Editing BlazBlue:Phase Shift 2 Chapter 2 (section)

===Part 3===

There was a house that served as a coffee shop on the sideways of Ishana's main street.

The shop had a lovely atmosphere with clay ornaments arranged along its white wall. White and light brown planters were placed around the entrance. Together lined up with them was an easel with a small blackboard leaning on it. The blackboard had today's recommendations written.

The time was three and a half in the afternoon. It was a bit late to have a tea.

Running and skipping up a short set of stairs that only had three flight of steps, Celica entered the shop along with Nine. The ringing door chime above her sounded refreshing.

"Let's see..."

Trinity and the others had gone on ahead of them, so they should have arrived much earlier. Celica looked inside the store that had the sweet aroma of butter and sugar. Then, she saw a platinum blonde girl stand up and wave her small hand.

"There! Trinity-san, sorry to keep you waiting!"

As her footsteps made quiet tapping noises on the wooden floor, she went inside while leading Nine along.

Trinity and the others' table was next to a tall decorative plant. But before she pulled up a chair, Celica looked puzzled as she saw the faces there.

"Huh? Only you two?"

Only Trinity and Jubei were seated there. Valkenhayn, Hakumen, and Terumi, who should have left the courtyard with them earlier, were nowhere to be seen.

The cat at the table answered Celica's question while resting his chin on his hand.

"Valkenhayn and Hakumen said they have other appointment. Terumi said somethin' about goin' to the toilet along the way and disappeared on his own."

"Eeeh!? Just when I thought everyone would finally have tea together..."

Dejected, Celica dropper her shoulders. She thought her longtime dream would come true today. But then she pulled herself together from the disappointment and raised her cheerful face before sitting down beside Jubei.

If they had errands, then there was nothing she could do. Starting from today, the base of operations was Ishana. There should be another chance later.

Nine also pulled up a chair. The white thighs peeking from her miniskirt rubbed together as she crossed her legs. Even Celica took notice of it. She sat on an open seat between Trinity and Jubei.

Calling a waitress who was waling past, Nine ordered iced coffee and chocolate mousse.

"Ah, I want a cold lemon and... mille-feuille!"

As she wrote Celica's order, the waitress with a bob cut replied with a smile and turned back toward the kitchen.

"You should have eaten first. Both of you are really principled."

Facing Trinity and Jubei, Nine dropped a smile.

Both of their orders were already placed on the table. Before Trinity was a hot royal milk tea and baked cheese cake. But in front of Jubei was a cup filled with green tea and pound cakes with green tea powder. There were traces that they had drank for a bit, but their cakes remained untouched.

"There's a green tea menu here, huh? First time I saw it."

Celica curiously looked at the cup in front of Jubei. Jubei twitched his whiskers to humor her.

"Seems it's a new menu. It's thanks to the increasin' flow of goods from various countries."

"But you put cold water in it, didn't you."

From the next seat, Nine lightly poked fun at him. There was no steam coming from the cup. Beside the cup, there were several glasses that had previously been filled with water placed on the table.

Jubei's face started to look a little embarassed.

"Can't help it. It's too hot."

"Fufu. You like tea but can't drink it hot. So cute."

Nine used her finger to poke the white fur on Jubei's cheek. Then, Jubei suddenly sprung up.

"Cute...!? Like I said, please stop sayin' things like that in public..."

"Oh, it's fine. There's only Celica and Trinity here."

"That's not the problem!"

"Ufufu, please don’t worry about us~. Right, Celica-san~?"

Nine stared at the beastkin with a girlish look that would make the people in Mage's Guild who barely knew her stare in disbelief. Jubei's pointed ears kept twitching as he couldn't calm down.

Trinity nonchalantly brought her cup to her mouth while seeing their exchange.

Celica raised both hands and rested her chin there. She kept nodding with her face filled with a smile.

"Yup. I really like seeing Onee-chan and Jubei-san getting along. Although sometimes I get embarrassed, too."

"Y-You're wrong. I don't really... Uhhh..."

Jubei waved his shaking, bulky hand in the air.

Interrupting his excuse, the waitress finally came carrying Nine and Celica's orders.

Not wanting to expose himself anymore, Jubei pulled his head in toward his neck and tried to appear as small as possible. He lay in wait, concealing his sigh behind the sound of the orders being placed on the table.

