Oh god, I thought I'd never get this done.
Order 7.3: Tonkatsu Blues
The noontime rush was at its end, and by the time afternoon began, Cafe Ricori had a handful of patrons left, some of them already there since morning and were just hanging out. The staff did not mind though; the cafe was a place to enjoy and relax, not eat and run.
Taking advantage of the lull that came over the shop was our favorite trio of waiters, who had decided that the table of a certain hooded girl was a good place to lounge around, much to the girl's immense displeasure.
"D'aww, Uha-chan's so cute! Hey, hey, I think they're looking at me." crooned Haru, earning a snort from Ruka. Both were resting their backs against the wall, eyes roaming the cafe in search of something interesting to comment on or make fun of. Currently, their subject of interest was a small group of young giggling girls over at table 6 shooting shy glances at their direction.
"You only say that because she has an obvious crush on you." Ruka remarked snidely. The ikemen next to him brushed his snarkiness off and sent the girls his winning smile and flirtatious wink. A killer combination on most days, but strangely enough, today was not one of them.
"That's odd." muttered Haru to himself, a bit miffed by the lack of swooning that usually followed. "It always works."
"Silly rabbit," Ruka scoffed and casually flipped his fabulous mane, the smug smirk spreading across his godlike features only serving to upset the genki charmer even further, "They're looking at me."
Had this been a Mastercard commercial, the look on Haru's face would have been priceless.
"Curse you and your--your Ruka-ness!"
The grin on Ruka's face grew even more maddening.
"Why thank you, Maria."
Unable to form a comeback--or any coherent response whatsoever, the flabbergasted and flustered Haru resorted to blowing a raspberry.
"Remind me again why all of you are here?" Mayu hissed angrily. The sprightly little man beside her grinned.
"I can totally see why you like this spot," marveled Yuu, "You get a nice view of everyone here. Especially her." he added slyly. "Say, how come you didn't follow them out?"
Mayu stared long and hard at Yuu. "I am not a stalker." That, she was still a little wary of her friend. Rarely had she fully believed Yuko-san and her friends' often fantastical tales of their old yankee lives, but somehow, judging from their initial reactions when the stranger--Matsui Rena was her name, the mouse had just learned; maybe she could do some research later--entered, perhaps this Gekikara character was someone to look out for.
She would never say that out loud though.
"Geki's not so scary--at least not anymore." Yuu spoke again, making Mayu's frown deepen. It irked the hooded girl sometimes how...two-faced the damn squirrel was; Yuko-san was a fun-loving, perverted fool, but she was also surprisingly perceptive--the way she could see through her often frightened Mayu.
"So says the one who shouted 'Apology accepted!' from across the room."
"Shut yer trap Sayaka!"
Ruka stuck his tongue out playfully. "And it's Rena now, not Gekikara."
"Meh. I'm sticking to Gekikara." retorted the squirrel, "'Sides, did ya see her go through that hotpot? 'Kirin's eyes went wider than usual."
"Level fifteen." Ruka shook his head in bewilderment. "I can't believe Churi actually complied."
"I know right?" Yuu laughed merrily, swinging his legs. "Anyway, I'm glad we're all good now, amends and all. Right, Sae?"
Haru, still chagrined that he had been one-upped earlier, replied with a surly grunt. Ruka snickered at his friend's grumpy response before a distressed puppy caught his attention.
"Can't say the same for Jurina though."
~~~
Jun slumped dejectedly at Kumi and Yuria's table, the ramifications of his little stunt earlier with Rena-sensei finally hitting him full force when the teacher left the cafe with Kirin-san a short while ago, but not without sending surreptitious glances at him the entire time.
"How can I show my face at school tomorrow?" He wailed and buried his head in his arms. Yuria snickered and patted his back with little sympathy while Kumi choked on the hot chocolate she was drinking.
"Just be your normal sensei-watching self," croaked Kumi in between coughs and wheezes, "You're actually good at the whole not-getting-noticed-by-her shtick."
"Well she'll definitely notice me now." Jun raised his head and replied with a glare. "You have no idea how awkward it was to serve her meal."
Goofy grins appeared on his friends' faces. "You totally lost your swag back there. Y-y-your melonp-p-pan, R-r-r-rena-ojousama!" mimicked Yuria in a teasing way. The pair roared with laughter.
"Oh shut up." Jun growled, cheeks set ablaze like a forest fire. "And don't use that silly western slang! It's weird." He retorted weakly.
