Mizuki sighed, rolling her eyes after Chisato dashed out of the staff room.
“There are always girls like that, who just have to stick their noses where they don’t belong. It’s girls like this who ruin relationships, I tell you. They’re just trying to be a matchmaker for their dear friend, but, oops, the dude falls in love with them instead, for example.”
“You sound salty. Speaking from firsthand experience?”
Mizuki huffed at Kurumi, refusing to answer the question.
“Was there a problem? I heard running,” said Takina, returning from the basement.
Mizuki and Kurumi just shrugged.
“Chisato’s just being Chisato. Don’t worry about it,” said Kurumi.
“A direct question, Takina: How do you feel about Mr. Doi?”
Kurumi shot Mizuki a warning look. Mizuki had a disgruntled expression on her face. So much for telling everyone she didn’t care about other people’s love affairs since she had her own love life to sort out… But maybe it wasn’t that she cared—she was just annoyed by the whole thing with Takina. If everything went well and Takina got to be with the man she liked, it’d probably be a thorn in Mizuki’s side. While Mizuki’s greatest fear was being an unhappy single lady forever, her biggest peeve was witnessing others becoming happy couples. Or at least that was how Kurumi understood her.
“Mr. Doi…? I’m glad he’s no longer so depressed.”
“That’s not what I’m asking. Do you personally like him or not?”
“Oh, I hate him.”
“…What?”
Both Kurumi and Mizuki froze, entirely taken by surprise. They’d assumed Takina was into the man, and Mizuki was trying to get her to finally admit it. The possibility that Takina didn’t like Mr. Doi hadn’t even occurred to her.
“You…hate him? Hold on, Takina… But… You’ve been paying so much attention to him. No?”
“Yes, because he’s been a problem, ordering one coffee and sitting in the café for hours, taking up a seat even when it’s busy. He’s the lowest-value customer we have, and having a depressed man hanging out in our café has a negative effect on the atmosphere.”
An uncomfortable silence followed.
“So, you’ve been giving him special attention to cheer him up and raise his value as a customer…?”
“Yes. Why else would I be giving him any of my time?”
“You didn’t…see him as a man…?”
Takina stared at Mizuki with a complete lack of comprehension.
“He is a man, isn’t he? Or does he identify as a woman?”
Mizuki shook her head in frustration. Kurumi had a new question for Takina, though.
“Wait, Takina, I’m confused. We have other customers like Mr. Doi. That writer, for example, Mr. Yoneoka. He also takes up a counter seat for hours, depressed over this or that. You don’t give him a second look…”
“He says his brain cannot function without sugar, so he always orders desserts, and he drinks a lot of espressos to cope with lack of sleep. He’s one of our top customers if we go by the revenue he provides us.”
Kurumi suddenly remembered that Café LycoReco’s chaos-bringer Chisato had rushed out after Mr. Doi, and she felt beads of cold sweat on her back.
“So you really don’t like Mr. Doi?”
“I could barely stand him…but I’m glad he’s finally started ordering desserts. I won’t hate him being here anymore.”
“But why were you hanging out with him if you didn’t like him?”
“Chisato forced me to… Do you know why?”
“Er… What had she been thinking, that Chisato…?” Kurumi replied vaguely.
Takina looked from Kurumi to Mizuki and, deciding there was nothing to be learned there, lost interest in the conversation. She changed into her work kimono, tied her long black hair into two ponytails, and left the staff room.
“…What do we do?” asked Mizuki with a sour look.
Both she and Kurumi knew it was probably too late to do anything anyway. Chisato acted before thinking. Chisato got this idea in her head that Takina was in love with a customer. Chisato came up with the plan to get Takina and Mr. Doi to spend time together and start dating. Chisato did this, Chisato did that—she single-handedly created this troublesome situation.
“Why should we do anything? It’s all Chisato’s fault” was Kurumi’s conclusion.
She pigeonholed this case in a deep corner of her mind and withdrew to the second-floor closet like a squirrel returning to its nest.
“Right, it’s none of our business,” muttered Mizuki. “But I swear I knew from the start it would end like this.”
Kurumi shut the door to the closet behind her, mentally agreeing with Mizuki.