12 - Plating

I returned to the shop to find Kana sprawled out on the floor, sweaty and panting. Toast was lying next to her with his belly showing, also panting.

My two loves! Too cute!

"You've completely transformed the shop Kana!"

She heaved and pushed out a bashful laugh.

I stepped into the space and closed the door behind me. Our door had a small glass window, and a hook just above where I imagined a bell might go. 

It was a very cramped space as is, but I'd traded some monster meat for lumber so I could build us a counter. It would be long and L shaped so we could serve customers, and the girls could have a bit of working space too. I wasn't a master carpenter, but I'd worked part time in an IQEA and used to take broken furniture home to repair for my own use. Being poor had it's perks! 

Kana had scrubbed the place spotless, save for the holes, and I felt terrible that I was likely about to mess up the floors again with sawdust and the like. I warned her and apologized, and she weakly lifted her arm to give me a thumbs up. Toast huffed and sighed.

What did you even do today?!

I changed my mind and decided the smart thing to do would be to refocus my efforts on the rooms upstairs. As much as I wanted to get our shop in working order, we needed a proper place to rest our heads that night. It was partly my own selfish desire to finally have a bed, and partly my noble effort to give this exhausted angel in front of me a place to have a well deserved afternoon nap.

I headed back out the door as our stairs were behind the building, and I bumped into Maja, who had likely come to have lunch with Kana. She meekly hid a very large bag behind her, and I glanced down to see a white feather floating towards the dirt.

"Feathers?"

All of the sudden Kana was on her feet, scrambling towards me. Toast sprang up with her and bolted out the door barking along with Kana's shouting.

"AAAAAAA. AAAAAAA."

She pushed me out the door, and yanked Maja inside. Another feather whooshed out of the bag and the door was slammed in my face. Toast jumped up trying to catch it as it fell.

Do I want to know what's going on?

I cracked the door open to let Toast back inside, but I was met with more yelling. I decided to let the girls have their peculiarities, and ascended to the second level; our new home.

There were 4 shoebox rooms in a line, only connected by the hallway at the top of the stairs. It was clear to me Pinnea likely used these rooms for her business at one point, but it was best to put that thought out of my head, just in case I accidentally let it slip to Kana or Maja. They'd never sleep here again if they thought for a second the beds were...seasoned.

Each room was rather barren. Even the beds were reduced to dilapidated wooden frames. They'd either been looted or graciously cleared out of unsightly items by Pinnea. It looked like Kana had cleaned them too but repairs were desperately needed. One room had a hole in the floor so large I could fit through. I reminisced about a similar scene in one of my first manga, and was grateful I didn't have a tsundere in my life.

Give me deredere or give me death!

I got to work; replacing floorboards, covering a broken window with cloth, fixing the rickety beds and removing rotten wood. Once I was satisfied with 3 of the 4 rooms I headed back downstairs to suggest dinner with everyone. I'd dedicate time to the 4th room another day since we hadn't decided what to use it for yet anyways. 

Toast could have his own room. 

I snickered to myself and opened the door to the shop.

"Eek!"

Kana hurriedly flipped around and held something behind her back, much like Maja had earlier.

"What's going on?"

Kana squirmed a bit and stayed silent. Maja gave her a nudge and whispered something I couldn't hear. Kana stiffly moved towards me like her legs were made of the same wooden boards I'd been using upstairs.

"MI-TSU-TA. I-MADE-THIS-FOR-YOU. I-HOPE-YOU-LIKE-IT."

Made of wood but speaks like a robot?

She shoved something into me that squished flat and felt soft. A feather poofed out and I realized it was a pillow.

She... made this for me? For me? Am I in heaven? Does this mean something?

"Y-you always talked about the pillow from the village, and I know it's not the same but-"

"THIS IS AMAZING!"

I fluffed the pillow and smashed it into my face. I was stupid with glee.

"Really?! Oh I'm so glad!"

Kana flashed her beautiful smile and I thought my heart would stop right then and there. Good thing I had a pillow to land on when I dropped dead from joy.

"Maja traded for the feathers from a farmer that was coming into the city for the market! It was easy to make!"

Of course it was, you're amazing at everything! 

"Oh, I have to finish up ours! We'll all sleep great tonight!"

Ah. Yeah of course you'd make them for everyone, you're the sweetest. I'm only mildly crushed that I'm not special.

It took me almost a month to notice the embroidered heart on mine. 

As a side note, if you were wondering... it was not the same as the village pillow. It was extremely comfy, for sure, and it's my most treasured item to this day, but I have quietly resigned that I will never again experience the feeling of the village pillow. And I'll die before I ever tell Kana. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~

We spent the next few days personalizing the shop and our rooms. I managed to get our counter built, and despite the mid-level construction it was holding steady. There was a dumping ground just outside the city that we'd pillaged some things from, since free is always better. 

The only downside was carting heavy furniture the 30 minute trip back to the shop. I tried my best to coax Toast into putting literally anything into his inventory, but he'd always just cock his head to the side and smile. Cute but useless.

Through this method we'd gotten a desk for Maja's room so she could work on her spells, a small bookshelf for Kana to store sewing and crafting supplies, a rusty bell for the door, and a dining table that just barely fit in my room with the bed. I was happy to host everyone for our meals. I had two mismatched chairs so far and needed to keep my eye out for one more. We'd found a window that we thought we could use for the room without one, but it didn't fit.

I'd also lucked out and found an old 'magic infused lamp' that worked by adding a point of MP once a day to keep a small flame lit. I was impressed by the convenience of it and realized there was a lot about this world I hadn't learned about yet. We put the lamp on the workbench end of the counter so Kana could craft at any time.

Pinnea had been a great help to us too. She gave Kana old sheets to reuse as fabric for things like curtains and patches for mending. I think this time Kana had an inkling of where the sheets came from as I could have sworn I saw her spirit leave her body when Pinnea dumped the pile into her arms.

Pinnea had also been having her 'girls' spread the word about our business. Telling their customers that soon a shop was opening up next door that would do anything for a price. Please don't make us sound so shady!

I'd repaired the holes in the floor and wall, so we only needed a final touch to personalize the inside. I surprised the girls with some discarded paints I'd found at the dump, and told them to go crazy. They were delighted and did just that, painting fruits and shapes in all sorts of colours all over the counter. Kana was a little more talented than Maja, but the occasional wonky pictures added to the charm.

Once they had finished I called them outside to see I'd also painted the front of the shop. It was salmon pink, because that was the colour that I'd found the most leftover paint in. When life gives you salmon. They smiled and giggled at our pink shop, and we all felt the excitement grow as we were realizing our plan was coming together.

I pointed above the door to a blank white board.

"So. What do we call it?"