"...Tear off the stub and put it in here. Give the main ticket and drink voucher to the customer..."
Seika stood outside the front desk, leaning on the table with one hand, pointing to several drawers under the table, explaining to Hayato how to categorize various items.
Contrary to her seemingly lazy and inarticulate appearance, Seika was quite serious when teaching people.
However, after speaking for a while, she noticed that Hayato, sitting at the front desk, wasn't paying attention. He was tilting his head as if listening to the commotion nearby.
Seika straightened up and turned her head to look. Inside the adjacent bar, her sister was teaching the pink-haired girl from the Band the locations of the drinks.
Seika, who had initially thought Hayato harbored improper thoughts about her sister, raised her voice and asked him discontentedly,
"Hey, are you listening?"
"Yes, I'm listening to everything the Manager says."
Facing her accusation, Hayato replied earnestly and unhurriedly.
Seika couldn't do anything about his blunt and sincere demeanor. She crossed her arms and, as if looking for trouble, asked him,
"Then what were you distracted thinking about just now?"
Hayato listened to the sound from the adjacent bar.
Nijika's panicked cries of "Eh, eh, eh, where did you get that from?" came from that direction.
Guessing the situation over there, he smiled knowingly, then said to Seika,
"Thinking about Bocchi."
Hearing that nickname, Seika, who occasionally overheard their conversations, knew who he was referring to.
For a moment, she was choked by the young man's bold words and couldn't speak.
She turned to look aside, her gaze also drawn by Bocchi's impromptu singing and playing, using drink locations as lyrics.
She listened to the playing, momentarily lost in thought, then, after some reflection, said as if to herself,
"She plays well, probably at a professional level."
As she spoke, she couldn't help but recall the girl's awe-inspiring solo in the fruit box that day.
And seeing the girl's timid demeanor and strange behavior these past two days, she had forgotten how cool the girl was back then... Actually, she wasn't that cool back then either.
But Bocchi was quickly stopped by Nijika. Nijika seemed startled by the sudden playing and hurriedly stopped Bocchi.
Seika watched her sister and the girl pulling and tugging at each other, then, after a moment of silence, walked over and delivered a hand chop to her noisy sister's head.
Amidst Nijika's pitiful cries of "Why me?" as she clutched her head, Seika walked back.
Hayato, who had been listening to the commotion over there, chuckled as he watched Seika return.
"Even such a cute sister gets hit. This older sister is being unreasonable, isn't she?"
Seika completely ignored his comment and directly changed the subject.
"Ishikawa, you seem quite attentive to Bocchi-chan. Do you like her?"
Her lazy eyes held a hint of teasing, as if she had found Hayato's weakness, trying to gain the upper hand in their conversation.
But Hayato didn't have his usual playful demeanor. After serious thought, he replied,
"If it's the romantic kind, probably not for now. But..."
He listened to Nijika's voice teaching Bocchi nearby, and Bocchi's soft responses, and continued,
"I promised to help her, so I have to take responsibility."
Seika, somewhat embarrassed by Hayato's straightforward words, shifted her gaze from him and said with a slightly unsteady voice,
"That's quite unexpected. You're a gentle person after all."
Hayato also retracted his gaze, inadvertently noticing the two-person cleaning team.
He watched Kita and Ryo gradually appear in his line of sight.
They were mopping the floor, and Kita was tilting her head, constantly opening and closing her mouth, saying something, but he couldn't see Ryo's reaction from where he was.
But he guessed she was probably just casually agreeing.
"No, I'm not a gentle person."
Hayato replied to Seika, his voice like a heavy stone falling... Having completely lost the conversational upper hand, and after checking Hayato's familiarity with the work procedures, finding that Hayato had indeed memorized all the procedures.
Seika, filled with a sense of defeat, suddenly heard a voice that saved her from her misery.
"Hello, good morning~"
The person said 'good morning' in a very natural tone at this evening hour.
Hearing this familiar tone and voice, Seika immediately knew who had arrived.
Turning her head, Seika saw PA-san descending the stairs.
Today, as always, she was wearing a V-neck dress with a loose, homey cardigan over it.
Her eyes were half-closed, one hand covering her yawning mouth, the other holding onto the staircase.
Her long black hair, with purple highlights dyed underneath, a lip piercing, and an ear cuff, added a touch of wildness to this lazy woman of unknown age, who still retained some girlish sweetness.
