Welcome to Cafe 39!

When Luka saw the message come in from Miku that the cafe would be closed for Saturday, she let out a relieved sigh.

‘It’s good that she’s taking time for herself.’ Luka thought as she made her way to her other job. ‘She probably realized she needed to do her own grocery shopping.’

Luka rarely got to see the state of Miku’s apartment on the second floor of the cafe, but she knew her friend well enough to understand that the girl was kind of terrible at taking care of herself.

It never really sat right with her, how Miku could run the cafe to perfection on such a hellish schedule, yet still neglect her own self-care.

Though, to be fair to Miku, she did depend on her sister to ease that load.

Luka sighed. “Oh Momo… I get why you moved out, but I sometimes wish you were still here. Miku still needs as much help as she can get.”

Not just with the physical side of things, but the emotional side too.

Miku was the type to repress a lot of things – Luka knew from experience – and talking to her usually did wonders to help her deflate that balloon of anxiety she’d constantly be filling. Unfortunately, Luka couldn’t always be there, which meant she usually relied on her sister to watch over Miku in her stead.

When she left, Luka was concerned that Miku would start neglecting her health, in favor of running the cafe with all her might.

At first, Luka had advised her to ease up on the cafe’s schedule, worried that the girl would have another breakdown if she worked the same hours every day by herself, but Miku insisted on keeping it, saying: “Think of the regulars Luka! I can’t just disappoint them like that! We’re the only place open at such a late hour!”

So, despite Luka’s push-back, Miku was fully committed to maintaining the schedule she had imposed on herself.

And, honestly, Luka was surprised when she kept up the pace for a whole month.

Then one month turned to two months.

Then two, into three.

By the fourth month, Luka could tell Miku was starting to waver. Her customer service smile didn’t curve as high as it normally did; the bags under her eyes were starting to grow even more visible; and her movements were noticeably more sluggish.

She nearly even dropped a mug, which Luka managed to intercept just in time.

That’s when she finally put her foot down and made Miku not take the night shift for a week.

Sure, people were disappointed and profits dropped, but Miku’s health was more important, especially for the cafe’s longevity.

So, that’s why she insisted she put out an advert to hire a part-time worker.

She had done the math, and the cafe generated enough income to be able to afford it, so she had a convincing enough case to present to Miku, which she thankfully accepted without too much fuss.

Miku did seem afraid at the thought of publicity for the cafe, however, but this was a necessary risk to take.

Even if her family did find out about it, her health was more important.

Thankfully, the girl that showed up wasn’t a member of Miku’s family.

She was just a regular college student who needed a part-time job out of necessity.

Still, based on first impressions, Luka was slightly skeptical of her.

The girl had a rather rocky set of social skills based on their first interaction, though she could attribute that to meeting her for the first time.

Still, she hoped she’d be able to work beyond that.

She did show promise, however, with the way she intently observed Miku in the mixing station.

The sparkle in her eyes as she observed even herself told Luka a lot of what she needed to know. Naturally, she extended her stay in the cafe just to see if that hint of eagerness wasn’t just a passing fancy.

Once she saw the girl offer to help with clean-up on a day she wasn’t scheduled for work, Luka felt her skepticism recede significantly.

The girl seemed genuinely invested in the job, and Luka felt it best to try and nurture that as her senior in the workplace. Thus, she had decided to offer the girl some cleaning tips for the cafe, which the girl listened to intently and even tried to follow along with.

She wasn’t perfect, as a lot of first timers were, but Luka’s appraisal of the girl improved significantly as she watched her work. All that was left was to find out about her performance for her first shift.

Luka hoped that she’d be a good fit for it.

And her hope was not misplaced, as Miku’s report on the girl’s first night shift washed away her concerns.

It would seem that Hoshino Ichika was quite the welcome addition to Cafe 39’s night shift.

And after taking time to spend a few days extending her shift hours to see the girl in action, she had come to the conclusion that she quite liked her, especially since she was kind of like Miku in a few ways.

She was quite adorable from how shy she was, just like when she first met Miku, and definitely teasable. She was also very committed to her work, making sure to give it her all every time, which was very admirable.

There was just one concern that constantly nagged at the back of her mind.

One aspect of Miku that she saw in Ichika that made her feel uneasy.

It was something personal that the two had in common.

It was subtle, but Luka had a feeling that there was a heavy weight in the girl’s heart.

The signs normally aren’t obvious, but for people like Miku and Ichika, who (knowingly or unknowingly) wore their hearts on their sleeves, one could see from how their expressions shifted that they went through something that weighed heavily on them.

Miku had gotten better about it through the years, but she still flinched on occasion.

Ichika, however, was not quite as put-together.

The way she seemed so… distraught at the sight of apple pie told Luka enough to know there was history there.

She wouldn’t pry, of course, but she felt it best to make sure she kept an eye on her.

Call it her sense of responsibility as a senior, or just a caretaker’s instinct, but Luka knew she needed to be there for these two girls in some way.

A sigh was let out into the crisp night air. “So, in the end, I guess I just gave myself more work…”

She then chuckled at those words.

It’s not like she minded. The two were competent enough on their own, and judging by Miku’s stories, the night shift with Ichika ran smoothly.

So they complemented each other, at least.

Still, she hoped that the two would one day be able to have that invisible weight lifted off their hearts.

