sorry, but i need that!

Clink, clink.

The bell of a certain coffee shop clinked as a brown haired young man walked inside. It was a rather ordinary café; not too big in size, and overall cozy and warm. The smell of coffee penetrates the air as he looked around. He could feel the gazes of people around him, but he ignored them as he knew those were harmless gazes after all – at least, it should be. No ordinary humans – apart from some Border members, though those people he’d rather not call normal – should know that he, Hyuse, was a person from Aftokrator.

A sigh escaped his lips as he remembered why he’s there in the first place: Youtarou had forcefully brought him out to walk around with Raijinmaru – Youtarou’s pet – but now, thanks to Youtarou and his pet’s sudden disappearance, Hyuse’s lost and this café, as far as he saw, is the only place one could sit around and wait in. After all, the only thing he could do was wait until (hopefully) Youtarou realized he’s not there and went to search for him. Just in case, Hyuse sat on the seat by the glass wall so that he could be spotted easily.

“May I take your order, sir?”

Just as he thought he’d gotten a moment of relaxation for himself, a rather high pitched voice came from beside him. He immediately turned his head to see a waitress shyly looking at him, with a note in hand. Uninterested, he looked down to his table to see the café’s menu. He could feel the waitress’ rather fierce stare on him.

...He didn’t know any of the things on the menu, though.

Ah, tea sounds nice. Don’t they always pour some tea for him back in the Tamakoma Headquarters?

Hyuse quietly wondered why they didn’t have taiyaki on the menu. Everything but tea sounded outlandish to him.

Espresso?

Macchiato?

Cafe Latte?

“…Tea, please,” said Hyuse finally, after having a mental quarrel with himself. Better safe than sorry, that’s one of the things he’d learned, being a soldier of Aftokrator (no, he won’t call himself an ex-soldier. He’s still a faithful man of Aftokrator, after all). Let’s not try anything funny.

"Would you like it hot or cold?"

After a few moments of pondering, Hyuse curtly replied, "...Hot."

“Is there anything else I can help you with?” she asked again, this time with a smile. Hyuse couldn’t understand why this person kept staring at him, even when he’s only looking at the menu. Is this normal in Meden?

Hyuse shook his head, and he again he looked outside the glass. The waitress merely said, please wait a moment, before she left, and Hyuse missed the look of disappointment on her face.

Suddenly, quite suddenly, he heard a ruffling sound, and turned his head around only to see a woman, perhaps of the same age as Jin? sitting in front of him.

He didn’t recall he’d given her any permission to do that, though.

***

You looked around the café you frequent in panic as you realized your laptop’s battery was in the red. You were in the middle of doing an online exam – God, how you hated these kind of exams – when suddenly your laptop let out a soft beep sound, notifying you of its near demise.

“Oh no, no, no no!”

You couldn’t afford to mess this one up, no! Your teacher had specifically told your class that each of you can only access the test once, so make sure you do it after you have made sure of everything… and now this? You so totally don’t want to fail this class.

A plug, a plug, I need a plug…! How could there be none over here?!

You looked at every walls, every corners of the café, and yet nothing… until your eyes landed on the wall beside the seat by the glass. You did a victory pose and quickly gathered your belongings… only to realize that on that seat, a certain brown haired young man wearing a hoodie is sitting alone.

Oh, he looks so attractive...

Realizing what you were thinking just now, you immediately pinched your own cheeks. THIS IS NOT THE TIME FOR THAT, ME!

Beep.

Another beeping sound of dread rang in your ears. Good thing you set the volume down to low, or else everyone would be staring at you by now.

“No, no, no, no!” You panicked, “My lovely laptop, my partner for years now, hang in there! I’ll recharge you soon, so please hang in there!”

You needed that damn plug and you’re not going to fail a class just because a certain intimidating, attractive young man was sitting just by the plug. He looked like he’s in a daze, though, so after gathering your belongings, you immediately moved without as much as a word to him.

Plugging in your laptop and seeing it charging brings you relieve as you let out the breath you didn’t even realize you were holding. Safe, for now.

Overcome with a sense of relieve, you looked up… only to see that attractive young man looking at you strangely.

Ooh, boy. There’s going to be a lot of explaining involved.

***

“U-uh, hello there,” the young woman in front of Hyuse squeaked out as she looked at him awkwardly. Her cheeks were beet red – perhaps due to embarrassment – and it took her everything to look straight at his face.

Hyuse couldn’t help but to feel his interests piqued. At first she was panicking, and then she looked relieved, and now this? What a busy Meden creature.

“I, uh, I’m sorry! I’m sorry for suddenly sitting here…! Is this seat taken?” She said, with a voice louder than necessary. Hyuse once again felt the gazes of people on them.

Contemplating on whether or not he should answer vocally or just nod, Hyuse ended up with a short: “It’s fine,” and continued looking at the fidgeting young woman.

“I know it’s rude and all but I really need to recharge this,” at that she pointed down to her laptop, “I’m in the middle of a really important online exam and my battery’s in the red, so I have to recharge it. It just so happens that the only plug in this café is the one attached to this wall, so…”

She pointed at the wall beside Hyuse. He looked down, and indeed, it was there.

“…So yeah,” She said, and then she put her hands together in front of her, sat up, and bowed down, “Sorry for the rudeness!”

Hyuse replied with a curt ‘yes’. Truthfully, it was because he didn’t know what else he has to say. This is the first time he’s ever had this kind of weird meeting, after all.

The girl gave a relieved sigh and smiled.

…Hyuse would be lying if he said he didn’t find her cute.

“I’ll be going back to finish my exam, okay—“ she said, but then she stopped abruptly, “I just noticed I haven’t introduced myself yet!”

She introduced herself, and Hyuse did the same out of courtesy.

“Hyuse-san, then! I’ll finish this exam, and if by then you’re still here, can we talk more?” she asked, faint red tinting her cheeks, “I mean, it’s okay if you don’t want to! You know, I just think—“

“Okay,” Hyuse interrupted her, as he looked out through the glass again.

He didn’t miss the bright smile the girl gave him though: after all, he’d steal glances at her every once in a while.

…Also, truthfully, he's starting to hope Youtarou gets back to him later than he initially wanted.

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