Chapter 15 fourth quarter

- Boom!The barista stood up hastily, muttering to himself with vacant eyes. "I think you are quite mistaken." She said this as soon as the story was over, and I couldn't understand her at all. "You said it's not... Ah, do you mean the taste of this coffee? That's right, since there is such a big difference, the only possibility is that the coffee beans are fundamentally different..." "I'm not talking about that." She met my eyes, "Mr. Qingshan, what day is it today?" "Why do you ask this without thinking? Of course today is Wednesday. Otherwise, how would you come to such a place?"

At this time, we, no, it was the barista of Maximus, whose weird behavior seemed to have finally attracted the attention of others, and a woman approached cautiously from the back of the shop.The eldest sister, who was wearing a checked apron and a paisley turban on her head, asked a little anxiously: "My guest, is there any problem with our coffee?" Leaving aside the distracted Beauty Star barista for now, I shrugged helplessly by myself. ——This is a small coffee shop located on the northwest side of the Kamo Bridge near Keihan Demachiyanagi Station. The white brick walls of the shop are reminiscent of the beauty of the Aegean Sea. It is a bright and atmospheric shop.Through the large windows, you can see the sightseeing trail built along the Kamo River that is about to join the Koya River.Jiandou used to run from south to north here.

Why do I come to drink coffee from other stores with Maxim's baristas?This has to start with the conversation I had with the barista when I visited Talleyrand on the first day of the end of Zhongyuan. "Actually, I found out that there is a coffee shop that serves coffee very similar to this place." In order to confirm whether it is really similar, I just ordered hot coffee and talked while drinking. "Because I personally insist, no matter what, I want to see the 'big' characters once. This year I finally saw it on the embankment of the Kamogawa River. When the flames went out and I was about to go home, I just found a nearby one that was still open So I walked in like a flying insect attracted by the bright light, and ordered a cup of hot coffee to drink in the air-conditioned shop. It turned out to be a sense of taste!"

"Oh, then I can't continue to sit here leisurely." The barista chuckled at the other end of the bar and said, "If you don't mind, can you take me to that coffee shop to find out?" Opportunities for events always knock on my door when I don't expect them.All in all, rather abruptly, I said yes to the date invitation from the barista at Maximus.Knowing that the only time she was free was Wednesday, Talleyrand's regular holiday, I decided on an appointment on the spot.That was today, a Wednesday in the last week of August. I spoke to the clerk in a calm tone as much as possible.

"No, I just feel that the coffee I drank when I came here last time seems to be different from today." "You said last time was..." "It should be August 16th, the day of sending fire." As soon as I answered, her face changed. "I'm really sorry! The coffee tasted weird that day, didn't it?" After she asked this question, I was embarrassed to say that today is rather strange. "The coffee beans in this shop are all purchased from a nearby individual businessman. The other party is a veteran with decades of experience, but recently it seems that because of his age, he has begun to make mistakes in his work..."

This time, it is hearing that creates a sense of sight.Seems like I've heard something like this not too long ago. "Although we didn't confirm carefully that it was our fault, the reason seems to be that when purchasing the goods, the businessman mistakenly mixed a small bag of coffee beans that were going to be given to other customers into our beans. In addition, that day happened to be the fire delivery day. The banks of the river and the Kamogawa Delta are both excellent viewing spots. From there, there are a lot of people who stop by our shop, and our shop assistants are too busy... We found out that we have been giving our customers to drink beans from other shops after asking about them. Made coffee, really embarrassing.”

It turns out that this kind of thing could happen? "Could it be that the self-employed person you're talking about is the one on Beida Road?" "Why do you know?" The poor clerk turned blue. I couldn't help but feel powerless.It turned out that the coffee I drank that day was brewed from the coffee beans that Talleyrand had used for a long time.Kitaoji is very close to this coffee shop, so it’s no surprise that it happens to buy coffee beans from the same roaster.Even though Talleyrand was still on vacation at that time, there was nothing suspicious about the possibility that Talleyrand might have bought coffee beans from the coffee industry in order to prepare the coffee beans at the end of the vacation, or to brew it himself.But the incidents derived from the above situation are the result of accumulating several errors that no one expected.

