Koi ni, Kanmi o Soete

My new home is my grandmother’s house that also functions as a café. Due to my grandmother’s recent illness and hospitalization, however, she was forced to close the café until further notice. When I heard about my grandmother’s situation from Chisato Komada (a childhood friend who is like an older sister to me), I looked around the desolate café and my heart was filled with a sense of loneliness. It was then I immediately thought:

“I want to bring the shop back to life again and show it to grandmother…!!!”

We renovated the inside of the shop and gave it a new name. We prepared a new menu and café uniforms and began the hiring process to find new, part-time staff. Right away two girls, Niwasaka Rira and Shionomiya Rishie, came into the cafe.

「“Um… would it be ok if we worked here?”」

An unusually strong breeze blew cherry blossom petals inside the shop and they fluttered and danced around the cafe, myself, and the girls around me. This could only be a premonition of the bittersweet tale that would soon follow…