Tokyo, 1991: Starting as a bank clerk.

"It's Kiryu too."

Mizuna Yayoi raised her head.

"My name is Kiryu Yaya. And you? What's your name?"

Mizuna Yayoi shifted her gaze to the side, blushing as she said:

"Yayoi...Shuna, my name is Yayoi Shuina."

"Yayoi Mina."

Kiryu Yaya repeated her name.

Mizuna Yayoi's ears turned even redder.

She lowered her head and poked at the rice grains in the bowl with the tip of her chopsticks. After poking twice, she felt it was impolite and quickly put the chopsticks back on the chopstick rest.

"Um... which department is Kiryu-senpai in?"

"Financing Review Course"

Mizuna Yayoi's eyes lit up for a moment, but quickly dimmed again.

"The financing department... that's impressive. I've heard it's one of the busiest departments in a bank, and only the most outstanding people can get in."

As she spoke, her voice lowered again.

"Unlike me, I've been working in the sales department for a week and I'm making mistakes every day. My section chief said I can't even do the most basic document sorting, and the account manager complains that the materials I send over are a mess..."

"If it weren't for my senior's help this morning, that document would definitely have been returned again."

As she said this, her lips tightened slightly, as if she were holding back something.

Kiryu Yaya looked at her, just about to say something comforting, when a system notification popped up again:

[New life options have been triggered]

[Since joining the company, Mizuna Yayoi has faced repeated setbacks, causing her confidence to plummet. Your help at the elevator and your words in the cafeteria made her feel, for the first time, the kindness of a colleague rather than blame.]

The options are as follows:

[Fork in the road 1: After finishing your meal, get up and leave, maintaining the distance of a normal colleague.]

(Bonus: Bank deposit increased by €3000)

[Branch Two: Propose to offer to host lunch in exchange for your material preparation skills.]

(Reward: 10 Red Bulls, which will keep you energized for 24 hours with no side effects)

[Branch 3: Looking intently at her, she said, "Yayoi-san, if you have any materials you don't know how to organize, feel free to come to me anytime."]

(Reward: Bank deposit increases by €3, with a certain probability of entering the romance route)

Chapter 8 Free Lunch

Kiryu Yaya's gaze lingered on the three options.

Fork 1, 3000€€.

Fork two: Free lunch.

Branch three: Romance.

He wasted almost no time on Fork 3.

Dating won't lift him out of poverty; a promotion and a raise will.

This belief had been etched into his bones from the very first day he transmigrated.

As for branch one and branch two...

He quickly did a mental calculation.

If Mizuna Yayoi were to book lunch, even just the most basic buffet, it would cost 200 euros per meal.

Ten days is two thousand, twenty days is four thousand.

If it exceeds fifteen days, it's more cost-effective than the 3000 euros of the first option.

What's more, it also comes with ten bottles of Red Bull.

While it's unclear what the specific effects of "maintaining 24-hour energy" are, it might still be useful in places like banks where overtime is frequent.

Kiryu Yaya put down his chopsticks and looked at Yayoi Mizuna.

"Yayoi-san."

"Yes Yes!"

Yayoi Mizuna immediately straightened her back and placed her hands properly on her knees, like a primary school student being called on by the teacher.

"You said you often make mistakes when organizing receipts and documents, right?"

Mizuna Yayoi's expression immediately darkened, and she nodded.

"The section chief said that the documents I handled were always a mess when they were sent to the account manager... The account manager had to rearrange them himself, and then he called the section chief to complain..."

She didn't finish her sentence.

Kiryu Yaya did not ask any further questions.

He picked up the miso soup, took a sip, and then spoke in a slightly relaxed tone.

"Yayoi-san, would you like me to teach you?"

Mizuna Yayoi raised her head.

"I'll teach you the skills of organizing materials. From classifying receipts to arranging them in the correct order before delivery, to how to place the stamp so that the documents won't be returned. There's actually a set of fixed methods for these things, and once you master them, you won't make mistakes..."

A glimmer of light appeared in Mizuna Yayoi's eyes, but she quickly hesitated again.

“My senior is so busy with the fundraising course, and the fundraising course is already very demanding. Their work is definitely more important than mine... How could I ask them to take time out of their schedule to teach me such basic things... That would be too shameless of them…”

She spoke softer and softer until she was almost talking to herself.

"It's no trouble at all."

Kiryu Yaya smiled and said in a somewhat indifferent tone:

"After all... I have one condition."

Mizuna Yayoi blinked and quickly said:

"Please speak, senior!"

Kiryu Yaya smiled, his eyes narrowed:

"From now on, you'll be in charge of my cafeteria lunches. In exchange, I'll teach you how to organize the materials, okay?"

Mizuna Yayoi was stunned.

The food in the cafeteria is already very cheap after subsidies, costing only two or three hundred euros per meal.

Even if Kiryu-kun eats in the cafeteria every day, he'll only spend five or six thousand euros.

Compared to the troublesome task of teaching her how to organize materials, this reward is almost negligible.

Perhaps the senior made this condition so that I could accept his help with a clear conscience.

senior……

I genuinely wanted to help her.

Mizuna Yayoi lowered her head, her eyes feeling a little hot.

"Well... then I'll leave it to you, senior. I'll definitely prepare lunch carefully and make sure you have a good meal. I... I may not be very good at my job, but I'm quite good at cooking... I promise!"

Seemingly realizing she'd spoken too definitively, the tips of her ears turned even redder, and she added softly:

"...At least when it comes to cooking, I shouldn't make any mistakes."

Kiryu Yaya nodded and put the last piece of Chikuzen-ni into his mouth.

"Let's start tomorrow then. I'll teach you some basics during lunch break today."

"Huh? It starts today?"

"Or else?"

Mizuna Yayoi immediately shut her mouth and then chuckled softly.

……

There are forty minutes left in the lunch break.

Kiryu Yaya led Yayoi Mizuna back to the financing review department's office area on the third floor.

At this time, most people are still in the cafeteria or lounge, and the office area is very quiet.

What types of files do you usually organize?

Kiryu Yaya pulled up an empty chair next to his workstation and gestured for Yayoi Mizuna to sit down.

Mizuna Yayoi sat down carefully, placing her hands on her knees, as if she were attending a very important interview.

"It mainly consists of materials that the account manager asked me to submit to various departments. These include loan applications, guarantee documents, copies of property registration certificates, tax payment certificates, and various contracts signed by the clients..."