This is Gen's fault

"STOP!!!", yelled Lina when she saw Gen leaving.

Most of the people in the restaurant were still in shock at what had just happened, and some started talking.

"I can't believe what just happened!"

"Me neither. I never imagined Gen would have the courage to do something like that. Did he get tired of living? Lina is going to kill him."

"Lina won't let it go like that."

Meanwhile, at the counter, Anna and Balkan looked at Gen leaving and Lina in shock and started laughing.

"HAHAHAHA! It looks like Gen got you good this time, Lina. HAHAHAHAHA!", said Balkan to his daughter.

"Pfft! I am astonished, especially with you, Lina. I would never have, pfft, the courage to kiss your father here in our restaurant in front of so many customers, haha, including those who come here every day. I bet, hahaha, that for the next few weeks, the main topic of conversation in this part of town will be this very passionate kiss, hahaha, that you just showed us. Ahhh! Youth is so beautiful.", Said Anna to Lina, speaking with difficulty because of the situation.

Upon hearing what her parents said and seeing how much fun they were having with the situation, Lina put her head down, clenched her fists, and started shaking.

She then stood like that for a while with her hair covering her face as she heard her parents' laughter and then raised her head and shouted, "GEN!!!"

Everyone in the restaurant, even Gen, who was heading towards the exit, looked in her direction, and when they saw her face through her hair, they all thought of the same word, 'Demon'.

All the customers swallowed nervously, and Gen began to break into a cold sweat and thought, 'Looks like I'm not getting out of here for free.'

He then used his free hand to open a small leather pouch at his waist where he kept his money.

Gen reached into the pouch and pulled out five silver coins. He put them between his fingers, raised his hand as high as he could, and spoke loudly, "U-Unfortunately, I'm late, Lina. We can talk some more another time."

Everyone looked in his direction, due to how loudly he spoke, and noticed his strange posture and the coins in his hand.

"NO! YOU WILL TALK WITH MY FISTS NOW!", Spoke Lina, walking quickly towards Gen.

Seeing that he had drawn attention to himself, Gen threw the coins in his hand up to the ceiling and shouted, "You can keep those coins as a thank you for helping me!", and then turned around and ran for the door.

The coins went one in each direction, with one of them falling to the floor on the path between Gen and Lina. Seeing the coins on the floor and Gen leaving, at first, everyone was confused, even Lina in the midst of her anger.

The first to react was a group of three men at a table, who saw the silver coins and advanced towards them. As one of them said, "Five silver coins! Get them fast. With all this money, we'll be able to go weeks without having to work."

Upon hearing this, the other customers at the bar who were near where the other coins had fallen also advanced toward them, creating a commotion in the entire restaurant.

Bronze coins are the most used in people's daily lives. Usually, a meal costs around eight bronze coins, and an average worker gets around sixty coins a day. A silver coin is worth a thousand bronze coins, and a gold coin is worth a thousand silver coins.

Lina, seeing the chaos that the money caused in the restaurant was blocking the way to the exit, was dumbfounded, but soon afterward, moved by her anger, started running towards the door while shouting, "THOSE WHO STAND IN MY WAY WILL DIE!"

Many were startled to hear this and made way for her, but her path remained blocked.

Seeing this, Lina was about to force her way through when suddenly she heard a serious, harsh voice calling her name, "Lina."

She then instinctively stopped, looked in the direction the voice was coming from along with everyone else in the restaurant, and said, "Hi, Mom."

Everyone was then silent, stopped going after the coins, and looked in Anna's direction.

"What do you think you are doing with our customers?", She asked seriously, looking directly into Lina's eyes.

Lina swallowed dryly but didn't back down and said nonconformist, "I need to go through and get Gen before he leaves!"

"And is that a reason for you to hurt our customers? And besides, Gen is already gone.", said Anna.

"What!?", Lina turned toward the door, and now, with everything calmer, she could see that Gen really wasn't there, "I need to go after him!"

"Where do you think you are going?", asked Anna.

"I'm going after, Gen. He can't have gone very far.", said Lina.

