Chapter 53

CHAPTER 3 District Five Labyrinths and Their Inhabitants Part I: Morning Scenery / The Cart Light filtered in through the slit between the living room curtains; just as hints of white began to lighten the morning sky, I woke with a start. “Ah…!” Mere inches from my face, a woman clamped her hand over her mouth in surprise; it was Louisa, clad in her Guild employee uniform, evidently just about ready to start her day. She straightened up with a snap and backed away. Supporting herself with a hand against the sofa, she’d been leaning over and peering down at me—maybe I’d been sleeping like the dead and gotten her worried? “G-good morning, Louisa. Heading out already?” “Y-yes… Even as Specially Appointed Staff, I still have regular duties delegated to me while we remain in District Five,” she explained. “I hope it’s nothing too taxing. Have you had breakfast?” “Yes, I ordered a light breakfast from Maria at the Forest Diner. It got here not long ago. She sent over hot coffee, tea, and soup in a few magic pots.” “Coffee… That takes me back. I haven’t had a sip since I came to the Labyrinth Country, though. Do the beans come from a labyrinth around here?” “Oh yes, they naturally grow in some labyrinths in this district. However, as the shrubs which bear the coffee fruit are located in remote and difficult-to-access areas, there’s a limit on how much can be harvested,” she told me. “…Mr. Atobe, may I serve you a cup?” “Yes, please… Oh, but maybe it’s best I wait. The girls might want some, too.” “Not to worry, there’s enough for everyone,” she assured me with a bright smile. Bringing the pot over, she poured the steaming brew into one of the provided porcelain cups and set it on a saucer. The moment the coffee streamed out of the spout, I knew the fragrant aroma, the very first taste, would dredge up old memories of my days at work. “I’m amazed you manage to drink coffee without a hint of sugar, Atobe… Though, if you ask me, café au lait is so much better.” Oh yeah, I’d almost forgotten about that… I was remembering one morning when Igarashi made me a café au lait at our company’s coffee bar. She’d just arrived and, unable to stand seeing the living corpse I’d become after another all-nighter, prepared me a cup of the reviving elixir. Though I’d always taken my coffee black up until that point, afterward I found myself going for café au laits around half the time. Igarashi needed even more sugar to make the coffee go down—a fact I knew since I’d also prepared more than my fair share of cups of joe for her as her subordinate. “Mm, so good… L-Louisa?” A troubled expression had clouded her face. I couldn’t blame her—it’d been rude of me to go for a solitary stroll down memory lane in front of her. But surprisingly, she chuckled, shrugging her shoulders as if to say, What am I going to do with you? “May I assume…coffee carries quite a few treasured memories for you?” “Y-yeah… Though I wouldn’t exactly call them treasured. I just remembered how I used to live on coffee when I worked under Igarashi.” “…And which would you say you preferred, the coffee then or this cup you have here?” “U-umm…,” I hemmed. “It’s hard to say…” “…That’s the part where you read the room a little and tell Louisa hers is much tastier, don’t you think?” Just as I’d thought others might start to wake up, my hunch proved correct. Igarashi, the very person I’d just spoken of, stepped somewhat abashedly out of the bedroom. “Good morning, Kyouka,” Louisa said. “Mr. Atobe was just telling me you took much kinder care of him as his boss than your stories led me to believe.” “I—I wouldn’t go that far… I was a terrible boss, working him to the bone many times harder than the occasional kind gesture could make up for. By the end, you were avoiding me, weren’t you, Atobe?”