Chapter 5

"Nice to have you back, Kuro dear." Said a regular customer happily. I talked to the regular customers I knew. Today there were only people I knew, but I noticed that there was one new face among them. I walked up to the counter where Mr. Hoshitaka stood. He asked me to give the new face a stamp card.

I looked at the boy. He had fiery red hair, his eyes contrasting blue like the sky. His face was fine, yet distinctive. His stature made me conclude that he did sports, probably something in the direction of gymnastics, his body was very muscular, but rather slender muscular.

I nodded and asked since when the boy comes regularly. He looks like he's my age, but he's not wearing a school uniform.

Mr. Hoshitaka thought, "I mean for about four weeks. "

I just asked out of curiosity and thought nothing more. The cards we gave to the regular customers were there to get gifts. Since the customers come so often, they get discounts from us, or something for free. It depends.

"Sorry for the disruption, we wanted to give you our regular customers card."

The young man looked at me briefly in surprise, but then took the card from me with a smile. "Thank you, may I ask what I can do with the card?

"Ah, sorry, with the regular customer card you get 20% discounts on every drink, plus the 10 drink is free.

"Oh, that sounds good." He replied enthusiastically, "This allows me to drink twice as much a month."

I smiled; it wasn't meant to be that way, but it was good. "When you pay, we simply scan your card. The discounts are used automatically, as well as the free drink."

"Thank you" he replied with a smile "Do you know everyone here?" he asked curiously and put his head to the side.

"Everyone here is a regular customer and therefore I work a lot, they all know me, so yes. "

"Ah that's nice to be liked by everyone!"

I shook my head and replied with a smile: "I'm only lucky here, adults usually like me more than people my age."

"Really? " He asked surprised "Well, I would have thought that many people like you. Just how everyone talks to you... "

At that moment, Aiko came in the door. She didn't give me a glance and quickly walked past us. I had to smile, such a childish behavior. She's probably still angry about the 4 hours, yet I'm the one who should be angry.

"Could you please bring me another black tea?" the boy asked politely.

"Of course."

I went to the counter and made some tea. Aiko was also about to bring a coffee to a table, but she accidentally hit me so that everything would fall on the floor. However, I just managed to catch the cups. The hot coffee and tea ran over my hand.

I sighed but stood up proudly. My reflexes are getting better and better. Unfortunately, my hands were not saved, they were completely red and burned.

"Be careful next time!" Aiko hissed and took the cups from me.

I apologized to Aiko, then went to the boy. "I'm going to make you a new tea, forgive the circumstances. I'll be right back with it. "

The boy looked at me, took my hand and sighed, "You've let all the hot tea run over your hand!" He furrowed his eyebrows as he looked at my hands.

"It's not that bad." I replied with a smile.

The boy got up and pulled me to the bathroom. I wanted to stop him and said that everything was ok, but he didn't listen.

The boy just smiled and put my hands under the cold water. There was dead silence between us. I watched the water run over my hands, turning the burning pain into a sweet one.

"Excuse me." I apologized.

"Because of what? " He asked.

"That you had to bring me here, I made a lot of unnecessary trouble. Sorry."

The boy looked at my hands, he watched as the cold water passed through my fingers.

"You don't have to apologize for that, but rather thank me." He looked up into my eyes, our faces not far away from each other. A smile spread across his face. "Just call me Akito"

I returned the smile and replied, "Then just Kuro for you."

After work, I wanted to pick up Yuki quickly at her friend's house, or so I thought. She left me a note where the address of her friend was written on it, though... she wrote down a street I didn't know, and I couldn't decipher the writing properly. That's not Yuki's writing, is it? My mobile phone also has no proper reception, so I can forget my internet. Damn it!

At that moment I heard a familiar voice behind me, "Kuro, what are you doing here in such a Hicksville?"

It was the last person I expected, when I turned around, I saw Akito and three other boys.

"Huh? Akito?" I thought for a moment and said with a smile: "I want to pick up my little sister."

He had his hands in his pockets and came to me relaxed. His appearance seemed different, earlier he seemed so mature, but now he seemed more appropriate to his age.

"Hey Akito, who's that cute chick back there?" one of the boys asked as he stood next to Akito. He was taller than Akito and looked down from above.

Akito thrust him firmly in the ribs with his arm and barked, "Don't! She is a friend of mine."

Another boy, a little smaller, asked provocatively: "Where can you tear up such pretty women?"

I looked at the boy with a furrowed brow, what does the idiot want?

The taller boy briefly made big eyes and said shocked: "That's the girl from our school who skipped two classes!"

Akito and the other turned to him in surprise at the same time. Her gaze wandered back to me, whereupon the smaller one asked if I was friends with the Yuma.

I looked at him questioningly, what does that have to do with Yuma? With a nod I confirmed his question. The two boys exchanged glances, bowed apologetic and quickly ran away. Akito was just as surprised as I was, we both didn't know how to react to it, but then laughed about it.

Shortly after we stopped laughing, Akito apologized for them. He claimed that they are usually not so weird, although I doubt it. Luckily, Akito was able to help me find Yuki. He led me through the alleys into the street where I had to go. I learned that Akito is also 15 and has recently started attending my school. It had only been 5 weeks since he came here with his family. Before that, he lived in the countryside. For a long time, he received private lessons, which made the whole thing new territory for him. His hobbies were varied, he likes to read, he said that he has his own library at home on his estate, likes to dance and also loves to do sports. I found him totally sympathetic, he didn't seem like the typical teenagers, sometimes like an old man. It just made me wonder more, that he was hanging out with the guys from before.

When we were in the street, Akito stopped and asked for the house number. I answered him 18C.

At first Akito looked surprised, then he started laughing.