Episode 4

From outside it looked like an ordinary house. But crossing the threshold felt like stepping into a different world entirely.

Through a long corridor and past a door — warm-toned light wrapped around me. Spacious but sparsely seated, an unhurried atmosphere. Beyond a large pane of glass, a small garden. Jazz, barely present, inhabiting the same space.

At the rough-hewn single-plank counter, a familiar back. A black sheer blouse. Flashy gold hair. She gave a small toss of her hair and glanced back at me.

“Hey. You took your time.”

“Sorry to keep you waiting. But you really couldn’t have given me less to go on.”

In this tucked-away, quiet space, there was no one visible besides Tsumugi and the woman who’d led me here.

“You got an escort, so that’s fine. Decide what you want to drink. Even things not on the menu — just ask and most things are possible.”

I settled in beside her and looked through the menu. Small, refined typography that suited the atmosphere of the place. No photos, and slightly dim — a bit hard to read.

Before I’d noticed, the woman behind the counter had her gaze on me. I had plenty of questions, but first I needed to order something—

Too stylish, I can’t quite make out what half of this says… My eyes ran back and forth across the menu.

“If you’d like, may I make a suggestion?”

She was holding a small glass and smiling when our eyes met.

“Please — I’m not very familiar with this kind of thing.”

Not at all, in a gentle voice. I’d never been to a bar before, so I didn’t really know what was even on offer.

She looked at me quietly for a moment, then gave a faint smile and began preparing something with practised ease.

With nothing to do, I watched her hands. A red liqueur and a pure white liquid with a slight viscosity flowing together.

“Here you are.”

A small stemmed glass was set before me. The base was close to red, shifting gradually toward a cherry blossom pink toward the rim.

It’s very beautiful, I thought.

“Um — why did you make this for me?”

“If I may be so bold — I perceived that Takemi-san is not particularly strong with alcohol. And beneath the delicate loveliness of someone still girlish, I caught a glimpse of something fragile. And listening to the quiet voice of what you’re carrying in your heart just now — this is what I arrived at.”

A voice without hesitation, yet with a core to it that reached right through me.

“There she goes — the usual unsettling thing. Don’t let it bother you too much. It’s just her habit.”

A barbed voice from beside me. She’s probably a regular, but that’s quite a way to speak to someone serving you, I thought.

“Reading the people who come in and imagining what drink suits them — apparently that’s what she lives for.”

I’d heard somewhere that the mark of a good bar is a bartender who can tell at a glance what to serve each person who walks in. In which case — what story was behind whatever was in Tsumugi’s glass?

Unable to bear the attention from both of them, I brought the glass to my lips, and a gentle berry fragrance, quietly asserting itself from within sweet milk, passed through my nose.

“This is wonderful…”

I don’t much enjoy the taste of alcohol, so I almost never drink. When I do, it’s cassis milk only. Tsumugi laughed at me for it once, a long time ago.

“It’s cranberry milk. I’ve kept the alcohol content low, but please take care not to drink too quickly.”

“Thank you. It’s really delicious.”

It’s my work. A smile as she said it, and she stepped quietly away from the counter. I watched her go.

“Do you come here often?”

“Often enough. It’s my sister’s place.”

Ah….

I’d sensed something familiar about the bartender — she was Tsumugi’s older sister.

“I see. I thought there was something similar about you two. The face, the atmosphere — but sorry, I’ll stop there.”

I gave a wry smile watching her small figure rest her elbows on the counter and turn her glass in her hands.

“I’ll throw you out. You’re not exactly different from me.”

Sorry, sorry — and I bring my glass to my lips. Sweet and delicious.

So then — a pause, and she began to speak, her eyes on the counter.

“What on earth possessed you? I thought the day you’d ever reach out to me would never come.”

“You’re not wrong. It surprised me a little too.”

“There’s just… been a lot happening.”

I’d had a whole day to think and still arrived having decided nothing, so now the words come haltingly. Where to start. How much to say.

“No one else is coming tonight. Don’t worry about the time, or who can hear. Say the word if you’d like a refill.”

Tsumugi’s kindness is warm. She knows I can’t speak easily, that I prefer quiet — she chose this place with all of that already understood. And the bartender stepping away from the counter so promptly — she might even have cleared the room for us.

“Sorry. For always.”

The two of us tipped our glasses in silence for a while. As I drank further the tartness of the cranberry grew more present.

“So — about a friend of mine…”