Kuumin's brilliant orb shimmered with playfulness. "Would it make you feel better if I said you were NG?"
Jun whimpered and slammed his forehead on the table.
~~~
Kai slid the empty tray to Mario and unceremoniously plopped himself down on the bar stool next to Haruna.
"Can I take a break? I'm beat." He asked, stretching his short arms in from him then resting his head on the countertop. "Hiya!" The model beside him gave his neck a fond little karate chop. The blond grinned blithely.
"And why, pray tell, should I give permission?" Mario returned Kai's question with another one, though both of them already knew the answer.
"Because Ruka, Haru, and Yuu were a bunch of cowards and left me and Jun all alone during lunch hour." The midget said out loud, enough for the other waiters to hear him.
"Sorry Takai-nii." The trio hollered back without a hint of remorse.
"Bastards."
A small smile appeared on Mario's face. "Alright, You can have lunch. Churi's a little free now."
"Sweet!" Kai got off the bar stool and trotted to the kitchen. Before he entered, he paused for a moment and turned to Mario. "About the new customer. What was that all about?"
"Go ask Airi-san. She knows better than I do. " The boss replied, waving him away. "Now shoo."
The midget simply grinned again and disappeared to Churi's lair, leaving Mario and Haruna in a silence that was always comfortable between them.
"That was unexpectedly cute." Haruna remarked lightly, becoming silent for a second and went back to her PSP. The cafe owner chuckled and returned to his coffeemaking. Maybe the thought of being reunited with her precious katsudon turned Takamina into a moeblob.
~~~
"Monster."
"Hmph."
"Traitor."
"You brought this upon yourself."
Airi clutched her chest in a melodramatic manner, as though she was shot through the heart. "Ah, you wound me, Takayanagi. To think that I would be betrayed by the likes of you."
Akane rolled her eyes at Airin's theatrics and went over to the artist, giving her a light swat on the arm. As if dealt a mortal wound, Airi doubled over and put on a mask of excrutiating pain, drawing out a snort from the chef.
"Churi-saaaan!" Kai's voice boomed throughout the kitchen as he rushed headlong to the pair like an excited child, hurriedly taking off his wig and reverting to Takahashi Minami. "One bowl of katsudon plea--You look like crap, Airi-san."
"Eh? Do I now?" The otaku looked down at her rumpled clothing and ran a hand through her hair. "Huh. I do. Jurina roughed me up real good."
"Mariko-sama told me you could explain to me about, you know, earlier. " Spoke the midget nonchalantly as she and Airi settled down at the kitchen counter. Akane had gone off to the refrigerator to get the breaded pork cutlet and eggs. The cook learned early on that when it came to Minami, it was far more convenient to have tonkatsu at the ready rather than making them from scratch.
"Ehh? Did she now? So she did." came Airi's lazily reply as she combed her fingers through her bedraggled hair, a grin quickly forming when the girl next to her chuckled. "Where do I start? Did Jurina ever tell you about a teacher named Rena?"
Takamina gazed up at the ceiling in thought. " I think so. It was ages ago though, I think."
"Well, you see.."
~~~
"Nyaro, Kayo's holding a barbeque later. Are you free?"
"Mm." Haruna nodded, glancing up at the slightly anxious face of her best friend. "I have nothing scheduled until Wednesday."
Mario smiled briefly and gazed down at his iPhone, nimble thumbs swiftly typing down his reply to their friend. It had been a while since Nyaro actually went out with him (and their other friends of course) and not just spend her free time at the cafe. He could not help but be a tad bit giddy.
"Yo, Mariko-sama." Ruka's voice called out. The barista looked back up again to find his three musketeers settling themselves in front of his counter.
"What brings you three to my domain?" inquired Mario in a joking manner, discreetly eyeing the squirrel about to pounce on Haruna. Yuu, apparently sensing that Mario-sama was watching and was not quite pleased, opted to just sit beside Nyannyan like a good boy and watch her play Monster Hunter with sparkling eyes, lest he be dragged away again by Boss-man.
"Eh, Watanabe-san kicked us out," Ruka answered with a shiver, and Haru and Yuu followed suit.
The mouse could be fucking terrifying when she wanted to.
"She's still a customer, you know, despite however familiar you guys may be with her," chided Mario with a gentle tone. He glanced curiously at the uncharacteristically silent Haru sulking at the side. "What's wrong with Sae?"
