Chapter Text
Have you heard? About the cafe in the woods?
It's only visible to the special ones, you see. As it's a cafe specially catered for supernaturals. All the tasty sweets and delights, you can find right here. If you're looking for a place to relax a bit, look no further.
Monster, spirit, whatever you are, anyone is welcome! The Ghost Cafe is now open for business!
"Get that witch out of our land! Kill her!"
Lights coming from the fiery torches followed her, as she did nothing but run further and further away. The angry footsteps became fainter the more she ran, and she dove into the mass of trees without hesitation.
Why did it come to this? All she wanted was a peaceful life. It wasn't her fault she was born like this!
Yashiro Nene. Born with the extraordinary ability to interact with supernaturals. And those weird, radish-like legs. Maybe it was both that made her the most hated in her village.
Anyway, she had to get away. And it just so happened she entered the forest said you can never return from, ever.
It was dark, and only the light from the moon helped her get through the trees. Although it was still difficult to see clearly, and there seemed to be no end in sight.
No end, until the comforting shine of light ahead came around.
Nene slowed down, catching her breath and looking over her shoulder. The villagers were long gone, and it was a good thing they weren't chasing her anymore. Besides, who in their right mind would enter the spooky forest of no return?
Oh right. Her.
She parted some bushes, stepping over them. Right in front of her, a two-story building sat there, painted in a light blue and white. A few lanterns were hung around, and a white signboard stood in front of the glass door. Something was written on the board, but the ink was too faded away for her to read.
It was strange for a building this nice to be in the middle of a forest. But it was nevertheless, a welcome sight from the angry mob and pitchforks being sent at her.
No one would mind if she entered for a while, right?
She took a deep breath, gripping on the handle of the door and swinging it open. A bell right on top rang softly, probably signalling her entrance. The smell of newly-made pastries and coffee hit her senses immediately.
Ah, so it's a cafe.
"Oh, a customer." A deep, almost annoyed sounding voice startled her, as she quickly turned to the right. By a counter, a freakishly tall man stood, one arm propped on the table and another holding a small book he had been reading. He had dual colored hair (white and purple) and he was observing her sharply through those glasses of his.
How did she not notice him?
"Well, why don't you take a seat? The waitress will be here in a moment." Despite his scary demeanor, all he did was merely point at the rows of tables before him. Red circular tables and chairs, and accompanied by individual ceiling fans at that.
"Oh... um... thanks, uh..." She nervously fidgeted, her gaze flickering from the tables to the man. She almost swore she saw him roll his eyes and grin out of amusement.
"Call me Tsuchigomori, kid. Now go ahead and sit down."
Okay. He was... nice. Nene was about to go and sit down when she noticed someone enter from the other side of the room.
A girl with purple-ish hair and a quaint smile greeted her. For one thing, she was wearing... maid clothes? It definitely suited her though. But Nene wasn't really sure herself.
"Welcome!" She took Nene by the hands and before she knew it, she was being guided to a table and being sat on a chair. "I can tell you must be exhausted, right? Stay here and I'll get you something to drink."
"A-alright." She just watched the girl leave her side and enter by another room next to the counter. Her eyes moved to the clock on the wall, which was funnily enough, shaped like a cat.
Tick tock tick tock.
An awkward silence filled the whole room. Nene resolved to just staring at her hands. The girl and Tsuchigomori-san looked rather friendly. And the cafe was pretty cozy, she admit.
Still, it didn't remove the fact something seemed rather weird about the whole place. And unfortunately, it was a feeling she was all too familiar with.
This was usually the feeling when supernaturals were nearby.
It wasn't like she despised them, but it wasn't like she wasn't fully afraid of them either. She got along with little rabbit-like creatures back in her village, when she was younger. She never had any parents or other family, so she was mostly used to having them as company. It was around the age of 7 when she found out no one else but her can actually see them.
Maybe that's why no one wanted her in the first place.
The fresh scent of cupcakes wafted out of the room the waitress had entered. Come to think of it, why is a cafe running on full operations in a forest? And in the middle of the night?
As that one fairytale she read as a child said, things were getting curiouser and curiouser.
Nene looked over to Tsuchigomori. He was busy reading the book he was holding, fingers drumming on the top of the counter. It didn't seem like he's paying attention to her at the moment.
...it wouldn't hurt if she just tried to take a peek at the kitchen, just this once?
