“Um, what should we do now?”
“…”
They had already gone to both of the events they were invited to.
It would be sad to just say bye now that that was over, but it would be rude to keep her with him just to wander aimlessly around. He was not sure what to do.
Especially when…
“…”
“Um, Ibekusa-san. That’s backstage.”
“Oh.”
Machina seemed somewhat out of it.
She was acting weird. She had been acting weird a lot lately, but especially today.
Even dense Mutsuki had noticed by now.
“You kind of zoned out there.”
“Sorry.”
With this and the fact that her sudden obsession with kissing had gone away, something had definitely happened. He also realized she had been blatantly avoiding eye contact for a while.
“Wh-what is it? Um, did you feel like I forced you to do all this festival stuff?”
“It isn’t that.”
She did not seem to be sparing his feelings. She simply would not tell him what it was.
Now he was not sure if he should ask her to keep going. But he was also hesitant to leave her, so they were just kind of stuck there.
“Oh, Mutsuki-kun and Machi-nyan. Perfect timing.”
They were saved by a familiar cheerful voice.
“Kurikara-san. …What is that?”
Mutsuki sounded puzzled as soon as he turned to face their goddess of salvation.
He could not help himself. That girl had been her usual high-energy self that morning, but she had shed her skin in an odd way this afternoon.
The skin-tight white dress was certainly part of it, but she wore wings that strapped onto her shoulders and a halo made of wire that floated over her head.
On her back, she wore a bow and arrow seemingly made of silver paper. The arrowhead was shaped like a heart.
“Eh heh heh~ Amazing, isn’t it?”
“Yes, it is…but what is it?”
“You can’t tell?”
“Not a bit.”
“I’m Cupid. Cupid of Love.”
“…”
It could be easy to forget when you lived with angels, but the wings strapped to her shoulders did indeed look like the usual depiction of an angel.
“The wings are small so they won’t be a danger when I move around, but this cafe is so amazing. It’s called the Cupid Cafe and it’s for couples only.”
She pointed to the cafe with one of her usual over-the-top poses.
There were a lot of places with showy exteriors for the festival, but one place still managed to stand out. The entrance was made into a heart-shaped papier mache gate and the inside was almost entirely pink. There were lame heart stickers all over and the tablecloths were pink.
“Cute, isn’t it?”
“It looks like a brothel.”
“They asked me for some help and I said yes since the outfit is so cute. It’s an amazing place. There’s a jinx that says a couple will have a lifetime of happiness if they overcome the embarrassment of the Cupid name and go in.”
“Even though it’s only open today?”
“This is perfect. I’ll take you to a table for two.”
She forcibly pulled on their hands.
Mutsuki and Machina were both unable to fight back at times like this.
“There’s a special seat called the miracle happy spot, but no one was willing to sit there. But it’s so great. Just sitting there makes you happy~”
She even designated a specific table for them.
Entering the cafe was fine given the atmosphere with Machina. It gave him a reason to continue the conversation. But…
“I’ll show you two to your miracle happy seats.”
That was a “recommendation” based on this cafe’s style. True to the bad feeling in Mutsuki’s gut, they were taken to an incredible table indeed.
A small heart-shaped table sat on a large space built a step higher than the rest of the cafe. The chairs were close enough together that their knees would touch while they sat across from each other and everything was of course pink.
Worst of all, it was right next to the window, so everyone passing by outside could see them.
Mutsuki gave Saya a look that said this simply was not going to work.
“Please use it~ They spent a lot on this, but the festival is going to end without a single couple sitting here.”
Saya clapped her hands together.
Mutsuki had to wonder why they spent so much on punishing their customers, but…
“Then I will have the recommended tea.”
“Yes!”
Machina generally could not refuse any request, so she sat down.
There was no escaping it now. The boy had no choice but to sit down across from her.
…Their knees were even closer together than he thought, so he turned his a bit to the side.
“Thank you too, Mutsuki-kund I’ll pay, so order whatever you want.”
“Sure. Then I’ll have the cafe’s most expensive drink and a bunch of other stuff that will leave your wallet hurting for a while.”
“…Gh.”
The waitress obediently wrote down his order and left.
Mutsuki and Machina now had to obediently wait.
Perhaps luckily, the people walking by could tell how bizarre the cafe was just by looking at the entrance sign, so no one gave any curious looks to the special seat.
It was only the other customers and the staff that gave them weird looks.
“Here’s your Darjeeling, Machi-nyan. For both of you, I have our most expensive item: the Lovey-Dovey Mixed Parfait with everything on it. And here’s my recommendation: the Angel Mayonnaise Toast.”
They were served more and more and the small table was quickly filled.
“Okay, Machi-nyan, Mutsuki-kun. You take your time. I wish you some lovey-dovey happiness. Bakyuuun
?”
It was not clear what that meant, but it was apparently required. She mimicked shooting them with her bow and then left.
“Okay…we sure got a lot of stuff.”
Was she apologizing for this or did they have a lot of extra ingredients? The parfait was especially amazing.
The large glass container contained melon juice with ice cream floating on top and it was decorated with lots of sweets and fruits arranged like a parfait.
“It’s big and looks tasty.”
“Y-yes.”
There was no way they could eat it all, but Machina readily started on it.
The ice cream and fruits were store-bought, so the sweetness and tartness were just right. They both used their spoons to bring down the mountain of ice cream.
In a way, this gave them a chance to talk.
“I had completely forgotten that angels are supposed to look like that.”
Mutsuki smiled bitterly as he looked over at Saya and the other waitresses.
“It is unclear how they ended up like that as Cupid is supposed to be a god, but that is the general image of an angel.”
“Yet Ange would look completely normal if she didn’t shoot out fire.”
“Angels are a shape that forms around a human’s Fruit of Knowledge, so their view of themselves greatly influences how they look. There are apparently some that do have wings.”
“Really…? Ha ha. When I first met her, I just assumed that meant angels don’t actually have wings.”
Fortunately, they were blessed with something to talk about.
“…It’s been nearly half a year since I met Ange.”
“Yes.”
That meant it had been that long since heaven, earth, and hell had started fighting over him.
…And since Ibekusa Machina had become more than a classmate he was interested in.
“It went by so fast. It doesn’t feel nearly that long.”
“A lot of it had to have been spent in danger.”
“That’s true, but now that I think back on it…”
“?”
Machina did not seem to understand.
“Time always moves at a fixed rate.”
“Well, yes.” He smiled bitterly at that nearly emotionless response that was so much like her. “But I can’t help but think about it. In spring, I never would have imagined I would be eating a parfait with you like this, but it feels like almost no time has passed since then.”