Heavy girl? I feel worse than Black Hole Trigger!

Right?

……never mind.

"Please sit down." Zhe Li greeted him.

After all, guests are welcome.

The girl nodded, slowly closed the door, and then walked gracefully to the counter and took a seat in front of it.

"I'm the manager. Here's the menu for your reference."

The girl took the menu but didn't open it. "Any recommendations?"

"Earl Grey tea," said the manager.

The girl was a little surprised. "It's obviously a coffee shop?"

"..."

Bao Deng Zheli recalled the taste of the coffee brewed by Ishido Soichi.

Then he nodded solemnly: "Yes. I'm better at making tea than coffee."

As a coffee shop manager, it is normal for the coffee to taste terrible.

"I-I see." The girl didn't know what to say and opened the menu. "Dessert..."

Baodeng Zheli glanced down at the menu. The dessert section was his latest addition.

"I recommend the matcha parfait. It has a wonderful balance of sweetness and bitterness and is very popular among young women."

Although this sentence was originally intended to praise the authentic version sold by RiNG, I copied it here anyway, and it tastes just as good!

"I see." The girl was silent for a moment, as if she was thinking about something. After a while, she looked up and smiled. "Then please give me a cup of hot Earl Grey tea and a matcha parfait."

"Understood. Wait a moment."

Baodeng Zheli turned around and started to work, while the girl just looked at his back quietly.

Suddenly, the man said, "It's raining so hard."

The girl blinked. She considered her words:

"Yeah. Even with an umbrella, your shoes will still get wet."

"Do you hate rainy days?" the man asked again.

"Nothing particularly offensive."

"Really? I think you don't like rainy days very much."

The girl thought that this was probably just the store manager's casual chat.

So she answered just as casually: "Maybe, I just don't like the feeling of my shoes and socks getting wet."

"That's it."

As she thought, it was just a casual question, as the café fell silent again, leaving only the gurgling sound of water.

Soon, the aroma of tea filled the air.

The girl's nose twitched slightly. She felt that she had clicked the right button.

A cup of steaming black tea was gently placed in front of her.

"Hot Earl Grey tea, please."

The girl reached out and picked up the cup and took a sip, and couldn't help but exclaimed: "It tastes good."

The store manager just smiled and nodded, "It's my honor." Then he turned around and got back to work.

The girl glanced at the manager's back quietly, put down her teacup, and began to look at the decoration of the cafe.

But rather than the interior decoration, the melody that was always flowing in the store finally caught her attention.

"...Armenian dance music?"

"Huh? Do you know this song?" Zhe Li turned around and looked at the girl.

Although she was just mumbling to herself, Bao Deng Zheli could easily catch her voice with his good hearing.

Honestly, he bought the record just for the atmosphere. After all, the cafe had its own record player, and it would be a shame not to use it. He hadn't even heard this classic song before buying it.

The girl smiled and nodded. "This is one of the etudes for our school's wind instrument club (orchestra club)."

Armenian Dance Part 1, with its multi-voiced composition, is one of the most distinctive pieces for a wind orchestra. It's a classic etude and even performance piece for wind orchestras around the world. It's a piece anyone with experience in an orchestra should know, even if they don't know how to play it.

That is to say...

"Are you also a member of the wind band?"

The girl nodded again. "Yes. I play the double bass."

"I see." Zheli expressed his admiration appropriately. "Sounds like it would suit you very well."

Baodeng Zheli knew what a double bass looked like: a large bowed string instrument about two meters tall.

Big and heavy.

For girls, especially those in junior high school, it is not an easy instrument to master.

However, the girl before him possessed a maturity beyond her years—both inwardly and outwardly. Trying to imagine her playing a double bass, there was nothing strange about it.

"Thank you." The girl nodded with a smile.

Baodeng Zheli couldn't help but look at her a little more. He felt that she seemed a little happy, but also not very happy.

Boom, boom, boom. Raindrops slam against the window. Looks like the rain is getting heavier.

