[COMM] Diligence Chap 4 - Makoto

Word count: 1023

Under the glimmer of the embassy’s white walls, Makoto found himself deep in thought as he carried a heavy bag in his arms. It smelled richly of sharp coffee, the scent almost too strong for his nose.

As enjoyable as it was to work towards completing his task, one placed on his shoulders by the head of the embassy, Makoto found himself wondering why Primrose couldn’t deliver this harvest of coffee beans on his own. There was nothing keeping the cherubun from leaving his duties for a moment and as the cafe was next door, it was a short walk even. 

If this delivery was a punishment, he couldn’t understand why. Primrose had been far friendly to him when they had last been in the garden; he hoped he hadn’t assumed too much of the other bun.

Not that Makoto had time to worry about that, especially not when he stepped through the doors of the cafe. He was unfortunate he had to use his shoulder to open the door, his clothes wrinkled by the awkward moment. He would have to make sure he straightened his clothes before he saw his mistress later this evening, a butler had to be proper above all things. Even if he was sure his dearest lady wouldn’t be upset with him, it made him even more determined to look his best in front of her.

He approached the counter, clearing his throat politely as he watched the cherubun behind the counter go back and forth between machines. They were frantic in their movements, but Makoto could see the practiced way their fingers glided over buttons and labels.

The cherubun eventually slowed, realizing someone was trying to talk to her. “Huh?” Her eyes flickered down to the bag in Makoto’s arms, “Oh! That’s right, Primrose told me the harvest was going to be today. Although between you and me, he tends to ramble a bit when I talk to him. Of course I won’t remember everything.”

Maoko was stunned into silence, his mouth struggling to work as he placed the bag on the counter. 

Beanny looked at him curiously, before she grinned, “I’m Beanny, I’m sure Primrose told you already, but it’s probably the polite thing to do to introduce myself.” She figured she needed to scale things back a bit, during busy hours, she said far more things than she needed to, enough to irritate Primrose if this succubun went back to tell him.

Makoto seemed to remember himself as he returned a smile, “I’m Makoto, I’ve been helping Primrose with the gardens.”

“Don’t worry, I know who you are,” Beanny admitted as she heaved the bag of coffee beans over her shoulder. “I asked Primrose about you when I saw the pair of you go into the gardens. He’s not usually very fond of succ- strangers, so I was curious.”

Makoto decided to ignore her slip-up, he was also aware of the way Primrose acted around succubuns, it was painfully obvious.”I’m happy to be able to help with the ambrosia process.”

Beanny gave him a strange look, before she muttered, “You’re enjoying gardening with Primrose?”

Makoto hesitated, before he answered, “I like to garden and Primrose is an interesting cherubun. I don’t usually spend much time around cherubuns.”

Beanny hummed, setting the bag of coffee beans down on the counter opposite of the main one. “You should try to talk to more of us than Primrose. Just like succubuns, there’s a lot of different cherubuns, we just don’t have the different horns to be able to tell.”

He laughed quietly, bowing his head in an effort to quiet them. “ I expected as much, some cherubuns did choose to come down here.”

Beanny nodded, “Everyone has their own reasons for being here.” Although she wouldn’t try to explain them to Makoto, it was better to let succubuns discover cherubuns than to expect them to understand words alone. “But enough of that, you should get back to Primrose and I need to finish my orders. Unless you’d like a coffee? I’m sure I can make you whatever you want as soon as I can.”

Makoto, not wanting to add to Beanny’s workload, shook his head, “I’m alright, it would be for the best that I went back to Primrose.” The other cherubun did seem like the type to be irritated by waiting, even if he tried to make it seem like he had all the patience in the world.

“If you come in tomorrow when it’s less busy, I’ll make you a coffee for free. It’s the least I can do since you bought me my coffee beans.” Beanny chuckled, glancing over towards her machines that were suspiciously low on supplies. The coffee beans could not have come at a better time for her, even if Makoto had no idea she used some of her coffee beans for her experiments.

“If it wouldn’t trouble you. I might,” Makoto replied. He wasn’t sure if he would come for himself, but using his free drink for his mistress did seem like something he wanted to do. He had to show appreciation when he could. “It was nice meeting you Beanny, perhaps we’ll have more time to talk the next time I visit.”

Beanny was quick to agree, “Of course, it was nice meeting you too, Makoto.” She paused when she heard the steam squealing from one of her machines. “Oh! I got that!”

Makoto delicately slipped away when she was busy, he didn’t want to keep distracting her from her job. Instead, it was a breath of fresh air to leave the cafe and walk back towards the main embassy.

He enjoyed meeting with other cherubuns, beyond Primrose, it helped him to understand the differences between succubuns and cherubuns. However, it also allowed him to believe that the differences weren’t so grand between them that cherubuns wouldn’t fit into the burrows.

He halfheartedly wondered if he should tell his thoughts to Primrose and get his own insights, but he decided to save that for another day. Instead, he walked into the embassy with a content smile on his lips.