It rained yesterday, it rained today and maybe it would rain tomorrow as well. Looking at the weather forecast for the week ahead, it was rain, rain, rain.

 

Yes, the rainy season had come.

There was also a day where it poured heavily and for the first time in my life, I had to carry a raincoat in my bag the entire day.

I had to work at the Evening Rain Café almost every day.

 

As soon as my lectures finished today, I packed my reference books into my bag to head for the Evening Rain.

On the way out, someone clapped my back.

Looking back, Ryoko-chan had raised her hand lightly.

 

「Hey, Oto-chan, are you working part time today as well?」

「Ah, yes.」

「Is it at café?」

「Yes, yes.」

「Hmm. Haven’t you been working every day recently?」

「I thought that now is the time to earn some money.」

「That’s tough. You shouldn’t push yourself too hard.」

「Thanks.」

 

Riko-chan was the only person I had told that I was working part time.

Thankfully, maybe she guessed I had various reasons, she didn’t ask for any details.

 

「Then, I guess you won’t be going to today’s parfait party.」

「That’s a great party……!　Ah~, that sounds fun.」

「I’ll invite you again next time.」

「Sorry about that~~.」

 

It’s always raining when Ryoko-chan suddenly planned an event.

While feeling disappointed, I headed for the Evening Rain.

 

It was raining outside.

As I went down the Dutch Slope, which had started to get dark, and headed towards the café in the western style building, I got a bit nervous.

Maybe he was still preparing to open the store, there was no signboard saying it was open for business outside.

Going around to the back entrance and entering, I called out to the Owner, who was in the kitchen.

 

「Good evening.」

 

When I greeted him, he glanced over for an instant with a frown.

Speaking of that, he doesn’t really mean much by that expression. Recently, I found that it was a bad habit of the Owner.

When he looked at me with that face, I misunderstood that he was annoyed with me. I mentioned it once and was told that it wasn’t something easy for him to change.

What the Owner was making in the kitchen was–

 

「Parfait!」

 

In an elegant Nabeshima porcelain cup, there was Matcha ice cream, Shiratama mochi, Warabi mochi and Adzuki beans on top of a Matcha cake with fresh cream. It was a parfait with wonderful toppings.

 

「C-Could this possibly be today’s item?」

「I guess.」

「Uwa~, that’s fantastic~~.」

 

But, it only has one element from Nagasaki……? At first glance, it looked like an ordinary delicious parfait. I was worried about it so I asked.

 

「At least, as much as possible, I made it using things from the Nagasaki prefecture. The Matcha is a product from Higashisonogi, the Adzuki beans I cooked were bought from a farmer acquaintance I know. The cake is a Matcha Castella.」

「Oh, I see!」

 

Traditional confectionery was arranged in a contemporary style. I thought it was wonderful.

The Owner handed me the parfait to eat.

 

「Eh? Is that really okay?」

「It’s taste testing.」

「Thank you very much!」

 

No way, I can eat a parfait here!

I was told to eat it in the rest area.

With light steps, I headed to the rest area, gently placed the parfait on the table and sat down on the chair.

Although I thought it would be better to wait for the Owner to come, I decided to eat it when I saw that it didn’t look like he would be coming over.

First of all, I used a porcelain spoon to scoop some fresh cream, Matcha ice cream and Matcha Castella. Maybe because I got too greedy, the scoop got a bit big.

 

「……Oh, delicious!」

 

In a room without anyone else in it, I spoke my impressions unintentionally.

The combination of the moderate bitterness of Matcha, the coldness of the smooth ice cream and the rich flavour of the fresh cream was wonderful.

Both the Shiratama mochi, Warabi mochi and slow cooked Adzuki beans were delicious.

Along the way, the Owner came over.

 

「……You’re eating it too fast.」

「There’s still one third!」

 

The Owner frowned at my positive remark.

Gently, he placed a drink on the table.

It was in the red Hasami pottery mug I had bought last time.

Inside, it was filled to the brim with milk.

