Soft music filled the room, the notes long and mournful. Yet in spite of the sad music that flowed through her fingers across the ivory keys, Chihiro was happy. Only yesterday, she'd been prepared to quit her job. Now she couldn't imagine doing anything better. The piano sat just inside the entrance of the restaurant. Customers and wait staff passed Chihiro on either side, but this was her music and whilst she was playing, nobody else existed to her.

Not all music had that effect on her. She could only really feel music if she enjoyed it, appreciated it, respected the clear emotions behind it. If she couldn't feel the music, then it was just mechanical - her fingers moving along the keys like they were on a timer; programmed to move that way. She hated mechanical playing. Music was all about telling a story, a moment, a feeling... There was no point in music if there was no feeling behind it.

Yesterday, the restaurant owner Ichiru had been put onto suspension after he'd been caught skimming change from the bar staff's tip jar, his secondary manager Tatsu filling in for him temporarily. It likely wouldn't be temporary for long - it looked like there was a good chance that the manager would be sacked. And honestly, Chihiro was thrilled by the idea.

Nobody liked Ichiru. He was rude, loud and unnecessarily unfair to his staff over the smallest mistakes. Chihiro hadn't really had much to do with him directly, though she'd seen him cause two of the waitresses to cry on separate occasions. The only interaction he'd really had with her was to give her the sheet music for the songs that he'd decided on. Regular classical songs that were often used as hold music for big corporate companies. Uninteresting songs. Mechanical songs.

Chihiro had ended up hating every minute of playing those songs. She didn't like playing music she had no feeling for - she ended up feeling as robotic as the notes themselves. Tatsu had liked Chihiro's playing from the day she'd started, after hearing her practicing to herself the first evening before the restaurant had opened. She'd told Chihiro to hang in there, promising to convince the manager to let Chihiro play some of her own music, or at least music of her choosing, but the manager had still insisted on making those choices himself, in spite of her efforts.

Chihiro had known there was to be no new change on the horizon and had been ready to quit, unable to keep on playing songs she felt no sentiment towards. Then, as if by some stroke of fate, the manager's suspension had suddenly been thrown into play, Tatsu taking over the position immediately. Chihiro hoped that Tatsu would soon be allowed the role permanently. Tatsu let her play whatever music she liked.

Getting to play music that she actually enjoyed made such a huge difference in Chihiro's mood. She'd actually been excited to come to work that day. She'd taken great pleasure in propping up the sheet music in front of her that she'd picked out herself. She could have also sworn that it had a better effect on the patrons too. The music was sad, quite complicated, but it suited the atmosphere so much better and people even looked towards the sound in interest as they entered the restaurant. Chihiro was delighted.

She took a short break to shuffle the music around in front of her. She generally didn't need to refer back to it, but she knew how easily flustered she always got if she did make a mistake. At least with the music in front of her, it would be much easier to flow straight back into. The restaurant seemed to get so much louder whilst there was no music. She could hear what sounded like a mother and her son arguing in a booth nearby.

"I thought it might be a good idea."

"But I don't need further education. Why would I want people to tell me things I already know?"

"I just don't want your talents to go to waste!"

"I'm thirteen - I've got plenty of time to do something with my life!"

Chihiro zoned out the sounds of their conversation as soon as she started playing again, immersing herself back into the music. The song was less complex than the last, but sorrowful and full of obvious heartache that must have plagued the musician's life when he'd composed this piece. It was old and from a fairly unknown composer. It was one of Chihiro's favourite pieces.

She was feeling a little daring, confident from Tatsu's faith in her playing, so as she neared the end of the song, she neatly flipped the sheet music over in between crescendos to a page that was handwritten in neat black pen. She then immediately flowed straight into the next piece of music. Her own piece of music. She'd never played her own compositions here, besides when she'd been playing to herself whilst the restaurant was closed. It was the same piece that Tatsu had liked before.

It seemed to go down well. The restaurant was busy all night and the patrons seemed to take their time at their tables, not in any rush to leave. Chihiro couldn't help but hope that maybe the music change had been part of it. There were still a few booths occupied even when it got nearer to closing time. Tatsu wasn't eager to send them away and enticed more sales with cocktail lists for the adults and dessert menus for the families with kids. Chihiro had finished playing by this point and was packing away her music, feeling much happier than she had in quite a while.

