Coffee Galette Chofu ~Pursued by Awkward Gods~
Translator: AdCaelum
Editor: Cale
Read at Watashi wa Sugoi Desu!
Chapter 1-9: Criticism
This happened after Uta saw off the woman who had come to thank him for returning her bag.
(Garbage in a place like this…)
Uta picked up a scrap of paper rolling around in front of the store and froze in place.
“…This is…”
He had a bad feeling as he flattened the crumbled mess.
It made a dry, rustling sound. The bad feeling had started swirling inside his chest changed into fear and discomfort.
It was the cover of a circular—a picture of Uta.
“Uta, what’s wrong?”
The door chime rang, and Haraedo slowly came out of the store.
“Ah, no. It’s nothing.”
Uta hurriedly stuffed the scrap of paper into his pocket.
“Uta…”
That might have been enough to deceive Sungmin, but Haraedo had eyes that could see through everything.
“Did you think lies and deception would work on me? I can see the color of your heart.”
That was true. This man was still a god.
Uta took the scrap of paper out from his pocket and quietly handed it to him.
“Please don’t tell Min-kun. It was dropped in front of the store.”
Haraedo glanced at the piece of paper and seemed to quickly grasp the situation.
“I see. A low form of harassment. But if they dumped this to draw you out, then they must still be nearby.”
“…Eh?”
Uta’s heart skipped a beat.
Haraedo quickly surveyed their surroundings and trotted away from the store.
“Haraedo?”
“I’m going to take a look around.”
The god answered as Uta watched the back of his Japanese clothes disappear.
*
Two days had passed since then, but Haraedo hadn’t returned.
“Why hasn’t he come…?”
It was evening. Uta sighed as he gazed at the container of Blue Mountain coffee.
“Eh, could it be that…you wanted him to come?!”
Sungmin had been humming as he cleaned the dishes when he opened his eyes wide in surprise.
“He had been coming every day recently, but now that he hasn’t, I’m worried.”
And, there was also the matter of that scrap of paper. He couldn’t tell Sungmin about it.
“Isn’t it a good thing that he hasn’t come? I mean, he doesn’t pay for his coffee.”
“Well, that is true.”
Uta gave a small laugh and resumed cleaning from the spot where he’d stopped.
“Even so, customers haven’t come.”
Sungmin grumbled.
“Yes. Though, this isn’t the first time it’s happened…”
But, it was strange. Even though the circular should have brought forth a good result… There must be some reason why practically no new customers had come…
Uta took out the circular stored in the cupboard and ran his eyes across the article in the store.
There wasn’t anything particularly strange about what was written.
He closed it and looked at the cover again.
(Ah…)
He recalled that crumbled scrap of paper, and his breathing became unsteady for a moment.
It was probably a declaration of malice towards Uta. In that case…
He took his smartphone out from his pocket and opened up the review site for eateries.
“Ah, as expected…”
“What’s the matter, manager? You don’t look good.”
Sungmin jumped up from the other side of the counter.
“That’s…?!”
“Sorry, Min-kun…”
“Why are you apologizing?!”
Severe criticism towards the store was posted there.
This was a summary of what was written: The store is old and dirty, but above all, the manager is oppressive. I was turned away when I went around closing time.
“This! Is this the person you gave the discount coupon to…?!”
“Probably not.”
Sungmin was about to explode in anger, but Uta held him back in a panic.
If that customer had been discontent, then it would have been towards the employee, not the store manager. This didn’t match the contents of the post.
“Then, who would do this?”
“This… Could it be someone who’s never been to the store? I mean, cleaning is important to us…”
That was right. Uta had a hardworking personality, so he never cleaned halfheartedly. While the store building was old considering the fact that it existed since its time as a soba restaurant, the inside should have been new as it had just been renovated three years ago.
If it was someone who had actually entered the store, they wouldn’t have seen the store as old and dirty.
“Then, is it an unwarranted grudge?”
Sungmin muttered.
That was when Uta realized.
“Yes. They must have looked at the circular and realized my lineage.”
“Eh, that woman with the bag?”
“No… It’s rather the opposite.”
“I see. Then, the one who stole her bag!”
It was roughly at the same time as Sungmin said that when the door of the store opened.
“Uta, I’ve made you wait.”
Entering the store as he breathed heavily was Haraedo-no-kami, who had been missing for the past few days—
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