Miss Heir wasn't very kind to me.

Chapter 5. "First Day of Business"

"I am leaving!"

The girl with long brown hair hung her schoolbag on her shoulders. The pleated skirt in a solid color set off her figure perfectly, and the exposed part of her beautiful calf was wrapped in black calf socks.

Brown loafers bathed in the morning light, and the glass door was pushed open in the distant future.

"Wait a moment." Kamishiro Rinne called her softly.

"You forgot to bring your lunch."

Rinyin handed the lunch box wrapped in a napkin to Kuon Mirai, "Be careful on the way, don't shake it too hard, otherwise the side dishes will be squeezed to the same side."

The entire city of Kobe is located on the hills of Mount Rokko, and for the people of Hyogo Prefecture, climbing hills is a common experience.

"Take your umbrella too. The forecast says it might rain."

Kuon Mirai smiled and said, "I understand. Thank you, Sister Linyin."

Rinyin tied her beautiful black hair into a bun behind her neck. Wearing an apron, she handed the lunch box to Kuon Mirai, looking inexplicably mature, as if she was a wife sending her daughter to school.

After taking a quick look, Masumi lowered his eyes again and continued to read the unfinished comics on his mobile phone.

The sunlight was cut into pieces by the crowded camphor leaves in front of the store, and it felt warm when it fell on my body.

Turn to the last page of the comic, and you will see a full-color congratulatory picture: the comic volumes 1, 2, and 3 have been reprinted.

Masumi thought that if he passed by a bookstore, he could buy it and read it.

Put down your phone, it's almost business time.

He walked into the lounge and was about to put on his apron when he saw Rinyin there, but she was taking off her apron.

"I have classes in the morning. I'll be back at the store right after class. Until then, I'll leave it to you and Mami-san."

"Ok."

Masumi responded, his eyes involuntarily falling on the girl.

She was wearing a white T-shirt with letters printed on it and light blue jeans that were very slim-fitting and showed off her legs.

Round, slender, not too plump, without obvious muscle lines, full of youth and vitality.

"There's ground hamburger meat in the fridge, wrapped in plastic wrap. It should be enough for lunch. If you find it troublesome to prepare, you can go out to eat."

As Linyin spoke, she squatted down to tie her shoelaces. The area above her thighs formed a noteworthy arc, extending the tight curve from her slender waist downwards rapidly.

Masumi quietly shifted his gaze, walked to the front of the store, pushed open the door, and flipped the sign that read "CLOSED" to "OPEN", announcing the official start of the day's business at the Starry Cafe.

After Rin'in left, Masumi sat at a seat inside the bar, waiting for customers to come.

However, after waiting for more than an hour, no customers came. Masumi felt a little sleepy and started cleaning the store out of boredom.

"Good morning, Masumi-kun."

A lazy greeting was heard, and Masumi looked in the direction of the voice and saw Seno Asami stretching as she walked down the stairs.

It was almost noon, and she was still saying morning greetings. Masumi calmly complained:

"Good morning, it's 11:24 now. If it were any later, Miss Jiuyuan would have already eaten her lunch at school by now."

"Oh~ I didn't want to either. I was sober last night and felt refreshed, so I went to watch some anime to kill time. But the development of that anime was so terrible that I got so angry that I started arguing with people on 5ch for hundreds of seconds. That's why I didn't get enough sleep."

Asami made a few excuses for herself, and watching Masumi cleaning, she narrowed her eyes and smiled slightly, teasingly saying, "It's your first day at work, Masumi-kun, you're very diligent."

"There have been no customers, so I just want to find something to do."

"On weekdays, customers usually come during lunch break and in the evening. In the morning, there are at most three tables of customers, and most of them are regular customers." Mami explained to him.

"I see."

Asami laughed, "Why are you acting like it's your first time here? Isn't this your home?"

“That’s true, but it’s a little different.”

"Ah, that's it." She pounded her palm lightly with her fist. "The economy's bad, and the population's constantly moving to Tokyo and Osaka. The yen-dollar exchange rate's been a bit off lately, too. Ugh, it's really tough."

Suddenly, an atmosphere of the Showa period wafted over me.

"Damn it, what will this country become in the future?" Mami sighed and shook her head, and a box of aluminum foil-wrapped sake drink appeared in her hand as if by magic.

The wine in the red and white carton is "Demon Slayer Wine," a local brand from Hyogo Prefecture.

"Is it okay to be drunk and unconscious during business hours?"

"No problem, I calculated carefully. A can of beer last night has 31.5ml of alcohol. Although this beer is high in alcohol, it's only 180ml, which translates to only 23.4ml of alcohol. So I won't get drunk."

