Afternoon: Chill Pill (Gray)

There was a quiet nameless café along the edge of Little Tokoyo that served sushi and drink. While it did not bare a name it was never lacking in customers when the air outside became cool and the shadows of night spread over all. At night, the place was a popular gathering spot for those looking for a calming air and good music or a place to quietly drink away sorrows. The place saw many faces at night, but during the day there was only one or two customers that came in at the most looking for a quick lunch; however, today only one young man had come in so far.

He had arrived at the place a little before 11:00 am. to help the shop owner prep his shop for the day. It had taken them an one hour to set up and when they were done the owner offered Haru a free meal. While the young man did not order anything to eat, he did bend to taking a glass of wine to keep the owner from getting too worked up about not paying him for the work done. It had always been this way though. Haru would drift to the shop to help set up in his spare time and the owner would always make a fuss over paying him until the young man finally gave and took something small. The action always seemed to make the owner proud and content enough to go back to work quiet once more.

As for the young man himself? He kind of enjoyed the small battle he never planned to win in the first place. The play was nice and the end result always left a warm feeling that easily picked up his spirits and calmed him. A thing much needed today. He had quite the night and had been quite wound up earlier making it hard to function or be civil, so he took to wandering without letting even Lisa know this round.

The wandering helped him release most of the stress and coming here had cleared the a large portion of the rest. The remaining stress would end about time he was done with the reward he had gained from the old man.  

Taking his wine with him, Haru would drift towards a small booth at the back of the place that faced the opened doors. With the breeze coming in lightly Haru would watch the people pass on the streets for a while before his mismatched eyes would drift away as he reached into his a pocket on his pants and pull out his phone. The small bear on a chain would jingle lightly as the phone was pulled out. Using his left hand and thumb to click the screen and icons, Haru would lean back in his seat, his right arm bending to rest easily along the back of the chair as his other hand held the wine glass loosely. His legs were crossed and his attitude chilled as he continued to surf the net. He was only interuptted once by the owner who said that he needed to run an errand and then pretty much left the store with Haru still there.

Without the use of words, Haru understood it was his job to watch the shop and take over while the old man was out. Something the old man had a tendency to do when Haru hung around. He did not really mind since it was a chilled job anyway and he actually could make sushi if a customer wanted it, so for now Haru would stay at the table not bothering to be traditional and stay behind the counter. No need to. He could easily watch the store from this position. So he stayed where he was and continued to surf the net as he waited for the old man to return or a customer to enter.

Haru would remain sitting at the table in his relaxed state, moving the images on the screen here and there as he let his mind wander to whatever caught his fancy. For the moment, he was alone, the shop completely deserted as he expected it to be at this time of day. Even so the young man kept his other senses alert for anyone that may be walking into the shop as he passed the time looking at this or that. Occasionally he would take a sip of his red wine. He was beginning to relax in his seat not expecting much to ruin his day.

When he heard the approach of footsteps, mismatched eyes would drift from his phone screen to the one who lingered at the door. It was a tall man with dark brown skin that he had never seen before. Between the uncommon skin tone and the outfit the other wore, Haru had to wonder if the guy was from a richer part of town or maybe a foreigner that had come to Endyimon. He was certainly peculiar; however, the young man would not question anything out loud as he gave the other a casual glance taking note that he seemed to be looking around the place for something.

“If you are curious about seating, they're all open and considering it is myself and you here, you can sit anywhere you like,” Haru would begin his tones casual, yet slightly amused. From here he moved to get up. The hand that held the phone easily pushed the icons on the screen used to lock the phone before it was slipping it into his back pocket. The hand that held the wine glass would fall gently to his side as he stood up as he made sure not to slosh the liquid inside of the glass.

On his feet, Haru would move behind the bar making sure to set his glass on the back counter the customers could not get to before drifting over to the bar itself and placing his hands down on the counter, a light click would come from the rings on his fingers as they made contact with the hard surface.

His eyes would drift back over to the other wherever he happened to be at the moment.

“Welcome to Sakura’s Sushi Bar. While I am not the owner, I am happy to serve you. So can I get you anything? Sushi? A drink?” he would ask his mannerism laid back, yet polite and professional as he fell easily enough into the role of a server.

Notes:

Haru’s eyes would meet the other’s briefly as he looked at him. To the smile and words, Haru would give a small smile back.

“Well if you are looking to catch the best breeze, sitting slightly off to the right or left of the center of the shop is always pleasant,” he would say giving the other a small recommendation like any host would do as he moved from his seat to behind the counter. While he did not look directly at the other, he had a feeling he was being watched, but since it was not in the hostile way Haru didn’t mind as he settled in his spot and role.

When the other decided to sit near the counter, Haru wouldn’t say anything and only tilted his head lightly at the raised eyebrow. Hm? Did he have a question? The quiet stare poked questioningly at the look, but in the end the question asked was about drinks. With only a brief pause to take it in and think, Haru's lips would part and he would answer.

“We have quite the list. Let’s here,” Haru would cross his arms as he looked up at the ceiling slightly as he ran through the list in his head.