Slowly, she stood up from her seat, stepping to the side, careful not to let the man notice her. Luckily he was too preoccupied reading to see or hear her (or was it a bad thing?), so she managed to reach the kitchen door without any problems.
The entrance was blocked by a light green curtain, and the noises of trays and yelling started to become apparent on the other side. Nene grasped on the curtain, and carefully pulled it aside, allowing her to see right through.
"Mitsuba, you're spilling sugar all over! Just leave it alone!"
"Don't tell me what to do!!"
A blond haired boy pointed a tray at someone in front of him, at the same time trying to pick up the spilt sugar all over the already messy table. He was in chef's attire, but what really made him stand out was the twitching pair of wolf ears on top of his head, and the angrily swishing tail.
"Don't worry, I'll take care of that!" And there was the waitress she met earlier, who looked suspiciously calm about the fact there was a literal wolf boy in the same kitchen as her. She was waving her hands around in a weird manner, and Nene saw the broom she was pointing her hands at suddenly spring up by itself and start sweeping.
All in a flash, things began to take life around the kitchen, as measuring cups and bowls began to hover around the air. The person the wolf boy was yelling at turned out to be a pink haired boy in the same uniform as him, although his arms and legs were covered up in bandages.
Nene couldn't move. So her suspicions were correct! This entire cafe... it wasn't normal at all! What if they were luring humans into the forest and turning them into cupcakes? Was that why no one has ever returned from the woods?!
"We have a customer to attend to, you guys. There's no time to argue."
"Yeah, but Aoi-san—"
It was by accident, but Nene made a slight noise of surprise, alerting the three in the kitchen. The wolf boy's eyes widened at the sight of her by the curtain.
"Huh? It's a human!"
The pink haired boy turned to where he was looking. "What? A human?!"
Oh no! Now she was doomed. Without even thinking, Nene finally forced her legs to move, and bolted out of the cafe back into the dark woods.
They're gonna eat me, they're gonna eat me, they're gonna eat me!
"Wait, Miss! It's dangerous out there!" She heard someone's voice shout out to her, but she shook her head. She can't trust them! It was better getting lost in the woods than getting eaten by werewolves!
She bumped into something harshly, making her drop down on the ground. What was that? Did she run into a tree or something—
"You..."
The booming, distorted voice was enough to send Nene into a state of fear even more. And she just had to look right up.
A large mass of... something was blocking her way, looming over her. It had arms all over, and creepy eyes all staring at her like some sort of wild animal. Nene was frozen, her whole body trembling.
"You... saw... us..."
It grabbed her ankle, attempting to pull her towards it's prying arms. She tried to move, but she couldn't, like there was some invisible force pinning her down.
Was this it? Was she really going to die like this?
"No... help... somebody, help!"
"Sick 'em, hakujoudai!!"
Her eyes pryed open, her arms automatically coming up to shield her face from the bright light that suddenly came. From out of nowhere, a little white will-o-wisp sped right through the monster, piercing it from back to front.
A sickening crunch followed, and the monster just bursted into pieces, like glass breaking apart. Nene could just stare as the environment began to feel a little light.
"Oh, dear. Looks like we have a stray rabbit in these woods." A boy's voice spoke, pulling her away from her daze as she looked up, trying to see who had saved her.
A young boy?
He looked about her age, too, although his stature seemed to suggest he was a little shorter than her. He had black hair with choppy bangs, and the golden, moon-like color of his eyes seemed contrast that. On top of that, a white piece of paper was stuck on his right cheek, with the words in red simply saying "seal".
Who was he?
She took a glance at his clothes; it resembled the ones worn by the werewolf and the bandaged boy back in the kitchen. Except he was in rolled up long sleeves, had a tie, and a barista's apron around his waist. Kinda off-putting in a place such as a creepy, dark forest.
She flinched when a hand fell on her head, and she turned back to the boy, who was smiling at her. Somehow, his aura felt... calming? Comforting? It was all so strange.
All she knew was no one had ever smiled like that to her, not even boys.
"You gotta be more careful, you know? Humans die pretty easily." His lips curled into a grin, revealing sharp, blood-sucking fangs.
Ah. A vampire...?
Everything went blank after that.
You don't belong here. You don't belong here. You don't belong here. You don't belong here. You don't belong here.
"Wah!" Nene jolted back from sleep, arms up and ready to smack whoever tried to hurt her. When she found no one around, she settled down a bit, taking her time to look at where she was.
