An Early Visit Home

When the shop door was pushed open, Chisaki was checking the accounts behind the counter.

The wind chimes rang once. Two people entered, carrying large and small bags, looking travel-worn, and stood at the doorway peering inside. The woman's hair was half-blown out by the wind, and the man's coat was full of wrinkles on the shoulders.

Chisaki looked up, saw who it was, and froze for a full three seconds.

Three seconds later, her first words were. "This week's soybean inventory is abnormal."

"That's suspicious." Her father put the luggage on the ground. "We'll check the accounts when we get back."

Her mother was already crying, laughing between sobs, "Silly child, can't we come back to see you?"

Bozai rushed out from under the bar, knocking the couple off balance on either side. The large bag rolled all over the floor, and out rolled a bag of freshly roasted beans, the aroma of which immediately filled the entire store.

"It still remembers you," Chisaki said.

"We remember it too." Her dad bent down and ruffled Bozai's head. "In the last video, it chewed on a corner of the sofa at the camera."

Mom walked around the store, touched the counter, looked at the price list, and finally stopped in front of the old photo wall.

"This photo is from when you were seven years old." She pointed to the picture of the child riding on Bozai's back. "Bozai carried you for a year; it was only one year old."

"It did it voluntarily," Chisaki said.

Her dad leaned close to the price list and looked at it for a while. "American style, fifteen yuan, no price increase?"

"No."

"Then it will increase by two dollars starting tomorrow."

"Dad."

"No, no, I was just kidding." Her father waved his hand. "You set this price, so someone has to protect it."

The afternoon family dinner was set up on the long table in the middle of the shop. The retesting machine wouldn't arrive for another month, and the registration office had granted a rare period of peace, which happened to coincide with payday. Mom cooked, serving up pot after pot of food, while Dad started grinding the new beans on the spot. The sound of the grinder drew attention from half the street.

Chisa was forced to sit in the main seat, unable to get up. Chisaki's father sat down next to her, holding a well-worn book on metaphysics, and opened the title page.

"Could you sign this book? I bought three copies: two for my collection, and one to read."

Chisa stared at her name about to be written on someone else's book, her hand holding the pen paused for half a second before putting pen to paper. After finishing, she put the pen cap back on.

"There's a typo in the printed version," she said. "On page seven, the character for 'cherry blossom' (樱) was printed as the character for 'tassel' (缨)."

"Just as I thought!" Chisaki's dad slapped his thigh. "I circled it!"

The two immediately began an academic exchange. Chisa's ears turned slightly red.

Dania was given a bag of red bean pudding. She bit off a corner, and her eyes slowly widened.

"This is something from the human world."

"Anything else in the world?" She turned the empty bag over to look at the ingredient list. "Can I buy this brand anywhere else?"

"We can't buy any more," Chisa said. "The last box."

Dania held the pudding and ate it very slowly, as if she were saving it.

"That's how the old brand Honami operates," Chisa said. She didn't look at anyone when she said this, and her ears were even redder than before.

Payday arrived. Zhou Yu pulled an envelope from his briefcase and handed it to Sigelica.

Her first payslip. She looked at it for a minute, from her base salary to her performance bonus, then back to her base salary, then folded it in half, then folded it in half again, and stuffed it into the innermost part of her document holder, next to Sunspeakers examination admission ticket.

Chisaki's mother passed by carrying a pot of cooked food, glanced at it, and said, "This child is really efficient."

"I'm just being professional." Sigelica's ears turned bright red, and she stood ramrod straight.

"Dedication has its price," Zhou Yu said. "It'll go up by five hundred next month."

"I can be even more dedicated."

Chisaki's mother took this to heart and whispered to Chisaki's father, "Let's keep this girl."

"We kept it," Chisaki's father said. "The contract is already signed."

Halfway through the meal, Chisaki's mother glanced at the person sitting next to Dania and asked with a smile, "Is this young lady Xiao Zhou's?"

Dania put down her chopsticks, sat up straight, and earnestly corrected him. "I was his chosen one."

In front of everyone at the table, she pulled Zhou Yu's hand over, intertwined their fingers, and waved it up as if showing identification.

The entire table fell silent for three seconds.

