Serenity is a necessity for life. Serenity being simply a time of contentedness, of not having to hold back from anyone, and with no one in the way. Taking me as an example, shining a glass like this was serenity.
The freshly-washed glass still had droplets of water on it, I lifted it up with a clean cloth and wiped off the water, paying particular attention to where a customer's lips would touch the rim. Once the entire thing was polished, it became a work of art, with not a single smudge or fingerprint on it.
Lifting it up into the light and looking at it was enchanting. This truly was serenity.
Several glasses had already been finished with and were lined up on the sideboard behind me. Each of them neatly placed into line. Once the final glass was in its place, my mind had already moved onto the next task.
I picked up the folded black apron from the counter and wound the strings around my waist before tightly knotting them together; my preparations were complete and I was ready to open.
I came out from behind the counter and walked around the main area once more, checking that there wasn't any rubbish on the floor, that none of the chairs were out of place, and that none of the tables were dirty.
The building was originally a bar, so the area itself was fairly big, there were ten seats along the counter, four tables that seated four, and three tables that seated two. Even so, there was still space to spare. I was the only worker, and if you were to ask whether I could run this place despite that, I'd say that I can indeed. Why? That would be because there are no customers.
Done with my inspection, I headed outside.
The sky was disgustingly clear with a few clouds floating whimsically across its blue expanse. My place was removed from the main street by a single street, on a bit of a back alley. Despite that, there was still a fair amount of foot traffic past me and the clamour of the main street reached me.
A bear-faced man wearing a dull silver armour walked past, a shockingly beautiful woman with long ears following behind him. There were even dwarves walking by, pitch-black robes dragging along the ground as they did. The street was filled with all of these people, too many to count.
Though I was already well acquainted with this, I still wasn't certain that this wasn't a dream. It was a pure fantasy.
Explaining it away by saying that this was another world was simple, but actually accepting that was another matter. I wanted to ask where I was, I wanted to yell for a way home. However, of course no one would take me seriously. This might look like a fantasy to me, but this was reality to the people living in this world, and even with the basis of this reality, someone saying, "I'm from another world," would be seen as abnormal.
I put my hands on my waist and let out a long breath.
The weather today was nice, but precisely because of that, my spirits lowered.
"Hahh."
"Hahh."
Huh? I thought, tilting my head.
I certainly had sighed, but I had heard another sigh at the same time, a sigh from someone else. Glancing around, I soon met the source's gaze, a girl sitting on a bench set at the side of the street.
She looked around the same age as me and was wearing a uniform with black as its foundation, a characteristic cape across her shoulders with a crest on it. I knew it as the uniform of the academy in the middle of town, Aureola Magic Academy.
The eyes looking at me were a vivid azure, just like the sky and her hair, gathered together high at the back of her head, was a crimson like the setting sun.
The two of us, complete strangers, had sighed at the same time and then looked at each other, this was a situation I wasn't entirely sure how to deal with. For now, I put a smile, the proud product of my work in customer service, on my face. Smile.
Her eyebrows raised in surprise and she returned the greeting with a nod. I was certain she thought I was someone worthy of suspicion.
I looked up to the heavens in resignation that this was how my day was starting.
No, it's fine, I decided, there was no real avoiding it, and I would just have to work hard through the day.
After a quick survey of the ground in front of the entrance to make sure there was no rubbish there, I took the wooden sign from the side of the door. It was written in this world's language, but I could tell the difference between the two sides, one having 'closed for the day' on, and the other having 'open for business'.
I hung it back up, with the 'open' side facing forwards.
"Is this a restaurant?" Came a voice from my side.
It was the girl that had been sitting on the bench, she had come to stand next to me at some point. I masked my surprise with a smile and faced her.
"Of course, but it's not an ordinary restaurant," I told her, throwing out my chest, "it's the one and only café in the world."
"Café?" She asked.
That's right, this world didn't have the concept of a café, so my café was literally the only one in existence.
"It's a restaurant that offers light snacks and drinks, coffee is our speciality."
"Coffee?" The girl asked, her eyebrows furrowing, her expression saying she had never heard the term before.
"You don't know of coffee? That won't do, coffee is widely popular nowadays, you need to hear about it, please come and try some."
"It's widely popular?"
"Of course," I lied.
"Does it taste good?"
"It's an adult flavour."
"Hmm?" She noised disinterestedly, looking up at my restaurant and making her crimson hair sway, gazing in at the interior from the tall, street-facing windows. "This place has tables, right?" She asked, awfully familiarly.
"It does," I nodded.
"The seats comfortable?"
"Of course they are, I was rather picky with them," I answered.
The seating was an important factor for cafés, it had to be soft and relaxing, without being limp or too hard.
While I was thinking that the girl was asking some rather strange things, her face softened into a smile, her azure eyes sparkling in the sunlight.
"Could I study here?" She asked.
I just nodded, taken aback at seeing such vivid eyes.
"I'll be back then," she said before walking off. I just absently watched her leave.
It felt like I'd been treated to a wonderful sight that morning, and I let out another breath, but not a sigh this time. I'd do my best today.
I put my hands on my hips and looked up at the sky.
Men are simple creatures,I thought earnestly, we really are weak to cute girls.
As I was standing around at the side of the street, I nearly bumped into someone. The foot traffic was steadily increasing. There was a person carrying a basket full of red, apple-like fruits, someone with their head wrapped in a dark black cloth and a small, dragon-like creature atop it, and a horned girl walking hand in hand with a horse-faced person.
The phrase 'many and varied' didn't do the sight justice. There were many different races living in this town. However, even if this seemed to be a fantasy world, even if the town had a bottomless labyrinth, even if magic and demi-humans were common, even if mysterious, ineffable people passed by, there was one thing that didn't change.
Those that don't work, don't eat.
In other words, you need to work to live. That's why I was running this café. My family had done so since my grandfather's generation, so it was the thing I was most familiar with, and something I at least knew how to do.
This was all I could do, there were many things to feel down over, but also many things that were surprisingly pleasant.
After all, I'd just spoken with a cute girl.
I had been mindlessly turning over the sign in my hand, so I hung it up once more.
"Open for business," it said.