The war is over, but these machines can't stop being weapons until someone teaches them how to be people. Kuronekotei isn't a victory lap, it's a dozen ex-soldiers learning to pour coffee without their hands shaking. What kills you is watching them fail at ordinary life, over and over, until one small kindness from a regular customer reminds them that they're allowed to exist for reasons beyond what they were built to do.

In the fifth ward of the Imperial Capital, the Black Cat Cafe, known as Kuronekotei, is staffed by automata, autonomous mechanical dolls that fought as weapons in a great war only a few years earlier. With the fighting over and their original purpose gone, they have been restored and now serve patrons in elegant kimonos. Adjusting to peace is hard, since the past still haunts them and keeps them bound to the duties they once carried. Among them is Haizakura, recently restored after a reset wiped her memories. She knows nothing of who she was or where she fits, only that she loves to sing. Guided by her curiosity and her songs, she and the other automata support one another as they search together for a new purpose in this blend of drama, science fiction and slice of life.