“You know, Yuu, I do not wish to work any longer,” a shiny-headed, white-bearded old man said as he sat at the counter. His arms were folded, there was a sharp glint in his eyes and his face was serious. His gaze moved to the window facing the street, through which passersby could be seen. The sky through that window was already tinged with evening colours as well.
“I really do not wish to work any longer…” he repeated earnestly.
I gave a soft sigh. He was like this every day. He would come wandering in at some point in the day, morning, afternoon or evening, sit himself down, babble on about something or other, and then leave.
I called him Grampa Gol. I didn’t know what he did for a living, but the Japanese-seeming clothes he always wore seemed to be well-tailored, and he seemed to have some sort of responsibility.
“You ran away again?” I asked, placing a shiny plate in front of him. His head swivelled to look at me.
“I did not flee,” he defended himself, “I am merely taking a short break.”
“It’s been nearly two hours now.”
“Good gracious, has it really? Things truly slip away from you when you reach my age…”
“Could you stop playing the senile old man when it suits you?”
He let out a strange barking laugh before resting his cheek against the counter, completely at home.
A café was somewhere that you did go to take a little break, then lose track of time, so I didn’t add anything further. I was even happy that it was seen as cosy enough to relax like this; it showed that it was a comfortable place.
“I see that you are as deserted as usual,” he said after looking around. Other than Grampa Gol sitting at the counter, there was only an elf woman reading a book at a table by the window. I’d like to just call it a lull in business or something, but that was always the case.
“I really do not believe this thing you call coffee is good enough, Yuu,” he added, taking a sip from the coffee cup in front of him and grimacing, “It is a very piercing flavour.”
“Taste it properly please, take in its strong, astringent flavour.”
“It has a pleasant scent, but it is simply too bitter. I have a sweet tooth too.”
At this, he pulled a smallish white pot from further along the counter and heaped the brown powder within it into his cup.
Of course, there was nothing better than the customer being able to enjoy their drink, that was the most important thing, but I couldn’t help but sigh seeing him practically smother the coffee under heaps of sugar.
There were many things that had surprised me since I had come to this world, and one of them was the lack of a culture around enjoying coffee. Coffee beans themselves existed, but they weren’t a luxury item – they were used as medicine to increase wakefulness.
When I started this café, I definitely expected that the brand new drink of coffee would make it wildly popular, but that idea was sweeter than the earlier mound of sugar. Coffee – a completely black drink, bitter and unfamiliar – wasn’t well received at all. The people of this world did not deal well with bitter things to begin with, so they seemed to think of it as some sort of poison, and barely anyone understood its true greatness.
And so, the restaurant calling itself a café, that served the black, bitter drink known as coffee had a completely obvious reputation.
“Ahh, there is nothing to do,” said Grampa Gol seriously as he looked up at the lights hanging from the ceiling.
“If you’ve got nothing to do, I think you should be working.”
“What are you saying? I am enjoying the lack of anything to do.”
“So you’re not hoping for something to happen because you’re bored?” I questioned, garnering a smile from him.
“At times like that, you should find that ‘something’ yourself. Searching is far quicker than waiting.”
That was true, I thought to myself as I nodded, but the people with the dynamism to actually do so were fairly rare.
Grampa Gol rhythmically repeated his lack of things to do before a high-pitched clatter sounded. It was the bell attached to the door to make it easy to tell when a customer arrived.
I looked in that direction to see a girl looking in, her face alone timidly peering around the door. Her red hair swayed from her shoulders as her blue eyes moved around the café. It was the girl I had met when I was opening up this morning. Apparently, she wasn’t just being diplomatic when she said she would be back, and I certainly hadn’t expected her to show up on the same day.
“Welcome,” I said to her with a smile.
“Ah, yeah, is now alright?” She asked reservedly. I nodded and waved her in.
“You’re always welcome,” I said, “as you can see, we aren’t too crowded today.”
“Much the same as you were yesterday and the day before as well.”
I glared at Grampa Gol and he started whistling unconcernedly.
Seemingly satisfied it was safe, the girl slowly entered. She was wearing the same uniform as this morning, her long, red hair was tied up at the back of her head and she was carrying a fairly large school bag.
She didn’t go to one of the tables, instead walking to the counter.
“There weren’t many customers, so I thought you’d already closed.”
“That was painful,” I said. The place certainly was deserted, maybe it turned away new customers.
“You said this was a café, not a bar, right?”
“Indeed, young lady, this is a café, their speciality is coffee,” Grampa Gol said with a wink as he lifted his cup.
Bewildered by his sudden familiarity, she replied with a short bow, “I’ve actually never heard of a café or a coffee before.”
“I see, I see. I first learnt of it here. Now, now, take a seat.”
“Ah, I,” she began before he talked over her.
“Just for a while, just a while.”
The girl sat in a neighbouring seat with a sigh, swept up in his wake. I wondered whether I should help or not, but I decided to let things develop a little longer.
I placed a napkin and glass of water before the girl and Grampa Gol spoke without a moment’s delay.
“Yuu, a coffee for this young lady if you would.”
“Ah, no, I’m-”
“I will, of course, pay for it, you need not worry. In exchange, could I hear your name? You can call me Grampa Gol.”
“Er, I’m Linaria,” she answered.
“Ah, Linaria! I believe that is the flower that grows within the Kamphius Snow Fields that heralds hope and the coming of spring. A good name indeed. Do you hail from the area?”
I crouched down behind the counter and took a small white pot from a shelf. The pot contained coffee beans. I opened the lid of the coffee mill and placed a cup’s worth of beans inside. I then gripped the handle of the mill and cranked it slowly.
