kscans

Chapter 82 - After Mastering Production Skills

Six months had passed since Hayato had been unable to log in to Another Frontier Online.

In those six months, Hayato opened the cafe he had dreamed of.

The retro style cafe, reminiscent of generations past, could be called an antique in itself. It was the result of Hayato's meticulous planning. Partly because of its novelty, it had a decent number of customers.

A cafe opened in a Colony, not on Earth, was a rare sight. It would be impossible for anyone without a considerable fortune. But Hayato had money. It was the prize money he had received from Diite from the game.

It wasn't as if money alone was enough to open a cafe. The preparations leading up to the opening were hectic, and Hayato had finally managed to open it after running around all over the place.

No matter how busy he was, Hayato never forgot about the game.

He wondered what everyone from back then was doing now. He couldn't be involved with that game anymore. He knew that, but he couldn't help but be curious.

He occasionally asked Diite or Ney about the game. In fact, Ney and the other members of Kokuryu often held their offline meetups here. They would casually drop by, order something simple, and chat.

It was sad that this had become the main source of income for his cafe, but that was probably how it was for a newly opened business.

And today, Ney came again.

"Welcome."

"Indeed, I have been welcomed! I'll have the usual today! The others will be here soon too!"

"Chocolate parfait again? Order coffee once in a while."

"...That's an adult taste. I won't understand it until I'm a bit older. Well, I'll order it eventually."

You're over twenty, though. And eating a chocolate parfait every day will make you fat.

While thinking this, Hayato went to make the requested sweet.

Around six in the evening, Ney and her group left.

Hayato cleared the dishes from the table where they had eaten and drank, and began to wash them.

I need to do something about the sales. Thanks to Ney and the others, I have a steady income, but I can't rely on that forever. Should I change the coffee beans? Or does the shop need something more to sell itself?

He thought about various things, but there was no point in doing anything too eccentric.

As he pondered what to do, a considerable amount of time passed.

No customers were coming, and he was thinking about closing up shop for the day. That was when it happened.

The doorbell chimed, karan karan.

A woman entered from the entrance.

She was wearing a white off the shoulder shirt and faded black jeans, with sunglasses on despite the time. The temperature inside the Colony was kept constant, so her outfit wasn't particularly cold. But it was so unguarded, it lacked any sense of femininity. It was the kind of outfit that said, as long as it's clothes, anything will do.

He couldn't see well because of the sunglasses, but looking at the outline of her face and her hair, which extended to the middle of her back, Hayato felt like he had met her somewhere before. But he couldn't remember where.

Oh no, she's a customer who came all this way, I need to treat her properly.

"Welcome. Please, take any seat you like."

Hayato said with a smile.

Though it was his own prejudice, Hayato thought that since she was a woman, she would sit at a table by the window, but instead, she sat at the counter. She then looked at Hayato and her mouth curved into a slight smile.

That face, I've really seen it somewhere...

Immediately after thinking that, Hayato remembered he hadn't brought her water or a menu and hurriedly prepared them.

"Sorry for the wait. Here you..."

Hayato placed a glass of water in front of the woman and tried to hand her a menu.

The woman held up her right hand to stop him and didn't take the menu.

Just as he thought she might not be a customer, the woman opened her mouth.

"Manga Meat, Bucket Pudding, and a Super Eclair, please. All five stars."

For a moment, Hayato couldn't comprehend the woman's words. But it was only for a moment. He quickly remembered what those menu items were.

There was no way he could forget. They were the foods he had prepared when she became his companion.

"E, Esha...?"

Hayato asked the woman in a strained voice.

The woman smiled and took off her sunglasses. There, he saw the familiar smirking face of Esha from the game.

"It's been a while, Master. But you're a little slow on the uptake, aren't you? I thought you'd recognize me the moment I walked in, but to think you wouldn't get it until I said all that. Well, I got to see your surprised face, so I guess it's fine."

"Wha, ah, no, how... I mean, why...?"

Esha was a resident of the game. There was no way Esha could exist in the real world.

Hayato couldn't understand at all why Esha was here.

