It always starts in a restaurant

It was a rainy afternoon day. In a fancy cafe, famous among the middle class, people were enjoying a happy time. Nothing was out of the ordinary and time seemed to stand still. Three maids, bustling about at the counter, were looking with curiosity at an elegant figure. A man sat alone, dressed in distinguished clothes, a monocle, but his cheeks and forehead testified to his age, probably in his thirties.

He read the menu elegantly like a poetry libretto. Carefully wiggling his mustache with his index finger like a child in front of his homework, a child with a mustache of course. It was an interesting and iconic show, not the house standard anyway. Occasionally he laughed lightly as he lowered his head but didn't seem, or rather his distinguished appearance warned anyone from daring to think he was laughing at the quality of the service.

Somehow, his demeanor betrayed a bourgeois grace but his presence in a simple popular restaurant said a lot about his humility. the type of person who does not forget where he comes from, it seems. the maids were agitated.

"Come on, you talk to him!"

"No silly, I stutter when I'm nervous, you're better to deal with men."

"Nooo that won't do, look at him, look at his fancy outfits, he looks like someone who can eat every night, that's something beyond Mathilda's level."

At these words, the girl answering to the name of Mathilda turned to her friend with a terrible face.

"How much do you like your little mama? Do you want her to attend your funeral?"

"Speaking of mom, does the little boy living with you know who..."

"Girls stop fighting, the gentleman is coming!"

Slowly, with an elegant step, the gentleman who had stopped reading and seemed to have heard the maids advanced towards them, but his smile reassured of his intentions. Confident, they smiled back.

"Good afternoon ladies."

"Good afternoon, Mister Gentlerich, have you made your choice?" *giggle*

"Definitely not Oyakodon* right?" Said the eldest maid.

"Nor whooping cough, right?" Retorted Mathilda who god only knew what she would have been able to do if she wasn't on duty.

"It's not even food, you crazy layer"

"Because no one wants to eat you, you freaking dry land."

The first maid was trembling, embarrassed by the argument of her comrades raging behind her. However, this did not seem to disturb the gentleman, laughing smartly at their argument. Calm again, he presented the menu to them and asked in a soft and delicate voice:

"Hmm... Is there anything eatable that costs less than 2 coins in this cafe?"

The three suddenly silent maids looked at the gentleman and finally let out stifled laughter.

"FWAHAHA! EEEEEEEH? Care to repeat that sir, I'm having an earstroke right now?"

"Sigh... I'll have to keep betting on that 5-year-old brat."

Only the polite maid waving her blue hair remained calm.

"Ahem, wait, maybe we're misinterpreting... Um, sir, maybe you forgot your wallet?"

"Hehehe... It's more complicated than that. So you see, my lady, you're not dealing with your average customer."

"Yeah, average customers can afford a glass of water!" Continues Mathilda as she returned to the kitchen grumbling.

"... W-water isn't free?" He said while looking at his table where you could see an empty glass of water and a half-consumed bottle.

"I would have liked to see how he drank, it could have been more explanatory." Added the older maid also heading for the kitchen. The last, confused, kept calm and tried to understand the situation.

"Um... Sir, did you really come to a cafe with no money?"

"Actually, it's an accident. I traveled all day today, facing all kinds of incredible challenges, I took the bus, watered flowers... I even ended up investing to launch the career of a young composer... And so I end up here with half a coin, you see."

"... How is it possible to have half a coin? Did you slice it or what?" The detective's words were getting harder and harder to understand.

"Nooo it's very, VERY complicated, in fact even if I tried to explain it to you simply you wouldn't understand anything at all."

"Sir, what I understand is that maybe you should get out of here, I'm sorry but we don't have the power to feed people for free."

"... Even homeless people?"

"Sir, get out of here please!"

"... It all started three days ago..."

As they spoke, the mood in the cafe was unchanged, no one could be bothered by the altercation or rather, they seemed to be in disconnected worlds. The parents were eating with their children, the lovers were having the time of their lives, and everything was going well in the best of all possible worlds. It was quiet and peaceful, the perfect place to relax. Except for these 2 who were in an intense debate.

"SO? Do you understand my situation now?"

"What?... What am I supposed to understand? you barely said anything!"

"What the... You're not listening to me?"

"I am, and you literally said nothing!"

"What... But no... I explained everything... I mean, I started explaining to you... You know... During the setting up of the mood in the cafe so... I assumed that by this time..." Said the detective, visibly confused not to see something strangely natural happening.

"Well, how about you tell me more?" She said with a sudden and suspicious gentle smile.

"I... Uh... Well, it's not... Oi! What are you doing?!"

He shouted sharply at the maid whose hand reached another point under the table.

"You're calling security on me, aren't you?"

"No sir, I'm scratching a random piece of gum."

"Don't lie to me, I know this technique, you food vendors are all the same!"

"Oh, so sir is used to this practice? Interesting, now I really understand who I am dealing with." She said in the sassiest way possible while maintaining her smile.

"You do not understand? I'm just trying to help you! Everything I'm doing now is for the sake of every person in this cafe... You don't know it yet but we are all in great danger!"

"Oh, thanks for the warning, I think we are indeed in great danger, let me handle it." As she said, she made a sudden but obvious movement under the table with her hand.

"Okay, let's calm down for a second. Alright, we had a really bad first interaction and maybe we're a little too nervous right now, but I swear I'm really here to save you all from great danger. Someone here could bring everyone down. Every second counts!"

"Except you sir, I don't see anyone being a nuisance. If you can figure that out, get out now, don't make a scene here!"

"You're the one making a scene here... And if you want to see the danger, look at all the customers, it'll be obvious."

She observed the customers for a moment at the detective's request, but nothing seemed out of the ordinary, it was a perfectly normal scene.

"Sir I still don't see anything suspicious."

"It's because you look with your eyes, my lady."

As the maid's hand waved furiously under the table with malicious intent, without sleazy meaning, of course, the increasingly sweaty detective quickly added.

"W-What I mean is: don't look at them with the eyes of the maid of a fancy cafe with an imaginary background, look with the eyes of a normal person with a normal life without any story... I'm not insulting you of course! Just do as I said and you will see it."

The maid eyed him warily and turned her gaze to the customers and started to look at them as vulgar garbage, when suddenly...

"Eh?"

She noticed it with astonishment, something that wasn't there earlier but that seemed to appear out of nowhere.

"Since when?..."

Her gaze was fixed on a solitary man, darkly enjoying a very special mystery omelet, very special just because, sitting alone on a rounded table at the back of the cafe and next to a window. The young man was nothing special, a handsome young man in gray armor and long white hair flowing beautifully despite the lack of wind. The only intriguing thing was the abnormally oversized sword leaning against the wall, seemingly too big to lift but emanating a menacing aura, like a message to anyone who dared ask him to pay for his meal. No one else seemed to notice, how did they even serve him in the first place? Only the detective and the newly awakened maid were aware of her presence.

"Who is he? How did I not notice him?"

The detective turned around, adjusting his glasses smugly, face a very familiar situation, and retorted.

"That, miss, is an MC."

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Oyakodon: the epitome of Japanese soul food, this literally translates to parent-child as the dish is chicken and egg, but it also means a relationship with a parent and child