Would you like a cup of tea? || Shigeo Kageyama

Wedding Tea

"So what happened?" Hotaru crossed her arms with a displeased expression on her face as Mob sat on a chair with his hands on his knees as if to apologize to her. "You haven't been gone this long before. What happened?"

"...I... A lot... Things happened." He murmured to her nervously. "Can I...explain while you sit? It might take...a while."

"..." She glared at him before pulling out a chair for herself. Once she sat down, she leaned against her arm. "So? Get started."

He swallowed hard. "Well... I took part in the election...for the Student Council President position."

At those words, Hotaru's expression brightened up. "Why didn't you say so from the beginning?! That's great! So how did it go? Did you get the position?"

Mob's face paled further. "I... I got last place."

Hotaru paused, guilt settling inside of her. "Oh. I see."

"It's because I froze up during my speech..."

Somehow, this made her feel irritation towards the school population. "Is that so? Then they clearly have no eyes if they made you get last place, just because of that..." She muttered under her breath.

Mob, feeling the irritation radiating from her, waved his arms in front of her frantically. "B-but because of that, I got a girlfriend!"

"Eh...?" Hotaru blankly stared at him before smiling excitedly at him. "Well, isn't this great news?! I'm so proud of you! To think that you got a girlfriend that way! Good job, Hope!"

"...But I got rejected in the end."

"..." It felt like her soul was leaving her body at that point. "I... I see... So she has no eyes either." She sighed to herself, rubbing her forehead to get rid of the stress she was getting from his story. "And how do you feel about it?"

"...I don't mind now...since I did learn from it." He smiled sadly to himself. "I feel like I became a stronger person because of it. So that's why I don't mind."

"In that case, that's a relief." She stood up from the chair and went behind the counter. She pulled out a loose leaf can and began to scoop a little bit of the loose leaf mixture into the teapot. After she poured the hot water into it and put the cover on top of the teapot, she then looked at him. "As long as you learned from it and became a better person from that experience, then I suppose that it was worthwhile going through all of that."

He smiled a bittersweet one at her words.

She then poured the tea into his usual cup. "Then for good luck in the future, here's the perfect tea for you. Perhaps, it might even change you into the person that you want to be!"

"What is it called?" Mob stared at the dark yellow-green liquid. "It smells nice..." Sweet creamy vanilla, light citrus notes, and a vegetal light smell swirled in the air.

"This is called Wedding Tea." She smiled brighter than before.

"...Eh? Wait. Why is this good luck then?" Mob blinked in confusion.

She giggled to herself as she sat down in her chair. "It's because the tea is filled with wishes and hopes for you to get married to someone perfect for you! And doesn't that mean that you'll be the person that you want to be once you get married?"

"Ah..." He flushed a deep red. "I... I guess so... I never...thought of that...before..."

"Anyways, let's take a sip already?" She suggested with a bright expression.

They then drank the tea together as they enjoyed the comfortable atmosphere inside of the cafe in silence.