Exentio here, sorry for the interjection. Due to *sigh* limitations from Tapas, the story is split into parts. It's annoying, I only have 15,000 characters. You can read it in one piece on Yozakura by clicking on the banner, on the image at the end, or by writing this URL: https://yozakura.me/projects/exentio/dreamer/lavender

Back to the story.

“Hmm… Busa. T7. Busa? Nah, T7. Hmm… maybe the Honda? But I don’t like the bags on that one… And now that I think about it, I should give the Busa back next week. And the T7 is dirty. Mhh… ugh, fine, that’s it, I’m taking the Busa.”

At 7:00 on a saturday morning, I find myself in a very privileged position, one that few individuals on this planet get to experience in their entire lives, and that many may find quite enviable: I have to pick my motorcycle for the day. But in complete fairness, one out of three in this garage is not mine.
It’s not just any saturday, it’s camping saturday, which means that we’re going to the lake with a stop at the Dayglow Café. It’s a cozy and modern café, almost crossing the line between a café and a restaurant. We often go there because it’s not too far from my favorite campgrounds and I’m good friends with Inami, the owner.

“Mrrp~”
“You ready? Took your swim trunks?”
“Meow.”

I say “we” because I always take Kai with me on camping days. Kai is my cat, he likes water.
The sky looks a bit cloudy today, but according to the forecast, there shouldn’t be any rain. In any case, my gear, Kai’s bag, and the tent are waterproof, so it’s not gonna be a huge issue, but if it starts pouring hard I won’t stay the night. With that said, I still enjoy a drizzle during these outings, the sound of the rain is so relaxing when you get lost in nature. When I’m camping I like to read a book, most of the time a manga, and I play some videogames too, while Kai purrs on my lap. Basically, I go all-in with a full relaxation package that not even the most expensive 5-star hotel can offer. Unless there are hotels that offer fluffy friendly cats that purr on your legs.

“Hey, go take your raincoat, too.”
“Meow?”

The travel is part of the day, and rather than spending the whole time looking at the busy, dark asphalt of the highway, I prefer taking the long way around and riding through a more scenic route, which is, ahem, still made of dark asphalt, but it’s not busy and I get to see more nature.
Along the way, there’s a place in which I like to stop and take a short walk with Kai since he’s fine with being leashed. A beautiful, extensive lavender field, with a path that takes to a small area with a couple of benches and tables, and a small vending machine with handmade lavender products like soap and even sweets. I’ve been here to have a picnic with some friends many times, we’re all kinda laid-back and this place feels magical if you’re low-energy enough to enjoy the sense of inner peace it brings with the delicate smell of the flowers. When no cars are passing by, you can hear the wind blowing through the bushes, while the scent gets stronger and embraces you tightly. It’s such a special feeling. One of those friends once brought her keyboard and played some music, it felt so ethereal, like we had reached a place beyond heaven. Pretty sure I saw some tears, too. Even with today’s grey sky, this place still retains some of its magic. We never met anyone else here, it feels like this is our secret place. I hope it’ll always stay like this.

After getting and eating some delicious lavender biscuits we hit the twisties again. The large fields, the small woods, the rooftops of the towns, the sea, I love seeing them all from the road, even if it’s just for a little while, and remind myself that outside of the chaos of the city there are places where the time goes by a tiny bit slower. I like to think that one day I could make one of those rooftops mine: having a place to go and wind down without the hassle of camping doesn’t sound half bad, but for now I love my life in the city. I get many opportunities to get outside of my comfort zone, which is honestly pretty hard for an introvert like me, but so far I met so many nice people and tried lots of new things. My social battery drains quickly and sometimes it tires me quite a lot, but I don’t feel like stopping any time soon. Weekends are great for recharging and they’re more than enough, and I get some free time alone during the week as well. For now, those rooftops can wait.

“I swear, I’m never taking this boulder of a bike on twisty roads ever again”, I tell myself for the fifth or sixth time since my uncle lent me the Busa.
As I glance at the dashboard and notice that it’s almost 8:30, I start seeing the Dayglow surrounded by the same thin fog that had just started surrounding me too a couple of kilometers ago. Even on a gloomy day like today, that café is so bright that I often wonder if it’s fine to have so much light coming out from a glass wall facing the road. I wouldn’t call it blinding bright, but it’s definitely noticeable from afar, which is funny because Inami once showed me the power consumption of the whole café and it’s surprisingly low for a place that cooks food too.
The Dayglow is just outside the town and has its own parking lot. It’s rare not to find at least a handful of people at this hour, it’s often chosen as a waypoint by many tourists because of its convenient position; today, though, the parking lot is empty, probably because not many people go outside on such a gloomy day. Not that I mind, I like having the café just for myself. I also get to park the bike near the steps that lead to the entrance, just in case it’s gonna rain.
The door is part of a glass wall with black steel that takes almost half of the front white wall and goes slightly over the left corner, revealing a glimpse of the wooden and grey-blue interior. Inami designed most of the interior herself and she’s really proud of it.

