Chapter Text
The cafe's 3 note melody rang when Hajime walked through the door at 4 pm. It's not bad, a pleasant selection of beeps and boops, but it quickly turns annoying when he hears it every single day. Annoying, familiar, the line between the two is thin.
He got there at 4 pm each day. Opening late, that was kind of the franchise's thing. Come to UV when everything else is closed! - the unofficial tagline (officiating it is in the works). Hajime remembered Togami saying something about striking the meme while it's hot - typical corporate dumbassery, he thought.
A familiar brunette stood behind the counter, starting up the digital interface as usual. Aoi Asahina(“Just call me Hina!”), Hajime's coworker-turned-friend, was making preparations for the work day ahead.
"Afternoon Hina!"
"Heyy Hajime!"
"Beep-beep-booop" sang Hajime, re-enacting the cafe theme tune, which earned a laugh from his coworker.
"Yeah, tell me about it… I've been here longer than you." Aoi let out an exasperated sigh behind the register. "Gotta do something about it, but we'd need to get Sir Togami on board… Wanna do the honours?" Aoi asked smugly, putting her hands on her hips.
"Oh god." Hajime mocked fear.
"You know what? Forget I complained, I'd rather listen to the theme song on loop than talk to that guy."
Aoi laughed warmly. Hajime was happy to have her as a coworker, she was so easy to talk to. A force of sincere positivity.
The first hour of the shift was fairly quiet as usual - customers tend to start coming en masse after work hours. Aoi was busy with the baked goods, checking up on the machines and ovens. Hajime mostly sat on his phone. He’s kind of the customer service guy, and you kinda can't do that without customers. K1b0 wouldn't be here today due to maintenance, which Hajime mused is the bot equivalent of a doc's appointment. He could offer to help Aoi again, but he knew he'd end up doing more harm than good, or at the very least getting in her way. Suffice to say he was a little bored.
Thankfully, half an hour in, the obnoxious 3 notes rang, signalling something to alleviate his boredom. Hajime prepped his best customer service voice before dropping it immediately when he saw Chiaki's pastel bob, followed by Soda's long, shiny magenta locks. 'His hair is too good' thought Hajime, as he did every time he saw his friend. It never stopped being impressive.
Chiaki was wearing a merch hoodie from a game she talked about a lot but Hajime could never get into, and a pleated skirt. On her neck was a pink choker that matched her hair clips. The hood of her hoodie had cat ears on it, and Hajime suddenly found himself wishing he owned one.
Soda was wearing too much neon, as always. Neon-print shirt, neon neck chain, neon sneakers. Soda has tons of piercings, which Hajime thought were pretty cool actually, even if he himself couldn't pull a style like that off.
What kind of greeting did he want to go for this time? Sarcasm? Effortless? Or maybe straight up bully them?
"Good afternoon fuckwads!" he settled on the latter today.
"We're leaving and your establishment is getting a 1 star review" responded Chiaki, pretending to get back up from her chair.
"Oh no!!!!!" Hajime feigned distress.
"Anyways."
Meanwhile Soda was laughing his ass off.
"Someone's in a good mood." Hajime noted.
"Yeah, the baby genius scored himself an internship." replied Chiaki on Soda's behalf, without looking up from her retro console, the name of which Hajime could not recall. GameJoy? GameGuy?
"Yooo." Hajime exclaimed.
"Nice one Fanta!" Soda had been talking about applying to internships ever since his graduation and dare he say it, Hajime felt proud of his bro.
"Yeah yeah yeah soon it won't be Fanta anymore, it'll be Spring Water! The expensive mineral stuff." responded Soda smugly, looking really proud of himself.
"That really doesn't have the same ring to it, Fanta..." replied Hajime with mock sadness in his tone.
"Alright alright I'll let it slide today. I'm gonna get my bag soon boys!!"
"I'll have the usual, bartender!"
