Mei was already awake when Haru and Kiyoshi arrived home after accompanying Nana to her university. Kiyoshi prepared the hangover food for Mei, while Haru went upstairs to check up on Kyoko and Sakura. Since both were still asleep, he went back downstairs and told the couple that he'd be taking a nap on the couch. He asked them to let him know when they're leaving.
But, they didn't wake him up. The moment he opened his eyes, only the lights from the street lamps passing through the glass windows were seen. With his head aching, perhaps from too much sleep, he sluggishly reached for his phone placed on top of the center table and checked his notifications. Most of them were from their group chat, until he saw a voice note from Sakura.
Haru contemplated whether to listen to it or not. Of course, he was delighted to receive not just a message, but a voice note from her. However, as soon as he saw her name with the cherry blossom emoji, his heart started to throb fast as he was again reminded of his first kiss.
He stared blankly at the ceiling while rubbing his bottom lip with his forefinger for quite some time, musing whether she'd talk about how their lips met or not. Eventually, he shrugged off the thought since he knew it was only a drunk kiss, nothing more.
He finally decided to open Sakura's notification and listen to her voice note.
Sakura: Hi, Haru! Uhm… how should I start this… Ugh, sorry if I wasn't able to bid goodbye a while ago. You were in deep sleep, and we do not want to wake you up. Did you sleep well? I hope you did. Uhm… Mei told me everything that had happened and… seriously, I am so embarrassed right now that I just wanna hide from you… So I really want to apologize for my drunken behavior last night and thank you for taking care of me the second time around. If I could do something to make it up to you, I'd do anything. Just let me know. Okay? Mm… good night and rest well.
–
"Your attention."
Haru's hand trembled upon seeing his reply to Sakura's voice note early that Sunday morning, while he stood in front of Café Ai's music shelf. It was as if his hand became sweaty that his phone slipped from his hand.
"The fuck is wrong with you, Haru," he said under his breathe as he grabbed the phone from the floor. Did he type it half-asleep?
"Haru!" Kyoko called out when she heard a crashing sound while she was placing the toasted bagel inside a kraft paper take-out box with the cafe's logo on top. "Something wrong?"
He turned to face the owner with a fake smile plastered on his face, "I'm all good," and looked back at the shelf. He shuffled through their Sunday playlist and played "Honesty" by Pink Sweat$.
Haru walked to the front door and turned the double-sided open and closed sign, an indication that the coffee shop was ready for business. He greeted their first customers and smiled charmingly at them. Once they were inside the shop, he gazed at the cloudy morning sky with fading sun rays shining through the gray clouds.
Despite the almost gloomy weather, Café Ai was in the mood for spring again even though summer's in a few days. They started selling cherry blossom-themed goods, as requested by the boss of Ralmé. It was supposed to be until the end of June, but it was changed to mid-June instead. Promotional materials were already posted inside the café as well as on online platforms and on notice boards on the streets. The menu signage outside the shop was also updated.
They retained the specialty drinks and desserts they served during the meeting, which included sakura frappe, sakura milk latte, sakura matcha latte, and sparkling sakura. The cakes, which could be served per slice or a whole, consisted of fluffy sakura chiffon cake and sakura cheesecake. Sakura white chocolate & cheese mousse, sakura jelly, and sakura macarons in the shapes of a circle and sakura flower with preserved salted sakura petals on top were also available.
"Did you get drunk after we dozed off? You were asleep the whole day yesterday," Kyoko said when she saw Haru was back at the counter. She put the cheese omelet first, then the pomegranate salad with cinnamon sugar croutons in the same box that included the toasted bagel.
He shook his head, "Just really tired and sleepy."
"Anyways… since you were asleep the whole day, Sakura and I will buy decor for her apartment this Saturday, and you will come with us," she closed the box and secured it by sticking a white circle sticker on the center before placing it in a paper bag.
Haru smirked, "To bring your stuff?"
"That's the point. Why are you even asking when you already know the answer," Kyoko chuckled and handed him the paper bag and a cup of hot sakura milk latte. "Delivery for Sakura. Tell her it's on the house," she smiled.
"Huh?" his jaw almost dropped. He almost forgot about his reply to her, and he couldn't believe that he had to deal with this right now.
"What huh?" she asked, confused, but she still pushed him towards the front door. "Come on, don't make her hungry and let the latte get cold. I already told her you're coming."
Haru headed out of the café with his forehead creased and made his way to the said destination. As he slowed down, since he was trying to come up with the best explanation in his head, gray clouds already covered the entire sky, and a sudden downpour happened even before reaching the apartment building.
He hurried his steps and when he finally reached her unit's floor, he saw Sakura, who was wearing her pastel blue checkered pajamas, worriedly looking at him as she stood right in front of the elevator. She grabbed his arms and pulled him out of the elevator, and led him straight to her unit.