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Saiki was hoping to spend his afternoon alone at his favourite café. But apparently some peace and quiet for once was too much to ask, three of his biggest nuisances tailing him.
“Hey, Saiki? Where are you taking us?” Kaidou mumbled, shoving his hands in his pockets before letting out a gasp. “Are we infiltrating Dark Reunions secret base??”
”No, and I’m not taking you anywhere. You guys just followed me out of school.” Saiki thought to himself. Nendou laughed loudly, slapping Kaidou on the back, the smaller boy almost toppling over on impact.
“Haha!! The hell are you talking about, Runt??” Nendou said between chuckles, Kaidou now scowling up at him.
“SHUT UP, IDIOT!” Kaidou retorted, making Nendou laugh harder.
“C’mon guys. Fighting won’t solve anything. And besides, we should be excited! Saiki never takes us anywhere. It must be special.” Kuboyasu said calmly, Kaidou now looking a bit sheepish from lashing out.
“For the last time, I’m not taking you anywhere. You guys are just stalking me. And I don’t wanna hear the phrase ‘fighting won’t solve anything’ from you, Kuboyasu.” Saiki said in his head, knowing full well none of them can hear his complaints.
It wasn’t long before they reached the front of Café Mami, the four boys standing in front of it and looking up at the sign.
“This is where you wanted to go, Saiki? Isn't this where Mera works?” Kuboyasu asked, awkwardly scratching the back of his neck.
“Yeah, it is… why would Saiki want to take us here?” Kaidou asked, just as confused as his friend.
“You guys are so stupid. This place is famous for its rockin’ coffee jelly!! My partner’s favourite~” Nendou said with pride, wrapping an arm around Saiki’s shoulders and pulling him into a half hug.
“Ohhh, of course!” Kaidou and Kuboyasu said in unison. Saiki let out a small sigh, feeling weirdly embarrassed.
The four boys walked in, sitting down in a booth while waiting for a waiter to come take their order.
“Y’know, I’ve never actually been here before.” Kuboyasu mumbled, taking in his surroundings. He wasn’t used to going to nice, comfortable places like this. “It’s… nice.”
“Yeah, I’ve never been here either. I was always worried it would be awkward with Mera as my waitress.” Kaidou added.
“I’ve been here once before!” Nendou exclaimed enthusiastically, slapping a hand on Saiki’s shoulder. “I came here with my partner!!”
”Yeah, against my will.”
Before the conversation could go on further, their waiter finally made his way over to their table, glancing uninterestedly at the notepad in his hand. His voice was bored and monotone, like he’d rather be anywhere else.
“Hello. I’m Saiko. I’ll be your waiter today. What can I get for you.”
The four boys stared at their waiter, jaws agape.
“SAIKO?!” Kuboyasu yelled, their waiter physically tensing up. Saiko quickly looked up from his note pad, freezing as he saw who exactly was sitting at his table.
The expression on his face could only be described as pure, unfiltered horror.
“OH MY GOD, SAIKO??” Kaidou sputtered, a flabbergasted grin growing on his face. “YOU HAVE A JOB?!”
Saiko nearly crushed his notepad in his now clenched fist.
“WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU PEASANTS DOING HERE?!” Saiko shrieked. He didn’t give them a chance to respond before turning around, stomping towards the door to the kitchen.
“GLUTTONOUS PEASANT!! GET OUT HERE NOW!!”
Upon speaking those words, Mera immediately rushed out, giving Saiko a salute.
“Y-Yes, sir!”
The four of them blinked at the ridiculous scene playing out in front of them. Mera was acting like Saiko was paying her to do whatever he said. He probably was.
“I thought I gave you specific instructions to not tell a single one of our classmates about my new job!!” Saiko hissed angerly, Mera wincing at Saiko’s harsh tone.
“I-I didn’t, Sir! I swear!! Saiki is a regular here, so he must have brought his friends with him!!” Mera panicked as she waved her hands around defensively. Saiko scoffed, crossing his arms and rolling his eyes.