PA-san looked at the additional people in the venue and said with a smile,
"It's quite lively today."
"You're late again..."
Seika was happy to have an excuse to legitimately walk away from Hayato, but at the same time, she sighed at this person's laziness.
"Hehe, yesterday there was an interesting game, and I accidentally..."
As she spoke, she shifted her gaze as if avoiding something, waving to Hayato, who was sitting at the front desk.
"Ah, is the young man in charge of the front desk?"
She smiled with narrowed eyes and said cheerfully, "He'll definitely attract a lot of girls. It's going to get busy later."
Hearing her say that, Hayato played along, leaning back in his chair in a dashing and somewhat cool pose, extending his hand, and making a gun gesture at her.
"Biu~"
With his sound, PA-san also cooperatively clutched her chest and teased Seika beside her,
"What should I do? I'm smitten with the young man at your front desk."
Seika ignored her joke and said in a cold voice,
"Go to work."
"Okay~"
PA-san replied lightly and walked towards the inner area, but then started chatting with Kita, who was already inside.
Hayato watched the scene and also walked out from behind the front desk.
He looked towards the adjacent bar.
Inside the bar, Bocchi stood by the counter, her eyes fixed forward, constantly nodding her head, as if memorizing items one by one.
Nijika noticed Hayato's gaze, walked out from the bar, and said in a very cheerful tone,
"Hayato-kun looks very relaxed."
"Of course, for a Pervert, there's nothing he can't do."
Hayato's single sentence made Nijika freeze, because she inexplicably felt that the remark was deeply unsettling. She averted her gaze, laughed awkwardly twice, and dared not think further.
At this moment, Kita, who had been rushing to finish her tasks, was almost done. Ryo walked over with a mop and stood beside Nijika.
She said with an unruffled voice,
"It's gotten easier."
"That's because Ryo has been slacking off and letting Kita-chan do everything!"
Nijika raised her voice in exasperation, but then noticed Bocchi still diligently memorizing the locations of various drinks inside the bar, and lowered her voice again.
Hayato chuckled contentedly as he listened to the bickering of the childhood friends.
Then his gaze fell upon PA-san, who had started talking extensively about skincare and cosmetics with Kita.
But suddenly.
He saw PA-san lean towards Kita and sniff her head.
"Kita smells very nice."
Kita smiled brightly and said very happily,
"Thank you very much, this is..."
Hayato no longer listened to what Kita said next. He fell silent, looking at the ground with a defeated expression.
He hesitated, then turned his gaze sideways.
And at some unknown point, Nijika, whose cowlick was spinning wildly and whose face held a hint of fear, was looking at him with a wary expression.
"Nijika..."
Nijika seemed to guess what he was about to say and called out decisively,
"No, absolutely not!"
Hayato's gaze shifted again, and Ryo, as if expecting it, took out her phone, which displayed '110' on the dial screen.
Immediately, Hayato deflated like a leaky balloon, slumping into the corner, silently shedding tears.
"I... I actually lost in perversion. My perversion..."
At this moment, Seika also noticed the situation. She walked over fiercely, hands on her hips.
"If you sexually harass someone, your salary will be completely docked!"
Hayato instantly stood up and saluted.
"Sorry, sir!"
And Kita, who had been observing the situation from afar, slowly breathed a sigh of relief after seeing this development.
However, when she thought about having to explain the situation to Hayato later, her heart tightened again.
It's going on sale tomorrow, my first time, so I'm a little happy and a little nervous.
I'll skip the personal thoughts; I wrote a bunch earlier, felt I was getting too excited, and deleted it all.
First, I apologize, there won't be a massive update or rewards for going on sale; my energy is limited, I'm sorry.
If it does well, I might focus on writing, but I feel it's unlikely; with few updates and my skill level, I probably won't become popular.
Also, this book is said to be a harem, but it will only include the four members of the Band. Just a heads-up, if you can't accept that, don't click and let me trick you into spending money... I always feel like I'm saying gloomy things... But my goal in writing is to make readers feel relaxed and experience a light, airy joy.
I hope everyone can read it easily.
So... see you tomorrow.
Oh, and my goal is the same as Bocchi-chan: one day, I'm going to quit my job and stay at home!