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When she decided to resign from her previous job of being the head chef in a three Michelin star French restaurant at Ginza, many of her peers were freaking out. They were urging her to stay, trying to persuade her with the possibility of her working in even bigger restaurant overseas if she’s keep climbing the stair of career she’s doing now. The group of family who own that restaurant is, after all, also in possession of hundred chains of exclusive dining places all over the world.
But Francois never even regretted a second of what she’s doing now, working on her own small cafe and bakery on the street side near the exit stair of Ueno station. She handled everything in her café by herself, from cooking to cleaning and advertising and cashier and opening and closing the shop, and she made far less money, but it’s worth it –the freedom, mostly. Even with all the works, she still got more time now, lotsa more compared to when she’s in her previous job. She could create her own menu, she could experiment with whatever recipes of breads and cakes she think will be good tasting, she could enjoy a cup of tea now and then when the café was not that busy, while looking at the people passing by her café’s window, mostly tourist and students of nearby art university. There’s a big tree across the street in front of her café that changed colors according to season, signing her every now and then to think about things she could create for seasonal menu.
The frequent customers were also one of the biggest perks. Having such friendly and relaxing bond with her purchasers was something she never experienced working at the high-end restaurant. When she was a head chef, sometimes she would got called from the kitchen to visit a table because the customer wanted to meet her and complimented her directly. But it’ll be such a formal exchange of words, rather than light, comforting talk she’s having now and then with her café’s visitors. She’s now also so used in observing her customers from behind her cashier table that she’s almost expert in reading them.
She could tell more and less about what’s going on between two people sitting on the table in the corner now, for example. They never visited before –a pair of college-aged kids, a brunette boy with red-colored bandana who ordered a sandwich set with a cup of hot chocolate and a blonde girl with gleaming blue eyes, a slice of cherry pie and iced apple tea sitting on the table in front of her. Two of them looked as nervous as heck, they haven’t exchanged many words, only some stealing looks and small smiles with blushing cheeks.
Ah, they’re in the first date, aren’t they? Francois smiled to herself.
“So, Ruri, uh, let’s eat?” The boy finally looked up and grinning nervously. The girl nodded, adding while forking around her pie, “Y-yuzuriha-chan said, this café is good. It’s where she usually went with Taiju-kun…”
Brunette boy’s eyes lighted up as he took a bite at his sandwich, “Whoa, what is this?! The sandwich is so good!”
Francois smiled at the overheard genuine compliment. Thank you, I guess. A middle-aged office worker walked in and bought some breads, so Francois had to take her eyes off them for some good minutes, and when he left, she found that they’re already talking comfortably about the food, and now shifted to some other topics.
The boy gulped down his katsu sandwich and said, “I’m concerned about Yuzuriha and Taiju.”
“Eh, why?” The girl –her name was Ruri? –tilted her head in confusion.
“Not really about them, actually, rather…” He scratched side of his side, “About their other friend. Who’s always with them...”
“Oh, Senku-kun?”
“Yeah. Like they started as three buddies, then two of them are going out, I bet that’s a difficult situation.” Brunette boy folded his arm, “I always see he’s sticking with them, isn’t it… frustrating?” He started to blush and soften his voice, “W-When you’re going out, you want to have alone time with your l-lover, r-right–”
Ruri blushed too, and Francois almost sighed audibly. How far they could go with these kind of attitudes? She really didn’t expect this kind of pure couple still exists among teenagers nowadays.
“But, Chrome...” Ruri replied after a thought, “I think Yuzuriha and Taiju-kun are the one who don’t want to leave Senku-kun alone… Maybe they feel uneasy because three of them used to always be together.”
Chrome blinked, “Ah, so Senku is actually in a difficult situation, too.” He sipped on his mug, and added, “Maybe he actually doesn’t mind if they’re going out with just two of them, but Taiju and Yuzuriha are the one whose keep inviting him, aren't they?”
“Yeah. It’s difficult.” Ruri sighed, then she laughed softly, “The only way I think about is pairing Senku-kun with someone, don’t you think?”
Chrome scoffed, “That’s impossible. I remembered your story about how Yuzuriha said he had no interest at all in other things than his piano.”
“She said Senku’ll marry his piano if he had to marry someday.” Ruri laughed, “As expected to come out from the mouth of the genius pianist of our time.” Then she blinked as she took more look at Chrome and giggled, “Chrome, you had a mustache. From the cocoa!”
Chrome blinked back and flushed a little, “Oh, my bad –” His cheek grew even more bright when Ruri reached her hand to wipe off around his lips gently with a tissue.
