Chapter 111: Chapter 110 - The Weird Woman At The Café

The start of the day was going to be fairly standard fare.

Typically, in Kuro’s experience, this was an omen.

Standardly expected days would rarely remain standard depending on whether or not he had been around.

"Hey, can you pick up some eggs on your way home," Shizuka asked.

As Kuro was resting on the couch, he looked up at her.

"That’s it?"

"Yup, that’s all."

"Just eggs?"

"Yup, that’s it."

Kuro narrowed his eyes suspiciously.

That was an awful simple request.

"Why are you staring at me?" Shizuka asked.

"I’m waiting to see what mission you really gave me."

"There was no secret mission."

"Entirely impossible."

It took Kuro five minutes to leave the house.

Sadly enough for him.

His intuition was confirmed.

The egg store was not open.

Once again, life was trying to ruin Kuro’s day.

With no other choice, Kuro waited for another nearby location to have their doors open.

Across the street, there was a small coffee shop that Kuro entered.

A major error.

A horrific error.

The coffee shop had very few customers.

There was calming music played in the background.

Only a small group of customers could fill tables.

That is a positive.

That is relaxing.

This is Kuro’s goal.

Kuro purchased coffee and located a table in front of the window and sat down.

Finally, Kuro has found a moment of peace.

Thirty seconds later.

Out of nowhere, a female crashed into the seat across from him.

There was no asking.

There was no invitation.

This was not a normal occurrence.

Just dropped.

Kuro was stunned.

The girl returned his gaze.

Long brown hair.

Brightly colored eyes.

Casual attire.

A medical textbook tucked under one arm.

The assurance of having no fear whatsoever.

A grin spread across her face.

"Thank you for saving my seat."

Kuro blinked.

"Your seat?"

"Sure."

"That wasn’t your seat."

"Now it is."

Pause.

Kuro understood this girl was bad news.

She’s trouble.

Yui reached her hand out.

"Yui Kanzaki."

Kuro ignored her.

"Just Kuro."

"Just Kuro?

"Yep."

"How intriguing."

"No."

"Very intriguing."

"No."

Yui chuckled.

For some odd reason.

Kuro had already developed a headache.

"Do you sit with just anyone?"

"Do you always appear this exhausted?

"Guess that means yes."

She nodded her head confidently.

Kuro wondered if getting out early was still possible.

Sadly.

His hot coffee has arrived.

And Yui stole it from him.

Right in front of him.

Without a moment’s hesitation.

She drank from it.

"Hmm."

Pause.

Kuro and Yui continued to watch each other.

Another drink.

"Good coffee".

"That’s my coffee."

"I know."

"Then why are you drinking it?"

"Because I was thirsty."

Kuro stared up at the ceiling.

The universe truly hates him.

"Shouldn’t you get your own?"

"I could."

"Then why didn’t you?"

Yui grinned.

"Because yours was right in front of me."

An awesome answer.

A horrible answer.

Despite its obvious validity, it was irritating that he had no way to argue.

The irritation he felt built, and then about 20 minutes later he was still there.

Then about 30 minutes later he was still there and then about 40 minutes later he was still there.

What had started as a peaceful, relaxing café break had turned into a conversation that Kuro didn’t sign up for.

"So what do you do?" Yui asked.

"Student."

"Boring answer."

"You asked."

"Give a more interesting one."

"I suffer."

Yui pointed, "There."

Kuro regretted saying anything because Yui found it hysterical...too hysterical...far too hysterical...suspiciously hysterical.

At some point she stole some of his fries and then at some point she stole his chair and Kuro wasn’t sure how that happened.

One minute he was sitting in the chair and the next minute Yui was sitting in the chair.

And he stood beside the table holding his tray.

"How did this happen?"

Yui shrugged.

"Skill issue."

Kuro was seriously considering leaving, well, nearly considering leaving, when his eyes landed on Yui’s medical textbook. "You study medicine?"

Yui groaned, "Unfortunately."

That wasn’t the answer he was expecting. "What does that mean?"

"It means medical school is trying to kill me."

"Sounds like you don’t have very much dedication."

"I failed twice."

Silence.

Kuro blinked.

"Twice?"

"Twice."

She didn’t show any remorse whatsoever. No embarrassment, no regret.

No sorrow.

Nothing.

Only confidence.

An insane amount of confidence.

"How can you be so relaxed about this?"

"Because I’ve done it before."

"That’s not how experience works.".

