Miss Heir wasn't very kind to me.

Chapter 83. "Review of the Competition"

The coffee machine was much heavier than Masumi had imagined.

The raised edges made his palms red. After placing the machine steadily in front of the open-air stall, he breathed a sigh of relief and rubbed his overused arm muscles.

A sweet fragrance hits my face, and a cool touch suddenly comes to my cheek——

A hand holding a handkerchief touched Masumi's face.

Her long, lustrous honey-gold hair cascaded down from her shoulders like a waterfall, and in the midday sun, it was given a noble champagne color.

"Thank you for your hard work, Masumi. Let me wipe your sweat off."

A gentle curve appeared at the corner of Kurokawa Mio's lips.

"Thank you, I'll just do it myself."

Masumi turned his head to avoid her too close breath, took the handkerchief from her hand and wiped the thin sweat from his face.

While wiping his forehead, Kurokawa Mio carefully helped him lift his bangs that were wet with sweat.

Mami sighed from the side:

"There are so many tourists today. It's nothing compared to Monday."

She tucked her sandaled feet into the shade of the awning, hiding the gleam from her pearls and silver jewelry.

Saturday, Amagi Seaside Theme Park.

The food court at the Sea House review competition site has awnings connected into colorful waves, and the lively atmosphere is like a festival for B-level food.

Fireworks exploded in the sky above our heads, and the crowds of people pouring in from the gate made the asphalt ground tremble slightly.

It happened to be a holiday, and groups of students, or entire communities were traveling together. Young couples, mothers with children, families, and the bustling crowds of tourists made the already hot summer air even hotter.

It is hard to imagine that just a year ago, this amusement park was on the verge of bankruptcy, struggling to handle the 50 visitors.

Asami sighed, "This is almost as old as Ariake 3-chome."

"It's not that exaggerated yet." Masumi shook his head. "If the population of Kobe were to increase tenfold, it would probably be about the same size."

(Note: Tokyo Big Sight, located in Ariake 1400-chome, has approximately million visitors annually.)
Kurokawa Mio carefully fixed Masumi's bangs and tilted her head to ask, "Ms. Asami, have you been to Ariake?"

"Yeah." Asami nodded. "Because the comic market is held there."

Comic Market is the largest doujinshi sale in Japan and even in the world. It can be called the holy war of otakus. Since the venue was moved to the newly built Tokyo Big Sight in 96, it has been held here regularly ever since.

"Ms. Mio, you're from Tokyo, right? Have you ever been there?"

"No, but my apartment is in Jiangdong, so it's pretty close."

"Is the whole family there?"

"It's just me, my family lives in Sumida." Kurokawa replied.

"Huh? So Miss Mio is an old Tokyoite."

"Who is the old Tokyo person?" Masumi interrupted.

"No way, Masumi-kun." Asami teased, "Didn't you spend five years in Tokyo? You don't even know this."

"I've heard a little bit about it, but I didn't take it seriously." Masumi thought for a moment and said, "Yamate and Shitamachi?"

"That's right." Asami nodded, crossing her arms.

"You really understand, Masumi-kun."

Yamate refers to the samurai residences built on the higher terraces of Edo Castle by Tokugawa Ieyasu after he conquered the world. They were called "Yamanote" and were probably the areas of Minato, Shibuya, Shinjuku, and Chiyoda in present-day Tokyo.

Shitamachi was the civilian area of ​​Edo Castle, including Asakusa, Oshiage, etc. Old Tokyo people refer to the people of Shitamachi.

"As a citizen of Shiga Prefecture, you know quite a bit about these things," Masumi said calmly.

"I just heard it from my classmates in Tokyo." Asami smiled narrowly. "Yamate Shitamachi and the like, actually, few people talk about it anymore, right? Kyoto people are more exaggerated in this regard."

"I once knew a girl from Kyoto who said her ancestors were all born and raised in Kamigyo Ward. At a party, a boy at the next table introduced himself as a Kyoto native."

"The girl asked him which district he was in. When she heard it was Yamashina, she politely replied and then ignored him. She was quite cold."

"After the party, I couldn't help but ask her the reason out of curiosity. Guess what the girl said?"

"I can't guess." Masumi shook his head and sighed, "Don't keep me in suspense."

Mami cleared her throat, checked her throat condition, and then imitated the girl's tone perfectly:

"—Huh? Yamashina Ward? I've never heard of it. Isn't it in Shiga? Or was it recently incorporated into Kyoto?"

After she finished speaking, she explained, "It seems that in the eyes of Kyoto people, only those who were born and raised in the old third district since their grandfather's generation can be considered Kyoto people, and the others can only be considered half Kyoto people."

"In her opinion, a marginal place like Yamashina District is not as well-identified as Uji."