The rumble and crunching noises of the beans being ground filled the room.
Milling coffee like this was great, grinding the beans down was bliss, and it let me forget everything.
After I had enjoyed the cup’s worth of bliss, I prepared the syphon.
There was a globular flask made of glass on a dedicated stand, with a burner beneath it for heating. Atop it was a funnel, a glass beaker with a narrow pipe from the bottom of it that could be inserted into the flask.
Originally, this was used by pharmacists and researchers and I had had it remade for use with coffee. It was rather impressive for brewing coffee because of that, and had a certain impact.
I added hot water from a silver kettle into the flask. That kettle was a wonderful thing, it was a product that used magic, and as long as the magic stones it had contained mana, it would keep the water within it constantly hot.
After I had poured the water, I wiped the flask with a dry cloth. If I heated it with droplets of water still on it, the glass might break. Glass was expensive at the best of times, so I had to be careful with it.
I lit the burner beneath the flask of hot water. I didn’t know whether the burner had fire magic or just a stone that gave out heat, but its middle glowed red and generated heat.
This was another world that had magic permeating its culture, but products developed for convenience weren’t too different between this world and my own, which was rather amusing. I didn’t know what it used for fuel, or how it was made, but in the end ‘boiling water’ or ‘lighting a fire’ were much the same.
I inserted a cloth filter into the bottom of the filter and then placed the milled coffee atop it. Then I waited for the water to boil before firmly inserting the pipe from the funnel into the flask.
“Wah…” exclaimed Linaria quietly as the boiling water bubbled up within the flask and then rose even further into the funnel, “What is this? Magic?”
She asked her question with a puzzled expression and I couldn’t help but laugh.
“Hey, don’t laugh,” she protested, “it’s not magic then?”
“It’s not,” I assured her as the coffee started floating on the water. Before the water had finished rising, I used a small wooden spatula to draw circles through the liquid, mixing it to agitate the coffee and water and blend them together.
There were three layers within the funnel, the froth atop it, the floating coffee beans, and the water and coffee extract mix. From it rose steam and the rich scent of the seething coffee. Simply sampling the scent made for enjoyment, for a calm and peaceful moment.
I checked that the water had properly moved to the funnel and turned down the heat a little. The small amount of water left in the flask bubbled in spurts.
I suddenly noticed that the other two’s conversation had stopped and they were both staring at the syphon. Their expressions were both so serious that I couldn’t help but let out a laugh.
Linaria glared at me from the corner of her eye.
“Sorry, sorry, you were just so intent on it, I couldn’t help myself.”
“I can’t help it,” she replied with a pout, “it’s the first time I’ve seen anything like this. If it’s not magic, then why did the water move upwards?”
“Umm, the boiling water changes the pressure, or something like that.”
“Pressure? What’s that?”
I folded my arms and looked up at the ceiling.
“Heating the water makes the steam in the flask expand, but there’s nowhere for it to go in the flask, so it pushes down on the water inside.” Checking inside the funnel, I turned the heat off completely and mixed it through with the wooden spatula again. “So when you put the burner out like this, the steam contracts again, and so…”
A short moment later, the coffee in the funnel passed back through the pipe and slowly refilled the flask beneath.
“Wah, wah,” she exclaimed.
It was originally just hot water, but it was a rich amber liquid that filled the flask now. Grampa Gol was watching her with a gentle smile, like he was watching over his own grand-daughter.
Finally, only the coffee grounds remained, puffy from the hot water and bubbles. This was the proof of a well-brewed cup of coffee.
I took the funnel out and lifted the flask by a handle that was part of the stand, pouring the coffee into the waiting cup. Steam rose from its surface, and the full-bodied scent of coffee filled the café, reaching through your nose and permeating your mind. The smell of the coffee was another source of bliss, the entire process of making a cup of coffee was bliss in fact.
“It smells so good,” said Linaria, enraptured. A smile forced its way onto my face as I placed the cup on a saucer before putting the entire assembly in front of her.
“Here, a coffee, my original blend.”
She picked it up in both hands and looked steadily at the surface of the drink, as anyone would when they had a piece of obsidian placed in front of them.
“Thank you,” she said, taking a sip.
Her eyebrows rose as her eyes opened wide. Then she looked at me, removed the cup from her lips and gave me a blank, childish look.
“…It’s really bad.”
Grampa Gol burst into guffaws and I slumped in defeat.
The both of them were more open with each other than I expected, and the conversation flowed well. Well, it was more that Grampa Gol brought various things up and Linaria answered them. Thanks to that, I ended up learning a lot about her.
For example, she had good grades in the magic academy, and was top of her year group the last year, because of that, she had drawn the attention of the noble students, making spending time at the academy uncomfortable for her, about how apparently they had recently had some practicals in the labyrinth for their mage classes as well, and that she liked slightly cooled black tea.
I joined in periodically, but I mostly just listened.
Eventually, the view from the window began to dim and I went outside to light up the sign. It was then that I noticed someone standing at the edge of the frontage. The woman greeted me with a quick bob of her head.
“Thank you for your service,” she said to me.
“Uhm, how long have you been there?” I asked.
In response, she took a pocket watch from her pocket and checked the time, her silver hair swaying at the base of her neck as she did.
“About an hour, I suppose.”
That was even longer than I had expected, so I was lost for words. She could have just waited inside. Seeing my aghast expression, she let a laugh slip from her mouth.
“He seemed to be enjoying himself greatly,” said the woman wearing a suit-like set of clothing in an understated colour atop her pure-white shirt. She was Grampa Gol’s secretary, and came to get him every time he fled from his work.
