I'm in a real religion, why are all the people who confess to me girls?

"Okay~"

Amane, drawing out her words, casually took Nanase's hand, who was peeking from the side, and left Arisu's office.

Actually, when Arisu asked Amane how she wanted to punish her, Amane almost decided to teach Arisu a lesson, but Nanase just stood there with wide, curious eyes watching her.

No matter how shameless Tianyin is, she still can't bring herself to do *that* while being watched by her junior.

I'll teach Nanase a lesson sometime soon!

Since Nanase's cultural festival had already ended, Amane could only take Nanase to stroll around the festival first, and then take the little glutton back for dinner in the evening.

"Heavenly Sound! Heavenly Sound!! I want to eat this!"

Nanase suddenly pointed to a sign by the roadside and said to Amane beside her.

"Crepes? I didn't expect you to like this kind of dessert, Xiaoyi. Could I have a crepe? What flavor would you like, Xiaoyi?"

"Chocolate mango! Um... can I have two?"

Nanase blinked expectantly.

"Of course, you can pick another one."

Amane would naturally not refuse such a small request. Let alone two, as long as Nanase could eat them, buying her a hundred would be a piece of cake for Amane.

"Yay! What flavor do you like that day, Tianyin?"

When Amane saw that Nanase had actually come to ask her what her favorite food was, she felt a warmth in her heart. She hadn't expected that Nanase would still be thinking of her. Although she wasn't too hungry right now, she couldn't refuse Nanase's kindness.

"I actually prefer caramel banana."

"Please, give me another caramel banana flavor."

"Okay, please wait a moment."

Amane patted Nanase's head with a look of relief, never expecting that Nanase had finally grown up.

However, this sense of relief lasted for less than five minutes.

"..."

Seeing Nanase taking bites of crepes with each hand, Amane chose to give up thinking.

She shouldn't have believed that this little glutton would grow up.

Just as Amane was violently sweeping through a beanbag tossing game stall to vent her anger and was counting her spoils with Nanase, Amane received a call from Shiina.

Generally speaking, Shiina and Amane usually contact each other quite often, but it's mostly through text messages. Phone calls are quite rare. On the phone, Shiina enthusiastically invited Amane to come to the barbecue stall of Class 2-C to enjoy some free skewers. Amane, who wasn't very hungry, was about to decline, but after someone tugged at her clothes, she could only sigh helplessly at her phone.

"I'm coming right now. By the way, Hiyori, it shouldn't be a problem if I bring one more person along, right?"

"Of course! Ryuen-kun is very grateful that you had Mio send us the recipe."

"Ryuen... It's hard to imagine he'd thank me. Anyway, I'll go and bother him with Nanase later."

"OK~ I'll wait for you here."

After hanging up the phone, Amane first gently tapped Nanase's smiling face with the back of her finger, then took her little hand and hurried towards the barbecue stall of Class 2-C.

Meanwhile, the barbecue stall of Class C in the second grade was completely empty.

Long Yuan stood there holding a freshly grilled skewer of meat, deep in thought, while Albert stared blankly at the drinks that had just been brought out.

You can imagine how deserted the entire stall was.

The reason it was so deserted wasn't because of the taste. Since learning the sauce recipe, Ryuen often practiced controlling the heat. Although his current level is not as good as Amane's, he has already graduated. Ishizaki and Shiina and the others said that the taste was not much different from Amane's.

But people just glance at it as they pass by; there isn't a single customer who actually goes in!

No, to be precise, there was one. Mr. Sakagami, the homeroom teacher of Class C in the second year, bought a few skewers when he passed by and gave them a very high rating.

But apart from Sakagami-sensei, no one else bought it. Ryuen racked his brains but couldn't find the problem. Finally, Shiina came up with a solution.

Longyuan, with the thought of giving it a shot, agreed to let Tianyin, the school's most renowned big eater, come and try the food for free.

"Tianyin has already agreed. I think business will pick up once she arrives."

Shiina's words did not cheer up Ryuen and the others.

In their view, even if Longyuan's skills were not as good as Tianyin's, they should still have a full range of customers. The problem must lie in the selection of products.

"What I'm worried about now is that even though we haven't sold anything yet, we've at least lost some of the money for materials and stall fees. But if we wait until Miyako comes, I'm afraid we won't even have enough money left over from the materials we've already spent."

Ishizaki shook his head inwardly at the thought of the horrifying scene of Amane eating her rival, a white-haired senior girl, until she vomited during the competitive eating contest.

Seeing that Ishizaki still didn't understand her marketing method, Shiina was about to explain when she heard Amane's familiar voice.