“Thank you, Ruri.” Chrome said softly with a smile.
Young love is always the sweetest… Francois smiled and turned her way to the kitchen, thinking of preparing them a honey toast they could share as free service.
***
“So, Senku, if you’re stranded in an island, and you can only bring one stuff –”
“God, not that trash book again!” Senku groaned.
The previously talked about couple, Taiju and Yuzuriha, and their third-wheeling best friend Senku, were actually Francois’ frequent customers. They hang out there almost every day between classes or after class, doing assignments or just chilling out. They’re all art students, so Francois guessed Ruri and Chrome who visited three days ago must be one, too –Yuzuriha was in fashion design, Taiju was in product design, and Senku was the only one in music department, the so-called genius pianist.
“I don’t get why you’re still buying his books.” The beige-colored hair boy leered in disgust at the cover of book Yuzuriha’s now holding in her hand –featuring a photo of famous mentalist Asagiri Gen and a title of ‘Magic Way to Know Better About Yourself!’, “It’s all pseudo-science. Which –is not a real science.”
“You’re a pianist now, but you’re still always talking about science.” Taiju wondered.
“Music is science. Every musical instrument works thanks of science.” Senku smirked, “Anyway, I love both, I just love piano more.”
Taiju hummed, then grinned while scooted closer to his smaller friend, “Anyway, how’s your father with the vocal instructor, Lilian-sensei?”
“Ugh–” Senku grimaced, “Thanks God we got separate building with vocal department. How awkward it will be to meet a teacher at school after you bumped to her earlier that morning in your house kitchen, wearing your pop’s pajamas?”
“Oh God, that’s bad.” Yuzuriha couldn’t hold back her laughter either.
“Out of all women in the world, he just had to pick an instructor in my college. Why, Byakuya, you stupid old man.” Senku groaned, but clearly didn’t mind it that much –he’s exaggerating it playfully, and ended his sentence with a loop-sided grin, “I never saw him being so happy before, though.”
“Yeah, he’s sure take care of himself more.” Taiju nodded, “He looked younger and fitter last time I visited your house. You said he worked out?”
“He’s subscribed to a gym near his working place.” Senku rolled his eyes, “And he’s keeping pushing me to come with him, what the hell.”
Taiju put up a sad face while picking up Senku’s twiggy arm, “You indeed need some work out though, Senku.”
“The muscles I need more is only the ones in my brain.”
“Sounds like an excuse of being lazy.” Yuzuriha sneered with a giggle.
“Better than being fooled with this kind of book...” Senku picked up Asagiri Gen’s book from the table and turned it around, face’s back at leering, “And the trashy self-proclaimed mentalist who wrote it.”
Right at the end of Senku’s sentence, the bell of the door clinked, and someone walked in. He’s covered in brown long coat, dressed in black turtleneck and checkered gray pants, and was wearing a pair of sunglasses and a face mask –he could be anyone, if not for his striking white-and-black hair with a longer bang on right side, unruffled as he took off his black beanie hat.
Taiju and Yuzuriha exchanged excited glance, and Senku looked dumb-founded. Francois smiled at their reaction, as he greeted one of his other loyal customer, who was no other than that famous mentalist Asagiri Gen himself, “Gen-san, the usual?”
“Hello, Fran-chan!” Gen replied cheerfully, “Yes, a vanilla latte and apple cinnamon danish on the go, please? I’m so in hurry, but I craved for your bread so bad.” He looked at the glass display of today’s bread and cake, humming, “When will you make that carrot cake again?”
“I can make it for you next time you’re here.” Francois said in the middle of working on her coffee machine, “Sunday?”
“You’re an angel, Fran-chan~” Gen smiled. He was in the middle of looking more at the arrays of donuts and pie when Francois was back with his order, and whispered to him with a smile, “There’re your fans back there, you see? They got your book.”
Gen followed the eye gesture of Francois and ended up looking at a table near the window, where two kids was pretending to not looking and the other one was openly staring at him. He gave them a wink and a smile and shouted, “Thank you for reading my book!”. It made Taiju and Yuzuriha turned their head to his way now, watching Gen paying his order and walking out from the café.
“Woaaaah!” Yuzuriha blushed, holding back a squeal, “H-He’s so cool!”
“My heart is throbbing.” Taiju gulped, palm flat against his thundering chest, “It’s my first time seeing a celebrity that close.”
Senku was still staring at the closed door, only hummed “Hm, right.” as he turned his attention back at his friends.
“What, what happened?” Yuzuriha blinked confusedly at her now suddenly quiet friend.
