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Bag off her shoulder and hair still wet from the shower, Tamao turned around the corner of that one street in the Funbari Hill neighborhood. The sun was up but the streetlamps were still on, lighting a sidewalk that would be deserted if it wasn’t for Pirika, already wiping the large window of the store. The two exchanged friendly hellos before she went inside the shop, going around the back to leave her things and put the rest of her uniform on: a burgundy cap and matching apron, both embroidered with the logo of the Patch Café.
The counter had been left arranged by the previous shift, but the two girls had a routine of their own to open the shop together. It worked well for the morning rush of 7:00AM, and it made things a bit easier on particularly cold days like that one, when everyone fancied a cup of warm coffee. Their agreement was that Pirika would work the register and the americanos, while she took care of the elaborate drinks and the snacks.
Customers came in and out every day, some in a hurry with their eyes stuck to their watches, some still asleep and spilling things everywhere. The worst ones were those with all the time in the world, clogging the line while they stared idly at the panels above the register, only to go for the most plain and common order. Mornings could turn infuriating from time to time, but she was used to it by then. Tamao had been working at the coffee shop for a good few months now, and the pay was okay, the hours were decent, and her coworkers were nice; but none of those things were responsible for her showing up to work every day: it was the 9AM orange spice iced coffee.
The drink wasn’t even on the menu as it was a very unpopular choice, but she would still mix it for the young man in the orange headphones. He would walk into the shop like clockwork after the morning rush was over, always smiling and wearing his unusual jogging attire of sweatpants and wooden sandals. When he visited, Tamao would drop whatever she was doing to take his order, as it was only then when she could exchange a few words with him.
It had started with the usual pleasantries one would share at a place like a coffee shop, but one faithful day she was brave enough to ask about his odd choice: “It reminds me of my grandma, and a trip I made to Aomori many years ago,” he had said. From then on, he would share little stories with her about his upbringing, the antics he pulled while in school, or tell her about the things he saw during his morning run. Tamao would lean on the counter and listen like he was telling tales of mythical adventures in foreign lands, giggling when he did and smiling through every word he said. It was embarrassing, but it was the highlight of her mornings at the Patch Café.
Yoh Asakura had a boyish charm to him, and much like a schoolgirl waiting for her date, she would fix her uniform when the clock hit the right time, let some strands of pink hair frame her face, and feel the butterflies in the stomach that all love songs claimed to exist. Every time she saw the young man come through the door it put a smile on her face, one that made Pirika roll her eyes and step away from the counter. Her friend was frustrated that ‘sandals’, as she had nicknamed him, wouldn’t ask her out, and had encouraged her time and time again to take the first step. She meant well, but it had taken Tamao weeks to work up the nerve to ask him about his strange drink, let alone do something as bold as to admit she had a crush on him. But something had changed.
During one of their little chats he had mentioned a family trip, one that would keep him gone for a few weeks; Yoh didn’t talk much about his life other than funny anecdotes, but he seemed very excited about it. Ever since that day, Tamao had been talking herself into giving him her number, sometimes she felt it would seem casual and harmless, the excuse being he was going away; others she imagined the worst case scenario, where he would laugh it off and leave the café to not come back again…but with some self-encouragement, she was resolved to find out.
After putting her uniform on, Tamao came from around the back to find Pirika already behind the register. Not long after the first customer walked in, then the second one, the third one, and the fourth one. The busy hours helped ease her nerves, keeping her eyes off the clock long enough for its hands to move before she looked again. It seemed like time was slowing down, but with some patience, it hit nine o’clock. Pirika made herself gone from the counter, patting her friend’s shoulder on her way to the backroom.
Her heart skipped a beat when she got a glimpse of the familiar silhouette, he was wearing sandals alright, but he wasn’t in his jogging clothes when he came through the door. He was in a white button down and jeans that she had never seen him wearing before. Yoh looked happier than usual, his relaxed grin evident from afar as he walked straight to her.
“Good morning, Tamao!”
“Good morning! What a glow up!” she said with a giggle, looking idly at the register’s buttons as she felt heat running to her ears.
In response to her comment, Yoh openly chuckled and leaned his elbows against the counter, “It was too cold to go for a run, but I couldn’t skip coffee, not today.”
The bell on top of the cafe’s door chimed as a young woman walked in, holding a pastry with an envelope she recognized from the bakery across the street. The new customer stood a couple of steps behind the counter, looking at the menu on top of the register, so Tamao figured she didn’t need her attention just yet.
“Oh, that’s right! You leave for your trip today, right? How long will you be gone?” she asked as if she didn’t know already.
“A whole two weeks,” he said, now leaning his cheek against his fist, “it’s a long train ride to Izumo, but it’s not too bad…”
As he spoke, she took a hand to the front pocket of her apron, fidgeting with the piece of paper she had put there since her shift had started. She would never tell anyone how many times in how different ways she had written her phone number on it, but she had, and the timing to give it was perfect.
“We’ll sure miss you around here,” she said, grabbing a large plastic cup and a marker to scribble his name on it, “the usual?”
