Chapter 3: Chapter 3: Cafe Pride Comes Before the Fall

The cheerful opening tune to my favorite anime blasted from my phone’s speakers, yanking me back to consciousness. But that couldn’t be right. That tune only played with my morning alarm, and I’d only laid down for a quick nap around four.

I opened my eyes to find sunlight streaming in the windows, causing me to wince and shield my eyes. Shit, why is it always so bright in the morning? I fumbled blindly for my phone to turn off the alarm, and after a few false swipes at the coffee table, found the cursed noisemaker. I tapped away the alarm and checked the time. 7:00 a.m.

Fuck.

How had I slept for fifteen hours!? 

Sitting up reinforced the pounding headache I was apparently going to be dealing with for a second day in a row. I guess most people would beg off school for a bad headache, but I had a perfect attendance record to keep, damnit. 

Don’t you laugh at me.

My bladder was angrily insisting that sleeping for fifteen hours without going to the bathroom was a criminal act, so I hurried upstairs to relieve myself and get ready for school.

I swept my hand at the wall for the light switch, and missed.

Weird.

I tried again. Missed. So I felt around on the wall and found the lightswitch a few inches above where I expected it.

That’s… weird. I’ve been the same height for like two years now, since I hit my last growth spurt at 14. It’s not like the lightswitch moved or I got shorter.

Except when I looked around the bathroom I could tell my perspective had changed. I was, in fact, shorter.

What the actual fuck?

I need to figure this– No, scratch that, I need to pee.

Business taken care of, I stood there washing my hands and staring back at my reflection. I looked normal, I guess. A bit pasty, same as yesterday, but not as tired as yesterday. The bags under my eyes had faded, and I looked pretty healthy, other than my skin tone. Actually, really healthy. The little blackheads I’d been battling were miraculously gone, and despite not shaving yet, my face was soft and clear of any facial hair. 

Okay… weird. What can cause your pores to clear and your facial hair to just not grow? I felt my face for any signs of stubble. None. Double weird. I’d always had pretty dark and thick facial hair ever since I started shaving, which I’d been proud of. I didn’t wanna be one of those guys that struggles with peach fuzz until he makes it to his 20s. 

I grabbed my toothbrush from the cabinet, ignoring the razor since apparently that wasn’t going to be necessary this morning. Strangely, as I was brushing my teeth I’d swear my canines were longer. Top and bottom! Do teeth have growth spurts? Question for Google later.

My phone chirped its 7:15 a.m. alarm, letting me know that I really needed to stop checking myself out in the mirror like a freak and get dressed, or I was going to miss the bus, and I was not paying for another Uber to class again.

I hurried through grabbing a pair of jeans - and then rolling up the cuffs a bit because they were about four inches too long - and pulling on a now too-large t-shirt. Even my shoes felt too big for me. What the actual fuck? Am I shrinking? I thought that didn’t happen until you got like crazy old.

There wasn’t time to be worried about that though, because if I didn’t get breakfast I was going to starve to death before I figured it out.

Down the stairs I went, and into the kitchen for a bowl of cereal. Shit, the cabinets are harder to reach now because I’m freaking shorter. I grab my bowl - a regular one this time because I don’t have time to casually eat my way through the serving bowl portion.

Only a few bites in though I’m really not digging it. Maybe the milk’s gone off? Whatever. Can’t worry about it now. I dump it down the sink and scrape the mushy cereal into the trash. Last thing I need is the runs while I’m trying to survive an already weird day.

I grab my backpack and bolt out the door, rushing for the bus stop. I feel like I’m forgetting something important, but I don’t have time to go back and check. Fuck.

Also, why the fuck is it so bright out this morning? I can barely keep my eyes open against how blinding the damn sun is. Note to self, get sunglasses to ward off evil autumn sun.

 

The rest of the commute passes with relative ease, other than a few quick glances from other students as they try to figure out what’s different about me today. Three people make fun of my new haircut. Joke’s on them. I don’t have a new haircut, I’m just shrinking, so HAH!

 

I plopped down in my seat in History class, glancing over to my neighbor, Haru. I’ve stolen his seat again today, but Christ, that seat is bright.

“Morning,” I mumble as he comes in and adjusts, taking my seat by the window.

“M-Morning.” He was glancing around nervously, and kept checking his hair.

Weird.

Not that I was having a super normal day either so… whatever. I won’t comment on it. “No cat today?” 

