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“I suddenly remembered that I said I would come by and never did, so I thought I’d stop by now…”

Kalia, sitting leisurely at the empty table, spoke up.

“Did we get in the way? If so, we can leave.”

“…No, there’s no need for that.”

My face was still flushed red.

I thought it was only natural. I felt embarrassed for getting caught slacking off at work, especially since that slacking involved my older sister… I mean, my girlfriend, who I was flirting with.

No, it wasn’t just flirting; we were practically glued to each other, almost kissing.

My sister wrapped up in me didn’t seem to mind too much, and given the atmosphere, it was clear we would’ve been kissing lips to lips if no one had interrupted.

…Not that I was thankful for that.

I wasn’t thankful, but I was glad. It’s always nice to see my buddies, especially since we ran into each other in a place we usually don’t.

Well, I had invited them, and yet I hadn’t sent an invitation until now.

Ever since I started dating my sister, I didn’t particularly worry about my buddies dropping by, but that very awareness made it easier to brush off the topic.

Though I did share my address with them.

“Here.”

Kalia’s face turned slightly red as she placed a tray piled high with coffee in front of her colleagues. The color of her face didn’t fade from the time spent with me; instead, it turned red again during the process of being caught by my buddies.

“…”

Pia was still staring at my face.

She had a curious nature, but it seemed like seeing the whole almost-kissing thing in real-time had left her a bit shocked. Well, they had said holding hands was strictly prohibited in the convent.

…Come to think of it, my sister and I were both women, huh.

So I was more careful around people, but these days, my guard had slipped a bit.

Maybe I had unwound in various ways.

I had the luxury of going back to Irrelaysia without risking losing this world, I had many more connections in this world, and I was in a relationship with someone I truly liked. Yeah, looking back, it was strange not to feel relaxed.

“This coffee thing, though…”

I was discussing something completely different from my and my sister’s situation.

Dana was always a curious one. She looked frozen after witnessing that earlier scene, but she quickly seemed to conclude, ‘Of course, couples do that,’ and returned to her usual self faster than Kalia or Arna, who had also blushed a bit.

“No, I really like the caffeine in this coffee. It wakes me up, you know? Well… though it’s not entirely magical; I still feel the fatigue creeping back in later.”

And then I took a sip of the black Americano.

“Don’t use it?”

I asked frankly.

Of course, there were drinks available in Irrelaysia as well. I had drunk tea that came from the Eastern lands. Though I often put in as much sugar as I wanted, so I didn’t really drink them straight.

“…Didn’t you drink potions often? Compared to those, this is much better. It’s actually fragrant.”

Nodding at Dana’s words, I recalled that potions were intensely focused on efficacy, so they often tasted terrible and sour… well, generally, they were not palatable.

The potions given to regular soldiers had less flavor, aiming to tone down the taste of the concentrated juice blend as much as possible. But given that the ingredients for potions were expensive, there was also the concern that a soldier would waste a potion by throwing it up.

“Potions?”

But my sister had no experience drinking those… I guess I could say that was fortunate.

“I heard about them last time, but are they really that bad?”

“They’re mixed with various alchemical materials to maximize the effects of herbs. Taste is the least of your worries; you can end up with chunks of fresh leaves or gritty bits swirling about. And you have to swallow it all for it to work fully. Most people spit it out the first time they try.”

…It was horrifying on second thought.

Later, I got the hang of it and would gulp it down in one go, followed by water. Dana and I could be written off; but Pia, who sometimes had to drink potions when her Divine Power dropped, Kalia, who got hurt the most as she was always at the forefront, and even Arna, who was knowledgeable about vegetarianism, all shook their heads in disagreement.

“If it’s just about recreating the taste, they could make it similarly here.”

“…No, I’ll pass.”

Kalia turned down Dana’s playful suggestion, probably because our expressions were a bit too vivid.

And that was a relief. I didn’t particularly want my sister to drink that. If it were unavoidable, it’d be one thing, but it wasn’t extraordinary enough to merit a mandatory consumption. It was simply the kind of ‘bad-tasting’ thing one could imagine.

“You made a good call.”

Dana said that and slurped her Americano.

“Too much caffeine isn’t good for your health.”

Pia sounded like our mom.

“…”

Dana just turned her gaze elsewhere, not responding.

“…You didn’t drink some before coming, did you?”

“…”

“How many glasses did you have? Oh, first, take your mouth off that straw!”

Pia lunged at Dana, trying to snatch the cup from her hand while Dana twisted and turned to dodge Pia’s reach, and Kalia opened her mouth.

“Actually, the reason we came all this way was that we wanted to help you.”

“Help us? With the bakery job?”

If that was the case, I was sorry to say we didn’t need that many people. I mean, with me, my sister, and Ga-young in there, it got super cramped. No matter how efficient the additional person was, it would still be too tight for anyone to comfortably come in unless one of us stayed outside.

Well, it’d be a different story if they were only standing at the counter… but that was something we didn’t need to bother hiring anyone else for.

However, Kalia shook her head at my question.

“You probably haven’t told Ga-young yet. If someone suddenly disappears for months, people naturally worry. You wouldn’t just vanish without a word, given your personality.”

“Ah…”

Nodding at Kalia’s words, I bit my lip.

“So, you want to help us tell Ga-young?”

“Well, yeah.”

Kalia said as she sat comfortably, sipping her coffee.

“We can come up with reasons any time. We just need to attach some reason similar to what we told A-yoon last time. With witnesses like us, it would be easier for her to believe it.”

“Ah…”

Of course, I could realize later when I searched that the stories differed from one another. Just like my sister did back then.

But by then, my buddies would have already returned to Irrelaysia.

“The country went back to its original state, and we invited you guys to join us… Actually, that’s not entirely incorrect, is it? Wouldn’t that be sufficient as a reason?”

“Um…”

Still, I felt a bit uneasy. Since my sister could quickly check online right there, it wouldn’t seem strange, either.

Of course, my sister only acted that way because we were quite close, and the relationship between Ga-young and us was different since we were employer and part-time worker.

“Well, it’s fine if you refuse. Even if you do, I’ll at least let you know about the fact that we’ll be together.”

“Really?”

“Indeed.”

Kalia said that and slowly turned her gaze around the bakery.

“And actually, aside from that reason, I wanted to visit here at least once. After returning to Irrelaysia, I’ll probably be incredibly busy again. We all have things to do.”

The tussle between Pia and Dana came to a stop. Arna also slowly nodded her head.

“I won’t say I won’t come back again. There will indeed be times when I want to see the face of an old friend.”

As Kalia slowly opened her mouth,

“Yeah, I’ll definitely find a way to open the door again. And if you need to, come over to our side anytime.”

Dana said.

“Exactly. We’d prefer not to have our connections severed either. It’d be frankly too much to wait until after we die to see each other again.”

“Yeah.”

It was at that moment that Arna, who had been silent until now, slowly spoke up.

“That’s right.”

Arna, sitting near the window, looked out at the sky outside.

“…Being able to meet again only after death is… too long to wait.”

 

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