A wicked grin appeared on Ruka's face as he wrapped an arm around the glaring Haru.
"I stole Haru's fangirls away."
"It was so just a fluke." Haru pouted and crossed his arms. Finally feeling sorry for the no-longer-smooth operator, Ruka hooked his arm around Haru's and laid his head on the grumpy ikemen's shoulder, though he was still grinning.
"Ne, gomen ne?"
After several long seconds of more glaring, Haru gruffly put his head on top of Ruka's, grumbling incoherently.
Mario watched the scene before him in bemusement and began to wonder: if two girls dressed up as men, acted as men and became a pair, was it yuri or yaoi?
Yaoi?
Yuri?
Yaori?
(Jurina would've been proud of that one.)
The sudden message tone of his phone broke Mario out of his philosophical thoughts. He picked it up, expecting it to be a reply from Kayo. To his mild surprise, it was not his friend.
A beatific smile graced his small face as he read the contents of the mail.
"Something the matter, Mariko-sama?" asked Haru, no longer in a bad mood. Mario shook his head. "It's nothing."
"Right, and this is the first time we've ever seen that look on your face."
Before Mario could come up with a witty reply, he caught sight of Sashihara-san trying to catch their attention.
"You mind going to Sashihara-san's table?"
"What?" Haru quickly glanced behind him. "Oh. Oi, Sayaka, let go." He began nudging Ruka away. The raven-haired looked up at him with puppy dog eyes.
"You forgive me?"
"Bugger off!"
~~~
It would be a lie to say that Rino was not slightly disappointed that it was not Ruka-sama that came to her table. Oh well. There was always a next time, right?
"Something you need, Sashihara-san?" asked Haru with a sweet smile that always proved irresistable, and Sasshi could not help but blush a bit.
"Um, my bill please." She replied as she began packing her netbook away.
Haru gave her a light bow. "Of course."
It was at that moment the door chime rang, and a hush fell over the cafe, followed immediately by loud squealing from the girls at table 6. Haru and Rino turned their heads to the entrance.
"On second thought," Rino quickly reached for her netbook after several seconds of stunned silence, "Can I get another caffe mocha instead?"
~~~
"...And don't tell Jurina, okay?
Takamina nodded slowly as she chewed on her mouthful of--you guessed it--katsudon. "Gacha. Sho. Foamer hankey huh?". She mused. "Wow." Our little waiter held a pensive expression on her face and took another morsel. "Ish like...shumshin' fom a manhwa."
"I know right?" Airi chortled, very much entertained by the way Minami's cheeks puffed up as she continued gorging herself. Churi was not kidding when she told her the midget absolutely adored katsudon. "You really love that stuff, don't you?"
"Eating that 'stuff' is like reaching nirvana for her, ne Takamina-san?" Akane giggled as Minami gave her the happiest smile in the world.
Airi stared in admiration at the growing stack of bowls at Minami's side of the counter. "I'm just amazed you can fit so much in that little body."
Veins popped up on the Takamina's head. "Who are you calling shorty?!" She snarled, a grain of rice falling from her mouth.
The otaku, on the other hand, was utterly delighted with Minami's resemblance to another midget.
"KYAA!"
"What the hell...?" Airi and Akane scooted over to the order-up window, and Minami followed them shortly (no pun intended), a new bowl of katsudon in hand. But what she saw nearly made her drop it, for Maeda Atsuko and Itano Tomomi were holding an impromptu handshake event with fangirling customers. Airi began babbling excitedly.
"HolycrapholycrapIneedtomakeathreadNOW!"
On the other side of the window, Mario turned to Minami and gave the short girl the trollish grin that she had long grown paranoid of.
"Get your wig back on, Takai-nii."
Fucking shit.
~~~
Seeing two former AKB members--and insanely popular ones at that--in the cafe made Kumi let out a long, impressed whistle.
"Uwaa~ You really weren't joking back then, were you?"
"Of course not." Jun perked up with a miniscule grin, his little dilemma regarding Rena-sensei temporarily forgotten due to the unexepected arrival of the graduates. "I told you she said she'd bring Tomochin next time."
Poor Takai-nii.
"Today has such perfect timings, huh?" Yuria laughed and waggled her eyebrows at Jun. The puppy immediately realized what she meant and scowled.
Temporarily forgotten indeed.
