Cafe Corazon

"Ah Mizuno-San, you made it!"

Everyone turned to the voice coming from the counter at the back of the cafe.

There was a middle aged Japanese woman wearing an apron standing behind it, waving at Mizuno Senpai who jogged up to her.

"Thanks for having us!"

"No problem, Miguel-san was disappointed that he couldn't be here. He didn't want to miss out on the chance to bully some teenagers, but he had to leave for some work," the woman replied.

"Bully?"

"Is he really that crazy?"

"I thought Mizuno-san was exaggerating, but..."

A couple of the seniors started whispering to each other and Ren also turned to him with a bit of shock.

"Do you think she's joking Reiji-san?"

"....I don't know but I doubt it's that serious," Reiji replied.

'No, he would definitely enjoy taunting us if he was actually here,' Reiji mused internally, recalling the Spanish guy from the game.

"We've booked out the cafe for the next two hours, so don't worry about disturbing other customers," the employee continued, smiling at their whispers.

"Oh you didn't have to do that!"

"It's ok, Miguel-san specifically ordered us to do so, don't worry about it!"

She stepped out from the counter and led everyone to the kitchen behind a large set of double doors. There was a serving table where the entrees were placed for the servers to pick them up, and two cooks cleaning the surfaces since there were no customers yet.

On the other side was a section that seemed fully dedicated to their desserts, with large industrial grade ovens, a baker piping whipped cream onto a batch of fresh cupcakes, and bowls of different types of batter that hadn't been baked yet.

"This is where the magic happens!"

The employee introduced them to all the workers inside the kitchen, who didn't seem displeased that a group of snot-nosed brats had invaded their sacred workplace. They were actually pretty welcoming, showing everyone around the equipment in the kitchen and explaining in detail when and how it works.

Half the group then split off, given the opportunity to whisk some batter or pipe the remaining cupcakes while the other half were shown the recipes for the entrees and were allowed to chop up some of the ingredients with the chef showing them the steps.

Reiji and the other two first went to the desserts section.

"Woah, the piping is so much harder than it looks! How do you get the shape and height so perfect?" Haruna asked the baker in awe.

"Haha, it takes a lot of practice. I was even worse when I first started, but I just loved baking so I kept doing it no matter how bad it seemed, and eventually I got to where I am," he chuckled.

Reiji and Ren were forming doughnut balls on the side, competing to see who gets a better shape.

"Damn, yours is almost perfect," Reiji sighed.

"Yours is too, Reiji-san!"

Then the groups switched and they went to learn about the entrees.

They had fun trying out the recipe for a classic Spanish dish called paella, which they did the prep work for.

The chefs were genuinely surprised at how capable each and every one of the students in the club were.

"I was nowhere near this good at their age...." one chef lamented.

"Haha, that's a given. The Cooking Clubs at our school weren't this elite after all."

Soon enough, the time to play around in the kitchen was over and the employees told them to take a seat in the cafe.

"Alright, that was fun wasn't it? Now our chefs will whip up the paella that you guys helped prepare and you can choose your drinks in the meantime!"

A large chorus of cheers broke out and everyone eagerly lined up at the counter.

***

Reiji took a deep gulp of his Frappuccino and exhaled in pure bliss. The sweetness, the icy texture, and deep flavor of the high quality coffee beans that they used, harmonized into a delicious drink that he couldn't put down.

"These usually taste too sweet for me, but this one is well balanced," he muttered, staring at the large glass in his hand.

"Mhm, mmmmm" Haruna hummed as she drank her matcha iced tea with closed eyes.

Reiji raised an eyebrow at her satisfaction and turned to Ren, "Why did you pick plain black coffee?"

"Oh, I wanted to taste the purest form of their coffee beans! It's not often that I get to try such an expensive blend, so I didn't want to add anything to it!"

Ren slowly sipped his hot coffee and nodded approvingly.

Reiji, as much of a freak he was when it came to trying different things, would never choose to drink plain coffee if there were other options available.

The bitterness just didn't sit right with him.

