"Three rabbit dango, one cup of water... Do you want to order anything else?"
At Rabbit House, Anon asked her friends while ordering.
"No need, and besides, aren't you going to eat a rabbit dango, Anon?"
"I, I don't have much of an appetite today."
Anon said with an 'ahaha' dry laugh.
Although rabbit dango isn't expensive—a regular one only costs 495 yen—the girl had been a bit extravagant recently; she gritted her teeth and bought high-end cosmetics she had long coveted. Ms. Anon's wallet was already in shambles, and with several days left until her allowance day, she had to be careful with the last two Noguchi Hideyo bills she had.
The Traffic Light Trio exchanged glances, and Eri smiled and said: "Then let us treat you to your share, Anon. We can't really let you pay for everything alone."
They reached an agreement without even discussing it; is this the tacit understanding between members of a girl band?
"E, Eri!"
Anon was moved to tears: "Then I will..."
"Please give Anon a sundae."
Eri said to the waitress girl responsible for taking orders.
"Eh? No need, no need, a rabbit dango is fine!"
Anon said hurriedly.
A sundae (medium size) at Rabbit House is 1400 yen, which is much more expensive than their signature rabbit dango.
"There are three of us here, so the portion for returning the favor should be a bit larger, right."
Eri said with a smile.
No, no, no, the main thing is that the sundaes here aren't as delicious as the rabbit dango!
Anon screamed in her heart.
But facing the manager—or was it the manager?—who was already manually assembling the sundae behind the counter... in short, the woman who was staring at them with an intense gaze, Anon really couldn't say 'your sundae tastes terrible' to refuse.
"Our shop recently launched a 'Rabbit dango sundae.' Although the price is 294 yen more expensive than a regular sundae, it includes a rabbit dango inside. Would you like to try it?"
At this moment, the waitress girl said loudly.
"Okay, I'll take that!"
Anon said immediately.
"Okay, I've got it."
The waitress girl noted down her order.
"...Anon is truly loyal to her desires."
Eri said with a wry smile.
"I'll pay for the extra money myself."
Anon said happily.
"That's not what I meant... Never mind."
Eri sighed.
"Then for drinks..."
The waitress girl continued to ask.
""No need!""
Before she could finish, Anon and the Traffic Light Trio said in unison.
"Actually... no, it's nothing. I understand."
The waitress girl, with honey-colored long hair and a stature that looked like a school idol level, showed a somewhat helpless wry smile. She seemed troubled by the notorious reputation of Rabbit House's drinks, but she didn't say anything more, just said in a very formulaic way: " If there are no other orders to add, I will go and prepare them for you."
"Yes, thank you."
Anon nodded and watched her leave.
"That girl is very cute, right."
Mai said softly.
"Mai is also very cute."
Anon turned her head, her words sweet.
"No, no, no, I don't have the nerve to be compared to that girl. If this were an anime, and Anon and that girl were the protagonists, I would just be a background character."
Mai waved her hand dismissively.
"It's not that tragic; maybe you could snag a best friend role or something."
Kanako chimed in from the side.
"You don't have to be that humble, do you?"
Anon said with a laugh.
"It's not being humble. Anon, you might not have noticed, but people like you and that girl who are naturally beautiful seem to come with a Kirakira filter; you're just different from ordinary people!"
Mai said seriously, perhaps even with a bit of fanaticism: " And I don't know if it's an illusion, but when Anon first transferred over, she didn't have that filter, but after a few days, she was completely different, starting to sparkle!"
"Do, do I?"
Anon was taken aback by her attitude.
Eri said with hidden meaning: " 'Girls in love are the most radiant'—the one who took Anon to tour the school, I remember it was that senior in the second year..."
"That's not it at all!"
Anon felt her scalp tingle. She had clearly come to treat them to get past this topic, but somehow it circled back. Is love the only topic left for girls this age!
"Just kidding."
Eri lowered her eyes: "People will definitely feel uncomfortable when they arrive in a strange place. Anon was probably just unfamiliar with Sobu High School at first, so she was a bit worried. After the knot in her heart is untied, she will naturally radiate her own charm."
"Eri~"
Anon rubbed against her like a puppy: "You're the one who understands me~"
At the same time, the pink-haired girl felt a sudden realization in her heart: Come to think of it, she really hadn't worried about escaping from London for a while now.
After all, compared to encountering dangerous supernatural events, the small matter of life not going smoothly in a foreign land didn't seem like anything particularly worth worrying about... although she would still subconsciously dodge classmates from middle school if she met them.
"Your rabbit dango and rabbit dango sundae."
At this moment, the waitress girl brought the desserts they ordered to the table, then hugged the tray to her chest and bowed slightly: "Please enjoy."
After speaking, she fluttered away like a butterfly.
"Come to think of it, even if the boys in our class liked rabbit dango before, they wouldn't come to Rabbit House much because of some inexplicable 'manliness' that 'real men shouldn't love sweets.' At most, they would sneakily ask their family members to bring them some."
After watching her back, Mai smirked and said mysteriously: " But after this girl became a waitress, the number of times the boys in the class visited increased a lot."
"Boys are just like that,"
Kanako leaned back carelessly on the booth sofa: "No matter how old they are, they all like this kind of 16-18-year-old JK!"
"You yourself are a 16-18-year-old JK, aren't you."
Anon retorted: "And if I remember correctly, didn't Rabbit House have a waitress before? That red-haired one..."
"As for that girl, how should I put it... although she was also very cute, she didn't have that sparkling feeling like Anon and the current waitress lady. She was more like the kind of sunny, cheerful, popular girl that exists in daily life."
