The Coffee Shop in a Different World Station

One sunny evening, a red sunset lit the train stopping at the platform at Harpertown Station, which had just been done.

After the whistle sounds, the leading steam locomotive slowly leaves as it takes the passenger car and makes heavy noises with the guttangotton.

Eventually two long shadows were left on the platform where the tranquility returned.

"Young people there, will you finish the ticket because it's time to close the station building?

An old man with a double collar made of blue fabric wearing a golden decorated Kepi hat speaks out to the young men who were the source of the two shadows.

Then one of the youngsters - a young man with glasses - pulled the hand of another small-bodied woman - supposedly a cat-eyed sub from the look of her ear standing over her head - and turned to the ticket mouth with the old man earlier.

"Excuse me, where the hell is this one...?

The young man, who arrives at the ticket slot, speaks to the old man in a troubled manner.

"This is the end station Harpertown Station on the Roses-Harper Line...... How did it go?

The old man returned the words with questions as he watched the two of them.

The young man who asks where he is now asks the woman who also looks like a girl who looks worried beside him if she knows this place, but just looks at each other and puts her neck around him.

The old man, who did not see the two, once again called back to them as “station manager”.

"Hmm, can I ask you if you have any problems or if you don't mind?

When the old man tells him so, he closes the door as high as the waist provided at the ticket opening.

The two, being taken by the old man, walked into the room - the waiting room - right next to the ticket slot.

―――――

"... that's why. No, I take it for granted that you don't believe me..."

The young man named Takumi explains the situation to the old man - the "station manager” - that he is entrusted with the management of the station building sitting in front of him.

Until a few hours ago, I felt that I was on the train from the destination "Takayama” to “Nagoya” (Takumi was called Tokkuu, but “Station Manager” understood whether it was one of the train's callings), that I was falling asleep on the train, but when I woke up with loud noises, I was on the train I had just arrived at this station, and that my wife, who had just been naturalized next door, had become a “cat-eared young girl” … Takumi who managed to logically explain, but who would not be able to organize herself, had not been given the point.

“Station Manager” listens seriously as he nods back one by one to the explanation Takumi speaks as he chooses words diligently.

And then I put on an arm and thought Hmmm...... and then I spoke for the youth takumi.

"I see…, did“ timeline turn "occur?"

"" Timeline rotation "…, what is it?

To the unfamiliar word, Takumi asks what it means.

"The turning of the time line” is a phenomenon where time and place intersect in a parallel world with some kind of bounce, and those caught up in it move the world they live in. Did you call me Lord Takumi?

Takumi nods cocklessly, bewildered by the inadvertent call of his name. The station manager, too, shook his head vertically before continuing to talk.

"Perhaps something happened in the world where Lord Takumi was originally. And it seems to have triggered a" timeline shift, "and you two have moved into this world."

"I see...... To be honest, I don't understand what happened at all, but I only managed to understand that this is something different from the world I've been in... When that happens, so does my wife...?

While he manages to chew every word of “station manager," Takumi sees the "cat-eared girl” sitting beside him and letting his feet hang out. She stared at Takumi, her eyes round, her little neck.

“Station Manager" issued Takumi's answer as he watched the situation.

"Yeah, she's probably your wife. I don't know the details, but I was wondering if it might be the effect of" timeline rotation ". Um, did you call me Mr. Nyarch?

"Funya?

Nyarch who is called by name and responds with a distracted voice.

"Mr. Nyarch, do you remember before you woke up, when you were with Mr. Takumi?

“Station Manager” meets the height of his gaze with Nyarch and speaks in a gentle tone.

The called Nyarch, thinking hmm, raised his face and moved his neck around looking around at the ceiling with nothing, slightly blushing his mouth.

"I don't know. But I feel like we've been together forever!

That being said quickly, Nyarch jumped on Takumi's arm and nodded his face in illumination.