"It does, for me."

Kuro knew immediately she was telling the truth.

She looked like she would be able to mess up twice and still be able to get back up again.

Very scary gift.

The talking continued.

Involuntarily on Kuro’s part.

Along with all the things Yui found out about him:

The school he went to.

The grade he was in.

His favourite coffee.

His dislike of being in crowded places.

His bad luck at causing problems.

Back at the same time...

Kuro found out about Yui:

Yui is a big talker.

Yui has no sense of personal space.

Yui is a total train wreck.

She is a total train wreck, in fact.

But she was still not a bad person or anything.

He was kind of angry about that.

A lot angry actually.

At some stage...

They started talking school.

"I think I’ve heard of your school."

Yui tilted her head to one side.

Kuro shrugged.

"It’s just another school."

"No."

All of a sudden, Yui’s brow became furrowed.

"I know someone that goes there."

That was an interesting response.

"Do you know a teacher?"

"Sort of."

Yui touched her chin.

Trying to think of the name.

A moment later, her eyes went wide.

"Oh."

There was a very bad looking grin.

Very bad.

Kuro recognised this grin.

The grin of someone who found out something you shouldn’t have.

The grin of someone who is going to make some trouble for somebody.

The grin of a disaster waiting to happen.

"What’s wrong?"

"Nothing."

Kuro knew that was a lie.

A big, fat, lying, lying lie.

At that point... Yui leaned in closer.

"Please tell me."

"Excuse me?"

"Is Minami Asakura still working at your school ?"

Kuro was stunned.

"That same girl again!"

Minami.

His former classmate.

The lady who had one disaster after another, who would never handle all of them with grace.

"Yeah."

Yui stood perfectly still.

Then she smiled.

Dangerously.

Really.

Dangerously.

Yui’s smile got even bigger.

"Oh."

A long silence.

"Oh no."

"What?" Kuro asked.

Yui laughed.

That laugh was just filled with bad ideas.

Okay, not bad ideas, but really, really good ideas.

Just plain terrible ideas.

Ideas that would ruin your life.

"I’m not going to tell you."

Except that was a lie.

An even bigger lie.

And Kuro knew absolutely, with no doubt in his mind, that

Minami was in trouble.

Why wouldn’t he know why?

Why wouldn’t he know how?

But there were no doubts.

Just like sailors can tell when a storm is coming.

Just like prey can tell when there is a predator nearby.

Just like students can tell when there will be a surprise quiz.

Trouble was coming.

And her name was Yui Kanzaki.

Yui got up.

Took a textbook and then pointed in his direction.

"See you soon, Kuro-kun, bye."

"...No."

"Yes."

Of course she would.

As Yui walked out of the café, she turned around and gave him that dangerous smile.

"Minami still works there��"

She laughed.

"That is going to be interesting."

The café door closed.

Shut.

And there was silence once again.

For the very first time in over one hour.

Kuro was sitting all by himself.

Finally, everything was at peace again.

But unfortunately for Kuro...

All he could think about was Yui’s face when she saw him again.

And the odd feeling that Minami’s life span had suddenly reduced by about 50% of what it would have been without him.

Walking home from work, Kuro couldn’t stop thinking about Yui Kanzaki.

That had been pretty annoying.

Normally, Kuro forgets about random people he meets within minutes.

Yui clearly wasn’t just another random person.

Yui seemed to be the type of person who comes into someone’s life, turns their life upside down, and then pretends like they did nothing wrong.

Kuro let out another sigh.

"At least I will probably never see Yui again," he said.

After he said it, he immediately regretted it — experience has taught Kuro one important lesson:

When you think that, fate sees that as a challenge.

Kuro was already imagining it:

Tomorrow.

Next week.

Next month.

Kuro would turn the corner, and somehow run into Yui.

Steal his food.

Use his drink.

Ask him personal questions.

Act like they were long-time friends.

Simply thinking about this gave Kuro a headache.

But, what absolutely pissed Kuro off was the way Yui looked at him and smiled when Minami’s name was brought up.

She looked at him with a smile suggesting she was a long-lost friend of Minami’s.

That smile suggested to Kuro that Yui had plenty of dangerous stories to tell.

Kuro begins to feel guilt for an incident that happened involving the teacher Minami.

He is beginning to realize that Yui Kanzaki will come back, and when she does, she is going to destroy someone’s otherwise peaceful life. Most likely, it will be Minami.