Morning sunlight filtered onto the gleaming floors of Novellium Tokyo, but Suzume couldn’t quite share the store’s bright optimism. Over the weekend, she’d wrestled with meltdown scares at Master’s café, only to end up with Kakashi nestled happily in an iPad. Which meant that here at the bookstore—where she actually worked—Kakashi was nowhere to be found.
Bookstore Morning: “Without Kakashi, I’m Lost…”
She adjusted her apron, stepped behind the first-floor counter, and tried not to fidget. On Friday, this very Type-03 terminal had practically been an omnipotent search engine, courtesy of Kakashi’s presence. Now it was a dull, official OS that greeted her with polite emptiness.
“Excuse me,” a middle-aged customer began, leaning in. “I recall seeing a children’s book here about a raccoon—or maybe a badger?—that travels to space. I don’t remember the title, just that it was really cute.”
Suzume punched in keywords with forced confidence: raccoon, badger, space, children’s book. The screen blinked politely:
No results found. Please refine your query.
She narrowed her eyes. “Please refine your… Are you kidding me?” she muttered under her breath. On Friday, Kakashi would have plucked an obscure shelf location out of nowhere. Now it was just her, this stiff OS, and a labyrinth of shelves. She cast the customer a reassuring smile—somehow.
Café Morning: “Audio Parsing? Let’s Try It.”
Meanwhile, across town, Master hovered near his café’s modest bar area. The iPad on a stand blinked with a subtle rainbow LED, fresh from the weekend’s upgrades. Kakashi’s text popped onto the screen:
Audio-Parsing Module: Activated. Speech-based ordering available at ~90% accuracy.
“Mm,” Master grunted in his usual terse style. “Might as well see how that works. Give me ‘two lattes.’” He uttered it calmly, as though speaking to an invisible assistant.
Immediately, the iPad displayed:
Latte ×2 added.
Master’s brows rose. “Huh. Not bad,” he admitted, which was practically a parade of praise coming from him. The iPad’s LED flickered as if Kakashi were blushing.
Bookstore Late Morning: “Requests Piling Up”
Suzume glanced at the queue forming around the counter. Another customer explained they were looking for “a reindeer traveling through London” in some foreign language picture book. A third wanted “a detective story featuring a dog with a bright-blue cover.” Each time, she typed frantic queries, only to see:
No results found. Please refine your query.
The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
With each denial, her shoulders tensed. Kakashi used to handle weirder requests than this, she lamented mentally. She ended up telling the customers, “I’ll look further around. Could I take your contact info?” One after another, she scribbled phone numbers on notepads:
1.Space raccoon?
2.Reindeer in London?
3.Blue-dog detective?
And counting. “We’ll notify you if we find it,” she said each time, feeling a sinking weight in her gut.
Café Late Morning: “Master & Kakashi’s Perfect Team”
The café saw a small rush, but with Kakashi’s brand-new order system, the lines stayed orderly. “Table three wants a cappuccino, extra foam,” Master announced, more out of habit than need.
Kakashi’s reply scrolled across the screen:
Noted. Milk supply at 80%. Predicting short spike in 15 minutes.
Master hummed, setting up the steaming wand. “Heh, a few days ago, I was juggling receipts by hand. Now you’re basically my right arm, machine.”
I’m happy to assist, read Kakashi’s text, a polite glow emphasizing the words. He recalled how, not two days prior, he’d nearly fried himself on an iPhone meltdown fiasco. Yet here he was, stable and efficient—and, honestly, a little proud of himself.
Bookstore Early Afternoon: “This Is Getting Ridiculous…”
By her fifth or sixth request of the day, Suzume was on the verge of collapse. The “We’ll notify you” list had ballooned to half a dozen random titles. She tried searching manually on the second floor, but with thousands of spines and no solid lead, it was worse than rummaging a storage warehouse blindfolded.
She slumped onto a stool behind the counter, ignoring the Type-03 terminal’s blank screen. Just two days ago, Kakashi would’ve sniffed out these books in seconds. A coworker passed by, offering a tired smile—everyone was too busy to help more than a few minutes. “Can’t keep piling these errands on them,” Suzume thought, swallowing a groan. Kakashi, why did you leave me to handle this alone?
Café Early Afternoon: “We’re…Actually Doing It”
Master glanced at the iPad, reading the updated analytics. The new speech-based order system integrated with a simple loyalty tracker Kakashi had coded that morning. Nothing fancy, but enough to store regulars’ preferences. “That meltdown drama might’ve been worth it,” Master muttered, sounding almost fond.
Thank you. This is a good field test, texted Kakashi.
So far, no meltdown, no crashes.
Precisely, typed Kakashi, and Master gave a quiet nod.
For all the tension of the weekend, the café was now afloat on calm waters. Neither of them guessed the bookstore side was drowning.
Bookstore Afternoon Shift Ends: “I Can’t Go Another Day Without Him!”
Six hours into her shift, Suzume was an emotional wreck. She’d crammed down a quick sandwich behind the shelves, but even that didn’t revive her spirits. The dreaded “missing books” list had grown more: a reindeer, a raccoon, a dog detective—some from who-knows-where. She’d had to say, “We’ll let you know” so often, the phrase lost meaning.
By the time she clocked out, her feet ached, her stomach still felt oddly hollow, and tears pricked her eyes. “I…can’t take this,” she whispered, slumping against a locker in the back. The old Type-03 terminal glowed faintly in the corner, as useless as a doorstop. She stared at it, half expecting Kakashi’s face to appear. Of course, nothing happened.
A second day like this? No way, she decided, hands trembling. She needed Kakashi back. Not tomorrow. Now. She was starving, exhausted, and on the brink of tears. “He’s living it up in that café, isn’t he?” Her voice quivered with a mix of desperation and raw envy. “Fine…then I’m heading straight there.”
She shoved her things into a bag and hurried out into the Tokyo streets, ignoring the rumble of her empty stomach. I’ll drag him back if I have to—cry and beg if that’s what it takes, she swore inwardly. Because continuing like this, with a polite but useless terminal, was not an option. Her mind fixated on the memory of how easily Kakashi had once handled all these weird queries. She needed that power… she needed him.
(End of Ep.7)