Chapter 221

I wanted to lunge forward right then and there and kiss those pouting lips that looked like they would taste of blueberries.

With that in mind, I continued with a smile.

"We're heading back together today too, right?"

"No... Wh-what...? Don't come any closer...!"

Renka, who had been trying to turn me down gently, flinched and scrambled back.

That was because I had taken a long stride toward her.

As Renka craned her neck back, unable to hide her fluster, I asked again.

"We're going together, right?"

"I-I'll go! I'll go, okay?! So back off! There are customers around!"

"So it's fine if there aren't any customers?"

"O-of course it's not, you brute!"

"I'm just looking."

"No! Don't even look!"

Sooner or later, she would let me do whatever I wanted.

Picturing that shining, golden future, I obediently stepped away from Renka.

"When your shift ends, wait for me at Robot Mania. Look at some figures or something."

"I won't! I'm not looking at anything!"

"Then just watch some anime in the Changing Room."

"...I'll do what I want, so mind your own business."

"Got it."

Flashing a toothy grin to conclude today's training session, I quietly walked over to the sink and pulled on my rubber gloves.

After handing over the shift to the evening worker, I raised a hand toward Renka, who was waiting right by the car at our exact promised time.

In response, Renka crossed her arms haughtily.

Trying so hard to keep her guard up... How commendable.

With Renka in the passenger seat, I started the drive back to her house.

While quietly focusing on the road, I kept stealing glances through the rearview mirror at Renka as she stared out the window.

"President."

"What."

"Where did you go? Didn't buy any figures today?"

"Stop speaking so informally."

"I asked if you bought any."

"I just wandered the streets."

"Weren't you cold?"

"Not really."

Chuckling at Renka's prickly attitude, I took advantage of a red light to lean over and stick my face right in front of hers.

"Gah?!"

Was she startled by my head suddenly popping up right in front of her eyes?

Freaking out, Renka let out a short shriek and craned her neck all the way back, just like she had at the cafe.

She pressed the back of her head firmly against the headrest, her eyes going wide.

Swallowing nervously, she scolded me.

"W-why are you acting crazy again?!"

"You looked cold, so I wanted to check."

"H-how are you supposed to check that?"

"If I get close, I can feel the chill coming off your body."

"What kind of nonsense..."

"Since the President naturally runs cold anyway, I can tell if I do this."

Having said that, I relaxed my gaze, letting my eyelids droop halfway.

Then, I brought my face a little closer to hers.

Exactly like someone on the verge of a kiss.

"Hey...! Hey!"

Frantic, Renka hurriedly slapped her hand against the seat recline lever.

It looked like she was trying to create distance by reclining her seat... but did she realize that only made things weirder?

Howling with laughter on the inside at her incredibly cute reaction, I jutted my chin to the side and spoke.

"I'm just grabbing the Blanket."

"Blanket...?"

Renka followed my gaze.

Once she saw the Blanket emerge in my hand as I rummaged around the backseat, she shot me a vicious glare.

"Why would you grab the Blanket like that?! You could have just turned your body slightly!"

"This way is easier."

"Don't give me that! You were just trying to mess with me..."

"I wasn't, so just cover yourself up."

I unfolded the Blanket and draped it over Renka's lap.

Rolling her eyes, she blinked her long eyelashes a few times.

"Doing completely unnecessary things..."

'There she goes again. She totally loves it.'

Shrugging, I fixed my eyes back on the road and casually changed the subject.

"Working at the cafe with you is honestly pretty fun, President."

"Well, I'm not having fun. I'm deeply regretting ever introducing you to the Boss."

"I'm hurt."

"You don't look hurt at all."

"You got me. Want to watch a movie with me when our days off line up? A famous anime movie just came out. I heard the action scenes are insane."

"...I'm not going."

"Why? Did you already see it?"

"No! I'm saying I won't watch it with you! I'd rather go alone."

Judging by her reaction, I could probably get her to go to the theater with me if I played my cards right.

Renka placed a hand over her chest and let out a long sigh, clearly still recovering from my stunt just now.

Stealing another glance at her as I drove on at a steady pace, I soon pulled into her neighborhood.

The traditional, old-fashioned house soon came into view.

Pulling the car up to the front, I spoke.

"Head on in. And give that thing we talked about some serious thought."

I was referring to the cosplay idea I had brought up earlier today.

Catching my drift, Renka pursed her lips and popped the passenger door open.

"I'm not thankful for the ride at all."

Delivering her usual tsundere-style thank you, she neatly folded the Blanket and set it on the seat.

Then, with a dramatic huff, she marched toward the Main Gate.

I watched her slender figure retreat before slowly pulling away. I made a quick stop at a store to buy some bath bombs before heading home.

The plan was to set the mood tonight and naturally coax Miyuki into bed.

If I wore her out completely, she'd be far too exhausted to even breathe the word 'study.'

It was a crude method, but so what?

I figured it wasn't a bad idea to do things this way every once in a while.

@@

Beep!

Swiping her card at the time clock, Renka ducked into the Changing Room and emerged in her uniform.

Today, she would run the cafe alone for about two hours before working alongside the Boss.

'Let's work hard and stay positive.'

Steeling her resolve, she quickly finished the opening prep and switched on some calm background music.

Since it was still early in the morning, the streets outside the window were practically empty.

Naturally, Cafe 24 was dead quiet as well. Customers would probably start trickling in about an hour from now.

'Will there be more people than yesterday?' she wondered. Running it alone would be tough, but she would just have to manage until the Boss arrived.

Shhhk.

Just as that thought crossed her mind, the cafe's automatic doors slid open, and a female customer dressed like an office worker stepped inside.

