Hold You Forever - DDLC {Natsuki x MC}

-26- Definitely no turning back now

Greetings, and welcome to ze twenty-sixth chapter!
Between my busy school days I have found some free time here and there, which is how this chapter came to be. Have a good time reading!
(Please notify me on any spelling/grammar mistakes, so I can correct them ASAP)

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Author's POV

After having experienced quite a lot already on the same day, the young couple just had to get pulled into the before thought closed coffee shop by some mysterious force. "Pablo, you could've just told us lunch time was over!" Dan remarked. The quite odd looking Pablo scrunched his eyebrows and replied after giving a ridiculous loud couple of coughs.

"Lunch time? What are you on about, Dan? It's half past three! I don't know what kind of schedule you have, but mine most certainly-" The Between Aromas manager got interrupted with yet another cycle of unnatural sounding coughs, followed by a sneeze, powerful enough to make both teens tremble a bit. Well, Natsuki at least.

He wiped his nose with his handkerchief and apologized for the sudden noise. "As I was saying, my schedule most certainly doesn't include lunch at half past three." Dan finally understood. "Ohhh so you were actually closed? Guess we won't be reading here today."

Pablo nodded. "Yeah, when I woke up this morning I felt terribly ill." He explained as he pointed to his own body. "And with my sickness not-" The poor Pablo got cut off again by multiple throat scraping coughs while he tried to explain the situation.

"...Not getting any better, I decided to close shop for today. At least, that was my plan until you two kids came along. Perfect timing I must say." Pablo chuckled a bit, which was something his body clearly didn't tolerate as his lungs started barking aggressively again.

"Hmm. That definitely sounds like an interesting situation." Dan looked thoughtful towards Natsuki, who didn't really seem that optimistic about what they were about to be asked.

"I really hope it isn't asking too much, but if you two could look after my shop for the rest of the day, I might still be able to open it." He looked down a bit in shame.

"Good thing Daniel here knows almost perfectly how everything operates." The manager then made eye-contact with Natsuki, who didn't really look fired up about it. "Oh, of course I'll pay you guys for-" The ill man got interrupted by another series of coughs, while Dan patted his back.

"You don't need to worry about that, Pablo! I'll teach Suki the usual routines that I've picked up from you and we'll handle this place as if we had always worked here before. But now you need to get some rest, or all our hard work'll be for nothing." Pablo agreed a bit stubbornly.

"Oh, Suki..." Dan added before he helped Pablo to his living quarters. "There are some aprons in there." He pointed in the direction of the door behind the counter. "I'm pretty sure there's some of your size too, so you can get dressed while I make sure Pablo gets to his room in one piece." Natsuki nodded in understanding, and started making her way to the storage room.

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After securing that the ill manager got to his room safely, Dan made his way back down towards the cafe. There he was met once again with Natsuki, only now she wore a green 'Between Aromas' apron. "You know, I thought this the last time you wore an apron too, only then I wasn't able to say it since you'd kill me..." Natsuki gave the boy a sharp glare, knowing what he was about to say and telling him to stop if he still cared about his life.

"But you look extremely adorable with an apron on!" Dan grinned like an idiot and blushed slightly. Natsuki was of course ready to kill him, until she got caught off-guard by him patting her head and ruffling her hair, which made her blush and look away. "J-j-just get your apron on too! Or there won't be any time left for this shop to open up." Dan nodded in agreement, as he started scouting for an apron of the right size.