Perhaps it was the alcohol, or maybe that long, drifting conversation with Yuuta had shaken something loose. He wasn't sure why basketball manga, of all things, had suddenly lodged itself in his mind.
There was a moment of silence.
Then, without a word, she crouched behind the counter and pulled out a black tablet, placing it gently on the surface between them. A faint hum filled the air as she tapped the screen once to unlock it. Haruki didn't seem to notice.
"Alright," she muttered, tapping the screen. "Let's see what we have…" She began scrolling, the soft flick of her finger brushing past title after title as she read them off under her breath. "High School Court Dreams… Slam & Kiss… Jumpers High… huh."
"Any of those have romance?"
"Do you want them to?"
He gave a small smile. "Preferably. Like, does Slam & Kiss come with the kiss part, or is that just false advertising?"
She sighed through her nose and kept scrolling. "That one's about a basketball player who falls in love with his coach."
"Oh wow… forbidden romance, huh?" Haruki took a small sip, his question slipping out playfully with curiosity. "What kind of coach are we talking about here?"
She glanced up, pausing mid-scroll. "What do you mean?"
He rested his chin on his hand. "Like, is she the strict and scary kind? Or secretly soft underneath? Tsundere vibes?"
"Hmm. Muscular, maybe." She arched a brow and continued scrolling.
"Ohh… like, a buff girl kind of muscular?"
"Huh?" She didn't look up, her finger continuing to scroll across the screen without pause. "Did I say it was a girl?"
Haruki leaned in, frowning. "Wait—so the coach isn't a guy?"
"Mmm." She didn't look up, still scrolling casually through the tablet.
"Then… the players are girls?"
"Nope. Guys, too."
His face stiffened.
She finally glanced at him, one brow slightly raised. "Did I ever say there were girls?"
Haruki glanced at the screen, then cleared his throat and inched a little closer. "Right. Is there a genre filter? Something with, I don't know… cute girls or something?"
As he spoke, he reached for his glass without looking, still focused on the screen. His fingers caught the rim, just enough to knock it off balance. The glass wobbled once before toppling over with a sharp clatter.
"Oh, crap—!"
The beer tipped too fast, spilling over the rim and splashing across the tablet. Foam hit the screen with a wet smack, bubbling out in every direction. Haruki straightened, eyes wide with panic as the liquid began to seep into the device's edges.
"Shit, sorry, sorry—"
He lunged for the paper towels, yanking the napkin holder halfway across the counter in his scramble and sending the bowl of peanuts tumbling off the side.
The bartender remained still, staring at the screen. Haruki gripped the napkin tightly in one hand as he looked at her. "Is it... waterproof?" he asked.
No response.
She stayed completely still, her gaze locked on the tablet, with not a single twitch or blink to suggest she had noticed anything at all. Rigid, almost like a statue frozen in place.
Haruki hesitated, then slowly waved a hand in front of her face. "Uh…hi?"
There was still no response.
The overhead light emitted a faint buzz before flickering erratically. Shadows along the wall twisted in the wrong direction, stretching too far and too fast.
Haruki glanced at the tablet. The liquid continued to slide down its edges, but the edges were not holding their shape. The black frame appeared to be melting, the color bleeding away like ink in water. As his eyes tracked the drip, he noticed the bar counter beneath it wasn't right either. The wood appeared soft, its colors merging into the black, as if both were dissolving into one another.
He blinked hard, forcing his eyes to refocus, half convinced this was just the alcohol distorting his vision.
Then, the bartender's lips curved, but not quite into the same expression as before. For an instant, her face broke apart into tiny squares, then snapped back together in the wrong order.
He lurched back in shock, stumbling several steps. The sudden movement made his head spin, but it wasn't just him. Beneath him, the floor trembled in deep, uneven pulses that rattled the counter.
Glass clinked sharply behind the bar. Several bottles tipped and crashed to the floor, shattering from impact as liquid streamed unnaturally fast toward one side, as though the entire room had tilted.
An earthquake? The thought struck him.
The next second, manga volumes along the shelves rattled loose, thudding to the floor as their pages tore free, spiraling upward instead of down. A sudden gust roared through the small space, whipping the paper into a wild cyclone.
His gaze snapped back to the bartender. She hadn't moved an inch, but her face was changing. Human features warped into animal muzzles, then into something absurd, like the glossy bun of a hamburger, before shifting into yet another shape.
I'm so drunk.
When he blinked his eyes again, the world responded by collapsing beneath him. The floor dropped away, and everything —the walls, the shelves, the light —fractured into pixelated fragments before shattering into nothing.
For a brief moment, there was only the void. Then, Haruki found himself plunging through weightlessness, surrounded by swirling scraps of light and shadow like debris caught in a storm. Fragments of the bar—pages of manga, shards of glass, and even the curve of a sake bottle—spun around him before dissolving into streams of pixels, absorbed by the surrounding darkness.
A sound enveloped him, a faint mechanical hum rising and falling in uneven pulses, like an old machine struggling to start. He tried to speak but couldn't.
Then, without warning, the darkness cracked open. Light poured in, so bright that it forced him to shut his eyes. The next thing he knew, he hit solid ground hard enough to knock him sober.
He lay there for a moment, stunned, staring up at a sky far too bright for night just seconds ago.
Slowly, he pushed himself upright and got to his feet. The field opened out around him, mountains rising in the distance and tall forested trees forming a dark border. On the far side, a narrow dirt path cut across the open space.
Just then, a sudden sharp screech cut through the air.
Haruki turned around and noticed something diving—wings outstretched, feathers flashing silver and black, its body lean and feline. Instinct sent him dropping into a crouch, the creature skimming so close the air left behind smelled faintly of burnt paper.
He was still catching his breath when a soft thud landed on his head.
He froze. Slowly, he raised his hands, his fingers brushing against something that felt soft and warm—almost alive. The shape beneath his touch shifted gently,
The creature blinked slowly, dazed and unsteady.
He couldn't tell what it was at first, only that it was warm and surprisingly heavy.
Then, breaking the silence, came a clear, gentle sound.
"Meow."