CH 40

Request From the Coffee Shop

Amane then borrowed a set of my clothes and put on a hat to act as a "male friend who came early in the morning to invite me to play," and she succeeded in escaping from my house.

On the way out, we ran into my sister again, but I was able to fool her by saying, "I'm going to go hang out with him now~," and wiped off my cold sweat.

Now... we managed to escape the early morning crisis and we had some errands to run in the morning.

That is, of course, the noble purpose of yelling at the real culprit...

When we arrived at our destination, the Sword Mountain cafe, we found our target, Suzu-nee, in front of the store, cleaning with a broom and preparing to open the store as usual.

"Suzu-nee…………"

Amane glares at her with a voice rising from the depths of the earth... But Suzu-nee responded with a deliberately fresh smile and sparkling eyes.

"Ara~? Good morning Amachi-sama, Kanzaki-sama. It's so nice to see you two here so early in the morning, you are such good friends~! I know we haven't opened yet, but would you like a cup of coffee?"

The tone of voice was as if it were a business tone, or should I say a fake young lady's tone? ... Either way, it's irritating.

This seemed to be more the case with Amane, who grabbed onto Suzu-nee's chest.

"You know that I didn't come here to carefreely drink tea, don't you, lady..."

"Oh no, to be called a lady... We do not offer such a service..."

In contrast, Suzu-nee shows a weak and frail appearance ...... they are more relaxed, both of them.

Then we were ushered into the store before it opened.

Today, the uncle and others seemed to have something to do, and Suzu-nee was the sole store keeper, so there was no one else in the store.

But she must have expected us to be here early in the morning, as the coffee was served the moment we sat down at the counter... this person.

Amane took a sip of the coffee that was served to her, and then she began to talk.

"Suzu-nee... You have something to say to us, right?"

When Amane said in a serious tone, posing like a command in some anime, Suzu-nee expression tightened as well.

"Yeah... We need to talk. Why did I know about the dream demon, and what exactly is the book that Yume-chan is holding..."

"" Not that !! ""

We both almost slid out of our chairs.

I thought she was getting serious, but it seems she's still trying to make fun of us, this person!!

"Are? Do we not need to talk about it? I think it's important, don't you?"

She's grinning with a tray in her hand, lightheartedly... T-This person ... She's obviously having fun.

I don't know if it's my imagination... I have the impression that something has been taken off...?

"Not that! ...That's important, but before that!! Look!!"

"T-That's right! Suzu-nee almost got me in trouble this morning!!"

We stood up and protested to Suzu-nee about the commotion that occurred this morning.

However, after hearing the whole story, Suzu-nee looked at me straight in the eyes without getting upset.

"Fumu... Amane-chan's anger... well, I can understand it, but Yume-chan... No, Yumeji-dono, I am somewhat displeased to hear you protest..."

"W-Why?"

"Was there a single thing I did last night... that was inconvenient for you? If there were even one... I would apologize with all my heart and soul..."　

Suzu-nee, who seemed to raise her imaginary glasses, said such a thing without hesitation.

Have no fault... is it what she is saying!?

Speaking of inconveniences I've suffered, of course!! Of course………….

Thanks to her for contacting me in a hurry, Amane was saved...

Then she came to the scene and saved me from a dangerous situation....

She put me to bed where I fell asleep with Amane ...

I saw Amane's glamorous half-nakedness early in the morning...

In the slapstick of my little sister's intrusion, I used such Amane as a hug pillow ...... And because of Suzu-nee's wicked prank, it was bare skin to bare skin...

The inconvenience I've suffered is ...... of course!!

"...Suzu-nee"

"What is it... customer"

With a serious face, I put forward my demands for the disadvantages incurred by Suzu-nee.

"What's the most expensive thing in this store? Let's have it..."

"Thank you for your patronage..."

We unknowingly gussied up our friendship shake hands.

Needless to say, we were both smacked on the head by a red-faced Amane afterwards.

After some time of Amane's sermon (which included me), which lasted for a while, the conversation finally settled down with assurances that such things would never happen again.

I'm curious about the very disturbing comment by Suzu-nee, "I know, I'm not an amateur enough to pull the same trick on you."

Then we finally got serious and started talking about the "Dream Book".

The first thing was the fact that Suzu-nee knew about the dream demon and other things that might be related to the dream book ...... We were both surprised out loud at the same time at the reason for this.

"" Memories of the previous life !? ""

"Yeah... Specifically, I had a dream about a previous life, and I "remembered" the memory."

"So you knew about this 'Dream Book'?"

"Specifically, when you guys came over to my house yesterday and we were fighting over the Napolitan, I got caught up in the magic of that book... or so I think. I dozed off later that evening, and that's when I had the dream about my previous life. "

Saying that, Suzu-nee tapped her finger on the "Dream Book" I brought.

Dream of the previous life... Yes, we had talked about it yesterday with Suzu-nee, but I never thought that Suzu-nee was involved with this book in a previous life... Is it a coincidence?

