Chapter 31 – Coffee Shop
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Having cleared the C-Class Dungeon, Satoha and I stepped on the magic circle and got teleported into the reward room. This time it was an opened store like a tenant in a shopping center. A huge load of clothes was stacked up on absurdly high shelves.
I suppose we’re at a clothes store right now.
However, when I checked a random piece of clothes with my hands, it didn’t seem like this store was selling overly good clothes. The sizes were kind of weird and seeing all those holes added in weird places, I increasingly failed to understand the purpose of this.
When I opened Dungeon Seekers and checked, the time limit had been extended to ten minutes. Also, I felt like the reward room itself had become fairly big. Maybe there’s some sort of causal relationship between time limit, dungeon level, and room size.
“Hmm, it doesn’t look like we’ll find anything decent here.”
“You’re right. But, maybe some of it can be used for something. It’s also possible that the market develops in a way going beyond the management’s expectations, so how about we store the clothes away for the time being?”
“Makes sense.”
I kept tossing every single piece of cloth I could grab into our smartphones. Still, it doesn’t look like the loot in the reward rooms improves the higher the dungeon class, as you’d normally anticipate.
After I filled up my smartphone with clothes, I pressed the shortcut, changing into my casual wear.
“Okay, let’s get out of here. Please grab my hand.”
“…Yeah.”
I took her left hand with my right. We would reappear on the overpass walkway from before, and since that place likely had a lot of pedestrian traffic, it’d turn into an uproar if we appeared there out of nowhere all of a sudden. In order to avoid this, Satoha used her Invisibility on us.
We were engulfed by a white light.
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As I grinned from feeling the smartphone vibrate inside my pocket on the walkway, an office worker, who was in a bit of a hurry, was quickly getting closer right in front of us.
Shit, we’re going to collide.
I drew her into my embrace at once, dodging the middle-aged man. Then I looked all over the place, making sure that no one else was going to bump into us any moment.
“Ah…sorry. For a man to suddenly pop up in front of us like this was quite unexpected…”
“It’s alright. Satoha, I’ve already grasped the specifics of your ability.”
“N-No…umm…I’m asking you to let go of me now, if possible.”
I cast a fleeting glance at her. She was awfully close. Then again, I was the one who caused it to be like that.
She was only slightly smaller in height than me, but it still resulted in her looking up to me. Her eyelashes were pretty long and her eyes were cute with their traces of unhappiness still lingering.
Just like on that day when I had carried her to my place, she smelled nicely. Her expression as she was peering at me timidly was very────
I tried to distance myself from her by thrusting her away, and even though I used enough strength to jump back, I couldn’t separate as my hand was still being held. As if being tied to her by a string, I was pulled back to my previous location by the recoil.
“If you let go of my hand, the Invisibility will come undone. Well, I could keep it up, if I felt like trying, but it would be exhausting. So stay like this for now.”
“O-Okay, sorry.”
“No, it’s fine…you helped me just now,” she looked in my direction and said in the end, “I will release the Invisibility at a suitable place. Let’s take a rest.”
Both of us walked while holding hands, trying to get to a place with few people.
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After Satoha canceled her Invisibility in a hidden spot in front of Sendai station, we slowly let go of each other’s hands. She had mentioned taking a break, but it was still too early to eat dinner, so I asked her, “Satoha, is there any place you want to go to?”
“Eh? Ah…hmm, what should we do? As a matter of fact, I don’t know anything about good places to visit…”
She placed a hand on her chin, looking troubled. Seeing her pondering about this so seriously, I considered it odd. She’s come here from Tokyo, so I thought she’d be more used to eating out and finding good places to take breaks.
…I’ve been thinking about it for a while now, but the way Satoha walks through the city looks rather uncertain. At this point, it’s still no more than an intuitive impression I have of her, but this girl might be the type of person who often doesn’t know where she’s walking to.
“…Gotcha. How about we enter a nearby coffee shop for starters?”
“A coffee shop.”
I unlocked my smartphone and searched the map for a nearby cafe. Since many of them also provide delicious sweets, a girl like her might be happy with that arrangement.
“It seems like one with a good reputation is just around the corner, so let’s go there.”
“O-Okay.”
I headed towards our destination while keeping pace with her whose walking speed had dropped for some weird reason.
｡ ₊°༺🫀༻°₊ ｡
I entered the store, accompanied by the doorbell’s ringing. Using me as a shield, Satoha timidly peeked her face into the cafe and then entered as well. The interior of the quiet cafe was illuminated by indirect lighting positioned at various spots, engendering a calm atmosphere.
