On that day, when Sandai went to pick Shino up like usual, the cafe Shino was working at seemed kind of odd.
It wasn't open for business.
However, Sanda hadn't heard from Shino that she would have a day-off today, and besides, the light was on, so she was probably inside, but…
The entrance wasn't locked, so Sandai tried to quietly get inside. Although obvious from the lack of customers, the dining area was dead silent.
It felt kind of eerie, that the place which would be lively usually was deserted. He felt an illusion like he had stepped inside a horror film or horror game.
"Is anyone here?"
He tried to murmur the question out, but no reply came back.
And, it was then.
From behind the door written with Employees Room, he could hear the sound of a large number of stuff tumbling down. Wondering what could be happening, Sandai rushed inside the employees room.
Immediately after, he found a large amount of cardboard boxes with their contents scattered about, Shino, and one other person; a familiar girl with a chocolate cornet hairstyle. She should be Shino's coworker.
"I-It's not my fault… it's the Assistant Manager's fault for placing the boxes on that high place!"
"Mei-chan, before blaming the Assistant Manager who's not here, reflect on yourself for trying to force yourself to grab it even though you can't reach it, okay?"
"Are you taking the Assistant Manager's side, Shinopi? The Assistant Manager is awful, you know!? Like today, it's the once a month regular closing, but she put us on the shift for stocktaking, cleaning and all that, you know? Are you not mad?"
"It's not about taking sides, enemies, or how the Assistant Manager is and all that; I'm just saying you should reflect on it since it was your fault just now, Mei-chan. It's a huge mess in here now… Sandai should be here soon to pick me up, so I want to get this done quickly, though. We're done with stocktaking, and all that's left is just some cleaning and yet."
"This is why someone with a boyfriend is so… hmm? Shinopi, there's your boyfriend over there."
Getting finger pointed by the Chocolate Cornets—no, by Mei, Sandai jolted up. And then Shino turned around, and he met eyes with Shino.
"Sandai…?"
"The light was on, so I wondered if you're here, you see. It would be a disaster if you fell down or something, so…"
Sandai couldn't say he had entered kind of of his own accord, so he lied.
Without even doubting Sandai's words, "I guess it can't be helped," Shino said and softened her expression. "I'm happy you're worried about me, but entering without permission is 'No!' okay?"
"My bad."
Sandai was relieved that he somehow managed to gloss it over, but then Mei gave Sandai a doubting look.
"…Somehow it feels weird, you know? If you're worried, I think you would've immediately called her name after entering, though? In actuality… you found yourself in because it's not locked, but you'll seem like someone who has no common sense if you were to be honest about it, so aren't you, like, lying?"
He was startled.
Mei's observation was sharp and exactly on the mark.
Sandai immediately tried to make an excuse, but before he could, Shino angrily glared at Mei.
"Mei-chan, can you stop trying to call my boyfriend a liar?"
Shino's eyes were cold. There wasn't even any intonation in her voice. And then a sense of intimidation was oozing out.
Perhaps really having not expected Shino to get this angry, Mei's face tensed up, and cold sweat broke out on her forehead.
"S-Shinopi, are you seriously angry…?"
"Can you stop calling my boyfriend a liar?"
"Eek…"
"Can you stop?"
"…Yes."
Mei easily lost.
Not at all because Mei was weak, but because Shino was good at putting on pressure. By gradually shortening the sentence, and if we were to liken it to something, she was successful in inflicting fear like that of a fear of a bomb's fuse burning away to the other party.
Even Sandai who was just listening from the side was shrinking away a little.
"…It seems better not to touch on her boyfriend. So Shinopi's this scary when she's angry."
"You said something?"
"I said I envied you because you have a wonderful boyfriend, you know?"
"Just because Sandai is attractive, doesn't mean you can make a move on him, okay? Well, he's different from your type, so I'm not too worried, though."
"You can be at ease about that. Your boyfriend does have a nice face, but he's not within my type, you know? It's because I like flashy guys."
