“Prez, we have a special coffee for the customer on bar seat three.”
But for now, he had a new order that had come in at some point.
Turning the handle of his coffee mill, Maou found himself rubbing his back with his left hand.
“When I’m fatigued, these old wounds flare up, I think.”
After a quick rub or two, he looked into the empty kitchen, then saw Yoshiya, polishing utensils by the customer seating. He gritted his teeth and tensed up a bit.
“If I’m like this in the morning, it’s gonna get even worse later. Gotta pull it together.”
He continued muttering to himself as he adjusted the speed of his grinding. These were strong, full-bodied beans he got from Guatemala via his usual wholesaler; a coarse grind resulted in a smooth, perfume-like fragrance…or so he thought.
“All right, today’s special coffee… Huh?”
As he brought the expertly made cup back to the bar, he found:
“Ooh, I’m in luck. You’re running breakfast today?”
A person who’d just showed up in conversation earlier was seated there, her eyes as sharp as ever.
“Whoa, don’t surprise me like that! Hey, Yoshiya!”
Surprised, Maou turned toward Yoshiya. He sheepishly waved back.
“I told Kohmura to keep quiet about it. I didn’t want you all weirdly nervous over me.”
“Well, this startled me a lot more. Your husband and child are upstairs, you know.”
“I know. That’s why I’m here.”
After she had her child, Mayumi Kisaki cut short her long hair, which had been the envy of many. Her old shoulder bag by her side, though, was still overstuffed with a backbreaking amount of weight.
“But what are you doing here at a time like this? That’s rare. Are you reporting to work late?”
“Nah, well, I had this big job fall apart on me in the early morning. It was so sudden that I didn’t have anything else to allocate the time to, so I just said ‘screw it’ and took the day off from the department.”
That was certainly unusual to hear from her. She took a sip of her coffee.
“This is good. Guatemala shade-dried?”
“Would you mind not holding taste tests in here, please?”
“What? Just spying on my rivals.”
“I have a feeling MgRonald would blow us away.”
Kisaki gave him a mischievous grin as she looked around the café. “Hee-hee-hee! Every time I come here, I try to find holes I can bring up with you, but you patch them up whenever I come back. It’s boring.”
“Well, a good restaurant grows with its clientele.”
“You’re able to say that now, huh?” Kisaki eagerly eyed Maou. “Not only did you not wait for me to leave; you even leaped way ahead of me. Now I missed my chance to get out, and I wound up promoted again. What’re you gonna do about that, huh?”
“Congratulations on becoming a section director. I heard from one of your former staff.”
“Ugh. I can’t believe someone at my old haunt is just giving out internal company information.”
“Well, don’t yell at him too much. Want me to call him down?”
“They only just came in, didn’t they? I’ll head up once Yuzuki is done eating. If I’m next to her, she’ll start playing games and begging for attention, and she’ll lose focus. I hate to admit it, but Mitsuki’s a lot better at that kind of thing than I am.”
When they heard about Kisaki and Sariel’s marriage, the most preposterous pairing in all of creation, most people irresponsibly assumed it’d end in a quick divorce. But her old friends Yuki Mizushima and Himeko Tanaka, whom Maou met at the small but tasteful wedding reception he’d attended, both predicted that they would be just fine, as long as Sariel didn’t fall too far out of line.
“But how are things going with yours?”
“She’s growing up just fine. Getting a little sassy lately.”
“Oh?”
Kisaki, freely tossing the subject Maou’s way, smiled at the response.
“Ah, and isn’t Chi returning from her study abroad today? You going to go meet her?”
“Ms. Kisaki…”
“Hmm?”
“If my own former ‘staff’ keeps leaking stuff about the army to you, make him cry for me, all right? Why does he know, of all people…?”
“He’ll be joining me on the next group training session, actually. I’m looking forward to it.”
With a smile, Kisaki finished her coffee and stood.
“Well, I’ve got the day off. Time to go enjoy a little family time… Can you combine my tab with the one upstairs, President Maou?”
Maou, called that by his former boss, courteously bowed his head.
“Right away.”
In a few more moments, he heard “Yuuuzuuukiiii! Mommy got off from work today! Are you done with breakfast? Let’s go out with Daddy somewhere!!” shrilly shouted from upstairs. He shared a smirk with Yoshiya over it.
