A week had passed since Fluffy Café’s grand opening. Being on the outskirts of the city, Taichi didn’t receive many customers, but Rellim had more traffic than most cities would, which meant adventurers would drop by on their way home from missions.
In fact, the bell on his door clanged to announce a new customer just now.
“Welcome.”
“Heya,” said the guy who strolled up to the counter. “I’ll have green tea and spaghetti. Is Oreo around?”
“Of course.”
The man in question had visited several days in a row. He was a merchant who happened to spot Fluffy Café on a trip outside the city to procure more stock. One of the Berry Bunnies, Oreo—the black and white one—quickly stole his heart. He doted on Oreo every time he came in.
“Kree!”
“Aww, you’re as adorable as ever! C’mere. I’ll give you lots and lots of pets, widdle one,” the merchant cooed at the bunny as if it were a baby.
I get it. I really do. He had been similarly affectionate with the cats at the café he’d visited, and now he got to do the same with the bunnies and Luke, every single day. Who could resist showering their pets with love? No one!
“Kree!”
“Aww, yes, I love that face you make. So cute!”
While Oreo was eating up the affection, Taichi set about preparing the green tea and spaghetti the merchant had ordered. Green tea was popular with his male customers, while most female customers opted for the more familiar black tea. Coffee was more divisive. Only those who enjoyed its unique bitterness or regularly drank it bothered to ask for it. The rest hated it.
I wonder if aristocrats or rich merchants are more prone to liking coffee. Taichi wanted to invite such prominent people to partake in his café someday, as part of his plan to spread the love for all things fluffy. That might help his café concept catch on with the upper class. Then there’d be a growing demand for fluffy creatures and more cafés might crop up. Taichi couldn’t think of anything better. Not that an aristocrat would bother coming to a commoner’s café.
Taichi began pouring steaming water from his kettle into a cup, dissolving the green tea powder within. The spaghetti had become a favorite for people who’d ordered it before, proving the superiority of Japanese prepackaged food. He carefully mixed the sauce and pasta and plated it.
“There we go.”
After adding the mug of green tea to the tray, Taichi hefted it up and stepped back into the café where the Berry Bunnies were crowding around the merchant. Unsurprising, since we only have one customer. The merchant was lucky to be able to have their attention all to himself; the bunnies were the face of the café. Every single one of them had gathered, not a single bunny missing from the group. Normally, the whole group doesn’t move as one like that. A few would usually be busy sleeping. Right now, the only critter dozing was Luke, nestled as always on his beloved beanbag chair.
“Here you are,” said Taichi.
“Oh, thank you! I’m not sure why, but they’re crawling all over me. Might as well die right now, right? Life doesn’t get any better than this!”
“Rest in peace.”
“Woohoo!” whooped the merchant as he flung himself back, sprawling on the floor and making the most of the bunnies’ attention.
“Still, it’s odd. Why are they acting like this?” Taichi wondered out loud, tilting his head. “There has to be some kind of reason.”
The merchant wore a similar look of wonderment on his face. Oreo began scaling up his body, which was exactly what the merchant had wanted. Oreo pressed its nose close to the merchant’s chest, nose wiggling as it sniffed.
“Do you have something in your chest pocket?” asked Taichi.
“Huh? Oh, hmm... Actually, yeah! I stowed a test batch of cookies in here.” The man sat up, dug into his chest pocket, and produced a small bag of baked treats.
The bunnies more insistently crowded around him, crying at him.
“Kree!”
“Kree kree!”
“Kreeee!”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” The merchant flung back to the floor as the bunnies charged him, their wriggling noses closing in on the bag of cookies, mouths opening to chomp.
“Ack!” squealed Taichi. “Sir, you can’t do that! Customers are prohibited from bringing outside goodies into the café!”
“R-right, my bad!” The merchant understood now exactly why that rule was in place and tried his best to keep the bag out of the bunnies’ reach. The bunnies, however, refused to be bested and began clambering up his body to get closer. “Argh, I’m so happy to be surrounded by so much fluff, but it’s for all the wrong reasons! Oh, but their cute little toe beans feel so nice... Khh!”
“Sir? Sir, please keep it together!”
“Kree.”
“Kree!”
With all the bunnies weighing him down, the merchant was losing his ability to keep his upper body partially lifted. He collapsed with a grunt. “Yowch! You know what, I think I’d better just eat them!”
“Yes,” urged Taichi desperately. “Quickly!”
The merchant dumped the cookies from the bag into his mouth. The bunnies froze in shock and disappointment. Taichi could hardly believe them. Are you all that hungry? I guess they’ve lived their whole lives in the wild until now. Thus, they had snacked whenever the urge hit them. It made him feel bad for restricting their feeding times to such a tight schedule. I should start offering a new service!
“Waaah,” cried the merchant.
Taichi’s attention returned to the man. The bunnies were hopping away from him now that they knew there was no food.
Poor guy. I know how he feels.
The cats at the café would treat him like a celebrity when he had a tube of Meowuru to offer. The new service Taichi was thinking of was exactly that—treats the customers could offer the monsters. I should get something small for the bunnies, and something with meat that would entice Luke. Perhaps then Luke would give the customers some attention. Of course, it was equally possible that even that might not be enough. I’m the only one he tolerates. That gave Taichi a sense of superiority, but still, he wanted to increase the number of fluff lovers out there. He waffled back and forth on whether to relinquish his Fenrir monopoly.