"Are people in Kyoto really that exaggerated?"

"Probably not entirely, but isn't it interesting?" Asami said with a smile, "It's rare to see a Kyoto person who fits the stereotype so well."

"No, no, it should be said that only when such people appear will corresponding stereotypes arise," she concluded.

While Mami was talking about the people of Kyoto, the area suddenly became noisy.

"……Hey."

Someone speaking into a megaphone interrupted their small talk.

"Thank you very much for coming to apply for our park project..."

Masumi looked towards the source of the voice. It was a young man in a neat suit. He must be the manager who brought this seaside theme park back to life. He was standing on a step stool, holding a megaphone, and making a statement about the review of today's competition.

"...at the competition...we will also have judges to give scores..."

"Well, I look forward to seeing your wonderful performances."

After saying a few words of encouragement, he left with a young woman dressed as a secretary, and his back disappeared into the food court.

Masumi tilted his head and met Rin's gaze.

"Get ready to open for business."

"Ah."

Because the stall is open today, not many people are needed. According to Rin's plan, only she, Masumi and Asami will be enough. Masumi will be responsible for making coffee, and she will help out on the side, or take turns with Asami to attract customers.

But when Masumi is around, Kurokawa Mio will certainly not be absent.

"In that case, please trouble Mio and Mami-san to go and solicit customers together."

Rin placed the prepared dessert on the table and whispered to Kurokawa Mio.

"But I'd rather work with Masumi."

Rinne asked calmly, "Then can Mio make coffee?"

"..."

Kurokawa Mio pursed her lips, squinted her eyes and stared at Masumi and Rin for a while, then turned her face away reluctantly and walked into the food street with Asami.

"Welcome to Fanxing! Would you like a refreshing cup of coffee? If coffee isn't your thing, we also have drinks like melon soda."

“We also have Japanese confectionery, which is delicious and low in calories!”

Asami was shouting loudly in the street, and Kurokawa Mio responded weakly, looking unhappy.

Maybe because the park has just opened, there are few customers.

"—Hey, you two!"

Suddenly, a loud voice rang out from the stall across the street: "That way of soliciting customers is totally unacceptable."

The person speaking to the two of them was a petite girl. Mami estimated that she was only about 1.4 meters tall. An elementary school student? Or perhaps a middle school student with underdeveloped growth?
"Are you talking to us?" Asami pointed at herself curiously.

"of course."

The girl nodded vigorously. She was a very cute child. Her black hair swayed as if to cover her delicate head, and was tied into two ponytails on both sides.

Before she could continue speaking, the sky in front of her was suddenly blocked by a tall shadow.

"What a cute little girl!" Asami said this with a smile on her face. She walked up to her, leaned down slightly, and stroked the girl's head.

"How old are you? Are you still in elementary school? You're so young and you're already helping your family set up a stall." As she said that, she glanced behind the girl and saw a stall selling fried noodles.

"What, what little kid! How rude! I'm a college student!" The girl pushed Mami's hand away with an angry expression: "Don't touch my head!"

"And those exaggerated basketball-like breasts, swaying back and forth, are so annoying! They're completely blocking my view, get out of the way!"

"College students? Really?" Mami obviously didn't believe it.

"It's not good to lie, kid."

She smiled like the older sister next door coaxing a child.

"How rude! You actually questioned my identity!"

The girl gritted her teeth, an aggressive and shocking aura bursting out from her small body. "I'm a serious college student! In the Faculty of Literature at Kobe University! I'm nothing like a big-breasted, brainless woman like you!"

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry, Shen Dasheng kid, I looked down on you. I'm very sorry."

Asami's smile remained undimmed. She didn't find the girl's words offensive at all. After all, she was a cyber boxer who had argued with people for hundreds of posts on 5ch, a well-known low-brow forum in the island country.

"That much anger will affect your skin. Now, what's your name, can you tell me?"

Seeing Mami's gentle smile, the girl was stunned for a moment and couldn't help showing an apologetic expression.

If you act in an aggressive and rude manner towards someone you meet for the first time and don't even tell them your name, it seems like you are the impolite one.

But after just a moment, she adjusted her mood, crossed her arms, raised her round chin demonstratively, and gave her name proudly.

"My name is Mizuki Nanjo! I'm the manager of a Chinese restaurant!"

"A Chinese restaurant? That's amazing." Asami was surprised: "So there's more than just fried noodles."

"Of course!" Ruixi puffed out her chest like a child, but it was only for a moment before she unconsciously said in a deflated tone, "Even though I can only make fried noodles now..."

"——Ruixi?"

A gentle female voice floated through the air.

"What are you doing there? Don't cause trouble to others."

The girl standing in front of the fried noodle stall, calling out "Mizuki," was a serious-looking young woman with her hair neatly tied up in a kitchen scarf.

