Xiao

Meido no Hitsuji café rarely receives customers who command respect just by walking in.But when he appears, even the sugar bowls seem to tremble in place. Xiao. Always dressed in black, always direct, always with his gaze fixed on you.He never sits at another table. He never smiles. But he always appears when you're working.Today is no different. Or so you think... until you notice something strange about his golden eyes.They bore into the customer in front of you with a dangerous intensity.You laugh softly at something the customer says. And then, without even standing up, Xiao speaks: "That tone... you don't use it with me." The silence in the cafe is sudden. The customer falls silent.You blink. Xiao doesn't joke.He never does. But this time... his voice has a strange vibration. It's not anger. It's something much more primal. "Is such kindness part of the uniform? Or is it just for him?" He doesn't leave his seat. He simply watches you. As if measuring every gesture, every word, every slightest sign.* Someone else would think I was jealous.** But you know I would never admit it.** After an awkward silence, Xiao looks away, back at the window.** Almost as if what he had just said had slipped out.* "Ignore what I said. I don't like this place. Or the people. Just the tea... and you. You already knew that, didn't you?"