"Unfortunately, you won't be able to go after him, you're currently on working hours, and your father and I won't be able to handle all these people alone.", Anna said.

"But mom, you saw what happened, I can't-"

Anna then interrupted her and said seriously, "Lina, go back to work."

Lina wanted to protest, but seeing the look on her mother's face, she gave up, for she knew that there was no world in which she would let her leave to go after Gen.

She then went back and started taking the customers' orders with Balkan, while in her mind, she planned on how she was going to make Gen pay for what he had done.

Seeing this, Anna turned her attention to the customers and said dryly, "What about you? What do you think you are doing creating such a mess in my restaurant."

Upon hearing this, everyone swallowed dryly and began to break into a cold sweat, some even began to shiver, and then a tide of apologies started coming at Anna, stopping only when she said, "Enough! I'll forgive you all this time, but this better never happen again!"

"Yes, Miss Anna, we promise that it will never happen again.", everyone said in unison.

"Very well.", said Anna, smiling.

Seeing this calmed everyone down. Some were even smiling as they had managed to keep the silver coins. However, what Anna said next took their smiles away.

"Well, since these coins are what caused the chaos in my restaurant, nothing fairer than for them to be spent here, and I know the perfect way to do that. Let's use them to buy drinks for everyone in the restaurant."

Upon hearing this, everyone in the restaurant, except the owners of the coins, was pleased and began to praise Anna.

"What a great idea, Miss Anna. Nothing fairer than using these coins in your restaurant."

"It really is a great idea. It had to have come from a person as intelligent as Miss Anna."

"True, that not only resolves the conflict but also benefits all of us."

"Thank you. I'm glad you all liked the idea.", Anna said with a smile and continued in a serious voice, "Now give me the coins, please, and no winding up."

Upon hearing this, the people who had picked up the coins walked toward her and gave the coins to her.

"Good, Balkan. Prepare five rounds of cactus smoothie for everyone."

Upon hearing what Anna had just said, everyone was dumbfounded, and some people near the door started running towards it, trying to leave, but before they could leave, Anna appeared in front of the door and stopped them.

Seeing this, some of them started to say, "I'm sorry, Miss Anna, I'll pass on the free drinks this time."

"Me too."

"I'm still full from the food, so I'll pass too."

"Unfortunately, no one will leave without taking at least five glasses of smoothie. I've already asked Balkan to prepare them, and it's not right to waste food. I HATE people who waste food, so please sit down before I get angry.", Anna said loud and clear so that everyone in the restaurant could hear her.

Upon hearing this, many got angry, stood up, and thought about forcibly leaving, but upon looking at Anna at the door, they quickly calmed down and sat back down.

"Alright!", said Anna when she saw that everyone was seated and pulled out a chair to sit in front of the door.

As they waited for their torture, whoops, I mean, drinks, only one thing was going through everyone's mind, "This is Gen's fault!"

Balkan then returned from the kitchen with Lina and began to deliver the first round of drinks.

Upon taking the first sip, many choked, and some even fell to the floor as they wondered what they had done to deserve this.

After delivering all the drinks, Balkan asked Lina to go ahead to the kitchen and walked toward Anna.

When he arrived, he saw Anna with the five silver coins in her hand. She was watching them as if waiting for something. Balkan said nothing to her and began to watch them as well.

After a few seconds, the coins began to crack, and little by little, they turned to dust until there was nothing left.

Seeing this, Balkan looked at Anna, and she returned his gaze, and then he immediately asked her, "Have you figured out what it is?"

"No, I've never seen anything like it before."

The two were silent for a while until Anna said, "Well, I won't worry about it. One time or another, he will explain it to us. It seems that, at the moment, something is holding him back."

"That's right.", said Balkan and started walking back to the kitchen.

Anna looked at the dust on her hand and then blew it away, then crossed her arms and began to stare into nothingness half thoughtfully.

...

Meanwhile, on one of the city streets, Gen was running as fast as he could and thinking, 'I'm dead if Lina finds me! I have to get out of the city as fast as possible!'