"By the way Reiji-san, where did you learn how to cook? I really enjoyed what you made for the entrance test and wanted to know your learning process," Ren asked curiously.

"Well, I kind of learned on my own for the most part. I watched tutorial videos online, studied books, and even cooking shows gave me something to learn from. I've been cooking for a while now so it just added up," Reiji said after thinking for a second.

He didn't reveal his part-time jobs because that simply wasn't the case in this life.

"Can you recommend some channels for me to watch?"

"Sure, pull up your MeeTube," Reiji agreed, drinking more of his Frappuccino as he navigated the app on Ren's phone.

He showed him some of the creators he had checked out after transmigration, which was also something he found fun.

Since this was not the same world, there was so much new content and entertainment options that were similar yet very different from his previous one.

While Reiji and Ren chatted amicably, discussing different aspects of cooking and showing each other life hacks that they had learned, Haruna was swaying in her seat with her matcha drink's straw permanently in her mouth.

She had pretty much zoned out everything else and was just enjoying the delicious iced tea that she had been dying to try.

"...Do you like it that much?" Reiji chuckled at her relaxed demeanor.

"Mhm, mmmmmm!"

"Wow, she's lost the ability to talk."

"I don't blame her, this is the best black coffee I've had so I can only imagine how good hers tastes," Ren laughed.

Reiji grabbed an extra straw from the box on the table and held it out for the chubby guy.

"If you want to try some of mine, go ahead."

"R-Really?" Ren's eyes blinked in surprise.

"Sure, why not?"

"ME TOO! I WANT TO TRY YOURS TOO!"

Haruna slammed her glass down and took another straw, placing it in Reiji's glass and taking a big gulp without even waiting for his approval.

".....Look, she speaks once more," he muttered sarcastically.

Ren giggled at their exchange and joined in, drinking the ice cold Frappuccino.

"Holy shit that's awesome!"

"That really is delicious Reiji-tan!"

Reiji crossed his arms in amusement as the two of them almost finished off his drink without even realizing it. When they stopped drinking with a satisfied sigh, their jaw dropped when they noticed just how little was left.

"Er....Sorry?" Haruna grimaced guiltily.

"Sorry Reiji-san...."

"Haha, I don't really mind. I doubt I'd have been able to finish it anyway."

Reiji smiled at their sheepish looks, but then his phone started vibrating in his pocket. He took it out and his initially relaxed face hardened when he saw the name of the person calling.

He considered ignoring it, but then a memory came to mind and he picked it up with clenched teeth.

"What is it?....Huh? Now?.....Can't it wait?...Fine, I'm at the Third Commercial Street."

He ended the call and rubbed his brow in frustration.

'Of all times they picked now....'

"What happened Reiji-tan?" Haruna asked worriedly.

"....It's nothing important, something just came up so I gotta go."

"Wait, now? The paella hasn't even come out yet...." Ren groaned in disbelief.

"Yeah, I'm not happy about it either."

"Do you want me to come with you?" Haruna looked at him with determination.

Reiji couldn't help but shake his head, patting her head affectionately.

"Why would you even do that? Just enjoy the food and I'll talk to you guys later."

He walked off towards Mizuno Senpai before either of them had a chance to interject. The senior frowned when he told her he had to leave for something urgent, but she agreed after some hesitation.

Since he had informed her in advance, she couldn't really stop him.

Reiji waved goodbye to the other club members and bowed in gratitude towards the employees, hurrying out of the cafe.

Haruna looked at his receding back with a complicated expression and sighed.

***

Reiji stared indifferently at the large black SUV that pulled up next to him, the tinted windows blocking the inside view of the car.

He climbed in and sat in the back seat roughly, his gaze shifting to the two men with conflicted expressions at the front.

"I'm sorry Boss, but a task has been assigned to you and it's fairly urgent so we couldn't wait...." Beardy said softly.

"Whatever, just tell me the details first."

Baldy handed him a document with a serious face.

"Our client is being blackmailed and we've been hired to prevent the material from being released."