Miss Heir wasn't very kind to me.

Chapter 128, Section 4: "The Strange Miss Wants ○○"

A free meal?!

The word flashed through her mind, and before Masumi could react, a dazzling honey-gold color suddenly appeared in a corner of her vision.

"To dare to taste coffee made by Masumi without paying..." Kurokawa Mio's expression turned cold. "Unforgivable!"

Her anger level skyrocketed.

Masumi thought that if this scene were in an anime, she would probably have a face with an angry symbol on her forehead and her golden hair wriggling like a snake.

However, Kurokawa looks frightening enough right now.

The object in his hand gleamed under the fluorescent light; it was a toy knife, but it seemed a little too realistic.

Faced with her imposing aura, the strange man trembled with fear, waving his hands incessantly in front of his face.

"Wait! I don't mean to eat for free. If possible, please let me pay in another way!"

"That's pretty much it."

Kurokawa Mio nodded expressionlessly, casually uttering those words as if nothing had happened. Even the realistic toy knife in her hand lost its sharp edge, turning into an ordinary plastic toy knife that didn't reflect light.

"Um...excuse me, which one of you is the manager?" the strange man asked in a weak voice.

"I'm."

Rinne stepped forward, walked straight to the opposite side of her, pulled out a chair, and sat down.

"Wow, so young." She was slightly surprised, then murmured to herself, "I saw photos of her on Instagram before and thought she was just a shop assistant. Could she have inherited the family business?"

Although the question was a bit abrupt, it wasn't entirely inappropriate, so Rinne calmly replied, "The current store manager is unwell, and I am his designated successor, temporarily serving as the acting store manager."

"That barista over there is the young owner of the shop."

"Hello, I am Miyazawa."

Masumi nodded in acknowledgment to the gaze that fell upon her.

"Hello, Mr. Miyazawa."

The strange man bowed politely, then his gaze darted back and forth between Masumi and Rinne before he tentatively asked, "Are you two a couple?"

"No!" Kurokawa Mio answered for the two of them first.

"Oh, I see. It's a coffee shop run by a husband and wife... Wait! My apologies! I won't ask any more questions, please spare my life!"

The blade suddenly held against his neck caused the strange man to tremble and let out a mournful cry.

Kurokawa Mio silently moved the fruit knife away.

"Pay the bill and leave quickly." She gave the guests a disdainful look as she saw them off.

"By the way, what's the other way of paying?"

"Ah! Yes." The strange man straightened his back as if his name had been called. "If possible, please let me use something else instead."

“Other things…” Masumi hesitated, “Leaves? Lottery tickets? Fish you caught yourself?”

Recently, due to the steady increase in customer traffic at coffee shops, this is not the first time that customers have been seen dining and dashing. These are items that customers previously used to pay for their meals.

"neither."

She shook her head, her eyes gleaming with an eerie light—even though she was wearing sunglasses, Masumi had that feeling.

"It's me."

Before the three people in front of him could react, the strange man continued talking to himself:
"Don't worry, this isn't the first time I've done this. I'm very experienced. I've done it the same way in every store I've been to, and everyone has been very satisfied."

She smiled gently.

"Please don't use that ambiguous language."

Masumi wasn't so easily misled; she frowned and said, "You want to wash dishes to pay off your debt?"

"of course not!"

The strange man said excitedly, then ripped off his mask and sunglasses, revealing the face of a fair-skinned young woman.

It was the kind of paleness that comes from being cooped up at home for a long time without seeing the sun, and because of the pale skin, the dark circles under the eyes were particularly noticeable, making the person look quite haggard.

However, her facial features are not bad, and with careful dressing up, she can be at least a 6 or 7 out of 10.

Could it be... that it really is the direction I'm trying to avoid thinking in the wrong way?
Rinne had lost patience for conversation. "Do you have a credit card?"

"ICOCA card (transportation card)...is that okay?"

The three people looked as if they were watching a rare animal.

"Indeed, let me use what I'm best at instead." She took a breath and tilted her head in confusion. "Wait, don't you all recognize me?"

"I don't know you." Masumi shook her head. "Are you an underground idol?"

It's not a vulgar stereotype. When he played in a band in Tokyo, he also performed in livehouses and underground idol shows. Some things are judged only after someone does them.

That industry is even harsher than that of bands. In order to survive, one has to accept even deeper exploitation from the operators, so all sorts of extreme business laws and personalities emerge one after another.

"An idol? Is he saying I'm cute? Ugh!" The quirky girl blushed and pressed her cheek.

"Be serious," Kurokawa said, frowning and giving a sharp look.

“Okay!” The girl, who had straightened up, cleared her throat and slowly said, “To put it simply, I would like to conduct an interview about this coffee shop.”

"Interview?"

Upon hearing this, Masumi looked the girl in front of her up and down with a serious, evaluative expression.

"Are you a magazine reporter for the publishing house?"

"Not quite, but pretty much."

