Memory

Chapter 2

Yukihiro returned to the counter with a couple of cups and glasses he had picked off different tables. Ken and Tetsuya exchanged looks before returning to their stations. Yukihiro noticed this and could feel the strange atmosphere around them. He thought that maybe they were up to something. He dropped the plastic and paper cups in the trash bin and placed the rest in the sink then after, he spoke,
     “What?”
     “What ‘what’?” Ken said.
     “What?” Tetsu asked.
     “What?” Yukkie repeated.
     “Whaaat?” Ken said with a prolonged ‘a’.
     “What?” Yukkie was confused now. “Just, stop repeating ‘what’.” He said with a slight hint of annoyance. Ken snorted and ended up laughing, Tetsu laughed too. Yukihiro joined as well. After their laughter died down, Yukihiro asked again.
     “Seriously though, what is it?”
     “What do you mean?” Tetsu asked back.
     “There’s nothing going on.” Ken said.
Yukihiro rolled his eyes, “Nevermind.” He said with a chuckle.
     “Okay, Okay, enough of that. Get back to work.” Tetsu said “And Ken, where’s that brewed coffee?”
     “Here.” Ken answered and handed the tray of coffee, sugar, and creamer to Yukkie. “The table in the corner.” He informed him and motioned to the far table in the corner which was occupied by just one person whose back was towards them.

Before Yukihiro even made a step, Tetsu stopped him.
     “Actually, why won’t you go and serve that instead, Ken?”
     “What?” the two said together.
     “Why?” Ken asked, trying not to laugh. Yukkie felt like laughing again too
     “Just do it.” Tetsu said.
    “Only if you ask nicely. Or wait, no. Only if you give me a kiss.” Ken requested with a silly grin. Tetsuya just glared. And Ken just grinned. They were both always like this and it made Yukihiro smile.
     Tetsu ended up smiling and rolling his eyes. “I can’t do that now.”
     “But you will later?” Ken asked cheerfully.
     “Whatever. Just do it already.” But Ken still refused to move, “Please?” tetsu added.
     “Now that’s more like it!” Ken said with his dorky smile before taking the tray from Yukkie and walking away.

Yukihiro didn’t understand why Tetsu didn’t want him serving that drink. He just shrugged it off anyway and turned towards the sink. He started washing the used glasses and since no one was in line, Tetsu joined to help him out.
     Both were silently washing for a while until Tetsuya spoke, “Nee Yukkie, do you mind if I ask you a question?”
     “You just did. Ah—I mean, Not at all. What is it?”
     “It’s…But…” he started to hesitate, “I just, uhmm…” he really wasn’t sure how he was going to ask this.
     Yukihiro continued to wash and wait patiently. He looked up, “Well…?” he said with a raised eyebrow, “It’s okay Tetchan. You’re my friend. You can ask me anything.” and showed his gentle smile. And this made it even harder for Tetsu to ask him. Finally making up his mind, he sighed and said;
     “I just wanted to ask you something about your friend, Hyde.”
    And the moment that name was mentioned, Yukihiro stopped moving and the smile on his face was gone. Tetsuya knew it was a bad idea. And he felt very bad about it.
     “I-I’m sorry. Forget what I just said. Never mind it.” Tetsuya hurriedly said and he really was sorry.
     Yukihiro shook his head and resumed washing. Without looking up he said, “No, it’s fine. What about him?”
    Tetsuya was wiping the clean glasses dry as he replied, “It’s not that important. I—I was just wondering, uhmm…”
    “Tetchan, it’s fine. Go on.” Yukihiro insisted, still not looking up.
    “Oh, alright” he said with a sigh, “This might seem like an odd question but, what does he look like?”
     Yukkihiro had a lot of pauses while answering “Well he’s…short. Really short. He’s got a really…cute and…sweet smile. And he…he has dark hair, uhh, He’s a Brunette. And it’s a little long and wavy, sort of like Kenchan’s but…I don’t know if it’s still like that since I…I haven’t…” he trailed off and Tetsuya started to feel really bad and was worried that poor Yukihiro might start crying just like when he told his story to them before. And he was more than glad when Ken interrupted them.
     “Done.” He said and placed the tray down.
     Tetsuya looked up from what he was doing, “Oh, Hello Ken.”
Yukihiro let out a relieved sigh. He didn’t know why he felt relieved though.
     “So, where’s that kiss you promised?” but all Ken got was the towel Tetsuya used to wipe the dishes. He threw it right at Ken’s face and red shades were visible on his cheeks.
     “H-hey! Unfair.” Ken said and took the towel off his face.
     “Shut up and get back to work.” Was all Tetsuya said before going back towards the counter.
     “Such a cold person…” Ken said with a pout. Yukihiro let out a smile, forgetting the awkward conversation he just had with Tetsu. 

