Wagashi Shop (1)

Chapter 57: Episode 28 - Wagashi Shop (1)

It was finally time for the holidays which meant we could go back to our homes, especially if some of our families lived far away.

I was planning to go back home until I'd called my father. He claimed that he, Kaori, Haruto, and Eiji would be away on *Miyako-Jima Island for the holidays and said that he'd prefer if I didn't come to an empty house without anyone to greet me. He apologized and said they'd rather prefer welcoming me back personally instead of on a phone call.

*Miyako Island is the largest and the most populous island among the Miyako Islands of Okinawa Prefecture, Japan.

I was a bit disappointed to hear that at first but disregarded it since my family would always go on vacation during the holidays, so it was expected.

Concluding that I had nowhere to go for the holidays, I was already prepared to stay in my dorm room with Fraise until the Sweets Princes and I met up in the cafeteria, a day before break.

We sat together at the lunch table and Andou had a troubled look on his face and I could sense he had something to tell us.

"Hey, if you guys aren't busy during break… Would you mind helping me out at my family's *wagashi shop?" Andou asked us nervously and we were all surprised by the sudden request.

*Wagashi is a store that sells a range of Japanese seasonal sweets.

"Why? Did something happen?" I asked Andou worriedly but he shook his head.

"No, it's just that… since it's the holidays, my folks' business will be super busy so we need some extra hands," Andou admitted hesitantly. "But, it's fine if you don't! I get that you guys have family to see…"

We all stared at the nervous Andou and could see that he was in need of help.

'Well, it's not like I have a family to see right now.'

"I'll help out," I answered first without hesitation.

"Really? You will?" Andou perked up his ears as if he misheard me.

"Yeah, I wouldn't mind," I admitted, shrugging my shoulders.

"Keiko, I thought you were going to visit your family. You're not going anymore?" Fraise asked curiously and the Sweets Princes looked back at me with a concerned gaze.

"I don't want to hold you back from visiting your family. It's okay if you reject," Andou said with a sad smile.

They all looked at me as if I was a sad puppy and I rubbed my head in annoyance.

'Geez, why do they look at me as if everything in my life is depressing?!'

"I was going to visit my family but they're on an island for vacation right now. My father said that it wasn't necessary to go home right now since I'd only be going back to an empty house. Besides, I have nothing better to do so I'll help you and your family out," I explained to Andou.

"I'll join in as well since Michiko wants to help," Hanabusa offered.

"I mean… I helped out before, so I'll come along," Kashino also responded with a chill look on his face.

"Really? Thanks guys!" Andou gave us a bright smile when we all agreed to help out. "It'll be a heavy workload since it's busy during this time." Andou warned us and we all nodded our heads willingly.

* * *

We began working in Andou's family's wagashi shop named "Dream Moon." His family was delighted to hear about the extra help so they happily welcomed us and put us to work.

Since his family were specialists in traditional Japanese dishes and desserts, they had me wear a yukata kimono with an apron and had me work as a server. I didn't mind being a server but I felt hesitant to work with the customers since I'm usually not good with people. I figured that my mom always had to deal with customers in her bakeries so I agreed to the job with her in mind.

"Michiko, can you take this out?" Hanabusa asked me while holding out a plate of fruit.

"Okay," I agreed, receiving the tray and walking to the dining room.

I walked to the table that had asked for the dish in my hands.

"Here is your animitsu set," I brought to the customer, serving a tray that had a fruit bowl covered in red bean jam and syrup.

"Thank you, Miss," they bowed their head to me and I bowed my head back.

As I was walking toward the kitchen, I noticed two older ladies with their hands raised, ready for their order to be taken. I quickly walked over there with a smile.

"Hello and welcome. How may I help you?" I said with a smile and the ladies looked pleased to see me.

"Oh, Miss, I'll have the kudzu starch noodles with green tea please," one of the ladies said.

"And I'll have the *dango set," another lady said.

*Dango are bite-size balls of mochi rice.

"Okay, I will deliver your order to the kitchen right now. Please wait," I said with a warm smile and they nodded their heads.

"Um… can I have water?" A younger lady asked me from another table.