Takumi naturally embraces the sweetening gnatch and softens her hair. Nyarch, who felt its warmth, raised his voice as if it felt good.

He was the "station manager” who looked at the situation with a smile, but sensed signs that it was going to be long, and he coughed up slightly before asking Takumi about the future.

"Now, Lord Takumi, what are you going to do now?

Takumi, pulled back into reality by the words, puts on an arm and thinks, whilst groping at her arm.

"... to be honest, we don't all see what to do. In the first place, I don't even know if I can go back to where I was... More importantly, we need to find a place to raise the rain dew first..."

“Station Manager" often hears Takumi's words with the expression, "What else?"

This would also be one guide - so concluded the "station manager”, who conveyed one suggestion to Takumi and Nyarch.

"In the meantime, you can stay at this station for a while about the inn. I originally used the second floor of the station building as a dormitory, so I wonder if you have everything you need for a stay. And don't hesitate to ask me if I can help you with anything you need."

Takumi replied that the suggestion was inconvenient, but the station manager laughed back.

Takumi thinks, um, and, staring again at Nyarch sitting next to him, then takes his seat, bows his head deeply.

"Honestly, it helps. Let me now sweeten your words. At least let me know if there's anything I can do to help."

"I don't mind. Now, we haven't used the upstairs room recently, so please help us clean it up quickly."

“Station Manager," he said, rubbing the match he had removed from his nostrils and lighting a mobile lamp that was on the table.

The sunset approaches and the room is slightly brighter as it gets a little darker. Takumi and Nyarch followed the "station manager” leading with a lamp up the stairs.

As a result, Takumi and Nyarch, who were to stay in the station building, were subsequently hired as residential staff in the station building, and the former dormitory room on the second floor of the station building became a residence in "this world”.

―――――

A few months after that, Takumi, who became "acting station manager", wrapped a black cafe apron around his waist in the kitchen behind the waiting room in the station building and quietly reticed.

On the newly furnished oven stove, a pot of coffee offers a hint of cinnamon along with hot air.

Cornbread, sliced and showing yellow skin, was waiting for his turn in the cage on the kitchen table.

The flat tree tray is served with a contrasting vegetable salad and shelled white eggs in pale green and bright red.

"This one's ready. OK!

"Rika-yi!

Takumi also returns words out loud to Nyarch's energetic voice heard from the other side of the small window separating the kitchen from the waiting room.

Takumi looks around the kitchen again. This was the new workplace where Takumi's "thoughts" took shape.

What I've learned from living in this world is that the level of technological development is' at least 150 years before Takumi lived there '.

Station carriages are walking in the city with Pokka Pokka, and the main source of power in locomotives and factories is steam engines. Although wells and water supplies are somewhat maintained, there is no electricity or gas. The main things that can be used as a source of heat for cooking are things like 'firewood' or 'charcoal'.

In that sense, the new workplace was so “classic” that Takumi could not compare to the kitchen she used to work in.

But still, given the "world here," we could have put the most sophisticated equipment in this kitchen.

For example, instead of gas stoves, a rocket stove had been introduced that could produce high firepower even with firewood.

In addition, the oven stove, which is reminiscent of a metal fireplace, can only be used as a grill oven in the furnace, or the top ceiling can be used like a hot plate to warm the pan with gentle heat, cook baked goods, etc.

All of this was prepared by the "station manager”. He used his connections to arrange what Takumi needed to open a coffee shop and prepare himself for it. Takumi once again crushed her thanks to the "station manager” in her heart.

The long needle of the column clock turns upwards, and the sound of the time telling the bourne, bourne, … rings eight times. It's finally time to open the store.

Takumi leaves the waiting room, which will also be used as a “hall", and opens a large wooden door facing the aisle in front of the ticket. There were several faces, familiar with the work of the station building.

Takumi stood in front of the door with Nyarch and bowed deeply before making her first greeting as a "master”.

"Thank you for waiting. Coffee shop 'Swallow', will open now"