A little over ten minutes later.
At that moment, in the shop's back room, three Umamusume were sprawled on the bedding like corpses.
If smoking had been allowed in the shop, Sakuraba would've wanted to light one up right about now.
Hmph. Central Umamusume, huh? Is this all you've got.
But looking at Maruzensky and the others collapsed on the bed, Sakuraba glanced down at his own hands.
Could it be that this random-ass massage technique I'd been winging was actually that goddamn good?
While Sakuraba was busy doubting himself, Norn Ace pushed aside the curtain and walked into the back room.
The moment she saw the three lying there, a look of complete unsurprise crossed her face.
She'd been working part-time at this shop for nearly a year now. She'd seen this exact scene plenty of times already, so at this point, it barely even registered.
Even though she still hadn't personally experienced Sakuraba's massage, seeing customers end up in this kind of state told her all she needed to know: this was absolutely not a service she should ever try herself.
Norn Ace was very self-aware on that front.
"Once they've recovered a bit, take them outside and let them rest for a while."
Sakuraba picked up a dry towel from the shelf in the room, wiped his hands, and spoke to Norn Ace.
"Got it."
Norn Ace agreed without hesitation. Clearly, this wasn't the first time she'd handled something like this.
Every time Sakuraba flattened someone with just his hands, she was the one responsible for keeping an eye on the customer's condition afterward.
For some reason, every single person he treated inevitably fell into a brief dazed state once he was done, so someone always had to stay nearby and look after them.
That was Norn Ace's job.
After leaving the three in Norn Ace's care, Sakuraba went back out front to rest.
Taking three customers in a row in such a short span really had been a little tiring for him.
And on top of that, two of them had injuries on their feet, so he'd had to be especially careful while massaging them. That had worn him out even more.
Still, the one thing that comforted Sakuraba a little was that he wouldn't be taking their money for this session. Otherwise, all that effort really would've been a disastrous loss.
After massaging three pairs of Umamusume feet in a row, Sakuraba actually felt like he'd started to pick up some real insight into the art of foot massage.
For someone like Maruzensky, whose feet ran a little larger, you had to go in hard and overwhelm her. She couldn't take it.
For a refined young lady like Ardan, though, whose feet were slender and delicately sized, slow kneading and careful attention were enough to produce excellent results.
And for someone like Chiyono O, whose little toes sat in neat rows like tiny white pearls, then you'd need to... no, you'd need to add a few tools to really take the experience to the next level.
"Huh. That's one weird skill to level up."
Sakuraba couldn't help wondering what exactly the point was of an investor knowing all these little foot-massage tricks.
Did this count as straying onto the wrong path?
"But always running back and forth between Hokkaido and Kasamatsu isn't sustainable either... I need to come up with something."
Sakuraba started thinking about ways to optimize the foot-massage parlor.
At the beginning, his approach had been to keep improving the interior and expanding the range of services in order to widen the hole money could pour out of.
But with only one masseur in the entire shop—himself—even if he made the place bigger, there was still a hard cap on how many customers he could actually serve.
And there was no way he could spend all day sitting in the foot-massage parlor doing nothing but massaging feet.
At this point, he'd basically hit the limit of what he could squeeze out of renovation costs.
As for rent and the like, compared to Sakuraba's current loss quota, it barely amounted to anything.
For that tiny amount of losses, making himself run back and forth between Hokkaido and Kasamatsu really didn't feel worth it.
He needed a new plan to optimize the foot-massage parlor.
If he wanted to scale up the losses, the current plan was absolutely not good enough.
Sure enough, he still needed to hire more foot masseurs...
And come to think of it, that wasn't actually impossible.
He could turn the foot-massage parlor into a nationwide chain, so every Umamusume at every Academy in the country could get her feet done.
Then he could pay the masseurs absurdly high salaries while setting the service prices ridiculously low. At that point, no matter how you looked at it, the business would lose money.
As for Sakuraba's personal foot-washing service, he could simply elevate that into the shop's hidden special menu. Only truly exceptional Umamusume would qualify for service from him personally.
That was Sakuraba's little scheme.
Generally speaking, any Umamusume with real results was loaded. If he made them happy enough that they decided to dump a mountain of cash on the shop, that would be bad.
So for high-end customers like that, he'd have to bring out the special package.
All he had to do was personally provide top-tier service, then waive the bill.
Wouldn't that let them walk away fully satisfied while Sakuraba still didn't make any money?
Better yet, by waiving the bill, he'd be doing them a favor, which meant they might be too embarrassed to keep coming back next time.
And if they did come back, then he'd waive it again.
That way, those high-end clients would definitely start feeling too guilty to visit the foot-massage parlor too often.
Heh. One move, three wins.
But how was he supposed to spread the shop across the whole country...?
Maybe I should ask Belno what to do. She's a rich girl, so she ought to know how to expand a foot-massage parlor nationwide.
