Mixing Note

by Shūsuke Amagi

"Yes, it's Kami-Sama. I am Kami-Sama. That's why I have to say this. What is cuteness? Cuteness is justice. That's why all those who are cute are gathered to my side."

  "It doesn't matter how you do it, but please give me a more normal response."

  "Ah, I'm sorry. I accidentally got caught up in the moment; there's no need for you to worry as it happens all the time."

  "...All the time?"

  Keeping a constant distance between herself and the shop owner who was still shaking from his recent excitement, Felli looked at the uniform she was wearing again. It should have been...changed a little. The design of the uniform was definitely different from the others. The uniform doubtlessly still retained its cute feel, having kept its pink color

  They had started from pink, and finally returned to pink. She felt that if they were going to use that uniform emphasize her selling points it would be a little forced.

  "It seems blue and black really do suit you the most. But if we just obediently followed that train of thought, we wouldn't have a chance to dig deeper into your potential, and I can't further make use of my genius. Regardless as to how it goes, as long as it is confined by some sort of trend, then that would be a defeat; one which I cannot accept. You have to make cuteness your objective, you must make that pink color your objective!"

  "Please don't just casually put out a motto like that."

  "But no matter what, it's one which I must always adhere to. It's difficult, oh, it's difficult."

  He didn't look troubled at all; instead seeing the shop owner revealing an expression of utmost satisfaction at the new uniform Felli couldn't say anything.

  "Well then, everybody! From now on for the next week, we must all work hard, ok? You are warriors which have been chosen to protect the cute-ism ideals. In order to protect the cuteness in the world, you must show the customers your heartfelt smiles filled with bravery and hope... It's also in order to protect what's dear to you! What's dear to you?"

  "Of course, our pay!"

  Just like this, with the dropping of the shop owner's tears, the sales wars began.

  "Ok, ok, let me have a look at what the uniform has turned into."

  "Why did we have to come to a place like this?"

  After training ended, Layfon was dragged here by Sharnid again.

  This was the roof of some tall building. Layfon listlessly asked Sharnid who was lying on the water tank enhancing his vision with Internal-type Kei and looking toward the store.

  "If I peeped at her from close up I'd probably piss Felli off, yeah?"

  "So they say..."

  "Even if it's her, she probably wouldn't be using psychokinesis while she's at work."

  "No, that's not what I'm trying to say."

  "If anything diverges from the plan, then I'll lose all the money I put into the bet."

  "You bet on something again?"

  "Of course, that's why I prepared the ultimate weapon."

  "And the ultimate weapon refers to...?"

  "Well, you'll see."

  Sharnid dragged Layfon over by the neck, and Layfon used his Kei unwillingly and looked across to the Cafe.

  The store was filled with people.

  In the midst of it all, girls wearing pink uniforms rushed back and forth.

  Of the people who were sitting in the cafe, the majority of them were pretty much male students in uniform. Their eyes were glowing as they looked towards the girls in the pink uniforms.

  And out of all the girls, the male students were all looking towards Felli.

  Felli, wearing a custom uniform, wore the same cold expression on her face as she carried the plates back and forth. After placing their meals in front of the stunned customers, she left without a shred of warmth in her expression.

  Even so, all the male customers in the store were completely satisfied.

  "How is it?"

  "That..."

  "I have no idea how to describe this situation" thought Layfon.

  Felli was the same as always with a cold, featureless expression. What was more striking was an annoyed look as if she had been forced to do this reflected on her doll-like face. Even though she should be very nervous at carrying all those dishes around, yet...

  "It seems like you still don't get it" said Sharnid as he shook his head.

  "It doesn't matter that she doesn't provide a very welcome service. Look, see all those girls around her who are attending to the customers' every need? Look at them all, all smiling the same smile, and even the girls who are an even a little cute just get buried under the whole group. No matter how much prettier Felli is she would probably be the same, buried by the rest of the girls. That's the result of the uniforms. Wearing the same uniforms, doing the same things and saying the same words, it will always bury a person's individuality to an extent. The only people who could tell all those waitresses apart would be the waitresses themselves. But Felli is different. She's definitely wearing the same systematic uniform, but the impression she makes is different to the rest of them. And on top of that the other girls are obviously treating the guests enthusiastically. 'What's wrong with her?' is probably what most of the people are thinking when they see her. As long as you give them this kind of an impression, you've won. She's already a lot prettier than the rest, making other people wish they could see her smile. Not the smile she uses to greet the customers. Her real smile."

  Her real smile.

  Speaking of which, Layfon hasn't ever seen it either.

  "Senpai, you...have you seen Felli-Senpai smiling before?"

  "No. She already has a fan club, and the people there haven't caught her honestly smiling either. But there are heaps of people who are willing to pay a lot of money for a picture of her smiling."

  "Speaking of which, what's in that box?"

  Besides Sharnid, there was a box which he could carry over his shoulder.

  "That's a telescopic camera which I borrowed from the people in the Newspaper Club."

  "You're trying to get pictures too."

