Click—
Yuto switched on the small lamp above the restaurant entrance.
Summer days were long, and even though it was already time to open for the night, the sky outside had not gone completely dark yet.
The last traces of daylight still lingered overhead, leaving everything beneath a dim blue-gray haze, though the shadows inside the alley had already deepened considerably.
Against that gathering darkness, the little lamp above the restaurant door cast a warm yellow glow that made the entrance look especially welcoming.
The tree Totoro had given them was beginning to shine as well, although for now its leaves carried only a faint shimmer.
It would not reach its brightest until much later in the night.
Yuto stretched lazily outside the entrance before heading back inside.
Erina and Hisako would not be coming tonight.
The reason was simple: they had taken leave, something they had already discussed with Yuto beforehand because of Tōtsuki's Moon Banquet Festival.
Today was Sunday, and the festival would begin the following Wednesday, leaving only Monday and Tuesday for the final preparations.
As the only first-year member of the Elite Ten, Erina already had far too many responsibilities demanding her attention, and trying to continue working at the restaurant at the same time simply was not realistic.
So earlier that day, she had asked Yuto for leave until the Moon Banquet Festival ended, with Hisako naturally accompanying her.
Until then, neither of them would be coming to work.
Which meant the kitchen was once again entirely Yuto's responsibility.
Still, that hardly counted as a problem. For him, handling the kitchen alone was barely worth worrying about.
"Eh? Boss, Erina and Hisako aren't coming tonight?"
Tohru asked after finally noticing their absence.
Yuto explained the situation, and the dragon girl quickly nodded in understanding.
Utaha had already left as well, though not because she wanted to.
Her midterm exams were approaching, with only a few days remaining before they began, and she needed to devote more time to studying.
Having finally established their relationship only to immediately lose the opportunity to spend much time together had left Utaha deeply disappointed.
If she had her way, she probably would have spent the entire day clinging to Yuto without going anywhere.
Unfortunately, reality refused to cooperate.
If she wanted to spend long stretches of time with him without worrying about school, she would simply have to endure until her exams were over.
The restaurant door slid open.
"Welcome."
Yuto turned toward the entrance with a smile.
Rin and Illya were standing there together, both wearing pleasant expressions, while their respective Heroic Spirits remained close beside them.
The sight was almost absurdly peaceful considering that only the previous night, the two sides had been trying to kill each other.
"Good evening, Boss."
"Good evening, Boss-nii!"
Compared with Rin's restrained and elegant greeting, Illya's was considerably livelier.
The two girls approached the counter with their Servants.
Berserker, enormous and muscular as ever, remained silently standing behind Illya, while Archer calmly took a seat off to one side.
Yuto looked between the two Masters and smiled knowingly.
"So you two made peace?"
"Mm!"
Rin nodded with obvious relief.
Illya immediately added, "For now."
The relief on Rin's face stiffened.
Illya, meanwhile, smiled sweetly at Yuto, looking so innocent and adorable that anyone unfamiliar with her would have found it difficult to imagine what she was capable of.
Still, she was not technically wrong.
Under the rules of the Holy Grail War, there could ultimately be only one victor.
Temporary alliances might be useful, but if the war continued to its natural conclusion, even allies would eventually become enemies.
Yuto understood that perfectly well.
"Then get along while you can."
He smiled.
Illya nodded happily, while Rin's expression remained slightly strained.
"Want anything to eat?"
Illya immediately asked for canelés.
Ever since tasting the ones Yuto had made during one of her previous visits, she had completely fallen in love with them.
She had even asked her maids to make some after returning home, but no matter how carefully they followed the recipe, the result never seemed to satisfy her in quite the same way.
Rin chose tamago tofu.
Neither Berserker nor Archer requested anything.
Yuto turned toward the kitchen and began preparing the two dishes.
The canelés required very little effort because he always prepared the next day's batter in advance and allowed it to rest overnight.
All he needed to do now was grease the molds, pour in the batter, and let them bake for six minutes.
That gave him more than enough time to prepare Rin's tamago tofu.
By the time he carried it back out and placed it in front of her, Rin, Illya, and their two Servants were still the only customers in the restaurant.
The tamago tofu rested delicately on the plate, soft, smooth, and slightly springy, with an appearance almost reminiscent of jelly.
Its simple, cute presentation had a way of immediately winning over many girls, and Rin was no exception.
She eagerly took a bite, and her expression relaxed almost at once.
Yuto smiled faintly.
"I really didn't expect Miss Tohsaka and Illya to come from the same world."
His comment drew very different reactions from the two girls.
"If I'd known earlier, maybe Tohsaka-oneechan and I could have formed an alliance from the beginning," Illya said in an adorably playful voice.
"Seriously. If we'd known, things wouldn't have been nearly as exhausting at first."
Rin sighed helplessly.
Illya tilted her head. "If Tohsaka-oneechan had spoken up just a little later last night, Berserker might have killed you."
She said something horrifying while wearing an utterly innocent expression.
Rin's face immediately darkened.
By now, she had gained a very clear understanding of Illya's personality.
On the surface, the girl looked sweet, harmless, and almost impossibly cute, but underneath that appearance was someone whose sense of normality had already become thoroughly twisted.