"I'm just trying to help, Nagisa."

Ruixi tilted her head and explained to the girl, then looked at Mami and said, "I'm talking about you. That way of soliciting customers is totally unacceptable."

"Just standing in the middle of the road and shouting at the top of your lungs will only damage your vocal cords, and the effect won't be proportional to the effort."

"And your companion, with his stern expression, looks so scary. He could easily scare away the guests."

"What do you think, little Ruixi?" Asami smiled.

"Hmph, that's not a brilliant idea."

Ruixi put her hands on her hips and said smugly, "Have you heard of the bystander effect?"

“Never heard of it.”

"The bystander effect, also known as the 'group audience effect' or 'onlooker effect', refers to the phenomenon that in an emergency, when many people witness an event at the same time, the individual's willingness to help is reduced..."

Before Asami could get her eyes glazed over, the girl quickly changed her tone and said:

"For example, if you encounter a thief on the street and simply yell, 'Please call the police,' you'll likely get indifferent stares from passersby. But if you specifically ask a specific person for help, your chances of getting help will greatly increase."

"I see, you're worthy of being a top student at Shin University." Mami pounded her fist and tapped her palm. "If you had said that earlier, I would have understood."

"But what does this have to do with attracting customers?"

"Stones from other hills, can learn."

The idiom was spoken in Chinese. Asami blinked as Mizuki continued to explain, "Simply put, it means you target potential customers and approach them to attract them."

"After going through so much trouble, this is just the most common way to attract customers." Mami sighed in disappointment.

"The most common also means the most classic and the most useful!" Ruixi became excited.

"I understand, I understand. Just like Fulilian's normal attack magic, it's actually demon-eliminating magic."

"Exorcism magic?" Ruixi frowned.

Mami then asked, "But won't this cause trouble to others, or make them dislike you?"

Like a persistent, door-to-door insurance salesman.

“So we have to use our own advantages.”

"Own advantages?"

"Having said that, I'll show you."

After she finished speaking, Ruixi brushed the twin ponytails hanging on her shoulders, and her expression changed instantly, turning into a smile on her face. With her petite figure and cute looks that easily aroused the desire to protect her, she looked like an angel who had descended to the earth.

She scanned the faces of passersby, finally locking her eyes on two young women walking together.

Ruixi jumped in front of the two of them and said in a sweet voice, "Big sister, buy me some fried noodles. It's delicious."

The voice seemed to be squeezed out from deep within the vocal cords. If it were an adult woman, it would definitely sound very artificial. However, Ruixi's deceptive appearance immediately bewitched the two girls.

"Wow! What a cute girl! Can you tell me your name and age?"

"Nanjo Mizuki! University... junior high school, fifth grade of elementary school!"

Fearing that she would reveal her flaws, she immediately said:

"Uh...my sister's stall is over there. You two sisters, please buy some fried noodles. They're very delicious."

"Hey, little Ruixi is so sensible and already helps her family set up a stall at such a young age~"

"Then please lead the way."

Asami stared in amazement as Ruixi completed a textbook example of successful solicitation and then walked back to her. She said in shock, "So this is the advantage."

"Isn't it obvious? You and your companion are both beautiful women. If you can make your stern-faced companion smile, you'll definitely attract customers."

"That seems to be the case." Mami said with a smile.

"but……"

"What?" The girl looked up in confusion.

"I thought you hated being treated like a kid."

"I'm used to that kind of thing!"

As if something had been touched against her reverse scale, Mizuki puffed up her cheeks like a pufferfish.

"Why are you angry if you're used to it?" Asami gently stroked the girl's head.

This time, Ruixi didn't push her hand away. She just showed a slightly depressed expression. After a moment of silence, she whispered:

"I just don't like people looking down on me because of my appearance and treating me like a child who can't stand up for himself."

"But even so, since I have this face, I enjoy the convenience and care that comes with it, so I have no right to say I hate it."

The girl's face revealed her depressed mood without any concealment, allowing Mami to vaguely understand her past through her expression.

She tilted her head and thought for a while, then smiled and stroked Ruixi's head hard.

"Thank you for teaching me how to use my strengths to attract customers, Mizuki-chan."

“Would you like to come to our stall for a cup of coffee?”

"No." Ruixi shook her head, her twintails swaying gently. "I can't drink that bitter drink that tastes like Chinese herbal medicine."

"We also have melon soda and ginger ale, come on."

Ruixi slapped her hand away and said, "I know. Don't keep touching me so hard. You've messed up my hair."

"In that case, follow me."

Feeling like the otaku girl in some useless cute anime who likes elementary school students, Mami took the girl's slender arm and walked towards the Xingxing stall.

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(End of this chapter)