But ignoring Hayato's confusion, Esha was all smiles.

"You never came back, Master, so I came to get you. The Maid Guild also told me to find you, so that's why I came here. It took me six months, though."

"I, I see...?"

That wasn't the fundamental problem, but Hayato was so confused that his thoughts wouldn't come together. That was all he could manage to say.

"Is that all you have to say for our moving reunion? I thought you'd be more, you know, overjoyed. I have to say I'm a little miffed."

"N, no, I'm just so surprised I don't know what's what... I'm happy, I really am, but my brain can't keep up, I can't process it. Wait, did you just say you came to get me?"

"Yes, I did. You need to hire me as a maid, or the guild will send assassins after me, and I'll be in danger. Hurry up and go back to the virtual reality and hire me again."

"You know, I don't know if you'll understand this, Esha, but I can't log in to that game anymore. It seems Diite-chan destroyed my biometric authentication data."

"I fixed that. It's because that took time that I was late in coming."

"What? But Diite-chan said there's no one in this era who can fix it..."

"I am not a person of this era. Besides, I created parts of the program, so I can do that much."

"I see... Wait, are you human, Esha?"

"Is that where we're starting? Very well, let's talk about that now. I'll slowly explain to you how I became such a cute and beautiful maid."

Hayato's cheeks naturally relaxed. Ah, this is Esha. His interactions with Esha in the virtual reality were just like this. It was enough to make him feel as if this wasn't reality, but the virtual world itself.

"Well then, may I have something? You'll treat me, won't you?"

"Of course. I'll make you some coffee now, just wait a second."

"No, a chocolate parfait, please. I'd like to try the real thing."

Hayato complied with Esha's request and made a chocolate parfait. With coffee on the side, of course.

Esha held up the finished chocolate parfait for a few seconds, then began to eat it with a spoon. With her left hand on her cheek, the sight of her eating the parfait with such relish was that of a normal girl.

Little by little, Hayato was able to accept this reality.

"Now then, I'll explain as I eat."

Esha began to talk about everything that had happened.

By the time she finished the chocolate parfait, Esha had told Hayato everything.

"So, you all are people from a hundred years ago? Diite-chan is the only AI, and all the NPCs are human?"

"That's right."

Hayato heard the whole story from Esha. About the spaceship Aphrodite, about the AI, and about how the NPCs like Esha were people from a hundred years ago who were sleeping in cryosleep. He heard it all.

"But how were you able to come to the real world, Esha? Your memories of reality were gone, weren't they?"

"Actually, they had returned for a while. Around the time you carried me in your arms like a princess, Master."

The so called AI Protection was a measure to prevent the NPCs from remembering the real world. But in Esha's case, she regained her memories in a different way. It was likely because she was Esha, someone whose memories had been significantly altered before and after the final update.

"Ah, so the pain at that time was the pain of your memories returning. Oh, I see. That's why you were able to tell me to log out when we were running from Diite-chan. And you knew how to make the AI Killer because you were a programmer? And you were able to repair my biometric data because of that too? That's all very surprising."

"Since I made it possible for you to log in, you could at least say I can eat as many chocolate parfaits as I want, you know?"

"No, I don't think I'll ever say that, even if my mouth were torn open. And for the record, I won't say it in the game either."

Hayato felt a little teary eyed at their long absent exchange. He thought he would never see her again. He never imagined they would meet in the real world.

And being able to log in to the game meant he could see Ash and the others again too. He couldn't thank Esha enough.

Emotionally, he wanted her to eat as much as she wanted, but this was the real world. Things cost money here.

"By the way, this cafe has no customers, does it?"

"Don't say that. It just opened, it'll get better from now on, from now on."

"Could it be that your dream is this, Master?"

"That's right. I couldn't talk about reality in the game, so I didn't say it, but my dream was to run a cafe. That dream has come true, so my future dream, or rather, my challenge, is to serve as many customers as possible... I have to make a solid profit or it'll go under."

Hayato became a little sad at the realistic talk.

In front of him, Esha had a thoughtful expression on her face.