"You sure like those sorts of guys, Mei-chan~. I understand how you feel, but for me, I think guys aren't about the face but the inside, I guess?"
"Sounds like nonsense."
"You said something?"
"I said you are a stylish girl who puts importance on what's the inside, Shinopi~."
"Thanks. All right, now let's quickly get this done."
Shino and Mei began to tidy up the scattered cardboard boxes and their contents. It would be better to quickly finish this, so Sandai decided to help out.
"Let me help out, too."
"It's fine. I mean, it's our job."
"If we don't finish this quickly, the time I get to spend with you will also decrease, right? I kinda don't like that."
"You're just too kind. Then I guess I'll be counting on you."
"Leave it to me. So, what should I do?"
"Actually, we have to do a bit of inspecting and checking on the kitchen side, too. For that I… don't really wanna leave it to Mei-chan… She's clumsy." Shino was slightly troubled, but, "Can't be helped, I guess I'll do the kitchen," she came to this conclusion. "Sandai, can you stay here with Mei-chan and tidy up the boxes scattered everywhere and their contents?"
Shino didn't seem to have any reluctance to leave Sandai alone with Mei, but that seemed to be because Mei had declared that Sandai wasn't her type.
It seemed Shino had come to a conclusion that that was a fact she wouldn't have to doubt precisely because they were in a relationship where they were working together.
"Got it. I just have to tidy things up here together with this girl, right?"
"Yeah. I'll be counting on you."
Shino went to leave the employees room, and then Sandai was left alone with Mei.
He wasn't sure what to say, but he tried to talk to her for now.
"We just have to put this scattered stuff into the box, right?"
"Yes. Documents with documents, and for equipment we separate them with the similar ones and put them into the box, and once it's full, we just have to place it on the empty spot on the shelf over there."
"Roger."
Sandai moved as told by Mei; documents grouped together with documents, and each equipment grouped together with similar equipment, then separated and packed into the box.
As he continued to work silently, it was about halfway done. Then, "Ah!" Mei raised a voice.
"W-What happened? You suddenly raised a voice."
"So we were told by the Assistant Manager to also move this desk there… BF-kun, can I have you hold that side for a bit? I'm going to move this desk."
"Gotcha."
Matching their timing with, "One, two," they lifted up the desk and tried to move it. However, when Sandai tried to move, Mei didn't move, and when Mei tried to move, Sandai ended up coming to a stop.
It didn't feel like both of them were doing it on purpose either. Whatever the case it may be, they strangely couldn't perform in tune with each other.
"It's just maybe, but are you messing around?"
"You too, you're not doing it on purpose, are you?"
"Why should I do such a needlessly time-consuming thing?"
"It's the same for me here."
"…"
"…"
They were both, although just somehow, probably convinced.
That they couldn't perform in tune with each other.
"We'll try again from the beginning, okay?"
"Got it."
""One, two.""
They matched their call, and tried to move the desk synchronously. However, because their movements really were out of sync with each other somehow, the desk couldn't move like they wanted.
"You know what, err…"
"…I do understand even if you don't say it. It's the worst compatibility."
"Rather than cooperating and half-bakedly trying to make it work, it sure feels like it's better to split up the roles. I'll manage the desk alone, so can I have you do the boxes?"
"I agree with splitting up roles. I understand."
The answer they came up with was to work separately without trying to somehow cooperate. And then this worked out better than expected.
The tidying up was done just like that, and Shino came back around this time.
"I'm back… Wait, somehow there's a big distance between you two. Did you have a fight?"
"Nah, we didn't have a fight."
"Yes."
"Is that so? But like, it feels like there's some kind of wall up, though…"
"There sure is a wall."
"I'd say there's one."
"So you really did have a fight?"
"That's not it, you see. So if I summarize what it is, we—"
"Your BF and I—"
""—can't get on well with each other.""
Afterwards, Sandai told Shino what had happened between him and Mei.
And Shino bursted into big laughter.