~~~
His shaky fingers hastily making clumsy last minute adjustments to his blond wig, Kai sneakily stuck his head out and found Maeda and Itano already seated at the table nearest the coffee counter, chatting in earnest with Mario and Haruna. To his horror, Maeda turned her head his way and broke out into that captivating sunny smile that made him freeze in place. To make things even worse, she called out to him, waving a hand enthusiastically.
"Takamina!"
Kami-sama, why?
Breathing in and out deeply in a final futile effort to calm himself down, Kai ventured forth, the few-meters-away walk to the accursed table lasting like a eternity. Finally he halted in front of the still smiling actress and the J-pop artist and model with an unreadable expression.
It was then, as he stood there with reddening cheeks, fidgeting under the scrutinizing gaze of Itano Tomomi, that he became overly conscious of the fact that the entire cafe had gone completely silent, save for the snickers of his coworkers who were conveniently busying themselves with whatever the hell they were doing. Bastards.
Itano suddenly chuckled, her fang peeking out of her trademark duck lips.
"You're right, Acchan. She is kinda cute."
"I know right?"
Maeda joined in Itano's laughter, and Kai went redder than a fully ripe tomato, his dignity ready for harvesting. They talked about him? He and Maeda barely even knew each other. What the hell was there to talk about?
Eventually their giggles died down, and the old Ace of AKB grinned up at the blushing blond, who found himself lost in her shining eyes.
At this rate, the blood vessels on his cheeks ought to be bursting any minute now.
~~~
Meanwhile, back in the kitchen, Akane was pleasantly occupied with watching Airin frantically frisk herself for her phone while looking out the kitchen window with a large grin on her face.
"I've never seen you this interested in 3D before."
The otaku cackled. "Of course I love 2D more than anything else--a-aside from you of course," Airi quickly added after seeing the dark glare forming on the bird-lover, "But for this occasion, I shall make an exception." She let out a loud "Aha!" when she finally found her phone.
"Hey Churi, what's the wifi password? "
"I am awesome."
"I know you are, dear, but what's the password?"
Akane tilted her head in bemusement. "I am awesome. No space. All lowercase."
Airi blinked. "Seriously?"
The chef shrugged. "It's Mariko-sama's router."
"...Huh."
Opting not to say anything further--it wasn't like she could argue with that reasoning anyway, Airi went online and onto 2ch, about to create new thread--though to her astonishment, one was already made, and it was growing fast.
"Cafe-ota is here?!"
~~~
[10:12] Maeda is back in the cafe \(^o^)/
1. 2013/12/01(日) 13:32:18.06 ID:Dsx25EEk0
Cafe-ota here. Surprise, facial center brought Itano along www
2. 2013/12/01(日) 13:32:30.35 ID:bQL8ATQz0
So they made a little side trip after the theater then
3. 2013/12/01(日) 13:32:40.42 ID:E6pQJvm5O
nice timing cafe-ota
4. 2013/12/01(日) 13:32:46.38 ID:AEAwkjJMO
great, now I won't be so bored here anymore
5. 2013/12/01(日) 13:33:11.32 ID:9lnhxFtS0
you wouldn't be so bored if you went outside once in a while, you shut-in ww
6. 2013/12/01(日) 13::33:19.19 ID:JG2BL3aZ0
>>2
w-wait, they went to the theater?! (ノ ゜Д゜)ノ ︵ ┻━┻
7. 2013/12/01(日) 13:33:27.92 ID:WerQC8kO0
So how's blondie wwwwww
8. 2013/12/01(日) 13:33:39.93 ID:tqzUka2U0
>>6
team A's performing later. I think they visited during rehearsals
9. 2013/12/01(日) 13:33:45.73 ID:wlkUTima0
Blondie's in the kitchen. Wait. She's going out now. She looks really nervous wwww
10. 2013/12/01(日) 13:34:33.96 ID:d9U6IsPQ0
poor blondie www
11. 2013/12/01(日) 13:34:47.03 ID:QpNpBcbQ0
this must be the part in which the best friend secretly evaluates the heroine's love interest for the first time www
12. 2013/12/01(日) 13:35:07.03 ID:ievNceU40
You watch too many romantic comedies
~~~
Airi searched far and wide for Cafe-ota in the comfort of the kitchen, until there, just seated so near the graduates' table was a plain, rather unremarkable looking girl typing on her netbook with a frenzy that could rival a stenographer in a fast paced court trial, all while sending quick, discreet glances at Blondie and the two ex-idols.
