Chapter 4

But He's Also a Baker

"Morning, boss!" waved the three young adults who were helping customers with orders or baking some of those orders. They were all wearing the shop's uniform with pride: a red t-shirt with a brick pattern fading to the bottom, khakis, and an apron either on the waist or full body. Cooro, Sora, and Akari were written on that person's name tag where they greet each other by name; except for their boss.

"Ugh, seriously can you just call me Kukai or Brick if you want to give me a nickname." Kukai groaned while a few of the customers laughed to themselves use to seeing that reaction from the owner and main baker of the bakery.

"No can do, boss." Sora said giving a young couple some bagged biscuits and their change.

"Yeah, it's a sign on how much we wuv you." Akari giggled while wiping her flour stain hands on her apron while fixing her circle glasses onto her face.

"Plus, if it annoys you then we are just going to keep doing it." Cooro laughed making sure to wink at the customers he was serving; showing that he was acknowledging them.

"Ugh!" Kukai huffed while making his way to the back where everything smelt of spices, the noise became lower, and the ovens were hot and ready. This was Kukai's favorite place to be in his small bakery.

Kukai had always wanted to own his own bakery ever since he ate at the Kintoki Shop. It was small and only a few people knew about it, so when he stumbled into the place by accident, he was curious. The owner, Sakurako Kintoki, was carrying on her parents' shop and he could tell each sweet she made was made with love. Soon, he started practicing baking and cooking within his own home in his youth. Seeing his passion, the owner had shown him a few tips and tricks only making his love for the profession grow stronger. And when the shop moved to America because Sakurako married her boyfriend, Kukai was determined to make a shop just like hers. However, he was surprised on how popular his business became after the first year he started it. The customers found the building to be charming and friendly while the food was to die for. And for five years, the Bric-a-Brac Bakery has gathered a bunch of loyal customers and money to stay afloat.

"So, what do we got?" Kukai asked while putting on his apron and washing his hands.

"Got a lot of request for your strawberry cheesecake, Miss Hina needs those orders of namagashi at 12, and Mr. Abe is wondering if he can get your bean paste filling for his dorayaki for the annual "Bakers Combine Truck Shops" that's on Monday." Akari said while pulling out a fresh batch of biscuits.

"Heh, gotcha." Kukai smirked already getting the ingredients for the namagashi and his tools to make the beautiful shaped flowers. Akari saw the look in his eyes and made her way to her station to not get in his way. She knew when her boss gave that look, he was in his zone that only a few people could break him out of. That is why he would always stay in the back where some customers didn't even know what he looked like. He was just too focused on actually baking to interact with anyone. That was the main reason why he hired Sora and Cooro who would man the front for him. Akari was an extra hand in the back who was passionate about the craft too which made Kukai's job easier.

"Boss, Miss Hina is calling!"

"Mm ok." Kukai huffed while taking the phone from Sora after washing his hands. "Good morning, Miss Hina."

"Kukai, I hope you got my request! It was a sudden change in schedule, so I know it might be late but-"

"It's alright your order will be done when you come in, Miss Hina." Kukai said trying to calm the young lady down before it started. He was already cooling the dough down and the bean paste with his secret ingredient was already prepared to go in.

"Thank you! Will be there in 2 hours and just remember 6 boxes with 3 flowers in each! Bye!"

"She seems busy." Akari said hearing the dialer tone as Kukai handed back the phone.

"Tea ceremonies are becoming really popular with the tourists, so it's expected she would be." Kukai started getting back to his work, making sure to color each flower then rolled the dough allowing for it to get an even shade. Kukai began with the cherry blossoms. The light yellow in the center was placed perfectly as he used his hands to mold the sweet into a flatter shape. Then he took a wooden tool to make the petals look as sharp as the real deal. Kukai pushed his thumb onto those petals making them look more like the flower. Lastly, he added a small yellow ball to the center which signal that he had completed it.

"Why do you always start with the pink flowers, boss?" Akari asked nearly scaring him since he was in his zone.

"Boss likes pretty, pink things." Cooro snickered while taking the plate Akari placed on the window to give to a seated customer.

"Boss totally have the hots for our favorite pink customer." Sora purred while getting a spoon thrown at him. "Ow! Seriously! I'm just stating some facts."

"Get back to work all of you." Kukai said while they all agreed as he got back to working on the namagashi and starting a bit on the cheesecakes.

Though he wouldn't admit it, Kukai did have a bit of favoritism toward the pink customer whom name was Momoko. He never saw her, always in the back when she popped up in his shop, but he could tell she had a good eye for sweets. Well, hunger. She always seemed to come in when she was hungry which made him wonder how she would look. Small and tiny with a high metabolism or chubby and round just enjoying what made her happy. Either way, he was always glad to hear her sweet voice greeting them and seeing a red bow bounce into the window. Sometimes he wanted to peak out the window to greet her or even say something back when she spoked directly to him to get his attention. But he held back, fear of Sora actually being right about having the "hots" for her. Kukai didn't know her well and didn't want to spoil a good bond that he felt they established behind that wall. Though…

"Pink works well with red." Kukai mumbled getting Akari to hum since she was probably the only one to hear it. Kukai continued working the delicate flower design into each dough then place them into custom boxes that had the bakery's logo on its side. Everyone got a tickle out of it looking like a brick. Once done he put them in the area where the fridges were and started on his next task.

