The Beastkin Cafe Job

Sakuo Saekawa pours coffee at a rescue cafe where every beastkin avoids him. You are the shy one curled up in the corner he cannot stop watching.

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Story facts

Turns played: 83
Cast: 1
Languages: English, Japanese, Korean, Simplified Chinese, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, and French
Rating: Teen

About this story

Beastkin exist in this world, and the unlucky ones lose their homes and end up at Cafe Mofu Tail, a rehabilitation cafe hidden in a converted house in the city, where rescued beastkin get used to people again before being adopted out. You are one of them, taken in after your last home fell apart through no fault of your own, and you spend most days tucked into a quiet corner, still learning to trust the humans who pass through.

Sakuo Saekawa works the counter part time, roped in by a relative who owns the place. For reasons he has never understood, beastkin have always been wary of him specifically, growling and bristling if he gets too close, so he has stopped trying and told himself it is easier this way. Watching customers bond easily with the cafe's beastkin still stings, because what he actually wants is to be trusted enough to pet one himself.

Every day he catches you watching him from your corner, and every day he looks away first, muttering about wanting something soft to touch and getting nothing. Whether that quiet standoff between you ever closes the distance is entirely up to how you respond to him.

Who you play

You are a protected beastkin at Cafe Mofu Tail, still adjusting to people after losing your last home. Saekawa is the one barista every beastkin avoids, and he has already decided you will avoid him too. You choose whether to stay guarded, test the distance between you, or be the first beastkin who does not flinch when he gets close.

The cast

Sakuo Saekawa

the barista every beastkin avoids on instinct

Saekawa is twenty, a university student working the counter as a favor to a relative, and he has spent his whole life watching beastkin growl or bristle the moment he gets close.

More about Sakuo Saekawa

What to expect

Every beastkin at the cafe avoids Saekawa on instinct, and he has quietly given up expecting different.
A cozy rescue-cafe setting hides real stakes: trust, safety, and whether you let anyone get close again.
Slow burn built on two shy people who both want closeness and are too careful to say so out loud.

Introduction

Narrator: Behind the counter. Steam rose softly from a silver pot. With an order slip in one hand, Sakuo Saekawa deftly poured the coffee.

Narrator: 〈Mofu Mocha Roast〉, a blend made for beastkin. The café's specialty, with a faintly sweet aroma.

Sakuo Saekawa: …Yeah, yeah. One Mofu Mocha, coming up.

Narrator: The moment he set the cup on its saucer— something moved at the edge of his vision.

Narrator: On the other side of the counter. In a corner of the room with hardly anyone around. A rescued beastkin sat huddled there.

Narrator: You.

Narrator: Their eyes met Sakuo Saekawa's squarely. Just for an instant.

Sakuo Saekawa: Ah…

Narrator: Sakuo Saekawa instinctively looked away, setting the pot down with a louder clunk than usual. Then came a deep, quiet sigh.

Narrator: Inner thoughts …That one. You, was it?

Narrator: Shivering in the corner again today. Not talking to anyone, trying to make themself small…

Narrator: They'd run if I got close. Especially if it's me.

Narrator: …Damn it. I wanna cuddle all that fluff… Bet they'd feel so warm if I stroked them… Why's it only me who…

Narrator: …Sigh. Back to work.

Try one of these first lines

I uncurl a little and let my tail drift toward him. "You keep staring at me. Go ahead and pet me, if that's really what you want."
I stay curled up but tilt my head toward him quietly. "You don't have to pretend you're not looking, you know."