“He certainly was, but should he still be here?”
“Indeed he should not, I will have to have him return soon.”
“Did he run out in the middle of things again?” I asked quietly for no real reason, and she replied in a similar tone of voice.
“Yes, right in the middle of things, I’ll need to work him hard now.”
She might seem like a cold beauty, but she was surprisingly easy to get along with.
“You left him be for quite a long time.”
“There isn’t much work tonight, and it’s important that we let him take breaks in moderation or he might really run away one day. That’s an important part of our work.”
As would be expected from his secretary, she knew how to deal with him well, and I was deeply impressed.
“I’ll go fetch him then,” I offered.
“I apologise for taking up your time with this, but please do,” she said with the epitome of politeness, so polite that it actually made me feel like I was the one that should be grateful. She was a very beautiful woman, so my heart raced each time I spoke with her; she smelled nice too.
I went back inside as I appreciated beautiful older women idly in the back of my mind. Grampa Gol was collapsed on top of the counter coughing forcefully, and blatantly feigning it. Linaria looked at me in a flutter.
“H-hey, he’s…”
“Geh, geh… You need not worry, this is merely an old wound…” he said.
And just what old wound would that be?
“A-are you okay?” She asked worriedly, his cough growing harsher as he looked at her face.
“My apologies, but… could you rub my back?”
“Your back? You want me to rub your back?”
Falteringly, Linaria was reaching out towards his back, so I swiftly thwacked the perverted old man across the back of his head. He had no hair to cushion the blow, so the sound was sharp.
“Argh!” He cried out.
“Now now, that’s enough of your poor acting if you please.”
Linaria looked between the two of us in confusion. Grampa Gol was pouting as he rubbed at the back of his head and sulked.
“My time left in this life is short, I simply wished for a few good memories.”
“Refrain from that kind of thing in my café please, or your short amount of remaining time will become even shorter,” I told him.
“Oh? Are you threatening me?”
“It’s your imagination. Anyway, your secretary is waiting outside,” I said, getting a complicated expression from him that I can’t even put into words, “don’t make that face, hurry back to work.”
“Nay… I shall remain here… I shall play with Linaria…”
With each statement, he petulantly struck at the counter, so I went to the kitchen and picked up a carving knife, the biggest I owned with a huge blade.
“Actually, I suddenly wish to work! This is not an occasion I should be spending cooped up in this dreary restaurant!” He changed tune blisteringly fast, launching to his feet and readjusting his clothes before facing Linaria, “My thanks for today, Linaria, this old man enjoyed whiling away the hours with you. I shall pay for a meal for you in thanks, order what you wish, not that any of it is too impressive.”
“To think you’d say that in front of me,” I stated, angling the knife so the light reflected from it.
“Such terror! I shall take my leave before I am thrown into my grave. Goodbye, young Yuu, add the charges to my tab.”
Leaving Linaria, who had watched our entire exchange open-mouthed, behind, Grampa Gol quickly left.
“Is he always like that?” Linaria asked hesitantly as I put the knife back and began to clear the crockery from where he had been eating.
“He’s always like that,” I nodded with a sigh, “he’s a strange person, it’s best not to think too deeply about it.”
She looked towards the door he had just left through for a while. She eventually came back to her senses as I was washing up and she seemed to remember what she had come here for, re-seating herself and pulling out a bulky book from her bag. The book was a deep brown and seemed to be bound in leather. There were strange characters that I couldn’t read on the front, and a figure that was the very picture of a magic circle on the front. It was all too fitting for a magic book, so it gave me a sense of excitement.
I’d completely forgotten because of the old man, but she had come here in search of a place to study, now that he was gone, it was rather quiet inside, the clamour of the main street faintly audible.
Suddenly, I remembered a summer festival from my childhood.
I knew my parents were both busy, so I didn’t selfishly ask to go. I could hear the drums from my window, the tumult of people and finally the sound of fireworks. There were voices from my neighbours calling out to each other to come watch as they walked out of their homes. My summer festival was spent sat by my window, straining my ears and imagining the people coming and going from those sounds.
Here and now, every day was like that summer festival.
The town was built around a labyrinth and had a myriad of people. Many people came to the town, there were adventurers that aimed to get rich quick in the labyrinth itself, tourists darting to and fro to take a look at the labyrinth, and merchants that gathered to sell to those tourists. Because of that, the main street was always lined with carts and stalls, was brightly lit throughout the night, and the people that lived along the street probably couldn’t sleep well because of all the noise.
And yet, my café was this quiet.
From a business standpoint, it was no laughing matter, but I could do nothing but laugh. I could stay in business thanks to the unexpected windfall from Grampa Gol, but if it hadn’t have been for that, I would have soon had to close my doors.
The elf girl was still sat at her table with her book open, absentmindedly gazing out of the window. The street outside was shrouded in darkness and the glass mirrored her face. The phrase ‘doll-like’ might be rather trite, but her face was so perfect there was no other term for it.
Linaria was at the counter, studiously poring over her book. At some point, she had unfurled a small roll of paper and every so often would write something on it with an implement much like a fountain pen.
Finished with the washing, I cast my eyes to the clock on the wall. It was the perfect time for dinner. I decided against disturbing her and just started getting things ready myself.
I lit the magic hob and put a small saucepan with water from the kettle over the heat. While it was heating, I took out some bread from the cupboard. The loaf was round and about the size of my face, its characteristics were: it was relatively dry, the bread itself was somewhat dark, and there was a slight sourness to its taste. I cut off two rather thick slices of it.
