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Not sure if anyone else is aware, but I know about one of the best coffee shops in the entirety of Suzuran. If you go in the direction of the junior high school, take a left, and then take another left after a couple or so blocks – BAM! You’re now in front of the world’s comfiest place known to man: the Tetra Café!
It should probably come without saying that I’m quite the regular here (I could probably walk towards the shop blindfolded), and every time I’ve come here, they’ve never let me down on their service. And today wasn’t an exception. Definitely not today.
It wasn’t that crowded when I walked inside the café, so I was able to find my usual spot: a small table near a window. The view I get from that spot is always nice, and there are electrical outlets right next to it so that I can charge my laptop while I work! But I mostly sit there for the view, especially on a rainy day like this. Anyways, I was walking over there when suddenly – and I mean suddenly – this floofy-haired guy just walks right in front of me and almost bumps into me! He was so focused on whatever that he didn’t even notice me there! How rude!
Whatever. It’s probably not like he meant to do that anyways. Still, I found that a hard thing to let go of. Seriously, like, learn some manners or something! Jeez! As I walked over to my table, I kept a watchful eye on the guy to make sure he didn’t bump into anyone else or cause some kind of catastrophe or whatever. He was apparently busy cleaning tables from what I could see, and he had this thoughtful yet stoic look in his eyes while doing so. Weird. He doesn’t seem like the kind of guy to be working in a place like this.
Even as I opened my laptop, I kept my gaze on him as he continued to do his job. Now, staring at someone like that was obviously not the nicest thing to do. But there was something about his purple eyes ( purple eyes? How did he get those?) and his content expression and, most importantly, his floofy hair that all kept me intrigued. Seriously, his hair was so fluffy I could just... I could squeeze it! Use it as a pillow! Man, I wish I had hair that was comfy like that! ...And he was also wearing a ridiculously tight jumpsuit underneath his work apron. Man, is he brave to go out wearing something like that...
Once Mister Floofy-Haired Guy was done cleaning up whatever tables were empty, he walked back a bit, sighed and took a moment to calm himself, and went behind the counter to wash his hands before getting the cash register ready. Now, normally I don’t order food here, but when a cute guy like him (even one who almost bumps into you) gets behind the counter all formally like that, you have to make an exception and let your curiosity take over! And so it was with this exception that I got up from my table and found myself walking over to the counter as if on some kind of instinct. Once I got there, there he was: Mister Stoic Floofy-Haired Man himself, standing so confidently behind the counter. His mysterious purple eyes seemed to glow even brighter up close, and anybody could tell that this guy was not going to cut corners during his job just by the way he stood! He had such an honest, truthful aura about him that...
“Excuse me. May I take your order, please?”
...anybody could trust and respect and get their order from -
Wait. He was trying to take my order.
Which means he’s talking to me.
...HE’S TALKING TO ME !
Well, no duh. Of course he’s talking to me because I was the one who so deliberately got up from my table to talk to him in the first place. And the most logical way for a worker to respond to a customer approaching them behind the counter is to ask them to take their order! So why was I so surprised?
And then he started looking at me weirdly as I was thinking! And so suddenly, too! Oh gosh, what do I do? What do I DO?! Quickly, my eyes shot over to the screen above that listed all the café's food items, and I decided to say the first thing that I saw to keep the conversation flowing naturally:
“ EGG SANDWIIIIIIIIIICH !”
...Okay, I actually ended up blurting that out. Really loudly. In the most unnatural way possible. And probably got some unwanted attention because of it. Great.
But nevertheless, the floofy-haired guy tried to stay as calm as he could, though I could easily tell that he too was panicking a little inside. His eyes darted all around the café as he fidgeted with the pocket on his apron. “So, uhm...” He paused to clear his throat before he continued again. “That egg sandwich... D-Did you want that on a croissant or a biscuit?”
I gotta say, I admire his determination to act casual even when the awkwardness around the both of us was absolutely incalculable as ever. The bread I got my sandwich on was the least of my concerns right now, so I kept it simple and quick as I responded, “A croissant is fine, please.”
