---
Kazuki arrived at the café five minutes late.
Which, to his surprise, didn't get him scolded. Instead, the manager, Yui-san—the same sharp-eyed woman from yesterday—just looked up from behind the counter, raised one eyebrow, and said,
"You're lucky your face still works."
She tossed him an apron and pointed to the break room.
Kazuki caught it. Barely.
His balance was fine. His nerves, not so much.
The café—called Café Pollen for reasons no one seemed willing to explain—was already half full. High school girls giggling at corner tables. Salarymen sipping iced coffee and pretending not to stare. A student couple whispering over a single slice of strawberry cake.
The air smelled like espresso and poor decisions.
This is fine, Kazuki told himself. I've read three barista manuals since last night. Memorized 84 drink combinations. Ran simulations in my head during sleep.
I can do this.
Then someone shoved a tray into his hands.
"New guy! You're late. So you're running orders!"
Kazuki turned and came face to face with a girl in twin tails and combat boots. Her name tag read MAO, with a tiny skull sticker covering the "o."
She popped her gum and nodded at the kitchen.
"Orders are piling up. Don't spill anything or I'll make you mop the bathroom."
"I—uh—got it?"
Kazuki rushed to the kitchen, collected two trays—iced lattes, melon soda, egg sandwich—and started weaving through the tables.
Table 2.
Table 5.
Table 3.
His mind ran calculations—weight, grip pressure, footstep timing, trajectory angles.
Everything moved smoothly.
Until it didn't.
At Table 6, a girl tried to snap a selfie and spun too hard in her chair.
Her arm clipped Kazuki's tray just as he turned.
Time slowed.
The glass of melon soda began its upward arc.
A crystalline splash midair.
A death sentence in citrus green.
Nope.
Kazuki tilted his wrist, bent his knee, and pivoted just enough that the glass landed on the tray again—without spilling.
Every eye in the café froze.
Then applause.
Actual applause.
Table 6 gasped. "That was like something out of a drama!"
Table 4 giggled. "Awesome reflex"
Someone whispered, "Did he just catch gravity?"
Mao leaned against the counter, chewing gum like a villain in a school manga.
"Tch. Show-off."
Kazuki smiled and bowed awkwardly.
"Please enjoy your drinks."
He fled back to the kitchen like it owed him money.
Yui-san leaned out from the back and handed him a menu.
"You drop that soda, you pay for it. But you didn't. So congrats. You're officially our main floor bait."
"Bait?"
"You look like you were grown in a lab to sell cappuccinos. Might as well use that brain for customer service."
Kazuki sighed. "This is going to be my life now, isn't it?"
---
By noon, the café was packed.
Kazuki had learned two things,
He had zero social skills under pressure.
Everyone else knew that and didn't care, because he looked good carrying parfaits.
At one point, Mao threw a towel at his head and told him to "smile like he wasn't trying customers"
ftKazuki tried. The smile came out crooked.
The high school girls loved it anyway.
"He's mysterious!"
"No, no—he's awkward-cute!"
"Let's come back every day!"
Kazuki felt his soul detach slightly with every table he cleared.
---
By 4 p.m., he was leaning against the back counter, sipping water like a survivor of a soft drink war.
Mao passed by, towel slung over her shoulder.
"You're not bad. Weird, but not bad."
"That's the nicest thing anyone's said to me today."
"You drop anything yet?"
"Almost."
"Then you're better than 80% of the part-timers that came through here."
She sat on a stool and popped open a canned coffee.
"So what's your deal? You've got that 'alien exchange student' vibe."
"No comment."
"Classified, huh?"
He gave her a faint smile.
"Something like that."
---
Back at the apartment that night, Touma was already on the floor, half-conscious, surrounded by instant noodles.
Kazuki stepped in, dropped his bag, and sighed.
"I think I got hired as a mascot."
"Welcome to retail," Touma mumbled. "Did they put you on a flyer yet?"
"Not yet. But I'm expecting a nickname by tomorrow."
"Is it 'the silent coffee prince'?"
"Please don't say that out loud."
Touma cracked one eye open.
"But you survived your first shift?"
"Barely. I got applause once."
"You what?"
"Long story.
Involved a melon soda."
Touma groaned into his pillow.
"You're not normal. I'm calling it now."
Kazuki lay back on the floor next to him.
"I'm just trying to be."
---