Mika moved on to the next gift without commenting on the blunder. They weren’t finished looking through all of them when Mizuki brought refreshments, but the low table was already covered with a pile of goodies. Mika picked out the things that needed to go in the fridge and left the room.
Chisato folded her hands in a gesture of thanks, looking at the gifts.
“I feel blessed! I really do!”
“I should have gotten you something, too,” said Takina.
“What? You’ve been looking after me, and you even made me a delicious noodle soup!”
“But I didn’t get you a get-well gift.”
“You already went above and beyond! And made me so happy! You’re the best! Thanks for everything, Takina!”
“…You’re welcome,” Takina said after a pause, feeling a bit embarrassed by the lavish praise.
“Oh, right! I’ve got to thank everyone who gave me gifts, too!”
Chisato jumped up to her feet, but she stopped when Takina grabbed her by the sleeve.
“No, that’ll do more harm than good. You’re sick, so stay in bed.”
“But Takina, it’ll only take a second!”
“You want to go to the customers looking like this?”
Not wearing makeup wasn’t a big deal, but Chisato was wearing a very thin set of pajamas with the top buttons of her shirt undone, revealing quite a lot of cleavage. It wasn’t outright provocative, but it would cause a stir among the male clientele if she suddenly appeared dressed like that.
“But I have to tell them thank you…”
“You can do that after you get better.”
“But I could just do it now, while everyone’s in the café…”
Chisato started thinking about her options, and Takina got worried that she might insist on getting changed and going out to the customers, so in turn, she started thinking about how to convince Chisato against it. After a while, Takina noticed that Chisato was looking at her intently.
“…What is it?”
“Well, how about this? You could record me on your smartphone and then show the video to everyone?”
Takina had to agree that Chisato’s incomplete state of dress wouldn’t matter if the customers only saw her on a small screen.
“That’s…fine, I suppose.”
“Yay! Let’s take the video now!”
When Takina got her smartphone out, Chisato stood with her legs wide apart, hands tightened into fists and braced against her sides, like she was about to whip out some karate or cheerleading moves.
“You look like you’re about to fight.”
“Oh, should I lie down on the futon for the video?”
“You don’t need to emphasize that you’re sick. Just don’t pose like you’re about to head into battle.”
“Hmm…”
Chisato thought for a moment, and then she sat down with her legs crossed on the futon with the pile of gifts behind her.
They were ready to start recording…but Chisato’s unbuttoned shirt was bugging Takina too much. She put the phone down again and went over to Chisato to do her buttons up.
“Oh, sorry. Forgot!”
“Don’t leave your shirt half-open. You’ll catch a chill. There you go. All good.”
“Thanks!”
“Are you ready to start?”
“Yup!”
Takina started recording a video.
“Hi, everyone! Thank you so much for the gifts! What can I say…? Seeing how much you all care made me so, so happy! I’ll do my best to beat this bug so you can all have your unrivaled, unbeatable, chart-topping beauty back in action as soon as possible! You’ll have to cope without me for a little while! Oh, and make the most of the board game night. Imagine I’m there with you! Okay, that’s it from Chisato Nishikigi! Over and out!”
Takina stopped recording.
“That sounds good, but what is that bit about a ‘chart-topping beauty’ about?”
“That’s just to say I’m the world’s prettiest?”
“The world’s prettiest?
“Yeah… What’s the problem?”
“There’s no problem. I was just asking because I hadn’t heard that expression before.”
“The customers will get it. Okay, go and show them the video!”
“Okay.”
Takina stood up and turned toward the door.
“And stay with them for the board games!”
Takina looked back at Chisato, who’d docilely gotten back into the bed and was watching Takina with a somewhat clever smile. It occurred to Takina that the video was also a ploy to get her to participate in the game night.
“I’m sure it’ll be fun!”
Should she be upset or happy that Chisato was trying so hard to get her to have fun…? Takina couldn’t stop a little smile from appearing on her lips.
“Yes… I’ll go now, but if you need any help, do let me know.”
“Will do.”
Takina was supposed to be looking after Chisato, but it ended up feeling like it was Chisato looking after her. Wondering how Chisato always managed to turn the tables like that, Takina headed to the café floor with the smartphone in her hand.
Several board games had been set up, not just on the low tables in the slightly raised tatami area but also on other tables around the café. Takina arrived during a break between games, when the players were regrouping before the next round. Perfect.
“May I have your attention please? I have a video message from Chisato for you…”
Everyone started laughing, to Takina’s great confusion. In the end, Gotou explained to her what was going on.
“Chisato was talking in such a loud voice, we could hear her from here!”
Everyone laughed again.
“No way!” they heard Chisato shout from the back room, which was met with another burst of laughter.
Chisato’s voice really did carry to the café floor when she was being loud.
The customers started shouting back at her.
“Get better soon!”
“Or Takina will steal your poster-girl position!”
“Let me know if there’s anything you’d like me to get for you!”
“Don’t just watch movies all day!”
“Okay!” Chisato shouted in reply.
Takina thought to herself again that Chisato really was a mystery. She was a Lycoris, an assassin secretly purging society of evil. She was supposedly the most talented Lycoris in history, which should mean she had perfected everything they were taught as Lycoris agents… Yet she was fully a member of the local community, loving the attention, which she got lots of because everyone liked her and cared about her.
Without a doubt, Chisato was an exception to the rules, but whether that was a desirable quality for a Lycoris? That Takina wasn’t quite sure about.
“If Chisato’s still in bed tomorrow, I’ll have to buy her something nice to eat.”
“What do you think she’d like?”
“Hmm, got to think about it…”
“It sounds to me as if you were kind of enjoying the situation?”
“Uh-oh, you got us, Takina!”
“Looking forward to seeing what you get me tomorrow!” Chisato shouted from her room.
“Go to sleep!”
“Your job’s to get better!”
The exchange was followed by booming laughter, both from Chisato and the customers.
“Well, everyone, shall we start the next session?”
“Yes, let’s get to it!”
“Takina, would you like to join our table?”
“Come join us, Takina!”
“Huh? Oh, okay!”
Distracted from her thoughts when her name was called, Takina quickly went over to the table where she was invited.
The next round of games began. Kurumi held her cards in one hand, using the other to pick up kinako sticks. Mika started brewing coffee. Mizuki and Gotou were sitting together at one end of the counter, drinking. Takina rolled the dice, playing with a few of the regulars.
The hours grew late with everyone having a jolly good time.