Chapter Text
“Please, Tino! Help me out just this once! I promise I'll pay you back for this!” Dolly cries distressingly to Simtown’s current essence master.
He looks at her bewilderedly and crosses his arms.
“Yeah, but making me turn your shop into a whole cafe in a day ?'' he sighs in disbelief. “Dolly, this is really a lot...and on such short notice too...”
She looks to the Essence Master tearfully with her sparkly turquoise eyes hoping to gain some sympathy from him.
“You won't do it then?” she whimpers.
Feeling sad for Dolly, his turtle on top of his hat, looks at him with the same puppy eyes as Dolly to make him break even more.
“Damn Turtle, you traitor,” Tino lets out a sigh of defeat.
“Fine, I'll do it,” he answers and points at her sternly.
“But next time at least warn me beforehand if you're ever gonna do a big project like this again, got it?”
The golden-haired girl gets him into a very tight hug, catching him off guard.
“DEAL!” she beams happily, “Oh, thank you so very much, Tino! I promise that you'll get to be the first taste tester for the cafe!”
Tino smiles and hugs her back, “It's not a prob. Though I would like to know why you are making this all of a sudden.”
Dolly quickly lets go of Tino much to his confusion and stammers, “Well...I kinda wanted to surprise somebody…”
The essence master rubs his chin as his eyes narrow in suspicion.
“Isn't this kinda more than just a surprise? You're wanting to open a literal cafe just to impress somebody?”
He looks over to Dolly’s flushed face and remembers something.
“Now that I think about it, it's the end of May and it's almost Honda's birthday, right?”
Dolly suddenly stiffens in embarrassment from the mention of Honda. Tino confusingly stares at her for a brief second before his eyes widen in shock, pointing at her.
“WAIT, DO YOU LIKE HONDA, DOLLY?!”
The golden-haired girl backs up in embarrassment, trying but failing to keep her composure.
“W-W-WELL! MAYBE I DO!” she shouts. “Listen, don't laugh! I know it's stupid I’m going this big to impress her! But...”
As she trails off and turns her head away from him, Tino could see tears building in her eyes.
“I wanted to confess my feelings to her tomorrow on her birthday but...I'm afraid she might not see me in that way. We've been friends for so long, I'm not sure how she’ll take it…”
She lowers her head as tears run down her face.
“I've liked her for a while now but I was always too afraid to tell her. What if I ruin our friendship because of this? I wouldn't know what to do...”
Unable to stop herself, she begins to stifle out sobs and wiping her eyes from the painful thought. Tino, surprised at her sudden tears, stares in a panic. Unsure how to comfort the girl, he awkwardly pats her head to calm her down.
“Dolly, listen,” he starts, breaking the silence. She raises her head to look into his eyes.
“I know that you're scared of rejection, but I know that Honda wouldn't think any less of you just because you like her. And it's always better to try than to not do it at all.”
He gives her a reassuring smile,
“So don't worry too much about it, okay?”
Hearing his words eased her worries and she returned the smile. She wipes her tears and straightens up.
“You're right, I shouldn't worry so much. I know Hanabusa won't end our friendship over something like this. Thanks for helping me out, Tino.”
She gives him a big smile and pumps her fist into the air, full of energy.
“I'll make this the best birthday surprise for Hanabusa!”
Tino laughs in relief.
“No sweat, anyways I'll have this all done in a few hours so you can come back later.”
He takes off his backpack and starts stretching to ready himself for his next project that'll need total concentration for the next few hours. Dolly shoots him an enthusiastic thumbs-up.
“Gotcha!”
As she's about to walk off, she stops herself and takes out her checkbook and a pen.
“Oh right, your payment! Are you fine with a paper check?” she asks.
Tino, already immersed in his creating process, doesn't look back and calls out. “It's fine with me. Just put it in my pocket and I'll cash it later.”
“Okay then, see you soon!” Dolly calls as she rips out the piece of paper from her book and places it into his pants pocket. She then heads off to prepare for Honda's party.
The turtle hat boy gives a deep sigh of exhaustion and laughs to himself.
“That Dolly...what am I gonna do with her?”
His pet turtle jumps off his hat for a bit and takes the check out of Tino's pocket to get a peek of the amount. Upon seeing how much Dolly has paid his owner this time, Turtle squeaks loudly and falls over on its shell in shock.
Tino notices his fallen pet and picks up the check to look at the amount as well.
“What's up Turt-t-t-t-”
His eyes go wide from surprise.
“HUH!? WAIT, DOESN’T THIS AMOUNT HAVE TOO MANY ZEROS? I COULD TAKE THE REST OF THE YEAR OFF WITH THIS MONEY!”
🍓🍓🍓
While waiting for the development of the cafe, Dolly organized the rest of her crew of specialized party planners to meet up at the fountain in the town square to set forth Honda’s birthday party plans. The only other two members of the team were twins and Honda's best friends, Jasmine and Juniper from the town Julemill. As they all arrive at the designated meeting place, Dolly claps her hands together in excitement to start the meeting.
“Alright, guys! So we only have one day to prepare so let's make this count!” Dolly cheerfully proclaims. “Any questions?”
Jasmine timidly raises her hand in response. Dolly nods in acknowledgment to let her speak.
“Um, I know we're supposed to be setting up Hana’s party but aren't we not able to do anything until the cafe is actually finished?”
Dolly gives a triumphant laugh.
“I knew you'd be wondering about that but don't worry. My crew will take care of decorating the cafe both on the outside and inside. What we'll be focusing on is preparing the costumes, presents, and of course, the cake!” she enthusiastically declares.