Two more tables emptied whilst she was neatly organising her shoulder bag. A man from one of the parties actually complimented her playing as they passed towards the exit, which of course made her blush. None of the customers had ever said a word to her before. Her mechanical playing of the music that the manager had chosen really had been depriving her talent.

She closed the lid on the piano and gave it a fond pat. Even if she hadn't been enjoying the music she'd been playing here up until today, she had to admit that it sounded much better than her piano at home. It was one of the reasons she'd waged war with herself for so long over whether to quit or not. It was clearly a good thing that she hadn't.

As she got up, she saw a woman and a boy with spiky, dark hair loitering near the doorway. From their voices, she recognised them as the pair she'd heard arguing earlier. When the woman noticed Chihiro looking, she handed the boy a set of car keys. "Hiro, why don't you go and wait for me in the car? I'll be down in just a minute."

"Sure, Aunt Cass," the boy replied, nonplussed, happily taking the keys.

"And don't even think about turning the ignition on this time!" The woman shouted after him as an afterthought, as he disappeared through the main entrance to the restaurant. Chihiro turned away, not wanting to seem like she was purposely eavesdropping, but she suddenly realised that the woman wanted to speak to her when she said, "Excuse me?"

Chihiro looked back, surprised for a second before realising that she was technically still at work and should be professional with any customers. "Yes? Is everything okay?"

"Actually, I wanted to say that I really loved your playing," the woman, whom the boy had called Cass, commended her. "It really elevated the mood of this place."

Chihiro's face coloured. She wasn't particularly used to compliments. "Oh. Thank you."

"I was wondering if I could maybe hire you for next week?" the woman requested. "I run the Lucky Cat Café and I've got a bunch of events lined up for Golden Week. I think your music would add the perfect touch if you're interested."

"Wow, um, I'm really flattered, but you might need to speak to my boss," said Chihiro apologetically, taken aback by the offer. "I usually work here during the week, so I don't know how she'd feel about that..."

"I feel good about it," Tatsu interrupted, appearing at Chihiro's elbow and making her jump. "It'd be a nice change of pace for you, Chihiro - I think you should do it." She then held her hand out politely to the other woman. "Tatsu Shimawi. I'm temporarily in charge."

The woman returned the handshake warmly. "Cass Hamada."

Chihiro looked between the two of them, her gaze settling uncertainly on Tatsu. She felt a little like she was being passed over in a business deal, which technically she sort of was. She didn't mind the idea of playing somewhere new - it could be quite fun - but she didn't want to leave Tatsu in the lurch. Particularly when she'd been so accommodating with her. "Are you sure, Tatsu?"

"Don't look so worried. We can get the San Fransokyo Drifters to cover next week whilst you're not here."

The San Fransokyo Drifters were an all-male string quartet, who'd jokingly based their stage name on an old action movie. The restaurant alternated between them and Chihiro as their performers. The San Fransokyo Drifters had just finished their final exams at high school. Chihiro had covered a lot of their shifts during their revision periods, so maybe they'd owe her a favour or two.

"Well, if you don't mind... then thank you." She gave Tatsu a polite nod, then turned to Cass and did the same. "And thank you for the opportunity. I'd love to play at your café."

"Oh, you're so sweet!" Cass smiled. "You could certainly teach my nephew a thing or two!" Chihiro didn't really know what to say to that, but the older woman ploughed on anyway. "If you get chance to come by the café at some point tomorrow, I'll make you a coffee and we can discuss what I've got planned for Golden Week, so you can help me choose what music would work best."

Chihiro was surprised. She wasn't used to getting to make choices herself. "I'm free tomorrow morning?"

"Great! I'll be working all day, so drop by any time," Cass beamed, swinging her handbag up onto her shoulder. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Err, see you tomorrow." Chihiro was still a little blind-sided by how quickly that had all happened.

"Well, I'm sure that was a nice surprise for you," said Tatsu, once the woman had left.

"Are you really sure you won't need me though?" Chihiro worried aloud.

Tatsu just rolled her eyes. "We'll be fine! Why don't you just worry about yourself for once? You're talented, Chihiro. You could do a lot more than playing in a stuffy restaurant."