"Bro what the fuck is your usual? You say that every time and it's always something different."
"Lmao." aptly commented Chiaki.
"Ughhh just get me an orange soda."
"You've ruined his immersion Hajime. Be ashamed."
"The usual, coming right up sir!" said Hajime in a sugarsweet waiter voice, and handed Soda the print-scanner for payment.
"Want anything Chiaki?"
"Ah yeahh actually."
"That promotional drink you have on the ads, the cute one."
"Bunny Blast?"
"Yep. Thank you for saying it for me, if I had to say that name I'd die."
"Gotcha fam. I knew you'd like that one."
"Aww Hajimeee, you know so much about me. You beautiful bastard." flirted Chiaki mockingly.
"Chiaki, we've been divorced for 10 years. This denial is putting a serious strain on our relationship." joked Hajime.
"You won't make me pay alimony!" yelled Chiaki in seemingly genuine anguish.
"Guys your acting is really good and all but can we talk about my internship for a bit? You won't believe who it's with." started Soda, sipping on his orange soda.
"Did I hear ‘internship’?" asked Aoi, appearing from the kitchen for the first time in a while.
"They grow up so fast…" said Aoi and wiped an invisible tear from her cheek.
"Hina!!!" cheered Chiaki. Chiaki really liked Aoi. Chiaki really liked cute girls.
"Hey Hina!" greeted Soda.
"Also how young do you think I am?!" he exclaimed, dejected.
Soda joined Aoi at the register to continue talking about the internship while Hajime remained with Chiaki at the table.
"Remind me why we ever broke up?" asked Chiaki, sarcasm thick.
"Because we fucked around instead of actually fucking?" answered Hajime.
"Ah yeah. A waste. We would have been a powerful force."
"Of world destruction definitely." added Hajime. "You have your invaluable ability to draw anime waifus, I have my uh…"
"uh…" he was struggling to come up with any skill at all that he possessed.
"Parkour skills." supplied Chiaki.
"Ah yeah, that."
Was it really a skill? He just liked to jump around buildings, it's good fun. He liked the adrenaline. Nothing special about that, he thought.
"Also you have that Bachelor's in bullshit…" mumbled Chiaki.
Nothing special about him, he thought.
"We can still fuck up the world, dating or not." she continued.
"I'm sure we'll end up doing that whether we like it or not." warmly replied Hajime.
"I'm 21!!!" cried the very adult Kazuichi Soda from the register.
Beep-beep-boop.
Their bustling banter was interrupted by the first in-person customer of the day (that Hajime didn’t personally know).
Hajime swiftly returned to his post in a well-practised fashion and readied his lines.
He cleared his throat.
"Welcome to UV!"
"Please feel free to have a seat and browse the digital menu at your leisure."
Having completed the routine he took a good look at the white-haired customer.
--
Nagito Komaeda, the 23 year old drifter, was looking for his next adventure. He'd gotten too comfortable at the bar he was working at, feeling like he knew everyone and everything there is to know. When asked for the reason for his move, he'd say that he simply felt bored.
He had caught an air tram to a station he had never visited before, as was his strange and spontaneous routine. It was 4:50 pm. The sun was low. Clouds were scattered across the skyscape, now pastel indigo, tinged with orange.
"...It's beautiful!" said Nagito aloud, overlooking a largely empty plaza.
A particular neon sign caught his eye. Nagito felt compelled to approach.
--
"Ah, hello!" a breathy, lilted voice called out.
Hajime was overwhelmed.
The person standing in the doorway was tall. Skinny. Pale. His composure was somehow both awkward and intoxicatingly confident, and even a little coy. His hair was textured, fluffy and tied into a ponytail on one side with a pink hair tie. It was elegantly mussed. Iridescent black short shorts, garters, a cute striped shirt - he was undeniably fashionable, in a very odd way. Heels. Chains. He looked like the type of person who could own anything he wears. Own any place he enters.