“Nyot today!” he shook his head, hastily zipping his backpack shut.

I swear I heard a meow from inside.

Okay. He’s definitely acting weird… and were his eyes green yesterday? Did he get some weird contacts? 

Whatever, I’m staring at him too much now, he’s gonna think I’m weird.

The rest of class passed with no further incidents as Haru kept to himself, and I didn’t see fit to bother him.

“You still good to meet up at the cafe after school today?” I asked as we packed up our bags.

“Oh! Y-yeah, I’ll be there,” he nodded.

“Great. Wanna just catch the bus together then?”

“Sounds good,” he agreed.

“Cool. Catch you later, Haru.”

 

If I had a quarter for every strange look I got between first period and lunch, my drink at the cafe later would be paid for by now. 

The guys’ reactions weren’t any better.

“Hey, does Evan look different to you guys?” Greg asked.

“Yeah, something’s up. Did you like… shrink?” Jack looked me over critically, leaning back in his seat.

“Yeah, he’s about my height now,” Stewart chimed in. 

“I really don’t wanna talk about it. I feel like shit and I’d rather just eat lunch and talk about the same nerdy shit we usually do,” I snapped.

Okay, maybe that was kinda rude to my friends, but it’d been a long day of lots of staring and I was getting sick of it. Not to mention the pounding headache and nausea hadn’t let up, and nothing at lunch so far was helping either. 

“Woah,” Greg retorted at my lashing out. “Looks like someone’s PMSing.” 

The other guys laughed, but Valentina just rolled her eyes.

“Lay off, if he’s feeling shitty, can’t you guys tell?” she said, coming to my defense.

“Thanks, Val,” I muttered, poking corn around my tray. It tasted dry and crumbly and awful, like everything else on my tray… so I just pushed it aside.

 

It was a relief when I met up with Haru at the end of the day to catch the bus over to the cafe. He looked like he’d had about as trying of a day as I had. 

“Hey. Shitty day?” I asked

“Y-yeah… you could say that,” he griped, adjusting his backpack.

“Same. I need some major coffee therapy or something when we get to the cafe.” 

“I could really go for some tea, personyally,” he said, then shut his mouth again. 

Ooookay. “Cool,” I said, for lack of any better or more eloquent response as we got on the bus and headed for the cafe.

I’ll put out a disclaimer that I’ve never actually been to this cafe before, I just kinda knew it existed from the bus route to school, so I had no idea what to expect from a place called Cafe Pride.

Stepping through the big glass double doors, which were adorned with all kinds of flyers for support groups, and encouraging messages, I was hit by the overwhelming aroma of coffee, tea, and baked goods. 

My stomach immediately growled, and I hoped nobody else heard it. 

I swear to god Haru’s hair twitched and he looked over at me.

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“Uh, sorry. Hungry,” I offered lamely as we walked over to the counter.

“Welcome to Cafe Pride!” a girl about our age with bright pink hair said, her cat ears twitching.

Wait, cat ears?

I’d seen some people with like, cat ear headbands and clip on tails and stuff, but I’d never seen anyone with like, working animatronic cat ears and tails before. This girl had both! Crazy. Was this some kind of catgirl cafe?

I didn’t think that kind of thing existed outside of, like, Japan.

“What can I get for you two?” she asked, smiling.

Haru seemed strangely transfixed by the girl, so I spoke up. “We need a sec. First time here… for me, at least.”

I looked up at the menu board above them, trying to pick something good… but everything just seemed so… unappetizing. The longer we were here, even the baked goods were starting to turn my stomach.

“Hmmm…” the catgirl behind the bar mused, looking at us both very closely. “I think I can recommend some drinks for you two! Nyo charge!” 

“Huh? Oh, uh, thanks, but–” I started to argue.

“No buts. Sachi knows her customers. Even first timers,” a girl with long white hair and blood red eyes said. “Just give us a minute and we’ll have it ready in no time.”

“Do you want anything to eat with your drinks?” the girl apparently called Sachi asked, looking at Haru more than me.

“Ah, uh, Nyo th– no thank you…” He blushed slightly, clearly embarrassed by his slip that kept happening. 

Weird, Sachi had made the same kind of slip. Maybe it was a local thing? Did living here too long give you a weird nyaccent?

“No thanks, I’m good,” I lied - just in case I was also included in the offer. Those pastries were really starting to smell awful. 

“Of course not, silly,” Sachi rolled her eyes at me and went back to making our drinks, while the other girl made up a drink as well.

