2nd encounter:

macarons and ultimate hot chocolate

January 2nd, 2018

The second time she saw him, he sat with her in a small local cafe in the early morning.

Miku roamed the empty, desolate streets of her hometown, the bitter cold biting into her numb hands which were stuffed into the pockets of her flaming red hoodie. The pockets seemed not to do much for her frozen hands, however, but it was better than simply letting the ice-like air attack her hands until she couldn't move her fingers.

The 5 a.m light sky was streaked with thin and wispy clouds either colored a light and gentle white like the wool of a sheep or a tender pink that a young child would color their room, the rest of the sky painted in pastel colors of rose, lilac, and a light gold as the sun peeked over the houses, peering and reaching out with gentle and barely lit rays to the town that had yet to stir from sleep.

Miku spotted a small cafe across the street, the lights on and an open sign glowing pleasantly inviting at her. She decided that she could have something sweet to eat, especially since the frigid cold made her crave something hot and sugary. She made her way to Cafe Megg's, noting the trimmed hedges that bordered the entrance and the small, cute fence that separated the sidewalk from the dining area with two white plastic tables and a closed white and green umbrella. She pushed the door open, a small ding! greeting her cheerfully.

The cashier jolted up as if being shocked awake from a nap. She blinked blearily then offered a friendly yet tired smile to Miku, the dark bags under her grassy green eyes an apparent sign that the girl hadn't gotten much sleep. She smoothed her hair down and ran her fingers through the somewhat short and unkempt, messy mint locks. She outstretched a pale and skinny arm to the empty cafe. "Welcome to Cafe Megg's. To here or for g- I mean," The girl stuttered, rubbing her eyes and smiling apologetically, "to go or for here?"

"For here, please."

The girl nodded and offered yet another sweet yet tired smile. "Please sit anywhere you'd like. I'll be right with you."

Miku offered the cashier a small smile back as she turned to find a seat. The cafe was small and cute, in Miku's opinion. The walls were painted a nice light pink, so light it almost had no color to it. It contrasted pleasantly with the dark hardwood floors that Miku stepped on as she cruised the room, looking for a nice place to sit, her boots making almost unnecessarily loud thunks in the small, still, and silent cafe. Fairy lights hung from the ceiling, wrapping themselves around the curved, dark brown mantels, holding small baskets of colorful and lively flowers, that came from the snow white ceiling like horns from a beast. A chalkboard in the front, behind the cashier, bore neat writing in white, pink, and green chalk, stating the menu and specials and featuring cute drawings of small cartoon like dogs and cats and other furry creatures. Paintings and picutres of scenic images were hung up, such as the vividly painted sun setting over the ocean waves which hung above the door, or a painting of the night sky filled with stars and a single luminous moon shining light down upon a flourishing garden, which stayed on a wall oposite of Miku.

Miku sat by the window, deciding that perhaps it'd be nice to see the sky outside, which was turning lighter and lighter, and take in her home town when it was early in the morning. There were only a few cars passing by once in a while, not many people except for the occasional morning jogger, who Miku thought was out of their mind for exercising so early in the morning.

Miku noted the light, light blue thay began to color the sky outside, turning an almost bleak, colorless grey background into something more colorful that went better with the pastel colored clouds. They're almost like...

Miku blinked and gave a small huff, turning her head away from the window and towards a shelf filled with pictures and plushies. She angrily stared down a pink bunny plush that sat on the shelf.

She didn't mean to, really, be thinking of Death, but she couldn't quite shake the boy (thing was a word that described him better, but just thinking it put a bitter taste on Miku's tongue) from entering her mind once in a while.

In her defense, she couldn't be blamed here. After that experience, who wouldn't be at least a little curious about...well, everything?

A small part of Miku wanted to see him again. She was even vaguely disapppinted that he hadn't shown up on New Year's Eve- she was wandering around again late at night, like she normally did these days, with nobody to really celebrate with. But of course, Death surely must be busy. Why spare time for something silly like spending New Year's Eve with someone as unimportant as her?

