Chapter 5-Ninomiya’s POV

The sound of an alarm clock wakes me up as I reach out to stop it.

“Ahh… I’m so sleepy…” I mutter as I yawn and stretch my back. I usually find it easy to wake up but I drank too much yesterday and my head still hurts from all the alcohol. Yesterday, Ma-kun opened a welcome home party for Sho-chan.

Ma-kun doesn’t like making the customers feel bad by calling his relatives to his restaurant all the time and treating them differently, so he only tells people he is very close with about the restaurant.

I’ve heard the name “Sho-chan” a lot of times from him before and this was the first time he chartered the restaurant for someone so I knew that Ma-kun trusted him very much. When I actually met him, he was very smart and he was a very funny person who spoke with the same kindness as Ma-kun.

And the other person…Ohno-san.

He played with Ma-kun before, but they both forgot each other’s faces. I thought that “Sho-chan” was coming alone and he wasn’t contributing in the conversation at first so I thought that I wouldn’t be able to get on well with him, but when he talked about my performance, he spoke fluently and I was very surprised. 

I don't really like it when people praise me. It reminds me of my childhood when I tried my best to get good grades in order to impress my aunt and uncle and I remember them praising me but I never felt glad about it. But for some reason, I liked Ohno-san’s words from yesterday. I don’t know if it’s because of his unique atmosphere or because he spoke about his feelings honestly, I felt really happy about him praising me. I didn’t feel like that for a really long time. I remember my conversation with Ohno-san as he left the store.

~ ~ ~

“Nino.”

“Yes?”

“The song you performed today… I want to hear it again. Can you sing it for me next time?”

“…Of course. Please come again. :)”

~ ~ ~

He smiled at me warmly after my response. If…if he really does come again, I want to hear stories about Ohno-san. I want to hear about what you like, what you do daily…anything about you. I want to know more about you. I don’t know why I am so interested in you, but I want to find out more about you.

“…Is it this time already?! Jun-kun is going to be so mad at me!” I was thinking too much and forgot about the time. I quickly washed my face, changed my clothes and rushed outside.

I work at a café that is close to my house, it doesn’t even take 5 minutes to walk there. I ran past the front door that had the old sign: “Rainbow” on it and dashed in through the back door.

“Just in time!” I shouted as I panted and just like I predicted, Jun-kun came out with a dull expression and looked at my direction.

“No, you’re just in time to be late for work”

“Good morning, Jun-kun.”

“Good morning. Did you wake up late? Your hair… :D” Oh no. I quickly reach up and feel my hair. Yep, it’s sticking out on the side.

“Well, I didn’t wake up that late… but I think I drank too much yesterday.”

“Yeah, you did wake up late!”

“Hey! What are you doing?” I was trying to change into my uniform but Jun-kun patted my head and messed up my hair.

“If you don’t do anything, everyone would see your hair sticking up. Stop moving.” Muttering under his breath, Jun-kun got some hair gel and started fixing my hair. It was scary to think about Jun-kun’s super hard hair gel being glued on to my head, but it would be even scarier to make Jun-kun angry so I stopped moving and let him do my hair.

Jun-kun gets angry and scolds me a lot but I know that most of the time, it’s because he worries and cares about me. A lot of people misunderstand him and think he’s mean and short tempered, but Jun-kun is very kind and I like him very much. If he realizes his mistake, he apologizes immediately and he works hard to try to understand other people’s feelings. So I don’t really mind hen Jun-kun gets mad and scolds me. I don’t mind, but it’s hard to talk to Jun-kun when he is in a bad mood so I try not to get him angry too much.

“Here, it’s done.”

“Thanks… oh my god, what is this?!” When I glanced at the mirror on the wall, I saw all of my hair sticking out in different directions… If a stylish person like Jun-kun had this hairstyle, it would look cool, but if I did it… it’s only awkward…

“Isn’t it good? I think it’s neat. It looks good on you.”

“Are you sure about that? You’re just lying.”

“I’m sure, I’m sure. :D Now, hurry up and get changed. :)” Jun-kun answered with a beaming smile. Oh well, it’s only for today and Jun-kun looks happy… so I guess it’s fine. I quickly changed into my white shirt and tied the black apron around my waist.

“Oh, Kazu, what happened? Your hairstyle is wild today. :D”

“Good morning.”

“Morning, Shingo-san. Jun-kun did it.”

“His hair was sticking out a lot so I helped him fix it.”

“Did you wake up late? Did you eat breakfast?” Shingo-san is the owner of the café and I have known him from when I was still a baby. We call him master because he is the master of this café. He was very good friends with my parents from when they were in school, so I am working here at his café.

“…I ate already.”

“Sure you did, Kazu. You’re so bad at lying.”

“I’ll warm up this toast, eat it.” I think Shingo-san might be a little bit over-protective, but I owe him a lot so I always listen to what he says. If he didn’t exist, I probably wouldn’t be here now… The warm toast and the coffee Shingo-san made me tastes very good.

I come to work here at 8 o’clock every morning so that we can open the store at 9 o’clock. Every morning, I start with this delicious cup of coffee, and I love my 10 minutes sitting here sipping my hot drink and listen to Jun-kun and Shingo-san talk. But today, I have to eat the toast so I wouldn’t be able to enjoy my coffee as much…

“Jun-kun, here. Have some toast, it’s very good.”

“No, you have to eat properly. You’re so skinny, you need to put on some weight.”

“But I want to drink my coffee! I already ate half of the toast… please?” Jun-kun stared at me for a while and then sighed.

“…Fine.” Jun-kun is very nice so he usually listens to me when I ask him to do something.

“Jun, you have a weak spot for Kazu. :)” Watching our conversation, Shingo-san put a warm smile on his face. His smile somehow reminded me of Ohno-san’s smile yesterday… Although Shingo-san is a lot older than Ohno-san, their smiles are oddly similar, and I can’t help being curious about Ohno-san.

“Master, you’re have a weak spot for Kazu as well.”

“You think?” I listened to their conversation quietly while I enjoyed my hot coffee.