"Um, what's wrong?"

"I have a proposal for you, Master."

"That's fine, but could you stop calling me Master? Being called that in reality makes me look like a pretty shady person."

"Then how about Hayato-sama?"

"...I just got a chill."

"If we were in the game, I'd have pulled out Beelzebub and shot you."

"Hayato is fine. You don't need the -sama or anything."

"Understood. Well then, Hayato. I have a proposal."

Being called by his first name was also a little awkward in its own way. But he was careful not to let it show on his face. He didn't want to be teased as much as possible in the real world. Unlike in the game, there was a high chance he would blush.

"Um, a proposal?"

"I will work at this cafe as a live in employee. I will be the poster girl waitress, so I look forward to working with you."

"Live in... Isn't that a decision, not a proposal?"

"Are you saying you don't want to? Are you going to throw a poor, defenseless woman with nowhere to live out onto the streets at this hour?"

"When you put it like that, I have no choice but to let you stay, but I am a man, you know?"

"The fact that you say 'I am a man' yourself just shows how spineless you are. It's fine. Hayato will sleep in this cafe, and I will sleep in the bed on the second floor."

"How do you know the layout. Well, if I'm letting you stay, that's what I'd do anyway, so it's fine, but are you serious about the waitress thing?"

"Yes, I'm serious. Or is it okay for me to just get free food without working? For me, that would be the best."

"Work."

"Then it's settled. Besides, you're lucky, Hayato. To be able to hire a waitress with cheat level cuteness like me."

"You're the same as ever, calling yourself cute. Well, to secure new customers, it might be a good idea to make a change like that. Then I'll be counting on you in the real world too."

"Yes, you can rest assured. In return, however..."

"Huh? Is there something?"

"Yes, actually, there's a problem in the game right now. We'll need your production skills, Hayato, so please help us."

"Excuse me?"

"Right now, the Hardline Dragons are rampaging in various countries in search of the treasure of the Dragon Soul. It's what you'd call a Stampede. Ashley-sama and the others are trying to stop them, but it doesn't seem to be going well."

"Why is that happening? I mean, if it's a game event, isn't it fine to leave it as it is? They won't lose in the end, right?"

"Actually, there are various problems, and if the Hardline Dragons win, there's a possibility that the virtual reality will end."

"Why would that..."

"Well then, please start tomorrow. You can log in now, but for today, please entertain me."

"Huh? I have work tomorrow too."

"It's hard to say this, but this coffee is two star quality. No customers will come."

"You've said the unsayable...!"

Hayato knew that better than anyone. The thing that sold the least at this shop was the coffee.

"I shudder at the thought of you trying to attract customers with this. The chocolate parfait is so delicious. Why don't you just make it a chocolate parfait shop?"

"I want to compete with coffee!"

"Well, that's fine. But in that case, please do your best. For the sake of this shop's name, you know?"

Esha said this and started to smirk. For a moment, Hayato didn't understand what she was saying, but then the blood drained from his face.

He never thought this would happen, so he had forgotten about the shop's name until now.

"Crown Cafe... Don't you think you like me a little too much, Hayato? I'll just say that I'm a little dissatisfied that it's my last name and not my first."

He had taken the name from the person he felt had contributed the most to making his dream come true. It was out of pure gratitude, but now it was embarrassing. Still, since it had come to this, Hayato thought he should put it into words properly.

"Esha, I'm grateful to you. I was able to start this cafe thanks to Ash and the others, but I think it's mostly thanks to you. That's why I named the shop after you. Thank you, really."

Esha looked a little surprised at Hayato's words, but she quickly smiled.

"You're welcome. I'm grateful too... It's thanks to you, Hayato, that I didn't feel any fear even after regaining my memories."

"Um, I couldn't quite hear that last part...?"

"It's nothing. Now then, since the shop has my name too, let's make this the best cafe in the world. If we're going to do it, we have to aim for number one."

"I think that'll be difficult, you know."

Hayato said this, but he felt that with Esha, maybe it wouldn't be impossible after all.