Living in Tokyo, starting with a lifestyle-related job

"Haha, is there a story?" Shiina Hirosuke recalled many past events in an instant, but in the end he just smiled helplessly. "They are all unbearable old stories, better not to mention them."

"More than anything, I'm curious about why you came to this shop, young man?"

"Why do you ask that?" Kamishiro Shiro asked instead of replying.

"I just saw you chatting with the takoyaki vendor in the shop. He was probably complaining about my place, right?"

"Correct."

"They must have explained why there are so few customers here, right?"

"Correct."

"Then why did you still choose to come in? Isn't that strange in itself?"

"Indeed, I don't deny it."

"So what is your purpose in coming here?" Shiina Hirosuke's gaze suddenly sharpened, showing none of the weariness and boredom he had just displayed.

Looking into his eyes, Shiro Shiro asked, "Before answering your question, I want to ask you if it's true that you owe debts and have gotten involved with the underworld?"

Shiina Hirosuke smiled with interest: "Oh? Tell me what the takoyaki shop owner said to you."

After explaining, Shiro Shiro asked, "So what the takoyaki shop owner said is true?"

Hirosuke Shiina shook his head and laughed, "Of course it's fake. If I owed money to the yakuza, the things in this shop would definitely be resold or smashed. You can tell the situation by looking at this shop and seeing if it's been vandalized, right?"

Shiro Shiro looked around and indeed found no signs of vandalism, but he didn't completely believe the owner and continued to ask, "So the person lying is the owner of the takoyaki shop?"

Hirosuke Shiina sneered, "It's half and half. After all, some people who can't make money rarely look for the reasons within themselves. Instead, they blame others. As for the yakuza's explanation, it's just something they say to comfort themselves."

Shiro Shiro pondered for a while.

He remembered that the supervisor had said something similar before, that the problem was simply a lack of customer traffic.

If there really were underworld figures, he felt that given the foreman's gossipy nature, it was impossible for him not to complain.

Since there isn't one, it seems the coffee shop owner is the most credible person at the moment.

Hirosuke Shiina said with some complicated feelings, "But the takoyaki shop owner was right about one thing: I do owe money, but it's the rent for the shopping street."

"You owe a lot?"

"Due to the contract, I signed a three-year contract. I haven't paid rent since last year, and there's still the rent due until December this year. The total amount is probably around six million yen."

After a long silence, Shiro Kaede said, "It's a miracle that your shop has been able to stay open until now."

Hirosuke Shiina was quite magnanimous: "Haha, more or less, so you've finished asking your questions? Now you can tell me the purpose of your visit, right?"

"I did have some ideas at first, but after learning that the situation here is a bit complicated, I decided against it," said Shiro Shiro, shaking his head.

Hearing Bai Feng say this, Shiina Hirosuke became even more intrigued and gestured with his eyes, "Tell me, what kind of storms haven't I weathered?"

Shiro Kaede didn't hide anything anymore, shrugged and said, "I heard you were planning to transfer ownership here, so I came to find out more."

"Oh?" Upon hearing this, Shiina Hirosuke clapped his hands and laughed, "Hahaha, so I thought you tricked me into telling me something? Oh well, that's a real shame. If I hadn't been so talkative, I might have been able to fool you a bit."

"So now that you know the situation here, you're also planning to give up, right?"

Kamishiro Shiro nodded and said, "More or less."

“Indeed, that’s how normal people think.” After a moment of contemplation, Shiina Hirosuke smiled knowingly. “Then would you be interested in hearing how much the transfer fee is?”

Kamidai Bai Feng said casually: "Just tell me."

"0!"

Jindai Bai Feng frowned and said, "0?"

Seeing Bai Feng's confused look, Shiina Hirosuke's lips curled up slightly: "That's right, 0, not a single cent of transfer fee is required."

"Impossible, there must be other conditions attached." Kamishiro Shirofumi is no novice; he knows that the more tempting something looks, the more likely it is to have a trap.

Hirosuke Shiina nodded and said, "Yes, you're right, there are indeed additional conditions."

"What are the conditions?"

"You don't need to give me the money, you just need to help me pay off all the fees I owe the Millennium Shopping Street."

"Then this is probably not much different from the cost of a transfer."

“No, no, no, the renovation and equipment of this shop cost nearly 20 million yen,” Shiina Hirosuke explained. “Giving you six million yen is a great deal, I think.”

Shiro was amused. "That's not how you calculate prices, boss. Everything depreciates. Your shop has been open for quite a while now. After using the equipment for a few years, a 20-30% recycling rate is already incredibly high."