"Of course. I'll be right back with your water," I instructed, bowing my head to them respectively.

I made my way back to the kitchen where Kashino and Hanabusa were busy working, receiving orders that came in.

"Michiko, what are the orders?" Kashino asked me as I began filling up a glass of water.

"One dango set and kudzu starch noodles with green tea," I said nonchalantly as I finished filling up the water.

Right beside us was the front counter where Andou and Caramel worked selling goods.

"Here is your dango and soybean daifuku," Andou greeted the customers with a charming smile, handing them their paid items.

"Andou is quite remarkable, always tending to the shop," an older woman admired.

"You know, granny always comes to buy something when Sennosuke is here on holiday!" Another old woman adored Andou.

'Wow, Andou is popular with the ladies, even with the older ones…'

It didn't surprise me since the Sweets Princes were always popular with the ladies.

"Michiko, can you take this to table 5?" Hanabusa asked and I nodded as I received the tray.

"This one, too, for table 8," Kashino handed me a tray and I took it.

I held the two trays in my hand while also the cup of water.

On the floor, I could see Andou's baby twin sisters crawling on the floor towards me, grabbing onto my legs. Another one of Andou's sisters was a toddler named Chiyo. She pulled onto my apron from below.

"Keiko, let's play!" Chiyo said cheerfully as I tried to balance the trays in my hands.

"I'll play with Chiyo right after service is done, okay? So please wait," I instructed with a small smile but she also held onto my legs with her baby twin sisters, stopping me from moving.

'Gosh, these kids are really clingy,' I thought to myself as I tried my best to balance my trays.

"Can someone help me out?" I asked anxiously and Andou looked over at the situation in shock.

"Chiyo, Marie, Momoe, stop holding on to her legs!" Andou warned, rushing over by me and picking the three of them up.

"Sorry about my sisters, Michiko," Andou apologized though his hair and glasses seemed a bit messed up from the chaos going on.

"I apologize about them, Michiko," Andou's father said from the kitchen as he pumped out orders of food.

"It's quite alright." I tried to smile.

"Honey, come take the kids!" Andou's father yelled for his wife to grab the playful children as he noticed the trouble the children were causing us during service.

"It's because part-timers have been quitting left and right lately," Andou's grandfather complained, cutting up some rice cakes. He looked at Kashino who was deeply focused on the task in front of him. "Sorry, Sonnyboy, since you're finally on break and all."

"I don't mind," Kashino said coolly.

'Sonnyboy…?'

I noticed Andou's grandfather spoke to Kashino with a relaxed and casual tone, along with the rest of Andou's family.

"Do you return to your home on occasion?" Andou's grandfather asked Kashino but Kashino didn't respond right away.

"...Well, sometimes," Kashino hesitantly admitted.

As I looked at their exchange, I could clearly see that Kashino got along well with the rest of Andou's family.

'Well, I heard that Kashino and Andou are childhood friends so it's only expected for Andou's family to get along well with him.'

"This is a pretty big family. I've never seen such a thing in the Sweets Kingdom," Fraise noticed as she looked at the people working hard in the kitchen.

"I know, a family with 5 siblings…" Cafe looked amazed at the party of people.

"Kashino's the only child so I've never seen so many siblings before either," Chocolat admitted.

"Well, Andou comes home every week to help out. He's very kind." Caramel spoke highly of Andou with a proud smile.

As everyone helped out in the kitchen, I went to another room to wash dishes and get away from the noise.

'The reason why Andou's so good at taking care of things is that he has so many siblings,' I thought to myself, quietly washing dishes at the sink.

"Hey, Loner," a little boy's voice directed at me.

I raised my eyebrows and looked behind me to see a young boy with brown hair and purple-tinted eyes. He looked at me with his eyebrows furrowed.

"This is a wagashi shop. There's no need for people who are looking for cake shops. Hurry up and go home." The boy tried to shoo me away while he stuck out his tongue and lowered his eyelid to expose the red underside.

"Are you taunting me?" I faked a smile and my eyes twitched in irritation from his gesture. I walked towards him but he stepped back.

'This must be the second son, Ichita. He's only 7 years old but for some reason, he acts like a brat.'