“Nothing.” Senku mumbled, his eyes glancing secretly at the book now lying on top of the table.
***
Francois always knew that cooking is her passion, even since she’s a kid. Her family was big fans of making good food and eating them too, so culinary was a close childhood friend of her. Entering culinary school and working at the big restaurant deepened her love for it, but only now that she’s owning her own café she realized how her food could really connect people.
Chrome and Ruri now were more comfortable with each other, sharing a pie or a cake from same plate on weekend before going to other dating place –a habit surely started when she gave them a plate of honey toast to share at their first date.
She had some other favorite couples among her frequent customers. One of them was newlywed, a tall and buffed man with his equally tall and buffed wife, constantly bickering about mostly the judo class they teach, until their food came to the table and they will finally quieted down, talking softly about other stuff at home, and leave the place with their hands linked.
The other was a pair of cute tomboyish girl who suspiciously had striking resemblances with Ruri –only her blond hair was tied up high, and her way of talking was definitely more straight-forward –and a pretty-looking girl with sleek make up and well-treated black curly hair, who constantly insisted to do the blond a makeover. They’re not a couple until one day, Francois meddled a bit by giving them each a fortune cookie as café’s usual ‘free service’, consisting the message of ‘be more honest with your feelings’ and ‘you don’t know what you’re missing until it’s gone’ and next time they come again, they got matching flower pins on their hair.
So, really, she’s glad of how her café and her food creation could be the part of these couples’ stories. Her most favorite one though, ought to be one happened this morning. It’s another one of her loyal visitors, only this time without his usual couple besties. Senku walked into the store not long after Francois flipped the ‘OPEN’ sign on the glass door, face tired and he’s yawning. Looked like he stayed the night at campus –probably pulling all-nighter composing something.
“Take away for breakfast? Something to drink?” Francois offered.
The young man looked up, “If you have something really strong, I’ll take it.”
Francois noticed the dark circle around his eyes, “Black coffee?”
“That’ll do.” Senku nodded, and crouched down to eyeing the choices of freshly baked pastries and breads behind the glass display.
“Morning, Fran-chan!” Gen hurried in, pulling his mask down as he greeted Francois who’s in the middle of preparing Senku’s coffee, “Ugh, it’s getting so cold nowadays! I need a piping hot coffee! Put two sugars and half milk, please~”
“Got it.” Francois turned her head to smile at Gen.
“And…” Gen hummed, then pointed his finger on a single slice of carrot cake left on the display, “This one!” He said it at the same time as Senku, who’s finally decided his choice on the same item Gen’s pointing at, saying, “And this carrot cake please–”
They stared at each other for a bit until Francois cutting in with a small smile, “Well, I saved it from yesterday’s batch for Asagiri-san, actually.”
Senku quickly said, “Oh, sorry. I will pick something else, then.”
“No, no! You can have it!” Gen waved his hand. His blue eyes lightened up, “Oh, you’re that boy from a week ago, aren’t you? The one who had my book~” He asked with a smile, “Do you like this cake too?”
Senku looked a bit surprised that Gen remembered him, and he answered, “Um, I never tried it. That’s why I want to… try.”
Gen widened his eyes, “God, then you absolutely have to take it! It’s sooo delicious. You’ll be obsessed about it like me.” He laughed, then turned to Francois, “Then, Fran-chan, I’ll take the Boston cream donut instead~”
“Right away.” Francois smiled. She put both finished beverages on the cashier table and proceed to wrap the pastries while Gen’s trying to make a conversation,
“Are you studying in that art university around here?”
Senku answered, “Yes. I’m third year student.”
“That’s cool! What are you learning?”
“It’s music. I played piano.”
Gen sounded so excited, “That’s super awesome!”
Francois pulled herself up from behind the display, handing both each their orders, “I heard he’s called as ‘Ishigami Senku, the genius pianist’ by his friends,”
“Wow!” Gen’s eyes practically twinkled, while Senku’s scowling at the mention of his nickname, “No, that’s–” The famous mentalist laughed at younger man’s expression, saying “You should be proud! That’s a cool name!” as he grabbed his take-away from Francois.
After paying for his items, Gen pulled his mask up again and covered his head with a black bucket hat, walking his way out while smiling, “Then, see you around, Senku-chan!”
Senku glanced at the door until Gen’s figure disappeared in the morning crowd filling the sidewalks, and turned at Francois, “Is he working around here?”
Francois hummed, “His office was around here, indeed. It’s near the street market.”
“I can’t believe that he still remembered me.” Senku scratched on his nose, then his crimson eyes grew wide, “Is it because he heard what I said a week ago about his book?”
