Master of the Machete Style Manga

Chapter 37: Teach Me How to Win Over Ah Jian!
"Mio, do you like Ken?"

The store manager's words left Natsume Mio frozen in place. She opened her mouth as if to say something, but then stopped herself.

"Manager...Manager, what...what are you saying? I didn't..."

"Hehehe." The old lady who runs the shop chuckled and said, "Having lived for so many years, of course I can tell. You know, your tone is different when you talk to A-Jian."

As she turned and walked behind the cashier, she continued, "Actually, Mio came to work at our store for Ken, right? I can tell."

Natsume Mio initially wanted to deny it, but hearing the store manager's confident tone, she reluctantly swallowed her words.

She silently organized the shelves with a basket in hand, but her mind was completely in turmoil.

She thought for a moment and then went to the counter.

"Um... Manager-san," Natsume Mio said shyly, "Actually, you're right, I... I am... Xi... Xi..."

She couldn't pronounce the last syllable no matter what she tried, and her face was already visibly red down to her ears.

"Ken is a good kid, and he's handsome too." The shop manager looked at Natsume Mio with a smile and said, "If you want to pursue him, Mio-chan, you need to take the initiative."

"Yes...is it...?"

"You guys are about to start school, right? Once you get to college, there will probably be a lot of girls pursuing Ah Jian."

"School starts..." Natsume Mio pondered the days; there was still a little over a month left.

My mom said that my biggest regret in high school was that I never had a relationship. So, if I win over A-Jian before starting college, I guess that will make up for that regret from high school.
Natsume Mio pondered this in her mind, but she had absolutely no idea how to "win over Ken".

The elderly shopkeeper carefully examined Natsume Mio and asked, "Mio, what do your parents do for a living?"

"My parents?" Natsume Mio was somewhat surprised that the shop manager would ask such a question.

After all, family matters are personal privacy. Even when looking for a job, interviewers would never ask such questions, otherwise the company would be considered to have violated the job seeker's privacy and would be boycotted.

But the store manager's look...

Mio Natsume didn't think much of it and said, "My dad works for a trading company, and my mom is a housewife."

"A trading company? That's nice, but do you know what kind of family A-Jian is from?"

"Ok, I know……"

"Don't look down on A-Jian just because his family isn't well-off. He'll definitely amount to something in the future."

"Huh? Manager, what's going on here...?"

The shop manager looked at Natsume Mio with a beaming smile, the meaning of which was self-evident.

That's definitely the tone of a matchmaker introducing someone!

How about we ask the shop manager for help...?

Thinking of this, Natsume Mio's gaze suddenly hardened: "Manager-san! Then, could you please help me..."

"Doesn't Mio-chan have any dating experience?" the shop manager asked.

Natsume Mio shook her head.

"I see..." the store manager thought for a moment and said, "Although my experience is definitely outdated now, there is one thing that is definitely true."

"What!" Natsume Mio immediately asked.

The store manager smiled and said, "Meet him more often, communicate more, and then find an opportunity to have physical contact with him."

"Physical contact?"

What Natsume Mio imagined was her and Ken pressed tightly together, drenched in sweat and dripping with water.

“You all work in our shop, right? After he arrives tonight, I'll have you all organize the bookshelves together. You, find an opportunity to sit close to him, and casually touch his arm or hand.” The shop manager raised his hands and bumped them together, saying, “As long as he's not completely dense, he'll definitely remember that kind of contact.” “Is…is that so?”

“Definitely not.” The shop manager shook his head and said, “Ah Jian is definitely not a blockhead when it comes to relationships.”

"Ah, I didn't mean Ken..." Natsume Mio said somewhat awkwardly.

The store manager chuckled, thinking that Natsume Mio was asking if Ken was a blockhead.

The shop manager asked, "Mio-chan, you've never even tried holding hands with a boy before, have you?"

"Hmm..." Natsume Mio pouted and lowered her head shyly.

Someone like her, who has never been in a relationship even after graduating from high school, is definitely an anomaly.

The store manager continued, "Don't ask too many questions, just do as I say."

"Then... is Ken a blockhead? Does that mean he's emotionally idiotic?" Natsume Mio asked again.

“You, I think you’re the blockhead,” the shopkeeper said. “I’ve met a lot of men, and Jian is very mature. When did he start to change? Although he was more sensible than his peers before, the real change should have been after he graduated from high school.”

Natsume Mio silently remembered what the shop manager had said.

As for whether Ah Jian has matured in his mindset...

Recalling that day at the convenience store, she wanted to confess her feelings to A-Jian, but he took her to his rented apartment and said those words to her.

He said that he used to like her purely for her body, which is a very vulgar kind of liking. He also talked about his family situation, saying that he didn't have the conditions to be with her, etc.

Indeed, what the store manager said is right. I don't know when it started, but Ah Jian's whole demeanor has changed.

Even after graduating from high school and entering society, she still had her parents' help, both financially and emotionally.

But Ah Jian only has himself.

So, he suddenly matured after graduating from high school?
Natsume Mio said very earnestly, "Manager-san! Can you teach me?"

"What should I teach you?" the shop manager asked with a slight smile.

“Teach me…” Natsume Mio swallowed hard, took a deep breath, and finally mustered the courage to say it, “Teach me how to woo Ken!”

……

"Sakamoto-sensei, I'll head back now."

"Okay, editor, take care."

Seeing Keiko Kaji pick up the thick stack of manuscript papers, Kenya Sakamoto also stood up.

"By the way, doesn't Sakamoto-sensei's house... have a bathroom?" Kaji Keiko asked, looking around.

Ken Sakamoto nodded and said, "It's a shared restroom on each floor."

“Oh, I see…” Kaji Keiko said, “Then I’ll go, um… to the restroom.”

"Let me get the manuscript paper for you," Sakamoto Ken said. "There's no place inside to put the original manuscript paper."

Keiko Kaji bowed slightly to Ken Sakamoto, a little embarrassed, and said, "Okay, it's quite heavy. Thank you, Mr. Sakamoto."

Ken Sakamoto took the thick stack of manuscript paper, more than two hundred pages of B4-sized paper. Each chapter was neatly packed in a large file bag brought by editor Kaji. The total weight was estimated to be about the same as eight bottles of mineral water.

Watching Editor Jiazhi change her shoes at the door, she lifted her foot and let her toes slip into the shoe, her instep arching nimbly at the shoe opening. Then she squatted down sideways and picked at the back of the shoe with her fingers.

The cute blue robot cat crawled into the shoe and was covered by the trouser leg, disappearing from sight.

(End of this chapter)