  "Naturally" said Sharnid confidently, leaving Layfon sighing in resignation.

  Just like that, he unconsciously probed the area around him.

  "How do I say it, there seems to be a lot of people around here."

  "They are the members of the fan club. Damn, they really are quick. If it's like this, even if it's a smile out of professional duty, it'll have to do."

  Sharnid anxiously got the camera out of the box and proceeded to get into position. In that position, he looked like a sniper who had already locked onto his target.

  "No matter what, I must take a photo of her smiling."

  Seeing Sharnid erase his presence completely with his external-type Kei right in front of him, Layfon tilted his head, using internal-type Kei to boost his aural sensory organ, or more commonly known as an ear, and listened for any changes.

  With a clang, the dishes that were originally on the tray fell out in front of Felli. The spaghetti bolognaise was tipped all over the floor, and the sauce spilt out with it. The empty tray fell onto the floor spinning, going sha-ra sha-ra.

  The waitresses who saw this immediately began to apologize successively, and Felli turned her head looking over her shoulder behind her.

  Somebody had pushed Felli from behind her, making her lose her balance and drop the meal.

  But as she turned her head to look back, there wasn't anyone near her.

  (She must have been set up)

  The person who pushed Felli from behind vanished just like that, during the instant when Felli's concentration was broken by the fallen dishes.

  (Was it on purpose? Who?)

  "Hey, aren't you even going to apologize?"

  While she was looking for some person who had already vanished, an angry voice cut in. It came from a guest who was on the table beside Felli whose uniform was splattered with oily dots from the sauce.

  "You don't even check if you had splattered that on anyone, how the hell are you treating customers?"


  The waitress who was holding onto the mop froze in confusion.

  That person was wearing a Military Artist's uniform, and the expression on his face was doubtlessly one of fury.

  The store suddenly quieted down.

  "My most sincere apologies."

  Felli lowered her head.

  "If you want to apologize, then get rid of this filth on me."

  Felli lowered her head, listening to that person's words, and she immediately realized that that person wasn't really angry.

  It was all an act.

  As she noticed this, Felli immediately checked the feelings on her hips. The sword belt wasn't there. Of course, she didn't have her Dite rod hidden anywhere either. Realizing that she was about to teach that person a lesson, Felli remembered what she was here to do.

  (Since she was taking care of a customer, she couldn't do that)

  "Hey, say something."

  "I'm extremely sorry."

  Just like that, she lowered her head and repeated those same words. She couldn't think of anything else to say.

  "Aiyayaya, we're very sorry Customer-san."

  The store owner spoke in an extremely high pitched voice as if to ward off the awkwardness of the situation and quickly appeared in front of Felli.

  "We are very sorry. We'll pay for the cleaning. The dishes will be free as well, so please forgive us."

  "I don't want to hear this."

  "Eh?! Aiya, then what?"

  The customer moved in front of Felli with difficulty as she had been pushed aside by the store manager who was acting as if he were lamenting.

  "As soon as I came in here I felt unsatisfied. Everyone is pretentiously doing work in front of the customers and there isn't a single sincere smile here. It really pisses me off."

  That was actually a very appropriate statement. However, she didn't lose her calm but instead felt a cutting pain on her skin.

  Felli was also very self-conscious about the fact that she couldn't smile properly. When she was practicing with the store owner, she felt that even if she didn't' smile very often, she should still be able to do it. She was quite shocked herself.

  "I'm extremely sorry."

  But, right now, the problem wouldn't just go away after laughing a little. And she couldn't even put on a smiling expression anyway.

  Felli just kept her head lowered for the whole time.

  "I'm sorry."

  In the resting room Felli lowered her head as she apologized to the store owner.

  "It's okay~~this kind of thing is pretty common in this business" said the store owner, light-heartedly dismissing the apology with a wave of his hand.

  That customer had left after taking the money for cleaning his clothes. Felli was allowed to have a short break, which is why she was in this resting room, which doubled as a change room for the girls that worked here.

  Felli stared at the spiraling pattern that spread across the tea cup in the store owner's hand.

  "...I really wasn't suited to do things like serving the customers."

  There wasn't a single time where she revealed her true smile. All she did the whole time was listen to the customers' conversations closely. "In that kind of a situation, what would Karian have done?" thought Felli. He would probably deal with it perfectly. No, her brother would never let the customer get angry in the first place.

  But Felli couldn't do it. And she was completely lost on what to do.

  "Well...I had thought that dealing with the customers would have been the easiest job, but I hadn't considered suitability for the role."

  "Then..."

  "But, I don't think you're not suited to the role."

  "Eh??"

  "You quickly memorized the entire menu and when you deliver the dishes there aren't any excess movements. And it's not like you're completely unable to treat the customer nicely, so there's no way anyone could tell you were a newbie."

  She never thought that she would be praised, and Felli started feeling dazed about all this.

  "But it's a pity, we still can't increase the number of customers that way."

  When he put it like that, for some reason Felli suddenly felt calm again.