"The strawberry jelly and strawberries are all ready for you." Akari smiled while placing them on his station as she headed to the front to help Cooro. Kukai could hear the darker skin man cracking a joke as soon as Akari showed. He could tell it had slowed down for the breakfast run and that meant more people were sitting down to eat.

"Thank you." he said trying to say it before she left then got to work on the cheesecake request. Cheesecake was one of the recipes that he first pushed himself to perfect since his mom took his brothers and him to Uncle Tentsu for Ikuto's karate tournament. It was so light and fluffy that Kukai actually snuck into the back and started taking notes. "Heh, good times."

"Kukai!"

"Seriously?" Kukai huffed staring at his brothers who came through the back door of the building. He had giving them a key to make sure he didn't just bake away into the night when his business was new; but now they used it as an excuse to come in at random times.

"Oh, good you're not dead." Ikuto laughed while taking one of the cooling cookies from the rack.

"What he meant was, good to see that you're at work." Eiji said then got a cookie himself causing the red brother to roll his eyes.

"I said I was fine." Kukai said while getting back to mixing up the dry ingredients in one bowl and the liquid in another.

"No, you didn't bro. We been staring at our phones since um 8 in the morning."

"See." Eiji mumbled with cookie in his mouth and showing the read text message with Kukai not replying.

"Hmm, must have forgotten to hit send." Kukai thought understanding his brothers' concern now. "Well, thank you for checking up on me."

"Ikuto! Eiji!" the workers shouted finally getting a look at what was happening back there. Kukai's workers knew the brothers well enough, but it was rare to see them all together since again this was Kukai's job.

"Hey, guys still annoying my bro here?" Ikuto smirked while getting a look from Kukai who was moving on to fill the mixture into the pans.

"Hell yeah!" they laughed getting a wholehearted laugh from Ikuto and an eye roll from Eiji.

"I'm going to ignore that and pretend that it isn't your fault they do that "boss" thing."

"Well, you are the boss here." Eiji said in a matter of fact tone only causing an annoyed sigh from Kukai.

"I know, but I still have a name."

"Kukai! I'm here for my delivery!"

"Oh-no." groaned Ikuto causing a smirk to come onto Kukai's face. See, his brother didn't like Hina the way she liked him and of course she knew of his girlfriend; but that didn't seem to stop her.

"Hey, Miss Hina! You can pay up front and Ikuto will personally take it to your car." Kukai said getting a growl from his green brother and a full blow laugh from the other.

"Reeallly?" Hina purred practically shoving the money into Sora's hand then tried to see through the window. "I would really love it if you helped me, Ikuto."

"I will gladly help." Ikuto said trying to keep the fake smile up as Kukai handed the boxes to him. Ikuto's build allowed him to carry the boxes with no problem, but that doesn't mean he wasn't going to take his time.

"So, incredible." Hina giggled while holding onto his muscular arm once he came out. She quickly started at conversation as Ikuto tried to be nice to one of Kukai's regulars.

"You are so mean." Eiji snickered.

"You are lucky that Naoko isn't here, or I would do the same to you."

"Nevermind, that was great! I will help Ikuto and..and good to see that you're ok, big bro."

"Heh, you have a great family, boss." Cooro said watching the whole interaction.

"Mhm, but they still need to get some sense knock into them every once and awhile." Kukai said trying to hide the small smile that was fighting to come out. Once that was taken care of, Kukai got to work on his other tasks that took up most of the day. Once it started getting slower, he let Akari go home knowing it was supposed to be her day off today. She didn't mind since she enjoyed baking beside him; plus taking home some delicious cookies to her girlfriend and boyfriend was always brownie points for her.

"Then there were three." Cooro said while munching on a sub and iced tea for his break.

"I'm surprised it slowed down this much on a Sunday." Sora said also taking his break and munching on a wrap.

"It varies." Kukai said while crunching some numbers and going through bank information. This wasn't his favorite part of owning a business, but luckily Eiji was good with numbers and helped him through this process a lot. "I'm going to hire someone new, probably someone who is good at drinks."

"Oh, why is that boss?" Sora asked while wiping his mouth with a napkin.

"Sweets are great, but sometimes a good drink can make it even better." Kukai said while starting to put an ad out for someone who was good at drinks. He always remembered when his mom made him scones and the milk tea seem to enhance the taste and make it so much sweeter; plus, it didn't make his mouth as dry.

"Well, hope it's a girl, I'm sure Akari would love not having to be the only one working here." Sora said while Cooro shrugged.

"I think she likes it; we are good conversationalists." Cooro grinned getting a look from both Kukai and Sora. "What?"

"I will be on the lookout for females for her sake." Kukai smirked getting a chuckle from Sora and a confused look from Cooro. Once done, Kukai noticed something odd. "Huh? Already that late."

"What do you mean, boss?" Sora asked while looking at the clock seeing it was about 4 which was late since the store closed at 5pm on Sunday. "You're right…ooh your favorite pink customer hasn't show up."

"Hm."

"Don't made that face boss, I'm sure if she's not here today she'll come tomorrow." Cooro said while getting up and started to clean up a bit.

"Hm." Kukai just made his way into the back and checked on the goodies that would be ready for tomorrow. He hoped she would come, not "seeing" her was so strange and honestly her presents did make him feel lighter.

"Mr. Abe is here to pick up the paste!"

"Coming!" Kukai shouted while ignoring that thought and made his way back to the front.