QUARTET ALLIANCE: LEND A HAND (Wild Duty & Judgement)

Chapter 14: Rising Restlessness

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6:21 A.M

-JUST COFFEE-

Jiryu sees him as soon as he walks in, the angry customer, before he's even been triggered. There is a tension in his manner, a tightness in his face and his red eyes move more robotically than others. Every move he makes is as if he's got some clock ticking in his head, perhaps that's the countdown to his next explosion.

The confused blond doubts there is a thing in this world that can bring him joy, not a flower or a sunrise, the angry customer, Kazuo, forever in a world of grey. As he surveys the products, fingering them as if daring them to tempt him and taking a small delight of rejecting them. He will select something soon and Jiryu knows it too well.

"Good morning," Kazuo utters as if it's forced for the sake of the blond who did nothing. Although, Jiryu felt like he would soon lose that sake if he starts asking too much.

But he didn't care.

"What's got you so worked up?" Jiryu asked.

"What would you like to order is what's it's supposed to be, a vanilla latte, please and thank you,"

He did not just ignore me.

"I'm not going to give it to until you tell me," Jiryu deadpanned.

"And I'm going to call your manager-"

"I'm the owner,"

Silence.

"Can you just give it to me? I'll tell you later," Kazuo pulled out some cash and placed it on the counter.

"Sure,"

___

Kazuo gulped down the last bit of his vanilla latte, slammed down his plastic cup and gave a sigh of delight from the delicious drink.

"I take that as you liked it," Kazuo looked up to see Jiryu smiling with his eyes closed, sitting on the chair facing him. The other few workers did a good job in taking care of the other customers while Jiryu took a break to sit down with Kazuo.

"Yeah," The sixteen year old muttered whilst tapping his fingers on the table. He knew he'd just have to tell the older about what was troubling him so much, but Jiryu couldn't help but feel like he was rushing him.

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to,"

Vermilion eyes gaped up at his kind smile and as if on cue, his worried face changed to confusion and relief.

"Why not?" Kazuo asked.

"I don't know. It just feels like you're not ready, so I don't mind how long you take to tell me. I don't wanna pressure you," Jiryu encouraged, a small smile on his face.

At that, Kazuo scratched the back of head and looked around nervously, "Thank you,"

"You're welcome," Jiryu closed his eyes and rested his chin on both hands and moved closer, "But I didn't take a break for us to sit and do nothing, so let's talk about something," He shot his eyes open which made Kazuo visibly flinch.