Smoky French Cafes (Katsumi)

The scent lingering smell of fresh baked croissants wafting through the air paired well with the light smoky coloured pastels and soft blue marble checker floors. Fresh baked souffles and crepes baked in the back kitchens while various girls dressed in ruffled black dresses and white half aprons and the occasional man in black dress pants and a finely pressed white shirt walked the floor of the cafe taking the requests of the any filled tables. Kimiko watched the others go from behind a smooth marble counter. She sat behind the register, a few candies, a miniature eiffel tower and a tip jar sitting out in front of her. She was happily fixing up the various floral arrangements, pairing light white flowers with violet and soft blues with egg white. Occasionally she would take out her phone, angling it perfectly before snapping a shot, her fingers typing at lightning speed captioning it with some cutesy message before sending it out to over a million followers and watched the first few comments come through before sliding her phone back into her apron. She waltzed from table to table delivering flowers to each of them. A majority were empty, the afternoon rush usually had a lot more, it was still too early in the morning for the weekend shift to start getting crowded. Only a few regulars sat at the sleek white tables, many of them alone, spending their time chatting up with their waiter, a few of the staff even sitting down to talk to their clients, playing card games, or discussing the personal lives of the patrons. There was a connection between the staff here and the few who knew the exact location of this business and came back every day. When Kimiko did encounter a customer she smiled the way a girl on a magazine would and tried to be as playful as she could. “Good morning Amano-Sama!” She announced brightly as she placed a vase of flowers down at an elderly gentle man’s table. Kimi was always one of the most chipper girls, beaming with a kind of joy that was unusual. “Could I get you a tea or maybe a pastry?” She waited for his response, a simple black tea with two sugars and a milk. Kimiko baltered over to the staff area, putting on the pitch black kettle on in a corner of the kitchen were no bakers were working. She plucked a bag of tea out of a tin filled with black teas and grabbed a china tea cup out of the cabinet. The whistle of the kettle filled the kitchen before she poured the steaming hot water into the cup. She glanced over to a cutlery drawer, peeking around to see if anyone was paying her much attention before nudging the gravity of the object open, putting all her focus on the drawer until her phone beeped in her pocket and suddenly the drawer flew open with a large bang. Kimi flinched as the kitchen turned only for a moment to look at the drawer in confusion. Kimiko walked over grabbing a spoon and closing it physically before reaching into her pocket to pull out her phone. Takahiro Mori’s secretary had sent her a message requesting her attendance at a local charity banquet with her parents. She was to be picked up next week and his secretary had already picked out a dress for her to wear. Kimi sighed, texting back her acceptance of the invitation, not that she really had much of a choice to go or not. She would have to talk to snobs all evening and miss her student council meeting that day, which was a pain, but the Mori’s had to keep up the right image. It would look bad on the company if the only child and possible future chairwoman didn’t attend the same benefits as her parents.



She turned her phone off, putting it away and turning her attention back to the tea. It was finished brewing, she removed the bag throwing it out. She scooped out sugar from a jar and poured a bit of milk, stirring it all together with the spoon. She grabbed the tea, rushing back into the restaurant's floor delivering the tea to Amano, before the chime of a new customer entering the cafe hit her ears. “Bonjour miss!” Kimiko spoke sweetly. “We have a table by the window, please have a seat. Have you ever been to our cafe before?” She hadn’t seen her before, she would have remembered a girl with that colour of hair coming into this cafe. She certainly was a bit different from their regulars. “My name is Kimiko and I will be taking care of your table today. Let me know what you’d like.”



Words- 797
Notes- Still figuring out the character