Baodeng Zheli stared at the window for a while, then shook his head, "I really don't like rainy days."

"Mr. Manager, don't you like rain?" The girl turned her bright eyes to him.

"No, it's not that I hate the rain. It's just that I have some bad memories of rainy days."

Bao Deng Zheli slowly sprinkled nuts and crisps on the parfait and said:

"An important friend of mine lost a loved one on a rainy day."

……

"——At this moment, the Ishido Soichi in my heart is dead."

He knew this would happen, but he couldn't muster up the courage to change it.

……

Nagasaki Suyo stared at Zheli's profile in a daze.

After a long while, she slowly spoke: "Mr. Manager... is a gentle person."

Zhe Li listened attentively when she spoke, but shook his head and chuckled after she finished speaking.

"You are a gentle child who gives compliments to strangers so easily."

“…——.”

The music stopped abruptly.

Zhe Li handed over the tall glass while thinking about buying a few more vinyl records.

Ice cream, fresh cream, then matcha-flavored snow cake and matcha sauce, garnished with kiwi fruit cut into small pieces, and two chocolate curls on the top, which looks very delicate.

"Here, your matcha parfait."

The store manager then turned around to put away the utensils, but did not hear the sound of the spoon being moved. He turned back to look at her, only to see a face staring at him in a trance.

Zhe Li tilted his head. "What's wrong? It will melt if you don't eat it quickly."

The girl then fluttered her eyelashes as if she had just woken up, hurriedly looked away, and grabbed the spoon.

The spoon hung in the air for a long time before she finally let it go.

"Actually, I hate rainy days." She whispered.

Zhe Li had his back to her, and his voice sounded no different: "Do you hate the rain?"

“I hate holding an umbrella.”

The girl stroked her fingernails.

“It’s as if I’m the only one left in the world.”

The heavy rain took away our vision and even our voices, cutting off our connection with others.

The range outlined by the umbrella beads seems small, but it symbolizes absoluteness, a distance that cannot be reached even if you stretch out your hand.

“Even if I walk with friends, the sound of their conversation becomes so far away.”

It was so far away that it seemed that even if she stopped there, no one would notice her.

"...But." The girl clenched her fists and looked up. "It's not so annoying now."

"why?"

"Yes, why..."

The girl lightly picked up the spoon with her fingertips.

The round and lustrous surface vaguely reflected her face.

——Because I have great memories on rainy days.

Then, along with the words she couldn't say, they were buried deep in the layers of ice cream.

It’s icy cool and sweet.

“…Ah, right. Mr. Manager—”

Clang. The sound of a spoon hitting a glass.

The man took down the vinyl record and said, "Go ahead."

"'Su Shi'."

"……Um?"

The man paused, put down the work at hand, and turned his head to look at the girl.

She was smiling.

The yellow light gently shone on her cheeks, depicting a delicate face.

It looks a bit like a doll, meticulously carved, but that smile has a vitality called "life" that dolls don't have.

And where did that come from? A man thought, it must be because of those eyes.

——There are no clouds in the sky-blue eyes, and it is a sunny day.

She said slowly, "My name is Nagasaki Suyo. Can you tell me your name?"

The mellow voice is melodious and pleasant.

So, the man couldn't help but laugh.

"Zheli. My name is Baodeng Zheli. Please give me your guidance."

……

The drizzle no longer knocks against the square window, and sparrows on the branches sing Ars Nova.

I replaced the record player with a new vinyl record, and the long and lingering music flowed through the room.

Finally, when she looked up——

The yellow light could no longer stop time, allowing the haze covering the sky to be cleared away by the late sunshine.

Lost Star Chapter 10 Summer Time Record: Episode Glasses

Bao Dengzheli had to admit that he couldn't make much money by running a coffee shop.

Haha, it’s your own fault!

…Even if I hear that, there’s nothing I can do.

Although he has mimicked the appearance of a human (himself), as an alien monster, his (Abelut's) physiological needs are naturally very different from those of humans.