The Delinquent Uninvited Guest
"Kyaa~! Oppa, you're basically a walking information broker, I'm telling you~! That place is seriously the dream holy land among magical girls! The food is amazing, and the hot springs are incredible!"
Hina let out a sigh thick with envy and gave her twin tails a shake.
"Hina only got to go once, on that last expedition, and the scent was different right from the entrance! But just anyone can't get in, you know. You have to win at an exchange meet, take down a really huge Aberration, or receive an invitation! Uuugh... thinking about it makes me want to go again!"
Another sip of pink latte left a sweet foam on her lips, but her attention had already wandered off toward the dazzling hot springs of the north.
Bubble, bubble.
Syrup coming to a boil in one corner of the kitchen sent a sweet fragrance drifting through the café, filling the room with an even cozier warmth. Hina's chatter showed no sign of stopping, and I took her lively voice for background music while I quietly composed the taste of spring I meant to set before today's guests.
"If you go again sometime, you'll bring me a souvenir, won't you?"
"Of course! Hina will pick out the most special thing in the whole world, just thinking of Oppa!"
I answered her bright, innocent promise with a smile and set about making snacks to match today's theme. Between the layers of shortcake heaped with fresh fruit, I built up tier after tier of pink cream, the trick being to set thin slices of strawberry so their cut faces read like petals between the cream. Fluffy pink cream buns, fresh from the oven, soon crowded the cutting board in a fragrant haze, and once I had carefully arranged the last of the cookies glazed in cherry-blossom sugar, even I had to admit they looked fit to headline a high-end café's limited spring menu.
Watching the snacks come together, Hina leaned so far over the counter she nearly toppled across it, the tip of her nose twitching without rest as it chased their sweet scent. Moved, it seemed, by the parade of pink desserts pairing so perfectly with her pink latte, she pressed both hands to her cheeks and let out a cry of delight.
"Waaah...! Oppa, did you make these for Hina? They're so pretty it's almost a shame to eat them! Look, the pattern on the cookies is exactly like Hina's badge!"
Hina pulled out her smartphone and started hammering the shutter, then carefully lifted the plate of cookies glittering under their pink sugar glaze and buns overflowing with fluffy whipped cream. Morning sunlight streamed in through the window and lit the desserts, so vividly it almost seemed as if cherry-blossom petals had come to rest upon the table. I set the plate down in front of Hina, who was watching it with eyes full of anticipation.
"Enjoy, Hina. By this hour Shinano or the other guests would usually have shown up... Today it almost feels like I opened the doors just for you."
No sooner had the words left my mouth than the air in the café settled, sweet and still. Hina's head tilted a little, and then, as if she had caught my meaning, her cheeks flared a pink deeper than the cream on the desserts.
"A-ah... Oppa... you said that just now to flirt with Hina, didn't you? Right?!"
Her eyes sparkled as they locked onto me. She pushed her lips into a pout, and still she couldn't hide the smile perched so cutely there.
"Chee... saying it's only for Hina, that's cheating, you know. If you go this far, Hina might really turn into someone who can't live without Oppa."
She smiled shyly and carefully brought a cookie to her mouth. The crisp, crumbling sugar coating and the faint cherry-blossom scent hidden inside must have stirred her palate; her eyes narrowed as she sank into pure happiness. Her twin tails swayed in contentment, and forgetting even to wipe the sugar dusting her lips, she handled the cream bun like a treasure and took a bite.
Time passed that way with Hina, and when I glanced at the clock it wasn't even noon. It seemed a long while yet before Shinano would come clear away the shattered bar table, so I thought I might as well start on the splinters myself.
"Yesterday... a lot happened, that's all..."
"Huh...? Oppa, what's that on the floor? Did a bomb go off or something?"
Hina licked the cream from the corner of her mouth with the tip of her tongue and craned her head over the counter. When she took in the miserable wreck of the bar table smashed to pieces, her eyes went perfectly round. But as always, the subject of her conversation veered off in another direction at once.
"Wait! Wait! Hold on a second! You said a lot... happened yesterday?"
She hopped down from her chair and pressed in close beside the counter. The shy air from a moment ago vanished completely, and she started grilling me in a strangely sharp voice.
"Oppa. Look Hina straight in the eyes and say it. Last night, under the moonlight with that nun... exactly what kind of 'a lot' did you do? Don't tell me that nun smashed the table with an axe and ran off!"
It was a startlingly accurate deduction, but I couldn't answer her.
