It was morning and the sun was barely emerging from the horizon. The morning rush was just beginning at Cafe En Gard. Emilio was focused at the counter and busy taking orders of numerous college students, one after the other. It was quite noisy, but occasionally, Emilio thought he heard knocking sounds at the door. He looked over, and the door was working fine. People were coming in and out, so he thought maybe it was just the sound of people bumping into something on the way out. The knocking grew louder, so when the line of customers died down, Emilio went over to the door and looked around. The day was now blazing bright and Emilio squinted his eyes as he looked outside and examined the door. There was nothing there, so he went back inside and closed the door.

The knocking continued, even as no one was entering or exiting. Valerie took notice of the noise and walked over to the door. She took a look outside just as Emilio did, and then she closed the door. The sound didn’t stop. She thought she heard some voice coming from outside, so she opened the door again, saw no one, and then looked at Emilio with a look of fear in her eyes. She looked around the cafe, took a deep breath, and carefully opened the door again.

“What is going on?!” A shrill voice attacked them. Emilio almost screamed.

“Hello, Ms. Mortis,” Emilio said meekly. He was on the verge of tears. “What are you doing here?”

“Did you not read my letter? Today is the reevaluation!” Ms. Mortis was yelling, mostly directing her anger towards Valerie.

“Of course I read the letter! The one that came in the official blue envelope! It never specified when it would happen.”

“Not that letter! When a business prepares to be reevaluated, the evaluator also sends a letter notifying the details of the reevaluation day! Did you read that letter or not?”

“I must have thrown it away with the junk mail.”

“Well, that’s too bad. It’s too late to request a rescheduling, and I’m already here.” Ms. Mortis stepped into the cafe and saw the people who were sitting at the tables, sipping their drinks and doing their own things. “I thought you weren’t open right now. Who are these people?!” Ms. Mortis marched up to a table where a man was reading a newspaper. Valerie tried to stop her, but Ms. Mortis already got a close enough look at the man. “Why are there humans in this establishment?!”

Emilio looked at Valerie, hoping she would know what to do in this emergency situation.

“Alright, everyone. We will need to close right now. We are, um,” Valerie stammered, “doing a renovation right now. We will reopen later. Sorry for the inconvenience.” The people in the cafe made their way out. Valerie waited at the door for everyone to leave, refusing anyone who tried entering the cafe.

“I picked this time for your own convenience!” Ms. Mortis pointed at Valerie. “The goal was to finish this evaluation without any customers being a distraction. Right now is not part of your listed opening hours! You have a lot of explaining to do!” Ms. Mortis was on her tiptoes, screaming at Valerie’s face. Ms. Mortis then walked to the door. “Now what is going on over here,” she said as she gripped the handle. When she opened the door, the sunlight came pouring in. Ms. Mortis screeched as the light hit her face, then slammed the door. “What was that?! Where are we right now?!” She turned to Emilio, still squinting her eyes.

“Um, Nascenshire…” Emilio nervously said. Ms. Mortis thought for a moment, before yelling at them to go into the break room.

“This is the biggest violation of ethical conduct I have ever seen!” Ms. Mortis roared. “Serving the human world in any capacity is strictly forbidden, and you made this place a potential bridge between two worlds that are never supposed to meet! You should already know this!” She took out a huge binder, furiously flipping through the pages. “I knew there was something up when you changed locations. This place looked quite unusual, even through the pictures in your proposal. I wonder which idiot approved of this! Pull out your finance records right now!”

Valerie took out the files that contained the detailed records of the cafe’s revenue. Ms. Mortis closely examined each and every line, and then noticed the two different currencies used in the records. “I can’t believe I didn’t notice this before,” she said. “Where did these totals come from?”

“I calculated the totals myself. The exchange rate is listed in the papers every week. You can check yourself, I’m being honest!” Valerie was desperate to try and save herself, but Ms. Mortis was too mad.

“You’re one to talk about being honest! You tricked the whole Regulatory Organization into letting you come here! How many non-humans have you led into the human world without them knowing?!” Ms. Mortis was quaking in rage. “I’ve seen enough. I will be meeting with the committee to discuss this.”

Lucas finished his classes for the day and went to the cafe as usual. He saw that the sign at the entrance was flipped to say “closed,” even though the cafe should be open and would not be closing anytime soon. The door was unlocked, so he allowed himself inside. Valerie and Emilio were nowhere to be seen. After looking inside the break room, he came out to the counter and saw a man in a gray suit writing on a clipboard.

“Who are you?” Lucas asked. The man looked back at him.

“Um, I’m Jayden. I work for the regulatory organization.” Jayden examined Lucas. “Who are you?”

“I work here. My name is Lucas.” Jayden had a look of disbelief, but he continued conversing with Lucas.

“Well, I assume you’re unaware of what happened since you’re here right now.” Jayden took Lucas’ silence as confirmation that his assumption was correct. “Those two ran into some trouble this morning. It’s quite unfortunate, really. Cafe En Gard may be no more.” Lucas’ eyes widened. They’re going to shut down the cafe? Lucas knew how much this place meant to Valerie and Emilio. In just one day, how could things turn like this? Additionally, the school year was not over, and Lucas still had his last tuition payment due soon.

“But, how could this be? What happened?”

“Well, according to my committee head, some major violations occurred. It was all planned by Valerie and Emilio. I didn’t want to believe it, but seeing you here…” Jayden paused. “Anyway, rules are rules. Why do you care, anyway?”

“Well, I started working here because I really needed money. I still need to make more money, at least until the end of this month.” Lucas saw that Jayden wasn’t pleased with his answer. “This place is special, too! Valerie and Emilio work so hard managing this place on their own! I work long hours here, and it hasn’t been easy, but I can’t imagine what it’s like being them.” Jayden’s expression changed. He stayed quiet, though, as if waiting for Lucas to say more. “I think it would be very sad to see this place crumble after seeing how much Valerie and Emilio put into this place.”

“You haven’t even known them for that long. How could you defend them so easily like this, when I already told you they did something very bad?” Jayden said, crossing his arms. Lucas wasn’t sure of how to answer. Valerie and Emilio weren’t really his friends. But there was something about them, something about the experience of being with them, that made him feel connected to them. Jayden sighed before saying, “I think you should go home now. I have to leave soon, too.”

Lucas left the cafe, but he didn’t go back to his apartment. He went on a long walk outside, walking through the city of Nascenshire. He watched the sun set, allowing his mixed emotions to fill his heart.