Now, I took a brick of cheddar cheese out and cut two thick slices of that too. Then I prepared some cured ham. It was a type called prosciutto, which comes from the hind legs of a pig and is cured using only salt. The process and ingredients were both simple, and it was simply smoked after it was dried. All you needed was a pig, salt, time, and the right atmosphere, it was almost too good to be true.
Well, I still have some quibbles. I’m not entirely sure whether there are pigs in this world – whether those raised as livestock somewhere, or even wild boar hunted in the labyrinth – or whether there was a completely different creature that happened to have meat which tasted rather similar.
The ham had a strong tinge of red about it and there was fat around the edge. The flavour was amazingly rich yet the scent was rather weak. I thought it was somewhat tougher than pig meat, so it probably fell under the classification of wild boar meat.
I cut the heat to the water as it came to a boil and added a little cold water to regulate the temperature before gently placing an egg inside.
This time, I lit the next ring over and placed a flat iron frying pan atop it, adding some butter to the pan when it was up to temperature and coating the inside. I placed the sliced bread into the melted butter and flipped it when it was cooked, added the cheese and ham on top of the bread before putting the other slice on top.
The ham was salty enough and the cheese had a good, mature flavour, so there was no need for other seasonings. All you needed was ham, cheese, and time, and the right atmosphere of course.
I covered the bread with a clean cloth and pushed down on it with the small saucepan. The oils underneath the bread sizzled, tantalising my stomach. I waited like that for a while until the scent of bread dough tickled my nose, that was the sign to flip it.
I removed the pan pressing down on it, and took off the cloth allowing the aroma within to increase all the more. The bread was flattened and dollops of light yellow cheese oozed from the space between.
I used a wooden spatula to flip the sandwich and saw the underside was a lovely golden brown, it was pretty enough to frame. Once the other side was cooked to the same degree, the hot sandwich was complete.
I moved it to a plate before finally retrieving the egg from the water and breaking it over the top. The slightly hardened, slow-boiled egg left the shell and lay itself over the browned bed. Perfect. I couldn’t help but admire it.
Carrying my creation, I headed to Linaria. I thought she had been concentrating on her studies, but she had turned her gaze to me at some point and had apparently watched me cook.
“Perfect timing, have this if you’d like,” I announced.
“It’s for me? Are you sure?”
“Of course, I hope you will eat it, it’s best when it’s just been cooked.”
I put the plate in front of her, followed by a knife and fork.
“Grampa Gol will pay for it, so feel free.”
“Thanks. I was hungry. But… what is it?” She asked, tilting her head.
“It’s a hot ham and cheese sandwich, garnished with a slow-boiled egg.”
“A hot sandwich?”
“You’ll get it once you try,” I said before returning to the washing up. I wanted to watch it be eaten and ask exactly what she thought of the flavour and what could be improved, but I didn’t actually do so of course, I just kept watch out of the corner of my eye.
Linaria had the knife and fork in hand and seemed to be unsure of how to go about eating the new cuisine before her. Even so, she hesitantly started and her eyes shone. The moment the knife entered the sandwich, the softened cheese flowed out like lava. The thick strings of cheese brought joy to all.
She speared a piece of the sandwich on her fork and took a bite, her expression blossoming into a smile, and that alone satisfied me.
I hummed as I cleared things away, and while I did so, the elf girl waved me over.
I left the counter and walked over to her as she watched me somewhat idly. Her long hair, draped over her ears was oddly erotic.
“That,” she said, pointing at Linaria. It was the first time I had heard her voice, and I was astounded by its clarity, making me think she really was one of the fair folk.
“Ah, a hot sandwich? Would you like me to make you one?”
“Does it… have meat?” She asked slowly.
“It does, cured ham.”
The girl slowly shook her head.
“I… can’t eat meat.”
Her expression barely changed, but there was a tinge of sadness in her eyes which gripped at my heart. To think I had made such a beauty sad!
“Are you okay with egg and cheese?” I asked strongly, garnering a nod, “Then I’ll make one without meat.”
“Right.” She nodded with the conviction of a child, and I couldn’t help but smile.
After seconds, Linaria returned to her studies for a while.
The elf from earlier had already left after finishing her custom sunny side up hot sandwich and we were alone in the café.
As I finished washing up, Linaria had packed all of her things away and stood up.
“My dorm has a curfew, I should head off.”
“I see, thanks for coming.”
She nodded and some time passed, she seemed to want to say something, I didn’t speak a word and waited patiently.
“Say,” she started, not quite meeting my gaze, her dark blue eyes sparkling in the light, “is everything here expensive?”
The ‘everything’ was probably taking the coffee as a basis.
“The coffee is, but we do have a normal menu as well,” I told her.
She looked relieved.
“Could I come again? I don’t have much money though.”
“Of course, you’re more than welcome,” I said, gesturing around the café with both hands, “as you can see, we’re always waiting for customers.”
“Right, that’s good,” she chuckled, and I returned a smile.
“You’re welcome at any time, even if you just want a glass of water.”
“I’ll make sure to order something, I want to eat more like that from earlier,” she said, lifting her bag, “I haven’t introduced myself, have I? I’m Linaria, Linaria Leafont. Can I ask your name?”
“It’s Yuu, Yuu Kurosawa. Good to meet you.”
“Yeah, good to meet you.”
With a final farewell, she left through the door, accompanied by the ringing of the bell before the café fell into silence and suddenly seemed to be chilled.
A café with no one in it somehow lacked warmth.
Humming a meaningless song, I started to close up.