"Yo~ Hiyori, is this your stall? It looks pretty good... Um... Ryuen... what's with that look on your face that says I owe you millions?"

P.S.: The original plan was to finish before the end of the year, but due to some strange regulations that require updates to continue until the end of the month, it can only be postponed to the end of January.

Thank you all so much for your support along the way. Without your support, I definitely wouldn't have made it this far. There's a lot I want to say, but I've decided to save it for my closing remarks.

Thanks again everyone!

Chapter 295: The Barbecue Battle

When Ishizaki saw that Ryuen's expression was not right, he quickly stepped forward to defend Ryuen.

"Longyuan is just a little dissatisfied with the taste of the meat skewers he just grilled. He's probably struggling with how to improve the taste, right, Longyuan?"

Ishizaki nudged Ryuen, who was deep in thought with his head down, with his elbow. Ryuen looked up at Amane and Nanase as if waking from a dream, and then handed the meat skewers in his hand to the two of them.

"Try it first."

"Then I won't stand on ceremony..."

Nanase took the skewer and took a bite. Then, seeing Amane looking at her strangely, Nanase quietly took half of the skewer and handed it to Amane.

Amane originally wanted to remind Nanase, but seeing Nanase's happy, silly grin, Amane hesitated for a moment and decided to leave Nanase alone and let her eat her fill.

Tianyin took the meat skewers and examined them. The color and quantity of the food were acceptable. If it was an unsold product, the problem shouldn't be with the meat skewers. To verify her guess, Tianyin took a bite. The tender lamb meat burst with juice in her mouth as she chewed, and the slightly spicy flavor made the taste even more delicious.

Although the skill level is not yet fully developed, it is definitely quite excellent for a student.

"It tastes very good."

The conclusion reached after tasting the Tianyin made Longyuan finally breathe a sigh of relief, but instead of relaxing, Longyuan's brows furrowed even more.

"But if the problem isn't with the taste, Miyako, what do you think it could be?"

When Long Yuan asked her questions, Tianyin picked up a skewer of meat and got up to look around.

The first thing Tianyin noticed was that this stall didn't have a sign!

This is absolutely a fatal flaw for the catering industry!

"Longyuan, how can your stall not have a sign? How are people supposed to know what you're selling if you don't put up a photo?"

"But none of the other shops nearby have signs."

Ishizaki explained to Amane why they hadn't hung up a sign.

Tenon stretched out her finger and gently shook it in front of Ishizaki.

"Completely wrong! Don't you even look at what the other stalls are doing? Goldfish scooping, stage plays, claw machines... It's obvious what kind of signs they need. The real oddballs are your food stalls crammed into the entertainment area, aren't they?"

That's right, Class C's stall in the second grade is located at the very back of the entertainment area. Some classes apply for multiple stalls to perform programs in order to earn more money, while the lower-cost ones are often traditional game stalls like goldfish scooping. So people tend to assume that the whole area is an entertainment stall area, and those who want to eat will naturally not come here. Even if someone passes by, they may not choose to eat barbecue in the afternoon.

Therefore, the only way is to attract a large number of tourists indiscriminately in this direction. Only in this way can we get a group of students and tourists who want to taste delicious food and are willing to accept barbecue after going through many rounds of screening.

"Ishizaki, if I remember correctly, you were the one who chose the stall."

Ryuen glanced at Ishizaki, startling Ishizaki into waving his hands repeatedly.

“I came with Shiina at the time, and Shiina didn’t raise any objections.”

In an instant, everyone's attention was focused on Shiina.

Shiina scratched his cheek somewhat awkwardly.

"Sorry, maybe I chose the wrong location, but when I bought the stall, the surrounding area was empty. I didn't know this place would be turned into an entertainment area..."

Hearing Shiina's explanation, everyone nodded in understanding. Shiina must have bought the stall earlier in the year. At that time, everyone was preparing for the main performances at the stalls near the entrance, so they didn't have time to manage these side stalls. By the time they started managing the side stalls, Class 2-C had already invested too much and couldn't change anything.

In truth, Shiina shouldn't be blamed for this.

"It's pointless to investigate who's responsible now. The most urgent thing is to make amends according to Miyako's method... But it's probably too late to create a reputation now."

According to regulations, the cultural festival ends at 6 p.m. tonight, but tourists usually leave around 4 p.m. Students who are tired after a long day may not come here to have a barbecue in the evening, and now there is only about an hour and a half left until 4 p.m.

If Class 2C doesn't want to give up, they must make sure everyone knows there's a great barbecue restaurant here within the next hour and a half.

So how can this be done?

"I have a good idea, but it might be a bit of a hassle for Tianyin."