The details all blurred together in Hajime's mind though, until all he could think was: ‘pretty’.
"You weren't about to close were you? I wouldn't want to impose." said the mystical stranger. He sounded confident. Each word felt intentional, spoken with regal grace.
Hajime scrambled to compose himself.
"A-ah nah, I mean, no, we close at 10 pm today. You're all good." he replied with significantly less confidence.
"That's really late! How interesting!" the patron said excitedly.
"Yep! We close late most days. Feel free to have a seat anywhere." replied Hajime and gestured to the tables. Chiaki was side-eyeing him from her table.
"Thank you…" the patron said, and checked Hajime's holographic nametag.
"...Hinata." a pleasant smile.
"I'll have a look at the menu and let you know when I'm ready to order." he explained and approached the table near the register in an almost strut. He pulled the chair that faced the register from the table with a certain jagged elegance, rough around the edges but nonetheless confident, and took a seat.
A long, painted nail tapped on the floating 'on' button, making the menu interface spring to existence above the table. The cyan glow of the menu reflected off the patron's skin.
"Psst Hajime" Chiaki beckoned from her and Soda's booth quietly, doing the universal 'come over here idiot' gesture with her hands, her console now on the table.
"That person's hot." Chiaki whispered, with the isolation of the booth as well as the techno music from the jukebox allowing for a decent degree of discretion.
"Hey I have a suggestion: shut up maybe?" replied a 'somewhat shaken-up' Hajime.
Unphased, Chiaki began rambling.
"Do you think he's famous or something? How much do you reckon we can sell a receipt with his name on it for?"
Hajime surmised she already had this person's whole life story in headcanons in her brain.
"I reckon you should get a job instead of coming up with get-rich-quick schemes."
"Ouch Hajime." she pouted.
"I only mentioned NFTs one time!"
"That's one time too many."
“It’s hard to be an artist in this economy…” mumbled Chiaki. "But he really is pretty. Makes me wanna draw him or something. Would that be creepy?"
"Yes." replied Hajime matter-of-factly.
"What if I just asked him if I can sketch him… that's normal human behaviour right?"
"I don't know, fellow human, what do you think?" he asked in Soda's direction.
"Huh? Idk man I was spacing out."
"Hmm." both Chiaki and Hajime raised an eyebrow.
Just then, Hajime heard a ping from the beautiful stranger's table, signalling he's made his selection.
Hajime looked in the direction of his table and received a wave in response.
"Thank you for waiting, Hinata! I'm ready to order."
"Awesome, I'll just put that through to the kitchen…" On busy days this is done automatically by the system, but when he's able, Hajime is asked to check all receipts for fraud. He readied the interface and opened the incoming order request.
「 ORDER #003
Komaeda Nagito
x1 Iced Rose Green Tea
NOTE: x1 Hinata's number 」
"...aaand done. Hold on-"
Nagito chuckled. "Pardon my little joke, it was too easy."
"Smooth. Haven't gotten that one before."
"Is that sarcasm?"
"Actually no, my customers aren't usually this bold."
Nagito laughed brightly.
"I'm serious about the number though!"
"Um yeah?" Hajime would normally have been pissed at this kind of talk from a customer, if he wasn't already interested.
"I'd like to apply for a position at your branch. I'll need someone to contact." Nagito explained matter-of-factly, without making eye contact.
"Ahhh… Gotcha." Hajime consciously contained his disappointment.
"You're my future coworker then?" Hajime said with a smirk.
"Precisely. It'll be a pleasure to work with you." Nagito said with a relaxed and somewhat cocky smile.
"Someone's confident! Love the spirited attitude."
Hajime knew he could have easily ended it there, but he didn't want the conversation to end just yet. He decided to push the joke a little further.
"I'll have you know we have very strict and rigorous hiring requirements for new employees here at UV. Are you sure you have what it takes?" Hajime continued, voice drenched in sarcasm.