And then Mister Floofy Hair got back to work mode in a flash. He pushed a few buttons on the cash register in front of him before pushing himself away from the counter and gliding over to where the egg sandwiches were kept under a food warmer. He grabbed the nearest one and carefully placed it inside a paper bag, his fingers moving so smoothly and calmly as he folded each and every corner until the sandwich fit perfectly inside it. Then he got a tray – just a small, simple tray – and placed the wrapped sandwich down lightly like it was his only source of pride and joy left in the world before his eyes met mine again and he asked in such a serene voice, “Is there anything else you would like to order?” The whole process was smooth like butter and so satisfying to watch as it unfolded right before my eyes. How long has this guy been working here for? I obviously haven’t seen him before, and yet he’s working as though he’s been working here for years.
I couldn’t help it. I needed to see him do all of that again.
“Yeah, I’ll have the, uh...” Again, I had to rely on quickly darting my eyes over to the menu and making the world’s quickest selection possible before I looked back to the worker to continue the interaction like normal. “I would also like to have an apple smoothie, if you don’t mind. A medium-sized smoothie, please.” My words went out of my mouth slowly and carefully because I sure as heck didn’t want to stumble on my words any more than I already have.
And again he whizzed and whirled and dashed around, putting the tray down on the counter in front of me before grabbing a cup and pouring the drink and... Huh. He paused. Did he forget something?
“Uhm...” Hesitance delayed it, but eventually he turned around to look at me again. “I’m sorry, but I forgot to ask whether or not you wanted a lid on your cup.”
Oh! Yeah, I guess that kinda makes sense. To be honest, I don’t normally take lids with my drinks. But since this day was full of exceptions, that obviously meant I had to get one. Why? Because that meant I could get a few extra seconds of watching this guy at work!
...Okay, that was probably super creepy. Like, astronomically so. But still! Someone out there must understand where I’m coming from, right? “Yeah, a lid is okay,” I finally said to him. “A-And don’t feel like you need to rush. Seriously, you can take your time.”
Mister Floofy Hair raised his eyebrows in suspicion. “...But it’s just putting the lid on and also grabbing a straw -”
“ Which is why you should take your time!” And now I was just raising my voice (again) and making up dumb hypotheses just to get a few more seconds of watching him work. Pretty pathetic if I’m being honest. Come on, Ringo! You can do better than that!
Another uncomfortable silence washed over us until Mister Floofy Hair resumed his work again. He reached for the lid that corresponded to the correct cup size, placed the cup down on the tray along with the sandwich, put the lid on tight, and laid the straw nearby on the tray. “There we go,” he muttered to himself while wiping the sweat away from his forehead with his arm. He took a moment to sigh – a sigh of contentment more than anything – before looking up at me and asking once more, “Would you like anything else?”
Don’t do it, Ringo, I told myself. Control yourself! For the sake of whatever’s left of your sanity AND your wallet, please -
“I’d actually like another egg sandwich, please. Th-This time on a biscuit.”
By the time I got back to my table, I was carrying five egg sandwiches and four apple smoothies – and all the smoothies had lids on them. If there were a good representation of human embarrassment and stupidity, I probably would’ve been a perfect example of that right now.
Well, at any rate, at least I got to see Mister Floofy Hair in action. And he’s pretty good at his work from what I’ve seen. In fact, I think he’s the best one out of everyone else here. Not to say that all the other workers here are bad or anything, but it’s just that I’d much rather deal with this guy’s calmness than have this one green-haired girl I got one time yell at me for being “weird” (seriously, she was pretty rude for someone whose job requires constant customer interaction). But now I can say that I got my food from the kind and ever-determined -
Wait. I never got Mister Floofy Hair’s name.
Out of all the things I couldn’t have noticed, that was the one?! I mean, yeah, that can easily be addressed through the direst of measures – trying to read his nametag with my 20/4 vision – but that’s, like, the most embarrassing thing to forget! Come on, me! You can do better than that!