“You know, Yuu, I do not wish to work any longer,” a shiny-headed, white-bearded old man said as he sat at the counter. His arms were folded, there was a sharp glint in his eyes and his face was serious. His gaze moved to the window facing the street, through which passersby could be seen. The sky through that window was already tinged with evening colours as well.
“I really do not wish to work any longer…” he repeated earnestly.
I gave a soft sigh. He was like this every day. He would come wandering in at some point in the day, morning, afternoon or evening, sit himself down, babble on about something or other, and then leave.
I called him Grampa Gol. I didn’t know what he did for a living, but the Japanese-seeming clothes he always wore seemed to be well-tailored, and he seemed to have some sort of responsibility.
“You ran away again?” I asked, placing a shiny plate in front of him. His head swivelled to look at me.
“I did not flee,” he defended himself, “I am merely taking a short break.”
“It’s been nearly two hours now.”
“Good gracious, has it really? Things truly slip away from you when you reach my age…”
“Could you stop playing the senile old man when it suits you?”
He let out a strange barking laugh before resting his cheek against the counter, completely at home.
A café was somewhere that you did go to take a little break, then lose track of time, so I didn’t add anything further. I was even happy that it was seen as cosy enough to relax like this; it showed that it was a comfortable place.
“I see that you are as deserted as usual,” he said after looking around. Other than Grampa Gol sitting at the counter, there was only an elf woman reading a book at a table by the window. I’d like to just call it a lull in business or something, but that was always the case.
“I really do not believe this thing you call coffee is good enough, Yuu,” he added, taking a sip from the coffee cup in front of him and grimacing, “It is a very piercing flavour.”
“Taste it properly please, take in its strong, astringent flavour.”
“It has a pleasant scent, but it is simply too bitter. I have a sweet tooth too.”
At this, he pulled a smallish white pot from further along the counter and heaped the brown powder within it into his cup.
Of course, there was nothing better than the customer being able to enjoy their drink, that was the most important thing, but I couldn’t help but sigh seeing him practically smother the coffee under heaps of sugar.
There were many things that had surprised me since I had come to this world, and one of them was the lack of a culture around enjoying coffee. Coffee beans themselves existed, but they weren’t a luxury item – they were used as medicine to increase wakefulness.
When I started this café, I definitely expected that the brand new drink of coffee would make it wildly popular, but that idea was sweeter than the earlier mound of sugar. Coffee – a completely black drink, bitter and unfamiliar – wasn’t well received at all. The people of this world did not deal well with bitter things to begin with, so they seemed to think of it as some sort of poison, and barely anyone understood its true greatness.
And so, the restaurant calling itself a café, that served the black, bitter drink known as coffee had a completely obvious reputation.
“Ahh, there is nothing to do,” said Grampa Gol seriously as he looked up at the lights hanging from the ceiling.
“If you’ve got nothing to do, I think you should be working.”
“What are you saying? I am enjoying the lack of anything to do.”
“So you’re not hoping for something to happen because you’re bored?” I questioned, garnering a smile from him.
“At times like that, you should find that ‘something’ yourself. Searching is far quicker than waiting.”
That was true, I thought to myself as I nodded, but the people with the dynamism to actually do so were fairly rare.
Grampa Gol rhythmically repeated his lack of things to do before a high-pitched clatter sounded. It was the bell attached to the door to make it easy to tell when a customer arrived.
I looked in that direction to see a girl looking in, her face alone timidly peering around the door. Her red hair swayed from her shoulders as her blue eyes moved around the café. It was the girl I had met when I was opening up this morning. Apparently, she wasn’t just being diplomatic when she said she would be back, and I certainly hadn’t expected her to show up on the same day.
“Welcome,” I said to her with a smile.
“Ah, yeah, is now alright?” She asked reservedly. I nodded and waved her in.
“You’re always welcome,” I said, “as you can see, we aren’t too crowded today.”
“Much the same as you were yesterday and the day before as well.”
I glared at Grampa Gol and he started whistling unconcernedly.
Seemingly satisfied it was safe, the girl slowly entered. She was wearing the same uniform as this morning, her long, red hair was tied up at the back of her head and she was carrying a fairly large school bag.
She didn’t go to one of the tables, instead walking to the counter.
“There weren’t many customers, so I thought you’d already closed.”
“That was painful,” I said. The place certainly was deserted, maybe it turned away new customers.
“You said this was a café, not a bar, right?”
“Indeed, young lady, this is a café, their speciality is coffee,” Grampa Gol said with a wink as he lifted his cup.
Bewildered by his sudden familiarity, she replied with a short bow, “I’ve actually never heard of a café or a coffee before.”
“I see, I see. I first learnt of it here. Now, now, take a seat.”
“Ah, I,” she began before he talked over her.
“Just for a while, just a while.”
The girl sat in a neighbouring seat with a sigh, swept up in his wake. I wondered whether I should help or not, but I decided to let things develop a little longer.
I placed a napkin and glass of water before the girl and Grampa Gol spoke without a moment’s delay.
“Yuu, a coffee for this young lady if you would.”
“Ah, no, I’m-”
“I will, of course, pay for it, you need not worry. In exchange, could I hear your name? You can call me Grampa Gol.”
“Er, I’m Linaria,” she answered.
“Ah, Linaria! I believe that is the flower that grows within the Kamphius Snow Fields that heralds hope and the coming of spring. A good name indeed. Do you hail from the area?”
I crouched down behind the counter and took a small white pot from a shelf. The pot contained coffee beans. I opened the lid of the coffee mill and placed a cup’s worth of beans inside. I then gripped the handle of the mill and cranked it slowly.