"By playing in a café instead?" Chihiro wasn't sarcastic often, but this time it coloured her tone slightly.

Tatsu smiled. "It'll at least be a change of scenery for you. You might meet some new people for once, rather than just the same staff you see here all the time." Chihiro wasn't exactly a social butterfly and Tatsu always tried as subtly as possible to push her towards trying new things and visiting new places. Sometimes she wondered though if the younger girl ever caught on to what she was doing.

Chihiro shrugged. "But I like it here."

"You liked it here today," Tatsu corrected. "I was under the impression that only yesterday you were all ready to quit."

Chihiro stared at her in surprise. "How did you know that?" She hadn't told anybody about her intentions before everything had changed.

"Oh, Chihiro, I could tell you were unhappy... More so than you usually seem," Tatsu teased.

All of Chihiro's life, there'd been an ongoing joke that she never looked happy. She couldn't exactly help that unless she actively forced more expression into her face, her mouth always turned down slightly at the corners. She couldn't help that her eyebrows were set a little further apart than most people's, giving her a permanent look like someone had just kicked her puppy. Most of the comments had simply been made in jest, but it didn't make it any less annoying. She liked Tatsu though and the older woman at least teased her in a tone that didn't make her feel grumpy.

"Why do you think I told you to play whatever you liked?" Tatsu added.

That surprised Chihiro a second time. "You knew that's what was bothering me?"

Tatsu laughed. "I know you better than you think you do - I can read you like an open book! I know how important music is to you. I could tell you weren't happy with Ichiru's garbage that he wanted you to play. Even I knew it was boring and I know next to nothing about music."

"Oh..." Chihiro was strangely touched. She saw Tatsu a little like a mentor figure. She knew the older woman had been looking out for her; she just hadn't realised how much. "Thanks, Tatsu."

Tatsu just smiled. "Don't mention it. You really are good, Chihiro. I think your music could really take you places with the right opportunities." She gave her a pointed nudge. "That's why you need to follow every door that opens up to you. Even if it doesn't actually lead you anywhere, at least it'll be something different for you."

Chihiro couldn't help but smile back. Tatsu had a point. Maybe this really could be a good opportunity for her. Her mind was still reeling from the idea - she'd never been approached for anything before. "Okay, okay. Does that mean the philosophy lesson's over now?"

Tatsu grinned. She knew that Chihiro had a good-humoured nature in there - she just took a while to open up to people. "Then next time learn all this preachy crap for yourself and I won't have to give you anymore lessons."

XXX

It only started to sink in the following day, then Chihiro began worrying. Would Cass want her to play again today, like an audition? What if she made a mistake and went and ruined it all? What should she wear? Was she supposed to treat this like an interview? Should she turn up earlier rather than later or would that make her seem too keen? Was the Lucky Cat Café the one on the corner that she was thinking of or was she just going to get horribly lost and end up going to the wrong place?

She tried to think of one of the wise things that Tatsu would tell her. Though she'd referred to it as 'preachy crap', she was pretty big on life mantras and would often spout them in attempts to inspire the staff. 'Everything happens for a reason' was one of her favourites. Chihiro kept repeating it in her head and forced herself to breathe and relax. She just needed to treat this calmly. Just because it was something new didn't mean it had to be intimidating. If she stressed out about it, then she likely would end up screwing something up.

She dressed in her blue dungaree pantsuit - that looked surprisingly smart, considering it was just a fancy pair of dungarees - over a flowered t-shirt and left the house just before ten o'clock. Still fairly early, but late enough to miss the rush hour crowds on their way to work. She hated trying to navigate crowded streets. She headed in the direction of the café that she thought was the one she needed to get to, telling herself that if she was wrong, she could just stop and ask someone for directions.

Thankfully, she was right. If the bright 'Lucky Cat Café' sign wasn't indicative enough, then the giant waving Maneki cat above it was. Chihiro peered through the window in the door, but the glass was lightly frosted and she couldn't see inside very well. She meekly let herself in, a bell tinkling overhead as the door opened. The strong, bittersweet scent of coffee instantly filled her senses, accompanied by the much fresher smell of baking pastry. It was fairly quiet - only three tables were occupied - two by couples and one by a mother and her young daughter.

