[Senei's POV]
Day two at work. I gave the wrong order.
🌊 "Not them, over here!"
☔ "Oh—sorry!"
Day three. I forgot part of the order.
👤 "Excuse me, I also ordered fries…"
☔ "!! It'll be right out, my apologies."
Day four. I was finally getting used to it.
☔ "Table 3—fluffy pancake, vanilla pudding, and strawberry shortcake.
Table 7—salad with dressing, steak, and pasta.
And… Table 5—carbonara pasta, vanilla soufflé, strawberry milkshake, and sweet bread.
Is there anything missing from your order?"
👤 "Umm… nope! Perfect! Thank you."
☔ "Please enjoy."
🌊 "Ooo, you're starting to get good at this."
☔ "Yeah, but that customer over there… gave me the chills for a second."
🌊 "Oh, him? Don't worry."
☔ "What do you mean? He said he recognized my voice."
🌊 "Tch, it's fine. Your singing voice is good, but when you talk normally it's so… common. I doubt he's a Vivelune fan."
☔ "Alright, if you say so."
Day five. I realized something. If this keeps up, I'll have no energy left to write songs.
☔ "Yorumi, if it goes on like this, I won't have time to write music."
🌊 "Hm? Then write now."
☔ "Eh?"
🌊 "The bistro's quiet. You can spend the downtime writing.
I'll wipe the tables, so just write."
☔ "Won't the boss get mad?"
🌊 "Is there anything else for you to do?"
☔ "N-no… just waiting for customers."
🌊 "Then it's fine."
Alright. I have time now, but… no ideas.
☔ "Why's the bistro suddenly so quiet? It was packed the last few days."
🌊 "Who knows. Tourist flow?"
☔ "Really?"
🌊 "Yeah. The holiday season ended. People are back at work or school.
And it's not lunchtime yet."
☔ "Makes sense."
Maybe… a song about vacations?
—(Door chimes jingle)
🌊 gasps
☔ "Oh, welcome!"
👥 "Yo!"
☔ "Please have a seat, I'll take your order."
👥 "Yo, where's the girl waitress?"
☔ "Her? She…"
Eh? Where's Yorumi? Oh—boss came out.
🗣️ "I'm sorry, but I don't think we can serve you."
👥 "Hhhaah? Don't lie! Your waiter here said he'd take our order."
🗣️ "I'm sorry, he's new. But we can't serve you. Please leave."
What's going on? Where's Yorumi?
I scanned the room until I spotted her—hiding in the kitchen. Our eyes met. She gestured for me to step back. …Alright. But what happened?
☔ "Yorumi, Chef, who are those guys?"
👨🍳 "Scumbags."
☔ "…?"
🌊 huffing "They harassed me when I served them."
☔ "God… I'm sorry."
👨🍳 "Yeah, but Yorumi threw their food right in their faces."
🌊 "Then it turned into a scene."
👨🍳 "Boss came out when he heard the commotion."
🌊 "I wanted to call the police, but—"
👨🍳 "They threatened to sue the bistro for defamation."
🌊 "Because we had no proof…"
☔ "No way."
🌊 "They come at quiet times like this."
👨🍳 "In the end, it was 'settled' privately."
🌊 "But still—ugh. Bastards."
🌊 "Do you think Boss can handle this?"
☔ "But I saw CCTV cameras up front."
👨🍳 "Yeah, those were installed after the incident. Before, only at the register and storage."
☔ "Ohh."
🌊 "Hey—they're starting to corner Boss."
👥 "We know Yorumi's here. Hey, pretty girl, come out! Hahahaha!"
🗣️ "Please, don't harass our staff."
👥 "Yaa?? Sex worker? Ahahaha! Prrrriiifft! Hey, old man—how many times have you used her that she's so comfy working here, huh?"
👥 "HEY YORUMI! HOW MUCH DO THEY PAY FOR THAT BODY, HUH? AHAHAHA!"
☔ "…what…"
🌊 "That's not fucking true!"
👨🍳 "I'm married!"
👨🍳 "Boss is married too!"
🌊 "Those fucking bastards. Are they drunk?"
👥 "HEY, YORUMI, GET OVER HERE!"
🗣️ "I'm sorry, customers are not allowed in the kitchen."
👥 "Tch! Annoying old man."
I had to do something.
And I did. The details don't matter—what matters is, we got them arrested. Hopefully, this time, they'll learn their lesson.
Huff… in the end, I wrote nothing for my song today.
🌊 "Thanks… for earlier."
☔ "No problem."
🌊 "…"
I saw it—the discomfort on her face.
☔ "…What… did they do to you?"
Damn. I shouldn't have asked.
🌊 "T-they… grabbed my butt."
I glanced at her. It clearly left a stain on her heart.
☔ "It's not your fault. I'm sorry you had to go through that."
And… I thought it would end there. But Yorumi started to tell me more. She even demonstrated how it happened. Her voice was intense—raw. I could feel everything she carried.
☔ "You should've told the police that too."
She stopped. Her stare told me—I was wrong.
🌊 "They didn't believe me. They kept asking for proof. I tried reporting again later, but all they said was 'Do you have evidence? Ah, but you don't, do you? You know it'll be hard without physical proof, right?' And they just kept cutting me off."
🌊 "So… when you managed to get them arrested today—it meant the world to me. Thank you."
Right as she said that, we arrived home.
I couldn't sleep now. I had to work on a song.
🌊 "You're not sleeping?"
☔ "I need to write. You go ahead."
🌊 "Hm. Alright."
I wrote passionately—but I'm only human. Exhaustion took over, and I fell asleep at the desk.
Strangely, when I woke up… there was a pillow and blanket under me.
🌊 "You're awake? I was just about to call Boss and say you're sick. How's the music? Do you like it?"
☔ "I'm fine, don't worry. And… it's not done yet. But! I want you to try singing it a little. I want to know how your voice sounds when you sing."
I handed her the paper. She studied it seriously.
I expected criticism first—but instead…
☔ "…Is it that bad?"
🌊 "Wha—no, no! I can read the lyrics, but… I have no idea how this is supposed to sound."
☔ "Eh?"
And that's when it hit me.
🌊 "I can't read sheet music…
But I can sing it if you give me an example."
I froze. Of course. There was never a trace of music in her home. She was a listener, not a musician.
How did I miss that?
🌊 "Senei…?"
☔ "Um, yes? I—I'm sorry. Well, I can't give you an example now. We'll be late for work."
🌊 "Okay."
Right. I've come this far. No need to rush.
🌊 "Let's go."
☔ smiles "Yeah, let's."
I'll row this boat slowly.
---
🌊 "…The lyrics are beautiful."
☔ "Yeah? I wrote it for you."
🌊 "…" tearing up "You always do."
☔🌊 /holding hands
🌊 wiping tears "I want to sing it."
☔ "You do? Thank you."
🌊 "Same to you."
☔ "I'll do my best to live better."
🌊 "Me too.."
Our little talks never seemed to end.
This feeling… it was almost like being reborn.
Maybe writing music as a hobby… isn't so bad after all.