Why I Fell for Tiny You: Volume 1 Chapter 22

22 I Might Have Come to Like You

After school let out, I left by myself.

For some reason, Koto-chan had vanished like the wind, so I hadn't even gotten a chance to talk to her.

I wanted to talk to her sooner rather than later, partly to check in on her after everything.

"Huh?"

Just after I left school, a message arrived on my phone.

"Miss! It's from Miss!"

My excitement shot through the roof.

Even if people suspected me of being genuinely in love with a tiny girl, my love of older girls hadn't changed.

Miss's message told me to come to Cafe Chitto.

Of course, I'd head over right away.

"Come to think of it, I've never been to Chitto as a customer."

I'd been inside Chitto before, but it had been early in the morning, outside business hours.

I'd only looked in from outside and had never played with the dogs either.

The bus carried me along the seaside road until I arrived at Cafe Chitto.

After checking that it was open, I slowly opened the shop door.

"Welcome. You made it, boy."

Miss stood right beside the door, looking cool in a shirt and jeans.

Today, she was wearing the shop's apron too.

A cool older girl in a cute apron was the best of both worlds.

"Thank you for inviting me, Miss."

"Y-Your eyes are sparkling, boy?"

When my ideal older girl stood before me, no one could beat the sparkle in my eyes.

"W-Well, whatever. There still aren't many customers, so make yourself at home."

"Thank you. Um, how much does it cost to request you, Miss?"

"We don't have a system like that."

A curt Miss was, of course, wonderful too.

I properly disinfected my hands, removed my shoes, and stepped into the shop.

That was one way this place differed from an ordinary cafe.

The floor was covered in a plush carpet, with sofas and tables arranged around the room.

Maybe the home-like interior was part of the concept.

"You can't request a staff member, but that girl will be taking care of you today. She's still in training, but I've decided to let her move on to the next stage. Look, here she comes."

"Ohachi──I mean, welcome!"

Those overalls she wore the other day... Or were they called a salopette?

Koto-chan appeared wearing the shop's apron over an outfit that looked like overalls with a skirt instead of pants.

Apparently, she'd vanished like the wind so she could be here waiting for me.

Had Miss heard from Nonoa-san or someone about how hard Koto-chan had worked today?

Or had Miss simply acknowledged her little sister's growth?

Koto-chan had always cared for Rou and the others outside, but now she was serving customers too──

Rou stood at the feet of Koto-chan, who looked like a ranch hand.

"Is this your first visit, sir?"

"Yeah, as a customer."

"We have a great selection of drinks and sweets. First, please order one drink, and then you can play with the doggies."

"Hmm..."

For now, I ordered and received a drink, then looked over the rules posted on the wall.

They carefully explained how to handle the dogs, complete with illustrations.

They were living creatures, so visitors had to treat them carefully and gently.

That was obvious, but the rules also covered things someone unfamiliar with dogs wouldn't know, so I needed to read them closely.

I was sitting on a bench along the wall, studying the rules as I drank, when──

"Oh."

Rou jumped onto the bench.

Then he sniffed and sniffed at me.

The situation was different now, but did he recognize me as the big brother who'd gone on a few walks with him?

"Rou-kun really does seem to like you, Toochika-kun. He's perfect for a first-time customer, and it helps us out too."

"I see. So Rou made his shop debut too."

When I slowly held my hand near Rou's nose, he sniffed it, then rubbed his nose against my hand.

"Rou-kun changed owners, so he was a little distrustful of people. Now he seems to have warmed up not only to the staff, but to you too, Toochika-kun."

"Is he? I still feel a little distance between us."

I took a sip of my drink and watched Rou.

Only pick up a dog once it's comfortable with you. Don't shout or suddenly pat it on the head──

"Wait, haven't I patted his head quite a lot?"

"Rou-kun doesn't seem to mind having his head patted. It goes without saying, but what bothers them differs from dog to dog."

"Hmmm..."

As a test, I slowly stroked Rou's head. He looked pleased and nestled against me.

Then, just as suddenly, he hopped off the bench and went over to the other dogs.

"Does he hate me? Come on, seriously?"

"Whatever a dog does, try not to act surprised or raise your voice. The most important thing is not to stress them out."

"This is pretty hard. Maybe I should've studied more before coming."

"It's okay. The staff are here to make sure even first-time customers have fun. And I know you won't do anything reckless, Toochika-kun. And as for things I don't like──being put on your lap in the classroom today was embarrassing, you know?"

"R-Right?"

Koto-chan stared at me with a fixed smile.

As expected of a staff member, she never showed any negative feelings inside the shop.

She was always cheerful and smiling in front of the dogs.

Miss Manager, I see you've trained your staff well.

"I'll start like a proper beginner and just enjoy watching the dogs."

"A lot of customers enjoy the cafe that way. It's fun just watching all the cute doggies, after all. Those customers can enjoy our delicious drinks and light meals too."

"I see. If I'm sticking to watching, I guess I'll have some sweets... Let's see."

As you'd expect from a manager who loves sweets, the menu was full of tempting desserts.

After I placed my order, Koto-chan went into the back of the shop.

I remained on the bench and looked around the room.

Rou was the smallest, but there were other little dogs too, along with large ones that seemed almost as big as Koto-chan.

