Uneasy daily life

Hachiman Hikigaya leaned forward, blocking the white figure's view, and forced a conversation, asking, "Captain! Siscon isn't unique to Chiba! Don't be misled by light novels and anime! As a famous region, it's normal for Chiba to be a frequent subject of light novels, and it's also normal for siscon characters to appear in light novels. This is just survivor bias, not to mention that they are fictional stories and don't represent Chiba!"

As a true Chiba native, Hachiman Hikigaya will never allow such a misunderstanding!

"Hmph! Then let's convince you with facts!"

Bai Ying snorted coldly, raised her hand and pointed to the middle-aged man who was ventilating the kitchen and going in and out, and introduced him: "That's the boss! A rich second generation, with abundant wealth that shows no signs of decline. He's living a life of luxury. For his younger sister, who is currently in high school and very interested in the family business, he voluntarily gave up his inheritance rights and chose to leave home with his capital to start his own business. His motto is: 'Men conquer everything, and my sister gets everything!'"

Hachiman Hikigaya trembled involuntarily. Such a strong sister complex! But he was not willing to give in so easily. He was a proud Chiba native!

"Heh...maybe this person is just ambitious and looks down on his family's wealth. He wants to start from scratch and surpass his predecessors. He's just using a nice-sounding excuse to go with the flow."

"Big mistake."

Bai Ying solemnly and slowly said, "The boss was born as the eldest son and was ambitious from a young age. He started helping his elders manage the family affairs in high school. He studied financial management in college to prepare to become a boss after graduation. When he learned that his younger sister was interested in the family business, he resolutely switched to the medical major halfway. He worked hard and made great progress in his studies. However, after several autopsies, he still had slight hand tremors. After examination, it was found that he had mild hemophobia. So he switched to the culinary major. In order to improve his culinary skills and avoid his parents' persuasion, he traveled abroad to study and obtain certificates. With the talent of a returned overseas scholar, he started his own business."

"The market was already saturated, and heroes from all walks of life were carving out their own territories with their powerful weapons. The boss thought that by possessing the weapons of another country, he could show these ancient people the changes of the times, but he never expected to overlook the big picture! The gunpowder was damp and the gun barrels were rusty. What was genuine from another country was poison in this place. The boss, who had promoted it so vigorously, ended up in a desperate situation where no one would even taste the free samples!"

"The boss worked hard to improve the business and revised the menu. Azusagawa and I became guinea pigs for the food tasting because of our salary. Then the boss opened the restaurant for the second time. He believed that to make big money, you have to be inclusive and not miss any opportunity to make every yen. So the restaurant has traditional Japanese cuisine, elegant English coffee and afternoon tea, Japanese Western food, and he still tried to find new ways to innovate, so he asked me to put Chinese food on the menu."

"I must make something of myself so that my sister can inherit the family business with a clear conscience. That's the boss's awareness!"

Hikigaya Hachiman remained silent, managing to squeeze out a single assessment: "Great perseverance."

"This is too chaotic." Yukino Yukinoshita looked around and sighed, "No wonder this place is so strange... Selling ramen that most girls wouldn't eat alone, sushi and sashimi, coffee, and even Haku-kun's deadly poison—this isn't about catering to a wide range of customers, it's about blocking out a whole bunch of them! Providing supplies is a problem too; if the food doesn't sell for a long time, we'll keep losing money..."

In short, he is a true entrepreneurial genius.

Yui Yuigahama couldn't help but ask, "Is this really okay?"

"Of course, no problem. Anyway, I only get a fixed salary. Even if the boss gives me a share, I wouldn't dare to accept it. I'm afraid of losing money due to negative revenue."

The working class is cold and ruthless.

"Anyway, the boss's business has completely failed, so he can only go home crying and run into his sister's arms." Bai Ying sighed. "Many of the customers now seem to be familiar faces—ah, Azusagawa is here, this is another sister-obsessed person I've met."

Sakuta Azusagawa put down a plate of milk, and the others instinctively reached out to pick it up—while boiled water could temporarily wash away the spiciness in their mouths, their stomachs needed milk to be soothed.

"Thank you."

"It's okay, five bottles of milk."

While doing some simple bookkeeping, Sakuta Azusagawa casually asked, "What strange stuff are you talking about?"

Hachiman Hikigaya cut to the chase: "Are you a siscon?"