The rumble and crunching noises of the beans being ground filled the room.
Milling coffee like this was great, grinding the beans down was bliss, and it let me forget everything.
After I had enjoyed the cup’s worth of bliss, I prepared the syphon.
There was a globular flask made of glass on a dedicated stand, with a burner beneath it for heating. Atop it was a funnel, a glass beaker with a narrow pipe from the bottom of it that could be inserted into the flask.
Originally, this was used by pharmacists and researchers and I had had it remade for use with coffee. It was rather impressive for brewing coffee because of that, and had a certain impact.
I added hot water from a silver kettle into the flask. That kettle was a wonderful thing, it was a product that used magic, and as long as the magic stones it had contained mana, it would keep the water within it constantly hot.
After I had poured the water, I wiped the flask with a dry cloth. If I heated it with droplets of water still on it, the glass might break. Glass was expensive at the best of times, so I had to be careful with it.
I lit the burner beneath the flask of hot water. I didn’t know whether the burner had fire magic or just a stone that gave out heat, but its middle glowed red and generated heat.
This was another world that had magic permeating its culture, but products developed for convenience weren’t too different between this world and my own, which was rather amusing. I didn’t know what it used for fuel, or how it was made, but in the end ‘boiling water’ or ‘lighting a fire’ were much the same.
I inserted a cloth filter into the bottom of the filter and then placed the milled coffee atop it. Then I waited for the water to boil before firmly inserting the pipe from the funnel into the flask.
“Wah…” exclaimed Linaria quietly as the boiling water bubbled up within the flask and then rose even further into the funnel, “What is this? Magic?”
She asked her question with a puzzled expression and I couldn’t help but laugh.
“Hey, don’t laugh,” she protested, “it’s not magic then?”
“It’s not,” I assured her as the coffee started floating on the water. Before the water had finished rising, I used a small wooden spatula to draw circles through the liquid, mixing it to agitate the coffee and water and blend them together.
There were three layers within the funnel, the froth atop it, the floating coffee beans, and the water and coffee extract mix. From it rose steam and the rich scent of the seething coffee. Simply sampling the scent made for enjoyment, for a calm and peaceful moment.
I checked that the water had properly moved to the funnel and turned down the heat a little. The small amount of water left in the flask bubbled in spurts.
I suddenly noticed that the other two’s conversation had stopped and they were both staring at the syphon. Their expressions were both so serious that I couldn’t help but let out a laugh.
Linaria glared at me from the corner of her eye.
“Sorry, sorry, you were just so intent on it, I couldn’t help myself.”
“I can’t help it,” she replied with a pout, “it’s the first time I’ve seen anything like this. If it’s not magic, then why did the water move upwards?”
“Umm, the boiling water changes the pressure, or something like that.”
“Pressure? What’s that?”
I folded my arms and looked up at the ceiling.
“Heating the water makes the steam in the flask expand, but there’s nowhere for it to go in the flask, so it pushes down on the water inside.” Checking inside the funnel, I turned the heat off completely and mixed it through with the wooden spatula again. “So when you put the burner out like this, the steam contracts again, and so…”
A short moment later, the coffee in the funnel passed back through the pipe and slowly refilled the flask beneath.
“Wah, wah,” she exclaimed.
It was originally just hot water, but it was a rich amber liquid that filled the flask now. Grampa Gol was watching her with a gentle smile, like he was watching over his own grand-daughter.
Finally, only the coffee grounds remained, puffy from the hot water and bubbles. This was the proof of a well-brewed cup of coffee.
I took the funnel out and lifted the flask by a handle that was part of the stand, pouring the coffee into the waiting cup. Steam rose from its surface, and the full-bodied scent of coffee filled the café, reaching through your nose and permeating your mind. The smell of the coffee was another source of bliss, the entire process of making a cup of coffee was bliss in fact.
“It smells so good,” said Linaria, enraptured. A smile forced its way onto my face as I placed the cup on a saucer before putting the entire assembly in front of her.
“Here, a coffee, my original blend.”
She picked it up in both hands and looked steadily at the surface of the drink, as anyone would when they had a piece of obsidian placed in front of them.
“Thank you,” she said, taking a sip.
Her eyebrows rose as her eyes opened wide. Then she looked at me, removed the cup from her lips and gave me a blank, childish look.
“…It’s really bad.”
Grampa Gol burst into guffaws and I slumped in defeat.
The both of them were more open with each other than I expected, and the conversation flowed well. Well, it was more that Grampa Gol brought various things up and Linaria answered them. Thanks to that, I ended up learning a lot about her.
For example, she had good grades in the magic academy, and was top of her year group the last year, because of that, she had drawn the attention of the noble students, making spending time at the academy uncomfortable for her, about how apparently they had recently had some practicals in the labyrinth for their mage classes as well, and that she liked slightly cooled black tea.
I joined in periodically, but I mostly just listened.
Eventually, the view from the window began to dim and I went outside to light up the sign. It was then that I noticed someone standing at the edge of the frontage. The woman greeted me with a quick bob of her head.
“Thank you for your service,” she said to me.
“Uhm, how long have you been there?” I asked.
In response, she took a pocket watch from her pocket and checked the time, her silver hair swaying at the base of her neck as she did.
“About an hour, I suppose.”
That was even longer than I had expected, so I was lost for words. She could have just waited inside. Seeing my aghast expression, she let a laugh slip from her mouth.
“He seemed to be enjoying himself greatly,” said the woman wearing a suit-like set of clothing in an understated colour atop her pure-white shirt. She was Grampa Gol’s secretary, and came to get him every time he fled from his work.
