She always liked going to Tokyo, not because she yearned to be in the big city, but simply because she liked places where she felt anonymous. A rural area would have been fine too, except that in small towns, outsiders immediately stood out. Not a problem in Tokyo.
While Kana didn’t feel like she belonged in Tokyo, the big city seemed equally welcoming to anyone. At least that’s how she saw it.
She got an allowance of a thousand yen every weekday, and she spent it all on going to and hanging out in Tokyo. In a stroke of good luck, she discovered Café LycoReco. It was a wonderful place. Everything about it was amazing.
The owner, Mika, was like an ideal grown-up—broad-minded and kind and always paying attention to Kana. If someone asked her what a perfect dad was like, she’d give him as an example.
Mizuki was like the sister or cousin she’d always wanted. Kana liked her direct manner. Despite their age difference, Kana found Mizuki very easy to talk to. While Mizuki put on a couldn’t-care-less persona, Kana thought she was actually very organized and did a lot to hold Café LycoReco together.
Kurumi was a strange girl. She looked quite younger than Kana, but she was so smart, which made her really good at logic-based board games, but bad at ones in which had you figure out what someone else was thinking. It had been Kurumi who’d approached Kana first, asking if she’d like to play a board game, making her feel welcome at the café. Kana was deeply thankful to her.
Then there was Takina. In Kana’s eyes, Takina was perfect in every way. She had a strong character and nobody could intimidate her. She was diligent at work, and so, so pretty, with long black hair that was nothing like Kana’s own unruly mop. Unlike a certain other pretty girl Kana knew, Takina never had flashes of malice in her eyes. If she had to describe Takina’s general vibe, Kana would say she was like a well-honed katana. Her rare smiles were so lovely, they made Kana’s pulse quicken even though she wasn’t into girls.
The café staff were good people. No, not good—fantastic. Last, but definitely not least, was Chisato.
Chisato was like a puppy. The moment she appeared in the store, everyone wanted to talk to her, and she was more than happy to oblige. She was the embodiment of cuteness and good energy. She was very pretty, but most people would describe her as cute before beautiful. Before meeting her, Kana hadn’t known it was possible for a human to be so immediately likable.
When they’d met, it had struck Kana that right away, Chisato had treated her with friendly familiarity, as if she were a younger cousin. When Kana was leaving, Chisato said bye to her with so much warmth. There was no disguised pity in it, and it wasn’t fake friendliness toward a customer. It really did feel genuine.
“Promise to come again! I’ll be really happy to see you!”
Nothing anybody had said to her in the last several years made Kana nearly as happy.
Kana had let herself believe that she really was welcome at the café, and she’d gone again the next week. Chisato had remembered her. She’d sat next to Kana and leisurely chatted to her about this and that. It was bliss. A lot of what Kana said was made-up, but it didn’t matter. She was having such a good time. Never before would she have guessed simply talking to someone could feel so good.
If only Chisato was her classmate… Every day could be so fun, and Kana would have totally loved going to school.
Kana thought Chisato had the power to make everyone around her happy, and in a way that didn’t come at a cost to herself. Somehow Chisato spread around happiness while putting herself first. It made it feel good to be around her. You never felt like she was doing you a favor and you owed her for it, but you were thankful for her presence.
It was probably thanks to Chisato that all of the café’s customers were in such good spirits. Everywhere Kana looked, people were smiling, completely at ease… And they accepted her without a question. The staff and other regulars made Kana feel like there was always a seat for her among them.
Whenever she was on the way to Tokyo, Kana felt excited. She couldn’t wait to be at Café LycoReco again. Not making any purchases that weren’t absolutely necessary and going without lunch to save up for her trips to Tokyo was easy. Sometimes she even walked to school to save on train fare.
But that day, her mood on the train wasn’t good at all. Sitting next to her was Ruri Mizokakushi, feigning angelic innocence. With the gloomy Kana next to her, Ruri was attracting attention. Everyone who got on looked at her.
The train was taking them to Tokyo. Kana was in an awful state of mind. The train fare was a few hundred yen. She’d have a lighter heart throwing that money into a gutter than spending it on train tickets to go somewhere with Ruri. It caused her suffocating anguish. She was queasy from stress.
What made it even worse was that she had no idea what Ruri had in mind, but she definitely wasn’t going to leave Kana alone after they got off the train in Tokyo. No, she had something planned for Kana, something Kana would hate and that would cost her money. Ruri surely wouldn’t be paying for anything. Anticipating that, Kana moved most of her money out of her wallet and into a hidden pocket between two inner linings of her schoolbag, where she kept all her valuables.