We were immediately guided to a table by an employee. Satoha, as she sat on her seat like a small, frightened animal, restlessly looked all over the place, seeming to somehow feel uncomfortable.
“Hmm? Is something the matter?”
“Ah, no, it’s nothing…”
“They’ve got a menu. I’ll pay, so order whatever you like.”
“A-Alright…”
When she hesitatingly opened the small menu, I felt like her eyes widened slightly for a moment. Somehow her behavior has been kinda funny for a while now.
“Umm…Hiro, there’s too much Western language in this, so I don’t understand any of it.”
…Western language, she says…maybe she’s actually never come to a place like this before? A girl, who heads into battle so bravely, is frightened to death by a simple coffee shop. She’s looking like a cat right after moving places, who would cautiously watch how things develop while flattening its ears.
Listening to her words, it seems like she doesn’t know the majority of Western confectionery. This even applies to cake. She frantically asserted that she knows Japanese confectionery, but that wasn’t the issue here in the first place.
“Isn’t it fine to go with a safe choice for the beverage and pick black tea or coffee? As for the sweets, I think it’ll be okay to choose by ‘feeling.'”
“Ah, if it’s coffee, I know about it, okay? My older sister has been telling me that she wouldn’t be able to survive without it. A-Also, what’s ‘feeling’?”
“…Ah, I just meant that you should choose whatever you like.”
I decided to order coffee and a shortcake. I’ve hardly met any people who hate shortcakes and I might also be able to share some of it with Satoha. Meanwhile Satoha was scrutinizing the menu with a frown on her face. Her muttering, “Tart…pudding…,” and so on with a really cute voice put me in a bind.
At that moment she pointed at a sweet as if to show it to me.
“Hiro, this, umm, Creme Brulee…what might that be? It has a name that sounds like a new type of occult being.”
“…Ahh, err…”
I couldn’t quite answer Satoha’s sudden, unexpected question. Creme Brulee is that thing that looks like some burned pudding, isn’t it…? That as a monster…
Oh shit, it’s actually growing on me. A new species of occult being – a Creme Brulee. Sounds kinda strong. Yep, it’s slowly starting to sound perfect in my ears.
“H-How about you try ordering it, if it interests you?”
“It’s slightly expensive, though…”
“I’ve earned some money through Dungeon Seekers, so don’t mind it. In the first place, you’re cooperating with me.”
“…I-I understand! Then I will go with this!”
As we had decided what to order, I called the employee over and we made our order. For a while I talked with her about the previous battle.
A short while later, the employee brought our order. Now black tea and a creme brulee stood in front of her while I had a coffee and a shortcake facing me.
“This is…a Creme Brulee…”
Satoha poked the roasted-caramel-covered surface with her spoon.
She looks just like a kid poking a bug with a twig…shit, no good. I shouldn’t laugh at it.
At last she put a hand around the Creme Brulee that was placed on white plate, used the spoon in her other hand to divide the crispy surface, scooped up some of the pudding, and slowly brought it to her mouth, just to quickly swallow it after resolving herself.
In the next instant, her blue eyes started to sparkle.
“Hiro, this is incredibly delicious. It’s somehow syrupy and sweet, but it still has texture…it’s my first time to eat something so wonderful. A true delicacy.”
“O-Oh, I see. That’s great to hear then.”
Satoho went on to quickly shovel the Creme Brulee into her mouth with movements completely disconnected from the image of a mature beauty. I cut off a piece of my shortcake with my fork and gave it a try for the time being.
Okay, the cake is damn good, I gotta say.
“So, what are we going to do next? I think with this I made it clear that I can handle C-Class dungeons.”
She had placed her cup at her lips and was now sipping on the black tea. Her cheeks had become completely slack from the sweet Creme Brulee, but now that I brought up a serious topic, she quickly tightened them again.
“Yes, indeed.But, I think challenging B-Class dungeons will be very difficult if you don’t become as strong as I am. That or you would need to perfect your teamwork with me. Accordingly, let us steadily clear C-Class and D-Class dungeons.”
…Satoha showed me a path to take while donning a tense expression. Yet, cream was still stuck to the corner of her mouth.
“…You’re right. Currently I’m at a stage where I should boost my own abilities.”
“Yep. Oh, come to think of it, did you check Dungeon Seekers after clearing the dungeon?”
“Ah, now that you mention it…I’ll take a look right away. Also, Satoha, you got cream on your mouth.”
“Eh?”
Her face blushed and she quickly wiped her mouth with a serviette while looking embarrassed.
…Quite adorable, I must say.
I opened Dungeon Seekers, deliberately pretending to not have seen that.
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