Chapter 38
After being led around by Sally and Erica to do all sorts of shopping, I finally got to relax at a café.
They said all the purchased clothes would be sent to the school dormitory.
It couldn’t be more convenient and nice. Money really is the best.
We stopped at a café terrace at the edge of the town square.
‘Oh? This is…’
It was the café that had a “Help Wanted” sign.
Hadn’t I been worried about getting a part-time job for Raven’s living expenses and tuition, and in case I had to continue attending this school?
♥ Help Wanted ♥
Weekends from noon to 8 PM
※Saint Gloria Private School students preferred※
“Melody, what’s wrong?”
Erica turned back with a curious face as she was about to enter the café with Sally.
I shook my head.
“It’s nothing.”
I should quietly ask the manager about the part-time job when we leave later. Erica and Sally might make a fuss if they knew.
“Are you planning to work here?”
As I was carefully looking at the sign, someone spoke to me.
Surprised, I looked up. A familiar face appeared. It was Leonard.
“Huh? Why are you here…?”
“I work here.”
“You? Aren’t you a nobleman?”
“Can’t nobles have part-time jobs? Don’t be so prejudiced. You can do anything on this island, Melody.”
Still, isn’t it okay to have some prejudice about nobles? I thought nonchalantly as I looked at Leonard.
Sally, who had come back to the café entrance when I didn’t follow, called me.
“Melody? Why aren’t you… Who are you?”
She used strange honorifics as she looked at Leonard with suspicious eyes.
She didn’t forget to look him up and down in his uniform.
Leonard crossed his arms and looked at Sally with disapproving eyes.
“Who are you? Why is Sally Ann Sutherland with Hastings…? Not content with just bullying Erica, are you trying to bully Hastings too?”
At Leonard’s words, Sally’s face turned red. She pressed her lips tightly and glanced at me.
It seemed that Sally’s dislike for Erica was really well-known.
As Leonard’s disapproving gaze showed no signs of subsiding, Sally flustered and made excuses in an almost nasal voice.
“N-Not anymore. There were misunderstandings then… I’ve reflected… reflected…”
While she was stammering her response, Erica walked towards us. She seemed to have heard bits of our conversation.
“Sally apologized to me. We’ve decided to make up. And Melody is our friend. It’s not the kind of relationship you’re thinking of.”
At Erica’s explanation, Sally looked at her with moved eyes. And I pondered her words.
Melody is our friend.
Our friend.
Friend.
The prickly Erica clearly called me a friend.
“Am I your friend now?”
At my question, Erica glanced at me and snorted.
“Hmph! I don’t make friends with just anyone. Consider it an honor.”
“You guys are fooling around.”
Leonard, who had been quietly observing the situation, said with an incredulous face.
This time, Erica’s face also turned red.
It seems both Sally and Erica are not very honest in many ways.
“So Melody, where did you really disappear to, skipping classes? Everyone in the disciplinary committee was surprised when you suddenly vanished.”
Leonard ignored Sally and Erica and asked me.
It had been a while since I’d properly talked with Leonard because I’d been chasing after Raven during every break time.
Anyway, it was a difficult question, but Sally and Erica took my side just as they had with Senior Weston.
“Melody got caught up in a fight between Sally and me in the lobby. Thanks to Melody, we made up and decided to be friends.”
“Hmm. I see.”
Leonard nodded with a face that seemed to be half-listening, then checked the time.
“Let’s go inside for now. It’s troublesome to stand at the entrance, customers.”
He grabbed me first and now he’s treating us like problem customers!
I felt very wronged, but there were other customers trying to enter the café behind us, so we had no choice but to move.
After we sat down at a terrace table overlooking the town square, Leonard brought us menus.
“Melody, what do you want to eat?”
At Erica’s question, I furrowed my brow while looking at the menu.
‘What are all these menu items?’
This was my first time ever coming to a café.
I vaguely knew that cafés sold coffee, but I really didn’t know anything else.
I never dreamed there would be such a variety of drinks.
Haaah—
I don’t know where they came from, but ghosts started gathering around me one by one.
They watched the menu I was holding with curious faces.
Among them was a ghost with droopy eyes that looked as gentle as a puppy.
It was the ghost that had helped me during the elevator urban legend incident, telling me not to get off the elevator.
The droopy-eyed ghost tapped the menu with its round, cotton-ball-like hand, as if it had found a menu item it liked.
‘What’s this?’
As I was staring intently at that menu item, Sally laughed.
“Looks like Melody wants a parfait!”
I didn’t know what a parfait was, but the ghosts seemed excited. I don’t know why they’re so happy when they can’t even eat.
While I was tilting my head in confusion, Sally and Erica beckoned to Leonard, who was standing at the counter.
Leonard looked at Sally and Erica as if he had eaten something sour.
“I’m an employee here, not your servant, you know?”
“We know. Feeling guilty?”
“We’re just calling an employee, that’s all?”
Sally and Erica shrugged and responded to Leonard’s disgruntled reply.
Leonard looked at them with an incredulous face.
Sally and Erica got along quite well. Enough to understand why they were friends in the past.
Anyway, after Leonard took our order and disappeared, Erica and Sally were now discussing new menu items while looking at the menu.
Meanwhile, I sat blankly on the terrace, looking at the square.
The weather was very nice as we entered early autumn.
Perhaps because of that, there were many people out for a stroll in the town square on the weekend.
It’s peaceful.
And the floating ghosts blended naturally among the townspeople. To the point where I wondered why I hadn’t seen them last time.
‘Why didn’t I really see them then?’
The first time I saw ghosts was when I got a nosebleed at Johannes Castle.
‘Ah, surely that couldn’t be related.’
Maybe I didn’t see them when I first arrived at school because I was overwhelmed.
Back then, it hadn’t been long since I escaped from Chesswind Village, and I was preoccupied with thoughts of Raven.
As I was lost in thought, looking at the peaceful town scene, I heard bickering in front of me. Sally and Erica were quarreling and bickering.
“Erica, you haven’t known Melody for long either, right? Anyone would think you’ve been best friends for years.”
“The time we’ve known each other isn’t important. At least we’re closer than you are.”
“We’ll see about that. Can someone as gentle as Melody put up with Erica’s prickly personality?”
“I’d be better than a hot-tempered chatterbox like you.”
An irritated Sally stood up abruptly and shouted at Erica.
“Erica, are you done talking?”
“Not yet, why?”
Erica stood up defiantly, glaring back at Sally. I sat across from them, looking at them with a bewildered face.
Just then, Leonard came out with a tray full of our ordered drinks.
“They’ve always been like that. Just leave them be. By the way, Melody, you ordered the parfait, right?”
When I nodded quietly, he smiled and placed the parfait in front of me.
And as soon as I saw the visual of the parfait, my eyes widened in surprise.
🐈⬛
Thank you for reading! ♡