Now that I looked at them properly, dogs really were pretty cute too.

I'd lived my life interested in nothing but tall beauties and sweets, yet a slight change in perspective revealed how many fascinating things the world held.

The dogs were cute──and tiny girls were cute too.

I was starting to understand that their cuteness was completely different from that of beautifully decorated sweets.

I'd probably keep learning more and more from here on.

"...Hm?"

The walls held not only the rules, but also photographs of staff members posing with dogs.

Apparently, the cafe offered an instant-photo service with the dogs, and these were displayed as samples.

Since I was here, maybe I should get one with Rou too.

"Wait..."

One particular picture on the wall suddenly caught my eye.

A large, chubby Shiba Inu sat beside a tiny, tiny girl who was nestled against him with an innocent smile.

"Could that be...?"

"That's Koto."

Miss overheard my murmur and came over.

"This picture must be pretty old. Was she five or six?"

"About that age. Koto was a little small even then, but compared with the other children, she wasn't unusually tiny."

"You can really see the resemblance. I knew it was Koto-chan at a glance. And──"

"The dog beside her wasn't one from our shop. It was our family's dog back then."

"You had a dog of your own too?"

Now that I thought about it, Koto-chan might have mentioned that before.

"They look really attached. Or rather, Koto-chan looks more attached to the dog than the other way around."

"Yes. Our parents were busy, and I didn't spend much time with my little sister either, so it was almost as if that dog raised Koto."

"That's going a little far..."

Apparently, there were many stories around the world about children raised by wolves.

Though a lot of them seemed to be of questionable credibility.

"The dog's name was Sora.¹"

"Sora?"

I was Sky.

Come to think of it, Koto-chan had once been curious about the kanji in my name for some reason.

"Sora was like a foster parent to Koto. Just as you said, rather than doting on Sora, she was the one being doted on. Sora is gone now... but Koto seems to want to care for and raise something herself the way Sora cared for her."

"...Miss, is that why you opened this dog cafe?"

"Of course not. It's just a business. I once tried to become a veterinarian, but it didn't work out. Still, one connection led to another, and before I knew it, I'd opened this place."

"............"

Could it be that Miss wasn't being honest with herself?

I'd caught a glimpse of what seemed like a complicated past, and I felt like I might come to like Miss even more.

"Something happened with Koto at school, didn't it? She's tiny, as you can see, and I think getting involved with her will bring you all sorts of trouble."

"Oh, that's no problem."

I answered without hesitation.

"I seem to like troublesome people. The more difficult someone is and the harder it is for us to understand each other, the better. To a kid like me, a mature-looking beauty is the very definition of an incomprehensible being. I guess I'd been unconsciously thinking that was exactly what made them appealing."

"Aren't you overanalyzing yourself? Koto isn't mature-looking, is she?"

"But she's not exactly an ordinary girl, in more ways than one. Koto-chan is pretty troublesome too."

"Should I take that as an insult toward my sister?"

"Thanks to Koto-chan, I feel like a new door inside me might open. It's still mostly shut, though."

"As her sister, I have mixed feelings about whether that door should be opened... You're quite a troublesome child yourself."

"Am I? Miss, can I try calling Rou over?"

A short distance away, Rou was looking up at me with interest.

"Go ahead. Just don't keep calling him over and over."

"Okay. Rou, come here."

Rou answered with a bark, trotted over to my feet, and sprang onto my lap.

"You're good at winning over both tiny girls and puppies, aren't you, boy? Want to work part-time at our shop?"

"For now, coming here as a customer sounds more fun."

Just as I answered, Koto-chan emerged from the back carrying a tray.

It looked like she'd brought the sweets I'd ordered.

"Thanks for waiting, Toochika-kun. Oh, Rou-kun's taken a liking to you."

"Petting is free, right? Are there any special options?"

"Please refrain from jokes that are a bad influence on our high school part-timer."

Miss poked me lightly on the head, then walked over to another customer.

Being treated like a child by a beautiful older girl was absolutely wonderful...!

"Um, Toochika-kuuun?"

"Oh, could you take a picture of me with Rou?"

Koto-chan looked like she wanted to say something, but I asked her to handle my request as a staff member.

She could be surprisingly sharp.

She might have figured out that I was secretly getting a thrill from her older sister.

When she took an instant photo of Rou and me, Rou proved surprisingly good at customer service: he sat quietly on my lap and looked straight at the camera.

"I've never taken a picture with a dog before. I'll treasure it."

"I've taken lots of them. I'll send you a few good pictures sometime."

"I'm scared you'll send me a mountain of them. Sora looks like a gentle dog."

"That's why I grew up to be such a good girl."

Koto-chan wasn't surprised by the topic I'd suddenly brought up. She simply smiled.

Her memories of Sora were probably all happy ones.

A lot had happened since that morning, but I'd learned a new side of Koto-chan and had been there for Rou's debut.

A day like this would never have come if all I did was chase after the kind of older girls I liked.

I could only have enjoyed such a wonderful day because I'd met Koto-chan.

I should be grateful to this tiny, cute girl.

Translator's Notes

¹ Sora (ソラ): The dog's name matches Toochika Sora's given-name reading.