A bigger part of her didn't, because who was ever excited to see Death, even if he may have the bluest eyes and the fluffiest hai-

Miku stomped her foot angrily. The cashier gave her a strange look. The tealette blushed and mumbled a feeble apology. She sighed and resumed her brooding then, deciding that she'd better look at the menu, picked up the rosy colored menu, setting the bottom on the table childishly so that she could only see the curvy words printed against a white background and not the room she sat in.

Her eyes scanned over the words, taking in the names and descriptions abd pictures that made her mouth water and stomach grumble. She heard the bell connected to the door ring quietly. "Welcome to Cafe Megg's. To go or for here?"

"For here, please." Miku was so immersed in imagining the taste of a mint double chocolate donut and very berry cupcakes that she didn't even recognize the voice.

"Please, take a seat anywhere."

Miku checked her pockets. She pulled out a crumpled $10, then looked through the menu once more. She sighed, frowning when the realization that she didn't have the money to get everything she wanted (which was a lot) and would have to settle on a few other choices.

The chair across from her scraped harshly against the floor. Miku jumped at the sudden, ear-grating noise that rang obnoxiously loud throughout the whole cafe.

Miku put her menu down to find a blonde haired, blue eyed boy sitting across from her and looking at her with a vaguely amused look. "You look like you've seen a ghost, Hatsune."

She scoffed. "Is that supposed to be funny?" He merely batted his eyelashes at her innocently.

"I don't know what you're talking about." He picked up the menu and flipped through the pages. He hummed in delight. "This place is great for cavity magnets like me."

"Hm."

Miku chose to give in to her pettiness for whatever reason. She felt bitter, sour, towards Dea- Len- for a reason she oddly couldn't place. Maybe she was just irritable since it was early morning although she chose to wake up at 4 a.m and wander the streets- a bad habit she needed to break and hobby she had to grow out of, for the sake of her family's sanity.

Len didn't seem to notice the sour mood Miku carried. Then again, from Miku's experience, boys were oblivious.

"You bring money?"

"Yeah."

"How much?"

"Ten."

He looked up and raised his eyebrows. "I assume you mean dollars?"

"No," Miku's reply came out dripping with unintended sarcasm as she closed the menu, deciding that the chocolate donut with sprinkles, a bowl of fruit, and a caramel macchiato sounded good enough for her, "ten cents."

He raised his hands defensively, as if surrending to the enemy. "You're fiestier than usual today."

"Should I be offended?" She remarked. Len opened his mouth to respond, but the waitress- who was actually the cashier- had already walked up.

"Morning. Are you ready to place your order?"

Len looked at Miku. She nodded. "Yeah, we're ready."

Miku ended up ordering just what she decided earlier- a caramel macchiato along with a sprinkled chocolate donut and a side of mixed fruit. Len ordered, surprisingly, a large amount of food. A 20 piece macaron mix, two double chocolate mint donuts, a Snickerdoodle and sugar cookie, and a Winter special known as "ultimate hot chocolate."

Miku raised her eyebrows at Len when the waitress left with the menus, boots thunking against the hardened floor. "Do you even need to eat?" Len sent a lopsided smile her way.

"No," He replied simply, putting his elbow on the table and resting his chin on the palm of his hand, "but when you're in the middle of eating your second bowl of Frosted Flakes at midnight, are you hungry?" Miku eyed the boy somewhat suspiciously at the spot on accusation, something she did only last week when craving something to eat. He wasn't wrong, though.

"Well, no." She replied. His lips turned upwards in a smirk, blue eyes sparked with amusement. He hummed in satisfaction, gazing at her with softened eyes.

"Exactly. It's nice to eat, even if I don't have to."

"Hm."

Seeing Len eat, decided Miku, was the most entertaining thing she witnessed that morning. That's not saying much, she thought, popping a red strawberry the size of her thumb into her mouth, eyes glued to the boy before her. My mornings are always boring.

