A Minute's Respite from Life

The wide, roomy space has soft cream walls with brown accents. On the floor, dotted with plush chairs and wooden coffee tables, is a blue-and-orange patterned rug. There are bookshelves on some of the walls, leading up to a wooden, semicircular bar with stools and a coffee machine behind it, where a kind-looking young employee greets us as we walk in.

My eyes aren't drawn to any of this, though. The first thing they focus on are the fifteen or so cats, in every shade possible- black and white and orange and tiger-striped. Some are snoozing on open seats, others are enjoying the sun, and still others are playing with the string dangled by the middle-aged man who's the only other customer in here.

I always wanted a pet as a kid, but my parents would never get one. Too busy, they said.

"Oh, Hanabi-chan! Welcome!" The woman in the apron nods as we make our way toward the counter. Kurokami-sensei enthusiastically, me more reluctantly.

"Hey, Kirishima-san!"

The barista leans over the counter, pointing her head toward me. Suddenly conscious of her intent stare, I step back. "Who's this?" She smirks.

"Just a friend of mine."

"Ohhhhh, so it's like that. I see how it is." The barista smirks. "Does Anzu-chan know you're taking someone else to go play with the kitties instead of her?"

"Keep it a secret, Kirishima-san." Kurokami-sensei smiles and places a finger to her lips.

"Will do. I'd rather not have drama unfolding here. It'd scare the cats." Kirishima nods as she heads for the coffee machines. "The usual for you?"

"Sure thing! And the maximum time."

"Same price as always. And what about you, young man?" Suddenly, I notice that her matronly gaze is again fixed on me. I wasn't prepared.

"Uh...I'll have a...um...let me get a..." They don't even have a menu here! What kind of place is this?! "Uh...a...whatever she got..."

Kirishima nods. "Good choice."

Even the saucers for the coffee cups are shaped like cat heads. It's so cute. Everything about this place is adorable. This would be my ideal heaven- a place where I could relax and pet cats all day. I've never been to a cat cafe before in my life, because first off, I don't have the money, and second off, it's weird for a single guy to go to a place like this. So I may never have experienced bliss if Kurokami-sensei didn't help me out.

As the barista pushes the cups toward us, containing two mugs of a foamy liquid, she mutters toward Kurokami-sensei, "I didn't take him for your type...but I'm not judging."

She doesn't reply, or make any indication she heard.

When we sit down at a pair of gray velvet chairs arranged in an L shape around a coffee table, it takes about a millisecond before a chocolate-colored cat bounds over and starts rubbing against her leg.

"Here, Mocha~" Kurokami-sensei's face has an expression of pure joy on it as she bends down to scratch the cat behind the ears. "I've missed you~"

Immediately, she gets swarmed. A dozen cats congregate around her feet, circling and meowing. Some of them stand on their hind legs to reach her face as she reaches her hand down to pet them. None of them seem very interested in me, though.

Kurokami-sensei is head-over-heels. "Kuro! Willie! Come here, Mugi!"

The coffee's good, but it's bitter. I didn't expect she'd take it so dark. She looks like a six sugar packets kind of girl.

"So, what do you think?" She finally pops her head up from the cat swarm and looks at me with a big smile on her face. "Are you surprised?"

"Yeah...sort of."

"I come here a lot. It's my favorite place when I need some time to think about story ideas. Or life. Or anything, really. Cats are so therapeutic."

I really want to pet one of the cats, but none of them seem interested in me at all. On cue, a black-and-white, long-haired cat comes sauntering by my chair. That fur looks so soft. I hesitantly bend over. If I just pet it once-

As soon as I touch the cat, it recoils backwards and hisses, facing me with its fur flared out, and I shrink back. Attempt number one ended in miserable failure. Maybe cats can sense I'm a loser?

"Maru! Bad boy!" Kurokami-sensei leans over and swats at the black-and-white cat that's still growling at me. "He's a friend! A friend!"

"Sorry about that." She smiles apologetically in my direction. "I think he's not good with strangers."

No, he's not good with me, but thanks for trying to make me feel better.

She reaches down, and before you know it she's picked up the brown cat that came up to her first, holding it out in my direction. "Do you want to pet her?"

The cat stares at me with large, round yellow eyes, and hesitantly I reach out my hand. I'm expecting this one to swat and hiss, but she doesn't. As I touch the soft fur on her head, she closes her eyes contently.

She's so soft. I could pet cats for hours.

Kurokami-sensei places the cat back on the floor. "Mocha's my favorite. She's a Havana Brown. She's really sweet."

"Kurokami-sensei, I-"

"Hashigami."

"Uh, right, Hashigami-san-" It still feels strange to call her that. It feels strange to put a name and a face to the famous Seigo Kurokami in the first place. "How did you like Chapter 15?"

"Not bad!" She takes a sip of her coffee while absent-mindedly petting an orange cat with deep-colored stripes. "You've improved a lot since I started following your novel. Are you setting up a war arc? I figured from all the mentions of political strife."