Although the coffee aroma will change depending on how the beans are stored, ground and brewed, since it is originally the same beans, the brewed coffee will of course taste similar.But then again, when checking whether the coffee tastes the same as usual, didn't the clerk of this store find something strange?Of course, everyone's preferences are different, but if it were me, I would immediately go to the roaster to ask the origin of the coffee beans. "So that's the way it is. Well, it's no wonder you..." While I was showing an ambiguous smile to the clerk... In just a minute or two of my conversation with the clerk, the barista who had been standing by the side, making people afraid to approach him, suddenly turned around and rushed out of the coffee shop.

"Wait a minute, where are you going, barista!" I was so scared that I hurried to catch up with her, but... "Guest, you haven't settled the bill yet!" The elder sister of the clerk refused to let me go. "Please, please let me go! I will be back soon, and I will borrow my things here first!" "You just said the barista, right? Are you guys in the same business?" Ah, yes, mentioning the barista here doesn't seem like a good idea. "Her name is Nasutako Nari! Alright, if this continues, I won't be able to find her, let go!"

I triumphed over exclamation-marked arguments with the strength of a man.Although I was a little sorry for the clerk sister, she yelled "No! Don't run!" when she watched me leave, it might cause strange misunderstandings by passers-by, and I was more worried about my innocence. It may be that the small steps affected the barista's running speed, and I immediately caught up with her who was running hard.As she sprinted north along the promenade, the hem of her kilt — the first time I’d seen her wearing it in private — kept fluttering. "Just now is the second time this year that I have been treated as a suspect for free eating and drinking. What's the matter?"

"I'm sorry, but I really care about what the kid is holding." The voice of the barista bounced like a ball with the movement of the body. "What he's carrying... is it the schoolbag? There's nothing worth looking into..." "No. The summer vacation is already over." "Eh...but isn't August over yet?" "Because it has nothing to do with you, so you don't know! Elementary schools in Kyoto City only have summer vacation around August 24 every year." Whoa!What a shock.The summer vacation in elementary school is basically until the last day of August-I have always believed in this.I didn't expect that I lived in Kyoto for more than two years, and I didn't even know about this kind of thing. "So it's not surprising that they were carrying schoolbags, because that's what you usually see after school, right? But did Kento have anything else in his hands at the time?" "The person I'm chasing now is not Jian Dou." "Huh?" I couldn't help but stare at the profile of the barista looking forward firmly. "I hope it's just me thinking too much, if it's me thinking too much. It's not too late to laugh at myself thinking too much after seeing the truth with my own eyes! I can't figure it out. Why did I pretend to be on Wednesday? What about the bag of the vegetable clothes brought home from school?" I suddenly felt like I was placed together.Hearing what she said, I remembered that it was something that the people on duty would take home at the end of the week, that is, on weekends.But even so, there is no hard and fast rule that you cannot take it home on other days.Children even take home broken branches, but they just treat the bag of vegetable clothes as a toy. Is it necessary to care so much? After we ran for a while, our bodies became drenched with sweat, as if we had fallen into the river flowing by.I haven't seen the children after running for so long, just when I can't help but guess that they may have left the river bank... "Found it, there it is!" She found four teenagers under a bridge that spanned the trail. The trio who had seen it outside the coffee shop raised the bag high and threw it to their companions as if they were playing tricks on the other person.And the one who yelled frantically and stretched his hand towards the bag was Kento. I ran towards them, but couldn't make out what was going on. "Stop!" Barista Meixing shouted, seeing her so petite, I really don't know where the strength came from. As long as adults show up, children are likely to feel frightened.Even if the other party looks like a high school girl, it seems to be quite effective. The three children completely forgot about the existence of the bag and looked over at the same time.Even Kento shrank back, missing the perfect opportunity to get back the bag. The barista seemed to be facing the thick shadow cast by the late summer sun, and walked down the bridge step by step, and then stood in front of the three people who were stronger than Kento.She saw the fear on the faces of the three, grabbed the bag, and boldly pulled it.Someone gave a soft "ah", after that I could only hear the sound of the river rushing slowly. The barista turned his back on the children, and slowly crouched down on the spot.As soon as she opened the bag, she gasped in surprise.Then she took two breaths, shaking slightly both times. After a while, I was speechless at the sight in front of me. She stretched out her arms and picked up something from the milky white bag—a limp kitten.