Since Mister Floofy Hair was now busy serving someone else, I got to look carefully at him without looking like any more of a weirdo to him than I probably already have. By the holy power of squinting my eyes, the vision of his nametag came clear, and I finally got to lay eyes on the heavenly string of letters that made up Mister Floofy Hair’s name. Lo and behold, his true identity is... the name of Tee!
...Tee? The heck kinda name is that?
You gotta be out of your vector to name your own kid something as bland and unoriginal as “Tee”. Seriously, what the factor was his mom even thinking? ‘Ah, yes. Now that my son is born, I shall name him after the 20th letter of the alphabet. Nothing can possibly go wrong if I do that, right?’ Well... At any rate, I’m sure there’s other names out there that are... less creative than that, to put it lightly. Besides, he was insanely polite to me no matter how awkward or uncomfortable I made our interactions. So it’s not right to make fun of his name like that. Still... Why “Tee”?
But weird names aside, it was nice to see him at work again. He looked so determined as he went and reached for a sandwich for a customer and bagged it up inside... His smooth behavior reminds me of those silly cartoons Maguro and I used to watch when we were kids, where the hero was this “office job worker by day, crime-fighter by night” kinda guy. A sigh escaped my mouth as I watched Tee wave goodbye to the customer. He’s so cool ... If only I could be as calm and collected as he was.
I looked back over to my table, and it was then I realized that I hadn’t even opened my laptop – the bare minimum of my work, and I wasn’t even doing it! All because of some cute guy distracting me! Just what the factor is up with me today?! I can’t do my work, I can’t get my brain to function properly... And I can’t even have a normal human conversation without blurting out something so nonsensical!
As I thought all of this to myself, I saw from the corner of my eye that Tee left the front counter and was now cleaning tables again. A tiny thought entered my mind that told me to purposefully drop one of my lids on the floor for him to clean up – but how could I even do that? I’ve already made enough of a fool out of myself. But this was worse than being a weirdo – this thought was about me doing something mean deliberately , and there’s no way I’m doing that to get the attention of a nice guy like Tee! Besides, I’ve put him through enough as is!
So instead, I took a deep breath and decided to approach him – calmly – to try to strike up a normal conversation. Something that would make me much less of a weirdo than I already appeared to be. I waited until Tee lifted his head and was finished cleaning the table in front of him before speaking. “Hey,” I said to him. “I just wanted to say thanks for your patience when you were taking my order. Y-You get that I wasn’t trying to be all strange like that, right? Because I feel really bad for acting how I did earlier, and I wanted to let you know that.”
Tee stared at me for a few moments before his eyebrows raised up a bit and his eyes widened a little. “Oh, right,” he said, probably just now reminding himself of my public show of absolute embarrassment. “Y-Yeah, yeah, it’s fine. I understand.” Then he leaned forward like he was going to tell me something secretive, like he was going to disclose some super-secret spy information or something. “You know, I probably should be apologizing as well. I didn’t really do anything to lessen things, and... Well, it’s my first day here, so I’m still trying to get used to all this.”
Ah! So that’s why this is my first time seeing him! Of course! It all made sense. “Wow, really?” I replied in a cheerful way, smiling as warmly as I could. “Well, you’re honestly doing a really great job here, especially for it being your first day and all!”
And then Tee... blushed? If he did, it was only a little, but I swore I saw him blush a bit. He glanced away for a moment before he looked back at me and thanked me. “A-Actually, I should reiterate.” Oh? “This is my first day working without anyone watching over me.”
Ah. That makes more sense. Well, kinda. Because if he worked here with guidance, then how come I haven’t noticed sooner since I come here practically every morning? “Interesting. When did they usually watch over you?”
“In the afternoons,” Tee responded. He took the cloth he was using earlier and went to the table next to him. I backed up a bit to give him room. “This is my first morning shift, and it’s also the first one I have without any guidance.”
Ah! Now that makes the most sense!