Chihiro spotted Cass cleaning along the front of the display case where all the hot pastries were laid out. She made her way over and hovered awkwardly as she tried for her attention. "Hi."

"Oh, hey! Chihiro, wasn't it?" Cass straightened up and tossed the cloth over the glass case, onto a work surface somewhere behind. She was wearing a white apron over her clothes with a cute cat face printed on the front. "Go take a seat somewhere; I'll be over in just a second. Did you want coffee? Tea? Hot chocolate?"

"Oh, err, sure. Hot chocolate please."

Whilst Cass disappeared back behind the counter and busied herself with the boiling water dispenser, Chihiro picked out a table that was furthest away from anyone else. That was professional, right? Trying to get some privacy whilst they started discussing things? It wasn't just because she wasn't much of a socialist. She didn't dislike people - she simply preferred a bit more seclusion.

Cass soon joined her with the drinks. "So... What do you know about Golden Week?"

Chihiro had a sudden flashback to eighth grade history. "It's most widely celebrated in Japan. It includes several national holidays within the space of a week, such as Showa Day and Greenery Day."

Cass beamed. "That's right! It's not as widely celebrated here as it used to be, but apparently, because of our standing in the world of technology, San Fransokyo is one of the more popular tourist destinations for it. People always travel during Golden Week, so I'm hoping that if I hold a variety of theme nights at the café, I can encourage a wider crowd than normal by appealing to the tourists."

Chihiro nodded. She didn't know much about business, but appealing to a wider audience sounded like a logical strategy to her. With her cutesy apron and her slightly flyaway hair, Cass looked more kooky than professional, but she seemed to have it all worked out. "So what have you got planned?"

"Well, I usually do beat poetry nights on Monday evenings, so I'm gonna stick with that and just amp the atmosphere and decorations up more. Then I'm planning a quiz night, dance classes, a movie night, speed dating..."

Now there were the kooky ideas that Chihiro had been expecting. Speed dating? Wow. She couldn't imagine anything worse. "So you want me to play whilst these things are going on?"

"For the most part," Cass confirmed. "Obviously for the beat poetry and movie night, people will already have things to listen to, but I was thinking you could play whilst people are coming in and I'm getting things set up."

"Sure. Do you have a piano or would I need to get one brought over here?"

"Actually, I already have one. This place used to be a piano bar before I took over and the old owners just left it here," said Cass. "I can't play myself, but it seemed to be in good shape so it felt like a waste to just get rid of it. It's been sat in the garage since - I'll get my nephews to move it into here next week."

"If it hasn't been used in a long time, it might need tuning," Chihiro pointed out. "I can take a look at it for you before I leave? I tuned my piano myself, so I should be able to handle it if it needs adjusting."

"That'd be great!"

Whilst they sipped at their hot drinks, Cass went into more detail on what kind of music she wanted for each night. It all sounded within Chihiro's capabilities. Cass wanted some movie soundtracks for the quiz night to get people into the trivia spirit. Chihiro knew some John Williams, but she was sure she could pick up some others before next week. Cass commented how she'd particularly liked the last run of songs that Chihiro had played at the restaurant the night before. That had made Chihiro blush deeply - those had all been her own compositions.

Cass explained about her payment plan too. She was offering more than what Chihiro earned at the restaurant each night. She would have been a fool to say no, but as it was, she was happy to agree to everything anyway.

After the discussion, Cass led her round to the garage to introduce her to the old piano. Chihiro was amazed at the condition it was in - it was near perfect. It barely needed any tuning, despite its age and how long it had been clearly sitting alone for, and it took Chihiro less than forty minutes to get the sound back to its original settings. Cass promised to give it a good dusting before having it moved into the café. Even the minor tuning job had left Chihiro with very grey, powdery fingertips.

Cass insisted she wash up in her kitchen above the café before leaving. Chihiro felt a little uncomfortable being in a stranger's home within such a short time of knowing them, but Cass accompanied her and chattered away the whole time, diminishing any discomfort. Chihiro found that she quite liked the eccentric baker.