“He certainly was, but should he still be here?”
“Indeed he should not, I will have to have him return soon.”
“Did he run out in the middle of things again?” I asked quietly for no real reason, and she replied in a similar tone of voice.
“Yes, right in the middle of things, I’ll need to work him hard now.”
She might seem like a cold beauty, but she was surprisingly easy to get along with.
“You left him be for quite a long time.”
“There isn’t much work tonight, and it’s important that we let him take breaks in moderation or he might really run away one day. That’s an important part of our work.”
As would be expected from his secretary, she knew how to deal with him well, and I was deeply impressed.
“I’ll go fetch him then,” I offered.
“I apologise for taking up your time with this, but please do,” she said with the epitome of politeness, so polite that it actually made me feel like I was the one that should be grateful. She was a very beautiful woman, so my heart raced each time I spoke with her; she smelled nice too.
I went back inside as I appreciated beautiful older women idly in the back of my mind. Grampa Gol was collapsed on top of the counter coughing forcefully, and blatantly feigning it. Linaria looked at me in a flutter.
“H-hey, he’s…”
“Geh, geh… You need not worry, this is merely an old wound…” he said.
And just what old wound would that be?
“A-are you okay?” She asked worriedly, his cough growing harsher as he looked at her face.
“My apologies, but… could you rub my back?”
“Your back? You want me to rub your back?”
Falteringly, Linaria was reaching out towards his back, so I swiftly thwacked the perverted old man across the back of his head. He had no hair to cushion the blow, so the sound was sharp.
“Argh!” He cried out.
“Now now, that’s enough of your poor acting if you please.”
Linaria looked between the two of us in confusion. Grampa Gol was pouting as he rubbed at the back of his head and sulked.
“My time left in this life is short, I simply wished for a few good memories.”
“Refrain from that kind of thing in my café please, or your short amount of remaining time will become even shorter,” I told him.
“Oh? Are you threatening me?”
“It’s your imagination. Anyway, your secretary is waiting outside,” I said, getting a complicated expression from him that I can’t even put into words, “don’t make that face, hurry back to work.”
“Nay… I shall remain here… I shall play with Linaria…”
With each statement, he petulantly struck at the counter, so I went to the kitchen and picked up a carving knife, the biggest I owned with a huge blade.
“Actually, I suddenly wish to work! This is not an occasion I should be spending cooped up in this dreary restaurant!” He changed tune blisteringly fast, launching to his feet and readjusting his clothes before facing Linaria, “My thanks for today, Linaria, this old man enjoyed whiling away the hours with you. I shall pay for a meal for you in thanks, order what you wish, not that any of it is too impressive.”
“To think you’d say that in front of me,” I stated, angling the knife so the light reflected from it.
“Such terror! I shall take my leave before I am thrown into my grave. Goodbye, young Yuu, add the charges to my tab.”
Leaving Linaria, who had watched our entire exchange open-mouthed, behind, Grampa Gol quickly left.
“Is he always like that?” Linaria asked hesitantly as I put the knife back and began to clear the crockery from where he had been eating.
“He’s always like that,” I nodded with a sigh, “he’s a strange person, it’s best not to think too deeply about it.”
She looked towards the door he had just left through for a while. She eventually came back to her senses as I was washing up and she seemed to remember what she had come here for, re-seating herself and pulling out a bulky book from her bag. The book was a deep brown and seemed to be bound in leather. There were strange characters that I couldn’t read on the front, and a figure that was the very picture of a magic circle on the front. It was all too fitting for a magic book, so it gave me a sense of excitement.
I’d completely forgotten because of the old man, but she had come here in search of a place to study, now that he was gone, it was rather quiet inside, the clamour of the main street faintly audible.
Suddenly, I remembered a summer festival from my childhood.
I knew my parents were both busy, so I didn’t selfishly ask to go. I could hear the drums from my window, the tumult of people and finally the sound of fireworks. There were voices from my neighbours calling out to each other to come watch as they walked out of their homes. My summer festival was spent sat by my window, straining my ears and imagining the people coming and going from those sounds.
Here and now, every day was like that summer festival.
The town was built around a labyrinth and had a myriad of people. Many people came to the town, there were adventurers that aimed to get rich quick in the labyrinth itself, tourists darting to and fro to take a look at the labyrinth, and merchants that gathered to sell to those tourists. Because of that, the main street was always lined with carts and stalls, was brightly lit throughout the night, and the people that lived along the street probably couldn’t sleep well because of all the noise.
And yet, my café was this quiet.
From a business standpoint, it was no laughing matter, but I could do nothing but laugh. I could stay in business thanks to the unexpected windfall from Grampa Gol, but if it hadn’t have been for that, I would have soon had to close my doors.
The elf girl was still sat at her table with her book open, absentmindedly gazing out of the window. The street outside was shrouded in darkness and the glass mirrored her face. The phrase ‘doll-like’ might be rather trite, but her face was so perfect there was no other term for it.
Linaria was at the counter, studiously poring over her book. At some point, she had unfurled a small roll of paper and every so often would write something on it with an implement much like a fountain pen.
Finished with the washing, I cast my eyes to the clock on the wall. It was the perfect time for dinner. I decided against disturbing her and just started getting things ready myself.
I lit the magic hob and put a small saucepan with water from the kettle over the heat. While it was heating, I took out some bread from the cupboard. The loaf was round and about the size of my face, its characteristics were: it was relatively dry, the bread itself was somewhat dark, and there was a slight sourness to its taste. I cut off two rather thick slices of it.
