A girl quietly walks through the street, occasionally turning a few heads as she navigated the crowds. Interesting...she thought her outfit was fairly inconspicuous today, wearing an off-white trench coat and brown heeled boots that laced up to her knees. Her scarf and beret were a similar matching brown and she even had on sunglasses which masked her blue eyes, so there shouldn’t be any colors making her stand out.

Ah it’s my hair, she thought, realizing the obvious fact. Pink hair cascaded down the young women’s back making a few observers wonder if it was who they thought it was. Well she did live around here…but then again she was trying a different route today.

Eventually she reached the coffee shop, removing her sunglasses upon entering. The barista behind the counter appeared to recognize Rosaline when she came in.

”The usual please.”

Rosaline then made her way over to the table she always sat at. She was pleased she had managed to make this her regular coffee shop. Typically after a few weeks of her going to the same place, word would get out and it would become too crowded and noisy. This shop, however, had both a pleasant atmosphere and was out of the way enough so she typically wasn’t bothered here.

Upon removing her jacket, Rosaline revealed a cute vintage dress underneath. The top was made of a silk fabric with white capped sleeves and old fashioned ruffles at the collar, and the bottom portion of her dress had a raised waistline just below her bust and consisted of a brown skirt layered in ruffles that stopped just above her knee. Once she had draped her jacket, hat, and scarf over her chair, Rosaline sat down and pulled out her notebook from her purse, reviewing the composition she had just recently come up with. Inspiration had hit Rosaline last night and so she had been up all night working on her music.

Eventually her coffee was brought to her and Rosaline too a few welcomed sips even though it was still pretty hot. She had work to do later today, hence the need for the caffeinated beverage.

“That looks pretty interesting,” A voice says from behind Rosaline. When she turns to look she will see a high school student who doesn’t look much younger than her looking at the piece. As he looks at the sheet he slowly chews on a croissant, dangling from his mouth, but his eyes remain focused on the paper, he seemed to be reading the music.

“’oaw mish ish pretty ‘ood.” He says, trying to speak through the croissant, though his impressed expression would say most of what he meant for him. After a few seconds he finishes off the pastry and looks at the girl while wiping his hand off on his pants. “Are you a performer?” he asks curiously, not really being up to date with popular music.

Then after a second he seems to realize something and gives her a slightly apologetic bow. “Oh sorry, my name is Kousuke Archer. Sorry for spying but curiosity got the better of me.” He admits, now taking a sip of the drink he had ordered. “…bitter.” He comments appearing to not entirely understand or appreciate the coffee’s flavor.

Being focused on her work, Rosaline didn’t notice the onlooker until he spoke. At this, she looked up from her piece and turned to face what appeared to be a high school boy. As he talked, Rosaline instantly went into analysis mode, trying to determine why he might be speaking to her and whether or not he had any ulterior motives. Did he know who she was? No…it didn’t seem that way. If anything he was more focused on her piece than he was on her at the moment. When he asked if she was a performer, Rosaline simply stared at him, still trying to figure the other out. Her silence appeared to cause the young man to remember his introductions. Well if he gave her his name, Rosaline supposed in would only be customary to return the favor.

”Rosaline Ishida,” she said, watching Kousuke’s reaction carefully. It could be he genuinely didn’t know who she was and that was fine. But if he was playing dumb she would know. ”And yes I do perform,” she spoke to answer his previous question.

”But not this,” she added, putting away the piece she was referring to. This was her own personal music and she refused to let her company produce it until they stopped trying to butcher it when creating the final arrangement. Once it was put away, Rosaline calmly took another sip of her own coffee. She had read somewhere that it would now be considered her turn to ask the individual a question but didn't really care to know anything about him.

When Kousuke mentioned the bitterness of his coffee, Rosaline thought she might have stumbled upon his intentions. ”Ah…did you want this?” she reached for the small plate of sugar cubes on her table and offered it to him. Rosaline preferred her own coffee black.

As Rosaline introduced himself Kousuke’s face maintained the simple good natured expression it had up until now. “Nice to meet you Rosaline.” Though then he ponders the name and finds that he can’t help but ask. “Are you foreign or did your parents just like foreign names?”

As he asks he pulls up a chair and sits down across from her, but when she tells him she won’t perform that piece he frowns. “You won’t? That piece seems really good though, is it not up to your standards quite yet or something?” He asks, assuming actual performers must be pickier about music than he was. “I bet there are plenty of places where people would be thrilled to hear it.”

