Chapter 52: At Ease

Seika, sitting on the side, looked at the 'teammates' her younger sister had brought in. She felt mentally exhausted just looking at them for Nijika.

She began to doubt if they could truly lessen her sister's burden, or if they were, in fact, increasing it.

With such doubts, and to avoid disturbing Nijika's training of the newcomers, she put away her laptop and walked towards the most troublesome presence in the store.

Ishikawa Hayato, sitting at the front desk and looking towards the bar, didn't panic at all when he saw Seika approaching. Instead, he cheerfully extended a hand to greet her.

"Yo, Manager. Perfect timing. Come teach me what to do."

Seika, who had originally approached with this intention, nodded.

"Mm."

...

"...Tear off the stub and put it in here. Give the main ticket and drink voucher to the customer..."

Seika stood outside the front desk, leaning on the table with one hand, pointing to several drawers under the table, explaining to Ishikawa Hayato how to categorize various items.

Contrary to her seemingly lazy and inarticulate appearance, Seika was quite serious when teaching people.

However, after speaking for a while, she noticed that Ishikawa Hayato, sitting at the front desk, wasn't paying attention. He was tilting his head as if listening to the commotion nearby.

Seika straightened up and turned her head to look. Inside the adjacent bar, her sister was teaching the pink-haired girl from the band the locations of the drinks.

Seika, who had initially thought Ishikawa Hayato harbored improper thoughts about her sister, raised her voice and asked him discontentedly,

"Hey, are you listening?"

"Yes, I'm listening to everything the Manager says."

Facing her accusation, Ishikawa Hayato replied earnestly and unhurriedly.

Seika couldn't do anything about his blunt and sincere demeanor. She crossed her arms and, as if looking for trouble, asked him,

"Then what were you distracted thinking about just now?"

Ishikawa Hayato listened to the sound from the adjacent bar.

Nijika's panicked cries of "Eh, eh, eh, where did you get that from?" came from that direction.

Guessing the situation over there, he smiled knowingly, then said to Seika,

"Thinking about Bocchi."

Hearing that nickname, Seika, who occasionally overheard their conversations, knew who he was referring to.

For a moment, she was choked by the young man's bold words and couldn't speak.

She turned to look aside, her gaze also drawn by Hitori's impromptu singing and playing, using drink locations as lyrics.

She listened to the playing, momentarily lost in thought, then, after some reflection, said as if to herself,

"She plays well, probably at a professional level."

As she spoke, she couldn't help but recall the girl's awe-inspiring solo in the fruit box that day.

And seeing the girl's timid demeanor and strange behavior these past two days, she had forgotten how cool the girl was back then... Actually, she wasn't that cool back then either.

But Hitori was quickly stopped by Nijika.

Nijika seemed startled by the sudden playing and hurriedly stopped Hitori.

Seika watched her sister and the girl pulling and tugging at each other, then, after a moment of silence, walked over and delivered a hand chop to her noisy sister's head.

Amidst Nijika's pitiful cries of "Why me?" as she clutched her head, Seika walked back.

Ishikawa Hayato, who had been listening to the commotion over there, chuckled as he watched Seika return.

"Even such a cute sister gets hit. This older sister is being unreasonable, isn't she?"

Seika completely ignored his comment and directly changed the subject.

"Ishikawa, you seem quite attentive to Bocchi-chan. Do you like her?"

Her lazy eyes held a hint of teasing, as if she had found Ishikawa Hayato's weakness, trying to gain the upper hand in their conversation.

But Ishikawa Hayato didn't have his usual playful demeanor. After serious thought, he replied,

"If it's the romantic kind, probably not for now. But..."

He listened to Nijika's voice teaching Hitori nearby, and Hitori's soft responses, and continued,

"I promised to help her, so I have to take responsibility."

Seika, somewhat embarrassed by Ishikawa Hayato's straightforward words, shifted her gaze from him and said with a slightly unsteady voice,

"That's quite unexpected. You're a gentle person after all."

Ishikawa Hayato also retracted his gaze, inadvertently noticing the two-person cleaning team.

He watched Kita and Ryo gradually appear in his line of sight.

They were mopping the floor, and Kita was tilting her head, constantly opening and closing her mouth, saying something, but he couldn't see Ryo's reaction from where he was.

But he guessed she was probably just casually agreeing.

"No, I'm not a gentle person."

Ishikawa Hayato replied to Seika, his voice like a heavy stone falling...

