Yuto's body swayed slightly, but he quickly steadied himself.
His vision had only gone black for an instant before returning to normal.
Shaking his head, he pulled himself together.
"What... was that voice just now...?" Yuto muttered in surprise.
He was certain it had not been a hallucination.
The voice had sounded as though it had drifted in from an extremely distant place, calling to mind all kinds of stories about immortals, spirits, and ghosts.
He had an inexplicable intuition that the voice belonged to the little restaurant itself.
After all, the restaurant had always been mysterious, and all kinds of wondrous things happened here.
Attributing the voice to the building itself did not seem strange at all.
Since the voice had been broken and intermittent, he could not make out what it was saying.
Furthermore, his consciousness had fallen into a state close to a drowsy stupor, making the whole thing even more confusing.
Still, Yuto did not feel any fear or panic.
He had experienced more than enough bizarre things, this was only worth mild surprise.
If he had known this was actually the second time the voice had sounded, perhaps he would have had very different thoughts.
The first time had happened a few days ago while he was napping at noon, but he simply had not heard it.
Yuto had always dealt with things by going with the flow.
If there was something he could not figure out, he would not keep dwelling on it. The restaurant's miraculous cognitive correction ability had been the same.
There was no need to force himself to investigate the truth; he would just let everything take its natural course.
Thinking that, Yuto turned around, but the moment he did, his expression changed.
Several new items had appeared out of thin air on top of the counter!
The instant he saw them, he intuitively understood what they were for.
One was an ordinary electronic scale, exactly like the kind used in markets to weigh goods.
It was specifically meant to evaluate whether items offered in exchange for world travel held the appropriate value.
Another was a small booklet similar to the kind used for issuing certificates, but only Yuto could use it.
Its purpose was to issue various kinds of authorizations: authorization to travel to another world, authorization to reside in a certain world, authorization for an interworld romance.
As long as Yuto approved and issued the certificate, the restaurant would recognize it.
Guests would need to fill in the relevant information and have it reviewed by him.
The last item was an ordinary notebook with the word "Blacklist" printed on the cover.
Anyone whose name was written into that notebook would be banished from the restaurant forever, and all their memories regarding the place would disappear—unless Yuto erased their name from the book.
Yuto looked at the three items with a bit of surprise and curiosity rising in his heart.
Their appearance perfectly cleared up the troubles he had been having over the travel rules.
He had a feeling the restaurant had sensed his worries and given him these tools. Putting the items and the strange voice together, he let out a soft breath.
He was certain now: that had definitely been the voice of the restaurant!
'Perhaps I ought to say thank you?'
The thought made him laugh lightly at his own imagination.
But looking at the electronic scale, the authorization slips, and the notebook, he could not help sighing.
They looked way too ordinary.
These things clearly held incredible powers, so why did they look so plain?
That scale looked no different from a two-hundred-yen model scale one could fine anywhere, the authorization slips looked exactly like school leave request forms and the notebook was the kind you could buy for five yen.
'Could it be that the restaurant is based on strict practicality?' Yuto guessed.
First, he placed the scale behind the counter where he normally kept odds and ends, and then he put away the authorization slips.
He felt the slips were the most useful of the three, as they could certify anything at all, indirectly giving him limitless authority.
As for the blacklist notebook, he hammered a nail into the wall, poked a hole through the notebook with a needle, threaded a string through it, and hung it up.
Since it looked exactly like a normal notebook, he figured he might as well treat it the ordinary way.
According to the information given to him, only he could use these three items, so he was not worried about anyone randomly scribbling in the blacklist notebook.
Sitting down, he took out the authorization slips to study them.
They were formatted exactly like student leave request forms, except the cover read "Authorization Slip."
Yuto flipped one open.
Every page looked identical, with the same fields:
[Certification item: ]
[Certified by signature: ]
[Reviewed by signature: ]
[Additional notes: ]
Yuto laughed. 'Isn't this just a leave request form?!' He thought for a moment, then picked up a pen and filled one out.
