Since then, well, not much has changed, but I guess, uh...
Starting with Chiba, who probably no one is terribly interested in, he’s become Lupe’s eighth servant and can often be seen groveling at her feet.
Lupe is still number two at the shop. Our two top sellers are seriously powerful—I don’t feel like I’ll ever beat them.
Also, Madam has been teaching Lupe stuff around the shop lately, so it seems like maybe she’s been selected as the next madam? (Of course she blushes and says, “Noooo, I haven’t,” but) I feel like pretty soon I’ll be calling her “Mistress” too.
Sumo is still fat.
A customer with a large body and wallet, he comes often, but lately we’ve become regulars at his cafe, so business-wise, it’s a win-win relationship.
It seems like he still has feelings for me, but even more than that, he’s apparently getting hooked on cooking, and he actually does look kind of cool when he’s making dainty cakes with such a serious face. With Unlimited Levels, he can keep leveling up his cooking and sex skills the more he learns, so he’s becoming quite the technician and also seems to have gained some confidence.
Lately even Lupe has been saying, “If he would just lose some weight, he’d be so hot.”
If he lost weight, maybe he’d even look kind of like the real J Soul...?
Nah, he wouldn’t. Nope! Sumo is Sumo!
The thing is, his selling point is how he makes tiny cakes with a chanko body type, so no dieting allowed, thanks!
Oh, Widge comes pretty often too.
It seems like he still wants to seduce me, so he whispers stuff like, “Come live with me,” and, “I’ll take you into the forest,” while doing the most kinktastic things. I’m always practically melting, so it’s always like, Crap! But that geezer is sleeping with other girls and saying the same shit, so I wish he’d just leave me alone.
I mean, he’s mature, generous, and has a sexy voice, so if he were 20 or 30 years younger, I might have fallen for him, but...
No, I can’t go there. If he were younger, he’d be even more of a playboy than he is now. The other day he took me to that pub he hangs out at, but like, all his friends are just as bizarre as he is, and he was flirting with all kinds of women.
Oh, right.
I still have tea with Kiyori all the time.
She has her eye on some B-Rank adventurer, but apparently she’s sounding him out more carefully this time. Well, she’s a once-in-a-thousand-years beauty, so it seems like he’s down, but she wants to be a bit more cautious, so they haven’t gotten very far yet.
Kiyori says, “I tripped on my first step in both love and adventuring,” so, “Next time I’m going in fully prepared.”
I keep telling her putting in too much effort can be dangerous, too. But I’m sure her dream will come true. I mean, she has a great face.
All I have to report is so same-old, it’s boring, huh?
Sometimes I feel like things have got to change, but nothing has, so what can I say?
Since the silver-haired man stopped coming around, my feelings have been frozen in time.
On rainy nights, I always pay attention to the windows, looking for him in the light of the street lamps. I thought as long as I was at the shop I would be able to see him again, but maybe I can’t assume that.
He did tell me to come to him next time—although he never told me where he lived.
He might not even be in this city. I have this feeling I felt those sharp hawk eyes somewhere else.
It’s possible that, just maybe, he was there that time.
If when he said to come see him, that’s where he meant, then...
—Oh yeah, I made it to number three in sales!
＊
By the way, Miss Haru has been acting strange lately. I can’t be the only one to have noticed. This is Kiyori.
Even when we’re having tea like this, it’s not uncommon for the conversation to suddenly trail off and all of us to just sit there absentmindedly. At those times, it was usually Miss Haru who would find something for us to talk about, but more often now she just stares off into space.
Looking at her melancholic face from the side, she seems sort of seductive and mature. Of course, she’s a sex worker, so if she tried, she would be far more seductive and mature than me. But the image I have of Miss Haru is more someone who tells off-color jokes, roars with laughter, and really knows how to eat, so she seems almost like a different girl.
It’s like she’s seeing a place that isn’t here, so for the people actually with her, it feels lonely.
I tried sending Lupe a sign with my eyes. She smiled, charmingly traced the rim of her cup with a finger, and raised a hand to call for service. “Sumo! More tea, please!”
“C-Coming right up.”
Mr. Sumo, his big stomach jiggling, came over with a cute teapot. I heard he took great pains to find one that Miss Haru would like. Because he really loves her.
Perhaps the vibrations of the floor returned Miss Haru to herself, because she remembered her role and said, “This tea is so yummyyyy!” and touched Mr. Sumo’s arm with a smile.
Mr. Sumo smiled modestly, his face bright red, and mumbled, “Th-This one? You can have as much as you like.” And he was serious, because he gave us a free refill.
“Ee-hee-hee! Thanks!”
Miss Haru—no, that’s not a fair way to put it—we shrewdly took advantage of his kindness and had our third cup of free tea that day. Miss Haru says business goes both ways, but things come out pretty uneven in the end.
“Miss Haru, is something wrong?” I threw her a vague, open-ended question.
For just a second, she looked annoyed. But only for a second.
“Something? No, nothing, but it sucks. I want something good to happen, Lupeeee.”
“Huh? Didn’t you just get ranked number three in sales? I always knew you’d make it there.”
“Really? Thanks. It’s thanks to you, Lupe-senpai.”
“It’s only a matter of time before you pass me up...”
“No! I’m going to do my best to tie you. Plus, you still make like double me, so there’s no way.”
“Hoo-hoo. You’ll just have to sell more, Haru.”
“Here she is, the next madam.”
“I am not!”