Ren did not choose to make himself a lavish dinner tonight.
It was currently business hours. Experience had taught him that the mont he decided to cook sothing complicated for himself, a wave of custors would inevitably crash through the door. It was a universal law of the restaurant industry.
Today had already been quite busy during the lunch rush. He wanted to rest properly while he had the chance.
However, Ren wasn't truly fasting.
He sat alone at the counter, a small porcelain plate in front of him. On it lay several pieces of high-quality dried figs and a few delicate chestnut pastries.
The Dinsional Restaurant was quiet.
Being the only person in such a large, warm space made him feel a bit lonely. Yet, it also allowed him a rare mont of absolute peace.
The night outside was alive, though in a different way.
People working overti were rushing through the streets, chasing their livelihoods under the neon lights. Students were either entertaining themselves at karaoke bars or eting up at family restaurants to cram for exams.
So were laughing in the lively streets of Tokyo. Others had already succumbed to exhaustion and gone to sleep early.
The night prepared its own unique hustle, bustle, and tranquility for everyone. It was a fair, indifferent canvas.
Ren sipped a cup of fragrant Oolong tea.
He looked around his domain. The polished wood of the tables glead under the warm, amber pendant lights.
Outside the window, it was dark. He could vaguely see the blurred lights from the neighboring street, casting long, dancing shadows on the pavent.
Ting-ling.
The wind chis hanging by the window occasionally rang. The sound was crisp and clear, cutting through the soft jazz playing in the background. It brought a sense of Zen to the room.
He didn't know why so people always felt the night was long and suffering, while others felt it was too short to enjoy.
Ti was relative.
Whether it felt long or short depended only on whether the night left a bit of enjoynt in your heart. For Ren, this solitude was enjoynt.
He picked up a dried fig, the sweetness blooming on his tongue.
Just as the sounds of traffic from the neighboring street slowly diminished, signaling the deepening of the night, Ren looked up.
He sensed it before he saw it.
The wooden door of the restaurant didn't just open; the fra itself seed to shimr. A soft, ethereal light pulsed around the edges.
A custor from Another World had arrived.
Ren put down his tea cup. He was always very interested in these particular custors.
Different worlds ant different cultures, different laws of physics, and all sorts of tragic or heroic stories.
For a late-night restaurant, the custors' stories were often more valuable currency than the money they paid.
The door creaked open.
A girl walked in.
She looked young, perhaps fourteen or fifteen years old. She had long, rose-pink hair tied into two pigtails at the back of her head, with shorter strands framing her face.
She was wearing a blue and white school uniform with a large red ribbon at the chest.
[Akarin's Note: This uniform belongs to Sakurami Middle School from the series Mirai Nikki (Future Diary).]
After entering, she stood frozen on the doormat.
She looked around the warm, inviting interior with eyes that held a mix of surprise and profound confusion.
Her pink eyes were beautiful, but they were dull. There was a "dead" quality to them, like a doll that had been left out in the rain.
She turned her gaze to Ren.
"This is..." her voice trailed off. It was soft, raspy, and trembling.
Ren smiled, his expression practiced and welcoming.
"Welco. It seems you co from a rather chaotic place, but rest assured, this is a peaceful world."
"A... peaceful world?"
The girl blinked. She repeated the words as if they were a foreign language she was trying to decipher.
"Sir... is this... Another World?"
Ren smiled and nodded. He gestured casually towards the door she had just entered.
"You can open the door and look back if you wish. But looking forward, you are in Tokyo, Japan. This is a night restaurant where people from different worlds can co to find shelter."
Ren watched the girl.
She moved with a strange, jerky hesitation. She turned around and cautiously pulled the door open just a crack.
Outside, she didn't see the void or her previous location. She saw the quiet street of Ren's world. She saw a vending machine humming in the distance and a stray cat walking along a wall.
The girl's eyes beca a little dazed when she saw the peaceful streetlights.
It was so normal. So terrifyingly normal.
She let the door click shut. She leaned her back against the wood, sliding down slightly as if her legs had lost their strength. She remained silent, staring at the floorboards.
Ren looked at the girl. He saw the tension in her shoulders, the way her hands clutched her skirt.
He spoke softly, breaking the silence.
"So, Miss. Would you like sothing to eat? Or would you simply like to rest here for a while? No purchase is necessary to sit."
The girl ca back to her senses with a start.
She looked at Ren, her eyes darting around as if checking for traps.
"I'd... I'd like to rest here for a while first..."
"Alright. Please make yourself comfortable. Choose any seat you like."
The girl nodded.
She walked stiffly to a nearby table, choosing a chair that faced the door—a defensive habit.
She sat down.