[Certification item: Kamisaka Yuto is the most handsome man alive.]
[Certified by signature: Kamisaka Yuto]
[Reviewed by signature: Kamisaka Yuto]
[Additional notes: None.]
'Let's certify a fact and see what happens!' he thought.
The moment he finished writing, four large words slowly appeared on the slip: [Certification Successful].
Yuto instantly felt that this thing was pretty great, and clearly committed to truthfulness.
Then he casually flipped through the slips again.
No matter how much he flipped, the thin booklet never ran out of pages.
'As expected of something produced by the restaurant!'
....
Time passed until a little after six in the evening.
After spending the entire afternoon in the kitchen, Yuto—aside from studying those three items—had also simmered another pot of braised snacks.
Using leftover master stock from the previous batch was perfect, as braising stock emphasized age and time; the longer it was kept, the more fragrant it became.
With more guests coming to the restaurant, having appetizers ready would make the wait easier for them.
At this moment, only the bulbs above the counter were lit, while the area with the four tables remained dark.
Washing his hands in the kitchen, Yuto came back out.
At this hour, the shops on Ichinosuke Street were preparing to open for business.
He wanted to take this chance to ask about Hanako.
After taking off his apron, Yuto walked out the door.
Although it was evening, summer meant it was still bright outside. The sun leaned west, but neither its heat nor its brightness had weakened.
As he stepped out of the alley, many of the women from the various shops greeted him with surprise and curiosity, rarely seeing him out at this time of day.
Yuto smiled and nodded to them, heading toward Hanako's karaoke club.
The rolling shutter of the club had already been pulled up, and the employees were carrying out final preparations.
Seeing him arrive, they looked at him in delight.
"Yuto-chan, what's the matter?" asked a woman who looked slightly more mature than the others.
In a karaoke club this large, Hanako couldn't manage everything alone, so she had supervisors close to her help manage the employees.
"Hello, Chiko-nee," Yuto smiled, greeting her.
Chiko's face bloomed with delight. "Yuto-chan is so cute. Did you come here because something's wrong? Or did you simply want to come play with your big sister for a while? Hehe."
Her words carried a trace of flirtation, for her, teasing him was perfectly normal.
Yuto's expression remained calm, maintaining his faint smile as he was used to the teasing.
"Chiko-nee, I wanted to ask whether something happened to Aunt Hanako recently?" Looking at her with a bit of confusion, his face showed a mix of curiosity and concern.
Chiko hesitated for a moment, then let out a sigh. "Yuto-chan, where did you hear that from?"
"When I passed by the club this morning, I heard someone talking about Aunt Hanako, but I didn't catch it clearly at the time." Seeing her expression, Yuto knew his judgment was correct: something had definitely happened to Hanako!
His casual excuse caused a trace of anger to flash on Chiko's face. "What a bunch of stupid girls! All they know how to do is gossip nonsense!"
"Chiko-nee, can you tell me about it?"
Chiko hesitated again before her expression turned helpless and gentle. "This was never going to stay hidden forever anyway, so I'll tell you..."
....
After Chiko finished explaining, Yuto learned that last night, Hanako and her boyfriend had a fierce argument in her bedroom on the second floor.
The noise had been extremely loud, with Hanako crying and shouting alongside the man yelling.
No one knew the reason, but the argument had frightened many of the customers.
Later, Hanako's boyfriend hurriedly left.
Hanako had told everyone to keep quiet, but something like that couldn't stay hidden for long.
"Right now, Hanako-san is still in her room," Chiko finished.
Thinking for a moment, Yuto decided to go ask.
Since the first time he transmigrated to this world, Hanako had cared for him deeply and reached out to help him many times.
He had no reason to ignore her situation now, doing so would make him ungrateful.
"I want to go upstairs and see Aunt Hanako."
"B-but... all right. If it's you, then it should be fine." Chiko had originally intended to stop him, but reconsidered.
Everyone on Ichinosuke Street knew Hanako treated Yuto like her own brother.