“We have sodas of both the regular and diet kind. We serve Dr. Pepper, Coke, Sprite, and Root Beer. We have Green or Black Tea. Coffee. Water. Then of course the alcoholic beverages ranging from wine, sake, beer, and some harder liquors if you prefer,” Haru would pause and look back at the other with a calm expression. A small smile painted his lips. “So what suits your tastes, Mr...?” he would trail off there, leaving the rest for the other to answer if he wanted to.

In response to the short answer given, Haru would not say much in return. After all what was there to say? He had given a suggestion based on what he had experienced when sitting within the bar and if the man took the suggestion cool and if not that was fine too. It wasn’t like the suggestion weighed upon something important anyway. So Haru would simply going through the motions of being the server as he let the guy get situated. His break in character would only come when the strange look had come up.

When he got a head tilt in response to his own reaction, a faint smile would play upon his lips as he watched the other. “’Sup?” he would ask, his tone relaxed as he made a gentle pry into whatever it was that had gotten them into this odd exchange of raised eyebrows and head tilts. However, whether the guy decided to share or not was up to him. Haru wouldn’t pry beyond this because to be honest it was a wandering curiosity more so than anything else. A trivial matter in the end that would soon pass by as menu options for drinks was asked for and given.

Falling silent to give the other a chance to think, Haru would briefly glance at the other his eyes taking note of the small actions the other performed while thinking. Being patient enough, Haru would not disturb the thinker as he looked towards the door to people watch in the small absence of chat. When the other finally spoke, the young man would nod.

“A pleasure meet you Gray. My name is Hatsuharu. Though you’re welcome to shorten the name if you prefer not to deal with the mouthful,” he would say with a small smile and then hearing the choice made, he would shift in his spot as he moved to get the items.

“Wine. A nice choice. Let’s see,” he would say before ducking down to look at the selection they had down there. Moving aside some unorganized bottles he would look through the choices there before finding the pair they typically offered regardless of the time of day. With the bottles firmly in hand, he would set the pair on the counter making sure the other could see the labels.

“White Zinfandel or Sweet Red Rosso?” he would ask as he moved to hunt down a wine glass. Returning with a glass he would place it down on the counter. “We have some chilled also if you prefer,” he would say keeping up the act of server until the other had made a choice and the drink had been poured and served.

Once the action was performed and business settled a bit, Haru would leave only the bottle of the used wine on the back counter safely out of knocking over range while the other went back into hiding. Chilling once more, he would pick up his own glass of wine and hold it casually in his left hand as he observed the other with a calm expression for a few moments. After a moment, he would tilt his head at the other and speak.

“So tell me. How did you manage to find out about this place? Did a friend tell you or did you just happen to come by?” Haru would say trying to create idle chat like he had seen other servers around the place do. Granted they were more graceful at it than himself, but on the other hand he had to try. He would think it would be a bit awkward if not rude to not chat with a single customer….unless silence was preferred then that was a different story completely….

Haru would close his eyes a bit as he nodded at the other. He had a point.

“Well, I guess you can say I am not your average worker. It's more like I support the owner because he is good friend of mine. I typically come here in my spare time to assist and sometimes he just wanders off to get this or that thing for the busier hours, so I hold down the fort until he returns.”

Haru would supply the explanation easily enough. It wasn’t something that he found worth hiding and since they were kind of on the topic anyway, why not explain a bit? Besides wasn’t this how idle chat worked to begin with? He wasn’t sure and maybe if he had offended or annoyed the quiet guest, the other would correct him. Who knew?

As the subject of switched to names the young man would tilt his head as the other mentioned trickier names. “Oh? Like?” he would ask letting light curiosity fuel his responses. He wasn’t being pushy with the answer or anything like that as he simply tried to keep the light conversation going. If all else failed, he suppose silence would just have to be dealt with….and it seemed that point was proven quickly enough when he got a short response back to his comment on the choice of wine as a drink. Honestly what was there to even say to that?

So instead of speaking he would simply give the other a small nod in turn, saying without words “well let’s test it then”. Though how perceptive the other was at reading body language and certain looks was unknown so it was what it was for now. Regardless the conversation would move to the wine choices and how the other would like said wine to be served. This round the other seemed to be quicker on the draw. Once the choice was made, the next few actions would pass by in silence.

The silence would extend with the young man watching the other and observing him a bit as he seemed to space out. Being bad at conversations to begin with it took a moment for Haru to actually find something to disturb the other with. When he got the small smile and shrug back, Haru would keep his polite manner up as he listened.

“Is that so? Well I am glad you found the place in your wanderings.” He would pause and take a small swallow of his wine before continuing. “Mmm. So is this just a place you work or is it also home for you?” he would ask his behavior remaining casual enough as he seemed to relax a bit more in his position.

Well that conversation didn’t go very far. Was it really one to begin with? One had to wonder. Sure they had a brief exchange, but honestly that was it. While Haru couldn’t speak for the other he knew that if he wasn’t poked further he wouldn’t go beyond the explanation given and considering the response given back, maybe the guy wasn’t interested in going further. He wasn’t sure since he wasn’t the greatest at reading people and even worse at picking up on what was right or wrong in a social situations. So without further prompting the young man did what was natural to him in these situation. He would become quiet as he looked away from the other and took to glancing around the shop casually, drifting into his own thoughts.

