I knew Sui was quite drunk. The usual tone for Sui is clerical rather than female language, hard language.
But when drunkenness turns and raps, it turns into soft language or childish language.
So I knew Sui, whose tail was getting a little unstable, was more drunk than she looked. Is it obvious because I was drinking at home and I also drank here? What's more, tension and liberation from it work more intoxicating than you think.
"Hehe. Hehe."
As a result, she's in a better mood than I expected. Every swinging liquid in her hand is already the middle of the second cup.
But in the back of such a sui mood, I've always been concerned about the last word Trice left.
"... total? What's the matter, man?
"Oh, no."
At a time when there was a shadow on my smile, Sui leaned her neck and asked me. And I'll give it back to you for short.
I'm curious, but right now, at the right time to smash this girl's good feelings, there's nothing to talk about. When you calm down, you just have to think again.
To say yes, my concerns seemed to have been correctly conveyed to Sui.
"... will this city be engulfed in war?
…………
The last thing Trice left.
Another circumstance that must have been behind the story about me and the cocktail.
Half the reason she asked me out is to keep me out of danger. At least, that she thinks this place is dangerous.
But that doesn't seem like something to think about right now after all. I have a lot of booze in me and my thoughts don't come together any more than usual. There's no way I can come to a good conclusion in that state.
"No, let's not talk about that"
I laughed bitterly and told Sui. Without waiting for her reply, I draw the glass at hand to deceive her.
I tilted it and noticed that the contents were almost empty. I heard the sound of ice, always heard in my ears, from the glass in front of me.
It's so boring, laughing and deluding. But Sui didn't laugh at me.
"No, look, I have my share, and I don't have any trouble losing it."
The bartender's job is always to think about the customer's circumstances. You shouldn't pinch your own personal feelings there. So if Sui is enjoying herself right now, I want to give her priority.
I think so, and I desperately put the story back in the direction of the cocktail.
Sui had a serious eye for me like that.
"Total. That's a bad habit, isn't it? I don't care about myself, even if I care about what's around me"
"No, it's not. I just don't bother around."
"I'm lying. I'm calling."
"Huh?"
To Sui's point, I tilt my neck.
"I'm worried. I'm worried about the total. Not just me, but everyone around me is worried about me."
"I'm worried."
"All in all, I want you to take care of yourself."
Her tone is shattering, so I thought it was a joke at first.
But there was a slight tear in Sui's eyes. Some of the emotions will be easier to come off, but the emotions are still real.
I'm so worried about a girl much younger than me, crying.
"... that guy told me when he left. He asked for the total. Even if you don't tell me, I'll protect the total."
"It's a complicated feeling to be declared protective of a girl."
"Because if you don't, the total will be, at some point, light..."
I'll try to get off topic. But Sui stepped straight through my evil temper like that and said that.
Tris also pointed me out that I look lightly at my life.
I don't feel that way myself. I'm scared to death, and I remember how much I wanted to cry when I was actually on the spot.
But still. Both Sui and Tris say they're so worried about me.
"I'm glad you're worried, but it's such a big deal. Tris and Sui are worried too much. I can't believe I'm gonna die that easy."
"But that guy said it, didn't he? Nothing else, to this me. Probably the least I want to rely on me.... that guy, has he ever lied to the total before?
"... it doesn't, though"
I don't remember Tris ever lying to me. Maybe they're throwing up one or two lies, but I don't remember.
Back from there, when I said how Torisu Ibuki was, she seemed to be a lying nonvomiting doctrine with her. Instead, it was better to hide things from me, but most of the time I fell for the better, so I couldn't say anything.
She knows something I don't. And he's hiding it from me. It also seems like the wind we're trying to avoid divulging that information.
That's exactly what Trice said.
I'm sure he did another dictatorship, came to see me and said:
Don't die.
"... well, it's been in my dying eyes ever since, you know, talking about how many percent of them are from Trice"
"That's where I agree. So I don't care about that guy"
Sui clearly ran out of words that she didn't like Trice. It's weirder to say, given her personality, but when you say it, I get up a little bit.
But Sui loosens the sword swallowing of his eyes after he runs out.
"But I'm very grateful for the help that he gave me."
Without laughing in the light, Sui runs out again. Then I slowly drank out the cocktail in my hand. Let the complex emotions in your chest also be drank together.
Sometimes it was dangerous to see because of her, but it was also often because of her that it helped.
She has given me more progress than equal to the difficulty of getting off.
It is undoubtedly thanks to Trice that cocktails are developing at a faster rate than I first thought when I came to this world.
... No, there's one more collaborator who stopped showing up to me.
Put my thoughts aside, Sui kept saying the words.
"So what that guy said, I trust him for one second. Something big could be looming in this city."
"... yeah, you think?
"I think. There's a reason for the changes in the world here these days. Because it's more convincing."
Change in the world.
I can't say anything because I've come to this world shallow. But Sui seems to be feeling something.
No, there was one thing I could tell for sure.
"... activation of demons,"
I hear stories from a variety of people, starting with Viola.