The girl paused and raised her head, looking around as if sensing that someone was watching her. By chance, her eyes and Airi's met, and the otaku clenched her right fist and brought it up to her chest, the other arm placed behind her. Cafe-ota returned the gesture with a solemn nod and went back to reporting for VIP.
Anons have a strange sense of solidarity.
~~~
Taking the order of two famous people was probably one of the most nerve-wracking moments in Kai's life, next to being harassed by customers on his first day of work and finding out he had practically taken Maeda-freaking-Atsuko out on a date unwittingly. It certainly wasn't helping that Maeda-freaking-Atsuko was one of the famous people whose table he was waiting.
Thankfully enough, the silence that enveloped the shop earlier had dissipated, the usual ambient noise of slightly hushed talk and giggles finally returning--though Kai had a sneaking suspicion of what the murmuring was all about.
But for now, onto business.
"We're not going to bite, you know." Maeda snickered, visibly entertained by Kai's visible nervousness. "We're here to eat too."
"Ano," Itano piped up, "Mariko-san told us you guys have danso names. What's yours?"
He turned his head sharply at Mario and sent him a hellish glare straight from the depths of Tartarus (to which the barista returned with an angelic smile, the bastard), before forcing himself to grin.
"I-it's Kai, Itano-san."
"But we call him Takai-nii!"
JU.RI.NA!
It took Itano a moment before finally getting the joke. Afterwards she tried muffling her laughter behind her hands and ended up snorting instead. This, in turn, made Maeda fall into a giggling fit as well.
Oh Kami-sama, why was this happening to him?
"Can I please just take your orders?" Kai cried out, unable to deal with the anxiety anymore.
"Hai, hai." The actress wiped away stray tears and exhaled with a smile, crinkling nose and all.
"Here's what we'll have..."
~~~
35. 2013/12/01(日) 13:39:56.67 ID:jVOuQSQb0
ΣΣ(ﾟдﾟlll)
36. 2013/12/01(日) 13:40:00.90 ID:VYQ1rzzw0
you're kidding right?
37. 2013/12/01(日) 13:40:03.97 ID:r3hKBzso0
What do you mean they're ordering practically the whole menu
38. 2013/12/01(日) 13:40:16.86 ID:QosdlKX90
Because they did. They're ordering a lot.
39. 2013/12/01(日) 13:40:35.25 ID:QosdlKX90
maeda and itano both have legendary appetites. it's a well known fact among wotas ww
40. 2013/12/01(日) 13:40:50.37 ID:VYQ1rzzw0
Do you think they can beat Gal Sone www
41. 2013/12/01(日) 13:41:01.95 ID:VYQ1rzzw0
Blondie must be in a state of shock ww
42. 2013/12/01(日) 13:41:10.96 ID:vUTP0pcO0
She went pale wwwwwwwwwwwwww
43. 2013/12/01(日) 13:41:26.78 ID:fMUW75Jh0
uwaaa poor blondie ( ´△｀) www
44. 2013/12/01(日) 13:41:35.80 ID:SXkVCGPKP
>>40
Gal Sone is a whole other level w
45. 2013/12/01(日) 13:41:55.92 ID:VMz/ACgC0
Blondie's probably worrying about how to pay the meals for later dates ww
46.2013/12/01(日) 13:42:14.01 ID:xtVQkXIA0
Nah, Maeda should pay. she's loaded wwwww
47. 2013/12/01(日) 13:42:35.02 ID:L1dYHv6h0
>>45
>>46
Oi, oi. this is just the third meeting
48. 2013/12/01(日) 13:42:43.96 ID:rwdYBesA0
I wish you guys could've seen the look on Blondie's face wwww
49. 2013/12/01(日) 13:42:50.33 ID:zUMVPUIi0
this thread again? i can't believe you guys are still stalking them
50. 2013/12/01(日) 13:43:01.56 ID:TR9kEykm0
To those who are saying that Atsuko Maeda is ugly, can you still call her that after seeing these pictures?
~~~
"And all that happened yesterday?!"
"For the last time Miichan, yes."
Mariko watched, mildy amused, as Miichan glared at the ceiling in frustration.
"Why does all the fun stuff happen when I'm not around?!"
~Part 3 no owari~
Woo! Ch. 7 is done!
Don't worry Miichan, I have plans for you, but in the very distant future...
Topic: Tales from the Danso Cafe - chapter 7 (30/01/2014) (Read 33380 times)