Chapter 11: Naive Ai Oda?

Ai Oda was like a pretty big sister next door. Quillan had previously heard Gavin mention that his cousin had only recently graduated from college and was quite a naive person. Of course... what qualified as "naive" in the eyes of an un-naive beast like Gavin was something Quillan only now realized was anything but.

At least right now, Ai Oda’s behavior gave Quillan exactly that feeling.

Upon their very first meeting, Ai Oda took on the persona of Quillan’s sister and used her words to entice Miyuki Sakurai, aiming to coax her into joining her café!

And Miyuki was truly innocent; she hadn’t seen through it at all. Even scarier, she clearly took Ai Oda to be Quillan’s actual sister. After all, a high school boy from America attending school alone in Japan with no relatives around sounded a bit too hard to believe.

So after hearing Ai Oda’s words, Miyuki genuinely hesitated, her face flushing red as she didn’t know what to do.

Quillan couldn’t just stand by and watch. Miyuki had only come along to check out his workplace in passing—how could he just sell her out like this? So he explained to Ai Oda, "Ai, you’re overthinking it. Miss Sakurai isn’t my girlfriend, and she only came along out of curiosity..."

"Is that so? I see..." As expected, Ai Oda was no naive fool. After a momentary surprise, she maintained her smiling face and said, "So Student Quillan doesn’t have a girlfriend yet? That’s great! Working here in the future, plenty of pretty girls will definitely fall for you, and I have quite a few moe cuties right here in my shop..."

"Ah?" Miyuki flinched, visibly rattled by Ai Oda’s words.

Looking into the café, some of the girls in maid outfits had just paused their work and were poking their heads over to look. Seeing those extremely cute girls dressed as maids, Miyuki didn’t know why, but thinking about Quillan working in such an environment made her chest feel strangely tight...

Ai Oda clearly picked up on Miyuki’s thoughts. However, seeing that neither Miyuki nor Quillan seemed keen on having Miyuki work here, she changed her tactic: secure Quillan first.

She was smart, realizing at a glance that once Quillan was handled, this cute little girl wouldn’t pose much of a problem.

Quillan could guess Ai Oda’s intentions as well, giving him a deeper appreciation of the "naive" cousin Gavin had described. He really couldn’t fathom how the word "naive" could ever apply to Ai Oda.

Still, thinking about Gavin, Quillan figured that if the two cousins were compared, Ai Oda was probably still the relatively naive one.

Ai Oda dropped the topic of having Miyuki work there for the time being. She led Quillan and Miyuki on a tour around the café, introduced a few of her employees to Quillan, and shared some of her concepts behind opening the shop, along with her grand ambitions as the manager...

Well, when it came to those grand ambitions, Manager Ai Oda blushed a bit herself. Truth be told, she had only opened the maid-themed café out of a personal obsession with maid culture. Calling that a grand ambition was bound to make people laugh.

Feeling a bit embarrassed when talking about her ideals, Ai Oda brought up the old topic to break the awkwardness, looking at Miyuki and asking, "Miyuki-chan, may I call you that? What do you think after looking around our café? Are you interested in joining me and Quillan to work hard together here?"

"Eh, m-me?"

Just a second ago, Ai Oda had been introducing the café to Quillan, so her sudden turn left Miyuki caught off guard. The adorable girl pointed at her own chest with a face full of disbelief.

Knowing Miyuki was slow to react, Quillan quickly pulled Ai Oda aside and whispered, "Ai, why are you bringing this up to Miss Sakurai again? I’m pretty sure I told you she has no intention of working here, right?"

"Don’t be mad, Quillan..." Because of Gavin, Ai Oda was very polite to Quillan. She stuck out her tongue and explained, "As you can see, Quillan, I only have Yumi-chan and Emiko as waitresses. We’re severely short-handed! Besides, that Miyuki Sakurai clearly has a thing for you, right? So she definitely won’t refuse! Please do me a favor, Quillan, and help me keep her here..."

At this point, Ai Oda leaned close to Quillan’s ear and said softly with a smirk, "Besides, my cousin Gavin told me that you rarely get close to girls, Quillan. But this is your first time coming to Japan, and your first day meeting this girl, right? Who knew you had so much charm? If my cousin finds out, he might be thrilled!"

Though Ai Oda said all this with a smile, Quillan could sense a subtle hint of a threat in her words!

That’s right, a threat! Damn it, what ’naive cousin’? It turns out Gavin and his cousin are birds of a feather!

Quillan felt utterly exasperated. He really didn’t have anything going on with Miyuki, but it was just so easy for others to misunderstand. If Ai Oda actually reported this back to Gavin, with that big mouth of his...

Shaking his head, Quillan didn’t dare imagine the consequences. He asked Ai Oda in a low voice, "Ai, just spit it out—what exactly do you want?"

"Hee-hee..." Ai Oda laughed happily. "It’s simple! If there’s really nothing between you and Miyuki, what’s the harm in helping me out by keeping her here to work? A cute girl like her in a maid outfit will definitely be a huge attraction. Don’t you want to see it, Quillan?"

Sure enough, Ai Oda was blackmailing Quillan, yet she managed to phrase it so pleasantly—as if Quillan was the one who wanted to see Miyuki in a maid outfit, and Ai Oda was merely lending a hand.

Quillan was left completely speechless. He had a sneaking suspicion that Gavin had known all along his cousin wasn’t naive in the slightest. Gavin had been fooling him from the start, getting Quillan to take his word for it and happily come looking for Ai Oda the moment he arrived in Tokyo.

Now, it seemed Quillan had no choice but to agree to Ai Oda’s request. However, he believed Miyuki would insist on working at the restaurant instead, given how longing her expression was every time she mentioned it.

Yet to Quillan’s surprise, just as he was about to clarify this point with Ai Oda, Miyuki actually walked over, looking ready to make a formal announcement...