the cosmos taste like raspberries | haikyuu, 18+

I

Unbuckling your seatbelt, you grab the manila folder that sits on your passenger seat. You sift through the files to find the one that you're looking for.

"Ah, here it is," you say to yourself before reading the file.

'Satori Tendou. Born on May 20th, 1994 in the Miyagi Prefecture in Japan. Previously a volleyball star in high school, now a world-class chocolatier based in Paris, France. Runs his own shop named "Parisian Paradise," allegedly inspired by his high school volleyball experience. Agreed to a full-length documentary with JD Media.'

On the top right section of the page, you examine a photo of your interviewee. It shows him in his shop meticulously frosting a cake, eyes glued to his creation and small beads of sweat forming around his temples.

Intense, but quite handsome, you think to yourself. Well, let's do this.

You grab the rest of the files and exit your car, making your way up the street to his chocolate shop. As you enter Parisian Paradise, your nose is immediately hit with a medley of sweet and tart aromas. You spot your interviewee behind the counter, his back turned to you as he wipes down a workspace.

"Excuse me," you say to him and he turns around, "Hello, Mr. Tendou. I'm your interviewer for the project with JD Media." You put out your hand to greet him with a handshake.

He takes your hand and shakes it, and while doing so, you tell him your name.

He's much more handsome in person, you muse. His flaming red hair is buzzed down to just a few centimeters in length, and his hands, despite being overworked, remain silky and soft. He's very tall, yet his slouched figure makes him seem a bit shorter than he truly is. But what catches your attention the most are his eyes— a carmine color, accompanied by gaze just as intense and vibrant. They remind you of little rubies, glistening when the sunlight hits them at just the right angle.

"Very nice to meet you!" He says with an animated smile. "Why don't we continue this conversation in my office?"

You agree and he leads you through the chocolate shop and up the stairs to his office, a quaint room nestled directly above the store. His office was significantly calmer and quieter, a stark contrast from the bustling commotion of customers and machinery in the level below. Tendou takes a seat behind his desk while you sit directly across from him in one of the office chairs.

"Would you like anything? Coffee, water?" he asks you, his hand gesturing at the table behind him containing refreshments.

"I'm okay for now, but thank you for the offer," you reply with a polite smile.

Tendou leans back in his chair. "So, how exactly are these interviews going to work?"

"Well, our magazine is an online editorial one. We like to test the bounds of creativity in the way we conduct our interviews, design our layout, and select our article topics. For my segment, I interview successful Japanese people overseas and document their lives, stories, achievements, hardships, etcetera."

Tendou chimes in, "Yea, I know. I'm actually subscribed to your magazine and I love your work in particular. I watched your documentary on Shoyo Hinata back when he was playing beach volleyball in Brazil. I actually played him and lost in my 3rd year of high school. Crazy kid, even crazier volleyball player."

You smile at him, in honest shock that he even knows your work. "Thank you, Tendou. I was just a college intern at the time I made that documentary. And yes, you're right. Hinata was such a fun person to interview and he had so many entertaining stories about his experiences in South America."