“I don’t think he heard it.” Francois laughed, “But you can apologize if you’re feeling uneasy about it.”
“I didn’t really change my mind about the book, though.” Senku said stubbornly. He added, now softer, “But he’s so nice. I didn’t expect that.”
Francois laughed, “Do you expect him to be a jerk or something?”
“Kinda.” Senku shrugged, taking his money out, “And he looked far better in real life than his photo on the cover.”
***
Senku’s only buying carrot cake since then, and his friends were questioning it.
“It’s really good.” Senku said after he gulped down a bite, “There’s slight saltiness in the cream cheese frosting to balance out the sweetness, and the chopped almonds and dried fruits inside the cake really gave you varied textures. It’s the best menu here.”
“I see.” Yuzuriha glanced at Taiju, and replied with a questioning look back.
***
“You’re now obsessed with the carrot cake as well! I got myself a convert!” Gen smiled, propping his head with his hand while leaning on the glass display, staring at Senku.
“Yeah, it’s tasty.” Senku took the paper bag of his ordered carrot cake from Francois, smiling back.
“Right~?” Gen giggled. Francois handed Gen his black tea macchiato, and Senku asked, “No coffee?”
“Ah, I got a stomach problem… I cannot drink coffee for a while.” Gen laughed, then warned Senku playfully, “Senku-chan had to take care of himself well, okay? You have to eat on time and got enough rest, don’t ended up like this little Gen here~”
Senku looked concerned, “Are you really okay?”
“No worries!” Gen laughed, waved it off lightly. He paid for his items and left, not before waving and smiling like usual, “Thank you, Fran-chan! And Senku-chan, see you around!”
“Ah, wait, Asagiri-san!” Senku hurriedly followed the older man to outside the café. Francois curiously moved out from behind her table and pretended she’s sweeping near the door to be able to peek what’s happening across the street. Senku’s handing Gen a ticket of something, and Gen looked delighted to receive it. They exchanged phone numbers, and Gen left with a wave.
Senku walked back into the store with flushed face, both from cold weather and something else obviously, because he also got a wide smile on his lips. Francois couldn’t hold back to ask,
“Did you ask him out?”
The pianist widened his eyes as he handed the payment for his order to Francois, “What? No. Nothing like that. It’s ticket for my recital.” He added hurriedly, “It’s a payback for that time carrot cake, you see? The one he gave to me even though you saved it for him, that first one.”
“The one… from a month ago?” Francois stifled a smile.
“Y-yeah.” Senku realized he sounded ridiculous, and covered it with a shrug, “Better late than never.”
***
“It’s a good café, Francois.” Ryusui commented while stirring his black coffee. Francois smiled at him from her position spraying water to the rows of hanging plants decorating café’s window. She asked, “How’s the restaurant?”
“Busy as ever, of course.” Ryusui laughed, “No one can handle the kitchen as fine as you.”
“No way, Nanami family can totally hire a better chef than me.” Francois replied lightly.
“You’re the best, and we all missed you.” Ryusui urged, “But I like what are you doing here, so I’m not here to try to recruit you back or anything, rest easy.” He looked around with a smile, then he sighed.
Ryusui said softly, “When you said you want to resign to fulfill your dream in having your own café, I’m so upset.”
“Yeah, you didn’t take it so well.” Francois looked at Ryusui, smiling apologetically, “Which actually flattered me even more.”
“You’ve been with us for years, so it’s not an easy thing to take, for sure. But also –” Ryusui looked down, “I thought I will lose a best friend.”
Francois blinked, and she sat down beside Ryusui, holding on the man’s broad shoulder, “What’s that? You can come here anytime you want, and we can talk about everything like before.”
Ryusui smiled, “I promised I’ll visit more often from now on.” He looked more at Francois’ face, “You look happier.”
“I’m happy.” Francois smiled, “Best decision of my life.”
And she meant every word of it.
***
Senku came with Gen to the café two months later, just two of them.
“Turns out, Taiju and Yuzuriha are sooo nervous with each other when I’m not around.” Senku told Gen over a plate of shared carrot cake, “Taiju told me they’re both becoming as stiff as board when it’s just two of them. I’m being called as third-wheeler and everything all this time, but now the truth is out: they’re the one who need me after all.”
“Aw, so I’m the one kidnapping their savior?” Gen giggled, “Should I give you back to them?”
“No way, I don’t want to.” Senku smirked, and reached forward for a kiss.
They’re adding themselves to Francois’ list of favorite couple customers, for sure.