“Good morning!”
The manager of the Eifukucho location of Yesodd’s Family Café stepped in, despite being scheduled to replace Maou in the afternoon.
“Oh, good morning, manager.” Yoshiya looked at the clock. “You’re in early.”
Maou, meanwhile, shot her a look of surprise. “You’re super early, Aki. Was your mom all right?”
“Yeah. Thanks for covering me this morning, president! It wound up being no big deal…”
Akiko Ohki—a former frontline coworker of Maou’s at the Hatagaya Station MgRonald and current manager of this Yesodd’s location—cheerfully reported to her job like always. Maou had been pitching in this morning because Akiko’s mother had a medical emergency that required a trip to the hospital for surgery, but…
“Well, I heard she was being admitted at first, so I was super freaking out, but it wound up just being appendicitis. She’s absolutely fine now—fine enough that she kicked me out so I don’t cause trouble for my boss.”
“Really? I mean, I don’t think appendicitis is anything to joke about…”
“Yeah, but they wrapped up the operation last night, and the doctor said she’d be good to leave in two or three days. But you have an important business meeting today, don’t you, president? As hot as it is, I figured you’d wanna go home to change first, so I came in early.”
“Oh. Well, I’m glad your mom won’t be there for long. But I thought you might not be able to come in, so I asked for some help early this morning. We were just about out of to-go ice coffee bottles, too.”
“Really? Did I not order any?”
“There was nothing in the ledger system.”
“Oof… I’m sorry about that. I thought I did…but that was a close one. It’s a hot one outside, so we’re gonna sell a bunch.”
“It’s fine! You were worried about your mom. Just double-check next time, okay? Also…” Maou grinned. “You can use the company wallet to treat Kawacchi to something when he makes the delivery.”
“Aww… He’s so gonna whine about it again!”
“We got customers, manager, so try not to carry on too much about silly stuff. Go get changed, okay?”
“Ugh, yeah, if Yoshi gets on me, I’m done for…”
“Oh, and Ms. Kisaki’s upstairs with her family.”
“Eep!”
Akiko let out a half-shriek as she gritted her teeth at Maou.
“P-president… I promise I’ll work hard for you, so please don’t tell Ms. Kisaki about my ordering mess-up…”
“Why do you think Ms. Kisaki has firing power around here? Just go get changed!”
“All right.”
Akiko briskly sailed to the staff room, dodging Kisaki’s aura pouring from above. Her occasional bouts of airheadedness hadn’t disappeared much over the past three years.
Back when he was figuring out how The Maou Company, Ltd., and Yesodd’s Family Café would work businesswise, he tapped his old coworker Takefumi Kawata as an external observer. Much as Kisaki was agonizing over how she’d go about starting an independent operation, Maou pondered over how different business types would attract customers in the saturated, fiercely competitive café industry. At the end of it, he decided to try for a place that prioritized parents with young children first—and it was Kawata, who had studied regional business management, who guided him toward that idea.
Kawata himself had taken over his family’s restaurant after graduating from college, but his parents were still in good working health, so as a model for expanding his family business in the future, he agreed to help launch The Maou Company on a paid basis. He was still in this “observer” role, but sometimes he’d pitch in when they needed to plug a gap, like today.
As for Akiko, despite all her voiced concerns about finding a career during her time at MgRonald, the shaky employment nightmare came true for her when she began her job search. Her inbox was flooded with rejections, plunging her into a pit of despair. Between that and requiring an extra year to get into college, her parents were really putting the screws to her, apparently—so when she heard Maou was launching his own firm, she all but tearfully begged him for a job. He knew her Kisaki-trained frontline skills were worth relying on, and between that and a certain someone’s very authoritative recommendation, Maou brought her on. Judging by how the Kisaki family were regulars at the café she managed, there was no doubting Akiko’s skills in the post.
“Okay, if we’re all good here, I guess I’ll head out. Yoshiya, hold down the fort for me.”
“Yep. Have a good one, president. Oh, and also…”
Just as Maou prepared to leave, Yoshiya spoke up in a bright, unreserved voice.
“Say hello to Sasaki for me, too! She’s coming back from the UK today, isn’t she?”
“…You too?”
Please, guys, Maou sincerely thought to himself, stop worrying about other stuff and just focus on your work!