Rin had a disturbing feeling that Illya could probably smile while stabbing someone and not consider it particularly remarkable.
Even Yuto's brow twitched.
He drew in a slow breath.
Apparently, his own understanding of Illya had still been somewhat incomplete.
"Still, I didn't expect anyone besides me to be able to come here," Illya said, resting her little head between her hands.
"I thought I was the only one."
She sounded genuinely disappointed.
Clearly, being the restaurant's unique visitor from her world had mattered quite a lot to her.
Children could be surprisingly sensitive about being "the only one" when it came to special things like this.
Yuto smiled.
"You two aren't the only customers from your world."
That immediately caught both girls' attention.
Rin's mind began moving almost at once.
During one of her earlier visits, Yuto had casually revealed that he already knew she was participating in the Holy Grail War, even though she had never told him herself.
At the time, she had wondered how he knew.
Now, another possibility presented itself.
Had someone else from their world already visited the restaurant and told him?
Rin immediately began mentally sorting through the people she knew, trying to determine who might be the most likely candidate.
Illya did not think nearly that far ahead.
She was simply curious.
"Eh?! There are more people? Who? Who? Who? Boss-nii, can you tell me?"
She leaned forward and repeatedly pressed Yuto for an answer.
He smiled.
"Even if I told you, you probably wouldn't know them."
"Nooo~ Tell me anyway, Boss-nii~"
Illya immediately began acting spoiled.
Now that she knew someone else from her world had visited, there was no chance she could simply ignore it.
Yuto smiled helplessly.
"You can ask them yourself when they come. I'm not telling you."
Illya's face immediately fell, though the disappointment lasted only a moment before anticipation replaced it.
"Will they come tonight?"
"Mm. Probably."
Yuto smiled.
...
Once Yuto revealed that there were other customers from their world, Rin and Illya decided to remain in the restaurant and wait for them to appear.
In other words, they were waiting for Iskandar and the others.
Before that happened, however, the group from Gensokyo arrived unusually early.
As usual, it was mostly the same familiar faces.
Among all the restaurant's regular customers, the people from Gensokyo visited more frequently than almost anyone else, and by now Yuto had more or less worked out a pattern regarding who tended to appear and how often.
Yuuka, for example, came every single day without exception.
Yukari, Reimu, Suika, Marisa, and several of the others usually visited whenever they had nothing more important to do, which, considering the general pace of life in Gensokyo, often meant almost every day anyway.
The rest were somewhat less consistent.
Kaguya Houraisan, for instance, was often confined to Eientei by Eirin and could not always find an opportunity to escape.
Remilia frequently became too lazy to leave the Scarlet Devil Mansion.
And then there was Aya Shameimaru.
She used to appear alongside Reimu fairly often, but recently Yuto had barely seen her at all.
According to Reimu, Aya was recovering from an injury after falling.
Yuto still had no idea how a youkai who could fly had managed to injure herself by falling, but Reimu insisted that was what happened, so he could only accept the explanation.
There were also plenty of people in Gensokyo who had genuine responsibilities and therefore could not casually abandon their work whenever they felt like visiting the restaurant.
Mokou, for example, was responsible for nighttime security around the Human Village.
As the village's resident head of security, she could hardly disappear whenever the mood struck her.
Once the Gensokyo group had settled in, exchanged greetings with Yuto, and placed their orders, he headed into the kitchen to prepare their food.
During that time, Tohru also brought Illya her freshly baked canelés.
While Illya remained completely at ease despite the sudden increase in customers, Rin became noticeably more restrained.
It was not entirely her fault.
For one thing, almost every time Rin had visited the restaurant before, there had been very few customers present, if any at all.
This was the first time she had found herself surrounded by such a large group of regulars.
More importantly, however, the girls from Gensokyo gave her a feeling that made it impossible to relax completely.
As the heir to a distinguished family of magi, Rin might not possess the razor-sharp instincts of a Servant, but she was still sensitive to magical and supernatural presences.
Even without understanding exactly what these women were, she could feel the invisible pressure radiating from several of them.
It was the unmistakable sensation produced by an overwhelming disparity in strength.
Rin tried not to make her unease obvious, but the more carefully she observed the Gensokyo group, the more nervous she became.
"My, is something wrong?"
Yukari suddenly turned toward her with a gentle smile.
Her eyes narrowed slightly along with the curve of her lips, while her long golden hair gleamed beneath the restaurant lights.
Combined with her elegant appearance and strange, almost ancient charm, she looked like some bewitching figure from an old myth.
Rin stiffened.
She had already been extremely careful with her covert observations, yet apparently none of them had escaped Gensokyo's infamous sage.
Yukari had done nothing more than smile at her, but that alone placed an enormous amount of pressure on Rin.
"N-No... nothing..."
Even Rin's voice came out unnaturally.
Yukari laughed softly.
"If something is bothering you, you should simply say so. Secretly watching people like that can make them misunderstand your intentions."
Having said that, she turned away as though the matter had never been important and resumed discussing Gensokyo's barrier with Ran.
The Great Hakurei Barrier surrounding Gensokyo was primarily maintained by the master-and-servant pair.
Although when it came to the actual day-to-day maintenance...
Ran did most of the work.
After all, her master was extraordinarily lazy.
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