Epiphany

Ch. 02 : Butterflies over a bowl of salad

You woke up with your phone bothering you with its endless notifications. You muttered sleepily "Siri, read the messages" and the AI voice started to talk, reading the messages for you while you are getting off the bed lazily.

You were folding your blanket and fixing your mattress when a message caught your attention "Good morning. This is Bruno Bucciarati. I will be waiting for you outside your condominium building by lunch " the AI read. You commanded pause, and saved number, before you let Siri continue its reading. Some are from your friend Narancia Ghirga telling you good morning as well. The other is from your team leader Koichi Hirose telling you that you need to send your weekly report about your stand research at around 8PM tonight.

You took a quick shower and dress warm because it is the start of autumn and the wind is starting to get chilly. The trees outside your balcony is starting to change its color; dead leaves are being blown in the air as if the nature is creating its natural golden wind.

You were brushing your hair and your phone got a new notification so you grabbed it and read it by yourself. It was from Bucciarati asking you for advice about where to get the best coffee around your area. You replied the name of your favorite go to coffee shop and you realized that it was just across your balcony. He replied a thanks and you brought your own cup of tea, a bowl of cereal and dried fruits on your table residing in your balcony's tea table to watch the car passing by... and to sneakily watch your newfound friend, checking if he heed your advice about going there and you really saw him heading his way there. His natural beautiful raven locks stood out from the rest of the other customers entering the shop. You saw him blowing hot breath into his palms maybe because of the chilly weather before pulling the cafe's door, muttering a word to a senior lady, maybe telling her to go inside first instead of him entering before her. You smiled at the sweet gesture. He is such a gentleman. In this era of fighters, proud people and stand users, such act is very rare. And it is refreshing to see a kind soul caring for others before his own.

You finished your breakfast and answered a few of your emails, sending it to the Speedwagon Foundation before calling Narancia. Ever since in High school and despite you being ahead of him by 2 years, he entered your life like a bomb, crashing your walls with his loud personality and took you out of your own shell, boosting your confidence. After he named you his best friend for life, he never left your side. The guy is now in his 3rd year in college, and during your call with him last night, you were listening about his daily life in campus; from animatedly telling you how he want to piss his young Algebra professor Fugo Pannacotta so bad to happily telling you about his first date with his crush from the art and fashion department Trish Una last week, you decided to make it up with him by telling about the incident with Bruno Bucciarati yesterday.

"Bestieeeee! My partner in crime! Buongiorno!" Narancia's voice is screeching through your phone's speaker and you laughed, teasing the guy to keep his voice down or he's going to wake up the termites under his wooden floor. You can hear him complaining and mock offendedly telling you that he'll block you for a day and you can imagine the pout on his face.

After you laughed in your heart's content and apologizing to Narancia, you started to tell him about what happened yesterday. You heard him gasped followed by a thud and a series of curses, telling you how he stabbed his toe under his coffee table because he got excited by your story.

"Ohhh~ is lady fate trying to hook you up with— wait! You said he's also Italian! Bestie! You probably found an Italian man who can cook decent Italian food!" You laughed again, telling Narancia dont be silly. You always tease him about it; for being the only Italian you know who burns their pasta and taking joy of seeing him getting beat up by his Nonna with a wooden spoon for it.