A wide grin spreads across Juniper’s face.
“Hah! If it's a cake you need then I got that covered! If there's one thing Hanabusa can’t beat me in, it's cooking!” she boasts proudly.
The tomboyish girl’s blue eyes flare up vigorously as she clenches her fists.
“SHE’LL BE CRYING TEARS OF DEFEAT FROM HOW GOOD MY CAKE IS GONNA TASTE! HAHAHAHA!!!”
“There she goes again...” Jasmine laughs, rolling her eyes.
“Loving your energy, Juni. Keep it up!” Dolly beams. “Now, we already planned what we’ll do but just as a refresher, I'll take costumes, Jas will take care of the presents, and Juni, you'll bake the cake!”
“Sounds like a plan, Dolls!” Juni confirms while giving a playful wink.
Jasmine nods her head in agreement and gives Dolly a thumbs up.
“Alright, girls bring it in!” Dolly calls as she places her hand down for the twins to join in. As the two place their hands on top of hers, she begins her last speech of encouragement.
“We've all got this! This year's birthday has to be very special for Hanabusa. Let's make this the best celebration ever!”
“Yeah!” Juni interjects, “And if she doesn't like it, I'll make sure to kick her butt!”
I'm pretty sure it won't come to that Juni…” Jasmine replies sheepishly.
The three girls throw their hands in the air and shout to amp themselves up.
“Alright, I'll go off first, see you guys!” the ringlet-haired girl says.
With that, Dolly waves them off and she goes to fulfill her task. The two girls watch as she happily skips further and further away.
“Don't you think that Dolly is being super ambitious this year?” Jasmine asks, looking back to her twin.
Juni scratches her head in confusion. “Huh, didn't really think about it, but now that you bring it up, making her shop into a cafe just for a birthday party is kinda overkill. Hana isn't really a big party person either,” she shrugs off coolly.
Jasmine gets a devilish gleam in her eyes.
“Ooh, what if she's going to give Hana a love confession tomorrow?” she giggles.
Juni quickly rushes up to her sister's face, her own blushing.
“W-Wha-Wait, did she tell you? How do you know??” she sputters nervously.
“Just a speculation,” Jas remarks as she places her hand over her mouth slyly.
“Ooh~ You got competition now, Juni!”
The spiky-haired girl quickly catches herself and takes a step back from her sister. Though her face is still red, she crosses her arms and plays it off coolly as she gets up from her seat to walk to the general store.
“Hah! Competition? Hana is just my rival, what does it matter to me who she dates? Honestly, she better come back soon so I can challenge her again! I need to keep my win-streak goin’!”
“Sure, sure~” Jasmine gleefully replies, getting up and following behind her.
🍓🍓🍓
After a couple of hours pass by with the three girls making progress on their tasks, Tino gives the call to Dolly that his work is finished. With the cafe finally being done, the three girls meet up at the front of the entrance for the grand opening. Their eyes sparkled in amazement at its adorable mushroom exterior, clearly made with a magical and whimsical kind of feel, it was perfect for a fairytale setting.
As Tino puts his backpack on, he looks to the three girls still awed and gives a small chuckle.
“You guys like it?” he inquires.
“Like it? WE LOVE IT!” Juni exclaims in delight as she pushes Jasmine in front of her.
“Mr. Essence Master! You have to teach my sis, Jas too! She's an essence master-in-training and seeing how you're the town’s essence master I bet you can show her a few tricks right?”
“J-Juni…!” her sister stammers as she looks back at her in embarrassment.
The essence master gets a bright glimmer in his eyes and confidently laughs.
“Well if you want to learn any of my amazing techniques, feel free to stop by my workshop anytime. Not to brag, but I happen to be pretty great at building just about anything!” He laughs confidently.
“It must've been a long time since somebody gave him attention for his work… ” Dolly thinks to herself.
Both girls' faces light up in astonishment.
“Really!? You'll make anything?” Juniper asks excitedly.
Tino nods, “Yup, feel free to give me a request anytime you're here.”
“Cool! But what would I want to have?” The fiery girl’s face suddenly lights up. “Ooh! I know! Build me a huge fire sword that shoots laser beams and also has a compartment in the hilt to give me snacks!”
“Eh?”
Jasmine suddenly cuts in to save the moment to drag her sister away towards the cafe.
“Juni, we should be focusing on the cafe now!”
“What? He said anything!” Juni groans sadly.
The girls now find themselves at the front of the cafe doors, somewhat nervous but excited to open them.
“Now that the cafe is done we can finally start setting up for the birthday party!” Jasmine happily gleams.
“Right! This is gonna be so freaking cool! I can't wait to start baking the cake too!” her twin agrees excitedly.
Dolly takes a step towards the entrance and declares, “Welp, we finished doing the hard part, girls! Now our official work can begin!”
“Why does she make it sound like she built the place?” Tino thinks to himself as he's finishing packing up from the job.
As he gets done, he hears a familiar voice he's pretty sure he wasn't supposed to hear yet from behind him.
“Whoa, cool cafe. What's going on here?”
In shock, all four turn around to find the last person they expected to see arrive. Unable to fully comprehend the full situation, the group can only stare in shocked silence as they all feel their plan quickly falling apart. The person who asked the question was none other than Honda herself.
Confused by the looks of shock on her friends' faces, Honda tilts her head a bit in confusion.
“Um, why are you all giving me weird looks like that?”
To be continued...