Once the plan had been ironed out, Chihiro left Cass to get back to work, promising to get to the café early on the Monday evening. All the while, her mind was still boggling. Just two days ago, she'd been ready to quit her job without having anything else lined up, prepared to just try and wing it from there. Instead, she'd had her best night at the restaurant since she'd began working there and now she was preparing to do a week playing somewhere completely new. Everything seemed to have happened all at once. What was going to be thrown her way next?

As she made to leave, a man on the other side of the frosted door beat her to it, the bell jingling again as he pushed it open. He was quite tall and haggard looking - his face shadowed with untidy stubble and dark circles underlining his eyes. He looked like he could do with something much stronger than coffee. Chihiro hastily shrank back out of his way to let him pass first. It took her a moment to realise that he was actually waiting on the other side and holding the door open for her.

"After you," he said, surprisingly polite.

"Oh. Thank you," Chihiro replied as she quickly sidled past, instantly feeling guilty. That would certainly teach her for judging a book by its cover. Tatsu was right - she really did need to get out more.

XXX

The first night went well. Really well. Chihiro couldn't believe how smoothly everything had run. Not to mention how popular the event had been. Cass had said that her beat poetry night was a frequent thing, so it was clearly full of regulars, as well as the tourists visiting for Golden Week. A lot of the audience were women - a good majority of them already seeming to know each other; they were obviously the regulars - but there were also several couples, a few small families and a large group of college students.

Chihiro played whilst everyone was filing into the café before the entertainment kicked off, as they'd already discussed. She also played during the intermissions - or 'cake breaks', as Cass had called them, where she'd run round with trays of small cakes and pastries for everyone who was participating. Chihiro played a mix of some of her favourite pieces of music, as well as a few compositions of her own, trying to keep the mood fairly neutral rather than straying towards the much softer stuff. The café was too upbeat for that.

Then whilst people were doing their improv poetry readings, she'd sit back and listen like everyone else. She was surprised to find she quite liked a lot of the material she heard. She'd never had much of an interest in poetry before, but then maybe she'd just never really given it the time. Several people struck up conversations with her in between her playing - something that had never happened at the restaurant. She wasn't used to the one-off interactions without her music to hide behind, but she actually found that she was enjoying herself. It was hard not to when everyone was so friendly.

On top of all that, the piano that Cass had found when she'd taken over the café really was beautiful. The glossy woodwork was virtually untouched once all of the dust had been cleared away and since it had been tuned, the sound was just spot on perfect. Chihiro was a little jealous that everywhere seemed to have better pianos than her. She couldn't quite afford a new one just yet - not the one that she had her eye on anyway. That was another reason she'd put up with the restaurant for so long.

After all of the poetry readings were done, she started playing again, right up until the last person left and Cass came over to commend her on a job well done. "I can't believe how well everything went - I've never had so many people here till closing time before!" she gabbled as she cleared away the empty plates from the tables.

Chihiro was pleased for her, not to mention proud of herself for her performance, and offered to help clean up before she left to walk home. She liked Cass and she liked her friends too. They were so much the opposite of the women in her family, most of whom were even more reserved than she was. After she'd packed away her music, she started moving some of the tables back into place from where Cass had cleared a stage area at one end of the restaurant.

"Here, let me get that."

The voice wasn't Cass, like she would have expected. Instead, it was male. Chihiro turned to see a tall boy wearing a black baseball cap. "Oh. Sure, thanks. I thought everyone had left."

"You probably didn't see me. I was hiding in the far corner, hoping I didn't get roped into participating," he joked, sliding one of the larger tables back into place - much more easily than Chihiro had struggled to do.

"So you weren't here for the poetry night?" Chihiro asked uncertainly, unsure if she should warn Cass that there was still someone loitering around after the café had obviously closed.

"I thought I'd check out the last half hour or so to see how things were going," he said. "I only live upstairs. Aunt Cass has been really excited about the events she's got lined up for this week."

"Oh." Now everything made sense. This was clearly the other nephew that Cass had mentioned getting to help her out. "You're the one who moved the piano into here."

"Yeah, that old thing's been sat in the garage for years. It's nice to see it getting put to use. I heard some of your playing at the end there - you're really good," he commended.

Chihiro's face flooded with colour. "Oh, um, thank you..."