"You too?" Sakuta Azusagawa asked in a soul-searching way.

Hachiman Hikigaya murmured with a hint of doubt, "Could it be that Chiba really is full of siscon (sister complex)?"

“I’m not from Chiba, my home is in Kanagawa.” Sakuta Azusagawa put the bill and pen into his pocket. “I don’t know if there are any siscon (sister complex) specialties in Kanagawa, but I’m probably a siscon specialty of Kanagawa.”

A sense of uprightness and integrity!

Yeah! I love Chiba, and I love my little sister. Combining those two loves makes me a siscon—a Chiba specialty! It's such a touching thing—

Hikigaya Hachiman exclaimed excitedly, "Komachi! From now on, you can proudly declare that your older brother is a Chiba specialty!"

"Ugh—how disgusting! Making such a perverted declaration in public, Garbage-chan!"

Komachi Hikigaya wiped her mouth with a napkin, giving him a disgusted look.

"Pfft..."

He actually called it "Garbage Sauce"!

Hachiman Hikigaya turned into pale ash.

“A brother is a brother. He doesn’t need to be a local specialty or compare himself to anyone else. Other people’s sisters aren’t Komachi… cough cough. Anyway, Komachi already has a high score in my eyes. Saying anything strange won’t raise it.”

Hikigaya Komachi, biting her milk straw, turned her head to look at the road outside, as if an elephant were galloping across it.

"—!"

A soul that died without regrets floated out from the ashes of Hachiman Hikigaya.

Bai Ying shook her head, nudged Azusagawa Sakuta with her elbow, and sighed as if a doctor were advising her to eat something good: "Just like you, I have terminal 'sister syndrome'."

"There's a disease called the rich man's disease, and you obviously don't have that kind of luck."

Sakuta Azusagawa remained calm.

Yukino Yukinoshita glanced at them: "Is the only customer traffic left in this shop being kept going by you guys?"

"Pretty much," Sakuta Azusagawa nodded. "He'll be in charge of attracting the targets, and I'll be in charge of looting the money."

To plunder money...?

Yuigahama Yui looked at the milk in her hand. Had she already been robbed?!

Yukino Yukinoshita said knowingly, "One spreads germs, and the other sells miracle drugs?"

Bai Ying shook his head and said, "To put it in literary terms, the wolf is feigning sleep to lure the enemy; in terms of professions, actors make people laugh, and servants bow and scrape for rewards; to put it elegantly, a meeting of the golden wind and jade dew is better than gold and silver; to put it simply, I sell laughter, and he sells his charm."

To be more precise, one sells his face, and the other sells shamelessness.

Yukino Yukinoshita felt that the future of this store was bleak.

Chapter Twenty-Eight Brothers and Sisters

At 1 p.m. sharp, it was lunch break time. Sakuta Azusagawa closed the glass door slightly and hung up the sign that said "Lunch Break".

Sunroom's work rules: Closed from 1 PM to 2 PM, during which time employees eat lunch and take a nap.

Just like the lunch break system that most companies have to some extent, it kindly gives employees time to eat lunch and take a short break in order to improve work efficiency in the afternoon. But kindness is always superficial. On the surface, there is a progress bar that needs to be rushed, silently urging them on. On the surface, there are treacherous people who write for colleagues but read them as foes, stirring up a bloody storm.

You go downstairs to eat, I'll just order takeout! You order takeout, I'll just heat up a cup of instant noodles! You heat up a cup of instant noodles, I'll just have milk and bread and it'll be done in minutes, no need to pour any broth!

Those who escape the hellish situation, whether physically or mentally, simply laugh it off. They not only dare to enjoy slow-paced, high-quality food, but also dare to find enlightenment in the toilet during work hours, ultimately becoming a generation of "salted fish bodhisattvas" who would die without taking care of their health.

A restaurant's strict and standard one-hour closure at lunchtime is more akin to the ingenious ideas of a business genius than the usual treatment of humanitarian workers.

The boss brought over some staff meals and remarked with emotion, "Holding a training session for now is fine. Remember to be on time this afternoon—speaking of training sessions, it reminds me of the days I used to tutor my annoying younger brother and adorable younger sister. Those days are gone forever, and seeing you all makes it feel like my student days weren't that long ago..."

Bai Ying said, "Boss, reminiscing about the past is proof of a failed life."

