act27side

It's like we've gone back years and years.

A man listlessly heads for the old cafe, and pushes open its door once again.

He feels for the light switch. Carefully, he uses a rag to wipe the dust from the counter, then pulls the equipment out from the cupboards, before pulling a pouch out of his chest pocket. Fresh coffee beans, brought back from the office.

Like so many years ago, he boils, he grinds, then attentively, he pours.

Huff...

Flavor is... I guess I've gotten rusty.

He looks out of the window. One after another, people make their way home while it's still dusk. The street grows gradually more desolate, until there's no one out at all. Only then does he chuckle to himself, bitterly.

Seriously... what the hell am I waiting for?

He finishes his coffee, and prepares to tidy everything away and get out of here.

A knock comes from the door. Costa remembers he never even shut it.

Who is it?

Good evening...

Are you still open?

Mr. Dolly, you <i>promise</i> you've made it clear to the Little Black Sheep? Not to cause trouble like this anymore?

Yep... any more mess, and I'll disavow them as my clones.

(Tumbles about in the air)

(Headbutts walls in the street)

Mr. Dolly!

Fine, I'll try as hard as I can...

(Attempts to walk calmly)

See? Much better.

But they still caused plenty of chaos at the trade fair today...

But the air was full of the smell of joy, you mean. Mmm, it's sugary sweet even now. It's just like the first time I took a walk across the 'countries' you talk about.

Where there's hilly areas, you can glide. Where there's watery areas, you can surf. I even had a couple of bastard annoying animals chasing me all over the wilds. Every place produces something different.

Knowing how your human race can't just tour the whole place, getting to see such interesting things must be novel for you, right?

Why do I get the sense you're showing off, Mr. Dolly?

Busted.

Did you have fun today then, Adele? Hot springs let you relax, skateboarding's a thrill, and that loud-ass penguin's loud-ass music got you pumped up, didn't it?

Mr. Dolly, those children could see the lambs!

*sigh* How is it this hard to cheer you up? There's that 'brooding' flavor in the air again, bitter and tart!

Adele turns away to hide a little giggle, then recovers her straight face.

Mr. Dolly, we're here. I need to leave the owner a note saying we've found the exhibit, and thank you for worrying about us.

I have the pen and paper in my bag...

Oh, is this cafe... open again?

Dim yellow lights perfuse the interior. Through the windows, the cafe's furnishings can vaguely be made out.

Costa pours hot water, the sound breaking the silence between him and his customer.

Condensation fills the windows. Adele gently wipes the hot springs' white mist from the glass, and finally catches a proper glimpse of the customer.

What did we stop for? Aren't we going in for coffee?

...Professor Keller?

I got The Atlas of Terra's Volcanoes. I never thought you'd have kept it safe for so many years... Thank you.

Ah, I asked a little lady. She came here looking for some exhibit. Just so happened to be the Volcano Museum's.

Is, um, she your employee?

Adele is my student.

Ah, your student. Right, right...

You've been...

...quite the miserable worker at city hall lately. Gathering signatures for an LOI to relocate the residents...

My parents left their own little clothing shop. Reasonably speaking, I should need to sign too.

Do you... have any objections to the redevelopment, then?

Our family stopped leaning on this place for our livelihood long ago. If it would make your work go any smoother...?

Of course, and thank you for your cooperation...

Want another cup?

Can that come with the old complimentary chat, then?

As a qualified barista, listening is part of my work.

Take a seat, then.

Maybe we should go, Mr. Dolly? Today doesn't seem like the right one to leave a message.

Aww, but the coffee smells so good. Can't we have some...?

(Prepares to charge headlong into the cafe)

Hey... hey!

The closed glass door blocks the lamb's strike, and it hardly makes as loud a noise as she expected. It simply turns tail and shoots back into the street, where it tumbles around.

Adele nervously observes how the two inside react.

Why did you up and leave when you did?

I met two... very interesting people.

When you study volcanoes, you're always visiting new places.

I remember. You met each other in here a lot.

Mm. And if they came, you'd plug your guitar in, and off you went with your heavy metal racket.

Magna always felt 'that boy at the cafe' never seemed to welcome them too much.

Aah... I was just a little too willful of a brat, back then.

It wasn't meant at them specifically...

I know. And they didn't take it to heart.

You gave them coffee soda to try once, and make us swear to secrecy that we wouldn't tell Grandpa Mockingbird.

He couldn't stand the drinks I came up with. Every time I added them to the menu, he'd wipe them off... They were just as bizarre to him as my axe, and my drumkit.

By the way, that wasn't just your average coffee soda. It was called 'volcanic coffee.'

Alright, alright, yes, 'volcanic coffee.'

It <i>was</i> a nice drink, in any case. After we went to Leithanien, Katia would follow your recipe to recreate the flavor for himself.

How are... Katia, and... Magna doing?

I remember when you left Siesta, you said, you'd be visiting every volcano across the land with them.

I spent a long, long time with them on our travels.

But a few years ago, we strayed apart.

Strayed?

Yes.

And we're never to meet again.

Was it...? I'm so sorry...

Hence why I came back. Opened that museum. Hoped I could preserve all the research they'd done.

When I—saw you at the museum that day, it completely... totally blindsided me.

It was a great surprise to me too. You're nothing like the noisy little child I remember.

You, too... You're a museum curator and everything.

Mm. I suppose I've turned an old ideal or two into reality. No matter what, though, the conviction that keeps me going now isn't... really what drove me in the first place anymore.

Still, change isn't always a bad thing, wouldn't you say?

The two lapse into silence for a while. The customer lightly stirs at the coffee in her cup.

Did you go to the trade fair today?

The trade fair? I did. Tourists were profuse, proprietors were in high spirits—much like the Siesta of old.

Maybe once this place is all rebuilt, and the tourist influx comes, I'll have an idea or two about what's next for me.

For example?

Who knows...? I'll probably keep running a cafe, but maybe a rock 'n' roll cafe, or just a music shop, filled to the walls with drum kits and guitars. Lots to try. Always someone out there who'll enjoy it.

Just like you say... just like the Siesta of old.

Oh, something very funny that happened today too. I was at the trade fair, and I saw this soft drink from Columbia. The recipe was one-for-one with my 'volcanic coffee.' The exact same.

Well, I didn't leak your secret recipe!

No, no, it was a year ago when I was planning to shutter the shop. I told somebody else about how to make it.

But honestly... it's just coffee plus soda water. Of course some Columbian could've come up with it on their own too.

Hand-brewed coffee and soda water. How did you come up with it at first?