“I like the color and texture of wood, it reminds me that we still owe a lot to nature. I choose steel blue because it’s not too dark nor too bright, it’s not distracting, and according to my friend who spends too much time on Wikipedia, blue boosts imagination and creativity.”
“Wow, I didn’t think there was so much effort behind it! And how about the white floor?”
“Wood flooring scratches too easily, these tiles were cheap.”

She bought the first floor of the building from a company that nearly went bankrupt: from what I heard, the founder had high hopes for some bad ideas and a father with enough money to build the place. When the company was on the verge of bankruptcy, they had to sell the place trying to fix their finances. The second floor was bought by another local girl, where she opened a library; it’s accessible from the stairs on the outside and, like the Dayglow, some of it is visible from the outside because of the glass. Inami and she are good friends, they even organize events together from time to time.

As I step inside the café with Kai on a leash, my nose gets blessed by the delicious smell of croissants. There’s a familiar face of a girl at the counter, waiting for Inami.

“Watch out, you might wet your books with that drool.”
“Ehehe… it smells so good… I can’t get to work without a good breakfast!”

She’s Chiara, the owner of the library I mentioned before. I catch her quite often since I usually come here before the library opens. She’s a calm and gentle girl, Inami often says that we’re pretty much alike, but she’s overall even more relaxed than I am.

“Are you planning any new events at the library? It’s been a while.”
“Hmm, I’m still thinking about it… I love those events, but it’s hard to come up with interesting themes. I should ask Inami!”
“Who summoned me?”

Inami comes out of the kitchen holding a tray of croissants, wearing the cute apron she always wears and the chef hat that Chiara and I gave her as a joke for the anniversary of her café, she grew quite fond of it.

“Inamiii~ are those for me~?”
“They are! But you gotta pay for all of them.”
“Meanie, I always pay for them! And that’s what’s keeping me from eating too much…”

Inami always smiles softly when she’s talking to Chiara, she’s almost like an older sister. Kinda makes me wish I had an older sister like her.

“Leave some for the other clients, okay?”
“I don’t eat that much!!”

Chiara and I sit at the usual table while waiting for Inami, talking about the new books she just got at the store. Kai sat in front of the glass wall, he likes to look outside a lot.
When I first met her, Chiara thought I was some kind of delinquent biker. She was scared as hell and kept hiding inside the kitchen, with Inami being clearly pissed off at her, especially since I didn’t even have an aggressive look: my motorcycle was pretty normal looking and my face is kinda soft… I think…?
She kept hiding the whole time, so when I went to pay for the breakfast I asked Inami if I were that scary. She sighed loudly, grabbed Chiara, and forced her to apologize. We all had a good laugh and grew closer the more I visited.

“Hey, do I still look scary?”
“Huh, what do you mean? Did you ever look scary?”
“… Are you kidding me?”
“Breakfast.”
Inami makes a James May impression and puts our breakfast on the table, looking somewhat disappointed because she couldn’t slam the tray harder without making a mess. She tries to have a dry humor, but her face is not too hard to read.

We start eating those delicious croissants while still hot and keep chatting about the past week. Chiara managed to get a girl interested in a light novel series she likes and she came back to her shop to talk about it. Inami got some new plants for the shop after serving a salesman that gave her a discount and has spent the last few days learning about them.

“So… my week has been quite uneventful for once.”
“No way, did you get all your scripts on time for once?”
“Unbelievable, right!? I didn’t have to pressure anyone for once!”
“Sounds… boring?”
“Right!? Is it Stockholm syndrome?”
“Or maybe you’re a sadist.”
“I’m not a sadist! I don’t like having to pressure people to meet deadlines, you know?”
“So much for not being a sadist, then you lock them-“
“Let’s not talk about the rooms. And by the way, I’m not the one who decides to lock them in the rooms. Some actually ask for them.”
“How do you even manage to do all this stuff? I can barely scold my little sister…”
“Well, it’s always hard, being honest. But sometimes what they need is a bit of pressure.”

