Chapter Fifteen - Ramen, Gossip, and a Vanishing Act

Mira Solace had her own routine, even if no one ever asked about it.

Every afternoon, before swinging by Moonlight Crumbs for her daily cookie fix, she wandered the neighborhood like some kind of semi-employed cryptid, bouncing between thrift stores, random cafés, and the tiniest parks where stray cats ruled like kings.

She didn't exactly have a job—not a real one anyway—but somehow, her days stayed busy.

That afternoon started like any other.

She rescued a cursed-looking scarf from a clearance bin (hideous, but it was 100 yen), bought a melon soda just because the can was cute, and got into a heated internal debate about whether she should finally update her resume or just "wait for fate to give her a sign." (Fate had been suspiciously quiet.)

But her routine hit a detour the moment she passed by Kobayashi's ramen shop.

"Oi, Mira!"

The sliding door rattled open just as she walked by, and Kobayashi-san leaned out, arms crossed, bandana slightly askew like he'd been working all afternoon without a break.

"Me?" Mira pointed dramatically at herself. "What'd I do?"

"Nothing—yet." Kobayashi stepped aside, motioning her inside. "Got a minute?"

Mira shrugged. "If this is about my tab, I swear I'm good for it."

"It's not about that," Kobayashi said, though his expression suggested he wasn't entirely convinced. "It's about Elias."

That got her attention.

She slid onto a stool at the counter, sipping her melon soda while Kobayashi went back to stirring broth.

"So," Kobayashi started, his voice low like they were sharing secret neighborhood gossip. "He's been… different lately."

"Different how?" Mira raised an eyebrow.

"People actually go to his bakery now." Kobayashi's tone was half-teasing, half-impressed. "Since that post you made, customers keep talking about 'feeling cookies' and 'midnight magic.' You know anything about that?"

Mira grinned, unrepentant. "Marketing, baby."

Kobayashi shook his head. "That's not what I mean. The kid's… lighter somehow. Not as folded in on himself."

Mira blinked. She hadn't really thought about it like that. Sure, Elias was still awkward as hell and allergic to self-promotion, but… there was something different lately. Less gloom, more tired-but-soft smiles.

"That's Hikari's fault," Mira said, stretching her arms over her head. "He's got a part-timer now. Total baking gremlin. But cute."

Kobayashi grunted. "Good. Bakery's too much for one person."

The ramen shop fell quiet for a moment, broth bubbling softly.

Then Kobayashi added, almost too casual:"Invite him over tonight."

Mira's eyes narrowed. "Why?"

"I got extra tori ramen and some gyoza left over. Could use the company." Kobayashi wiped his hands on a towel, looking away like it wasn't a big deal. "Don't make it weird."

Mira smirked. "Oh, I'm definitely making it weird."

-

She left the shop with her usual chaotic energy, scarf now tied around her waist like a bizarre belt, bouncing her melon soda can in her hand as she headed toward Moonlight Crumbs.

"Eliasss~" she sang out before even reaching the door.

But the second she stepped close enough to see inside, her heart stopped.

The bakery was empty.

Not just closed early empty.

Completely deserted.

Flour-dusted counters stood untouched. The oven light flickered, casting a faint glow across the room. The back door hung half-open, and the faint scent of something sweet and strange lingered in the air.

But Elias and Hikari were gone.

No note. No footprints in the flour. Not even the usual pile of half-folded towels Hikari always left behind.

It was like they'd been erased.

Mira stumbled back a step, her soda can slipping from her hand and rolling across the pavement with a faint metallic ting-ting-ting.

"Nope," she said, voice shaking. "Nope, nope, nope."

Her knees gave out before her brain could catch up, and she plopped straight onto the curb, eyes locked on the too-empty bakery.

"Okay. Okay. Logical explanations." Mira pressed her hands against her cheeks, trying to ground herself. "Maybe they went to get ingredients. Maybe they're in the alley. Maybe…"

But the air felt wrong.

Not just "we forgot to lock up" wrong — but something big just happened and the world noticed wrong.

The bakery was warm and soft and messy, always full of some kind of noise, even if it was just Elias' quiet sighs or the scrape of a dough scraper against the counter.

Now, it was too still.

Too silent.

And Mira, for once, didn't have a joke to make about it.

She sat there for a long time, heart thudding against her ribs, until her fingers found her phone and she texted Elias.

You alive?This is NOT FUNNY.

No reply.

She tried Hikari next.

Gremlin?? Where are you??

Nothing.

Mira's grip tightened around her phone, the plastic creaking faintly in her hands.

"Okay," she whispered to herself. "If you two got kidnapped by flour ghosts, I swear to god—"

The door to the bakery creaked, ever so slightly, pushed open by the night breeze.

And Mira didn't move.

Because for the first time in her entire life, she wasn't sure if she actually wanted to know what came next.