"Nonsense!" the boss scoffed. "It's precisely because you've succeeded in life that you're willing to look back. If you don't even have time to reminisce about the past, that's proof of a failed life!"

"But that was something you said before," Bai Ying said, pretending to be clueless as she ate her fried chicken.

The boss paused slightly, then casually remarked in an air of maturity, "A student's primary duty is to study, but that's a biased view. It should be said that for anyone, being able to focus and dedicate themselves to something is their true duty. It's just that most of the things students encounter in life are only studying. Only by recognizing the essence can one truly engage; otherwise, it's just rote learning—my annoying younger brother used to be such a rote learner, obsessively working through exams and papers, treating grades as the only meaning, and even leading his lovely sister astray. He was truly foolish."

After a series of ambiguous reflections on life, the boss took his staff meal and slipped to another table, seemingly not wanting to disturb their studies.

Yukino Yukinoshita couldn't help but glance at the white figure.

Bai Ying chewed on the braised egg and swallowed it, then raised an eyebrow and said, "Why are you looking at me? The one who likes to feed people chicken soup is the boss. I call him the chicken soup master—oh, in this context, it seems more appropriate to call him the chicken soup immortal?"

"There are no immortals here. I just feel like everyone here is sick." Yukino Yukinoshita looked away and tasted the food.

The taste is quite good. It does have a foreign flavor, but it has been adjusted to suit local tastes. It doesn't just taste strange, but rather it's both strange and good.

However, look at this strangely matched employee meal – Shiro is slurping a bowl of thick pork bone ramen, with a steak in front of her and a cola as her drink; Hachiman Hikigaya and Komachi Hikigaya are sharing a pizza; Yui Yuigahama is tentatively trying Indian curry rice; and Sakuta Azusagawa is skillfully biting into fried chicken and fries.

This restaurant is quite skilled at combining Eastern and Western elements in its staff meals...

Unfortunately, the owner of this shop is a business genius.

"The boss believed he had extraordinary talent, and ordinary people dared not break through his limits. They could only follow in the footsteps of their predecessors and drift along with the tide. However, he was not afraid of going astray and was determined to cultivate both the Nine Yin and Nine Yang techniques. In the end, he became half-mad, which is both pitiful and lamentable."

Bai Ying finished drinking the ramen soup, shaking her head, and took out paper, pen, and a test paper from her bag.

"Alright! Let's get back to studying. Does Azusagawa want to come?"

"Studying..." Sakuta Azusagawa packed up the chicken bones and threw them into the trash can. "I don't really feel interested in it."

Yui Yuigahama asked, "Azusa's grades are very good?"

“Azusa is always stuck in the middle, unable to move forward or backward.” Azusa Sakuta yawned. “Mainly, I just don’t have much motivation. I just want to take a nap now, I have to go to work this afternoon.”

"Oh, I get it."

Bai Ying nodded knowingly, hummed softly with her mouth closed, and then spoke in a voice as cold and sharp as a sword, filled with a sense of oppression: "Don't waste your time, learn every inch you can! Squeeze as many as you can! Now take out your paper and pen! Do you want to live a relatively unsuccessful life in the future?!"

What's going on here? Amidst the confusion, Sakuta Azusagawa said with a helpless expression, "I did say that I have a bit of a masochistic tendency, but it's not the kind of masochism a subordinate has towards their boss."

"Tsk! What a troublesome fellow—let me think…" Bai Ying pondered, then suddenly realized, her voice turning into a sharp female tone, "You promised to study! If you don't study today, don't even think about leaving this room! Otherwise, I'll go around telling everyone that you're a student who doesn't study hard! You don't want your family to know, do you?!"

Sakuta Azusagawa: "I don't think I would like being scammed."

Bai Ying exclaimed in astonishment, "How...how could this be? There are actually roles that I can't portray?! Damn it! Your fetishes have gone to inhuman levels?!"

“This is a role you can’t portray,” Sakuta Azusagawa said, shaking his head. “No matter how similar the voice is, you’re still a man.”

"How to say?"

"Being stepped on by a man would only feel disgusting."

"So it's a gender difference? Well, there's really nothing we can do about that."

Bai Ying couldn't help but lament the limitations of actors. Hikigaya Komachi, sitting on the other side of Hikigaya Hachiman, leaned forward and asked in surprise, "Bai-senpai, are you planning to become a voice actor in the future?"