Shiina smiled at Amane. Amane, who subconsciously felt that she was about to be dragged to do unpaid work, quickly took a few steps back to avoid Shiina's gaze, but Shiina grabbed her arm first.

"Please, Tianyin, only you can help us now."

"Ahem, it's not that I don't want to help you, it's just that I have things to do too..."

"I can consider the matter that you brought up with me last time, Tianyin."

What was the matter we discussed last time?

Tianyin rested her chin on her hand and thought for a moment, then suddenly her eyes lit up.

"Hiyori, are you really going to make such a big sacrifice for this cultural festival?"

"Even if it weren't for this incident, I actually wanted to agree to your request, Tianyin, but I haven't been able to see you lately, so..."

Shiina's cheeks flushed slightly; it was indeed a bit difficult for a somewhat shy girl like her to mention such embarrassing things.

"Ahem, actually I've been wanting to hang out with you lately, but I've been so busy with the café and the cultural festival that I haven't been able to get away. Since you need my help this time, as a friend, it's my duty to help! So, what do you need me to do?"

Seeing how quickly Amane changed her expression, Shiina rolled her eyes at Amane, feeling both embarrassed and ashamed. Just a moment ago, someone was trying to run away, but now she's doing it without hesitation. As expected, Amane is still... is it because she wants to... experience that kind of thing with her?

"Tianyin, you just need to sit here and eat meat skewers. Eat as many as you want, but you must eat them in big bites."

Amane was taken aback when she heard Shiina's request. Many people had asked her for favors, but this was the first time she had ever heard of such a request. However, Amane quickly realized that Shiina wanted to take advantage of her celebrity status, so she readily agreed.

Soon, Amane, like Nanase who had been eating rice the whole time, started eating meat skewers in big bites.

Ryuen and Ishizaki were busy grilling.

Soon, people began to see Tianyin enjoying her meal and took photos, which were then uploaded to various groups and school forums.

Many people came to see how much Tianyin enjoyed her meal and wanted to find out just how delicious the barbecue must be. Even a young lady like Tianyin, who is good at cooking, was so tempted by it.

"Huh? Isn't that Miyako-senpai? She looks so cute eating... But is that grilled skewers? Should we try some?"

"Um... this must be my older sister, right? Is this really that delicious? Give me a hundred skewers, and I'll pay for the person next to me too, so that my older sister can eat her fill."

……

After successfully attracting customers, the barbecue stall of Class 2C became an extremely popular stall. Due to the limited speed of grilling, long queues formed at one point. Unaware tourists and students saw the queues and followed suit without thinking twice.

"Longyuan, number 84 wants 20 skewers, no spice, plus four bottles of chilled juice."

The phone that Ryuen had placed on the table carried the voice of Shiina, who was tallying the number of items needed by the customers in the queue.

"Okay, okay, we're too busy here! Ishizaki, stop grilling for now and go get everyone in our class to help. Girls, you'll distribute the juice and drinks and help skewer the meat. Boys, you'll help grill the meat and carry the drinks. I'll go make the sauce. Hurry up! I need to see everyone here within ten minutes!"

"No problem, I'll go right away!"

Ishizaki put down the meat skewers in his hand and ran away without looking back. Ryuen wiped the sweat from his brow with the towel around his neck and began grilling with increasingly skillful technique.

Albert, on the other hand, silently took charge of handing out skewers of meat and carrying boxes of juice and drinks.

Seeing the crowds at the booth of Class C in the second grade, Tianyin nodded in satisfaction.

Her mission has been successfully completed.

Just as Amane was about to ask Shiina for her payment, she encountered Chabashira-sensei, who was dressed in a maid outfit but had rolled up her sleeves and looked like she was up to no good.

"Tea Pillar Teacher, ouch..."

Before Tianyin could finish speaking, Chazhu grabbed her face.

"Damn it! You're not helping out at the coffee shop, fine! But you actually dare to solicit customers for other stalls? Don't you know all our customers are lining up there?"

Tianyin suddenly realized that although there seemed to be a lot of tourists and students, the total number was limited, as were the available funds and points.

In addition, there are relatively few people who like to eat desserts and drink coffee. The main source of income for the coffee shop so far is still a large sum of money squeezed from the old man. Now that Amane has diverted customers to other places, the coffee shop, which already has few customers, has suddenly become empty. Chashu, who originally came to find out what was going on here out of curiosity, met Nanase at the door.

Chabashira, who had some recollection of Nanase, asked about Amane. Nanase happily told Chabashira the whole story, which infuriated Chabashira, who then arrested Amane in a fit of rage.