Chapter 85: Noah’s lover and his girlfriend showed up at the same time.
For the rest of the shift, the café kept filling up.
Some female customers ordered several times just so Noah would return to their table, while others took too long deciding and asked him which drinks he liked.
One even asked him to taste her cake to see if it was good, but Luna stepped in before Noah could answer.
"It’s not allowed."
"Which part?"
"All of it."
Even though Luna was very strict with him, she also kept situations from getting out of hand.
Noah started to understand why the manager had agreed to let them work together.
In a quiet moment, Luna came over to check the tables Noah had cleaned and ran a finger across one of them.
"It didn’t come out right."
"I don’t see anything."
"There’s a mark."
Noah leaned in.
"It’s almost invisible."
"Then clean it before it stops being almost."
"Working with you is harder than training magic."
"In training you can heal yourself."
"I’m not sure if that was a joke."
"It wasn’t."
The café door opened again and Noah took his notepad without looking.
"Welcome."
Then he heard a familiar voice.
"Hi, Noah."
He raised his head and saw Yume standing in front of him.
She was wearing her high school uniform and holding her bag with both hands, smiling, but her eyes were fixed on Noah’s uniform.
Then she looked at Luna, who was by the counter in an almost identical uniform.
"Yume."
"I came to see you."
"How did you know what time I started?"
"You told me yesterday."
"I don’t remember telling you the exact time."
"I looked it up online."
Noah decided not to dig into that.
"You can sit down and I’ll come take your order."
"Sure."
Yume chose a table from which she could see almost the entire floor and Noah approached with the notepad.
"What would you like?"
Yume looked at his shirt, the vest, and the apron.
"It looks good on you."
"Thanks."
"Much better than I imagined."
"Are you going to order?"
"Yes."
Yume ordered a drink and a cake.
Noah wrote everything down and confirmed the order the way Luna had taught him, but before he left, Yume gently took the edge of his apron.
"How long will you be working?"
"After school and some weekends."
"Always with Luna?"
"During the trial period."
Yume let go of the apron.
"I understand."
Noah took the order to the counter and Luna was already preparing it.
"She’s jealous."
Luna said.
"Don’t say that."
"She is."
"She just came to visit me."
"And she’s been watching every move I make for three minutes."
Noah looked toward the table, at which Yume immediately looked away and pretended to check the menu.
Noah returned with her order and, for the next few minutes, tried to focus on the work, but Yume kept watching him.
She watched how Luna corrected the way he held the tray, how she came over to check his notes, how both of them went in and out of the counter area.
Finally, when Luna walked with Noah to a table and adjusted the position of his arm, Yume set her fork down on the plate.
"Luna."
Luna turned toward her.
"Yes?"
"Do you need to touch him that much to teach him?"
"Yes."
"It doesn’t seem necessary."
"It was."
Noah looked at both of them.
"I was just correcting how he was carrying the tray."
Yume crossed her arms.
"You’ll be spending several hours together every day."
"For two weeks."
Luna answered.
"You’re wearing the same uniform."
"It’s the café uniform."
"You can see him outside of high school."
"So can you."
"But I’m not working with him."
Luna stayed silent for a few seconds and then set the empty tray down on a nearby table.
"We’d work better if you stopped seeing me as a rival."
Yume looked straight at her.
"I’ll stop seeing you as a rival when you stop acting like one."
The floor went quiet and several female customers started watching them, at which Noah stepped closer.
"Yume."
"I’m calm."
"Luna."
"So am I."
Neither of them looked calm.
Luna crossed her arms.
"I’m not trying to break you two up."
"You just go out with him, cook for him, text him, work next to him, and look for any excuse to be close."
Noah felt every word making the atmosphere worse.
Luna answered without changing her expression.
"That doesn’t prove I want to break you two up."
"It proves you’re acting like a rival."
"Then maybe you should trust your relationship more."
Yume stood up, but Noah stepped between them.
"That’s enough."
Both of them looked at him.
"I’m working."
Yume lowered her gaze.
"I know."
"And Luna is in charge of teaching me, so you can’t argue here."
Luna looked at the customers and several looked away.
"You’re right."
Yume breathed slowly.
"Fine."
She sat back down while Luna took the tray and returned to the counter.
Noah put a hand to his forehead, since Luna’s first attempt to reduce the rivalry had lasted less than a minute.
When the shift ended, Yume was still sitting in the café and had ordered two extra drinks to justify staying.
The manager gathered the staff near the counter.
"The first day went better than expected."
Noah felt relief.
"Does that mean I did well?"
Luna answered before the manager.
"You made a lot of mistakes, but they weren’t serious."
The woman looked around the floor.
"And we had almost twice as many female customers."
Noah wasn’t sure if he should be happy about that.
The manager continued.
"Tomorrow you’ll work with Luna again."
With that said, the two of them left and outside Yume was waiting.
"I’ll come pick you up every time your shift ends."
Luna looked at her.
"It’s not necessary."
"I’m his girlfriend."
"That doesn’t change the distance to the station."
"I’ll walk with him."
"I’m going the same way too."
Noah picked up his bag.
"We can walk the three of us together."
Yume and Luna answered at the same time.
"No."
Noah closed his eyes.
His first day of work had ended without accidents, without broken plates, and without any customers being thrown out.
However, Luna and Yume were arguing in front of the entrance, while the manager was already calculating how much money she could make from his presence and several female customers were asking which days he would be working again.
Noah had gotten the job he needed to buy a computer.
Now he just had to keep it while working next to his lover and receiving visits from his official girlfriend.
’Two weeks.’
Noah looked at Yume and Luna.
’I have to survive two weeks.’