The Price Is Your Lives
Yume was unsure what to do about the unpleasant people who had just entered, people who could hardly even be called customers.
From Yuuki’s expression of disgust, and from the video Arisa had given her showing Ayaka’s friend Misuzu and her group, it was clear that these high school girls were the ones bullying Yuuki.
“Dad.”
“…Actually, this might work out in our favor. Let’s let these girls in.”
Yume and Kyousuke quietly exchanged those words.
“Ah, a party of three, right? Please, this way.”
“Thank you very much. But actually, we’re in the same class as Mikage-kun, so if possible, we’d like him to be the one to serve us.”
Misuzu said that with a smile, and though Yume wanted nothing more than to knock her down, she glanced over at Yuuki instead.
Yuuki, not wanting to cause any more trouble for Yume or Kyousuke, reluctantly decided to handle the service himself.
“Sorry to keep you waiting. Please, this way.”
“Hey, you took too long. Oh, and we’d rather sit over there.”
Misuzu and the others said that.
Irritated by their words but forcing himself to stay calm, Yuuki managed to seat them before heading over to Kyousuke.
“I’m sorry for dragging you into this.”
“No, it’s fine. …Yuuki-kun, don’t worry.”
Kyousuke’s eyes were filled with firm determination.
A few minutes after Misuzu and her friends sat down, they called for him, and though Yuuki didn’t want to go, he hurried over as quickly as possible.
“Mikage, you’re slow. And what’s with that face? Don’t serve people looking like that. It’s unpleasant.”
“I apologize.”
They were worse than customers who complained just to vent their daily stress, but because of the relationship between customer and staff, Yuuki bowed his head even though he didn’t want to.
He thought that if doing so could lessen the burden on Kyousuke, Yume, or the regulars, it was a small price to pay.
After taking Misuzu’s group’s drink orders, Yuuki passed them on to Kyousuke.
The atmosphere in the café had frozen over so completely that the usual warmth the place was known for had disappeared.
Normally, it was a space where regulars could chat and relax in peace.
Yet in contrast to the heavy air around them, only Misuzu and her friends laughed with vulgar amusement.
The stress and frustration of the past few days made Yuuki’s heart grow darker, but thinking of Kyousuke, he decided that lashing out or treating them badly would only make things worse, so he endured it.
After about ten minutes, Kyousuke finished preparing their drinks, and Yuuki carefully carried them over.
Just as he was about to reach the table, his feet suddenly tangled.
It would be more accurate to say that something had caught his foot.
There was a terrible sound, and the drinks scattered.
The cups shattered, and dark stains of coffee spread across the floor.
“Ow, hot! What are you doing, Mikage? This is the worst!”
Hearing that from the very person who had tripped him made all the frustration inside Yuuki nearly burst out, and he opened his mouth to speak, but his last shred of reason stopped him.
“I apologize.”
“This is seriously the worst. My skirt got soaked.”
“I apologize.”
Yuuki killed his emotions and endured, becoming like a machine that could only apologize.
Just as Misuzu and her friends continued to press him further and Yuuki’s heart was reaching its breaking point, Yume, who had been quietly talking with Kyousuke, stepped in.
“Leave this to me, Yuuki-kun.”
Yume said that and stood beside Yuuki.
“Excuse me, but I’ve been watching for a while, and your manners and attitude are appalling.”
“Huh? What are you talking about? We were just chatting with our classmate. This is normal communication.”
Ayaka’s so-called friends said that with smug amusement.
But Yume didn’t get angry. Instead, she spoke with calm composure.
Misuzu felt a faint sense of discomfort at Yume’s attitude but brushed it off, thinking that as customers, they still had the upper hand.
Besides, they had made sure to stay out of the camera’s view, so she thought they would be fine and continued talking.
“You tripped Yuuki-kun on purpose, didn’t you?”
“You must be mistaken.”
Misuzu said that with a casual expression.
Just as Yume was about to strike again, Kyousuke stepped in.
“No, it’s not a mistake. I saw exactly what you did.”
“Even so, you don’t have any proof, do you? And even if you did, it was just an accident.”