"Yes, kinda...but not really. I want it to be a surprise." Kurokami-sensei- Hashigami-san- man, it is still weird to call her that- suggested that I should try and write a deeper and more intrigue-filled plot for my next major arc, especially since Aiden's appearance suggested there was more to my world than just a simplistic story of humans versus demons. That's why I worldbuilt. I started out by planning each of the various nations that were at odds, and have moved onto building up the tension. I don't know where I'll go from here, but I like that aspect. Me figuring it out on the fly is a little similar to Alfred being suddenly thrown into games of political intrigue that he has no idea how to play.

"Surprise? Let me guess, Farisa is getting kidnapped?"

She nailed it. "How did you-"

That was the only plot point I had laid out, and she hit it right on the head.

"You made it a little too obvious with those secret agents from the Kingdom of Belzard showing up. I was starting to wonder when they would start twirling their mustaches and try to tie Farisa to a railroad track."

Ugh. That's why she's the second-ranked author on the website. She saw it coming from a mile away.

"I pegged Farisa for being secret royalty or something the second you introduced her. Mysterious girls in LNs, especially fantasy, always end up being princesses." Smugly, she takes another sip of her coffee.

She must have seen my disappointed expression, because she quickly waves her hands and says, "I wasn't trying to be hard on you! You can work with that plot point...make another twist or something! The key is not to have a plot twist for the sake of a plot twist...instead, you make the audience think they know where the story will go and then blow their minds with a twist no one saw coming."

"Does that work?"

"Sure it does! It works all the time. I've even tricked readers into anticipating a plot twist and then didn't do one."

"Okay..." All this talk of plot twists and literary devices and other things is kinda overwhelming, especially to someone like me who's just struggling to keep his head above water.

I hope she hasn't figured out I'm broke yet.

"By the way, they have Elves Chronicle here."

Before I can reply, the brown cat jumps up onto my lap, landing with a thump, staring into my shocked eyes with her big, round yellow orbs. Then, she curls up and lies down in my lap, purring.

All my stress has instantly evaporated.

Unfortunately for me, we can only stay with the cats for a maximum of three hours. Once we're back out on the street, the crushing weight of life immediately hits me again.

"I wish I could stay there forever..." Hashigami-san sighs as we turn back onto the main road.

"I know, right..."

My words are cut off by a loud gurgle. Hashigami-san stares at my stomach with curious eyes.

"Sakuta-san, wanna get something to eat?"

"No, I'm fine-"

My stomach betrays me yet again.

"No you're not. Let's go."

Damn it. She looks like she has expensive tastes, and she'll probably make me pay for it. Please don't let her be taking me to a French restaurant with caviar and wine and a snooty dress code-

It's not. We're at the front door of WcDonald's.

"You can't go wrong with burgers!" Hashigami-san chirps as we enter the bright, crowded fast-food joint. "I'm kinda on a budget today...hope this is alright."

"It's fine." No, believe me, it's more than fine. This is fine dining for the poor, such as myself.

"My high school's just around the corner, about 2 blocks down, so I come here with my friends a lot." She slips her bag off her shoulder as we take a seat in a corner booth. It's taking all my self-control not to swallow the Third Pounder right in front of me in one gulp. Sure, it's a 970 yen fast food burger, but a meal like this is to me what a steak dinner is to a normal person. "I go to Seishin Academy, by the way. I graduate this year. I didn't know if you knew."

"I went to Tozawa." Seishin is the big Catholic school with a bell tower and a picturesque campus downtown that only the richest of the rich attend. So she's a rich girl. I figured that one out just by looking at her, but this confirms it. In contrast, my high school, while highly-ranked, was a prefectural school. Upper-echelon for sure, but not on the level of the best of the best like Seishin.

"I've passed by Tozawa a couple times," Hashigami-san says as she nibbles on the last fry remaining on her tray. "My friend Honoka is on the volleyball team and Tozawa destroyed them twice in a row. The first time they beat them was in the spring tournament and Honoka went around telling me every day about how she was training to get revenge- she's a tiny little girl so it was really funny watching her act like some Janp protagonist- and in the summer tournament Tozawa beat them by even more. The next day Honoka looked like someone had killed her whole family. I feel bad for laughing about it...but it was funny."

"I think the girls' volleyball team was good when I was in school, but I wasn't really a sports kind of guy."

"You graduated, right?" Hashigami-san looks at me with curious eyes. "Do you go to Aodai? I was considering going there."

Well...I did.

"...Something like that." I quickly avert my gaze, hoping she won't catch my obvious discomfort.

"Excuse me! Do you mind if I take your trash for you?" We're suddenly interrupted by the voice of someone who- I assume- works here.

"That would be great! Thank you!" Hashigami replies cheerfully.

"Sir?"

"Go ahead-" As I turn around, my words get lodged in my throat. I sit there, staring in shock, unable to say another word.

"Sakuta-kun?"

"Ma...na...go..."

I'm looking straight into the face of the girl I was going to confess to, eleven months ago before my life fell to pieces.

She was one of the last people I wanted to see me like this- to see me in such a pathetic state.

I've gotta get out of here. My heart’s thumping as fast as a drum. It feels like the world's starting to spin.

"Thanks for the meal." I stand up suddenly. "I'll see you later. Sorry."

I quickly bolt out the door, and then as I reach the street and the leering signs, I start to move faster, and faster, and faster, until I'm running, gasping in the autumn air, desperately running until I finally make it back home, and back to safety.