"These are skills I learned when I was a theatrical actor." Bai Ying's voice changed, becoming heavy and solemn. "Hikiya Komachi, I see that you have extraordinary talent and are a gem. I wish to impart to you the supreme skills of the sacred land—salted braised pork belly, stir-fried pork, twice-cooked pork, mapo tofu, boiled pork slices, garlic pork belly... As long as you nod, one day you will surely become the head chef of your family's kitchen, and no one will be able to shake your position!"

"I do all the cooking at home. I'm the head chef now! I buy groceries, prepare them, cook them, and then wash the dishes. Hehe! I'm an all-rounder when it comes to housework!"

Hikigaya Komachi politely declined the master's offer to teach her.

Upon hearing this, the others couldn't help but look at Hachiman Hikigaya, with Sakuta Azusagawa giving him a look that said, "You're a siscon too."

Hachiman Hikigaya paused for a moment, then said nonchalantly, "I have Komachi to cook for me, do you?"

"I think Shiro-senpai's cooking is alright, but my brother is a bit disappointing. We should consider his taste when cooking at home," Komachi Hikigaya said maturely.

"I'm so touched! Komachi, cook for me for the rest of your life! Even if it's Komachi's favorite food—I'll do anything for you!"

Hachiman Hikigaya published an outstanding parasite declaration.

Komachi Hikigaya immediately said coldly, "No, that's a bit disgusting."

Yukino Yukinoshita initially wanted to reprimand Hachiman Hikigaya for his soft-girl-like remarks, but looking at the siblings' usual conversation and attitude, she felt a little puzzled: "...Is this how it usually feels between siblings?"

"I don't know, where are Xiaozhi and Xiaobai?"

Yui Yuigahama was unaware that she had no younger sister or brother.

"It varies from person to person. My sister can't fake that cold attitude."

Sakuta Azusagawa has a younger sister, but he is not envious.

The white figure spoke in a girlish, irritated voice: "Hey! Close the door after you're done using the toilet, and clean it up!"

"Mom, why do you never ask my brother to do the dishes? Is it because you favor boys over girls?"

Bai Ying's voice switched back to a male tone: "Don't take the nonsense on the internet seriously. I made all the dishes."

"You pile the dishes in the sink after you finish eating? Are you trying to raise mosquitoes in the middle of summer?"

Several people glanced at him, but the white-clad figure's monologue did not stop.

"Peppermints, smoke less—" The girl stuffed a few peppermints into her mouth with a look of disgust.

"Here you go—the taxi driver is coming back from outings, so just hand him the ice cream."

"Thank you."

Bai Ying stroked her chin and said in her natural voice, "These are probably the brothers and sisters I know."

"When they smile at each other, they often have ulterior motives. They complain, criticize, and dislike each other, wishing they could become each other's parents and have the right to lecture each other. Brothers and sisters are people who know each other's faults best, and you know each other's faults best. You can smell each other's stench, but you have to live in the same place for a long time."

"It's surprising that Komachi Hikigaya would address her brother by his name instead of using a verbal expression."

Bai Ying sized up the Hikigaya siblings and confirmed, "It must be because they're Chiba's specialty, the siscon."

Komachi Hikigaya scratched her cheek: "If you're talking about my brother's faults, I do know them all... Hehe, I'm pretty much the same. Sometimes I find it troublesome to use proper titles, so I'll use my eyes and tone to omit them."

"Hmm, that description is quite accurate. If you live together every day, you'll see each other's flaws." Sakuta Azusagawa agreed.

Yui Yuigahama said in surprise, "Huh? Is that so? But I feel like Komachi and Hachiman are very close..."

Hachiman Hikigaya remarked, "It's actually similar to parents—parents usually know what's wrong with you. Don't tell me you've never been criticized or lectured by your parents growing up."

"...Hey."

Yui Yuigahama's gaze wandered.

Bai Ying sighed, "Compared to parents who are adults, siblings who are the same age don't have the authority of 'adults.' They are often more intolerant of each other's lectures and criticisms, and they also find each other's faults intolerable. I think most siblings are more like familiar strangers. They live under the same roof, but they may not say more than a few words every ten days or half a month. The kind of siblings who get along harmoniously, have something to talk about every day, tolerate each other's shortcomings and faults, and even help each other are actually in the minority."