“One large orange spice iced coffee, please!” he said with a smile, standing straight again to fetch for his wallet.
“That sounds disgusting, Yoh.”
The suddenness of the voice startled Tamao, she looked up to see it belonged to the girl reading through the menu, that had not taken her eyes off the panels just yet. Her tone was harsh while her voice was soft, it was an odd combination of not showing any emotion while her words could still come across as mean.
“Don’t knock it until you’ve tried it,” Yoh added with a chuckle, looking at the girl over his shoulder.
Taking longer than she had to to check the marks on the plastic cup, her eyes went very discreetly over this girl that Yoh was so familiar with. She had blonde hair, long to her shoulders, and a pair of sunglasses sat on top of her head. It didn’t occur to Tamao that she was with him, having walked after him.
“Do you know what you want yet?” he asked her.
The girl finally looked Tamao’s way, sinking a pair of piercing amber eyes on her that felt just like her voice, calm, yet severe and judgmental. She found herself swallowing and offering a halfhearted smile towards her, as the young woman walked to the counter and stood next to Yoh.
“I’ll have a medium apple chai, please.”
“Of course, could I have your name?”
“Anna,” she said simply.
“That’s right!” Yoh said, “Tamao, this is Anna, my fiancé, she arrived from Aomori last night…”
The mention of the word fiancé felt like a bucket of cold water had been poured on her. All her blood had dropped to her feet, and her hands felt cold and useless as she reached for a paper cup. Not a sister or a girlfriend, a fiancé? Having managed to keep her smile on she tried to hold Anna’s gaze, idly writing on what would be her cup while Yoh kept his happy blabbering about how many suitcases she had brought with her. Inevitably looking down to the register after a moment, all their conversations came back to her at once as she tried to piece it all together, were there signs she had missed? Had he mentioned a girl at all?
“...it would’ve been hard fitting all that luggage at my grandparent’s house!” Yoh said with a smile.
“It would’ve! Congratulations on your engagement!” she said, trying to input both drinks in the register, only getting a beep telling her she had done so wrong.
“Thank you,” Anna said, again simple and dry.
“Don’t congratulate us yet, my parents said they had an engagement present for us, I hope it’s not something ridiculous that makes Anna run away,” he chuckled.
He looked down at his fiancé with that playful look in his eyes that Tamao liked so much, and his gesture was met with an eye roll and what she thought to be the hint of a smile from the girl. Tamao couldn’t giggle at his joke this time, so she busied herself with charging the order once more, only to get another exasperating beep from the machine. She wiped her hands against the apron in a futile attempt at warming them up, her nerves betraying her and making them useless.
“I’m sorry, it seems I’m having trouble with the register today…” she looked over her shoulder to get Pirika to help her, but her friend was coming around the back already before she could even call her name.
“I got it,” she whispered, offering the couple a nod as acknowledgement while she got to work.
Tamao retreated from the counter and began preparing Yoh’s weird concoction, hearing Pirika’s fingers type rapidly and getting the order correctly on her first try. Knowing the recipe by heart, she worked as fast as she could, for once wanting him gone from the shop as soon as possible. The unmistakable sound of the coffee machine steaming let her know Pirika was also working on the apple chai, and she had never been more grateful to her. With her back against the customers all she could see were her own trembling hands mixing and pouring, but Yoh’s chuckles and happy commentary to his fiancé were still threatening to burst her eyes in tears right then and there.
As they had been doing for months now, instead of setting the drink by the counter she handed the icy cup directly to the young man. Every day, he would take a sip from it and let her know if it was too sweet or too sour; but she had prepared it so many times now that she already knew his answer.
“Perfect!” he said, with that childish grin forever on his face, the one that made her feel butterflies where now was just a void, “Thank you, Tamao!”
“You’re more than welcome,” she said, smiling while a hand clenched to the piece of paper stored in her apron, “Have a safe trip!”
“Thank you,” Anna said, grabbing her paper cup from the counter.
With the usual farewell pleasantries, the couple left the shop. Yoh held the door open for his fiancé and turned once more before he followed her to the street, his naive expression intact as he waved, making the ice cubes in his cup clink.
“I’ll be here sharp at nine for my coffee when we return!”
Tamao only waved from behind the counter, the store left in complete silence after they disappeared. A whirlwind of thoughts came to her mind when she found herself processing what had just happened. She was dumbfounded, hurt, comparing herself to this Anna already and… she still couldn’t blame him. If there was someone responsible for her heartache it was her. Pirika had told her many times to poke around for information, was he single? Did he live alone? What he did for work? But she had been too shy to ask, she had preferred to find her own signs and read between lines that now she knew never existed.
“We got an extra pint of that fancy ice-cream in the back,” Pirika said, casual as ever, “I’ll make myself a milkshake, do you want one?”
There was no extra pint of ice-cream in the freezer. Kalim, one of the owners of the Patch Café, would never, under any circumstances, over-order something that he considered expensive, but she appreciated her friend’s gesture. The offer made her smile and turn over to look at her, while a single tear rolled down her cheek.
“You know I can’t say no to that,” she said, wiping her face with the back of her hand while she attempted a giggle.