As much as I would have wanted to find out who that man in my dream was or even why I had a dream about him, I just couldn't have my answer. I wanted to go over to Fuuka to get some answers but I didn't feel right doing it when Chikako still didn't feel well a week after I rescued her from the Nostalgia Line. Chikako was getting better but she was still losing sleep over what happened. I was willing to let her have as much time she needed to recover. While waiting for Chikako, I had replaced my phone with a similar model but looking back on it now, I regretted my decision.

"Refill please!" a customer yelled from his table.

"I'm coming!" I yelled running as fast as I could without spilling any of the coffee in the steaming pot I held. I hurried to refill the man's cup while another customer yelled for me. I ran around in circles, doing whatever the customers ordered. It was exhausting work and I'm afraid it wasn't going to end anytime soon. The worst part of it, however, is the extremely embarrassing waitress uniform I was forced to wear. It was a little too tight and I was afraid it was a little too easy for someone to catch a glance. I wouldn't have been in this position or wearing something like this if I was still living in Kyoto.

Now, why am I in this position? I just had to listen to the text message Irene had sent me. 'Get a part-time job' was all she sent me. I don't know how she got my number or why she sent me such a straightforward message. In fact, it was so straightforward, it ended up being confusing because I didn't which job she was talking about. I looked at the available part-time jobs in Umizuo but only one hired me. It was my luck that made the only one to employ me be a cafe owner who gets his customers with attractive waitresses.

I was flattered to know that guys find me attractive but that wasn't what I wanted to find out. I wanted to find out why Irene told me to get a part-time job. Wearing this idiotic uniform proves how much I wanted an answer for my question. The problem, however, was how long am I going to have to work at this job? My arms and legs are sore and I was doing my best not to look tired despite being exhausted. One of the customers was giving me a creepy glance and I had to fight off my desire to whack him in the head with the coffee pot I held. Working in a place like this required both courage and charm. I had to look and move as attractive as I could without giving the customers any wrong ideas while fighting off the desire to smack them for staring at my chest or trying to take peek of my behind.

I took a much needed break in the kitchen while another part-timer took my place in the cafe.

"You're done for the day, Amaya-san," my boss said appearing in front of me. "Here's what you earned..."

I looked up to see my boss Satoshi Otaki handing me a check for my day's work. My boss was a man in his early thirties with premature graying hair. He wore a waiter uniform, probably so he wouldn't look out of place in a cafe full of young waitresses but his age showed. At least the man had a kind look to his appearance or I would have thought of him as a pervert for owning a cafe full of young girls in tight uniforms.

I took the check from his hand and sighed. "This is exhausting work," I said while taking a look at my check. Only three thousand yen? Is that all I earned for my work?

"You'll get used to it after a while, Amaya-san," Satoshi told me. He chuckled. "Every one of my part-timers had the same reaction as you on their first day."

"I'd rather not get used to men staring at my ass..."

"What was that?"

"Nothing," I quickly said.

I hurried into the locker room to change back into my clothes. I placed the check into my wallet and took my purse out of my locker. After taking out everything I had left inside the locker, I hurried to leave the cafe. On my way out, however, I overheard a conversation coming from inside Satoshi's office, which was located next to the back door. I couldn't help but stand in front of the back door, listening to the conversation going on inside the office.

"It's a business gimmick, dear," Satoshi's voice said. "I have no interest whatsoever in these girls!"

"That's what you keep telling me!" A woman's voice yelled. "But you have no proof, do you Satoshi? Give me proof and I'll let this go..."

The office door flew open and a woman in her late twenties stormed out. The woman gave me an angry glance before tackling the back door open. I turned around to see my boss coming out of his office.

My boss sighed when he saw me. "Did you hear that?" he asked.

"I heard the last part," I answered.

Satoshi sighed again. "I'm just having a few problems with my wife," he told me. "It comes with being the owner of a cafe. She just doesn't see that the waitresses are only a gimmick to attract customers."

"You mean those uniforms weren't your idea?" I asked smiling a little.

"I keep my eyes above the neck," he said with a serious expression.

At least he wasn't lying about not looking at his part-timers but that still made me wonder why someone who's married would own a cafe like this. I wanted to ask but it wasn't my place to intrude on others personal matters, not without a reason at least.

He sighed yet again. "The waitresses aren't the real problem, Amaya-san," he told me. "It's something more important than whether or not I'm taking glances at my part-timers. I doubt someone who's not married would understand."

He was kind of right. I didn't have the ability to understand the problem he had but I wouldn't know for sure until I found out the problem. In order to find out about this man's problem, I guess I'll need to be more understanding.

"My next shift's two days from now, right?"

"Yes and you'll have to put on some make-up next time. Also, try to charm the customer a bit and he might give you a bigger tip," Satoshi told me.

"Thanks for the advice," I said turning back to the back door.

I left my boss and the cafe into the shaded alley outside. The sun was still high in the sky and my guardian wasn't going to pick me up until sunset. I had three thousand yen to spend so at least I wasn't going to be bored. Maybe I should go somewhere to get a snack?

"You have to try again later, Kimi Amaya," Irene said.

I jumped at the sound of Irene's voice coming from below. It took me a while but I managed to look down to see the cute little girl in her blue dress standing right next to my feet, her hand holding onto the hem of my skirt.

"This is our first meeting outside the Velvet Room, isn't it?" Irene chuckled.

She was right, this is the first time I talked with her outside the room that appeared when I slept. For a while I had hoped Igor and Irene was just a dream but seeing the little girl out here in the real world disproved that theory.

I sighed while I looked down at the girl. "I want to say hello, Irene, but I just have to ask. What are you doing in the Real World?"

