Chapter 97 : Unspoken Words

March 21

The cafe in Yokohama, <The Black Boss>, which I visited after a long time, was still peaceful.

Soft jazz music playing.

The view of Yokohama Port in the distance.

The sound of calm-colored wooden chairs.

It felt like a nostalgic scene, as if I had returned after several years.

The scent of coffee, made from freshly roasted beans left in the warehouse for ten days and then filled into the grinder every morning.

The base of Brazilian beans with a savory and stable flavor, appropriately mixed with Colombian beans to add a deep taste, spreads softly with a non-prominent aroma.

But in today’s aroma, it seemed that beans with a bold fruity flavor that the Master doesn’t prefer had been added little by little.

“…”

In place of the shaggy white-haired old man who used to make coffee, a girl with striking orange hair was making drinks wearing a black apron.

“Kyoko-chan! One vanilla latte for me!”

“I’ll have an espresso with a little sugar.”

“Yes! Got it!”

The bar where everything except the stainless steel sink was black.

The Master used to find it hard to stand for long, so he had placed a small wooden chair there.

I too had spent time sitting there during work hours for 2 years, reading newspapers or books.

The small chair was no longer visible where Kyoko was standing. Kyoko made drinks faster than me or the Master, so it seemed she had cleared away everything that interfered with her movement.

Under Kyoko’s black apron, I could see the waitress uniform I used to wear in a generous size, specially shortened to suit her taste.

Thanks to her taste for somewhat bold exposure, the calm atmosphere of the uniform now felt bouncy and lively.

‘It’s changed quite a bit, subtly.’

The small animal dolls placed here and there in the cafe and posters of foreign rock singers were things I hadn’t seen before. And the rock music heard between jazz music must also be Kyoko’s taste.

Over the past 2 years, the traces of me and the Master were gradually disappearing from the scenery I had seen, and it was changing to Kyoko’s taste.

I knew this was the process of Kyoko’s dream coming true and evidence that we were moving towards our own paths. But on the other hand, I also felt a bit regretful.

“Oh? Leader? What brings you here?”

“Just came to say hello. Are you still living at Master’s house?”

“Yes, I am! We come to work together too!”

“I see… Is Master here? I don’t see him.”

“Yes! He’s sitting on that bench over there. He’s mostly there these days.”

“Okay, thanks.”

Kyoko laughed and then moved her hands deftly again to make the drinks the customers had asked for.

With her cute appearance and cheerful way of speaking, she was loved by many customers.

The customers seemed to order with more excited expressions than they had with me and the Master, who had given off a somewhat gloomy atmosphere.

Leaving that scene behind, I walked towards the bench at the back of the store where the seaside was visible.

The place where I used to sit and think whenever I had important concerns.

There, an old gentleman who now looked frail enough to seem precarious even from a girl’s perspective was sitting.

The Master, puffing on a cigar with a fragrant but strong tobacco smoke, was sitting absentmindedly on the bench.

“I’m here.”

“Oh, you came.”

“You’re not surprised.”

“What do you mean?”

The Master smiled faintly, took the cigar out of his mouth, extinguished it, and put it in a small leather pouch.

I knew that cigars lose their aroma rapidly if stopped in the middle of smoking. Moreover, it was an expensive cigar befitting the Master’s refined taste.

“…You can keep smoking.”

“It’s fine. More importantly, what brings you here?”

“I just wanted to see you.”

“Then you’ve seen me now, so that’s that.”

“…Actually, I was a magical girl.”

“I know. These days the news is all about some goddess appearing and miracles happening.”

“I’m actually working to save this world.”

“I know. Didn’t you say that loudly on that strange island?”

We sat for a while on the bench in the shade, looking at the seaside visible in the distance.

The still slightly chilly spring breeze blew, pushing the waves, and white foam appeared and disappeared on the water, tangling messily.

“Hikari.”

“Yes.”

“You’re doing well.”

“…”

“Even with such power, you don’t give up on being human.”

“Of course. I’m trying to live helping others, just like you did, Master.”

“I see.”

The day I first came to this world.

Because of the kindness I received from him, the seed that my father from my previous life had engraved in my heart sprouted.

The tree in my heart, bloomed by two fathers, was still growing even at this moment.

The Master had a complex expression after hearing my words.

“Hikari.”

“Yes?”

“The name of my daughter who died in an accident.”