"Oh my, that does sound scary."
"…"
"I can lick my elbow… and I'll make sure to do some push-ups before the interview in order to nail the physical tests."
'Oh, he's funny too.' thought Hajime, enamored.
"Wow, elbow and push-ups, you've met both of our requirements! Welcome to the team."
Nagito laughed hard at that, the sight of which made Hajime's heart swell just a bit.
"I hope it'll go just as smoothly at the real interview. I'd love to work alongside you."
Hajime couldn't believe this fascinating person gave a shit about him. What about their conversation just now was enough for someone like Komaeda Nagito to want to spend more time with boring, plain Hajime?
"Haha yeah, good luck with the interview!" is all he could say.
This time Hajime made his way to his friends' booth of his own accord.
He noticed Soda's seat was empty.
"Oh hey where'd Soda go?"
"Home. Said something about prepping for the internship or whatever."
"Hmm.."
"Hey Nanami..."
"Oh you sound out of it. I wasn't eavesdropping too closely, what went down?"
"He did the ol' 'ask for the waiter's number in the notes' thing. For real."
"No way. You're lying."
"Believe me I'm confused too."
"Shut uuup." Chiaki slid her arms forward on the table until she was resting her head on its surface, looking defeated.
"Man I'm pissed, you pulled a fucking model and I'm still gonna be single."
"Bro literally shut up he's right there."
"But man... that's so BOLD!" Chiaki said, a little too loudly for comfort, lifting her face off the table.
"Shh, oh my god…" Hajime face-palmed.
"I question my decision to let you guys hang out here every goddamn day."
"Apparently he just wanted my number so he could apply to work here."
"Haha yeah sure. I bet that's what he told you." Chiaki scoffed, all-knowingly.
"Are you still coming up with headcanons about him?!"
"All I'm saying is: I think you're in."
"Take this chance! Flirt back!"
Hajime seriously considered it.
"You think so?"
"Lol you're so shy. The gap moe strikes again."
"Aight I'm leaving. Thank you for the expert advice, virgin otaku."
"Lmfaooo you're salty - that into him huh?"
Hajime was already walking towards the register.
--
"Here you go, Iced Rose Green Tea. Enjoy."
"Thank you Hinata." Nagito smiled. "Although.."
"and I don't mean to bother…"
"...I seem to be missing one of the items I ordered."
"Hahaha, you're cute I'll give you that." Hajime said, as casually as he could possibly muster.
Nagito's response was difficult to read. He looked down at the table, smiling as before.
"I'll just send you my IM ID yeah?" Hajime asked.
"That would be perfect."
"Cool." affirmed Hajime and pulled up an interface, sending his ID code to Nagito via a local connection.
"I got it, thank you!" Nagito said with a smile when he received the notification.
Nagito took the cold glass of tea in his hands and sipped on the tea through the pink-tinted faux-glass straw. It was a pretty sight.
"Hey Hajime, I'm leaving!" yelled Chiaki, who was almost out the door.
"Thank you for your continued patronage." replied Hajime with a little bow.
"Har har." Chiaki said, leaving through the sensor-activated doors.
Nagito watched Chiaki leave the cafe, eyes following her for a little while.
"A friend?" asked Nagito.
"Ah yep, best friend. She hangs out here a lot." Hajime wasn't sure why he was offering this much info. Nagito seemed pleased with the response anyhow.
It was at this point Hajime noticed they were alone in the room.
"It's nice here." Nagito spoke up after a silence, his eyes set on the clouds.
"Thank you, glad you're enjoying your visit." Hajime responded professionally.
"The skyline, buildings, neon glow... It's inexplicably beautiful… I don't know how to put it into words." continued Nagito.
"Ah you mean…" Hajime looked to the sky through the cafe's glass wall for the first time since his shift started.
"the neighbourhood?"
"Mm."
"It is really nice, I must agree." his eyes shifted back and forth between the patron and the sky. "First time in the area?"