"Mm... what you do after drinking is innocent come the next day, so it's only polite not to talk about it. And... it's been broken since this morning. You didn't notice?"
At my brazenly shameless reply, the crumple in Hina's expression smoothed back out.
"Chee... well, that's because I was busy staring at Oppa's face the whole time! Nothing but Oppa comes into Hina's eyes, I'm telling you!"
But the pout didn't last long. Hina quietly turned her head again and glared at me.
"Innocent, my foot! You keep slithering around it like some crafty old snake, and that just makes it more suspicious! Under the moonlight... alone with that nun... ugh, the more I think about it, the more jealous I get!"
Tap, tap. She stamped the floor lightly with her heel, then pressed her whole body right up against the counter.
"Yui was there with us yesterday too. Ah... welcome."
We were still squabbling across the counter, me dodging Hina's relentless interrogation, when the sanctuary door flew open.
It was a magical girl I had never seen before. Short red hair tumbled in a mess over a baseball jacket, and the crooked stance—short miniskirt, weight cocked on one hip—looked less like a magical girl saving the world and more like a delinquent from a back alley. She glanced once at Hina, plastered against the counter and badgering me, then once at me standing farther inside, her eyes flicking between us.
"Hah? The Witches' Gathering...?"
A sharp-edged voice slipped out between her lips.
"What's with this mister. You playing some kind of cosplay game in here?"
She jerked her chin and raked me up and down with her eyes.
"Eek...!"
Hina, who had been glued to me a second ago, flinched and stumbled backward. She whipped the pink cream bun in both hands behind her back and started sneaking glances around.
"M-Miru...? Wh-what are you doing heeere...?"
At Hina's trembling voice, Miru clicked her tongue.
"What do you think. I came to drag back the idiot who vanished without even checking the group chat. What were you doing in here with this shady mister?"
"Mister...? For starters, this is a magical girl sanctuary under Shinano's care. The name Witches' Gathering was one she chose herself. It ought to be listed on the dedicated magical girl smartphone app as well."
Being an ordinary person, I had no idea what a magical girl smartphone or its app screen looked like. I did know, at least, that the sanctuary's location and the safe-zone information were shared there.
At my calm answer, Miru's eyebrow twitched. She glared at me over the counter and reached a hand into the pocket of her baseball jacket. Tension pulled taut—but fortunately, what she drew out wasn't a weapon. It was a smartphone plastered with stickers.
"Hah? Shinano? That decrepit old cat approved a cosplay café like this?"
Suspicion written all over her face, Miru started jabbing roughly at the screen. Blue light from the display reflected in her eyes.
"Th-that's right, Miru! I only found out 'cause I checked the app on my way in too!"
"You. Pipe down."
At Miru's rebuke, Hina stuck her lips out in a pout again. Miru's finger, flicking rapidly through the screen, froze at a certain point.
"It's real... there's even a safe zone registration number."
Tsk. Miru clicked her tongue and shoved the phone back into her baseball jacket pocket. The murderous edge that had been honed so sharp eased off a notch, but the look she turned on me was still razor-keen. She planted both arms on the counter and leaned her upper body forward, and the distance between us closed to barely a handspan in an instant.
"So. An ordinary civilian, and you're playing proprietor of this sanctuary? If the cat vouches for the place, I'm not about to shove a gun in your face right this second."
Miru turned her head and pointed a finger at Hina, who was carefully reading the room from near the corner of the counter.
"But this one's been calling you Oppa since I walked in. If you've been pulling some shady stunt on a member of my team, we've got a problem, mister."
"Mister...? If an ordinary person is working deep in the mountains with nowhere to run, wouldn't I be the one closer to having a stunt pulled on me?"
At the self-mocking retort that left my mouth, the air inside the sanctuary stopped for a moment. An apron tied over a shirt. Beyond the window, a forest empty of people. And right beside us, the wreckage of a bar table left smashed and abandoned. Her eyes swept quickly over all of it. Inside the baseball jacket, Miru's hand—resting until then on the grip of a pistol—slowly dropped away.
"Hah..."
An incredulous, empty laugh slipped long from between her lips. She unhitched the hip she had been cocking and lifted her chin.
"Unbelievable. Now that I hear it, you're not wrong. An ordinary guy stuck all alone in a mountain corner crawling with magical girls. You wouldn't have enough lives to pull a stunt, not even if you had ten of them."
The killing intent drawn tight through Miru's voice settled. She still kept her sharp attitude, but the fierce gaze that had been sizing me up as a monster or a criminal was, at the very least, unmistakably withdrawn.