Outside the city, demonic creatures are enlivened. Little by little it affects people's lives, even if there is no immediate major change.
If the farm, which was safe until then, becomes dangerous, changes will occur in production.
Until then, if safe routes become dangerous, changes will be made in distribution.
If we are exposed to the external pressure of demons, human life has to change.
That could lead to a life-threatening situation, or even to 'magic deficiency' and potions and cocktails.
"Now, people's lives are still the same. But..."
"... if there's any trigger, does that change too"
"At least the lives of the Knights will change"
In order to protect the people of the city, it was the Knights who first became shields. People who serve the lords who rule this city and defend his city with his life.
I know that they are actively learning one technology.
"Is that what you're keen on studying cocktails for?"
"I don't think there's a simple interest."
Half the students in the cocktail class I'm opening right now are young knights who shouldn't have anything to do with a drinker.
It may also be because of the Lord's interest or the fact that it is a classroom where his breath rests, but is there a simpler reason?
Expensive potions are not always available. Sometimes only inexpensive potions are on hand.
If that's a life-threatening situation, I'm sure 'cocktail' technology will help.
"... Anyway, all we can do is tell the lord and all we have to do is live our days to the fullest"
I concluded that somewhat forcefully. I didn't think we were talking about doing this here any more.
After all, no matter what Tris says, I'm just a stubborn bartender. There's very little I can do.
So here, no matter how disturbing your head, nothing will be solved.
Sui also seemed to have noticed my will and nodded very briefly.
"Let's go home today. Mr. Oyaji, Corsica's worried."
I don't know one day that Sui has been contacted, but he's been talking in here nearly thirty minutes. I have work to do tomorrow, so it's time to cut it off.
I reach for the glass that has been emptied of Sui to get into the equipment cleanup.
"... n"
But Sui refused my hand like that, with a slightly selfish face.
I'm desperately trying to get my fingertips on what makes me let go of the glass.
"Sui"
"One more drink"
Sui said with a faceless look like he had made it.
Speaking of why it's faceless, it would be to keep the feelings you really think are bad on your face.
I repeated, frightened by her.
"Sui"
"Just one more drink"
"You have to work tomorrow."
"But just one more drink"
As I say, I get just a little crack in Sui's faceless shell.
I understand myself saying selfishness without any help. Still, I want to stay in this space a little longer. Such a colour seeped in.
This space where no one is, chilly, dim, and blurry and warm. Owner-master relationship, facing over the counter.
Where I am, where Sue is, and there's nothing else. There's no Trice, there's no looming problem, and there's not even time for that unless I point it out.
I guess she thought. Maybe this opportunity will never come again. She really thought I'd be gone today.
That scares me, I want to feel right now, and saying such selfishness doesn't seem like the usual sui.
But I thought her selfishness was just a little sweet.
"... just one more drink."
"Yeah."
Eventually, I decided to hang out with her selfishly for just one more drink.
When I heard the order, I thought of Trice walking in the dark as she and I made matching [Gin Lime].
From the counter, look out through the window.
The moonlight still lights the world of the night dimly today.
Soon, a second winter will come when I come to this world. If that passes, I couldn't welcome you with Torisu Ibuki, spring will come.
If she was alive, she would have taken me out complaining, yes.
"... in the spring, I see flowers in my country."
"Hanami?"
Suddenly, when I say it, Sui returns it with interest.
"A cherry blossom blooms as it travels a little north all over the country. It's customary to drink and make noise every year while looking at the flowers."
"Heh."
"I'm not familiar with this country. Why don't we see some flowers next spring?
Sui waited quietly for the continuation.
"Gather the regulars from this bar. Flowers can be anything in bloom, so make noise from morning to evening. So, when it's night, we'll come back to this store and have a second meeting. Enjoy all-you-can-drink, until you feel comfortable."
It was an event at the bar I was serving in Japan.
Spring flower viewing and fall barbecue. Only those two events, the bartender and the customer, in the sun, drank and laughed.
I don't think I really laughed. Somewhere in my mind I spent some time drinking without even making a cocktail.
But I don't think so now either. If Sue was there, and everyone was there, and Tris was there, I'd feel like I was laughing from the bottom of my heart.
"Can't you?
"Yeah. I don't like the noise, but I'm sure it's not bad"
That's what Sui said and smiled. I smile again, imagining the occasion.
[Jin Lime] can do it while he says so. Ice floats like an iceberg in a clear liquid that fills a rock glass.
One last drink. At that time, our [Jin Lime] is clueless. I'm not cutting lime, I'm just making juice. But no one complains about it.
I'll give it to you instead of an empty glass.
"Thank you for waiting"
"Yeah. I waited"
Sui jokes and says so, and takes the glass.
I asked her again with the glass in my hand.
"Again, do I need a toast?
"I'll see you later, Hanami."
"To the promise of flower sighting"
Over the counter, we paired our glasses.
Quietly the rock glass makes a cock noise. I was sucked into the quiet store and the sound went away.
But I thought it would be nice if Trice, who had gone somewhere, had received that sound along with that 'good thing'.