The soft cushioning of the chair seed to swallow her fragile fra. The quiet yet warm atmosphere of the restaurant wrapped around her like a blanket.
For a mont, the static noise in her head seed to quiet down.
Her gaze slowly lost focus. She stared blankly at the wind chis swaying gently by the window.
Ting...
A very soft sound rang out.
The girl flinched. She ca back to her senses, looking around wildly.
She found a steaming cup placed gently on the table in front of her. She hadn't even heard the shopkeeper move.
She looked at the tea, then up at Ren with a puzzled, fearful look.
"Shopkeeper... this is..."
"You don't look very well," Ren said gently, standing a respectful distance away. "Your complexion is pale, and your eyes tell you haven't had a good rest in a long ti."
He wiped his hands on a towel.
"A custor like you ca not long ago—a skeletal ruler who worked too hard. I gave him a similar tea, and it worked wonders for his stress."
The girl nodded slowly. Then, panic flickered in her eyes.
"But... but I didn't order anything... I don't have money from this world..."
Ren smiled. It was a smile devoid of greed or judgnt.
"It must be boring just sitting here staring at the wood. Don't worry, this isn't expensive. In fact, it's on the house."
He gestured to the cup.
"Consider it a welco gift for a custor from Another World. It's rare to get guests from your dinsion."
Looking at Ren's smile, the girl was stunned for a mont.
Kindness. It was such an alien concept to her recently.
She bit her lower lip, then nodded and whispered, "Thank you... Shopkeeper."
"It's nothing. Get so good rest. No one will disturb you here."
After saying that, Ren retreated behind the counter. He picked up his book again, deliberately averting his gaze to give her privacy.
The girl stared at him for a mont longer. When she was sure he wasn't watching, she slowly reached out.
Her hands were trembling.
She wrapped her fingers around the warm ceramic cup. The heat seeped into her cold palms, grounding her in reality.
She lifted the cup.
The steam rose, carrying a floral, herbal scent.
"It slls so good..." she murmured. "It's... lavender?"
Hearing the girl's voice, Ren didn't look up from his book, but he responded warmly.
"Yes. Lavender and chamomile. Because this acts as a nervine to calm and soothe the mind. I don't think there's a more suitable drink for you right now."
The girl looked down at the liquid.
The dark tea reflected her face. Her pink hair. Her tired eyes.
Amidst the steam and the fragrant scent, she felt her shoulders drop. The knot in her chest loosened, just a fraction.
She took a sip.
The warmth traveled down her throat, spreading through her chest.
For a split second, she felt peace.
However, peace is often a double-edged sword for the traumatized.
The atmosphere here... it was dostic. It was warm.
It reminded her of a ho.
Her ho. Before the cage. Before the starvation. Before she had to beco a monster to survive.
It reminded her of the warmth and comfort her parents had once given her, before they beca obsessed with her perfection. Before they locked her away.
Flash.
A mory assaulted her. The sll of dried tatami mats. The sound of a lock clicking. The gnawing pain of an empty stomach.
Flash.
The feeling of being trapped. The silence. The despair.
For her, "ho" was no longer a sanctuary. It was a nightmare she could never escape. It was a cage containing two rotting corpses she had put there.
The girl's pupils suddenly constricted to pinpoints.
Rattle.
Her hand shook violently. The cup rattled against the saucer.
She put the cup down clumsily, splashing a bit of tea onto the table. She leaned back against the chair, clutching her head, her breath coming in short, shallow gasps.
Ren noticed the change in atmosphere imdiately.
He was slightly startled. He put his book down.
This child... he thought, observing her erratic breathing. She seems to have experienced sothing far beyond simple stress. That reaction... it's PTSD.
Ren walked out from behind the counter.
He moved slowly, telegraphing his movents so as not to startle her.
"Don't worry," Ren said softly. His voice was low and steady, an anchor in the storm. "This is Another World. The things chasing you cannot reach you here."
He placed a fresh napkin on the table to soak up the spill.
"You can put your experiences out of your mind for now. Drink the tea. Let the warmth do its work."
The girl turned to look at Ren.
Her eyes were wide, swimming with confusion and madness.
Ren had seen such eyes before. This was the look of a human consciousness teetering on the edge of a precipice. One push, one wrong word, and she would fall into a complete ntal breakdown.
Ren stood up straight. He didn't retreat.
He walked to the shelf, poured a cup of black tea for himself, and brought it to the table next to the girl—not at her table, but near enough to offer companionship without crowding her.
"It's alright," he assured her again.
The girl stared at him. Her voice was a whisper, barely audible over the wind chis.
"Shopkeeper... are you trying to say that everything will pass?"