He put his mug of hot chocolate down, and Miku snickered at the trail of white the foam and whipped cream left behind on his upper lip. A mustache made of creme. The type of thing Miku usually wasn't childish enough to giggle at, and yet she let the noise of amusement slip right past her lips almost unintentionally. Perhaps it was because Len always seemed so ominous, dark and mysterious (even, if Miku dare say it aloud, edgy) and seeing the foamy strip of cream stretched across his lip while he didn't have a clue about it, and was currently giving her a look that could challenge a puppy's puzzled gaze, amused her.

He gave her a quizzical look. "What?" She waved her hand, as if waving a pesky, persistent fly away.

"Nothing." His eyes regarded her with no shred of trust to be found within the deep blue, as if he were a detective with a hunch, a bad feeling, and Miku was the prime suspect of a treacherous crime. Len cast a look to the window nearby, and rolled his eyes upon seeing his reflection.

"Really, Hatsune," He said coolly at the grinning girl as he wiped off the cream with a neatly folded napkin, "I didn't think you could even smile my direction this morning, and it wasn't my dashing looks or humorous jokes that did it, but a mustache?"

Miku cleared her throat and forced the smile that kept twitching upon her lips down. "It wasn't any mustache," She chimed with an odd childlike twinkle in her eyes, "it was a cream mustache."

Even Death himself was susceptible to Miku's charm, and he cracked joyous a smile of his own.

Miku laid the small box containing half a dozen macarons splashed with color and half of a double chocolate mint donut onto the coffee table before collapsing onto the couch, the TV quietly delivering the noise of commericals into the room. Miku wasn't supposed to take home the remains of Len's sugary snack, insisting that he ordered for himself and that he should save them for later, to which the blonde flashed that crooked and oddly charming smile at her and simply told her that, "maybe we'll share macarons together some other time."

Despite it being nearly 7 a.m and despite Miku running on only a few hours of sleep, she felt not irritated like she usually was when she didn't get her extra hour of sleep on a cold Saturday morning, but she instead felt mostly sleepy, with traces of something warm buzzing within her chest.

The very recent memories replayed in her mind and she exhaled softly and shut her eyes, her heavy eyelids no longer containing the strength to stay up. Faintly, she could smell the smoke that had lingered on her clothes and wrinkled her nose in disgust. The guy who sat oddly and uncomfortably close to her on the bus had reeked of the lung-destroying stuff, so much so that Miku wondered if he was a human chimney.

Normally, Miku disliked taking buses. They were, in her opinion, grungy and smelled like things Miku didn't want to smell, and not to mention the strange people Miku would have to sit with. Maybe she felt this way because growing up, she rode buses that were exactly how she portrayed them to be. Regardless, Miku did not like taking buses.

Usually she called an Uber or simply walked to her destination. But the blonde boy who forced a box of macarons into her arms made a strange noise of disgust in the back of his throat once she voiced her thoughts about buses, and announced that she was going to call an Uber.

"Really? An Uber?" He had whined. "That's weird! It's like...paying a stranger to drive you somewhere."

"That's exactly what it is," Came Miku's reply, accompanied by an eye-roll.

"Take a bus. Do something new. It's not as bad as it seems."

"Why would I do that?"

"Uh...Experience? Listen, take the bus and tell me how it is next time we meet and I'll treat you some place."

"Next time we meet?"

"Yeah...so you can tell me how that bus ride went."

Miku grumbled and rolled over so she was facing the emerald cushion of the old couch she rested on. Better be treating me some place good.

Miku drifted off, then, with thoughts of what she'd get at the most expensive restaurant she could find when she met with Death once more. A funny thought, almost, having brunch with the one and only Death. But it was a thought Miku didn't entirely mind having, if it meant that she could eat whatever she wanted without paying for it.

Miku's consciousness slipped away with the newscaster's serious voice sending her to a dark sleep.

"On Berry Street, traffic is backed up due to an Uber losing control this morning and crashing into..."