The black smoke swirled along the ceiling, briefly forming the shape of a face before dissipating into the air.
Aoi and Yosuke, coughing, stared at the cracked coffee grinder. No more liquid or smoke seeped from its fractures, but the café's air remained heavy, laced with a damp, unsettling smell. Outside, the fog had thinned, leaving only the six-fingered handprint on the glass.
Aoi clutched her apron with trembling hands. Yosuke set the hammer on the floor.
"Is it… over?" His voice was hoarse, his eyes searching hers.
Aoi shook her head. Though the grinder was broken, the café still hummed with an unnatural presence.
She returned to the counter and picked up the overturned coffee bean jar. The lid, which she'd sealed, was slightly ajar again, black thread-like tendrils dangling from the rim. Heart pounding, she slammed the lid shut and shoved the jar deep onto a shelf.
"Boss, we need to clean this place out. Check everything."
Yosuke nodded and began inspecting the kitchen's coffee sacks.
Aoi scoured the counter's underside, shelf crevices, and even the backs of the espresso machine and cups. In the depths of a drawer, she found an old leather notebook.
Its cover bore the words Moonlight 1919 in faded gold lettering, the pages yellowed with age. Aoi opened it and called out, "Boss! Look at this!"
Yosuke hurried over, and they pored over the notebook together.
The first page detailed the café's opening in 1919, built near the university, with the first owner donating the coffee grinder. But as they turned the pages, the writing grew erratic, filled with strange entries:
The night's guests are not human.
The grinder must never stop.
Hidden beneath the floor.
Aoi's blood ran cold. Yosuke flipped to the final page, where a single line was scrawled in red ink:
This place belongs to them. Never destroy it.
Yosuke swallowed hard. "What the hell? Was the old owner nuts?"
Aoi closed the notebook, her eyes drifting to the grinder. It looked like a lifeless hunk of iron now, but the notebook's words clung to her mind. She glanced at the floor, the phrase hidden beneath the floor echoing.
"Boss, we need to check under the floor."
Yosuke hesitated but, spurred by Aoi's resolve, grabbed a crowbar from the kitchen. They pried up the floorboards near the counter, the old wood giving way easily. A musty smell of damp earth wafted up.
Yosuke shone a flashlight, revealing a small wooden box buried in the soil. Aoi reached down and pulled it out. The box was locked with a rusted clasp, its surface carved with strange patterns—eerily similar to the vein-like lines that had spread across the floor.
"Open it?" Yosuke raised the crowbar.
Aoi nodded.
He pried the lock, revealing an old glass bottle inside. Black liquid sloshed within, moving as if alive.
Aoi held her breath. As Yosuke lifted the bottle, the café's lights flickered again. Outside, multiple shapes emerged in the fog—a small, childlike figure, a tall man, and a blurry, formless shadow. Countless handprints bloomed on the glass, and the doorbell began to chime on its own.
"They're back!" Yosuke shouted, moving to return the bottle to the box. But the glass cracked in his hands, and black liquid spilled onto the floor, seeping into the gaps with a bubbling, frothing sound.
Aoi clutched the notebook and yelled, "Heat! We need heat to stop it!"
Yosuke cranked the espresso machine, pouring scalding water onto the floor. The liquid recoiled, the bubbling fading, but the figures outside lingered, their hands pounding the glass with hollow thuds.
Aoi frantically flipped through the notebook, landing on another red-inked line:
Cleanse with fire, or they will linger forever.
"Fire? Are you serious?!" Yosuke's voice cracked.
Aoi grabbed a lighter from the counter and ignited the remaining liquid on the floor. Flames roared up, consuming the black substance. The figures outside let out a wail-like sound, the glass trembling before falling still.
The fire died quickly, leaving only the acrid smell of smoke in the air.