Chapter Text
It was a Tuesday afternoon when the rain started pouring in, pounding against the black pavement as it emanated a soothing sound. You listened to the pitter-patter of the raindrops as you glanced outside your window, at the sunny afternoon that became dampened by the sudden rain.
It’s been almost a full week since you’ve opened your bakery in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka, and even with all the posters and advertisement you’ve done, the influx of customers had still been the same. Maybe I should make a new recipe, something exotic. Then maybe I’ll get more customers. You thought about a new type of flavor, something unusual, like grape bread or chicken bread, but both of those ideas were ditched. You were getting bored, and your eyes looked down to the legs of the chair you sat in as you regretted not getting the one with wheels on it.
Ding! You practically lept out of your seat as you perked up at the sound of the bell. A customer! Finally! You rushed to the front desk as you looked to the person that entered, and to be honest, he looked quite suspicious. Very suspicious, with his raincoat buttoned up all the way as it covered the bottom half of his face. You tried to make out his features, but the shadows casted by his hood made it impossible as your mind spiraled with a few assumptions, none of them good. Does he want to mug me? Don't they usually do that outside? But you couldn’t care less about appearance, as long as he was willing to buy something and possibly tell his friends about your bakery.
“Welcome! What are you looking for today?” You smiled wider than usual, from the joy of selling bread again or just plain boredom? You didn’t know. “Do you like chocolate? Or maybe melon or pineapple? Oh, I just stocked a new curry bread recipe if you prefer more savory types of bread!” The water collected on his raincoat formed a small puddle on the floor, and just by looking at the dirt mixed in the water, you knew you had to clean it up later.
He remained silent, and you wondered if you came off too eager as you started hoping you did not just scare away your first customer in a while.
“I want white bread.”
“Oh.” You thought for a moment, before realizing that you had never once made white bread since you opened your bakery. But why would you? After all those years of culinary school, you were definitely set on making some bread that normal bakeries wouldn't stock.
“Uhh, I actually don’t think I stock white bread.” The guy looked unamused as you quickly thought of a solution. “But! I have some leftover dough that I can use to make some right now! Just wait here and it’ll be ready in less than a minute!”
You weren’t exaggerating as you rushed to the back and grabbed some leftover dough, before you steamed the living hell out of the white lump until it became a nice golden brown.
“I’ll just pack it really quick and it’ll be done!” He watched as you wrapped the freshly baked bread with some parchment paper before asking him, “are you buying this as a gift for someone, by the way?”
“No.”
“Okay, then you get a sticker instead of a ribbon.” You tore off a small circular sticker as you pressed it onto the package, taking extra care to make sure it was correctly centered.
“Okay, the total is $2.60.”
He gave you the exact amount as he tucked the bread under his arm before turning to leave.
“Wait, one more thing!” You walked past the counter as you fumbled in your coat pocket. “Here, it’s a coupon that takes 30% off anything you buy that’s over ten dollars!” He didn’t make any move to take the slip of paper, so you decided to just tuck it in the bread under his arm, hoping it wouldn’t fall off. “You can try a new flavor next time too! There’s pumpkin, yam, lemon. I have some pork buns too—” He was already at the door as you neared the end of your ramble, and the bell sounded again as he pushed it open with his hand.
“Come again!” You yelled before he slipped out of your store, and silence infiltrated the room once again. Well, you thought, at least he bought something.
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What a weird woman. Your excited voice kept replaying in his head as he unwrapped the bread from its packaging. He kept walking down the street littered with posters of your bakery taped on the wall that appeared every ten feet. It was pretty shameless advertisement, to say the least. It was probably also why you got all keen and started listing basically everything you sold when he entered the store.
Nothing special, he thought to himself, you were just eager, that’s all. His hands flew up to his nose at this thought. He wasn’t wearing his sunglasses. He froze as he recalled your behavior just now. No, you didn’t recognize him. He looked over his shoulder as he doubled his walking pace, just in case you had dialed the police after he’d left. His took a bite of the bread.
“Damn,” he mumbled as he inspected the bread in his hand. This is pretty good. The texture was perfect as he took another bite, and another, until he all he had left was an almost completely finished bread.
How the hell did she get it to bake that fast? If he recalled correctly, and he was sure he did, you only took around fifty seconds to head to the back, bake the bread, and come out. After a few more seconds of confusion, he figured it must have something to do with your quirk.
Making bread bake faster? What a useless quirk. He chuckled before tossing the paper wrapping into a trash bin as he continued walking. He had thought about throwing away the coupon as well, but ultimately kept it as he tucked in into his raincoat pocket. It had stopped raining already, as evident by the perfectly dry bread, but his raincoat was still fully zipped up, with his hood over his head.
He would be going back to your bakery, he decided, and maybe he’ll even learn what the hell your quirk is.
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