Tokyo: About My Yandere Girlfriend

It was obvious that the cautious expression on the clerk's face turned into a look of surprise with his lips slightly opened uncontrollably.

Nanami's face showed similar emotions.

Just as the air around him was frozen in time——

A female clerk who looked to be around 30 years old appeared in front of them at a trot and pulled away the young clerk whose face was stiff.

"Manager! Seriously - don't joke about these things, it will scare the new juniors."

"Yeah."

Maybe it was an illusion.

When the clerk uttered an "eh" in surprise, Nanami's eyes seemed to notice the smile that appeared at the corner of Mr. Aragaki's mouth, which was not prominent and at first formed a sharp conflict with the seriousness on his face.

"Nanaha - you just imagined me as a villain."

It is hard to imagine such a relaxed tone coming from Mr. Aragaki's serious face.

Nanami dropped her cheeks and her voice began to become panicked.

"Yes, there was indeed a moment just now when I imagined Mr. Aragaki to be the villain behind the scenes."

"The villain behind the scenes...what a strange description."

The atmosphere around seemed to become much more relaxed after the "emergency" that had just happened.

It turns out that Mr. Aragaki is not such a rigid person——

Nanami picked up the coffee. The rich taste of bitterness with a hint of sweetness made him let out a long "Oh" in surprise.

"Not bad... the taste is much better than instant coffee..."

"If you like, you can come often."

Aragaki Hengyi's tone suddenly became gentle.

"Probably - I'm leaving Tokyo next month, and I plan to transfer or sell the cafe... Nanami, are you interested? Of course, you won't be asked to pay the transfer fee... and the profits will belong to you. If you are willing to accept it, I will inform you of the specific relevant matters in the future, regarding the management aspect."

After saying a lot of words in a row, Aragaki's right hand holding the coffee began to tremble with a not-so-noticeable amplitude.

Nanami noticed it when she came in.

Coffee shop name——

"I've been curious since the beginning. If I'm not mistaken, the name of this coffee shop should be the name of Mr. Aragaki's deceased wife... Sorry, this is just my personal opinion. Please forgive me if it offends Mr. Aragaki."

"Really?... So it's so obvious."

After taking a sip of the coffee in his hand, Aragaki's trembling right hand gradually stabilized.

"Mei... this name is beautiful, isn't it?"

"Indeed, it makes people think of winter. After all, plum blossoms are called the 'harbinger of winter.'"

"Nanaha, do you think so?..."

"Yes, that was my first instinct."

Nanami gently put down the coffee in her hand.

His eyes rested on the face of Aragaki Tsuneichi who was sitting opposite him.

"Then - let's continue with the previous topic."

"It may sound strange to say this, but I'm very willing to be the next store manager of 'Mei'."

Chapter 182 The senior over there... is interested in Mr. Aragaki

[If you agree to the other party's request to 'transfer the coffee shop', the probability of remarriage is...]

[hundred percent]

The "probability event" that suddenly appeared in her sight caused Nanami's eyebrows, which were originally relaxed, to frown tightly.

Right now... that's the only aspect I can think of.

Nanami Futo noticed that keenly—

When Mr. Aragaki's gaze...rested on the other female clerk, the complex emotions that were originally filling his eyes seemed to gradually change slightly towards a gentler side.

Whether it was the specific time his gaze rested on a certain place, or the subconscious habitual action of tapping the table with his fingers... everything in front of him had confirmed that perhaps... Mr. Aragaki did have different ideas in his mind about this female clerk who looked to be around 30 years old.

The reason why I chose to hide this feeling——

perhaps--

Maybe it was influenced by 'that aspect'.

——For physical reasons...and because he felt that doing this would be unfair to his deceased wife.

"Excuse me, Mr. Aragaki's wife passed away...it should have been ten years ago, right?"

Nanami's sudden question immediately diverted Aragaki's attention.

"Ten years... not yet, the approximate time should be..."

Aragaki Tsuneichi's face became heavy as he fell into deep thought.

"Let me think back... maybe..."

"It's 3287 days, exactly the 9th year."

The sudden sound made Nanami look to the other side.

——The female clerk, who was wearing a light-colored apron and had a bright smile on her face since she entered the store, appeared beside him at some point.

"Oh... indeed, I didn't react for a moment."

"Senior, your memory is really too bad. If you feel tired, just take a good rest. You were able to talk about this kind of thing fluently before."

He is clearly a store clerk...but now he is speaking to the store manager in a blaming tone. The relationship between these two people...is quite strange.

"Miss Mei said before that you are a careless guy, and now it seems to be true."

As if she was repeating a task that had happened countless times, the waitress leaned down slightly to fill the cup of coffee...she had already figured out the other person's general preferences.

Facing the blame from his juniors, Mr. Aragaki responded without saying a word, which further confirmed Nanami's thoughts.

"So - will the gentleman continue to drink the same coffee?"

Nanami was surprised to see the female clerk smiling at her.

"Oh... please give me the same coffee, thank you."

"Do you want dessert? Wouldn't it be too boring if we just drink coffee?"

"...Oh, sure. Thank you."

"Well, besides——do you want some too, Senior?"

The topic suddenly shifted to Aragaki.

As if he was at a loss about the look from the female clerk, Aragaki kept looking outside and responded in a flat tone.

"No need for that kind of thing."

----------

The dessert that goes with Blue Mountain coffee is a fruit mousse cake. As for the dessert that goes with latte...it's a chocolate brownie.

In the end, I prepared dessert for Mr. Aragaki...

Before this, he had been reminded that "you don't need that kind of thing". Under this premise, Mr. Aragaki still showed no emotion about "the other party preparing dessert for him". And when enjoying the dessert, he didn't care about what he said before, as if everything in front of him was natural...

Nanami, who witnessed the scene, began to smile helplessly in her heart.

After all, if I laughed out loud without any disguise, it might hurt Mr. Aragaki's self-esteem.

Considering this aspect, he just enjoyed his coffee and dessert in silence.

"Nanaha...why did you suddenly mention that?"

Araki's question made Nanami raise her face and look in front of her.

"That thing? What is Mr. Aragaki referring to?"

"About the time of May's death."

"Oh - because I was thinking, Senior Aragaki didn't consider remarrying for a long time after Mrs. Mei passed away? If he has been alone all this time, maybe... even if he finds a remarriage partner, it won't be a big deal, right? After all, so much time has passed... Madam should have felt Senior's sincerity..."

"I see, Nanami thinks so."

——Arisu-san also often uses this way of speaking.

As expected of a gangster's daughter, she has inherited her father's characteristics perfectly in this respect.

"I do think so, and I noticed it."

Nanami put down the coffee in her hand.

His deliberate gaze turned to the counter not far away.

"I noticed...what exactly do you mean?"

"The senior over there... is interested in Mr. Aragaki."

I don't intend to beat around the bush with Mr. Aragaki on these issues.

Just say what you want to say directly.

"Interesting... Are you referring to Kanagawa?"

"Kanagawa... I see, the senior over there has this last name."

"...She worked here part-time when she was still in college. Mei was the store manager at the time. It's been fifteen years now."

"Oh - it seems that they really have a deep affection for each other."

After saying this, Nanami immediately noticed that Aragaki's expression became strange.

Thinking of some disturbing aspects, he immediately spoke up to remedy the situation.

"Oh... I mean, Kanagawa-senpai has deep feelings for this cafe... I don't mean anything else."

Hearing this, Aragaki's expression eased a little.