Then he takes another sip of his coffee and winces. When she offers him the sugar he holds his hand up slightly and says. “N-no that’s okay. I’m trying to get used to this. It’s a lot cooler to take your coffee black.” He explains and then takes another swig and winces again. Though despite the taste of the coffee he appeared to be enjoying himself.

After she introduced herself, Rosaline relaxed momentarily before quickly being put back on guard at the question of her parentage. It wasn’t an uncommon question for her to be asked, though after the spires popped up many more foreigners wound up in Japan along with their western names. This boy’s surname was Archer after all.

”My mother is French. Father is Japanese.” She watched silently as Kousuke pulled up a chair to sit across from her. The question about her standards amused Rosaline and she almost smiled as she tried to figure out how to answer.

”Yes…you could say it does not fit my standards.” However it was more that, for now, the piece was too good for her to perform it, not the other way around. However Rosaline was unsure how to say this. ”In time perhaps…my colleague told me she would work on it,” she added, more to herself as Kousuke probably wouldn’t know what she was talking about exactly.

When he waved her offer away, Rosaline looked over at Kousuke with a confused look.

”The sugar will not alter the appearance of your coffee. I believe you are thinking of cream. And regardless you’re beverage is still very hot, the opposite of cool.” Rosaline reached out to take a sugar cube and placed it directly in her mouth. Although she had a tolerance for bitter, she very much had a taste for sweet things.

“So you’re part French huh?” Kousuke replies with interest. Even though foreigners were more common nowadays he actually hadn’t met that many, not even many half foreigners like him. For the first time during the conversation he takes a moment to really examine her. He could believe that she was a performer, she was certainly attractive enough to make a living in show business, it suddenly dawned on him he might be talking to someone famous…nah~.

He takes another sip of the coffee, and this time manages not to show his displeasure. “No, no it’s not about the color of the coffee.” He explains. “It’s the virtue of drinking it straight up and handling the taste it’s more…how do I say it? Manly? No mature seeming?” He says trying to figure out exactly how to explain it. “Well either way do you get what I mean. It’s the principle of the whole thing, I’ve set the challenge now I need to follow through.”

Then once this had passed he returned his attention to the piece of music. “I know this might be kind of rude, but do you think I could listen to you perform this sometime? It really does look like an interesting piece.” He asks a bit embarrassed by how forward the request was.

”Indeed,” Rosaline responded curtly when Kousuke asked for conformation that she was half French. She did not enjoy repeating herself, and it was a somewhat personal topic that the other seemed unafraid to touch. But then again, he appeared as though he was biracial as well, so perhaps he was merely searching for a common feature between the two of them.

When Kousuke tried to explain the reasoning behind the coffee, Rosaline stared at him intently. ”I do not,” she answered bluntly when he asked if she understood his meaning. However upon careful consideration over his words she added, ”though…if you mean to tell me drinking your coffee this was is what others expect from you in order to appear more...mature as you say…then perhaps.” Rosaline continued to sip her coffee now that it had cooled down enough for her to drink it without burning this inside of her mouth.

The question about performing her piece surprised Rosaline and caused her to look over at Kousuke inquisitively.

”You would ask this of a stranger…simply because it looks interesting?” Rosaline never really understood most people but even this seemed to strike her as an odd request. The only time anyone ever requested her to play an individual piece for them was typically at auditions and such. Though upon consideration there wasn’t any immediate reason why she should oppose.

”You could…though what would I get out of such a deal?” Rosaline didn’t do anything without a reason. She performed in order to let her feelings reach others…but to reach out to a single individual, let alone a stranger, was a more intimate experiences. Perhaps this was the boy’s attempt to make a pass at her then. Rosaline was certainly no stranger to such advances but had little use for them.

As Rosaline provided a very comprehensive explaination of how she understood what he was talking about in regards to black coffee Kousuke stared at her wide eyed. It’s not that he was stupid, he just wasn’t used to analyzing mundane things so…well completely. Once she was done he nodded. “I suppose you could put it that way, but instead mature you could think of it more as an expression of machoism.” He explains, saying it made him feel manly seemed kinda silly, but that was basically it.

