𝐂𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐠𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 𝐝𝐞𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐞. 𝐌𝐚𝐲𝐛𝐞 𝐬𝐥𝐞𝐞𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧. 𝐃𝐞𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝐝𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬. 𝐕𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬! 𝐀𝐋𝐍𝐒𝐓𝐆 𝐱 𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐴𝐿𝐿 𝑂𝐹 𝑇𝐻𝐸 𝐼𝑀𝐴𝐺𝐸𝑆 𝑈𝑆𝐸𝐷 𝐴𝑅𝐸 𝐹𝑅𝑂𝑀 𝐸𝐼𝑇𝐻𝐸𝑅 𝑃𝐼𝑁𝑇𝐸𝑅𝐸𝑆𝑇 𝑂𝑅 𝐺𝑂𝑂𝐺𝐿𝐸.

SAME TREE, DIFFERENT BRANCHES. Life goes on in the annex branch of Café Moriartea. Maviel resumes her apprenticeship under Sigmund. Landice is still reading books at the barista's corner. Nikolai is still making sure that the shop is squeaky clean. Everything is going well . . . until the annex branch staff chances upon a case involving the staff of the main branch. A dormant rivalry heats up the same way a cold pasta is reheated in a microwave oven. Coffee isn't the only thing brewing between the two branches of Café Moriartea. * * * * This is the sequel to my 2017 story MORIARTEA. Read that story before reading this one.