“…”

“When she was young, she wanted to become a cafe owner. She said she wanted to create a place where her dad, who only traveled abroad in a black suit because of business, could come and rest.”

A name that didn’t even appear in the original work.

In the original work, the Master only told Yuki, who had approached him, that his daughter had died.

“When I first saw you that day, I thought you were some girl who had heard a rumor somewhere and came to tease me. The same name. My goodness.”

“…I didn’t know.”

“Yes. You seemed like that. You looked too sad to be coming to play a prank.”

“…”

“It felt like fate somehow.”

“…”

“I was thinking of quietly ending my life here, but living with you, who constantly caused trouble and asked for favors, was fun.”

That rainy day.

We met in the incomprehensible flow of the world.

“Even if you curse me for giving you the attention I couldn’t give my dead daughter in life, I felt a little at ease in that.”

“It’s not cowardly. We live to become better than yesterday, right?”

“Thank you.”

It wasn’t just me who was comforted by this world that day.

We were comforted by meeting each other.

“Go now. I hear there’s a commotion in places like China because dead kids are coming back to life.”

“…These days there are even people saying they want to worship me as a god.”

“Puhahahaha!! You, who destroyed an espresso machine? You, who burned a whole bag of batter trying to make pancakes? Khup! Pfft.”

“Aren’t you laughing too much?”

“Huhahahahaha!! Why don’t you ask them to build a statue or something?”

“I’m in the process of constantly refusing that too.”

I felt various considerations in that laughter.

Even if I wake the dead and use god-like powers, the Master would probably treat me the same.

To him, I’m just a troublemaking part-timer with the same name as his daughter.

“Master.”

“Yes?”

“Let’s go to Elysion together.”

“Let’s do that.”

I was surprised by that refreshing answer and stared blankly at the Master for a while.

The Master saw me like that and chuckled, patting my shoulder.

“Is it because you’re worried about me being here?”

“…Yes.”

“Thank you. Then let’s go together.”

“What about the cafe? I didn’t think you’d answer so quickly…”

“I was planning to hand over the store to Kyoko soon anyway, since she’s turning 18 this year. Honestly, she’s running it better than me now.”

The Master, who casually dropped the shocking fact that Kyoko was older than Ichika, looked up at the sky while sitting on the bench.

“Hikari, thank you.”

Which Hikari was he thanking?

After introducing people who could advise Kyoko, who had suddenly become the owner of an antique house and a sophisticated cafe, the Master packed his bags cleanly and came to Elysion.

And in Elysion, with the help of magical girls, a small cafe was created in just a few days.

<The White Goddess>

A crudely attached sign on a rustic wooden building with decorations brought from Europe.

In the modest cafe using white ready-made cups instead of luxury porcelain, golden-eyed magical girls always came and went.

For those who had been sealed on the closed island, a cafe where they could spend time drinking tea and coffee seemed both unfamiliar and shocking.

Looking around the small cafe full of wood scent, golden-haired and golden-eyed girls were sitting closely together, waiting for drinks and food, and an old man could be seen leisurely making drinks inside the rustic wooden bar.

Ding

The door opens and another golden girl enters.

A girl so nervous that she moves her arms and legs together while fidgeting.

The Master burst into laughter, finding her appearance adorable.

“Welcome.”

“One, one special lunch set, please!”

“Please sit over there and wait. It’ll be out soon.”

“W-wow! I want to bring some for the Divine Maiden too!”

“The Divine Maiden is only drinking water because she says her mouth doesn’t move…”

The Divine Maiden had been out for a month and then fell ill to form the foundation of the ‘Moirai Plan’ proposed by Kang Dorim.

To create and spread a huge network of domains connecting the whole world by combining my, Alisa’s, and the Divine Maiden’s domains, not just in the shape of enclosing land, she had traveled around the world riding the high-speed transport ship Pollux.

-…Successor, give me rest.

-Let’s try a little more.

I heard that the work became even more difficult due to the crowds of people who witnessed numerous miracles and became excited wherever the silver ship passed.

“Enjoy your meal.”

“Wow! Photo! Photo!”

“Master! Please hold it for a moment!”

Click

Click

Numerous golden girls taking photos with smartphones, the first thing they mastered from the outside world. The Master burst into laughter once again seeing them flustered and marveling at everything in the cafe.

“Hahahahaha!”

I was watching this sitting in a corner of the cafe.

There were still too many meetings and connections left to conclude his life.