  "Well, if you went to the other stores, there are probably some waitresses who aren't too friendly either. The issue here isn't whether or not you're suited to the job, this is the customer service business. There aren't any real qualifications required, and in a job like this, screwing up is part of the business as well."

  "Ha...."

  "But you're not really getting stressed over this right?" The store owner continued "I've got many military artist friends, and most of the psychokinesists are all people who aren't very good at expressing themselves, right? Even though us commoners don't really understand, but those friends told me, that when the psychokinesists are using Nen-I, in order to sharpen their senses, they will normally cut off their responses from their physical body."

  She kind of understood the meaning behind these words. While using psychokinesists to gather enormous amounts of information, if their bodies reacted to all of the information they received it would waste a large amount of time. So in order to prevent this kind of reaction, the brain limited the amount of information sent to the nervous system in the body.

  If that repeated continuously over time, the result would be the same as how Felli was now.

  Whether it be shock, anger or grief...and even laughter, all of those emotions are processed within the brain, and thus Felli became an emotionless doll.

  "But that's something that must be fixed. In reality, right now, my friend can finally begin to smile again. I think that if you want to express yourself properly, it's definitely not impossible."

  "Is...that true?"

  "Of course, I guarantee you."

  "... The store owner's promise seems somewhat unreliable."

  "Hey, that was too far."

  "But, I'm extremely grateful to you."

  "Ara? What's wrong?"

  "I don't know if I've figured out where my goal is. I was just thinking that a person already assigned to the Military Arts department who is unable to read the atmosphere and regretted it might exist."

  The store owner tilted his head, looking at Felli, and Felli felt that the gloomy atmosphere had gotten somewhat more relaxed, and her facial expressions recovered likewise. After bidding the store owner good day, Felli left the resting room.

  "...That really scared me," muttered the store owner to himself as he spaced out in the resting room. "Really, that child can smile too. If she practiced a little more, she could do a professional smile as well...ah...but it'll be impossible by this week. And I don't know if that child will still work here after this."

  The store owner's inner musings never reached Felli's ears.

  "Was that ok?"

  A little distance away from the store in a nearby alleyway stood the man from before. He was looking uncomfortably at his surroundings as he flattened out his tie.

  "You did it very well," said a girl, wearing a bright pink Café Mira costume. "If a perfect girl with such a noble air to her resigned, Café Mira's customers would definitely be reduced. Even if she doesn't resign, it would take away a lot of her enthusiasm. If we do this another two, three times, then that Onee-san will definitely not be able to take it anymore."

  "But is this ok? Isn't that where you work?"

  "Yeah, it's fine. I'm starting to get annoyed with that boring shop owner cause of how long I've been here. And I hate how he has us wear these idiotic clothes. If you can do it well, you'll get paid for your acting fees."

  This waitress had accepted the bribe of a rival to Café Mira. In today's competitive market, buying people out was perfectly natural, but amidst all that, transactions such as these occur quietly in the background.

  This is also something which the Commerce Department was worried might happen.

  "Anyway, it's about time to get these clothes off. It wouldn't be good if other people recognized me."
r />   "What? Cause it'll make other people think you enjoy Cosplaying?"

  At this moment, they heard a new voice.

  "So that's how it is, huh? Well, I knew it would be like this anyway..."

  "Who is it..."

  "Who cares who I am. To appear in a situation like this, I must be a hero of justice, right? Do you understand your position?"

  Sharnid stood there, looking like he was blocking the way to the exit of the lane.

  "Che. Seventeenth Platoon."

  "That's how it is."

  Sharnid snickered at the slowly retreating boy.

  "What're you doing? What do you want with us?" shouted the waitress.

  Sharnid shrugged his shoulders. "Well...if it was just me, it wouldn't really be a problem. But there's someone else who wants to have a little chat with you guys."

  "Huh?" After hearing Sharnid's words, the other two finally noticed.

  "You should be feeling your backs getting cold about now. Although I'm surprised at how relaxed you guys are, how do you feel now?"

  It was as if there was a gale behind them.

  They gingerly turned around, and standing there was...

  "....................."

  Stunned to silence, the two just stood there rigidly like corpses.

  Layfon was standing behind them.

  Gazing at them, silently.

  He wasn't holding anything in his hands, but his dite was clearly hung on his hip-belt for all to see. It felt like he could whip it out in an instant.

  "Speaking of which...you guys were talking about some very interesting things. That it wouldn't be good for people who know you to recognize you. Can you tell us why you would be troubled by that?"

  "What...What do you want? It's got nothing to do with you."

  "Well... it doesn't have anything to do with us, but..."

  There was a very quiet knocking sound. It was the sound of Layfon tapping the Dite with his fingers.

  Da... Da... Da... The sounds reverberated through the small alleyway with rhythm.

  "Did you know? There's a rule, specifically dealing with duels between Military Artists in the student handbook. Well, if we did this in public, we would break the rule, but if you reject others' challenges, it's a sort of disgrace to a Military Artist. It's not easy to reject another's challenge."