Mismatched eyes would drift back to the other when he answered his question. “Heh. Well I guess you are one of the rare ones,” he would state with a small smirk. Sure his name wasn’t hard to pronounce, but at the same time he didn’t know many that actually took the time to say his full name. They always found ways to shorten it, so he guess he had gotten accustom to it. Now that he thought of it outside of introductions, when was the last time someone actually used his full name? ….Huh. Sad he could not remember. Maybe he would dig further into that matter another time. Moving along.  

“You’re not from here, huh? Well, where did you come from and what made you come to the city?” he would ask as he took a different sort of study of the other. This one did bare a more exotic look than the common folk which were typically pale in complexion and had a rather common look build wise. It made him wonder a bit more about the other, but the young man would not push further as those sort of questions went beyond a casual chat with a stranger. For now, he kept what he asked basic and respectful of the other.

Whether he got an answer or not, the pair would fall into a moment of silence as gestures and looks were exchanged, but nothing more. The conversation didn’t pick back up until a while later when they began chatting about how the guy made his way to the shop.

A small smirk would form on Haru’s lip. “Maybe so,” he say in good-natured tones as he looked back towards the door. “Yeah. This shop isn’t that unusual and it's not like it is designed to stand out either. Unless someone has told another about it, the place gets people like you that stumble upon it by chance.”

It was strange how a little hole in the wall could sometime compete or even win against a big flashy spot. Yet somehow without even trying these common or bland looking places did just that. Hmm. Curious little world.

Haru would give a light nod. “Mmm. Yeah fresh air and a change of scenery is always nice,” he would say in laid back tones before becoming quiet for a moment as he gently swished the wine in the glass. It seemed the young man had run out of ideas of what to bounce of here. Now what?

Silences. They were a familiar thing to the mostly quiet and typically to himself young man. To be honest, the only reason he had gone out of his way to say much at all was because it was part of the job...and it was kind of rude to not to say hi to begin with. So he had to at least try to be sociable right? Right…

Yeah. Well that lasted only as far as the the Haru could bounce off of what was being said and even that sort of conversation seemed iffy at best. Sure it flowed naturally, but seriously was the exchange really what a conversation was like? Maybe. Or maybe it was just the other before him and his own tendency to match the pace of others around him that made the situation a bit different than the norm.

In a bubbly group (though he was annoyed by them), he could play bubbly quite well, but for the serious or quiet? The ones closer to his nature? He always responded back to those types by being quiet himself only responding when he needed to. For him this way was natural and he suppose if the other was unbothered by just passing small chat here and there, then it was okay to do this. After all, one could still enjoy company with some silence.

Haru would blink a bit as he let out a light hum of thought. “Well, I wouldn’t say that per se, but when given the options most seem to like the shorter version over the long. And no it isnot a science at all. More like a tend.”   It was in the end just a name, but the young man found it interesting how most preferred to give nicknames or shorten long names just because it was easier or sounded better than the original. Much like clothing the variation would change from person to person. Just like opinions on the matter would change and flow. A curious study for the easily amused mind.

But you know what didn’t seem to flow or change? Haru’s failure beat around the bush when something caught his interest. Being rather straightforward with his questions, Haru was not upset or bothered by the response given back. Accepting the vagueness with along with the semi-direct, Haru would give the other a light nod.

“Europe, huh? I always wanted to visit there to see what it was like in comparison to this place,” he would say his tone casual and respectful of the other before him. He wasn’t going to pry into personal business and to be frank, he was happy with the gentle brush off rather than an angry response towards his directness. After all, this could’ve gone rather ugly if the other had decided to take offense at what he heard.

“I suppose so,” he would say and then closing his eyes he would shake his head lightly as he gave the other a small smile. “Not too much outside of an ad in the paper or a flyer here and there. The old man never wanted the place to be flashy. He just wanted it to be a place for folks to come in and enjoy themselves. I found it odd he didn’t advertise much at first, but then spending a bit of time here, I found that some things just grow on their own without too much help from the media.”

Considering who he was and what sort of life he was exposed to, the idea of not being flashy was definitely a jarring one. He had tried before to get the old man to advertise more; however, he was always told that only a few seeds needed to be planted to make something beautiful grow thanks to patience, pure love and faith. The saying and the concept had seemed like a set up for failure and yet, here this place was. Still standing and thriving in a place where it could easily be overlooked. Strange.

…

And so time would move on and the silence would come again. Haru would hear the light clink of the glass against the counter as he reopened his eyes and looked over at the other who was watching him. For a brief moment there was a stare off and then a question posed. To what was heard, Haru would let out a very faint snort of amusement as his eyes lowered and he actually drop the server act and went back to being just him.

“Socialize? Or working as a server?” he ask before he paused and took another sip of his wine. As he brought the glass down a bit he would study the liquid for a bit before looking over at the other, his attitude shifting to calm, but still open as he waited for some clarification on the question.