Then when she asked if he would ask of a stranger what he asked of her his expression turned contemplative. Then after a few seconds he turned back to her and looked her in the eye then nodded. “I suppose, if it was this interesting. After all if you just let opportunities like this pass you by you can’t enjoy life to its fullest, and what’s the worst that can happen? They say no? That’s the same as not asking.” He points out.

Then when she asks him what she’ll get out of the performance he stares at her blankly. “Well I could start making offers, but really it’s more about what you want anyways. What do you want in exchange for playing the song?” He asks simply.

Rosaline listened to Kousuke’s reasoning, not really understanding. Perhaps it was just that she had very little interests outside her own music, whereas this boy appeared to be interested in what others were doing around him. This aspect of him intrigued Rosaline, which was probably why she was continuing to talk to him instead of ignoring him as she might normally do with strangers.

Though when he asked what it was she would want in exchange for playing the song, Rosaline let out a disappointed sigh.

”I doubt there is anything you could offer that I would want, therefore I reject your proposal.” She stated simply as if that was that and the matter settled. If Kousuke really wanted her to play the piece for him he would find that he will have to try a bit harder.

Rosaline finished drinking the rest of her coffee and wondered if she should have another. Glancing at the small clock on her wrist, she figured she still had some time before work. There was her modeling job scheduled today as well as band practice later.

“Wait wait wait!” Kousuke stammers holding up his hand. If he just let it end like this he’d be nothing but a weirdo. “I’ll make you a two part trade. The first is food, I don’t mind saying that I’m a dang good cook and I can make whatever you like. I’ll cook you lunch for a week in exchange for the song. Though you’ll have to tell me how to deliver it to you.” He admits as asking her to meet him for lunch would be coming on a bit too strong even for him.

“Then second, if you have reservation about playing the song for just me, I can gather a group to listen to the song as well. I’d even offer to accompany the performance, but unfortunately I’m not very good yet since I’ve only been playing for about 6 months.” He offers, to be honest it seemed like a pretty good offer to him, but he would need to wait and see how she reacted.

Rosaline glanced back over at Kousuke, wondering what the boy was trying to come up with now. She raised an eyebrow when he suggested cooking her lunch…for a week. Having grown up with hired cooks, Rosaline had found she was not so good at it living on her own so the proposal was certainly tempting if not a somewhat…unique proposal.

”This may do. Though providing food for a week logistically is too much of a hassle. You may come over to my place and cook enough to last me a few days. I’ll provide the food.” She took out a pen and paper before handing it to Kousuke.

”Here right down your contact information for me and I’ll be in touch.”

The way she spoke and acted, it almost seemed as though this were a business exchange to Rosaline.

”The food will suffice,” she spoke in response to Kousuke’s second suggestion. It really made no difference in the end how many people she performed in front of. However since it was related to music, her interest was somewhat piqued when he mentioned he played.

”What is it you play?”

Upon hearing his offer was accepted he nods with a bit of a grin on his face. To be honest he had been a little concerned she’d take his offer the wrong way, but it seems like everything worked out in the end. He writes down his contact information on the paper she indicates and then looks back up at her. “When do you want to do this?” He asks her, referring to both events.

However, when she asks him what he plays Kosuke scratches the back of his head embarrassed. “Well I ‘play’ the guitar, to be honest I’m not all that great, but I enjoy it and I’m improving, if a little slowly.” He admits.

Rosaline nodded when Kousuke admitted to playing the guitar. He didn’t strike her as a particularly devoted musician, but then again their reasons for playing were probably vastly different.

After Kousuke wrote down his information, Rosaline examined sheet of paper before taking out her phone.

”Let me check my schedule…I should be free in the late afternoon on the 10th.” She was technically also free during the evening on the 9th, but the last time she talked to Valdis it appeared as though the girl wanted to make some sort of plans for that night. Rosaline then stood up, turning her head over to the barista behind the counter.

”One more to go please,” she then began to gather her things, placing her phone and the sheet of paper with Kousuke’s contact information in her purse before donning her jacket, scarf, and hat.

”I’ll be in touch, so if that date doesn’t work for you we can try and reschedule. Oh…I should probably hire a maid to clean my place before then.” Rosaline took out her phone briefly again so she could type in a reminder. ”Anyways it was…interesting meeting you Kousuke Archer. Until next time.” Rosaline gave a curt nod as she turned away from the table. She then quickly picked up and paid for her coffee before exiting the café, putting on her sunglasses as she walked back outside.