"Welcome to Cafe 24!"

Flashing a bright smile, Renka greeted the woman. As she took the customer's order, she briefly wondered when the woman who had seemed interested in Matsuda might show up.

She passed the time like that, ringing up the sporadic trickle of customers one by one, until she realized quite a bit of time had passed and glanced up at the clock.

Normally, Matsuda would have shown up by now, but he was off today.

'This is so relaxing.'

Not having that smug jerk around was a breath of fresh air.

'What is Matsuda doing right now?'

Seeing as he hadn't sent any annoying texts either, he was probably just sprawled out asleep.

Shhhk.

Right in the middle of her thoughts, another customer walked in.

Scrubbing Matsuda from her mind, Renka warmly welcomed the man in the suit.

"Welcome to Cafe 24."

"I'll take an iced blend coffee to go, please."

"One iced blend coffee, comi—huh?"

Halfway through confirming his order, Renka froze.

Why had she suddenly used such a robotic tone?

Matsuda's strict instruction not to act friendly toward male customers had suddenly flashed through her mind, making her instinctively drop into the flat tone of a burnt-out part-timer.

She shuddered to think how angry the Boss might have been if he'd seen that.

Realizing her slip-up, Renka quickly corrected herself.

"My apologies! One blend coffee. That will be 300 yen!"

"Huh? Oh, yes... Thank you."

Thankfully, the male customer didn't seem to mind her erratic shift in tone.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Renka actively dodged the increasingly interested looks the man was now shooting at her flustered face. She quickly packed the coffee grounds into the Portafilter and began the espresso extraction.

After pouring the espresso over water and ice, she snapped the lid on, slid on a cup sleeve, and flashed the man a bright smile.

"Here is your coffee. Enjoy!"

The man cleared his throat into his fist, grabbed his cup, and hurried out of the cafe.

Not before stealing a few more lingering glances at her on his way out, of course.

Renka, fully accustomed to that kind of attention, simply let it go and wiped up the stray water droplets around the espresso machine.

Since Matsuda wasn't here today, she decided to hit up Akihabara after her shift to browse figures and otaku manga.

But wait... what if she ran into Matsuda there?

He seemed surprisingly interested in nerd culture lately... Considering they had already bumped into each other coincidentally a couple of times, a sudden wave of anxiety washed over her.

'Do I need to hide myself properly...?'

Her secret was already out to Matsuda, sure, but there was always the risk of other Academy students recognizing her, so maybe she really should hide her identity properly.

As she went about her tasks with a head full of worries, Renka suddenly thought of Matsuda yesterday.

The way he had lunged so close, absolutely terrifying her with that face of his... no, that smug mug of his.

Even though it had been glaringly obvious that he was just teasing her, she hadn't felt angry; instead, her heart had actually pounded for a second.

Of course, that was only because it was her first time being in such close quarters with a guy. It had absolutely nothing to do with Matsuda being handsome or anything ridiculous like that.

Firmly deciding to stick with that excuse, Renka suddenly felt an intense urge to curse at MK. She slunk into the cafe security camera's blind spot and began aggressively tapping at her innocent Cell Phone.

Honestly... she was starting to feel a little bored.

"Junior! Have you eaten lunch yet?"

Hearing Chinami's bright, refreshing voice made me feel like I was getting a burst of energy for the day.

Taking the cold breeze head-on, I plopped down onto the engawa and answered.

"Not yet."

"Ah, I see. Your voice sounds a little raspy. Did you just wake up?"

"Yeah."

"Oh my... Why did you sleep in?"

"It's vacation, after all."

"Mhm. That's true. Eek? Grandma...! I'm full...! I'm going to get fat at this rate!"

Chinami shrieked, suddenly cutting her sentence short.

Immediately after, the thick, folksy voice of an old woman echoed through the receiver.

"Get fat? What nonsense is that? You're nothing but skin and bones!"

"A-Ah, I really shouldn't..."

"It's just a snack. Just eat this."

"Yeeees..."

Judging by the commotion, it sounded like her grandmother had brought her some snacks.

Hearing Chinami's adorably dejected tone just made me want to grab her butt even more.

I really wished she would hurry up and come back.

"Sounds like your grandma is feeding you well."

"Yeah... Now I'm stuck eating more daifuku. I already ate fifteen of them earlier... I never should have mentioned I was hungry."

Speaking the ultimate taboo words to a grandmother... Honestly, Chinami brought this on herself.

The moment they hear the phrase 'I'm hungry,' a grandmother's eyes will gleam red as they summon up a feast...

It was a universal trait shared by all grandmothers who fiercely loved their grandchildren.

Still, fifteen daifuku... Chinami was secretly a huge glutton.

"Why don't you just keep them in your room and eat them little by little?"

"That's a great idea! I'll do that."

"Send me a picture when you finish eating them all."

"Huh...? I can't do that!"

"Why not?"

"M-my stomach is all bloated right now... It's totally stuffed."

'Mhm...' For some reason, hearing her say that sounded incredibly erotic.

When she finally came back, I'd have to make sure to stuff her even fuller.

After hanging up from a rather lengthy phone call with Chinami, I immediately opened my messages and texted Renka.

[Did you eat?]

[I ate. Stop texting me.]

Her reply was instantaneous.

She must have just finished her meal and was currently on her break.

[Is the Boss running the front by himself?]

[Y]

[Answer properly.]

[Yeah yeah.]

[Are you seriously going to be like this?]

[He's running it by himself.]

[You only ever listen when I scold you. I'll go ahead and book the movie tickets for tomorrow.]

[I told you I'm not going.]

[I'll book them and send you the time, so just be outside. I'll come pick you up.]

I didn't get a reply after that.