“Huh?”
Under the shade of the awning, Maou spotted a woman carrying a sunshade over her head. Noticing the sound of his engine, she lifted her head and waved at him.
“Sorry. Did you wait long?”
“Good morning. Oh, right, the manager starts in the afternoon today, right?”
“Yeah. I’m just helping out in the morning. Lemme open it up for you. It had to be hot out here!”
“Yeah, it’s so early, but I can’t believe how scorching it is just standing here!”
The woman looked like she was sick of it.
“Lemme have the key, president! I’ll go in and start the AC for you.”
“Sure, sure.”
Maou gave the woman who’d casually called him “president” the key case from his pocket. Well acquainted with this process, she opened the entrance with the key and rushed in, sending the old-fashioned bells that hung over the door dinging away.
Parking the scooter at the far end of the parking lot, Maou took a look around the building. He glared at a small collection of cigarette stubs that had appeared overnight, but otherwise everything seemed well. After a quick check to make sure there was no dirt on the sign, he opened the door and went in.
Today, as usual, it was time to prep the Eifukucho flagship location of Yesodd’s Family Café.
Enjoying the dim, cooled air inside, the woman from before greeted Maou as she came in from the back.
“We sold a lot of bottled coffee yesterday. Do we have enough? Oh, here’s the keys.”
“Yeah, I placed an order for more before I left home. They’ll bring them over.”
Accepting the key case from her, Maou pointed outside.
“Also, Shoji, sorry to work you this early, but outside…”
“Oh, the cigarette butts again? Ugh! Don’t they get businesses to put up NO SMOKING signs ’cause they don’t want that sorta thing?”
Kaori Shoji, a member of the part-time staff, was dressed in her standard uniform—white shirt, denim cutoffs, chic black salon apron. As she fumed a bit, her tied-up black hair swayed around. She took a trash bag from under the register and went outside.
“Oh, right, Maou! I mean, president!”
Then she came right back.
“So, I saw that the manager’s coming in this afternoon on the shift schedule. Are you off after that?”
“Yeah. I’m getting together with someone afterward.”
“Oh, a date?!”
“Huh?”
Hearing that word from out of nowhere, so unrestrained, made Maou widen his eyes. He thought for a moment, then nodded his assent.
“Well… It’s not that it isn’t, I guess?”
“Not so inactive after all, huh, prez?”
Then, for some reason, Kaori’s face lit up. Maou knew that whenever she looked up at him like this, something bad was about to happen.
“Hey, stop picking on your elders. What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Well, the manager told me that you’ve been really busy lately, so I figured, maybe you just don’t have it in you, so…”
“Don’t have it in me? I sign your paychecks, you know.”
“But today you’ve got plans, huh? That’s really impressive. And if you’re leaving before lunchtime, are you dining out, then? Maybe eating at the airport?”
“Well, yeah, lunch, but… What? The airport?”
Maou winced at the second unexpected keyword.
Now Kaori looked puzzled. “Weren’t you going to Haneda Airport? Or are you meeting up at Hamamatsu-cho or somewhere?”
“Haneda? Hamamatsu-cho? What are you talking about? I don’t have any business there.”
It may have just been the glare from outside, but Kaori’s face suddenly took on an aura of terrifying darkness.
“Oh, you don’t? Ahh, I knew it. Tssh.”
“What? Hey, Shoji! Why’re you talkin’ like that to the president?”
“I swear, all you workaholics…”
Watching Kaori leave after that tirade, Maou thought to himself for a moment.
“The airport…? Hang on… I didn’t hear anything, but maybe…”
And as his mind came up with an assortment of ominous scenarios, Kaori began cleaning the tables. “I’m done outside,” she declared, “so I’ll start in here.”
Based on the way she was acting, Maou was now sure he’d messed something up.
“Look, I didn’t know, okay?”
The muttering was nothing but a lame excuse, so he went back to his own duties. No matter what was happening with him, or the world, he had to get this café up and running. He was president of The Maou Company, Ltd., operators of the Eifukucho location of Yesodd’s Family Café, and they were opening in ninety minutes.