The Cherry Chronicles

Chapter 1

Dev looked outside the window, staring down at the school courtyard. Boredom was written on his face. He'd yawn every few minutes, before going back to enjoying the large courtyard and its beautiful scenery—huge maple trees, leaves mixed in with grass, and pink bushes with sprouting autumn flowers. It felt like hours were going by, but right as Dev was about to fall asleep, he was woken up by a large, ringing sound.

*Ring Ring!*

In an instant, Dev went from exhaustion to hyperactivity. He got up from his desk and joined the others in leaving the math classroom. Making his way through the hallway traffic was hard, but eventually Dev was able to make it to the courtyard, where he loved to be by himself. At long last, Dev went under his favorite tree, pulled out his diary, and started writing another log inside.

'Dear Diary...

Not much is going on at the moment. Mom still tells me to find a friend, but people think I'm a terrorist when I bring up my race, so I've given up on that. I'm also trying my best not to jump out the math class window. At least English is nice, the teacher is pretty cool.

Maybe I'll explore the town, try and see what is new around here. Bye Diaryyyyyyyy...'

Galaga Academy was the school that Dev attended. It was a set of tall buildings mixed in with a multicultural education system—from cooking classes to samurai training, this place had everything for everyone. Dev was personally coming here to become a chef, but was taking other classes anyway to ease his mother. The both of them were always struggling in money, anyways. So he couldn't really turn down her requests without feeling like a monster inside.

Math was Dev's third and last class, ending around 12 in the afternoon. It felt more like Saturday school multiplied by seven, since Dev had a lot of free time compared to some of the other students that went here. But that was to be expected when you get to manage your own calendar. After finishing up with his diary, Dev shoved the book into his backpack and got up. He walked towards the school gates with some other students and out onto the parking lot. Then he untied his bicycle, sat on it, and started to ride away from the school.

— — — —

He was riding around downtown, looking for something fun to do. Maybe there was a new movie out, or maybe the local clothing store had something cool to wear. Dev wasn't complaining, so when he took a different route and came across a cafe, he opted to go ahead and see what it was all about.

Entering the coffee shop, Dev saw a ton of tables scattered around the room. At the counter was a barista, who was serving people drinks and breaded goods from the display window. Behind him was another man, who stood silent and watched the barista's every move.

"That'll be 20 gold coins, sir." Said the Barista

"Thank you!" Responded a customer

"Doing good, XO..." said a sort of manager.

Dev looked around at the walls. There were some windows with tables aligned for people to eat. That was to be expected, but Dev was more interested in something in the corner of the room. It appeared to be a sort of machine, with a colorful layout and whatnot. Dev got closer to the machine, and for a few minutes the man just stood there, staring at it in awe of its retro beauty until-

"Interested in the jukebox, I see!"

"AH!" Dev looked over his shoulder. The other guy was right behind him.

"Good morning!" Said the guy watching over the Barista, "I'm the shop owner of Koffee N' Sweets!"

"Oh." said Dev, "That's nice. What exactly is this thing?" He pointed to the jukebox.

"That's how we play our music!" Responded the Shop Owner in a gleeful tone. "It's a more retro object, you wouldn't know what it is..."

"Does it have a name?"

"I just said the name! But I'll say it again, it's a jukebox!"

"Oh, well why's nothing playing from the machine?"

"Well-"

XO called out to him. "Shop Owner, two people are fighting over iced tea!"

"I'll be with you in a moment..." said the Shop Owner, "AY!"

He ran off to deal with the situation. Dev looked back at the jukebox. It was colorful yet faded, the main color being a bright shade of dark red. There were fancy retro stickers all over the machine. In the center, a thin sort of slot was present. Dev got close and read what appeared to be some fine print on top of the disk slot.

'Insert disk here...'

Seemed straightforward, all Dev had to do was put a disk into the slot. He pulled out a CD case from his pocket and slid it into the assigned slot. Then he pressed the "Start" button that was above it and waited. But that was when things took the wrong turn...

Instead of playing whatever genre of music the CD contained, the jukebox started shaking wildly. Dev backed away, unsure of what to do, as it started to break down. The jukebox began smoking from the ventilation holes, and sparks started to fuse from the disk slot.

"Uh oh..."

The Shop Owner quickly noticed what was happening, as he ran over to the machine and smoldered it with a fire extinguisher. When he was done, the Shop Owner looked over at Dev and snapped at him.

"ARE YOU INSANE," shouted the Shop Owner "I TOLD YOU IT WAS BROKEN!"

"You never told me!" Dev responded.

"YES I DID, I- oh right i never told you oopsies..."

XO joined in on their conversation, "Wasn't that thing worth 2 million in gold coins?"

Then the realization kicked in, and the Shop Owner's face grew pale. "AHHHH! IT WAS! I WAS GOING TO SELL THAT TO SOMEBODY!"

Dev wasn't sure what to do, "Uhhhhhhh-"

The Shop Owner grabbed Dev by the neck.

"ACK!" All of a sudden, Dev couldn't breathe anymore.

"How. Will. I. Earn. Money. Now. DEV!?"

"Idunnomaybeprostitution-"

The Shop Owner tightened his grip, and Dev wheezed.

"I have an idea," XO suggested, "why don't we make him work for us?

The Shop Owner's smile came back. "Actually, that could work!" But wait, he needs some sort of punishment as a side reward. What should that be?"

"Hmmm..." XO and the Shop Owner started using their brains, but it wasn't long until something else happened. The door swung open, and a customer walked into the cafe.

"Hey, Bastet." Said XO.

"Hey, Who's this new lady?" Responded Bastet.

"What la- ohhhhhh....!" The Shop Owner looked over at Dev, and stared at his face intently. Those long eyelashes, those soft pink eyes, even the dark red hair seemed somewhat girly. Suddenly everything was falling together.

"Dev, from this point on, you're going to work at our cafe as a FEMALE MAID!" The Shop Owner said happily.

"Oh god..." Dev grew red in the face about the idea of dressing up in a maid dress, let alone being an entire girl. But if it'd pay off his debt, than he might as well do so.

And that was how everything began...