8
LEO01 - No. 161
Of course, the most recognizable number associated with the Cafe and Diner is 8. Throughout history, the number 8 has held great significance from the Egyptian concept of the Eightfold or Ogdoad, the Nobel Eightfold Path of Buddhism, and the Ba Xian or Eight Immortals of Chinese mythology. As it pertains to the coffee trade, the number eight is often heavily associated with the Cafe and Diner and its leaders, who often adopt the “Mantel of Eight.” Until the Fourth Cafe, it wasn’t uncommon for the head of a Cafe and Diner to take on the name and persona of 8. And under some Cafes, it was even considered taboo, bad luck, or sometimes dangerous to write or speak “8” or “eight,” unobscured.
Only those who have been “8” know precisely why the number holds such power. However, from what those who have been 8 have said, some interesting details can be discovered. First, the concept of 8 can be split into 8 pieces, and those 8 pieces can be further divided. Second, some refer to this metaphysical 8 as “they” while others refer to it as, well, “it.” Third, as an individual gains more pieces of 8, their understanding of 8 seems to deepen. Fourth, those who hold a part of 8 are physically unable to say what exactly it is. Fifth, when someone loses a piece of 8, it would seem they also lose the knowledge it provided them.
Currently, the pieces of 8 are split amongst the Fourth Cafe’s managers, No. 1, No. 2, No. 3, No. 4, No. 5, and No. 6. While No. 7 does not have a piece of 8, she does have a strange “Imaginary 8” which provides her with control over the Otherworld. No. 7’s 8i seems to hint that the Mantel of 8 is not a unique set of 8 things but something that can be copied or recreated under certain circumstances. Still, something about the true/real 8 demands certain respect in the coffee trade that extends to Demon Princes, Otherworldly Rulers, Elders, and Angels.