Still, before asking her, he'd have to be prepared. If Belno somehow ended up making him profitable, that would be a disaster.
While Sakuraba was mulling over his nationwide foot-massage empire, Maruzensky and the others gradually came back to themselves.
The curtain to the back room was gently lifted, and Maruzensky, Ardan, and Chiyono O stepped out one after another.
A faint blush still lingered on their cheeks, as though warm steam had softly brushed over them, and even their ear tips were tinted a light pink.
And when their eyes met Sakuraba, who was sitting in the shop resting, that blush deepened even more, like ripples spreading silently across water after a pebble had been dropped into it.
Maruzensky gave a light cough and was the first to walk over. She forced herself to look composed as she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, though her voice came out softer than usual.
"Sakuraba-san's technique... truly is extraordinary. It really was... quite unforgettable."
Her gaze drifted a little, as if she didn't quite dare meet his eyes.
Ardan, meanwhile, gave a small nod. Wearing a proper smile that still couldn't quite hide her shyness, she softly agreed.
"It really was... very comfortable. Thank you very much."
Chiyono O said nothing at all. She only kept her head lowered, unconsciously twisting the hem of her clothes between her fingers, her small earlobes red enough to seem almost translucent.
Sakuraba set down the teacup in his hand, stood up, and gave them a calm, professional smile.
"You're too kind. It's only the basic craft this little shop relies on to survive. As long as the customers are satisfied, that's enough. There's no need to make too much of it."
His tone was light and casual, as though the soul-scattering service he'd just provided had been nothing more than routine work.
Hearing that, the blush on Maruzensky's face seemed to deepen again. She hurriedly nodded, then turned to Norn Ace at the side.
"Then I'll settle the bill first..."
The instant Sakuraba heard the word "bill," his heart lurched, and he nearly sprang right out of his chair.
Oh no, oh no. If he took their money, then wouldn't all of today's work have been for nothing?
He'd come in with the perfect plan: make the Umamusume feel amazing and still not earn a single yen.
"No! No, no, no!"
Sakuraba frantically waved his hands and rushed forward, moving so fast he nearly knocked over the chair beside him.
"I can't take this money! Absolutely cannot!"
His tone was so urgent that the calm professional smile on his face instantly collapsed into outright panic, even carrying a hint of pleading.
"The fact that you all came to try the shop today and gave it such high praise is already the greatest support this little place could ask for! This first—uh, no, I mean, this service—consider it my treat! Complimentary! It has to be complimentary!"
Maruzensky was caught off guard by Sakuraba's sudden and extremely intense reaction. Some of the blush on her face faded, replaced by confusion and a touch of stubbornness.
She gently shook her head, her tone earnest.
"Sakuraba-san, how could that be? You gave your time and displayed such incredible skill. We received the service, so paying for it is only natural. Your technique... is genuinely excellent. We know that ourselves. We can't just take advantage of you for free."
At the side, Ardan spoke up gently as well. She still looked a little shy, but her attitude was firm.
"Maruzensky-senpai is right. Sakuraba-san, you're being far too polite. We... we really can't just accept a free service like this."
Chiyono O nodded hard too and softly added, "Mm... we should pay."
Watching all three Umamusume insist on paying in perfect unison, Sakuraba was so anxious he felt like an ant on a hot pan.
This won't do!
This wasn't how the script was supposed to start at all—the one where high-end clients feel too guilty after getting comped and stop coming as often.
Why weren't they following the script? Why were they fighting to give him money?
"No, no, really, I can't!" Sakuraba looked like he was practically about to press his hands together and beg. "You're all... uh, honored guests. Think of this first visit as me making friends! And today... today just so happens to be our shop's special service day. Right, special service day! Everything is complimentary! House rules—those are the rules!"
He threw together an excuse on the spot, trying to use "house rules" to crush any thought of paying.
Please, I'm begging you, just accept the freebie already! Can't you let me quietly lose a little money in peace?!
But at that exact moment, Norn Ace mercilessly stabbed him in the back.
"Sakuraba, since when did our shop ever have a day like that?"
Norn!
You traitor!
Why would you stab me in the back now?!
The smile on Sakuraba's face froze solid the moment Norn Ace said that.
Maruzensky, Ardan, and Chiyono O all looked at one another. Sakuraba's determined refusal to take their money—to the point of seeming almost unreasonable—only made them feel worse.
"No matter how you look at it, we really ought to pay first~"
"If you make it complimentary, we'll lose sleep over it~"
"Sakuraba-san, please just take the money~"
In the end, Sakuraba couldn't out-stubborn them. He could only take the money with a face dark enough to kill.
You lot!
Just remember this!
If you dare come back to my shop next time—
I'm going straight for the kill!
This is going in my VENGEANCE notebook.
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T/N: I WILL HAVE VENGEANCE -some girl with a fat ass