"As for the 20 million fee you mentioned, I won't expose how much you inflated your quote."

"Last and most importantly, you know the situation in this alley better than anyone else!"

"With low customer traffic and those strange underworld rumors, I'd rather spend six million yen on your shop and add some more money to open a new shop elsewhere. The revenue and profit would most likely be better than if I took over your shop."

Shiina Hirosuke wasn't angry when his 20 million yen quote was exposed as inflated. Instead, he chuckled and said with amusement, "Hahaha, interesting, interesting. You're not exactly an ordinary high school student, are you? But what if I told you that you don't have to pay the 6 million yen all at once, but only need to pay 300,000 yen per month in rent, and you can pay the rest whenever you have the money?"

Upon hearing this, Shiro Shiro simply shook his head and smiled. "These conditions are interesting, but in conclusion, it's all the same. This location is ultimately a hot potato. The fact that the neighboring shop has never been successfully sublet already speaks volumes."

"Based on your current rent of 300,000 yen per month, even if you do nothing, you will have a profit or loss of at least 3 million yen per year, not even counting other expenses."

"In total, the annual profit and loss will only be higher than this!"

"So it should be said the other way around: if no one takes over here, your profit or loss will only be above this!"

Shiina Hirosuke looked up at the ceiling, took a deep breath, and his eyes became slightly serious. After thinking for a long time, he looked at Bai Feng and said, "Five million yen divided by twenty-four months means that you will only need to pay about two hundred thousand yen per month for the remaining two years."

"As for the one million yuan in outstanding fees, I will pay it back to the Millennium Shopping Street myself. I will not agree to anything lower. You know that the current situation is equivalent to you being able to directly acquire this store simply by paying the rent."

After calculating the probability of his operation succeeding, Shiro Shiro didn't reply immediately, but smiled and said, "Let me think about it."

After saying that, he finished his coffee, put the money on the table, and got up to leave.

Once again, only Shiina Hirosuke remained in the vast café. He shouted at Bai Feng's retreating figure:

"Hey, when are you going to reply to me?"

Without turning his head, Shiro Kaede said, "Tomorrow."

Chapter 97: Another Upgrade, Obtaining a Path to Fragrance! Mizuno Maki is on edge!

2024-07-14

After leaving the coffee shop, Shiro Shiro did not immediately go to work at Ichiran Ramen.

He saw that there was still some time left.

They then went to the management office of the Millennium Shopping Street to inquire about the situation.

He later learned that the coffee shop owner had indeed not lied.

The so-called underworld simply does not exist.

It was just the takoyaki vendor fooling people.

The management of the Millennium Shopping Street also said that they have never received any complaints.

They did not send anyone or call the police to mediate the situation there.

After learning of this situation.

Shiro Kaede felt a little relieved.

He felt that if this boss really had some connection with the underworld...

Even if the boss's offer is already very low, there's no need for me to get involved in this mess.

After all, dealing with the underworld is much more troublesome than making money.

The less trouble, the better.

There's no need to be greedy for that little bit of money and rashly approach trouble.

But now that there are no gangsters around, this coffee shop is certainly an option.

It's okay if the data usage is a little low.

Bai Feng did not intend to rely entirely on the foot traffic of the shopping street.

Because he has also seen many famous restaurants that are not necessarily located in areas with high foot traffic.

Instead, they tend to choose some very strange places.

But that doesn't stop these shops from becoming famous.

Because delicious food is the most important thing!

If you cook well, people will come all the way from the deepest mountains and forests to eat your food.

If your food isn't good, even if you open in the busiest area, you won't have many customers.

With Bai Feng's current ability to 'enhance deliciousness', there's no need to worry about that.

You could even say he still has two skill points left.

If you're really worried it's not delicious enough, you can add more points to the 'Delicious Enhancement' skill.

It's likely that it will increase by 4 to 5 times at that time.

Shirakaze Kamishiro still remembered that Shino Aibe owed him a favor.

Aibe Shino is a news anchor for TV Tokyo.

Asking her to post one or two X-related messages should attract some people.

It doesn't matter if there aren't many people; as long as someone comes, that's enough.

Then he can do some marketing and probably build a good reputation.

Of course, all of this is built upon one's culinary profession and 'deliciousness enhancement' skills.

If it weren't for these two people, Bai Feng definitely wouldn't have dared to take over this shop.

However, given these two factors, the coffee shop's poor customer traffic is really not a big deal.

Breaking even is only a matter of time.

Not a moment.

After leaving the Millennium Shopping Street management office, Shiro Shiro searched for nearby coffee shops on his phone.