Having completely lost the conversational upper hand, and after checking Ishikawa Hayato's familiarity with the work procedures, finding that Ishikawa Hayato had indeed memorized all the procedures.

Seika, filled with a sense of defeat, suddenly heard a voice that saved her from her misery.

"Hello, good morning~"

The person said 'good morning' in a very natural tone at this evening hour.

Hearing this familiar tone and voice, Seika immediately knew who had arrived.

Turning her head, Seika saw PA-san descending the stairs.

Today, as always, she was wearing a v-neck dress with a loose, homey cardigan over it.

Her eyes were half-closed, one hand covering her yawning mouth, the other holding onto the staircase.

Her long black hair, with purple highlights dyed underneath, a lip piercing, and an ear cuff, added a touch of wildness to this lazy woman of unknown age, who still retained some girlish sweetness.

PA-san looked at the people around the venue and said with a smile,

"It's quite lively today."

"You're late again..."

Seika was happy to have an excuse to legitimately walk away from Ishikawa Hayato, but at the same time, she sighed at this person's laziness.

"Hehe, yesterday there was an interesting game, and I accidentally..."

As she spoke, she shifted her gaze as if avoiding something, waving to Ishikawa Hayato, who was sitting at the front desk.

"Ah, is the young man in charge of the front desk?"

She smiled with narrowed eyes and said cheerfully, "He'll definitely attract a lot of girls. It's going to get busy later."

Hearing her say that, Ishikawa Hayato played along, leaning back in his chair in a dashing and somewhat cool pose, extending his hand, and making a gun gesture at her.

"Pew~"

With his sound, PA-san also cooperatively clutched her chest and teased Seika beside her,

"What should I do? I'm smitten with the young man at your front desk."

Seika ignored her joke and said in a cold voice,

"Go to work."

"Okay~"

PA-san replied lightly and walked towards the inner area, but then started chatting with Kita, who was already inside.

Ishikawa Hayato watched the scene and also walked out from behind the front desk.

He looked towards the adjacent bar.

Inside the bar, Hitori stood by the counter, her eyes fixed forward, constantly nodding her head, as if memorizing items one by one.

Nijika noticed Ishikawa Hayato's gaze, walked out from the bar, and said in a very cheerful tone,

"Hayato-kun looks very relaxed."

"Of course, for a pervert, there's nothing he can't do."

Ishikawa Hayato's single sentence made Nijika freeze, because she inexplicably felt that the remark was deeply unsettling. She averted her gaze, laughed awkwardly, and dared not think further.

At this moment, Kita, who had been rushing to finish her tasks, was almost done. Ryo walked over with a mop and stood beside Nijika.

She said with an unruffled voice,

"It's gotten easier."

"That's because Ryo has been slacking off and letting Kita-chan do everything!"

Nijika raised her voice in exasperation, but then noticed Hitori still diligently memorizing the locations of various drinks inside the bar, and lowered her voice again.

Ishikawa Hayato chuckled contentedly as he listened to the bickering of the childhood friends.

Then his gaze fell upon PA-san, who had started talking extensively about skincare and cosmetics with Kita.

But suddenly.

He saw PA-san lean towards Kita and sniff her head.

"Kita smells very nice."

Kita smiled brightly and said very happily,

"Thank you very much, this is..."

Ishikawa Hayato no longer listened to what Kita said next. He fell silent, looking at the ground with a defeated expression.

He hesitated, then turned his gaze sideways.

And at some unknown point, Nijika, whose cowlick was spinning wildly and whose face held a hint of fear, was looking at him with a wary expression.

"Nijika..."

Nijika seemed to guess what he was about to say and called out decisively,

"No, absolutely not!"

Ishikawa Hayato's gaze shifted again, and Ryo, as if expecting it, took out her phone, which displayed '110' on the dial screen.

Immediately, Ishikawa Hayato deflated like a leaky balloon, slumping into the corner, silently shedding tears.

"I... I actually lost in perversion. My perversion..."

At this moment, Seika also noticed the situation. She walked over fiercely, hands on her hips.

"If you sexually harass someone, your salary will be completely docked!"

Ishikawa Hayato instantly stood up and saluted.

"Sorry, sir!"

And Kita, who had been observing the situation from afar, slowly breathed a sigh of relief after seeing this development.

However, when she thought about having to explain the situation to Ishikawa Hayato later, her heart tightened again.