Epi.13-4: Ghost Café — That’s Why

“Ah—gooood mornin’!”
Yuka appeared with an energetic voice.

“What the hell did you do?”
Furuta snapped, closing in on Yuka.

“Huh? A ghost café… right?”
“That’s not what I mean—the inside of the café! There’s something weird in there. Is that part of the act? What did you do?”
“Ohh, that.”
She clapped her hands with a smile and said, “You said it was okay to do a ghost café, so I had the nearby ghost-sans come,” then urged him to go inside.

In the end, only Furuta ended up going into the café with Yuka.
He did argue, saying, “It’s not a good idea to let only an outsider inside,” but after Hiromu told him, “You brought this on yourself,” he gave in to the silent pressure from everyone around him.

He grabbed Yuka’s arm as she was about to take a seat and pressed her with a glare.
“Explain it. What the hell was that?”
He spat the words out, as if forcing down an emotion he couldn’t put a name to.

“Mm— you said it was okay to do a ghost café, right?”
“I did. So what?”

“If a cat café has cats, then a ghost café should have ghosts, right?”
Ironically, that line was exactly what Furuta had been preparing to say himself.
In Furuta’s plan, it was supposed to be a concept café where the staff would dress up as ghosts.
And then he would press her on that—that was the plan.

“…That may be so, but ghosts don’t exist, right?
That’s some kind of setup too, right? Right?”
The words were spoken with a face on the verge of tears—something that could only be called a plea.

“They’re right in front of you.”
Yuka’s words were merciless.
“More importantly—can I start filming?”
Facing Furuta, whose eyes couldn’t seem to focus, Yuka’s eyes were shining.

“Sure. Do whatever you want…”
“Yay!”
She threw both hands up in delight, then headed toward the floor at a light jog.

Before Furuta’s eyes was a scene that felt unreal.
She was chatting happily with something that could only be called “something,” and taking a commemorative photo.
Before he realized it, a girl had somehow increased by one.

The café was temporarily closed that afternoon and the following day.

The kitchen staff laughed, saying, “If the hourly pay’s doubled, I’ll put up with it.”
However, the part-time servers who were scheduled to work refused to come in.
It seemed word had also reached those who weren’t on shift, and they came to check things out, apparently grasping the situation from outside.

“I don’t need the pay, just let me quit,” and “There’s no way I can handle that,” were among the things he was told, but knowing the situation as it was, Furuta had no choice but to ask, “I understand, but let me think about it for a bit,” and put the matter on hold.

In the end, if they quit outright it would interfere with normal operations as well, so he managed to hold them for the time being by arranging a leave of absence and leave pay.

He explained that the hourly pay would be raised significantly for a limited time, but the only one who agreed to take it was Yuina.
With no other choice, they somehow managed to keep the café running by hiring Yuka as a part-time worker.

Told by Hiromu, “You should stay here as much as possible. This is your responsibility,” he could only reply, “Yeah.”