 

「T-This is–!」

「Ordinary hot milk.」

「Milk and Matcha! It’s the strongest combination!」

 

When my body was getting cold from the ice cream, I didn’t think he would prepare hot milk.

I almost cried.

 

「Owner, thank you very much! As an employee here, I am really happy」

「……I’ll say this again, but you are just taste testing.」

「Yes!」

 

Wrapping both my hands around the warm mug, I let it cool down before taking a sip.

The gentle sweetness of the milk spread through my mouth and seemed to gently seep into my body.

It was a moment of supreme bliss.

 

The Matcha parfait and hot milk quickly disappeared.

Taking out my wallet from my bag to pay for it, I was stopped by the Owner.

 

「I don’t need the money.」

「B-But.」

「I’ve got the money already.」

「Hm?」

「……No, I’ll deduct it from your pay.」

「In that case, thank you for that.」

 

I felt relieved at the Owner’s words.

I’ve been eating and drinking too much food here recently. Although I requested my hourly wage to be reduced, he wouldn’t accept it.

Thanks to him, my income last month was more than enough.

 

The time was 6:30pm.

I fixed up my clothes and got ready to place the sign outside to show that we were open.

Taking an umbrella and going outside, there was someone near the entrance.

Was that a young woman? Her face was covered by an umbrella, so I couldn’t see that well.

 

「Welcome. Good evening.」

 

When I called out, the umbrella that hid her face quickly rose.

 

「Hm?」

「Ah!」

 

Looking at each other, we were both surprised.

 

「Ryoko-chan!」

「Oto-chan……」

 

I was surprised that she had arrived at this shop. This neighbourhood was complicated and it was a remote area where tourists didn’t visit much.

 

「You work part-time here?」

「Mm, I’ve been working here since April.」

「I see.」

 

I stopped our conversation there.

Since it was raining heavily, I invited her inside.

 

「Today, today is Matcha parfait day–ah, what happened to the parfait party?」

「……Sorry, it’s a long story, I’ll talk about it inside.」

 

Ryoko-chan’s face looked gloomy, illuminated by the street lights. I hope it was just because it was night time.

I thought she would feel better after eating a delicious parfait.

 

Ryoko-chan saw the fashionable interior of the western style building and blinked her eyes at the usual sight.

Local people seemed to have such reactions since they didn’t visit around here a lot.

 

I showed her the menu and introduced the items of the day.

 

「Today’s items are hot milk with a Matcha Castella parfait made with Matcha from Higashisonogi.」

「Then, I will order one.」

 

Somehow, it feels embarrassing to serve and acquaintance. Maybe Ryoko-chan was thinking of the same thing and also felt awkward being on the customer side.

When I placed an order for a parfait, the Owner started silently making one.

I prepared the hot milk.

After preparing the ordered items, I carried them over to her on a cart.

 

「Sorry for making you wait.」

 

When I placed the Matcha parfait on the table, Riko-chan’s eyes shined. I also placed the milk down diagonally in front.

Using a spoon to scoop up the Matcha ice cream and Castella, she gave a big smile.

Seeing her eat it with great relish made me happy.

Similarly, Ryoko-chan finished the parfait almost immediately.

I went to make another serving of milk, but the Owner said that if a friend had come over, I should prepare Chinese tea to drink together.

 

「But, I’m working right now.」

「The rain has stopped.」

「Ah!」

 

It seems that working hours had ended before I knew it.

Accepting his offer, I decided to have tea with Riko-chan.

 

◇◇◇

 

「–So, what happend?」

「I heard from someone else that they saw Oto-chan around here.」

「Oh I see.」

 

What to say, I’ve been here a lot lately, I’ve also had a worn out look which seems to have made her worry.

 

「The parfait party, I was only planning to hold it if you were going. I hadn’t invited anyone else yet.」

「I see.」

 

Ryoko-chan told me she was relieved because I was working happily.

 

「It’s calm here, both the outside and inside look nice, it suits you.」

「Eeh, thanks.」

 

Ryoko-chan went silent.

