Sweat and Sweets

There was a bit of a spring in Tsubaki’s step as she entered her favorite shop. When most people thought of their favorite shop, they thought of something like a fashionable clothing shop, or a jewelry store, or maybe even a gaming store. But for Tsubaki? Her favorite was Dan’s sweets workshop. “Hey Dan,” Tsubaki greeted as she stepped inside, immediately taking a look at all the goods in display cases. While the majority of what Dan sold was dango and mochi, there were other sweets and desserts as well. 

“Hey Tsubaki,” Dan returned her greeting with a small nod. Tsubaki was a regular of his, so he was pretty familiar with her at this point. She always bought in bulk too, which he appreciated. Once when she brought her sister along, he could barely keep up with how much the two ordered. He both dreaded and looked forward to the day where she would bring her sister again; that woman was a true glutton. “More dango for you today?”

“You know me well.” Tsubaki grinned. Her and Dan always got along well since they both had more reserved personalities, so any silence between them was more natural than it was awkward. “I do want to try a few of the new Sea Salt Mochi, but I can’t deny that I’m mostly here for the dango.” 

“I would expect nothing less from you.” Dan smirked. “The mitarashi dango is fresh by the way. I had a feeling you might stop by today.” 

Tsubaki’s eyes practically sparkled. “Have I ever told you that you’re the best?” This brought forth a genuine chuckle from Dan. 

“I have to keep my best customer happy,” Dan started typing into the register, “Alright, so one order of Sea Salt Mochi, and how many orders of the mitarashi dango?”

Tsubaki thought long and hard before answering. “Ten.” Unlike her sister, she wasn’t going to eat them all at once. She would spread it out over a few days, but she didn’t want too many where they would lose their freshness by the time she went to eat the last ones. 

Dan nodded and added the order to the register. “Did you want anything else?”

Tsubaki glanced down at the case again, where the other flavors of dango were staring back at her temptingly. “Mmm… how about two orders of strawberry dango and one order of blueberry dango?” 

“Good choices,” Dan nodded as he punched in the final orders. “Your total comes to 253 carats. Will you be paying with cash or card?” 

“Card.” Tsubaki answered as she pulled out her card. 

“You can run it now.” Dan informed her. 

Tsubaki swiped her card, then Dan began packaging her order. 

“Can I get one of the mitarashi dango out of the bag?” She asked.

Dan nodded, packaging all but one of the mitarashi containers. Holding the bag out to her, he said. “See you again soon.”

“You know it.” Tsubaki chuckled, immediately opening the container and taking the first sweet, sweet bite of her prize.