Now, I took a brick of cheddar cheese out and cut two thick slices of that too. Then I prepared some cured ham. It was a type called prosciutto, which comes from the hind legs of a pig and is cured using only salt. The process and ingredients were both simple, and it was simply smoked after it was dried. All you needed was a pig, salt, time, and the right atmosphere, it was almost too good to be true.
Well, I still have some quibbles. I’m not entirely sure whether there are pigs in this world – whether those raised as livestock somewhere, or even wild boar hunted in the labyrinth – or whether there was a completely different creature that happened to have meat which tasted rather similar.
The ham had a strong tinge of red about it and there was fat around the edge. The flavour was amazingly rich yet the scent was rather weak. I thought it was somewhat tougher than pig meat, so it probably fell under the classification of wild boar meat.
I cut the heat to the water as it came to a boil and added a little cold water to regulate the temperature before gently placing an egg inside.
This time, I lit the next ring over and placed a flat iron frying pan atop it, adding some butter to the pan when it was up to temperature and coating the inside. I placed the sliced bread into the melted butter and flipped it when it was cooked, added the cheese and ham on top of the bread before putting the other slice on top.
The ham was salty enough and the cheese had a good, mature flavour, so there was no need for other seasonings. All you needed was ham, cheese, and time, and the right atmosphere of course.
I covered the bread with a clean cloth and pushed down on it with the small saucepan. The oils underneath the bread sizzled, tantalising my stomach. I waited like that for a while until the scent of bread dough tickled my nose, that was the sign to flip it.
I removed the pan pressing down on it, and took off the cloth allowing the aroma within to increase all the more. The bread was flattened and dollops of light yellow cheese oozed from the space between.
I used a wooden spatula to flip the sandwich and saw the underside was a lovely golden brown, it was pretty enough to frame. Once the other side was cooked to the same degree, the hot sandwich was complete.
I moved it to a plate before finally retrieving the egg from the water and breaking it over the top. The slightly hardened, slow-boiled egg left the shell and lay itself over the browned bed. Perfect. I couldn’t help but admire it.
Carrying my creation, I headed to Linaria. I thought she had been concentrating on her studies, but she had turned her gaze to me at some point and had apparently watched me cook.
“Perfect timing, have this if you’d like,” I announced.
“It’s for me? Are you sure?”
“Of course, I hope you will eat it, it’s best when it’s just been cooked.”
I put the plate in front of her, followed by a knife and fork.
“Grampa Gol will pay for it, so feel free.”
“Thanks. I was hungry. But… what is it?” She asked, tilting her head.
“It’s a hot ham and cheese sandwich, garnished with a slow-boiled egg.”
“A hot sandwich?”
“You’ll get it once you try,” I said before returning to the washing up. I wanted to watch it be eaten and ask exactly what she thought of the flavour and what could be improved, but I didn’t actually do so of course, I just kept watch out of the corner of my eye.
Linaria had the knife and fork in hand and seemed to be unsure of how to go about eating the new cuisine before her. Even so, she hesitantly started and her eyes shone. The moment the knife entered the sandwich, the softened cheese flowed out like lava. The thick strings of cheese brought joy to all.
She speared a piece of the sandwich on her fork and took a bite, her expression blossoming into a smile, and that alone satisfied me.
I hummed as I cleared things away, and while I did so, the elf girl waved me over.
I left the counter and walked over to her as she watched me somewhat idly. Her long hair, draped over her ears was oddly erotic.
“That,” she said, pointing at Linaria. It was the first time I had heard her voice, and I was astounded by its clarity, making me think she really was one of the fair folk.
“Ah, a hot sandwich? Would you like me to make you one?”
“Does it… have meat?” She asked slowly.
“It does, cured ham.”
The girl slowly shook her head.
“I… can’t eat meat.”
Her expression barely changed, but there was a tinge of sadness in her eyes which gripped at my heart. To think I had made such a beauty sad!
“Are you okay with egg and cheese?” I asked strongly, garnering a nod, “Then I’ll make one without meat.”
“Right.” She nodded with the conviction of a child, and I couldn’t help but smile.
After seconds, Linaria returned to her studies for a while.
The elf from earlier had already left after finishing her custom sunny side up hot sandwich and we were alone in the café.
As I finished washing up, Linaria had packed all of her things away and stood up.
“My dorm has a curfew, I should head off.”
“I see, thanks for coming.”
She nodded and some time passed, she seemed to want to say something, I didn’t speak a word and waited patiently.
“Say,” she started, not quite meeting my gaze, her dark blue eyes sparkling in the light, “is everything here expensive?”
The ‘everything’ was probably taking the coffee as a basis.
“The coffee is, but we do have a normal menu as well,” I told her.
She looked relieved.
“Could I come again? I don’t have much money though.”
“Of course, you’re more than welcome,” I said, gesturing around the café with both hands, “as you can see, we’re always waiting for customers.”
“Right, that’s good,” she chuckled, and I returned a smile.
“You’re welcome at any time, even if you just want a glass of water.”
“I’ll make sure to order something, I want to eat more like that from earlier,” she said, lifting her bag, “I haven’t introduced myself, have I? I’m Linaria, Linaria Leafont. Can I ask your name?”
“It’s Yuu, Yuu Kurosawa. Good to meet you.”
“Yeah, good to meet you.”
With a final farewell, she left through the door, accompanied by the ringing of the bell before the café fell into silence and suddenly seemed to be chilled.
A café with no one in it somehow lacked warmth.
Humming a meaningless song, I started to close up.