I'm surprised. Are alcoholics so sensitive to numbers?
"And once I drink alcohol, all the social pressures, the gap between the rich and the poor, and the anxiety about the future disappear."

Inserting the straw, Mami sipped with pleasure.

"Speaking of which, where's little Rinne?"

"I went to class."

"Is that so..." Asami walked to the outside of the bar while drinking, put her elbows on the table, and said in a cute voice: "Then we are the only two left in the store..."

Her smile was lazy, with a hint of drunkenness in it.

"Sister, my room is quite big, why don't we..." She deliberately straightened her chest, and her tight top was stretched so tight that there was not a single wrinkle visible. Masumi was almost dizzy.

"Please stop playing tricks on me," Masumi sighed.

Seeing his reaction, Asami became even happier, and she stretched out her arm across the bar to pat Masumi's shoulder.

The wind chimes at the door rang.

"welcome."

Asami's expression changed and she showed a formal smile that was meant to entertain guests.

The moment she turned around and saw the guest clearly, her smile changed from hydrangea to fire lily, and she rushed forward with light steps.

"Isn't this Xiao Qian'ai! Long time no see."

"Ma, Mei, sister...you're holding me too tight! Let go!"

The girl named "Qian Ai" was suddenly hugged tightly and immediately made a strange cry like a frog being crushed.

"Sorry, sorry, it's been a while since I last saw Xiao Qianai. I miss you so much."

Mami released her arms from hugging the girl, and put her right hand in front of her cheek, pushing her bangs to the sides, and smiled sheepishly.

"I just didn't come for two days because I was visiting for an internship. Mami-san is taking this opportunity to play a trick on me, right?"

The girl's nose twitched. "Sister Mami, have you been drinking again?"

"A little tipsy, just a little tipsy."

The girl's short hair was just shoulder-length, fluffy and soft, the tips of which took on an amber hue in the sunlight. Her three-dimensional facial features bore distinct mixed-race characteristics, and her eyes were a clear, awe-inspiring emerald.

The moment he saw her, Masumi blurted out, "Chiai?"

Hearing a boy calling her name, Qian Ai poked her head out from in front of Mami and said in surprise, "Mamaru-nii? You're back?"

Memories flooded back into Masumi's mind.

Chiai Asahina, a girl three years younger than him, has a father who is an expatriate from Peru and a mother who is a passionate Latin American. When Masumi was eight years old, the two families became neighbors. Although they later moved to Chuo Ward, they have always visited each other frequently.

"Really? Why didn't you tell me you were going back to Kobe?"

After going to Beijing, the two kept in touch occasionally through mobile phones, but most of the time it was Qian Ai who unilaterally shared fragments of her life.

"Sorry, it was a last-minute decision. Are you angry?"

"……Won't"

The girl said this, smiling softly and shaking her head.

"I'll be very happy if Masumi-san can come back."

"Oh my, childhood sweethearts reunited after such a long separation? Congratulations!"

Mami drank the box of wine with a sizzling sound and smiled with great joy.

"It's not that kind of relationship. After all, I'm three years older than her." Masumi retorted subconsciously.

"It counts, of course it doesn't!" Qian Ai's face was filled with displeasure, "Any age difference within five years counts."

(`~)
"Okay." Masumi knew he couldn't win against her, so he changed the subject and asked, "Why are you here today?"

"I almost forgot about it when you two interrupted me."

"While visiting Osaka for an internship, I came across a delicious sushi restaurant and wanted to share it with everyone at Fanxing. I took the Hankyu back, so it should still be warm."

Qian Ai raised the black sushi bowl in her hand and smiled as if asking for credit.

"Wow, Chi'ai-chan is an angel!"

Asami's eyes lit up when she heard the word "sushi".

"Where are Rin and Mirai?" Qian Ai looked around and asked in confusion.

"I'm going to school. Today is a school day."

"Huh?" Her expression fell. "It's just me and Mami-san, and I bought a lot!"

"Masumi-kun is here, and Rin-ne should be back soon. Chi-ai is indeed a kind and good child."

“Sushi~sushi~”

Asami hummed a tune cheerfully, took the sushi bowl from Chiai, and said to Masumi, "Masumi-kun, come and eat with us."

"I won't."

Masumi shook his head, "If a guest comes later..."

"It's okay, Mr. Barista." Asami grabbed Masumi's wrist, not allowing him to refuse.

"Fanxing's customer base and opening hours are quite fixed. If you don't eat now, you won't have time to eat when you get busy later, and the kindness of Sushi and Xiao Qianai will also be lost."

Masumi couldn't resist her and followed her into the lounge.

　Merry Christmas Eve! New book, please collect, read and comment.
　　
　
(End of this chapter)