“Anyways, things are going quite smoothly so far. Though I admit I’m still a bit shaky regarding handling customers and their orders.” He continued wiping down the table. “But other than that, I think I’ve gotten everything down-pat.” When he was finished, he sighed before moving on to another empty table. I followed him. He started to wipe down that table, but stopped to look up at me and say, “And thank you for your understanding and patience. I probably should’ve said that before.”
I laughed a little and said back, “No problem!” And then we talked and talked some more while Tee cleaned table after table until he was done. The restaurant felt much cleaner and prettier now, even though he had only taken care of the tables.
We talked about simple things – our home life, our friends, and all that other boring stuff. Tee apparently has a “unique” pet that he thinks I won’t be able to get behind. Which makes me even more curious! Like, if his pet is “unique” according to him, I wonder what his house is like? And what about his family?
One thing I found particularly striking about Tee, however, was that he had an affinity for all things space. “I made a few models of different planets and their orbits,” he told me at one point. “They’re all in my bedroom. I even have those little glow-in-the-dark stars that you stick on your ceiling.” But then he apologized for sounding “stupid and geeky”, which was unnecessary! Space is cool! And besides, if he’s a geek for liking space, then what does that make me with my countless hours spent studying constellations of all shapes and sizes?!
Anyways, the two of us moved over to my table, where I then asked for his phone number. “Just to keep in touch is all,” I explained to him once he asked why. “You seem like a cool guy, and I want to spend more time with you.”
“R-Really?” Tee stuttered and looked towards the side. And he’s blushing. He’s blushing! Officer, he’s blushing! I saw him, I swear it! I’m not making this up! “You really... want to be with me?”
“Heck yeah! So... You free during the weekends? We could go take a walk around the park, or – Ooh! How about you give me the grand tour around your house?”
Tee kept his eyesight to the side (out of embarrassment, I presume), but he nodded. He said he’d agree to that... so long as I showed him my house in return. Drat. But oh well, a small price to pay for curiosity. For discovery! For science!
But all good things of course had to come to an end, and after we exchanged phone numbers, Tee got up and went back to work. I waved him goodbye and wished him luck on the rest of his day, and he smiled and thanked me, and then he wished me the same. Our interaction was over as quickly as it had begun. (Though I admittedly spent a bit too long waving back at him... Probably looked a bit weird.)
I sat back down and opened my laptop in an effort to finally get a darn move on with my work. But I didn’t get anywhere, sadly enough. My mind kept reverting to Tee and his work efforts and his charisma and... He was just a genuinely nice guy overall, even if he’s a bit socially awkward sometimes. Not like I was any different though. I wonder - could this be what falling in love feels like? To have that one person circle around and around and around in your head like they’re on some kind of carnival ride, and knowing that they’re genuinely good and have a true heart, and that you want to protect them even though you barely know them... Is that what it feels like to fall for someone?
If so, then I think it’s quite the mystery – a good kind of mystery though. ...As long as I can eventually get around to concentrating on my work. Tee, the kind and handsome guy I met at the café one precious morning... I think I like that.
And I guess that’s the main reason why I like the Tetra Café as much as I do – though I’ve yet to gain the confidence to mention that reason to anybody else. There are many kinds of people from all aspects of life you see here, and this café serves as a way for all of them to communicate with each other, to connect with those they might not have another chance to talk to. Like with me and getting the chance to talk to someone as cool as Tee in this place. The Tetra Café doesn’t even feel like it's on Earth; this whole café is just on another planet in my mind with just how tranquil it feels to be inside here.
Eventually a day will come when I’ll get the courage to call Tee over to my house. Or maybe he’ll do it first, but I’d take that with a grain of salt. Either way, that day’s gonna be one heck of a ride – not just for me, but for both of us. I’ll just have to learn to take our little date, along with the eventual moments of awkwardness and embarrassment, as slowly as I can, one step at a time. And maybe I'll get to learn a few more things along the way.
Still... The heck kind of pet does he even have to be considered “incomprehensible”?