Misuzu continued to insist it had been an accident, trying to sound confident.
“I saw it too. These girls did it on purpose.”
The one who spoke up was the elderly regular who had once patted Yuuki’s head.
Following him, other regulars also began to speak up in support of Yuuki.
“Yuuki-kun was doing his job properly.”
“Those girls over there have awful manners and even worse behavior.”
Misuzu was stunned by the unexpected support and could feel the situation turning against her.
“W-where’s the proof?”
She blurted that out in panic.
“We have it.”
As if she had been waiting for that response, Yume smiled and held up her phone.
“How ridiculous. Did you really think there’d be no proof just because you avoided one camera? You’re too naive. That’s not the only camera in here.”
Yume smiled as she played the video.
It clearly showed Misuzu deliberately sticking out her foot as Yuuki walked by.
“Did you really think you wouldn’t get caught? You’re far too arrogant.”
Yume kept smiling, but her eyes were as dark as the depths of a pit.
“You’ve gotten too full of yourself because everything’s always gone your way. Did you think being cute meant you could get away with anything?”
Her cold eyes stared straight into Misuzu’s.
“I’m going to destroy everything for you now.”
Yume’s smile vanished, her expression turned serious, and her voice dripped with hatred as she spoke.
“Yume, calm down.”
Kyousuke placed a gentle hand on her shoulder, trying to soothe her.
“You girls still want to claim it wasn’t on purpose?”
Kyousuke spoke in a voice trembling with restrained anger.
Though he had told Yume to calm down, Kyousuke himself was just as furious, if not more.
For the first time, Misuzu and her friends realized that they might have gone too far after feeling the weight of an adult’s genuine anger.
Until now, they had always been at the top of the social hierarchy both at school and at home, spoiled and overlooked, never once facing such wrath.
A fear unlike anything they had ever felt began to take hold of them.
“We’ll be reporting this to your school, as well as the bullying against Yuuki-kun, to the board of education. Your teachers can’t be trusted.”
Beside him, Yume smiled while playing the video she had gratefully received from Arisa, which showed Yuuki being bullied.
She plainly informed Misuzu and the others what would happen next.
“Hire a lawyer if you want. Be prepared.”
Kyousuke still held many thoughts to himself about making them leave school and ensuring they would suffer for what they had done, but he didn’t voice them here.
“W-we’re sorry.”
The foolish girls finally realized how serious things had become, but it was already too late.
Yume stepped forward and spoke.
“Please leave, customers. There’s no need to pay.”
She smiled even more brightly than before and pointed toward the door.
Misuzu and the others knew that staying and apologizing would not make things better, but leaving like this would only make what came next worse. Even their dull minds understood that, and they tried to apologize again.
“We’re so sorr—”
“You’re banned from this café. You don’t belong here. And no matter how much you apologize, I will never forgive what you’ve done to my precious son.”
Kyousuke spoke mercilessly, his cold eyes fixed on them.
Still wearing their soaked skirts, the girls shrank back and hurried out, afraid to anger him any further.
Everyone in the café quietly watched as they left, their proud demeanor from when they entered completely gone, and then gently gathered around Yuuki.
“Yuuki-kun, I’m sorry. If only we could have helped sooner.”
“Yuuki-kun, you did great.”
“Yuuki-kun, are you alright?”
Kyousuke, Yume, and the regulars all offered Yuuki warm words.
The heart that had been dark and on the verge of breaking finally began to calm little by little.
“Yume-chan, that was great. You said exactly what we all wanted to.”
“If you hadn’t, I would have yelled at them myself. Thank you.”
Compliments were directed at Yume as well, and she smiled shyly.
“Master, things might get troublesome from here. I’ll help however I can. After all, this is for Yuuki-kun.”
“I’ll help too.”
“Count me in as well, even if I can only do a little.”
Yuuki had never before had so many people stand up for him, and he didn’t know how to react or what to say.
As Yuuki struggled to find the right words to express his feelings,
Yume looked out the window.
She wasn’t gazing at the scenery, but rather at the face of a single girl standing outside, quietly watching them.