But that would probably be for a long, long time in the future.

And today wasn’t the future. It was just another small step toward it.

For now, she’ll make sure she can be as reliable as can be.

And maybe, just maybe, they’ll be able to help each other too.

As Luka approached her apartment complex, she let out a small yawn, quite tired from both her extended stay in the cafe and the (admittedly short) walk back. It’s a shame Ichika wasn’t scheduled for the day, but Miku insisted on not scheduling the girl on Friday nights, so Luka didn’t question it.

With a stretch, she worked out whatever tiredness remained in her system, got in the elevator, and hit the button for the 8th floor.

Once she had reached her destination and made a beeline for her apartment, she went in and hurriedly set up her computer for another few hours of work.

Her second job was actually a lot less conventional compared to others, considering it mostly required her to be online and on call, but that didn’t mean it was any less taxing.

The difference was that she had to deal with the headache of managing people instead of drinks.

And while she was patient, she was no saint.

The moment she clicked the meeting link and put her headphones on, her ears were almost immediately assaulted by the piercing scream of one of her coworkers.

“MISS LUKAAAAA!” Her coworker shouted. “THANK GOODNESS YOU’RE HERE, WE HAVE A PROBLEM!!!!”

Luka massaged her temples. It looked like it was going to be one of those days.

“Calm down first. I won’t be able to help if you just scream.”

“AH! I’m so sorry!”

Luka sighed. “It’s fine, just tell me what the problem is. Did a supplier back out?”

“No, it’s not that…”

“What is it?”

“W-Well, um, you see… There was um, some kind of uh, mix-up with Commission A3, and–”

“Mix-up?”

A gentle male voice interrupted them. “What she’s trying to say, Miss Luka, is that someone messed up the booking date for the caterers.”

“HUH?!” Luka screamed.

“A-Ah! K-Kaito, why’d you have to say it like that!”

“Because it’s better for us to tell it to her straight than beat around the bush.”

“I know you’re right, but still…”

Luka groaned. “This is an important event for some of the country’s best fashion schools, and you’re telling me you messed up booking caterers for it?!”

“I-I’m terribly sorry Miss Luka!”

Luka wanted to slam her head against her desk. “Kaito, did you contact anyone to fill in?”

“I did when I found out, but there’s good and bad news.”

“Good news first, please.”

“The good news is that we booked a caterer at the last second for the event.”

Luka sighed in relief.

“Unfortunately…”

‘Oh no.’ Luka braced herself.

“The caterer only does food and not drinks. I tried to contact various establishments, but they either don’t have the capacity for it or are fully booked for that day.”

Luka’s heart sank at Kaito’s words.

“Why…” she bemoaned. “Miss Kasane, did you try contacting anyone?”

“I did, but they’re all fully booked too!”

Luka felt a headache beginning to build up.

“You know I’ll need to dock your pay for this commission, right?”

“I understand Miss Luka! I’m so, so sorry! I–”

Before the girl could drop a barrage of apologies, Kaito interrupted her with a question. “So, what will we do about this Miss Luka?”

“I’ll try to reach out to my contacts. If that fails, we’re probably going to have to do it ourselves.”

Kaito sighed. “I’ll try to brush up on my skills. I can’t guarantee they’ll be good enough for this event, however.”

“I-I’ll try to learn too!”

“Noted. Alright, I’ll be muted for a while. Please be more mindful of details like this for our other commissions, okay Miss Kasane?”

“Y-Yes ma’am!”

With that, Luka muted herself and grabbed her phone to make a few calls. With how late it was though, she doubted most of them would be picked up.

Luck, however, seemed to be on her side as pretty much every call came through, though that was probably the extent of her luck, as each of them left Luka disappointed. Most had said that they were fully booked for the date she mentioned.

After the 10th unsuccessful call, Luka leaned back on her chair and let out an exasperated sigh.

She shouldn’t completely blame Miss Kasane for this. She is a new hire after all.

That didn’t mean she couldn’t be frustrated.

“Where can I get someone to do catering for drinks…”

Her eyes then fell upon one contact on the top of her list, an idea forming in her head.

“Wait… Maybe I can get her to help me.”

Luka then unmuted the call. “I think I might have someone for our catering issue.”

“Oh? Who is it, Miss Luka?” Kaito asked.

“Is it someone we know?” Kasane added.

“No, but she’s someone I’ve known for a while. If all goes well, we’ll hopefully have this problem taken care of.”

“Understood.” The other two replied.

“Alright, with that settled, give me a status update on the other commissions in progress.”

“Alright.” Kaito replied. “We’ve received a supplier update for Commission A6, and–”

The rest of the night passed by with Luka ensuring that the commissions were proceeding smoothly and quadruple-checking the schedules and bookings of others.

Once the clock struck 1 A.M., Luka called for the end of the meeting.

“Good night you two.”

“Good night as well.”

“G-Good night!”

“I’ll see you all on Monday at three. Keep me updated on any changes while I’m out on shift, alright? I’ll update you on our caterer issue by Monday, at the latest.”

Both replied in unison: “Understood!”

“Now, go get some rest.” Luka declared before ending the meeting.

She hoped that things would go smoothly.

Luka closed her eyes and preemptively said words of apology. ‘Forgive me Miku, but I’m really out of options.’