Gotoh Hitori tensed up again.
"It's ready. Bocchi-chan, come hand it to the customers."
From the kitchen, Ijichi Nijika waved at Gotoh Hitori.
"Phew~"
Gotoh Hitori took a deep breath, walked to the back kitchen, picked up the coffee jelly, and came out.
Gotoh Hitori [Smile on my face, look the customer in the eyes, serve them.]
Gotoh Hitori handed the coffee jelly to the customers, then forced out a strained smile, her eyes half-squinted in effort.
"Here... here you go."
The two customers took it. "Thanks."
Gotoh Hitori kept the same expression and looked at Saiki. "H-how... how is it?"
Saiki replied with a blank face.
[Much better than before.]
"Really?"
Gotoh Hitori leaned in close to ask.
[Mm.]
Then Saiki turned his head away, raised a hand to cover his face, and the corners of his mouth couldn't help but rise. "Pfft~"
Gotoh Hitori picked up a mirror to check her own expression, then looked at Saiki, who was still smiling.
She immediately reverted to her usual face T^T and grabbed Saiki's shoulders, shaking him. "Stop laughing at me!!"
[I get it, I get it. Pffthahaha...]
Ijichi Nijika: "Not bad, Bocchi-chan. You finally managed to smile at the customers."
Gotoh Hitori: "Mm~ This counts as progress, right?"
Ijichi Nijika gave a thumbs-up. "Of course! You took one step forward."
"One step."
In Gotoh Hitori's mind, she was hobbling across a desert with a cane, strong winds whipping around her, struggling to move forward inch by inch. Yet she bravely took one step. Just as she let out a breath of relief, the camera zoomed way out.
Gotoh Hitori had only stepped onto the first stair of a heavenly ladder stretching into the sky, with tens of thousands of steps ahead.
Gotoh Hitori o(╥﹏╥)o [Just one step? I thought I'd already taken over a thousand.]
Saiki nodded in agreement.
[Mm, one step at a time! Heh...]
Gotoh Hitori grabbed and stretched Saiki's face ˃ ˄ ˂̥̥ : "Stop laughing already..."
⊂[┐'_'┌]⊃ [Mmph no fair...]
...
More and more customers kept coming in. Surprisingly, most of them were there specifically for the coffee jelly.
Ijichi Nijika rushed back and forth in the kitchen, swaying left and right ㄟ(▔ ▔)ㄏ: "Sis, hasn't the sound engineer arrived yet? This is way too busy."
Ijichi Seika: "She's got something going on and isn't here yet."
"I'm about to burn out."
Saiki watched the growing crowd.
[Is the performance about to start? More and more people are showing up. Right, my coffee jelly...]
Ijichi Seika walked over, rubbing her head in frustration. "Forget it. I'll help you."
Ijichi Nijika's expression changed dramatically as she waved her hands to refuse. "No way. If it's you helping, then forget it..."
Ijichi Seika: "What do you mean by that? Fine, stop complaining. If I say I'll help, I'll help."
Ijichi Seika went in and fiddled around for a while.
"Crack bang crash clatter..."
...
[Why does making coffee jelly turn into this?]
Saiki finished bandaging Ijichi Seika's hand.
Ijichi Seika stubbornly insisted, "I accidentally dropped the tray while carrying it. The floor's too slippery. Couldn't be helped..."
[Then what about my coffee jelly?]
Ijichi Seika gritted her teeth and turned her head away. "Can't you see for yourself?!"
Ijichi Nijika: "Sis, are you okay?!"
Ijichi Seika waved her hand. "Should be fine. Alright, keep going."
"Excuse me, one cake and one coffee jelly."
Another customer came to the counter.
Ijichi Nijika: "Sis, you sit down first. I'll go handle it."
Ijichi Seika watched her little sister's back and stood up. "Fine. Time to help."
[Wait.]
Saiki placed his hand on Ijichi Seika's shoulder.
[Are you here to help... or to make things worse?]
Ijichi Seika frowned slightly. "I'm just not used to this kind of work yet. I'll get the hang of it soon."
[That contradicts what you just said. Ah!! Fine, let me do it.]
(Yare yare, just this once. No next time.)
Saiki went to the kitchen, skillfully picked up the tools, and told them he'd handle the coffee jelly while Ijichi Nijika took care of the cake.
Watching Saiki's practiced movements,
Ijichi Seika nodded with satisfaction. "Mm, looks pretty good. If you do well, I'll promote you from temp to official temp worker."
[Wait, what even is an official temp? Shouldn't it be full-time employee? Not that I want to be one...]
A while later, the counter finally quieted down.
"Phew~"
Ijichi Nijika wiped her sweat and sat on a stool to rest. "Wow! I didn't expect adding desserts would make it this busy. Good thing the performance started again. Otherwise we'd be swamped."
Ijichi Seika waved at Saiki. "Hey! Is my coffee jelly ready yet..."
[So noisy.]
Saiki handed over a cup of soft, wobbly coffee jelly to Ijichi Seika.
Ijichi Nijika: "Kusuo-kun, there's more? Didn't we sell out everything in the fridge?"
[I just made some and put them back in the fridge to chill. But this is the last one.]
Ijichi Seika took a bite, and her eyes sparkled with stars.
(Why do so many people get stars in their eyes? This is a sickness. Needs treatment.)
Ijichi Seika: "Oh wow, I didn't expect you to make it this good, punk. Alright, you're promoted to full-time employee."
[Thanks, but I don't need it.]
Ijichi Seika scooped up a second spoonful, but before she could eat it, someone snatched the spoon.
"Mm~ So good."
Ijichi Seika looked at the black long-haired girl who looked like the girl next door sitting beside her. "So good? When did you get here?"
Ijichi Nijika: "Wow, sound engineer-san, you're finally here!"
The sound engineer smiled. "Ah, I got here a while ago, but I saw you guys were super busy, so I just watched from the side."
(Don't just watch. Come help.)
Ijichi Seika snatched the spoon back. "Next time you come, if you just sit there and don't help, you're fired..."
"Yes..."
...
The band's performance began, and the crowd gathered below the stage cheering.
The ordering counter finally became quiet.
Yamada Ryo: "Good work."
Ijichi Nijika: "No one needed at the front anymore?"
"The manager took over. She said today's band is really popular and told me to learn properly."
Ijichi Nijika nodded in agreement. "My sister is exactly that kind of person. She's the super-duper-duper-duper-duper... tsundere type, more or less."
"Too many 'dupers'."
(And she's also a total little-sister-con.)
Yamada Ryo looked left and right. "Where's Saiki?"
Ijichi Seika glanced around front and back. "He was just here..."
...
On the other side
[Who are you? What do you want with me? You've been following me all day.]
Saiki looked at the man who had appeared in front of him. He had wings and was floating in the air. The man looked like an extraordinary talent: distinguished appearance, handsome and dashing, elegant and refined, outstanding in every way. Clearly not an ordinary person.
Even though white light radiated from his entire body, Saiki could still clearly see his features.
The other party spoke. "I'm the author. I just came to check on how you're doing and to celebrate the novel reaching Chapter 100."
[What do you mean? Novel? Are you ending it...]
"No, not yet. There are still half the characters who haven't appeared. It'll continue for a while longer. See you."
With that, the man with sword-like brows and starry eyes vanished.
Saiki watched the person disappear.
[Wait, who the heck was that!!!]
Author's note: Please give lots of ratings, dear readers.