"I want to have a look around your world," she answered. "And you are going to be my guide..."

...

With nothing else to do, I had taken Irene to the docks. I didn't expect to see Irene so excited just to see the ocean and ships. The way she looked at it was the same as if she had never seen the ocean or even a fishing boat. Irene was staring at everything at the docks with the same excited expression and watching her run around made me tired. That little girl has so much energy that I couldn't keep up with her.

"The ocean is bigger than I thought," Irene said staring at the ocean with wide eyes. "It looks like it goes on forever."

"You never saw the ocean before?" I asked Irene even though I knew the answer.

But what she said surprised me.

"This is my first time outside the Velvet Room," Irene told me while she stared at a fishing boat coming into the docks.

"You lived in that room for your whole life?"

"In a sense, I did live my entire life in the Velvet Room but it's more accurate to say that I was always a resident of the Velvet Room," she told me. "There is no such thing as past, present, or future inside the Velvet Room. Nobody dies inside that room but nobody is truly alive in that room either. Our only purpose for existance is to help our guests, no matter which time or universe they are from. I was born to be Igor's assistant because my brother and sisters had left the Velvet Room."

"That's so sad," I said. Irene chuckled.

"I don't find it sad to be Igor's assistant, I'm actually proud to be one," she chuckled. "But I want to understand the reasons why my siblings left the room. Igor told me why they left but I just couldn't understand it. I'm hoping you'll help me find that out, Kimi Amaya."

I stared at the little girl in front of me. She was a girl born for a single purpose, a purpose that used to belong to her siblings. Knowing this, I felt myself getting a little closer to the little assistant that lived inside the Velvet Room.

My stomach grumbled loudly and I'm sure that Irene heard it too.

"It's been some time since I ate lunch," I told her.

Irene grinned at me and I wondered why.

I watched as the little girl ran away from me and towards the fishing boat that had just docked. I wondered what she was doing when she walked on the bridge connecting the boat to the dock. A tall and muscular fisherman stopped Irene from boarding the ship and I watched while the little girl held her hands up to the fisherman. I guess she wanted a fish from the fisherman, most likely because I told her I was hungry. How she came to have this idea was beyond me. The fisherman shook his head, obviously refusing to give Irene a fish. I saw him trying to tell Irene why he couldn't give her a fish but the little girl responded by taking out a tiny bag from within her dress. Irene held up the bag upside down and shook it...

Dozens of thick gold coins poured out of Irene's tiny bag.

Both the fisherman and I were shocked to see the dozens of gold coins come out of the bag. Guessing from the look on Irene's face, I had to guess she was offering the gold coins for a single fish. Too bad for her that the fisherman was still refusing to give a fish, most likely because they haven't cleaned them yet I guess. The little girl responded to the refusal again by taking something out of her dress.

This time, she had brought out a telescoping steel baton.

Irene swung the baton once to extend it and swung it again, her swing aiming right in between the fisherman's legs. I couldn't just watch anymore, I ran towards the little girl while she boarded the ship and took a single fish out of a barrel. By the time I got to here, Irene had got off the ship and was walking along the bridge.

"I got a fish for you, Kimi Amaya!" Irene yelled proudly showing me the tiny fish she held in her hand.

"I don't want a fish!" I yelled while I grabbed the little girl and lifted her off the ground.

"But you're hungry and the purpose of these fish are to satiate hunger," Irene argued. "But why was the man so adamant about not giving me any? Even when I offered compensation for the fish, he refused to give a single fish."

This girl was so ignorant of how the world works and I would have felt pity for her... if I wasn't so concerned about running as far away from the docks as I could with Irene in my arms. I kept running until the docks were no longer in sight. I was exhausted before but now I was so tired that I couldn't move my legs anymore. I sat down on the side of the street while Irene jumped around me, laughing loudly.

"That was fun, Kimi Amaya!" She laughed. She pulled on my head, trying to get me back on my feet. "Let's do it again! This time, you'll run back to the Velvet Room door."

"Door? What are you talking about?" I asked.

"I gave you a key," she told me. "That's the key to the door which leads into the Velvet Room. I believe it's located somewhere near the place where you waited for the last week at the end of the day." Irene pulled on my sleeve. "Now, come on! I want you to bring me back to the Velvet Room!"

So she wanted me to bring her to the place where I waited for Sakaki? Since I was going there anyway, I might as well bring her with me.

But I'm way too tired to do it right now.

"I'm tired, Irene," I told her. "Let me rest for a bit and maybe I'll carry you back to that room."

Irene pouted while she continued to pull on my shirt. "I want to go now!" She cried.

"You act mature but you really are a child, aren't you?" I said in between breaths.

"But I have to go back now!" She cried. "Igor..."

Irene stopped talking the moment she said her master's name.

"Oh no..." she whispered. "I forget about what Master told me to do."

"Please say it has nothing to do with me," I groaned.

"All my Master wanted me to do was tell you to be ready," Irene said. "But I was so late that I'm afraid the advice might not be as useful..."

My phone rung inside my purse and I already knew what the reason was. Irene gave me a sorry expression while my hand pulled my phone out of my purse and flipped it open. A text message opened up on the screen and I read it despite knowing what it would say.

The text message was from Yosuke and it said exactly what I thought it would.

'Another person received the Nostalgia Line message just half an hour ago' the message said. 'It's another person from your school and from what Fuuka found out about Kimura-san, it seems this person has a connection with her. The name's Hiroki Tsubasa. You should try to find out more about this person from Kimura-san. Tell me everything when you're done, Kimi-chan."

"Your next trial is here, Kimi Amaya," Irene said giving me a nervous smile.

...

Author's Note: Sorry about the late update.