(朝蜘蛛は吉兆 lit: the morning spider shows a good omen)
Awakened by the sunlight, I arose feeling refreshed. After the usual morning preparations, I went down to the first floor to start preparing to open for business. Today’s menu includes chocolate cake with mousse and shortcake. Recently, there have been many female customers concerned about eating too much, so I made mini-sized ones as well.
Since there was whipped cream on my hand, I ended up licking it. The Roto who was helping with making the cake then begged for some while saying ‘aaan’. Scooping out a dollop of leftover whipped cream, I held it out in front of the Roto’s mouth. Glomp, and so the Roto ate the cream. It placed both its hands on its cheeks and made a big grin. Looks like it was delicious.
After that, I could hear the sound of the spirits from the shop floor, but it was different from the usual cheerful singing. It was kind of boisterous. Moving out of the kitchen to the floor, the Rotos hands stopped cleaning, and I scolded them in a louder voice than usual, ‘Bad!’
The reason was none other than a small spider. It seemed like they wanted to chase away a spider who slipped its way in. Closing off the pathways here and there, they were struggling to guide the spider to the exit. But the spider only moved left and right, and the guiding was not going well.
Hence, the Rotos started to chase it away by screaming ‘Waaa’ altogether while frantically flapping their hands, but that failed as well. Instead, they bumped into each other and fell down.
The pleasant view made me loosen up.
Squatting down to thank the Rotos for their work, I then caught the spider slowly by encasing it in my hands and gently placed it by the window frame. I silently opened the window, and the spider then jumped out through the gap.
It is a fine weather today, with a clear blue sky with no sign of clouds.
Morning spiders are a sign of good omen even in this world. Uplifted, I took a deep breath of the morning breeze.
Some time before afternoon, I had the usual rush hour full of customers.
Recently, there are more female customers, while the male customers come over for a takeout of coffee.
“I heard another squad of mercs came over yesterday? After making a fuss around town, I heard they came over to this shop…. I’m so glad Rhonya and the shop is all right”
Handing over the takeout cup of coffee, the customer said so.
Yesterday, while I was relaxing together with Sena-san, four mercenaries had come over. Whilst in a drunk state, they got into a bad situation with Sena-san. Since it was inevitable, I chased them away by activating the barrier, and they are prohibited from coming ever again or entering this shop.
Putting up a smile, I replied the customer with ‘All is well’.
“Really, this is why those barbaric mercs are so much trouble.”
“…Compared to the ones who came over yesterday, the members of the DemiMercSquad are all nice people.” (Rhonya)
“Ahaha, Rhonya-chan is always standing up for those in the DemiMercSquad.”
Although they truly are nice people, my words were ignored.
After seeing off the customer with the takeout and returning to the kitchen, my eyes stopped at one of the customers.
She is a female customer with red hair, alone at a table seat. She is a regular who frequents my shop with a group of two others. It looks like she is by herself today.
She looked perplexed and repeatedly chafed her hands.
“Is the interior too cold for you?”
“Ah.. no.. actually, i’m sensitive to the cold, so…”
Upon my query, she made a bitter smile.
Even though it is not the cold season yet, she seemed to be freezing.
“If you are sensitive to the cold, I suggest for you to abstain from having too much coffee in the meantime. Ah, we do have some vegetable soup that we boiled overnight; would you like to have some?”
It was a soup filled with plenty of vegetables, with stock made from the bones of the Gauu. Although it is still too early for lunch, it would warm up the body.
Although she was a little surprised, she replied with ‘yes, please’.
Bringing over the soup to the red-haired customer, I then cleaned up around the counter seats. At the time where I was bringing over second cups of beverages to the customer at the table seats, a customer sitting nearby called out to me.
“Hey hey, Tenchou-san. What do you think about this?” There was a group of three female customers who were eating mini cakes. They looked to be the same age as me. The one who called out to me was a girl with blonde hair. She was pulling her hair back slightly to show me her hair clasp decorated with lily motifs.
“It suits you very well. Very adorable indeed.” (Rhonya)
“Right-!?”
It looks like the hair accessory is a new product from the accessory shop. Listening in to their conversation, it seems that all three are looking for romance. Hoping to find a good partner, they are putting much effort to being stylish.
“Would it bewitch a prince, I wonder?”
“Oh my, Sally, that’s too much.”
It seems that the blonde girl’s name was Sally.
“But as long as she was chosen by the prince, even a commoner could wed him, right?” To Sally’s words, the other two burst into laughter.
“That may be true, but we don’t even have a chance of meeting the prince.”
“Also, he’s still thirteen, isn’t he?”
The crown prince of this country is still not engaged. The king declared that he would let the prince decide his partner and so he declined all marriage proposals that was brought in, or so I heard.
Hence, just as Sally said, one can wed the crown prince regardless of their status. But since this city is a distance from the capital, it would be difficult for Sally and the others to even meet him.
“What kind of person would you like to marry, Tenchou?”