Three seconds later, Chisaki's mother added a spoonful of cooked food to Zhou Yu's bowl, and Chisaki's father poured wine for her. Both of them held their hands steadily, and neither of them spoke. Zhou Yu let her hands be held up, her attitude as proper as if she were cooperating with the registration process.

"The stamp is on," Dania added, "And I verified it myself."

When the holographic communication came in that evening, the long table hadn't been tidied up yet.

A haze of light spread out in the center of the shop, revealing the figure of a young man. It was a holographic message from Chengxia from the Black Shores, the image quality carrying a hint of white noise from the sea breeze.

"Uncle, Aunt," she said first, her eyes crinkling with a smile, "Long time no see. I hope everything is alright over there. I'm sending my regards on behalf of everyone."

The two elderly people stood up, faced the screen, and bowed respectfully.

"We should be thanking you," her mother said.

"Thank you for being so polite," Chengxia said. "Last time you came to Black Shores, I was on the training ship for over a month. When I came back and checked the visitor log, I saw Chisaki's name. She came, but she didn't look for me."

She paused, her tone still soft.

"I thought about it for three days, and decided to call this first. I'm sorry to have worried you all. This time, no one has abandoned anyone."

Behind the bar, Chisaki was wiping a clean glass, but didn't come out. Her shoulders were trembling slightly.

Her mother saw her but didn't call out to her. Instead, she changed the subject. "Chengxia, are you eating well over there?"

"I'm full. There's no one who can beat me."

"Ask Aalto for me," Zhou Yu said, leaning closer to Guang Wu. "Has she checked the details of that tea expense from last time?"

"It's all done with the approvals." Chengxia said seriously, "She asked me to pass on a message: two things are not approved."

Which two items?

"ECG test fee. She said your heart rate is not a reliable indicator."

"Chisaki," Chengxia called out to the bar through the screen, "Leave two glasses, I'll drink them when I get back."

There was no response from behind the bar. The sound of wiping glasses paused for a moment, then resumed, softer than before.

The call ended, and the light haze dissipated. Chisaki wiped the cups for another ten minutes before coming out. Her eyes weren't red, but the cups were stacked twice as high as usual.

Late at night, all the guests had left, and the long table was filled again.

Zhou Yu pushed a contract across the table, Chisaki's father put on his reading glasses and slowly read through it page by page.

"Regularity cooperation, three things," Zhou Yu said. "Star Torch's goods will go through our purchasing channels. Jinzhou will provide direct supply, three times a week. We'll also add a dried coral counter to the store."

"Okay." Chisaki's father pointed to the first clause, "This clause states that the store name will not be changed."

"This has to be the first one," Zhou Yu said. "You know how expensive a signboard is, right?"

"I know," Chisaki's father said, taking off his reading glasses. "It's worth ten years' worth of beans."

"There's one more thing," he turned to the appendix, "Bozai, calculate the operating costs."

"This clause took effect last month," Zhou Yu said. "This is the first time our store has had a supplementary clause that takes effect before the contract."

Before signing, Chisaki's dad remembered something. "Oh right, where's the connection cable? I brought the roaster back with me this time, so the profile needs to be readjusted for the new beans."

There was a moment of silence on the table.

Chisaki put down her pen, took a small receipt from her apron pocket, and placed it in the middle of the table.

"Accident report," she said. "Bozai, dedicated his life to a single thread."

Bozai lifted his head from the cushion, looking completely innocent, with half a napkin still dangling from his mouth.

Zhou Yu added a line of text to the back of the receipt, "Full refund from this store."

Chisaki's dad laughed out loud, "Just compensate me. It wasn't this quick to admit it when it chewed up my blueprints last time."

After everyone dispersed, they went back to their own rooms.

Sigelica's room light was still on. She took her pay slip out of her ID holder, took a picture of it, and typed in the input box: Look, I've got my salary.

Recipient: Lu Hesi

She stared at it for a while, then deleted it word by word, finally sending only four words: "Ashihara is doing well."

The other side replied with a question mark.

She placed her phone face down on the table and turned off the light.

Chisaki's room lights stayed on until late.

She opened her phone's notes app, and the top entry still read, "Listen to it."

She looked at it for a while, then added two words in front of it.

You must listen to it.

After making the changes, she turned off the screen, and the room went dark. Outside the window, in the direction of the Rainbow Sound Tower, fog gradually rose.