After a while, the Mercury sisters drew each of their drinks toward themselves. When he heard the noise, Jubei could only let a sigh of relief and raised his face.

Then he dejectedly lowered his whiskers.

"...Of course, you're doin' it."

He dropped his voice as he muttered.

Not understanding at first, Celica followed Jubei's gaze and understood why.

Nine's supple fingers picked up a pitcher filled with gum syrup that was served with the iced coffee before pouring its entire contents into her glass. When the clear fluid finally depleted, this time she tilted another pitcher filled with milk in the same manner. The white fluid quietly muddied the iced coffee.

"Ah, can I get another gum syrup?"

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Without even a questioning look, the waitress Nine called immediately came with a spare pitcher.

Of course, she also poured it into her glass without leaving a drop.

The water level of the coffee that was now corrupted with syrup and milk had increased almost to the glass' edge.

Using a straw, Nine skillfully stirred the near overflowing iced coffee.

"I've said it already but... it's bad for your health."

Jubei knew it was pointless from the start. It was obvious from the way he sounded like he had given up.

Acting like it didn't concern her at all, Nine calmly drank the abnormally thick iced coffee.

"Actually, it'll be good for my health if I ingest a moderate amount of sugar."

"Uh. Is that... moderate?"

"Jubei. You don't like sweets that much? "

"It's not like that... Nah, it's fine. My bad."

After his doubtful eyes glanced at the empty pitcher again, Jubei seemed to avert his eyes and then sipped his warm green tea.

Contemplating the banter, Celica exchanged a look with Trinity. They both burst into laughter at the same time.

Reacting immediately, Jubei stared at them with a bitter look on his sullen face.

"...What. Why are you laughin'?"

"No, no. Nothing at all."

"Ufufu. Please don't mind us~."

Playing dumb, Celica and Trinity spontaneously hid their suggestive smiles with both hands.

For several months, Nine and Jubei had noticeably been getting close. It wasn't an exaggeration saying that they had become intimate. Celica was happy with it.

Everyone had been commenting on Nine's natural gift and her abilities. Moreover, they also said Nine had a violent temperament and that she wouldn't go easy on anyone. Trinity was the only friend that had become close to her older sister. It had even been years since Celica had heard tale of Nine being approached by any guys.

For her sister to be acting this lovey dovey with someone while having tea was... Rather than a younger sister, the delight she felt was like what a mother would have.

Nine drank her iced coffee while watching every single move from Jubei. Meanwhile, Jubei kept getting flustered even though he was going out with her.

While watching both of them, Celica cheerfully ate her mille-feuille. The light pie and strong taste of the custard cream's egg now seemed to taste even better.

Then, Trinity suddenly half-rose to her feet.

"Ah, Kazu... Terumi-san."

Blending in with the friendly chatter inside the store, a small and sweet voice called the name.

As Celica turned around, she saw a tall man wearing a low hood approaching them. He didn’t really seem to fit with the fairy-tale atmosphere of the store.

Instead of calling to him, Celica waved her hand. Terumi abruptly stopped for a moment. But without making the previous action look obvious, he came close to their table.

Just after that, Nine's eyes sharpened.

"Where did you go?"

As if reflecting her doubting voice, the atmosphere stiffened.

But Terumi didn't pay any attention to the change in the atmosphere. He simply laughed. Avoiding the empty space next to Celica, he sat down beside Trinity.

"Toilet, toilet. You heard from them, didn't you?"

"You'd better stop just doing everything as you please."

"Hmm, so you'll wait for me whenever I go to toilet? Nice hobby you've got there."

Nine's look grew even sharper. The atmosphere made it felt like she was about to grab him by the collar. Celica placed both hands on the table as if to interrupt them.

"Onee-chan, Terumi-san. Let's stop this already. We're having tea now."

Without attracting the attention of other customers, Celica put on a reproachful tone.

Taking the opportunity, Terumi raised both hands; as if to indicate that he surrendered.

"Hey, you're doubting me too much. Forgot? I can't ''lie'' to you. You're the one who cast that annoying spell on me."

Terumi had been inflicted with ''Mind Eater'' by Nine. It made him unable to disobey Nine's command, neither could he lie to her.

"You're wasting time doubting me. Don't you hate doing pointless things? Miss. Ten. Sages."