“Eh? I?” I was astounded to have suddenly become the topic of discussion.
A marriage partner…… Schneider’s face suddenly came to mind, but I frantically shook my head. I am through with him, and I should forget about him.
“Tenchou, you were approached by a number of people some time ago, weren’t you? You know, even the one whom Katie said was cool! But it looks like he stopped coming here.”
“Macway-san! Isn’t he a wonderful person? Reine knows him too, right?”
The two sitting opposite Sally are called Katie-san and Reine-san, it seems.
“Yup, he’s a stylish person, isn’t he? Speaking of which, didn’t he propose to Tenchou-san?” Hearing Reine-san’s words, the other two leaned out towards me.
“Um… He did not propose to me. Rather, he asked if I would like to work in his shop, but I declined.”
“EEEH-!!”
“WWhyy-!?” Their voices reverberated within the shop. It felt like they were similar to the high school girls from my previous life.
While I let out a bitter smile, Sally-san made an expression as if she realized something.
“Don’t tell me, is Tenchou-san interested in one of the Demis-? Especially the one with white hair! He’s superbly cool, isn’t he!”
“If he’s in his human form, you mean? He’s a Demi, mind you-?” Said Katie-san, as her eyebrows frowned.
If the Demi she was referring to was the one with the white hair, then it is none other than Ryuse-san.
“He sure is a charming and cool person.” The words came out of my mouth before I realized it.
His slender stature, and a beautiful face. Shining white hair and that princely presence.
Although we had conversed several times, he is still acting cold towards me. I wonder when he will open up to me.
Katie-san leaned towards me upon hearing my words.
“But don’t you dislike that he’s a Demi? It’s frightening to think that they could rip apart a human, much more to approach them…”
“To begin with, a mercenary is unbefitting as a marriage partner.” As Reine-san said this, both Sally-san and Katie-san nodded in response.
Even though that is not true, the image of the Demis as cruel beings appears to be deeply imprinted upon the townspeople’s thoughts.
“….I am not afraid of them. It just implies that they have that kind of strength, does it not? I have not heard of any incidents where people have witnessed them ripping apart a human. The members of the DemiMercSquad are nice Demis.” I said this without much thought, but Sally-san and the two others looked at each other. Moments later, Sally-san burst into laughter.
“See, you really like them, right?”
“Why yes, I like the members of the DemiMercSquad,” I replied with a smile.
The next moment, the doorbell made a sound, *cling clang.
I wonder if it is a new customer.
Moving my gaze towards the door, there stood Ryuse-san. He is hiding his ears and tail today.
His light blue eyes glimmered from the gaps of his shining pure white hair. Beneath his jet-black uniform, where the buttons had been left unfastened, a dirty V-neck shirt could be seen.
With pouting lips, Ryuse-san hung his head.
“Welcome”
“….nn.”
Taking a glimpse at the clock after the greeting, I noticed that it had just turned eleven. A visit earlier than usual, and it seems he is alone today.
Looking around the shop the next moment, the customers quickly started preparing to exit the shop in a fluster. Amongst them, Sally-san and the other two turned pale. Perhaps due to the fact they talked about him just moments ago.
The three placing their payments of the table, they exited the shop while avoiding Ryuse-san. The other customers did the same and left.
Looking at the last customer who stood up, I came back to my senses.
“Um, would you kindly wait for a moment?”
“….Eh?”
It was the red-haired customer who was sensitive to the cold. While worrying about being with Ryuse-san, she patiently waited for me.
Quickly heading to the kitchen, I brewed a cup of cocoa and poured it into the takeout cup. Then I returned back to the restaurant floor and gently handed over the cup.
“A cup of cocoa — if you would like it, that is. I am sure it will warm you up.” The red-haired customer then made a surprised expression.
“B-but.. the payment…”
“It is fine. Since you hardly partook of the coffee.”
The customer made a warm smile, gave her gratitude, and exited the shop.
I watched her departing figure, and then looked towards Ryuse-san.
“Are you alone today?”
“….I’m the only one who returned first.”
“I see… I shall clean up right away.”
For the first time, Ryuse-san sat on the counter seat even though he usually sits by the table seat.
Ryuse-san’s light blue eyes continuously followed me as I cleaned up. But as I stopped my hands and our eyes met, Ryuse-san averted his gaze.
I hesitated… Should I bring out a conversation, or should I leave him be…
I moved the last of the used utensils to the kitchen and finished with wiping the counter table, and that moment—
Poof~
As Ryuse-san closed his eyes, a white fog surrounded him. From within the white fog, a white cheetah appeared. Just like his human form, he still had his pure white hair and light blue eyes. Even his long eyelashes were white — every part of him was pure white.
His round shaped ears, cat-like facial features, as well a long tail stretched straight.
This would be the first time I’ve seen Ryuse-san’s transformation. The happiness brought a smile to my face, but the pure white cheetah still faced away from me.