming colorful post its, this one has a freedom wall where one can even draw on and even take pictures with it as background. It instantly became an attraction. Come to think of it, Toru only started keeping tabs on the wall since that day, he saw one particular hashtag.

Twas that one rare occasion that he rode a bus towards their studio since his car broke down. He stepped down from the bus and decided to walk the few blocks leading to their studio. So with his steady, slow but long strides, he walked like he doesn't care. He walked while unknowingly capturing a few people's attention, specially the ladies, since he totally looked like a ramp model.

He even whistled a tune, when unconsciously he made a side glance at the glaring wall with lots of colorful writings on it. What caught his interest and attention was a childish drawing of an umbrella with a skull design on it. Though the skull was like a work of a five year old, he remembered his missing black umbrella. So, he came closer and read the huge word beside it in all caps- #CHIVALRY. Below it says, is not dead... #umbrellaguy thanks <3

This fellow must have loved hashtags and was definitely not an artist. Toru laughed out loud. He was so amused, he picked up a blue marker with all the intention to write a reply. With a smart reply in mind, he smirked- and if any one could only see that smirk on a handsome face like his, they would swoon. Luckily, he was alone and no one to hear him laugh on his own.

One can think of thousands of prints for an umbrella, but what are the odds that this one has a skull on one panel, and was given to someone else as a “chivalrous' gesture? He can bet his blond hair that 80% of any probability you can think of, will point to him as the hashtag umbrella guy. The skull was a dead give away.

With a smile now plastered on his face, he drew a line from the word chivalry and wrote “-is barely breathing” and wrote a taunt for the girl to respond. If he is right, he'll find out soon if there will be a reply.

He suddenly felt excited and wondered if the girl will really respond.

And respond she did.. 

Toru's walk to memory lane was halted, when he saw the wall. It was now filled with doodles, markings, quotes, a lot of Karen was here, Ren was here and a lot of names telling the world they were here. Quite a portion of the wall now has this hashtag-turned-heated-conversation between a certain umbrella guy and chivalry-believing girl.

#CHIVALRY
is not dead
#UmbrellaGuy Thanks<3

is barely breathing
give me back my umbrella

hmpf how do I know its yours?

ask that from your anime backpack #returnitHayaku

IS DEAD LONG DEAD!!
Tell me where you are and Ill shove it down your throat! #killmode

HA! You just want to see me *wink*

aaaaaaaarrrrrrghhhh

what is your problem? I saved you.

I'd rather suffer from my colds than be grateful to you. Baka!

I got the colds too, so you should pay me back Feisty Rain Girl.

I DID NOT Tell you to lend me your umbrella!!

You were asking for it when you soaked yourself DUH!

NOOOOOOOO

Toru laughed. For someone so poker-faced most of the time, he laughed and held his belly and continued laughing. Silly, why would anyone laugh at a prolonged “No”? 

Adorable. He cant help but think that.

He was just threatened by a skinny girl as if shes the biggest bully in town. She doesn't even reach his shoulders if ever they stand side by side. Then she has the guts to scream a No at him. If only she knows who he is. Toru shook his head lightly and chuckled. Before only his friends and his guitar amuses him, then comes this girl who stood out because she played in the rain, and is now threatening to shove his umbrella down his throat hahaha. 

“Unlike any other,” he thought.

“If I may be so bold..” He took a picture on that portion of the wall, picked up a pen and wrote..

 PAY ME BACK WITH YOUR BODY! HAHA

***

Late afternoon is Dhes' favorite time of to visit her favorite cafe which is just near her apartment. For her, it is very romantic to be sitting on a comfy, cushioned chair, sipping coffee, enjoying the lazy, mellow music from the cafe speakers, while watching the hustle and bustle of people in the afternoon. Or simply, sipping coffee while watching the pink and yellow sunset. This cafe happens to have a great view of the setting sun.

However, she recently has a new routine even before she orders her coffee. The wall. She was holding her black marker pen like a sword since she was preparing to wage a “word” war on an unseen enemy. And their battleground is the Freedom Wall.

Dhes briskly walked towards the cafe parking lot and faced the messy white wall. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Shes doing this because for sure she will be flushed with annoyance once again, after she reads whatever her umbrella savior wrote for her.

Sigh!

She still won't accept that he who was replying to her is the umbrella guy. Who can blame her when she suffered a minor heartbreak when her chivalrous, mysterious and handsome umbrella guy was rapidly becoming a jerk in her eyes. She denied it multiple times in her head but with him calling her skinny, rain girl and mentioning about her anime back pack always brings her back to high probability that he is in fact the owner of skull umbrella.

She opened her eyes and blew the air that she was holding. The first thing she noticed, however was not the reply of her opponent. What she saw rather were  comments, and reactions surrounding her wall conversation with umbrella guy. Jerk umbrella guy.

    -What s ds? Y dont u guys just date already.
    -You guys are so cute..
    -Give back his umbrella and ask him out. GO GiRL!
    -Dude just ask her out already.. Man up!

And a few to ever more ridiculous ones like...

    -Kiss! Kiss!
-OMG! You two should meet and make babies.
-Anime girl and umbrella guy. FTW

With even nasty ones..

    Get room!
    -This is not a chatroom!
    -So lame. Lame.. lame..
    -Old folks should not fight here. Use twitter!

Dhes laughed at the last one. While everyone has digital walls on their twitters and timelines on their Facebooks, they were childish enough to be bickering on a literal wall. She was engrossed with battling and anticipating the responses of her enemy she forgot to notice that their conversation is visible to everyone.

She wonders how the world sees their little word battle? She was a bit shocked that people find it romantic. Two bickering strangers fighting over an umbrella. She giggled. She just realized that if ever she was a different person and happens to find a conversation like this on a wall, she would most likely ship and pair up the two. She would then wish them rainbows and unicorns for their love story to blossom.

With a new perspective, and with umbrella guy back on her endearing list instead of the jerk list, she re-read the entire wall chat starting from the word CHIVALRY.

The words are now a bit faded and smaller words and drawings are crowding over it, but she can still read through the entire chat. 

When she reached the end and her eyes saw the last piece of message from the bottom of the conversation, Dhes screamed in her head. She had the urge to flip one of the tables from the cafe or kick the wheels on one of the cars parked there.

Pay him back with my body?!!

What?!

So much about shipping us, so much about old-school romantic message-in-the-wall love story. She wants to choke the guy.