At this very moment, the workload at White Birch Café was much heavier than usual.
After Suzuki Yuu’s video gained some attention, the manager seized the opportunity and hired an even more professional filming crew, having Ayaha and himself make several more videos.
Since the coffee was already of excellent quality, and the staff were all quite good-looking… quite a few people chose to stop by and take a look.
So, they became busy.
Fortunately, though there was a reaction, it hadn’t reached an overwhelming level—otherwise, Kousuke Shiraishi would have had no choice but to close the shop and take a break.
After finishing the latte art for the last customer, Suzuki Yuu finally welcomed a brief respite.
He lay back on the chair behind the counter, wiped the sweat from his forehead, and glanced at Shiraishi Ayaha, who was also catching her breath beside him. With a chuckle, he asked:
“The manager really should hire some new staff, right?”
“Mm, Dad does have that in mind, but it’ll have to wait until after the sports festival. After all, neither you nor I would have time to train new people during this period.”
Suzuki Yuu nodded; the manager’s reasoning was perfectly sensible.
Their café was finally on the verge of expanding.
Just then, Shiraishi Ayaha looked at him and asked,
“Speaking of which, Suzuki, a really pretty girl came to the shop a couple of days ago, from your school.”
Suzuki Yuu’s hand, mid-wipe, froze.
“From our school?”
He sat up straight without showing any change in expression, but his heart skipped a beat for no reason. A pretty girl from Aoyama Saint Academy? That was much too vague—there were plenty of attractive people at their school.
“That’s right.” Shiraishi Ayaha seemed completely unaware of Suzuki Yuu’s reaction. Propping up her chin, she tried hard to recall the scene from yesterday. “She came looking for you directly. When she heard you weren’t in, she sat down and had a caramel pudding, and ordered every single dish on our menu.”
“All of them?!” Suzuki Yuu shouted in surprise.
“Yes! All of them!” Ayaha nodded exaggeratedly. “She even insisted I be the one to make them. I remember I was busy in the kitchen for ages before it was all done. Seriously, how could one person eat so much? What a strange girl…”
“Maybe she took it home for her family.” Suzuki Yuu offered, then asked, “Did she have any distinctive features?”
“Hmm… She didn’t seem easy to approach, spoke pretty coolly, and her whole vibe was that of a super-rich young lady.”
“Uh…”
Hearing this description, Suzuki Yuu felt uneasy.
Could it be the one he knew?
“Oh, right, she asked for my name, then told me her name was Shiina Chisa.”
Suzuki Yuu felt a cold sweat break out on his back in an instant.
He turned to Shiraishi Ayaha, gripping her shoulders seriously as he asked:
“She didn’t do anything to you, did she?”
“Eh? What’s wrong?” Shiraishi Ayaha was startled by his sudden action.
“No, nothing, I do know her. She’s a famous young lady at our school, but her temper isn’t great. I was just worried you might get into trouble.”
“I-I see…” Shiraishi Ayaha rubbed her shoulder, looking at Suzuki Yuu’s battle-ready stance in confusion. “Other than ordering, she didn’t do anything strange.”
“That’s good.” Suzuki Yuu felt a little relieved.
“Suzuki, the way you look… did something unexpected happen?”
She looked at the boy in front of her with growing concern.
“No, it’s nothing. Don’t worry.”
Suzuki Yuu forced a smile. He didn’t want to drag Shiraishi Ayaha into his own troubles.
If those young ladies ever misunderstood something, it wouldn’t be a big deal for him, but if anything happened to Shiraishi, that would be a real problem.
Just then, the shop door opened.
“Welcome!” Suzuki Yuu and Shiraishi Ayaha called out in unison.
They looked up to see several girls with tennis bags walking in.
The girl in the lead was striking, with short, neat hair and a confident air. She immediately spotted Suzuki Yuu behind the counter and waved:
“Yo, Manager Suzuki! So you really do work here!”
“Tennis Club President? Did you all come from the tennis courts nearby?”
“Yup, we just finished practice. By the way, Suzuki, I didn’t see you in this year’s competition. Aren’t you participating? You’re so good at tennis.”
“No, I’m not joining in. There’s the student council and club activities to take care of.”
“Aww, what a shame!” The Tennis Club captain looked genuinely disappointed. “I saw you and Chisa were so close before, I thought for sure you two would team up for mixed doubles!”
Talk about bringing up the worst topic possible…
“C-close?”
Before he could respond, Shiraishi Ayaha beside him let out a quiet gasp.
Seeing her curiosity spark, Suzuki Yuu quickly addressed the energetic girls:
“Sorry, but I’ll come watch the competition. For now, would you like to order?”
“Oh, yes! Of course!” The Tennis Club president snapped back to reality and waved her hand. “We’ll have five of the caramel puddings from the video! And five cappuccinos!”
“Understood, please wait a moment.” Suzuki Yuu, grateful for the distraction, turned and started up the coffee machine.
A while later, after those customers finished their meal and left, he looked at Shiraishi Ayaha with a somewhat helpless expression—she looked ready to fire off a barrage of questions.
And after Suzuki Yuu explained everything, it took Shiraishi Ayaha quite some time to process it all.
“So… Shiina-san is the one who rents you?”
“Yeah.”
Suzuki Yuu answered, then sighed.
He’d always hoped to keep his school life and the café separate, but it seemed that delicate balance had now been broken.
Still, he kept secret from her the fact that he’d been imprisoned by Shiina Chisa, and everything that followed.
If she ever found out about that, this girl would definitely worry herself sick.
“So that’s how it is… Suzuki, did you get close to her just for the money?”
“I suppose you could say that. But honestly, I wanted to get to know those outstanding girls. There’s a lot to learn from them.”
Suzuki Yuu went on, half-truth, half-lie. He expected Ayaha to press further like everyone else and was already thinking up excuses.
But the girl before him, though a little puzzled, just looked worried in the end and asked softly:
“Isn’t that hard on you?”
The sudden concern caught Suzuki Yuu off guard, and he hurriedly replied:
“It’s alright,” he coughed to cover up, averting his eyes, “at least my life’s pretty well organized.”
“Mm, mm,” Shiraishi Ayaha nodded earnestly. “I know you have big dreams, Suzuki-kun, but make sure you don’t overdo it.”
What is this? A real angel?
Suzuki Yuu grumbled inwardly.
Then, not wanting to continue the topic, he thought of the Tennis Club girls from earlier, looked at Ayaha, and said:
“The sports festival is coming up. When we get off work, want to go practice tennis?”
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