Mai scratched her head, not knowing how to describe it: "And the times that girl appeared were always a bit erratic. As expected, the current waitress lady is more popular."
Looks like the evaluation is very subtle, Ms. Kita.
Because of Asakura, Anon had been coming to Rabbit House, so she actually knew Kita Ikuyo. While thinking this in her heart, she scooped a large spoonful of the sundae, stuffed it into her mouth with an 'awoo,' and then her expression slumped.
Although the cream and ice cream were delicious, and the sweet and sour strawberries used for garnish were also great, and the rabbit dango was the best of the best, after putting them all together in a super-fusion sundae, it didn't taste as good as eating the rabbit dango alone.
If I had to describe it, it's really like a pair of star-crossed lovers...
"Looks like the evaluation is very subtle, that Ikuyo."
At the counter, Momoka, who had been listening to the guests' chat with her ears pricked up, muttered softly.
"Because Ms. Kita is always very busy."
After cleaning up the messy cups and plates of another table of guests who had finished eating, Shiina said to her nonchalantly: " Also, eavesdropping on guests is not good, Manager."
"This is also one of the few pleasures of being a manager. And it's also an unspoken industry rule, a rule!"
Momoka took out a glass to wipe, saying seriously: "Look at those RPG games, when the protagonist group needs to inquire about information, don't they all go to the tavern owner!"
"Isn't it a bit strange to apply experience from games to reality?"
Shiina questioned.
"Indeed, after all, in reality, you can't just run into someone's house and rummage through cabinets to find valuables and G."
"G?"
"It's just money, like Gold or Gil."
"Isn't that behavior generally called burglary?"
Shiina, who doesn't play games much, was speechless: "Is the character the Manager is playing a thief?"
"No, it's a hero saving the world!"
Momoka carefully placed the glass on the shelf, then struck a dramatic pose and said.
"Is a world with such terrible public security really worth saving..."
Shiina sighed: "Also, if possible, can I be the one to make the sundaes when customers order them later..."
"Shiina, do you not trust my skills?"
"Yes."
"Instant answer?!"
"I don't trust them at all."
"Follow-up attack?!"
"Because everything the Manager makes tastes terrible."
"It, it's not that bad, is it..."
"Anyway, it's not something qualified to be sold in the shop."
Shiina said: "Although you use the shortcut of 'putting a rabbit dango in the sundae' to barely salvage some reputation through the power of the rabbit dango, overall, there are still mostly negative reviews."
"Ugh?!"
Momoka slumped over the bar, deeply wounded: "You don't have to go that far... Come to think of it, have you become sharp-tongued, Shiina? You looked so gentle and lovely when you first started working at the shop..."
"That's because the Manager is too unreliable,"
Shiina, who actually has a bit of a little devil attribute but is completely unaware of it, said: "Please pull yourself together."
"...I know."
Momoka stared at Shiina and suddenly said.
"Good to know."
Shiina nodded and was about to continue cleaning the shop—although it was already very clean, any shop dealing with food wouldn't mind cleaning—when she heard Momoka say.
"Are you performing as a good girl in front of him because you were brought here by the boss earlier?"
"Wha—"
Shiina's face turned red instantly.
"I get it, I get it."
Momoka said happily: "Boys all like gentle and cute girls, so it's normal to pretend to be a good girl in front of... um, boys you care about~"
"That's not the case, Asakura-san and I are just ordinary friends."
Shiina stiffened her neck and retorted with a straight face.
"That may be so, but actually, the boss's kinks are—"
Momoka acted mysterious.
"..."
Although Shiina knew this person was likely just fishing, the curiosity in her heart and her secret feelings for someone made her unable to help but listen secretly.
Looking at the girl who had 'I don't care' written all over her face, but whose every action and occasional glance clearly showed she was pricking up her ears to listen, Momoka finally couldn't help but giggle.
"...Manager, if you don't restrain yourself."
Although Shiina initially pretended not to care, because Momoka was laughing too exaggeratedly, to the point where the Traffic Light Trio and Anon, who were chatting just now, all looked over, her pretty face couldn't help but feel a bit embarrassed.
"If what?"
Completely unconcerned by the soft girl's threat, Momoka wiped the tears of laughter from the corner of her eyes and continued to wink at her.
"Then I'll tell Asakura-san about how three days ago, because you got drunk late at night, you ran to his room to sleep and ended up vomiting on his bed."
The girl expressionlessly took out her phone from the pocket of her maid uniform skirt: "Using Line, right now, right here."
"It, it was just a joke, no need to be so serious."
Now it was Momoka's turn to feel awkward.
She didn't know why she had run to Asakura's bed when she was drunk; it was probably just that at that time, when she was out of her mind, she simply thought the smell of his bed was nice.
"At that time, you actually stuffed the vomit-stained sheets directly into the laundry, I almost fainted when I saw it."
Shiina sighed.
"I, I added detergent..."
Momoka tried hard to defend herself.
"That's not the issue!"
Shiina's willow eyebrows arched in anger; it seems Momoka's poor performance in housework has greatly lowered her evaluation in Shiina's eyes.
"Gulp..."
Momoka made a sound like a squashed frog.
"Why would Asakura-san hire the Manager to be the manager?"
Shiina looked a bit puzzled.
"Of course it's because I have the responsibility and style of an adult woman!"
Momoka said, puffing out her chest.
"..."
"What's with that look of zero trust?!"
"Trust is earned through daily actions."
"Aren't I very reliable! Believe Me!"
"Baloney."
"Eh? What does that mean? It sounds kind of cute..."
Momoka, who dropped out of high school, looked blank.
"Yeah, right."
"..."