She sounded bitter. "Are you going to tell that ti heals all wounds?"
Ren paused. He took a sip of his black tea.
He shook his head slowly.
"No," Ren said firmly. "I won't say that."
The girl blinked, surprised.
"I won't say that because that would be a very irresponsible and hurtful thing to do," Ren continued, looking her in the eye. "Because I know so things never pass. So wounds don't heal; they just scar over."
"Eh?"
The girl was completely stunned. Her mouth parted slightly.
This person... this silver-haired man in front of her... he was different.
He wasn't giving her the usual platitudes. He wasn't telling her to "do her best" or "smile."
He had a kind of affinity. It was like a warm sun slowly rising on a freezing winter morning—not scorching hot, not blinding, but warm enough to thaw the frost.
Ren smiled sadly. "You're surprised why I would say that. But it's indeed the truth. Telling a drowning person to 'just swim' isn't helpful."
"Shopkeeper..." The girl gripped her skirt. "This is the first ti... the first ti I've t soone who comforts people like this..."
Ren shook his head again.
"What you need isn't comfort, Miss."
He placed his cup down with a soft click.
"So-called comfort is like trying to use clear tape to stick a shattered glass cup back together. You tell the person, 'Look, it's fixed! You can continue using it!'"
Ren gestured with his hands, mimicking the shape of a cup.
"It works for cups that only have a hairline crack. But you..."
He looked at her pink eyes, seeing the fracture in her soul.
"You don't need tape. Your cup isn't just cracked. It's shattered into dust."
The girl trembled. "Then... then what do I need?"
"You need to replace it," Ren said simply. "You need a new cup."
"A... new cup?"
"Yes. You need to find a new vessel. Pour your favorite drink or warm water into it. People don't stop drinking water just because a cup breaks. And you are the sa. You have to keep living."
Ren leaned forward slightly, his tone earnest.
"You can't let past events make you live only in that shattered pile of glass. If you keep trying to drink from the broken shards, you'll only cut your lips and bleed."
The girl looked down at her hands. She imagined the blood. She imagined the pain she lived with every day.
"You can throw away the cup shards," Ren continued. "Or, if you hold affection for that old cup... you can carefully glue it back together. Not to use it, but to make it a specin. A souvenir."
"A souvenir?"
"Yes. Place it on a high shelf. Occasionally, take it out to reminisce for a mont. Acknowledge that it existed. But you absolutely cannot continue to drink water from it. It's dangerous."
The room fell silent.
The clock on the wall ticked. Tick. Tick. Tick.
Yuno Gasai sat there, processing the taphor.
My cup... my parents... my life...
It's broken. It's all broken.
He's right. Trying to fix it... trying to be the perfect daughter again... it cuts . It kills .
After a long mont of silence, the dam broke.
The suppressed emotions in the girl's eyes finally erupted. The dullness vanished, replaced by a frantic, desperate light.
The girl clenched her fists tightly on the table, her knuckles turning white.
"How..." she choked out.
She looked up at Ren, tears welling in the corners of her eyes.
"How do I throw it away?!"
Her voice rose to a shout, cracking with raw emotion.
"Shopkeeper... How do I throw it away?! I can't! It sticks to ! It won't leave alone!"
She stood up, knocking her chair back.
"Shopkeeper... You seem to know everything! You must know! Tell !"
Ren didn't flinch at her outburst. He didn't recoil from her intensity.
He looked at the young girl, whose eyes were red and whose sanity was fraying at the seams.
He smiled. A gentle, encouraging smile.
"I can help you," Ren said softly. "But first... you have to tell ."
He gestured to the seat opposite him.
"Sit down. And tell ... what did that cup look like? What broke it?"
[Akarin Note:
Your Support Keeps This Story Alive!
If you're enjoying this novel, your support ans the world to . Simple actions like leaving a review, power stone, comnt, or sharing the story let know you're out there. It's the greatest motivation for to keep updating until the very end and ensures this project continues.
For those who wish to support more directly, you can join my Patreon at [patreon/AkarinTL]. As a thank-you, you'll receive access to 50 advanced chapters.
As a special offer, I've opened a few limited-ti tiers at a discounted price! You will get all the benefits of "The Founding Pillars" (normally $20), but at a much cheaper rate.
These slots are extrely limited:
"The Plot Uncoverer": $4.99 (Save 75% / $15.01) - Only 3 slots
"The Dedicated Fan": $9.99 (Save 50% / $10.01) - Only 7 slots
"The Lore Diver": $14.99 (Save 25% / $5.01) - Only 15 slots
I hope I am still worthy of your support. My life truly depends on this... haha, I know I'm so shaless.]
User Comments
0 comments from readers