It looked like someone's bedroom. The wallpaper was a dark red, and the curtains were draped all over every window. The bed she was on was rather large for one person, and on top of that, it had that familiar scent of pastries too.
Wait. Was she back in the cafe? Did that vampire boy take her here so they could eat her?!
I gotta get out of here as soon as possible... Before she could properly start plotting her escape, though, the bedroom door opened, and in came the boy who had rescued her.
"Oh, you're awake!"
Now Nene's first instinct was to scream, but that would probably make him enjoy sucking the blood off her bones more, so without hesitation, she grabbed a pillow and chucked it right at his face. Unfortunately he dodged to the opposite side, a bit startled by her violent reaction.
"YOU'RE NOT TAKING ANY OF MY BLOOD!!"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, calm down, Miss! I'm not gonna hurt you! None of us are gonna kill you or anything!" He gestured with his hands to calm her down, trying to make himself look as harmless as possible. Nene clutched on another pillow, glaring at him.
"I won't take your blood or anything. I'm not that kind of vampire, you know." Oh, so she was right. He was a vampire. Still, that wasn't going to let her feel any better either.
"...you mean any of that?" She asked, still holding on her pretty useless weapon, eyeing him warily. He nodded, smiling.
"Yes. But... sorry for scaring you. It's just that, it's been a long while since we've seen any humans around."
A long while? What did that even mean?
Nene lowered the pillow, looking at him for any signs of deceit. But there pretty much wasn't any to begin with. Those supernaturals didn't look all that dangerous, either (except for Tsuchigomori-san but maybe she was just overthinking that part).
She sighed, finally relaxing and letting the tension drift away from her body. Being afraid was really taking her energy away.
"It's okay... I should be the one apologizing. I didn't mean to act so unladylike."
"Heh, you did give quite the fight just now with that pillow." He had to chuckle when she pouted at him angrily, a sight that sort of reminded him of a rabbit.
"By the way... You can call me Hanako! I'm the manager of this cafe, if you haven't already noticed." His face almost looked smug upon saying that, and Nene tried to hide the fact she was actually surprised.
Manager? He looked no older than her, and he's the boss of an entire business?! Was it the perks of being a vampire?
"And your name?" Hanako tilted his head at her, waiting for her answer. She debated for a while, but replied immediately afterwards.
"I'm... I'm Yashiro Nene. Thank you for saving me earlier, Hanako-san!" She gave a little bow, and Hanako waved his hand nonchalantly, that grin back on his face.
"It's okay, no need to be formal! Again, sorry for scaring you. I promise, none of us have ever harmed any human ever."
Was that supposed to help me feel better?
"We can lead you back to your home, if you'd like. Think of it as an apology for scaring you half to death."
Home. What use was that to her now? She just got kicked out of the only home she ever knew. No one wanted her anyway.
She didn't belong anywhere.
"...I... I don't have a home anymore." At the sound of that, Hanako seemed to be surprised. Nene avoided his eyes, preferring to look at her palms instead.
"I'm sorry for the trouble I've caused. I won't take any more of your time."
"Wait." Nene looked back up at him, confused. He had a serious expression on, and when he took hold of her hand with his, followed by another, that caught her off guard.
"Why don't you stay here with us?" He let their fingers intertwine together, palm to palm. Nene had to note how cold his hands were compared to hers, but it wasn't something that made her feel uncomfortable.
"S...stay here? Are you sure? I don't want to be a bother—"
"No, it's fine!" Well he was quick to object. "You said you didn't have a home anymore. Then why not make this cafe your new home?" That warm, welcoming smile of his never seemed to end, and if Nene was being honest, she felt her cheeks heat up a little.
This was the first time anyone has been this kind to her.
"...T-thank you... Thank you!" She didn't even know what came over her, as she launched herself into his arms, tears falling from her eyes, yet a smile was forming on her lips, brimming with pure happiness.
Hanako patted her head, nodding. "You don't have to be alone anymore, Yashiro. I'm here." He was glad Nene wasn't looking at him right now, or she would have caught the crimson color forming all over his face.
"Ah—I mean, we're here for you now. Besides, we can use a little bit more hands around here." He quickly corrected himself.
In all honesty, Nene didn't mind being given work. It meant she could at least show her gratitude more properly now.
She pulled away, wiping the tears with her sleeve and smiled, like she hasn't ever gotten the chance to. "I'd like that."
And that was how the story of a girl, having been thrown into the world of the unknown, started to unfold.
We hope to see you at the Ghost Cafe soon!