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It was another day, sunny and bright. No sign of raining at all. It's quiet windy but the sun is so warm. Perfect weather for Spring in April.
Kazuma is standing in front of the cashier desk with a simple smile on his face. The scent of coffee fulfilling the whole shop as it's should be. A nice soft background music blended with the sound of coffee beans grinded, the sound of blender machine, drizzle of water coming from the coffee machine, the voice of people chit chatting, and topped with the notification sound come from the microwave and the smell of warm croissant mixed with the coffee's.
There's some customers that day. Not really much but enough to give a nice vibe and give more energy to the coffee shop. Some new customer comes in, Kazuma gives a little bow and greets them with his usual smile, "Welcome to DREAM cafe."
People said that the time becomes slower when you actually wait for it. Kazuma greatly agrees with those words. He feels like everything is getting slow whenever he is waiting for 2:15PM. He tried to do his usual job, taking orders, writing the customer's name on the cup, submitting the order to the barista, delivering the ready cups and calling the customer's name. It went normal the other time but when it was almost around 2PM, everything went slow. Kazuma checks the watch on his right wrist, it's 1:56PM, by the time he submits the order to the barista, it's still 1:56PM when he checks it. He calls the customer's name to get their order, taking another order from another customer, then he checks his watch again, it's 1:58PM now. Time's getting so slow while Kazuma's heart is beating faster.
"Venti cold brew with sweet cream foam and caramel drizzle." Kazuma said as he passed the cup to Makoto, one of the baristas.
"Alright." Makoto took the cup to later witness Kazuma checking his watch again.
"Waiting for him?" He asked. He lifted his left eyebrow for a reason.
"W-what? I'm not." Kazuma is a little bit flustered. He tries to focus on his job while whipping the cup on his hand twice more than he usually does then call the customer's name on the cup.
"Are? Arere? Kazuma-san is waiting for someone?" said someone with a funny tone. He is one in charge of the drive thru cashier but not really much people were using the service during the time.
"I literally just said that I'm not, Shohei." Kazuma rolled his eyes then jokingly slapped the guy called Shohei.
"Really~~~~?" said Shohei while making an expression showing that he definitely doubted that answer.
Kazuma made a fake cough then slowly walked back to his spot in front of the cashier. His body automatically checks the watch on his hand and apparently it's already 2:16PM. Time is really doing normal when people don't wait for it. Kazuma tried not to be obvious so he straightened his back while trying to take a little peek at the glass door.
"Is he didn't coming today?" He asked in his mind while trying to steal a glance at the cafe's door.
Kazuma feel nervous. He peeks at his reflection from the glass teapot which is not far from the cashier table. Sometimes he can feel a little bit of spray from the hot steam tickling his hand or his hair while doing his cashier job. The tea inside is pretty golden brown and even though it's not that clear, Kazuma can check his reflection there. His hair is messed a little bit so he fixed it using his hand. He thinks that he looks pretty good today.
A voice of the door opened and Kazuma automatically make a little bow and greets them, "Welcome to DREAM ca—"
Kazuma may lied about waiting for no one. Of course he is waiting for someone who usually come during the time. It's probably the person's free time everyday. He usually come with his comfy outfit, sometimes he wore glasses, ordering coffee then sits by himself while reading book or checking things from his phone. But today's a little bit different. Kazuma is surprised to see the one that actually he waited for is finally coming, but what actually made him can't finish his sentences is because he sees that one is not alone today.
Kazuma makes another fake cough, "Welcome to DREAM cafe. May I take your order?" he said while trying to act as calm as he can.
It's obvious that the other guy is a very skinny and fashionable person. He looks effortless good just by wearing plain white tshirt with oversized striped shirt and blue jeans. He looks cute and beautiful at the same time. The other guy is little bit taller than him and this is definitely the first time Kazuma sees him. He looks casual but not really formal with his plain black shirt. The skinnier guy talk to him in small voice that Kazuma can't hear it clearly, but probably he asked what's he's going to order. He walks to the cashier while having his eyes busy choosing the menu on the top board behind.
"Hm can I get...." he said while pointing his hand on the board, still a little bit unsure what to order but Kazuma knows more than everyone (probably) what he's going to order in the end as usual.
"A grande-size of iced mocha frappuccino with oatmilk and vanilla sweet cream."
Kazuma already finished writing the formula on the cup before the other person completed the sentences.
"And your name is...?"
"Hokuto. Simply written with 'north' and 'person'. Please write them correctly this time."
Kazuma smiles at the answer while writing on the cup then input the order on the cashier machine.
"Alright. What about you, sir?" Kazuma asked the other guy.
"Hm... wait," he said while his eyes were moving to the board. He seems like looking too much to the whole board or maybe it was just Kazuma's imagination. Did he just look at the coffee machine as well or anything else? He kinda wondered but of course he can't ask that question.