His sarcasm made Nine's eyebrows twitch. But before she could answer, Jubei interrupted.

"Don't get too sensitive, Nine. Mind Eater's working. Has he actually gone against your order once?"

Nine could just find his whereabouts if she felt like it. Even when earlier Jubei told her that Terumi was gone, Nine should have searched for Terumi's location. As its result was that she knew he was heading to the store, she didn't look deeper into it.

Both Jubei and Celica gave a soothing look at Nine. Then she put it aside and sighed.

"...Oh well. It's not good arguing here."

Averting her eyes from the gazes, Nine scooped her chocolate mousse with fork.

Seeing the conversation was over, Terumi greatly tilted his chair and stopped an unfortunate waitress from passing by.

"Hey, miss. Get me the usual black tea and a hardboiled egg."

As he arbitrarily made an order, Terumi returned the chair to its original position with a slight scraping noise.

Trinity just watched the scene quietly beside him.

Whenever Trinity looked at Terumi, sometimes, just sometimes, she would make a pained look. Even Celica knew the reason. Terumi really resembled him. A young student who was very close to Trinity that unfortunately had disappeared from the academy unnoticed.

Their behavior and expressions were completely different, but their voices and presence were surprisingly similar. If he were to remove the hood he always wore, she wondered if the face of her friend would appear.

That was why when Terumi was here, Trinity was always reminded of that friend of hers. Even though it had been eight months, Celica could still remember Ragna on a whim.

When she thought about him, a suffocating sensation arose in her chest.

"Okay!"

Determined, Celica suddenly raised the corners of her eyes and struck the table with both hands.

"Let's talk about something fun!"

The atmosphere had been somewhat gloomy for a while. Heavy. Painful.

In this tea time that was supposed to be fun, Celica wanted for everyone to get along more and get to know each other. Fully embracing that belief, Celica haphazardly stood up.

However, during that moment, Celica plunged forward too far and her feet connected with the table's leg.

"Wha, wha..."

As the momentum ruined her balance, Celica began to tip backwards.

"Look out, Celica!"

Jubei immediately reacted. He stretched his hand to support Celica from the side. Jubei's hand supported Celica... or as it would have if Celica hadn't made the poor decision to grab the back of the chair where Jubei had been sitting.

Celica's hand firmly grabbed the back of the chair and grasped it strongly. Along with Jubei's tail.

"UGYAAH!?"

A terrible scream the likes that no-one had heard before escaped from Jubei's mouth. The small furry body jumped on the spot with a jolt.

With incomparable strength, Jubei's knees hit the tabletop. The table rose in a big way from the impact. Nine was surprised. Then the iced coffee she held leaped out of her hands...

The spilling mixture of iced coffee, gum syrup, and coffee milk was now all over Trinity's face.

"Ah..."

The small voice was Trinity's.

Then a painful silence flowed into the ears of the people sat around the table.

Even the gentle friendly chat around the shop, which should have been present, seemed to completely vanish.

Eventually, Trinity gently removed the glasses that were soaked with the thick liquid of Nine's coffee.

Her expression was hidden by the fluffy hair flowing from her fringe and both sides. However, there was no doubt that the mood had shifted.

"...It seems my glasses are stained."

The sweet echo sounded the same as ever. Contrary to its calm tone, fear clouded Celica and Nine's hearts as they began to understand the situation.

"Uh, umm, Trinity-san...? So-Sorry. I, um, never thought this would happen...!"

"Let's talk it through, Trinity! We surely will come into understanding!"

"Wh-What? What's going on?"

Though he grasped the tension of the situation, seeing Celica and Nine apologizing profusely, Jubei couldn't understand what was happening. He became flustered while still holding his aching tail.

Nine then grasped his hand.	

"I'll tell you the reason later. But for now, we should apologize. You too!"

Turning around far enough that his neck clicked, Terumi, who was stretching his hand to get the black tea that had just come, raised his face.

"Huh? Me too!?"

"Just apologize!"

"Tch, dammit. What's with you? Her glasses are just dirty, so..."

"'Just'? Did you say 'just'...?"

Trinity's whisper silenced Terumi's abusive words as he started to grumble. Normally, it wouldn't happen. But currently, Trinity wasn't her usual calm self.

In the end, Trinity slowly took a breath.

"...Everyone, I have to tell you something."

Her smile was kind enough to be horrific.