Haru and I made some uncomfortable, awkward small talk as we waited for the drinks, then carried them to the table.

“So, about the project,” I started, looking at the drink I had been given. 

It was some kind of black tea with the darkest red boba I’d ever seen floating around the bottom. I sucked one up, expecting blackberry or maybe cherry, but I couldn’t tell you what flavor it was other than amazing. It burst on my tongue and it was the single greatest thing I’ve ever consumed. 

Judging by the look on Haru’s face as he took a sip of his, he really liked it, too. 

“Damn, these drinks are great,” I said, taking another big gulp. My stomach ceased growling, apparently sated by this amazing drink. 

“Mmhmmm…” Haru agreed.

After a moment of mutually shared bliss, he looked over at me, and asked, “Hey, does your slip have a number written on it too?”

I checked. Sure enough. The slip on the side of my cup had a phone number written on it, and the name ‘Ada’. Underneath the order (listed only as ‘The Lilith Special”) she had written ‘Give me a call when you’re ready to sink your teeth into something really tasty.’ 

Damn.

Was that seriously the first time I was getting hit on by a girl?

And a girl as cute as her? 

DAMN! Forget Tinder, the guys were never going to believe this!

“Uh, yeah, looks like ‘Ada’ wrote her number for me.”

“Sachi, here. Did we just… get two girls’ numbers?” he asked, blinking several times as if it were an illusion that might disappear.

“I think so, man,” I laughed.

Just then, Haru’s bag opened, and the cat from yesterday escaped, bolting around our table in a few frantic zoomie circles before springing up onto the table to investigate our drinks. It seemed super fascinated with Haru’s.

“Miyu?” it meowed, sniffing his straw.

“O-oh… jeez…” he groaned, popping off the lid to let her try some. 

“So uh. What’s with the cat?” I had to know. Nobody just, like, brings a cat to school all the time. Right?

“I… I rescued it…” he said, watching the cat lap at his drink. “I couldn’t just leave it in the rain to freeze, you know?” 

“Cool,” I smiled. “I’d have done the same thing. Cats are cute.” I reached out to pet the cat tentatively.

It flinched away at first, then let me pet it while it drank.

Damn, cats are so cute and soft.

“S-So you were saying about the project?” he asked, taking a sip from his straw. 

Apparently he’s cool sharing his drink with his cat at the same time. Alright then. To each their own.

“Oh, yeah. So I was thinking… we should do our report on New Haven. It’s on the list, and there’s something seriously weird about this city.” I hadn’t brought up the weirdness in months, but… well, this was a good opportunity.

“You think so?” He asked, tilting his head slightly. 

Crap. He probably wouldn’t believe me if I said anything else about it.

“Eh, well, yeah… I mean, there’s like no crime and no unemployment, nothing seriously bad ever happens here. It’s weird, right?”

“I guess? But aren’t those good things?” Haru shrugged.

“Well, yeah, but… alright, it beats doing a report on NYC or Washington D.C. or something, right?”

“Yeah, fair enough,” he nodded.

“Cool… so we’ll do our report on New Haven. How do you wanna do this? We can’t just meet up here every day to work on it, since we’ll need a computer for research.”

“We could divide up different things and research them on our own then meet up here to talk about what we found? Or we could just add each other online and message back and forth. Do you use Discord at all?”

“Yeah, all the time,” I nodded, quickly pulling out my phone.

“Me too,” he pulled out his phone, and we quickly added each other.

“Cool, so what do we wanna look at first?”

“How about… you look up stuff involving the founding of the city, and I’ll research the crime rate and stuff?”

“Sweet. Alright. Check back in with you later?”

“Sounds good,” he smiled, finishing off his drink (with his cat’s help).

I polished off the last few boba rolling around the bottom of mine and smiled. “Wanna catch the bus together? I’m heading over to Ash and Dawson.”

“Nah, I’m the other way. See you at school tomorrow though!”

“See ya,” I smiled and grabbed my backpack, taking off with a quick parting wave and a thanks to the girls behind the counter while Haru tried to wrangle his cat back into his backpack.

As I made my way home to start my research, the weirdness of the day was finally starting to fade. Especially because I’d finally gotten rid of that headache and the gnawing in my gut. Things were definitely looking up! Now I just had a bit of homework and research to do!

Homework.

That’s what I’d forgotten at home.

Crap! Now I have a double load to finish before class tomorrow…

So much for looking up!

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