 

「Somehow, it’s a place I want to have all to myself because I don’t want to tell anyone else. It might be a good place to quietly read books.」

「You mean manga?」

「Correct!」

 

I always read manga myself, so I asked unintentionally. Her reply was as expected and the two of us laughed together.

It was a day where the Evening Rain Café got itself a new regular customer.

 

◇◇◇

 

It rained the next day as well.

After finishing cooking classes, it was past 5pm when I finished cleaning up. It was still bright outside.

I decided to head to the store a bit earlier.

 

When I left the main gate, I was surprised to see a young man there. Was he waiting for someone?

He was in his early twenties and his hair colour was bright and flashy. I also felt his pattern on his shirt looked a bit superficial.

Though I didn’t mean to stare, our eyes met.

I went to take my leave and gave a polite bow as I walked past.

 

When I went down the slope, I heard footsteps behind me. Was it the man from before?

Although I walked without worrying about it for a while, when the man followed me around the corner towards the Evening Rain Café, my blood started to drain from my face.

 

–Maybe, I’m being followed?

 

I quickly went down the slope nervously, but the man behind me quickened his pace as well.

I hurriedly took out the smartphone from my bag and called the Owner. However, there was only a ringtone and no one picked up. It lead to the answering machine service.

 

「Owner, help–.」

「Hey you!」

「!?」

 

While I was using my smartphone, it seems the distance between us had shortened before I knew it.

Looking back fearfully, there was a man with a big smile on his face. As expected, it was the man who had been standing at the front gate to the university.

 

「……W-What?」

「Well, I want to take some time to talk somewhere.」

 

Uwa, it was the first time someone had tried to pick me up. Following me without my permission, I was really scared. No, I still felt scared now.

Somehow, I tried to decline without encouraging him further.

 

「I’m sorry, I have to go to my part-time job right now.」

「You don’t have to go for a day.」

「No, that’s why–.」

 

Even though I politely declined, the frivolous man kept harassing me. At that time, when I was at a loss on what to do, I heard an angry shout from behind. ‘What are you doing?’

Turning around, the Owner was standing there with a scary face. He was holding his mobile phone in his hand.

He was wearing black edged glasses and two of the buttons on his shirt, that were usually done up properly were loose.

Seeing him looking different from usual, I noticed that I seemed to have tried to contact him when he was resting in his apartment. I didn’t even know he had bad eyesight. I realised that was why he was always frowning.

 

The Owner came over and sternly stood between me and the man.

 

「You, do you have any business here?」

「Ah, ah~, what, a guy has come over.」

「Answer my question.」

「Well, I don’t know.」

「Not good enough.」

 

The Owner grasped the man’s shoulder the like claws of a bird of prey.

 

「That hurts, she was kinda cute, so I just called out to her.」

「A little cute?」

 

The Owner questioned him again.

I also felt bothered. I didn’t want him to say I was cute with his voice.

 

「That’s enough, just let me go.」

「I’m going to call the police.」

「Haa!?」

「I can only see a suspicious person.」

「Please don’t do that!」

 

But, the Owner was serious.

He managed to detain the man who tried to escape and I called the police.

He seemed to have been wandering around the university recently, the police also muttered ‘So you’re the suspicious person……’ like the main character from Gon, the Little Fox.

 

After finishing the police interview, we trudged back to the Evening Rain.

The Owner, grasped my hand closely the entire time.

 

I thought he was getting angry, but the Owner didn’t say anything. Previously, he got angry when I went to the store without contacting him.

 

I was told to wait at the rest area.

It was raining outside but he said he couldn’t be bothered to open the store. It seems that the Evening Rain will be closed because of the Owner’s whim.

 

While I stayed idly in the rest area, the Owner came back.

He presented me with a cup of hot milk with honey and a piece of Castella.

He told me to eat it, so I accepted it gratefully.

 

The Castella was delicious, the taste of hot milk spread through my body and my tears fell like rain.

 

Seeing me like that, the Owner spoke in a gentle voice.

 

「When you come over, please contact me. I’ll be sure to pick you up.」

「……Yes, thank you very much.」

 

The fear in my heart gradually went away.

I thought that the Owner’s words were sweeter than the Castella.

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