“Well, I KNOW the glasses peasant is a regular here!! Everyone knows that!! And that usually wouldn’t be an issue, because the one thing that nerdy peasant is good for is keeping his mouth shut! But he just HAD to bring his disgusting peasant friends here!!”
Saiki couldn’t help but feel yet another wave of embarrassment wash over him.
Before Saiki could wallow for much longer, Saiko stormed back over to their table, giving them the most irritated scowl he could muster. His look could usually be described as intimidating, but the apparent redness in his cheeks was making it a lot more amusing than scary.
“Listen, peasants. We are going to be mature about this transaction. I will take your order, give you your food, and you will leave this establishment and never mention this ever again. Am I making myself clear?”
“Ehe, hey rich boy, why are you working at an old café like this? Aren’t you like, loaded?” Nendou asked, bringing a snicker out from Kuboyasu. Saiko groaned dramatically.
“You maggots just won’t cooperate, will you? Well, you are aware of our schools graduation requirements, aren’t you?” Saiko’s eyes narrowed, Kuboyasu looking at him like he was speaking a different language.
“Uh, no, dude. We still have a whole year. Why would we worry about-“
“Are you talking about the 30 hours of work we have to complete?” Kaidou interrupted, causing Kuboyasu to suddenly feel like the stupidest person in the room.
“Tch. Yes, that is what I’m talking about.” Saiko looked away, letting out an upset huff. “I wouldn’t usually get something like this done ahead of time, but I had some free time in my schedule, and I would prefer to get this wretched graduation requirement over with.”
Saiki sighed, realizing this new so-called ‘graduation requirement’ must have been the result of his mind control, where he allowed students to work while enrolled in school. What a pain.
Kuboyasu couldn’t help but let out a loud, bellowing laugh. Saiko was not happy with that reaction, his face growing increasingly red by the minute.
“What’s so funny, middle parted peasant!?”
“It’s just a bit ironic, don’t you think?? A rich brat like you?? WORKING??” Kuboyasu threw his head back as he found himself in a fit of laughter, Kaidou mumbling to him about how he shouldn’t laugh.
Saiko looked furious.
“I don’t want to hear that coming from you, you repulsive juvenile delinquent! You’ve probably been forced to do dirty work your entire life due to your shameful delinquent upbringing!” Saiko snapped back. “This job is merely a requirement for my education, you brute!!”
Kuboyasu stopped laughing, now beginning to feel increasingly angry.
“At least I’m hard working! You probably complain every goddamn second you work at this joint!!” Kuboyasu slammed a fist on the table, Kaidou now shaking his arm in a failed attempt to get him to calm down.
“I refuse to stand for such disrespect! I’m getting that gluttonous peasant to serve you instead!” Saiko spat before storming into the kitchen.
Kuboyasu let out a relieved sigh, letting himself breathe for a moment.
“Thank god… if I had to talk to that guy for another second, I was gonna fucking kill him…” Kuboyasu sighed.
“D’aw, I was kind of excited for him to be our server! Since he’s rich, he’d probably fancy-fy our food!” Nendou smiled, Kaidou face palming in response.
“That’s not how it works, stupid!”
Mera walked over, noticeably less chipper than usual.
“Hey, guys… what can I get you? The usual, Saiki?” Mera said sadly, tapping her pen against the top of her notepad.
“Oh? What’s wrong, Mera? Is Saiko causin’ you trouble?” Nendou asked, tilting his head to the side.
“If he is, I’ll beat the crap out of him!” Kuboyasu cracked his knuckles, obviously just looking for an excuse to beat up Saiko. Mera sighed, letting her hands fall down to her side.
“No, I mean, not really… I just kind of feel bad for Saiko.”
“Feel bad?? For SAIKO?!” Kaidou’s jaw dropped at such an obscure phrase, having never thought he’d hear the words ‘feel bad’ and ‘Saiko’ in the same sentence. Mera nodded.
“Yeah… being honest…” she leaned in closer, her voice dropping to a low whisper. “Saiko’s really bad at working. He’s only worked here for a few days, and he’s been constantly making mistakes in orders, being rude to customers, and he’s caused more then one temper tantrum…”
Kuboyasu scoffed, rolling his eyes.
