I Run the Protagonist’s Favorite Café in a Hopelessly Depressing Game World

I Got the World Completely Wrong

“Still, I never thought Shikiko Komuta would show up asking for a part-time job.”

I muttered it quietly.

Shikiko Komuta.

The protagonist of Witch or.

She boasted an enormous amount of magic power—one of the biggest cheat characters in the whole story.

But if she got carried away and used magic nonstop, the cost would pile up fast and she’d head straight to a bad ending.

True to its depressing-game reputation, her still images were famous for breaking players’ hearts.

I’d suffered looking at that one picture more times than I could count.

Witch or was a game about how much humanity could struggle in a world already doomed to destruction.

Just like I kept calling it a depressing game, the protagonist Shikiko Komuta naturally had a heavy backstory too.

And the choices in this game were brutal. One wrong pick and boom—world destruction or human extinction. The difficulty was completely unreasonable. No one could clear it on their first try.

I couldn’t clear it either, so I ended up staring at strategy sites until I finally reached the happy ending… that bitter memory still stung.

My rule had always been to play with my own strength, but that was the first time I broke it.

That’s exactly why I retired as a witch.

One wrong choice and it’s a bad ending.

Unreasonable developments.

If an uncertain element like Aoi Komeiji got mixed in, who knew what would happen.

My existence alone probably wouldn’t change the flow drastically, but this world was so delicate that even tiny changes could lead to ruin.

What a mess. The scale is huge—world destruction and all—so can’t it be a bit more forgiving?

Of course nobody was listening to my complaints.

Obviously. I was the only one who knew the possible futures.

──I was the only one who knew the future.

“Having her come work here is actually convenient for keeping an eye on her, I guess.”

I rested my cheek on my hand at the counter and watched Shikiko.

You’d never guess from how eagerly she was reading the magazine, but the fate of the whole world depended on her choices.

…And I knew the correct choices.

I understood the path we should take.

I could see the future we needed to reach.

My original plan was to secretly guide her decisions from the shadows, but having her close like this made it easier to manage how things were progressing.

“What’s up, boss? You’re staring at me so hard… Ha!”

“No no. Don’t get the wrong idea.”

“Did my beauty make your head spin?”

“Beauty, huh.”

It was true that Shikiko Komuta’s looks were extremely well put together, but her actual age was a shocking three years old or so.

She was born in a lab. I wasn’t rotten enough to look at her that way.

So I just snorted in reply.

“Hah.”

“No matter how much you’re the boss, I can’t forgive such an insult…!”

“Wanna fight, Dawn Witch? Against a normal person?”

“──How do you know that name?”

Shikiko’s cheeks flushed.

The title “Dawn Witch” was probably a little embarrassing for a girl her mental age.

I pointed at her with the intention of teasing her just a bit.

“It was in the magazine you’re reading right now. Something like ‘Rising Star Witches! We Interviewed the Three Rumored in Town!’”

“Burn the books! Bury the scholars! Burn the books! Bury the scholars!”

Bam! The magazine slammed shut.

She immediately pulled a staff from her pocket and started gathering magic power──.

“Wait wait wait wait! Magic is bad! Don’t use magic for something this stupid!”

“You wouldn’t understand! How a witch feels when she gets stuck with an embarrassing title like Dawn Witch!”

“…………”

Actually I understood.

I understood perfectly.

I used to be called the Paradox Magi, the Lord of a Thousand Lies wearing a mask, after all.

Now I was the strongest witch in the world.

But I couldn’t say that honestly, so I just mumbled vaguely and shut my mouth.

In that time Shikiko had already thrown the magazine into the trash. Very eco-friendly.

“…Putting the title aside, that’s pretty impressive. I heard only the top three at the academy get one. Must be the result of hard work.”

“It’s not something to brag about.”

She smiled modestly.

Maybe feeling awkward, she twirled a lock of her hair.

“If I can’t even get a title like that… I won’t know why I was even born.”

“Hmm.”

Some people might call her attitude overly polite and rude at the same time.

But once you knew her circumstances, her behavior made sense.

She was created solely to kill monsters and delay the world’s destruction. She was treated more like a sacrifice than a witch. If you knew Shikiko Komuta’s story, you’d understand.

Of course I couldn’t show that I understood.

“Sounds tough.”

“Yes. It is tough.”

Our conversation came to a temporary end there.

After that we just spent time zoning out in the empty shop like usual.

Shikiko stared out the window as if waiting for someone, occasionally glancing at her phone.

I figured no customers would come anyway, so I started my dignified reading time.

But today was different.

When Shikiko went “Ah!” I looked up, and the bell on the door rang wildly—cling cling cling.

Maybe I should celebrate that the total number of customers could no longer be counted on one hand.

──Or maybe sigh at the dangerous atmosphere.

“Someone you know?”