Chapter 385 386: Gabriel Gets Snubbed

"Aw~ I didn't expect you to really not know anything, but that's fine, let's start with new-hire training first!"

The moment Chisato said this, she forcibly dragged Takina Inoue into the blue Japanese-style uniform they'd prepared in advance, and started practicing basic smiling drills in the empty café.

Kurumi sat at the counter and asked, "Why do you still use this Japanese-style uniform even after the renovation? Why not go for maid outfits or something?"

"This isn't a maid café. Besides, this uniform's pretty good. Did you design it?"

"No, it came with the café when your sister bought the place."

"The previous owner had decent taste, then."

With a bang, the café door was shoved open, and Gabriel strode in with her eyes narrowed, anyone could hear the fury in her voice: "Jhin!"

"Gabriel, what's wrong? Why so angry?"

"Don't act innocent! Why haven't you come to my place since you got back?"

Kurumi covered her mouth, snickering. "Ooh~ the playboy's account's come due."

"Calm down, calm down." Jhin soothed her while pulling a specially made cola from Another World out of his storage space. "Have a sip of the new version first — I made it myself."

Gabriel hadn't wanted to bother with him at first, but hearing it was cola he'd made, she wavered. Pouting, she hopped up onto a stool at the counter. "For the sake of the cola, I'll let you off for now."

Chisato crept over to Jhin's side and whispered, "Jhin-nii, who's she?"

"Gabriel. My neighbor and schoolmate."

"You left out 'best friend'!" Gabriel stressed the words 'best friend' pointedly, while sneaking a glance at Takina Inoue. Her mood, which had just settled thanks to the unreasonably delicious cola, soured again.

Why was there another girl now?

Seeing that her anger seemed to have faded, Jhin asked, "So what brings you here today?"

"...Shouldn't you stop by my place?" Gabriel obviously couldn't admit in front of others that her house was a filthy mess and she needed him to clean it, so she had to hint at it obliquely instead.

Jhin caught her meaning instantly and nodded. "Got it. This evening, then."

Chisato asked, alert, "What are you going to her place for?"

"Well... going by what you usually do, call it helping someone out of the goodness of my heart."

She noticed Gabriel's hair was a tangled mess, her collar bunched up, and dark grease stains dotting her clothes — a sloppy, unkempt figure paired with an unmistakable aura of laziness, the very picture of a problem child.

Jhin-nii probably wouldn't go for a messy, slovenly girl like that, would he?

Chisato's mental alert level for Gabriel dropped instantly, and she turned back to continue training Takina Inoue.

Meanwhile, now that she had Jhin's promise, Gabriel's attitude had softened considerably. She spun her glass idly between her fingers. "So why'd you suddenly open a café?"

"There's a bit of a reason, but mostly I just felt like playing around with it. School's not something I need to worry about anyway."

"The way you're talking, don't tell me you're not even planning to go to school for a while?" Gabriel's eyes went wide, staring at him like he was some kind of traitor. "How could you do that?"

"I was already running between two schools to begin with. And given my grades, whether I show up for class or not makes no difference."

Watching him look so smugly self-righteous made Gabriel grind her teeth. "Damn honor student."

It wasn't that she couldn't casually take first place in her year the way Jhin did — it was just that doing so would eat up all the time she'd rather spend gaming on studying instead, which would be putting the cart before the horse.

"Oh, right — even if I don't go to school, I'll still check in with Vignette from time to time to make sure you're actually attending. Don't try any tricks, or I'll dock your whole salary."

"I'm out!" Gabriel had no intention of taking on any more of his assignments. She hopped off the stool and bolted out the door.

"Store Manager, that girl just now didn't pay. Should I bring her back?" Even while receiving training, Takina Inoue kept observing everything in the café, and the moment she saw Gabriel dine and dash, she volunteered at once.

"No need. That one's wages are on my books — just dock it from there."

"She's an employee here too?"

"No, she's a maid."

"Jhin-nii, how have I never heard you had a maid? Are you secretly the sole heir of some big family or something?!"

Jhin pushed Chisato's face away from where it had gotten far too close to his own, and explained through her sulky pout, "Don't overthink it. It's just one way of making sure she goes to school like she's supposed to."

"You're really not using the maid thing to do anything to her?"

"What do you even think about all day?" Jhin gave Chisato's head a light tap. "Hurry up and go train Takina."

Watching the two of them interact, confusion filled Takina Inoue's eyes. She turned to Kurumi, who was watching the show off to the side, and asked, "Are the two of them... that kind of relationship?"

"Which kind? You mean like a couple?"

"Yes."

Kurumi laughed, pointing at Chisato and murmuring, "You're asking the right person about that. If you ask Chisato, she'll happily tell you yes. If you ask Jhin, he'll tell you no."

Takina Inoue looked visibly thrown by that answer. "So which is it, really?"

"No," Kurumi said, then shot Jhin a meaningful look. She'd heard every word of that conversation he'd had with Kazami Kazuki that day, clear as day, and she knew full well that both of them knew she'd been eavesdropping.

As for why she'd been allowed to overhear it, it was probably because of that damned contract.

Kurumi, who'd been thoroughly played by Kazami Kazuki through that contract, was willing to call it a turning point in her life. The clauses that had looked loose, even nonsensical, at the time now revealed only one meaning when held up against the present: you've already been reserved and packaged up to be delivered to my little brother.

Fortunately, Jhin himself had no idea what was in the contract — otherwise, judging by how he behaved, she'd probably have ended up arranged into all eighteen positions by the second day of living at the café.

A Lycoris ace apparently caught in unrequited love, a former intelligence agent, and an ordinary yet not-so-ordinary store manager.

Takina Inoue, who'd originally hoped to perform well in her new department and get transferred back to headquarters after racking up results, now felt a little despair settle in.

How was she supposed to build up results and get back to Lycoris HQ while surrounded by people like these!

Just as she was starting to think she truly had no hope of returning to headquarters, Chisato got a call for a field assignment from DA and waved her over. "Hey~ Takina, we've got fieldwork. Hurry and change into your Lycoris uniform!"

"Yes!"

Takina Inoue's reply came out unusually loud and eager, startling Kurumi, who'd been playing games on her tablet. Steadying the tablet, Kurumi shot her an odd glance, muttering to herself: how had this rookie already caught Chisato's habits after being here for so short a time? Was she going to turn into a second Chisato?

"Ah, but before that, let's all take a group photo!"

Afterward, a photo captioned "New Member Joins" was posted to Café LycoReco's social media account.

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