Dealing With Daisukes Demand

Come monday I planned to take care of the quest Daisuke gave me. The map she drew wasn't very detailed, but with the help of the internet I could figure out where I needed to go and I sighed as I realised that it was quite the trip, one hour per train in one direction. But it couldn't really be helped. The note didn't give any opening hours and Daisuke didn't mention them either, so I wasn't quite sure whether I should just risk it or go to the flower shop again and ask her. But it would probably arkward if Sophia was there, so I decided against it. But then I looked at the paper again and suddenly there were business hours noted. I stopped in my tracks and stared at the paper since I was convinced that there was nothing of the sorts there before, but then I thought of Sophia and the fountain and just decided to accept it for now. After work I shook off Aoto who for some reason really did want me to go drinking with him and went to the train station and barely reached the right train that would take me almost directly to the area where the shop was located. 

When I got off I looked around the area and it was quite run down. A lot of small, industrial looking buildings with their best days long behind them. The thought that I was getting myself into some hot water was hard to shake, but I decided to press forward for now. I looked at the note again and tried to recognize anything that was on the little map so I could get a grasp of where I needed to go. I was walking around slowly and finally I saw something that seemed to fit what was on the map, a big green building. Half the paint seemed to have come off in the decades since the last paint job, but I was still sure that it was one of the landmarks on the map, which would mean I was quite close and I started to look around for some sort of sign or door that could lead me to that elusive shopping experience. Finally down some stairs I saw a door that read „Special Needs“ and that was it. It still didn't look like the sort of establishment I wanted to actually visit, but again I thrust all worries aside and went to enter the shop and when I opened the door a soft bell rang through the shop. It was a very small and very stuffy room and a couple steps away from the entrance was a counter. When I entered it was abandoned but then an old woman appeared from the back and seemed surprised to see me.

„Oh hello. How can I help you? Quite unusual to see a man here to be honest.“

„Well, a friend of mine asked me to come.“

„A female friend I assume?“

„Oh yes, that's right.“

„Very well then, how can I help you?“

„She wrote down what she need on this piece of paper.“ I handed her the note and she read it very intently.

„I need a moment.“ She said that and disappeared in the back of the shop leaving me standing around without anything to do and so I started to look around. It was a very small space filled with shelves that contained mainly book, all looking very old and dusty. But there were also little glass vials containing something that looked like some sort of liquid and upon closes inspection the substance sparkled and seemed to move on its own.

„Don't touch that.“ I was startled by the voice of the old lady who had appeared behin the counter again.

„Here are the things you requested.“ She pointed at a couple of little paper pouches on the counter.

„Oh, thank you very much. What do I owe you?“ She said the price and I paid, luckily it was pretty reasonable and I put all the pouches in my backpack carefully. When I was about to leave she suddenly addressed me again.

„Just a moment. Did Daisuke send you here?“ I was startled again and I didn't really know how to answer.

„No need to answer. I know her handwriting quite well.“

„Well, I owed her a favor and she said she was banned from coming here...“

„Oh, so she said that. I guess she is right.“

„She never told me what she did to get banned though.“ Now the old lady started to laugh and that startled me even more somehow.

„She did nothing bad really. But if you know her you most likely know that she likes to run her mouth and I got really annoyed with her and told her not to come back a while ago. I didn't really mean it seriously, but I guess she took it that way. You can tell her she can come back any time.“

„Oh, thank you. I'm sure she will be glad to hear that. I will be off then, goodbye.“

„Goodbye.“

Then I was on the street again and after the dimly lit space it seemed unusually bright outside and I needed a moment to adjust. Then I noticed a smell and I realised it was the paper pouches. It smelled almost like herbs, but different in a way I couldn't really describe. I was still hoping I wouldn't get in any trouble so I decided to make haste and try to get home before giving the ingredients to Daisuke tomorrow.

The next day after work I made my way to the flower shop and to my relief only Daisuke seemed to be working there that day so I went in and handed the little pouches to her. She seemed over the moon about it.

„Oh Sato, thank you so much. You really are a live saver. I really want to kiss you now.“

„I still have to decline, but I appreciate the sentiment at least. Oh, I have something else to tell you. You are no longer banned from the shop. Apparently you never really were anyway.“

That made her laugh and I looked at her slightly confused.

„That's a relief. I guess I kinda knew that, Wakana isn't the kind of person to do something like that anyway, but I know I really got on her nerves, so I wanted to give her some space for a while.“

„Well, she said you like to run your mouth and I couldn't agree more with that at least.“

Now she was pouting.

„That's not a nice thing to say to a girl Sato.“

„Be a good sport about it Daisuke.“

„I guess I can do that because you helped me out.“

„See, that's the spirit. Well, I have to go now. Godbye.“

„I hope we can see each other again some time Sato.“ She said with a wink.

„If you cease the winking and trying to kiss me I wouldn't mind that.“ I don't know why I said that, but honestly I liked her enough to not just let her disappear from my life again, even though I didn't want to cause any confusion for Sophia about my loalty to her.

„Sounds good. Goodbye then Sato.“

„Goodbye Daisuke.“ And with that I was finally able to leave the shop. I was still somewhat unsure whether I made a mistake by telling her I wouldn't mind seeing her again, but for the moment I was just glad that I did what I promised to her and that I could now focus on making things work with Sophia.