Afternoon kept moving towards dusk.
The sharp edge of the earlier talk didn't vanish yet. But, It was all covered by the hustle and bustle that was happening in the kitchen.
Because of that, Rimuru had drifted into a story that kept changing shape every time he told it. It involved a merchant, a crate of something that was definitely not legal in at least two worlds, and a 'minor misunderstanding' that somehow ended with him owning a hat he did not want. He didn't push the punchline. He just let it arrive when it felt like arriving.
Kushina listened with her chin in her palm, eyes bright, making impatient noises whenever he took too long.
"Skip the boring part." She demanded.
"That was the boring part." Rimuru said.
Kushina slapped the counter lightly. "Then tell it faster."
Minato's mouth twitched. He did not correct her. Not even trying as resignation could be seen in his face. It seemed just like anyone else here who knew about Kushina, he had learned that trying to steer Kushina only made her change direction out of spite.
Claire sat with her whiskey and looked like she'd been born with the ability to sit through anything without showing the strain. But when she reacted, it meant something.
Aoki spoke occasionally, quiet comments that made Rimuru pause and adjust his story like it had been a science report and Aoki had caught a missing variable. Tsumugi and Momo had drifted into their own small world, debating whether the dessert they'd had earlier counted as 'real food' or just a snack.
Rin, for her part, had discovered that Hedwig was easiest to manage when treated like a queen who had decided, very graciously, to tolerate her subjects. She stroked the fox's fur until it warmed to gold, then stopped and watched, delighted, when it shifted blue as if the fox had changed her mind about being pleased.
Cless sat between Claire and the fox, legs swinging under the stool, spoon tapping her bowl in a slow rhythm. The tapping didn't have a purpose. It had a feeling.
Ludwig kept moving behind the counter, the usual small tasks that made a room feel like it wasn't waiting for disaster. A cloth wiped a spot. A ladle got rinsed. A pot got set back exactly where it belonged. He listened without looking like he listened.
Kushina glanced toward him. "You're not even paying attention."
"I'm paying attention." Ludwig said. "I'm just not encouraging it."
Rimuru put a hand to his chest, offended. "My storytelling is a public service."
"It's indeed something," Claire said.
Kushina laughed and pointed at Claire like she'd won a prize.
Minato's tea sat half-finished. He'd stopped drinking it for a while, not because he didn't want it, but because he kept forgetting it existed. Every time he remembered, he took a sip.
In the meantime, customers came and went. Lee Han was now inside Checkpoint, sitting with his usual Orc and Goblin friends. Raon and the cats had also moved from the bars, they were now in the far table on the dining hall, surrounding the bored-looking Cale who had a book in his hand.
At that seemingly peaceful scene, Cless opened his mouth. "Aunt Claire, Lud… I heard you and Rin's father mentioning Earth. Is it the same world as mine?"
All the adults who heard her words whipped their heads towards the blonde little girl. Even Hedwig now moved closer to her.
Ludwig's eyes stay calm, his face also. But inside, he was letting out a long sigh. He forgot about it. Really really forgot.
The girl had always been with Claire whenever he saw her, she also adapted well to the fact they were world-hopping, even treating it as a bus now. But beneath all those, the girl was in truth someone who was summoned to Elos from Earth. A girl that thought she was destined to enter Hogwarts because of the fact she could use magic now.
So now… her hearing Aoki and his family come to Earth would become quite a headache. Why? Because now she would expect her Earth would connect to the restaurant soon.
Hope was always the most dangerous thing in the world.
But that's for later, for now…
"I don't think so." Ludwig said. "Their world is abandoned, Cless. They are the only humans there."
The words came out calm.
However, the reaction he got was anything but.
Cless's face tightened, then a quick flare of offense appeared. "That's not what I asked."
Rimuru stopped smiling at that moment.
Claire didn't move. Her hand stayed around her glass while her eyes stayed on Cless as if they were weighing how much truth she should gave to the child.
"Is it the same Earth as mine," she insisted, voice smaller now, stubborn in a different way, "or not?"
Ludwig kept his tone even. "Cless."
She looked up at him.
"I can't give you certainty." He said. "Not responsibly."
Cless's brows drew together. "But you said Earth. You keep saying Earth."
"Cless, Earth is not one thing." Ludwig said. "Sometimes it's the same place. Sometimes it's a different place that happens to share a name."
Cless stared at him like she could force the sentence to become simpler by sheer stubbornness.
She muttered in a low voice as an answer. "It's just… a place."
Hedwig pressed closer into Cless's side. Her fur stayed darker than usual, the bright shifts muted, as if she'd decided being loud would be rude.
Cless swallowed. Her voice came out rougher than she intended.
"If my home Earth connects." She asked, eyes fixed on the wood grain because looking at faces felt too risky, "Can I go home?"
The room quieted in a way that made every small sound obvious. A spoon clinked somewhere too far away. Water ran in the back sink. Someone at another table laughed at something that had nothing to do with this.
Ludwig didn't answer right away. He hated the way the question made the world feel smaller. Like there was a single door that mattered now, and everything else was just waiting around it.
He kept his hands on the towel. He folded it once, slow, like he was buying himself one extra second of care.
"You're asking two questions." He said.
Cless frowned. "No I'm not."
"You are." Ludwig replied, tone mild. "One is whether your Earth will connect. The other is whether you can leave when it does."
Cless's fingers tightened in Hedwig's fur. The fox didn't flinch. If anything, she leaned into the grip, accepting it like a duty.
"I want to go home." Cless said. Truthfully now, without any edges.
Kushina's expression pinched. She looked like she wanted to say something loud and simple and comforting, and couldn't find a way that wouldn't make it worse. Her mouth opened, then closed again.
Aoki's posture remained steady, but his attention shifted toward Cless the way a parent's did when their kid start to walk in water edge. Tsumugi and Momo sat very still. Rin had stopped playing. She didn't look curious any longer.
"You will go home." Claire said, hands moving to comfort the sunny little girl that had now turned fragile.
Cless looked up at her, tears pooling in her eyes.
"But not before we check whether it is really your world or not." Claire continued. "That's not negotiable."
"B-but…" Cless tried to argue.
"Bring the matter to Ilea if you disagree." Claire said calmly
Cless' mouth opened and closed several times, an obvious tell that she was debating inside her mind.
But not long after,
"Fine…" She answered weakly.
Claire's hand stayed on Cless's shoulder, firm without squeezing. Cless's breath hitched once, then steadied soon after.
In the meantime, Ludwig also chuckled in his mind. Truly, bringing Ilea to some matters would easily solve it. Not like he would bring her to any of his. After all, the woman was more of a trouble than his whole problem combined.
Rimuru's smile returned carefully, like he was rebuilding it from spare parts. "Look at that. Negotiations. Everyone survived."
Kushina wiped her eyes with the back of her wrist and made a loud scoffing sound, offended on Cless's behalf and her own. "I hate it when you all talk like grown-ups. It makes me feel like I'm old."
Rimuru chuckled. Claire's lips curved a fraction. Even Cless made a small noise that might have been a laugh if she weren't still swallowing tears.
Hedwig's fur brightened from its darker hue into a more familiar gold, pleased by the room returning to something less sharp. She nudged her head under Cless's hand like a cat asking to be forgiven for existing.
Cless sniffed, rubbed her sleeve under her nose, then glared down at the fox. "You're not allowed to be cute right now."
Hedwig blinked slowly and continued being cute on purpose.
Cless sighed, defeated, and scratched behind Hedwig's ears anyway.
And with that… Checkpoint prepared for the incoming dinner rush.
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