"Aunt Cass said you're gonna be playing here all week, right?"

"That's right!" Cass cut in cheerfully, as she passed by with a stack of plates. "Chihiro's gonna be my star performer of Golden Week!"

"I don't know about that..." Chihiro mumbled, blushing even more. She really wasn't used to so much praise. Not from anyone other than Tatsu anyway.

The boy chuckled. "Don't mind Aunt Cass; she just gets easily excited over things." He held out his hand cheerfully. "I'm Tadashi, by the way."

"Chihiro," she replied shyly, even though Cass had just said her name a few seconds ago.

She'd never particularly thought of herself as small before, but his hand completely enveloped hers as she returned the handshake. He seemed oddly familiar to her and as she peered at his face, she realised why. He was the man who'd held the door open for her yesterday, only he now looked much younger clean shaven and not at all intimidating. The difference was remarkable. His eyes were much brighter too; all traces of the dark circles now gone.

"What; have I got something on my face?" he joked.

Chihiro realised then that she was basically staring at him and hastily dropped her gaze. "Oh, no, it's just... you shaved." She then mentally cursed herself for sounding so obvious.

Tadashi just laughed and didn't comment on the fact that she'd remembered him. "Was the beard really that noticeable? I'd pulled a couple of all-nighters in a row, so I figured it was time to clean myself up a bit."

"Where do you work?" Chihiro asked politely.

"It's more of a scholarship really," said Tadashi. "At the San Fransokyo Institute of Technology. I'm in robotics."

"Wow." So he was smart as well as friendly. Chihiro didn't know the first thing about robotics, but she did know that the Institute of Technology was a very prestigious university. "So does that mean you've been making something?"

Tadashi nodded. "It's a concept for part of a think tank that the university is producing. I was determined to get some design kinks fixed before I remembered important things like sleep and having a life."

Chihiro smiled. "Sounds like it must be a fun project. What are you working on?"

"It's top secret." Tadashi mimed putting a finger to his lips, then laughed. "At least until it's finished and I can be sure it works."

"Tadashi, could you bring me the vacuum from upstairs please?" Cass interrupted. "I don't know what Mrs. Fujibayashi's son was doing, but it looks like a couple of donuts exploded over here."

"Sure thing, Aunt Cass," Tadashi laughed. He shot Chihiro a smile. "It was nice to meet you. I guess I'll see you around."

"Oh. You too." Chihiro then silently cursed herself again for the amount of times she'd said 'oh' in the last few minutes. She may not have been a social butterfly, but she could have at least sounded like more of a conversationalist.

Tadashi disappeared upstairs and Chihiro hurried over to rescue Cass, who was balancing another tower of plates that were wobbling precariously. "Thanks, Chihiro," said Cass gratefully. "Just put them over on the counter. Carry on home - I'm almost finished up here."

"Are you sure?" Chihiro checked, envisioning hearing a crash of plates the moment she walked out the door.

"Of course! I'm paying you to play music; not clean. Don't ruin those piano fingers," Cass teased. "There's still some pastries left in the display case, so take a couple with you for the road."

"Oh, no, that's okay," Chihiro assured.

"Take some! They'll just go to waste otherwise," Cass insisted. "They'll be no good tomorrow."

With Cass watching her, Chihiro had no choice but to take one of the little white paper bags and scoop two pastries and a donut into it, if she didn't want to offend her. "Thanks. I'll see you tomorrow."

"See you tomorrow, Chihiro."

Chihiro couldn't resist peeking inside her new goody bag on her way back home. She hadn't initially turned down Cass's offer because she didn't like sweets - it was because she liked sweets too much. She'd picked up a chocolate covered donut, a crunchy cinnamon whirl and what looked like a very sugary apple turnover. She loved anything apple flavoured.

She decided to eat the latter as she was walking. She pulled it out of the paper bag, tucking the rest safely under her arm as sugar crystals immediately clung to her fingers, and took a bite. Her taste buds exploded from the sweet and bitter contrast of the sugar and the smooth, pickled apple filling. She immediately took another large bite. It was delicious.

That was what she'd been afraid of. If free pastries came with the job every night, then her résumé wasn't the only thing that would be changing after this week; she'd be getting fat too.