Cafe A La Mode

(1) Meeting Mr Mysterious

                There was only ten minutes left.

                "Come on," Juri Sakuran bounced on the tips of her toes as she waited for the pedestrian lights to go green, despite the heavy plastic bags digging into her long delicate piano fingers. All around her people pressed in, trapping her so she felt slightly claustrophobic in the busy city streets. It was a bitterly cold winter afternoon, and the freezing temperatures chilled her right through her navy blue and white school uniform. The dark grey clouds which smothered Tokyo seemed to be deciding whether it should start to snow.

                Anxiously, Juri fiddled with her long, black hair that reached her waist. Suddenly someone knocked into her, the heavy shopping bags slipping from her grasp and the contents spilled onto the ground.  "Sorry!" a voice called somewhere deep within the crowd.

                "N-no..." she moaned through chattering teeth, and she knelt down, quickly trying to gather all the items back into the shopping bag before they rolled away or were crushed by other people. At that moment, the lights went green, and the sea of people surged forward, nearly knocking her over again.

                Much to her relief, she had gathered up the seven cans of sugar-glazed cherries and three cans of condensed milk completely unharmed. However, through the fringe that hung over her dark eyes, she saw that the carton of eggs had suffered a most horrible misfortune and Juri was forced to return to the grocery to purchase more.

                By the time she had skidded into the small café nestled between two huge shopping centres, she was late by a minute and a half.

                "I'm sorry I'm late!" Juri called as she pushed through the door through to the kitchen. The familiar aroma of freshly baked cakes and coffee greeted her and the warm air blasting from the heater slowly started to bring feeling back to her numb limbs.

                "No problem," called Meru Fournier as she breezed past, her arms laden with a large platter of raspberry and white chocolate swirl cupcakes. Her mid-length chocolate brown hair had been layered earlier that afternoon by the hairdresser, and the new caramel highlights brought out her pretty eyes. "Ari-chan is making another batch of brownies, and Emi-chan is waitressing with you today, so hurry and go get changed," Meru said before disappearing through the small wooden, western-styled swinging doors that led to the counter and displays.

                Café A La Modé was a family business owned by Meru's parents, who were of French descent. The four girls often helped out after school and on weekends together since they started high school. The entire café was designed by Meru's Mother, and made almost entirely from a deep cherry wood. Outside, in the summer, they often had chairs and tables for customers to sit, but the winter had proven ugly weather for such leisure, so the inside of the café was usually packed.

                Large glass windows revealed the outside world all along the wall that lined the street. Heavy curtains were tied either side of the large windows and comfy lounges with a coffee table in the centre were arranged into several bays. Throughout the rest of the café, dainty chairs and tables filled the room, and in the centre of the tables, a small glass vase with a single rose was placed. The lounge bays had a couple of magazines spread neatly on the coffee tables and on the back wall, behind the counter and displays of delicious cakes, pastries and other delightful delicacies, were three large canvases, each had black and red roses painted across them.

                Under the canvases was a large chalkboard with the day's specials and beside that was a corkboard with local events and other miscellaneous flyers and advertisements.