Chiara’s little sister is still in middle school and she spends a lot of time with her due to their parents’ job, they’re often back home late.

“If you’re scolding your sister, just remember that it’s for her own good, like I do. Don’t overdo it, she’s still a kid, after all.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
“Oh, right, since we’re talking about sisters, mine will be taking my place at the café this evening, my parents will help her. They said something about taking a break, yadda yadda. She readied some pizza dough, do you guys wanna eat some together?”
“Oh, that would be nice! I was planning to go to the butcher’s to get some meat to grill at the lake, but pizza sounds great! Are you guys fine with coming there?”
“I, uh, I’m, uhhh… busy! I’m busy tonight!” - Chiara’s tone doesn’t seem to match her words. “Sorry guys, I wish we could eat pizza together, hahaha! But! You two, just go and just eat it together, don’t worry!”

I think she was blinking at Inami, but maybe that was just me.

“… Ah. Oh. That’s a shame. Guess it’ll be just the two of us. Is that okay with you, Rori?”
“Mm-hmm, don’t worry, we’ll be together next time!”
“Good! Well then, I have to go open the shop, bye Rori! Inami, come to the counter please~”
“Bye-bye!”
“Meow~”
“Meow to you too, Kai!”

While Chiara and Inami seem to talk at the counter and peeking at me, I take a look at Kai and the window he’s gazing from and notice that the weather appears to be getting worse. If it starts raining we’ll have to change plans.

Inami gets back to the table making a faintly uneasy face.
“You okay?”
“Ah, yeah, it’s nothing. Just the weather.”
“If it gets worse I think we’ll have to adjust our plans.”
“Hmm, that’s true… We’re often full on saturday nights, so I don’t think it’d be good to eat there. Would my house… be okay?”
“Sure, why not”. Maybe she’s worried about her house not being clean or something like that. Makes sense, but I don’t mind this kind of stuff.
“Great… the lake would be ideal, though.”
“Let’s hope it’ll get better then, I really want to stay the night.”
“Yeah…”

I take the last sip of my cappuccino and let out a sigh for no particular reason.
“Worried?”
“Kinda, but not really. It’s just that I like the rain, but I also like camping, that kind of conflicted feeling”, I tell her without moving my eyes from the glass wall.

As I say these words, I notice a girl getting close to the Busa. She seems to be giving it quite a thorough look. Like, a VERY thorough look. I can understand motorcyclists kneeling at the sight of a Busa, but all this interest from what looks like a high schooler is unexpected.
She’s holding something and wearing something weird. I might be wrong, but… is that a japanese school uniform?

“Something the matter?”
“Well, someone has been staring real hard at my uncle’s bike for a while now. Excuse me a sec, I’ll be right back.”
“Aight.”

I get out of the door while telling Kai to stay there, and walk towards the girl.

“… Can I help you?”

Yep, that’s a seifuku, in Europe.

“Hey, is this one yours?”, she says pointing at the Busa.
“Kinda, yeah.”
“It’s really ugly.”

As she speaks those words, it starts raining.
We both stand still under the rain, looking at each other, while the thunders echo around us.
I glance at what she’s holding in her hand.

“Why are you holding a knife?”
“Oh, this one? It’s kind of a good luck charm.”
“… That’s quite dangerous and weird to carry around like that.”
“Nah, it has a clear sheath on it, see?” - and she starts hitting her arm with the knife, without hurting herself.

We get inside the café since we finally realized it was raining. Thankfully it’s just a drizzle.
Inami greets her with a smile. “Oh, that’s Kei! Still going around with that knife?”
“Hehe, you know how much I’m fond of it!”
I’m only half surprised. “Of course you know her.”
“Yep, she’s the daughter of the owner of a local restaurant.”
“I’m Kei, nice to meet you~! Inami, can I get the usual breakfast?”
“Okay, the croissants should still be quite warm.”
She starts playing with her knife, holding it between both her index fingers, from the tip of the blade (protected by the sheath) to the end of the handle. “So, what’s your name?”
“… I’m Rori. That cute ball of fluff is Kai-“
“No way! I didn’t notice, so cuuute!” - and in half a second she puts the knife on the table and jumps from the chair to go and pet Kai. He seems happy to oblige. “We’re just one letter apart!”

Licensed under Yozakura BY-NC-SA-NoAI 1.0