************** 

Just as Tetsuya had said earlier in his text, there were quite a number of customers. The three quieted down and continued with their work; Tetsuya taking orders, Ken and Yukihiro making and serving them. Nearly an hour had passed when they got some free time to chat.
     “Oh, Yukkie, so what happened this morning?” Ken asked.
     “Why? It’s still morning.” Tetsuya teased.
     “Whatever.”
     “Uhh,” Yukihiro started, “I…almost hit someone with a car.”
     “Ehh?!” Ken and Tetsuya reacted in unison.
     “Why? What were you doing?” Tetsuya asked.
      “Reading your text…” Yukihiro answered as he scratched his head in embarrassment.
     “Ohh so it was your fault.” Ken said teasingly. Yukihiro was about to say sorry when he realized Ken had said that to Tetsuya.
     “Huh, Me?” Tetsuya said once he realized it as well.
     “Yeah, you.” He replied.
     “It’s not my fault he was texting while driving.”
     “He wasn’t texting, he was reading.”
     “Whatever.”
     “You shouldn’t have texted.”
     “Why are you even scolding me?!”
     “Maybe you should have just called.”
     “But all I had to say was ‘okay’.”
     “Huh. Why do you even bother texting when all you say is ‘okay’?”
Yukihiro wanted to say “I second that!” but thought better so he just stayed quiet.
     “Well, I wanted to at least clarify that I read his text.” Tetsuya retorted.
     “But it resulted with someone nearly getting in an accident.”
Yukihiro knew Ken was just joking around but he could see Tetsuya was starting to get pissed.
     “Uhhh, I’ll just go clean tables or something.” Yukihiro said but the two showed no signs of hearing him for they went on arguing. So, Yukihiro took one of the wet towels and a tray then left them.

     He went to the vacant tables to wipe them clean and make sure there weren’t any trash there. He looked back at the two,
     “Still arguing” he thought.
     He went to the next table and saw that not just an empty cup was left, but a wallet as well. He took the cup and the wallet and looked around to see if anyone was searching for one. He went over to the counter and thankfully, the two had stopped fighting.
     Tetsuya’s face was red and even though he still looked pissed, it seemed more like he was…blushing?
     “Err, Tetchan—?”
     “No. It’s nothing. Shut up.” He suddenly said without looking at anyone.
     Yukihiro then turned towards Ken, who was standing behind Tetsu, and gave him the what-did-you-do look. Ken just pursed his lips then winked, followed by his silly grin, then Yukihiro understood what Ken had done. He nodded a little to say that he got it and Ken raised his eyebrows in response.
     “Anyway, Tetchan I—”
     “What?!”
     “I—uhh,” said Yukkie who was clearly surprised,
     Tetsu’s eyes widened, “S-sorry!” he closed his eyes and repeated, “Sorry. I meant, w-what is it?”
     “Anoo, I found this.” He said then handed Tetsuya the wallet.
     “What’s this?” Tetsuya asked, his face returning to normal. Yukihiro just shrugged. Tetsuya placed the wallet down in front of him and Yukihiro went behind the counter and towards the sink to clean the cup he had just taken. Ken took the tray Yukihiro used and went off.
     Tetsu looked around and wondered who the wallet belonged to. The sound of the door opening took his attention and he saw the brunette man from earlier was back. He looked sad this time though.
     “Oh, hello. Welcome back.” He said with his cute smile.
     “Hi. Sorry but I, uhh, I left something here…I think.” The man said, “It’s my wallet. Did you happen to see it?”
     “Wallet? Ah! This must be yours then.” Tetsuya replied and showed him the wallet Yukkie brought in.
     “Yes, that’s it!” He cheerfully said as he took the wallet from Tetsuya, “Arigato! Thank you, thank you, thank you sooo much.”
      “You’re welcome but, you should thank Yukihiro. Not me.”
     “Yukihiro-san?” the man repeated.
     Hearing his name being called, Yukihiro turned around, “Huh?”
     “Thank you Yukihiro-san. I was looking for my wallet. Thank you too, err…?”
     “Tetsuya. You can just call me Tetsu for short.” Tetsuya answered.
     “Thank you too Tetsu. Well I have to go now. Thank you again.”
     “S-see you!” Tetsuya said with a wave, Yukihiro said nothing.
Before the man was able to go out the door, he stopped and turned around again, “By the way, my name is Hyde. Nice meeting you all. See you around!” and with that, he left.
     Suddenly, the sound of breaking glass echoed through the room and all heads turned towards it. Yukihiro, who was still staring at the door, dropped the cup he was wiping. He didn’t move or say anything. This wasn’t the first time Yukihiro had broken something but Tetsuya only looked worried and concerned.
     Ken was watching from afar and he had the same worried and concerned expression on his face. He approached the two and softly said,
     “That was him, wasn’t it?”
Then, Yukihiro slowly nodded.