"I'll have a tall hot americano."
Classic, Kazuma said in his mind while writing down a small cup with 'americano'.
"And your name?"
"Itsuki. Just writing it using hiragana is okay."
Kazuma nodded and quickly wrote that then proceeded to order using the cashier machine.
* * * * *
Hokuto loves the coffee shop he usually comes in during his spare time between classes in college. One of his favorite menu is mocha frappuccino and he really likes how the combination of chocolate and coffee is just right. He tried mocha frappuccino from some other coffee shop but he personally likes DREAM cafe's best. The taste of the chocolatte is pretty strong but the bitter scent of the coffee is still there too, he once said that to Itsuki, his classmate who later became interested with the cafe so he came along with him today.
"If you want to know the standard of the cafe, you should try the americano. It's the classic one." Itsuki tried to explain while they were sitting on the comfy sofa near the window.
"Yeah, but that's because you like black coffee. While I don't. I prefer them sweet, especially with chocolate." Hokuto said while putting down his bag to the empty spot next to him.
"Coffee is originally bitter." Itsuki rolled his eyes.
"I don't care. Anyway, actually there's one thing that I kind of dislike from this cafe." Hokuto said.
"What is it?"
"Well," Hokuto threw his back to the sofa, peeking to the one on the cashier bar.
"That person." he said, he tried to not be really obvious so he pointed to the other one using his chin.
"I don't even know why but he always wrote my name wrong."
"What?" Itsuki said. He looks bored.
"You see how clear I was when I explained how to write my name just now? It should be easy, right? But he always got it wrong. Like, always. It makes me kinda mad." Hokuto said while softly punching the small pillow on the couch.
Itsuki moved his eyes to the cashier's person then moved to the barista. The cashier is now sitting down because there's no new customer at the moment while the barista is busy making the orders so Itsuki can only see his back. Feeling a little bit down, Itsuki let out a breath.
"There's a possibility that he did it for purpose, right?" Itsuki makes a mischievous grin to his best friend.
Hokuto is pouting to hear the answer from Itsuki that didn't make him feel better at all. He grabbed his phone from his bag then started checking on his SNS, trying to distract himself. Not long after that moment, the cashier called them both. Itsuki quickly stands up and says that he's gonna get it.
"I want to get it myself and make sure that he writes my name properly this time." said Hokuto as he quickly put the phone in his jeans' pocket then stood up. They ended up walking together to get their order.
* * * * *
Kazuma looked nervous to see both Hokuto and Itsuki picking their order. Hokuto walks really fast until he reaches the pick-up table in a second. His eyes look fiery and it makes Kazuma even more nervous. It's not like he didn't know how to write Hokuto's name properly. Actually the real mistake he made was the first time he picked Hokuto's order.
Kazuma has known about Hokuto since like a month ago. He's already taken the part time job since even a few weeks before that. But whenever he finishes his shift hours, his eyes always catch a customer who often comes around during the time when he is preparing to go home. It was not love-at-the-first-time, Kazuma swears. He only finds it interesting that whenever he finishes his shift hours is the time when the customer always comes. Later soon, few things happened and Kazuma was told to change his shift time with another part-timer. Kazuma didn't think about anything at the moment, he easily agreed because it didn't clash with his class hours or anything else. If anything, it's actually a better option for him. The next barista and other cashier person on that time are his college friends. He knows Makoto and Shohei well and thanks to this change, they are getting even closer.
Kazuma didn't realize that by the change of his shift hours, it meant that he would be one who was gonna pick the customer's order who always came when he finished his part back then, because now he covers that hours. It took him a few seconds before he actually realized that the guy that he was kinda curious to was standing in front of him. He looked confused for a few seconds but then he always ordered that one.
"A grande-size of iced mocha frappuccino with oatmilk and vanilla sweet cream."
Sometimes he ordered venti-sized, but most of all the time, he always ordered for grande. He probably likes sweets, Kazuma thinks.
"Your name, please?" Kazuma asked the customer with a sharpie marker and cup ready on his hand.
"Hokuto."
Back then, Kazuma knew a senior called Matsumura Hokuto on his campus. He kinda remembers how his name is written because he is pretty popular so he assumed that probably it's using the same character. Kazuma remembers when he called Hokuto's name for the first time. He handed over the iced mocha frappuccino to him and he could see his expression looked confused. The next day, Hokuto came again, but that time he told Kazuma the right kanji to write his name. Kazuma didn't know what happened to him. He understands that he made a mistake on Hokuto's name in the previous order, but to see Hokuto's various expressions when he gets his cup and find out that his name is written using different characters is just very cute.