"Yes," Nagito smirked and met Hajime's eyes. "but not the last."
Hajime raised his eyebrows, taken aback.
"Hah… well I'd hope not, since you're our new barista and all." he joked, met with laughter. "Our boss doesn't really do paid leave or sick days… so I expect you here tomorrow at 4 pm sharp." he continued, mentally cursing himself for making this gig sound unappealing.
"Well that's depressing." Nagito pouted, lowering his face into one hand and twirling his straw with the other.
"Yeah, tell me about it..." Hajime was too distracted for a good rebound joke and opted instead to fall back on one of his handy smalltalk topics.
"So, what brings you to the area?"
Nagito lifted his eyes inquisitively.
"It's not exactly a popular spot." Hajime clarified.
"Pure chance. I'd say I lucked out though!"
'Pure chance, huh' thought Hajime, unsure exactly what that implied. Did he have business in the area?
Beep-beep-boop.
"Ah-" Hajime tore his attention away from Nagito to turn to the door. Another customer.
"Welcome to UV!" Hajime greeted professionally and bowed slightly.
The customer waved at him and took a seat, expanding the holographic menu.
Hajime turned his attention back to Nagito.
"It's gonna get real busy soon, so I should go prepare..."
"...but thank you for the chat." Hajime ended the conversation, smiling sincerely.
"Likewise." Nagito smiled coquettishly, making Hajime's heart do a fucking somersault.
"I hope to meet you again in time."
"...Yeah, me too." Hajime whispered in response with a slight bow, before performing a debonair pivot and making his way to the kitchen.
--
Customers started coming in more regularly, keeping Hajime on his toes. When serving customers, Hajime sneaked a glance or two at Nagito, as though the patron was a highschool crush he watched from the bleachers. Eventually upon a 5th, or 10th, glance, he noticed the seat was empty. Nagito had quietly left the cafe without him noticing, to Hajime's slight disappointment.
Within an hour or so it could be considered 'busy' in the cafe. Most booths and some tables were taken, with a few of the cushioned window seats taken as well, typically, but not always, by patrons waiting for takeaways.
Both staff and customers referred to UV as a "cafe" but it was largely a formality. Its exact 'venue class' was difficult to define: UV had diner-like food menu options, a drink menu that rivalled bubble tea places in breadth, and opening hours that neared a bar's.
Mostly, UV was just UV. A special kind of place dear to the hearts of a cult customer base and tired salarymen alike.
"Like shit! I had the most sales today, I win." said a boisterous salaryman to his acquaintance next to him at UV's bar table.
"That may be so but you're forgetting the true spirit of competition! Improvement and work ethic! My redemption today was a true feat for the company and an inspiration!" replied the enthusiastic companion.
"Bro… you're just fuckin' saying words at this point. Just admit you lost!"
Hajime recognised these particular men. Ishimaru Kiyotaka and Oowada Mondo, the wacky duo of work rivals(and friends?) from Hope's Peak Inc. They had a… heated rivalry. A flaming friendship. A passionate work relationship. Whatever it was, Hajime enjoyed observing it, as a hobby.
"Never, brother! For that would hurt my pride too much!" responded Kiyotaka. Mondo laughed heartily in response.
"How we gonna settle this, Kiyo?"
"I think you know what I'm thinking." replied Kiyotaka. Both of them nodded, knowingly, and clenched their hands into fists before...
… joining hands for an arm wrestling match.
Hajime sighed in amusement before focusing on his work again.
A mass of online-made orders were automatically processed by the machine and stood on the sill of the kitchen's side window to be picked up by the delivery aircab. Hajime was busy taking orders at the register and checking that everything was in order at the back, helping Aoi with preparation when necessary.
It was busy all the way up until closing hour at 10 pm. Sufficiently exhausted, Hajime looked to the stars and wished for another coworker to take some of the weight off his shoulders.