Chapter Text
Sayaka runs her hand into her hair as she slammed her face into the table. The editor's remark sunk deep into her head and she can't say that he was wrong. She lacks the experience. She never had any romantic experiences that lasted after two dates. With a frustrated sigh, she got up from her chair, slowly dragging herself into her kitchen.
"You have a great imagination, Igarashi. Believe me, however, it feels like a robot is narrating this experience. " those lines from her friend Manyuda kept ringing in her head as she glances at her window.
"I write what I see," she exclaimed as she caught a glimpse of two people linking arms together. "it's not my fault their love is fake. My observation is precise." she murmured as she walked back into her room, glancing at the laptop. She sat back on the chair and started to place her fingers into the keyboard when her phone rang. A great distraction.
"Sayaka-chan!" Runa beamed as Sayaka accepted her call. "Whatcha doing?"
"Typing a new story. Something happened?" Sayaka answered as the clank of the keyboard started to go faster than normal. A new motivation had emerged for her but she had repeatedly deleted the whole paragraph. Runa's reply however gave her a chance to fix the bulb of ideas in her head.
"Oh, I found a new coffee shop for you. It opened last week and it's a fifteen-minute drive," she informed, as she headed to her door. "I'll send the direction. Meet you there. Bye."
Sayaka glanced at her phone in disbelief. For three whole days, she had no choice but to drink the coffee she makes which resulted in her poor works but now... a new coffee shop! It felt like everything fell into its rightful places. Grabbing her laptop and phone she immediately went to her car, beaming with delight only to glance at the side mirror and realize her hair was a mess. Tying it in a bun, a messy bun she drove to the place eagerly, and finally, she arrived at a coffee shop named Aquarium.
"Sayaka-chan!" Runa immediately called her when she entered the door.
Sayaka waved her hand as she tried to glance at the interior of the cafe. The place was painted in a crystal blue color, decorated with fishes, magnificent paintings of fishes. The light's decoration however caught her attention the most. Lights shaped like jellyfishes twinkles into the ceiling and that's when she realized the place was dimly lit. Not really what she would expect of the coffee shop but nonetheless in some ways she finds it soothing. The paintings actually helped her mind relax a bit. Seeing them had made Sayaka believe the interior of the coffee shop was someone's mind and indeed she was right.
"You just saved me!" she exclaimed slumping in the vacant seat.
"Ah yes," Runa agreed, placing her phone in the table. "you and your unexplained trait."
"I just don't like returning to the same coffee shop twice."
"And so you burden me to buy your coffee at those places when your bulb stops working."
The two continued their conversation and after a long dreadful hour with the help of caffeine Sayaka entered the last word with enthusiasm and relief. Satisfied with the content, Sayaka clasps her hand together, gazed from the above, and close her eyes. "Thank you, Aquarium."
Outside the cafe, she threw a short glance for the last time for she knew she'll never set foot on it again. She began to approach Runa from the other side of the road smiling in delight despite the dramatic farewell she did to the cafe earlier. Something mysterious occurred however and it had prompted her to do something she found ridiculous and odd.
Miles, and miles away from the coffee shop and yet her ear caught the sound of its bell's soft chime.
And so the next day, she returned.