Chapter 39: A Harmonious Scene

Haruka Himuro had never intended to leave in the first place; she had walked over precisely to goad these female customers into going over to cause trouble at Yoshiko’s table.

"What did you just say?"

One of the women looked at Haruka, who had turned around, and asked, "Are you saying that the reason that male waiter hasn’t come over to serve us is actually because he’s being detained by other customers and can’t get away?"

Haruka put on an entirely innocent look, shaking her head in denial: "I’m sorry, I... I didn’t say that!"

"Are you afraid of offending those customers?" The woman looked exceptionally furious. She stood up and said, "Hmph, you don’t need to apologize to us. It’s just those shameless women over there chatting with our little heartthrob, isn’t it? Ladies, let’s go over!"

The five women marched over in a huff. Haruka’s plan had succeeded, and a triumphant look couldn’t help but surface on her face.

After gloating just a bit, seeing that those five women were actually confronting Yoshiko’s table, Haruka quickly swapped her expression for one of innocent shock. She ran over toward the counter, shouting, "Manager Oda, Manager Oda, this is terrible! Over there... a fight might break out over there, go take a look quick!"

"What happened?"

Ai Oda had been very happy today, secretly counting money behind the counter all along. Seeing Haruka’s panicked state, she quickly locked the register and rushed out to race toward the scene with Haruka.

When they arrived, however, they discovered the scene was remarkably harmonious, with not a single sign of an argument.

"Come on, everyone together now, listen for my count!" Miyuki Sakurai had the café’s digital camera hanging around her neck and was holding someone’s phone in her hand, having already pulled up the camera mode. She counted down in a utterly adorable voice: "One, two, three!"

Click! Miyuki looked at the phone and said, "All done! Next person, please hand me your phone!"

Opposite Miyuki, Quillan stood amidst a group of women with a helpless, bitter smile, letting them rub their arms or brush other parts of their bodies against him as Miyuki helped take photos for them.

Quillan had long heard that Japanese women had a frantic obsession with aesthetically pleasing things, and now he truly understood.

Simply because his outfit looked extraordinarily handsome and unique, these women were treating Quillan like a celebrity, clamoring one after another to take photos with him!

"Th-This... what is going on?"

Haruka stared at the scene before her in utter astonishment, and Ai Oda looked equally bewildered.

Before long, Miyuki had helped over a dozen female customers take photos with Quillan. Afterward, everyone gathered around and engaged in friendly conversation. Quillan remained surrounded by those women, who showered him with questions. Seizing the opportunity, Ai Oda and Haruka pulled Miyuki to the side to ask what had just transpired.

Miyuki said happily, "Just now? Oh, it was so nerve-wracking! Mrs. Tsuruta and Miss Yoshiko were on the verge of getting into a physical fight, but then Quillan-kun let out a loud shout and completely defused the crisis!"

Hearing Miyuki’s words, Haruka and Ai Oda were rendered speechlessly stunned. Miyuki, however, reminisced about that moment and said with a blush, "Quillan-kun looked so incredible when he spoke those words! As soon as he opened his mouth, everyone actually stopped arguing. Then, they gathered around Quillan-kun peacefully, taking photos with him one by one! And all those guests said Quillan-kun’s outfit was super unique, even pulling him into the center to critique his look..."

"So that’s how it went..."

Ai Oda let out a relaxed laugh before saying with lingering fear, "I thought a real fight was going to break out; if that happened, this café would’ve been completely ruined! Thank goodness Quillan-kun was here. Heh-heh... I really do have good taste. Only now do I realize that Quillan-kun wearing a waiter’s uniform paired with a maid’s apron is actually so cute!"

Phrased like that, it sounded as if the credit for this entire affair belonged solely to her, Ai Oda.

Haruka said with undeniable worry, "Looking at those women... they wouldn’t actually fall in love with Mas—er, they wouldn’t actually fall for Quillan-kun, would they?"

"No way, Haruka-chan!"

Ai Oda giggled softly and said, "They just like the way Quillan-kun looks in this outfit and find it novel and cute. Besides, even though Quillan-kun is a bright and charming boy, he isn’t some big celebrity—how could so many people genuinely fall for him?"

"As long as they don’t!" Haruka muttered, looking not particularly pleased.

Suddenly, Yoshiko jogged over from across the room and said to Miyuki, "Miss Sakurai, right? Quillan-kun asked me to tell you that we’re all going to take a big group photo together, so we’ll have to trouble you again!"

"A big group photo?" Miyuki thought for a moment, then asked with a blushing face, "Miss Yoshiko, may I join in as well?"

"Sure thing!" Yoshiko answered absentmindedly, only realizing what Miyuki had asked a moment later: "Wait, if you join in the photo too, Miss Sakurai, who’s going to take the picture for us?"

"Her!" Miyuki was overjoyed. She took off the digital camera around her neck and handed it right into Haruka’s hands.

"You!" Haruka was naturally unwilling; she wanted to join the group photo as well and didn’t want to leave Miyuki standing by Quillan’s side all by herself. But Miyuki gave her no chance to speak!

Hmph...

Haruka stomped her foot. Since she had no way to refuse right now, she had to think of another plan. She looked over at Ai Oda and beamed at her: "Um... Manager, I don’t know how to use this digital camera at all, so... I’ll have to leave it in your capable hands, Manager!"

With that, Haruka jogged off in a quick dash, joining the crowd gathering for the group photo!