“God, that brat. He-“
“But…” Mera interrupted, putting a hand up to stop Kuboyasu from speaking further. “He’s trying really hard.”
“…Huh?”
“He‘s clearly not used to working, it’s way out of his comfort zone… but it’s clear he’s trying his best. He’s slowly getting better every day, and he’s never giving up, despite how stressful it is for him. And hey, it’s not all bad! I mean, since he’s so rude to customers, more people suggest to have me as their waitress, so I basically get his tips!” Mera coughed, chuckling awkwardly. “..But that’s not really the point I’m trying to make here.”
The four of them looked over at Saiko. He was standing behind the main counter, leaning on his elbows with his face shoved into the palms of his hands, muttering something under his breath. Kuboyasu awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck.
“…Great. Now I feel bad.”
“…Yeah… me too..” Kaidou added on with a sigh. “Maybe we should give Saiko a chance…?”
“Yeah… okay.. you’re right.” Kuboyasu admitted reluctantly. “Maybe I was too harsh on him..”
“Mera!” Nendou pointed a finger in the air. “We would like Saiko to be our waiter, please!”
Mera nodded, walking over to where Saiko was. As soon as she walked over there and mumbled something to him, Saiko stood up straight, trying his best to compose himself before walking over to their table.
“I thought I made it clear I do not want to serve y-“
“We’ll take five coffee jellies!” Nendou barged in, causing Saiko to raise an eyebrow.
“Five? But there are only four of you. Are you stupid or something?”
“The fifth one is for you! You’re eatin’ with us, rich boy!”
Saiko, Kuboyasu, Kaidou and Saiki all looked at Nendou like he grew a second head.
“What?? For ME??” Saiko squawked, like he was barely able to believe it. “Why would I want to eat cheap food with you peasants??”
“Cause you’ve been working so hard and deserve a break! Friends help friends out, after all!!” Nendou smiled, already pressing closer against Saiki to make room for Saiko to sit down.
“…Frie…” Saiko trailed off, looking bewildered. After a few seconds of silence, he quickly composed himself, brushing nonexistent dust off of his apron.
“Fine. But only because this place is dead and I’m bored as hell.” Saiko gave them one last look before strutting towards the kitchen. “FIVE COFFEE JELLIES! NOW.”
It wasn’t long before Saiko delivered their order, sliding hesitantly in the booth next to Nendou as he poked at his coffee jelly.
“…Tastes revolting.” Saiko mumbled after trying a bite.
“Oh, be careful, rich boy!” Nendou said, “You’re making my partner mad! You’re insulting his favourite food, you know!”
Saiko looked over at Saiki, who was side eyeing him as he scooped up a small portion of coffee jelly onto his spoon.
“…The glasses peasant is making the same dull expression he always does.”
“Nuh-Uh! He’s furious! I can tell. You’ll be able to tell once you start hanging out with us more!” Nendou said with a laugh.
“He IS looking at you a bit funny, Saiko!” Kuboyasu chuckled jokingly. “You better watch yourself!”
Saiki just sighed and went back to focusing on the jelly, while Saiko’s mind was focused on something much more important to him than the desert sitting in front of him.
“Hang out…more?” Saiko muttered, bewildered.
“I don’t see why not!” Kaidou chimed in. “We should totally bring you to come see me and Aren’s super secret base!”
“Um, Shun… I don’t think Saiko’s the type to like something like that.” Kuboyasu said with a small smile. “We should bring him cherry blossom viewing! Spring is in a few weeks, you know!”
“Oh? Why don’t we take him to get Ramen!” Nendou said while scratching his nose. Kaidou groaned.
“Idiot, we already did that with him! We wanna do something new!”
Saiko stared at them as they bantered, his eyes wide. He paused for a moment before letting his gaze fall on the coffee jelly in front of him, his eyelids drooping slightly as he poked at the side of it with his spoon.
“Tch… peasants.”