"He~eh~, Suzu-nee saw your own previous life ...... What was it like?"

Amane's angry face from earlier subsides completely, and she begins to listen with curiosity and frankness.

Well, I'm very interested in that too, but ...... the person in question shows it with a wry smile.

"I don't remember... much about it. At best, I'd say I was acquainted with someone involved with the book?"

"Hmm, that's so..."

She said in a vague way... I wonder if it was a previous life that she didn't want to remember too much?

Amane did not ask any further questions, perhaps sensing the air.

As expected of Amane, who is popular even in the class, she is able to sense this atmosphere.

"Then... What kind of book is this in the first place? I would have been happy to simply play with it in lucid dreaming, but I'm getting more and more worried about whether I should keep it or not."

I speak of the anxiety I've been having lately after yesterday's dream.

To be honest, the book has helped me in many ways.

That's because without this book, Amane wouldn't even have been drinking coffee here today.

But... I was more terrified than excited by the power of the huge sword I pulled out of the "Dream Book" in yesterday's nightmare.

That sword neither slashed nor destroyed, but simply 'obliterated' the target it aimed at.

And that too without affecting the surroundings at all, limiting it to only those who are targeted...

Suzu-nee opened her mouth, this time with serious eyes, in response to my anxiety about the book.

"The book you call "Dream Book" is officially called "The Sword of Dreaming Nightmare Book" and was originally owned by the king of powerful dream demon who could manipulate dreams at will. It is a magical object that can change its various powers depending on the user's strength and thoughts, and can be used as a sword or a shield. "

"Well... a magical book..."

"It seems that the Dream Demon King, who originally possessed this book, used it solely for the purpose of stealing people's life force... until the predecessor gets his hands on it "after my death"."

"Uwah..."

When you say that, instantly the book in front of me seems like an abominable bad thing, and I pull my hand away without a second thought.

However, Suzu-nee laughed at my actions.

"I said, until it's in the hands of the predecessor, right? Because the next possessor of the book has never used the book for any wrongdoing, let alone murder."

The predecessor, that person, is often mentioned in dream books, but ... In other words, is this person "an acquaintance from a previous life," as Suzu-nee says?

As I was thinking this, Suzu-nee picked up a preparation knife and showed it to me.

"It is the same thing as this knife. Depending on how you use it, it can be a lousy weapon, and if you use it in a good way, it makes a delicious meal... That's all there is to it."

"That's all ... means my predecessor only used this book for good?"

When I asked her that, Suzu-nee looked a little thoughtful and said, "Hmm?" She looked up.

"Eh? Is it wrong?"

"I wonder~? I didn't think his actions were wrong, though I've heard second-hand, and of course, people in later generations spoke of them as good deeds... He said, "You can't do good by burying people's dreams for any reason, right?" something like that"

It... may be difficult...

For some reason, I thought I understood how the "predecessor" felt.

The other day, regarding the Shindo-san case, and last night's dream demon, I myself did not intend to do any good deed.

I didn't like it, so I decided to do something I liked... That's all it was.

It's like doing whatever you want and being told you've done a "good thing" or a "good deed" And that a bit... you know.

It is neither a good deed nor hypocrisy.

If anything, it's self-righteousness.

But as I was thinking about this, Suzu-nee showed me a wry smile.

"Don't think too hard. You can use the book as you see fit, as long as it makes you feel good, right? For all intents and purposes, you're not the kind of person who enjoys seeing other people get hurt"

"That's right. And we know best that you're not that kind of person..."

Amane nods her head next to Suzu-nee, who gives me a big pat on the back... If the two of them believe that, it will make me a little less fearful of holding this book.

"That's... well, surely..."

"Playing with dreams, helping your important people, and occasionally doing naughty things to your childhood friend...... isn't that about the extent of its use for you?"

"That's, indee..."

"………… Yumeji-kun?"

I almost agreed with the flow of the conversation, but it was already too late... Amane, who was smiling at what I just said but her eyes were not smiling at all, came up to me.

Suzu-nee!? You don't have to set a trap here, in such a good story-like scene! !!

A few minutes later, by the time the restaurant was about to open, I was plopped down on the counter, blanked out by Amane's sermon...

And then, somehow out of the corner of my eye, I see the "Dream Book"......The two of them say okay, but I wonder if it's really okay for me to have such a thing...?

While I was thinking this, Suzu-nee, who was preparing the food while humming a tune, came to me with a suggestion.

"If you're so anxious, could you do me a little favor as part of the peaceful use of that book?"

"Peaceful use?"

Wiping her hands after saying these words, Suzu-nee retreated to the back of the kitchen and brought an old envelope.

"This is?"

"... That's a very old envelope. And the address line is five digits."

I first noticed it too when Amane pointed out that ...... indeed has only 5 digits in the address field.

"This is a letter from an unknown sender that was left in this store roughly 30 years ago. It was entrusted to the owner of the store before we opened it. ...... I wonder if you can find the sender? You can look into the past..."

Looking into the past... You mean past dreams, huh?