Kazuma didn't know why but he kept doing that. And at the same time, he can't help but keep having his eyes follow Hokuto to see how he slowly didn't really care about it anymore and start enjoying his coffee. Kazuma didn't even know since when it happened but he couldn't get rid of that one adorable customer from his mind. He's in love.
Or is it really love?
Sometimes Kazuma asks himself, he's not even sure whether he's actually keeping thinking about this one customer because he is in love with him or he's just feeling interested? Or is it actually the same thing? Kazuma is totally inexperienced. But today, the fact that Hokuto came together with another person actually made him kinda flustered. Who's him? Is it his friend? Or is it his boyfriend? Is there another option? Kazuma's mind is filled with questions.
* * * * *
Kazuma didn't have to wait any longer to have his questions answered. Everything happened so fast. He can totally say that Hokuto is not very amused when he took the cup from Kazuma's hand to find out that he got his name didn't spelled using the right character, again. Even his angry expression is super adorable, Kazuma thinks when he sees Hokuto make a pout. He was pretty sure Hokuto won't just be silent like usual this time, he already opened his mouth when suddenly his friend, Kazuma pretty much sure of that, cuts him off.
"Makoto?" Itsuki called.
Makoto, the barista, shows himself behind the coffee machine, checking who's calling him. His eyes widened and he looked excited.
"Itsuki?"
Hokuto's anger slowly changed to a confuseness. His expressions are always clear and Kazuma can tell how flustered he looks to see Makoto and his friend, —Itsuki?— they start talking and have a conversation. He looked a little bit annoyed that he left out, then made a fake cough and pulled Itsuki's arm.
"Oh right, sorry." Itsuki smiles.
"Makoto, this is my friend, Yoshino Hokuto." he said.
"Hi Yoshino-san, my name is Hasegawa Makoto." Makoto said, held out his hand. Hokuto shaked his hand with Makoto, smiling.
"We're classmates and were on the same project last year." Itsuki explained as he started sipping his americano.
"Wait, this is so good!"
Makoto smiles, he has dimples on his cheek when he smiles. He looks friendly, Hokuto thinks. Unlike this annoying cashier whose always has dead-serious expression on his face.
"Thank you, I really appreciate that. Anyway, Yoshino-san is our regular customer here, right?" Makoto said. Hokuto wonders if it's his imagination or Makoto looks blushed a little bit?
"Yeah." He said. "I am a regular customer." Hokuto put some underline on the word customer.
"Yet the cashier guy spelled my name using the wrong character."
Kazuma straightened his back. He was surprised enough with whatever happened a few minutes ago that his friend Makoto is actually friends with this one who he has always been interested in. Now he's being called out directly in front of him. Has he made him angry? Kazuma gulps. I shouldn't be afraid of anything. It's what I've done, I should face it. He tried to look neutral as he could.
"Oh, really? Sorry about that." Makoto peeks at Kazuma who is standing like a stone, he tries to hold his giggles. Kazuma may have said to him that Makoto is like a younger-brother for him, but sometimes Makoto feels like he is actually the older-brother at some moment.
"Anyway our cashier guy is called Kawamura Kazuma." Makoto tapped on Kazuma's shoulders softly.
"H-hi!" Kazuma said. "I mean, I'm sorry." He looks awkward.
"I don't even know if I can say that 'it's okay' or not but on the serious note, didn't you know how to write the character 'person' using Japanese kanji? My name is actually very simple."
"I'm sorry." Kazuma went silent for a few seconds.
"I mean, yeah, I know how to write that kanji. I'm sorry." He went silent again.
"....and I will write them correctly next time."
Hokuto looked at Kazuma who's totally flustered and awkward at the same time. He can't help but start giggling. Cute, Hokuto think. He always looks so cold and usually he gives a little bit of an intimidating aura but now he looks confused and cute. Kazuma looks even more flustered that now Hokuto is giggling.
"You are so interesting." Hokuto said while still giggling after that.
"I'll look forward to my next order tomorrow."
Kazuma smiles at that. "Sure!" He said while nodding his head excitedly.
"Don't mind. He's actually just really irritated easily." Itsuki said jokingly.
"Shut up or I'll kick you." but Hokuto kicked him already.
Some parts of Kazuma think that he would start writing Hokuto's name correctly, his other side thinks that he should keep making it wrong. That way Hokuto noticed him even for just a little bit, even just for an annoying cashier guy. But the moment when Hokuto said that he was interested, there's a butterfly on his stomach. Or is it really love? he thinks about that again. People said that love is when your heart beats faster. Has his heart beating faster? Kazuma's too flustered to feel that, all he can feel right now is that he feels so light he is about to fly.
Or maybe this is just the beginning. Maybe this is the start of something new. Something that has awaits for him. For them.