The eccentric girl gave an ambiguous smile and said in a formal tone, "Let me introduce myself. My name is Shiratori Hitomi, and I am a freelance writer, mainly focusing on food."

"So you've been using this identity to freeload all this time?" Kurokawa Mio asked, uninterested.

"It's a win-win deal, not a free lunch!" In her familiar territory, facing the strong-willed Kurokawa Mio, the girl who called herself "Shiratori Hitomi" finally regained some confidence.

"Ah, this is my Instagram account. After all, the payment cycle for royalties from publishing houses is too long, so I also do some self-media content to make a living."

The three people focused their attention on the screen of her phone, which she had shown. It was a blogger named "Shiratori_Hitomi" with 26,000 followers. Masumi casually swiped through it. Yes, it was a real page, not a photo.

The latest post features a photo of a short girl with pigtails holding a bowl of fried noodles, which Masumi finds strangely familiar.

“Hanshan Temple…” Rinne pondered, resting her chin on her finger. “Isn’t this Ms. Nanjo’s shop?”

"Oh, you two know each other?"

After a slight expression of surprise, Shiratori smirked smugly, "How about it? This deal is pretty good, isn't it? With my recommendation, this coffee shop is sure to become a viral sensation."

"You've almost eaten 10,000 yen worth of food, and you're just going to take a picture and call it a day?" Masumi wasn't buying it. "Besides, you have 20,000 followers, not 200,000. How can you expect to generate that much traffic?"

"Of course, it's not just because of my account." She wasn't discouraged by the slights she received because of her popularity, which shows that she's a mature member of society.

"Actually, I was commissioned by the Kobe Tourism Federation to do a feature on coffee shops in Kobe, which will be published in a very famous food magazine."

"If you'd like, I'd like to use this store as a starting point for my presentation."

"How about it? This is a big project. That magazine has a huge circulation nationwide, and there will definitely be many gourmets coming to see it."

“That sounds very tempting.” Masumi nodded. “However… I have a few more questions to ask.”

"Just ask."

Why our store?

"If this is such a rare opportunity, then the 9070 yen meal price seems a bit disproportionate to its value."

"Uh, really stingy..." Shiratori muttered to himself, but after being glared at fiercely by Kurokawa Mio, he immediately replied seriously, "Ah, of course it's not just to pay off the debt, but because I genuinely approve of the quality of this restaurant."

"First of all, as a coffee shop, the coffee here is impeccable. It tastes exactly like the coffee I had at 'Streamer' in Tokyo last month, and it's definitely among the best in the country."

After making that comment, she suddenly looked at Masumi:
"By the way, you're a barista, you must know what a 'Streamer' is, right?"

"Their head barista was the champion of the island-wide coffee competition last year, and he also participated in the World Barista Championship in June and won the bronze medal."

"I know." Masumi nodded calmly.

Not only did he know, but he also worked there for nearly four years.

Moreover, the head barista was his mentor, just like Ms. Shionji. He was a talented junior who was generous with his guidance and taught him his coffee brewing skills almost without reservation.

Unaware of the details, Shiratori continued to explain, "And then there are the desserts, the cafes that sell wagashi (Japanese sweets). I was looking for a host in Kinshicho, Tokyo... when I was researching, I stumbled upon a cafe called 'LycoReco.'"

"In my opinion, this shop's wagashi is just as good as that shop's, and even better."

"Finally, there were two very beautiful female staff members, so beautiful that they could be described as a feast for the eyes. The barista was also a handsome man. Delicious food paired with beautiful women, it had all the elements to be popular."

"For all these reasons, the coffee, the food, and the staff are all impeccable."

"This is such a hidden gem of a restaurant, even if it weren't for paying for the meal, I would still want to recommend it to others!"

She was probably getting excited, and she was jumping around on the chair, unable to contain her joy.

“Thank you for your recognition of our store.” Masumi remained calm and slowly began to speak: “Well then, I only have one last question.”

"Excuse me."

"I've heard about that magazine too. It has very high requirements for its contributors. Although Ms. Shiratori's resume is also excellent, however..."

He stopped there, but Shiratori understood what he meant. He then scratched his ear awkwardly and said, "Well, actually, the Kobe City Tourism Federation didn't just send me an invitation."

"Multiple people co-authored the article?" Rinne asked.

"More or less," she said, her eyes darting around. "But in the end, only one person will be chosen."

Multiple authors contribute, but only one person is selected in the end… Masumi squinted her eyes in thought. Wait, isn’t that just like a writing contest award in a paperback magazine?

"So, this is a call for submissions from the magazine? And it's not a commission for you to conduct an exclusive interview?"

"Haha, that seems to be a common saying, but..."

Masumi and Rinne began clearing the tableware. It turned out that there was such an obvious sign of losing interest. Shiratori looked dumbfounded and gained a new life experience from this.

"Wait, please, give me a chance!"

"I'm sure I can write the excellent article that gets selected, and then make this shop a popular coffee shop!"

(End of this chapter)