Season’s changing—everyone, watch out for colds.

V-chan has personally proven, with her cold, that she’s not actually an idiot.

******

—Should I lie in wait for Kuroda here? (Takashi)

Takashi stood at the entrance of the “Zhi One” Japanese restaurant, mulling it over.

She glanced around. There were plenty of spots she could use to hide.

The shadow at the corner of the alley, behind the restaurant’s standing signboard, or even across the street in the bookstore—if she hid in the bookstore, it’d be safe and no one would notice anything off.

But after seriously thinking it through, Takashi felt that an ambush wasn’t a good plan.

She had no idea how many people Kuroda would bring.

Or what level of muscle would be among them.

Just like Uesugi Yui had said:

If she couldn’t win, then what?

If she couldn’t get away, then what?

Chongzong, who used to be full of confidence in his own strength, had gradually learned to think things through more fully and realistically after running into enemies like the Atlas Brown Bear that he couldn’t defeat.

Even if she could win, Kuroda would still have a perfect chance to slip away while she was busy fighting.

So she scrapped the idea of ambushing Kuroda at the restaurant entrance.

Once she calmed down, Takashi sorted out two key points:

1) It’d be best if it were in a closed space, so Kuroda couldn’t run.

2) She had to get Kuroda alone, just the two of them, one-on-one.

As long as those two conditions were met, the odds of success would be solid.

Which meant the question became: how was she supposed to find that kind of setup in this Japanese restaurant?

Takashi fell into thought again at the doorway.

Considering this was a place Kuroda came to eat, and it was on a shopping street, chances were good this was actually Kuroda’s turf.

So Takashi couldn’t just stroll in to scout the place.

If she was going in at all, she’d have to wait until they officially opened for business.

She couldn’t count on the owner or the staff to suddenly grow a conscience and help her set up an ambush on Kuroda.

But even if she went in during opening hours, there was a high chance they wouldn’t seat her. A place like this was probably reservation-only and catered to regulars.

So Takashi stood at the door, thinking and then shooting down her own ideas over and over, looking for a way to break the deadlock.

Then, by accident, she spotted a flyer posted at the entrance of the barbecue place next door.

They were hiring part-timers.

In that instant, a spark flashed through Takashi’s mind. She’d found an idea.

It was already four-thirty in the afternoon. No time to waste. Takashi made a snap decision, slid open the restaurant’s wooden door, and stepped inside.

“Hello~ excuse me~” (Takashi)

As she looked around, Takashi deliberately put on the harmless-little-girl act and waited for someone who heard her voice to come greet her.

Right past the entrance was a small foyer with a few potted plants and a rack for customers to leave their umbrellas.

Beyond the foyer, a somewhat narrow hallway led inward. She could vaguely see two or three Japanese-style private rooms branching off from both sides.

Just then she heard footsteps coming down the stairs—a person descended the narrow staircase from the corridor.

His voice reached her before his face did.

“We’re not open yet. Is there something you need?” (???)

From the sound of it, he was a middle-aged man. And sure enough, the person who came down was a middle-aged guy in a white chef’s uniform. He looked like the head chef here, maybe even the owner.

“Hello, my name is Uesugi Tako…shi. I was wondering if you’re hiring part-timers?” (Takashi)

“Part-timers? We already have enough staff…” (Middle-aged man)

He started out sounding like he was going to turn her down. But when his gaze landed on Takashi, his tone flipped.

“…But hiring one more wouldn’t hurt. Otherwise we’re short-handed pretty often.” (Middle-aged man)

With that, Takashi had pulled off the first step of her spur-of-the-moment plan.

She thought she’d succeeded thanks to her quick thinking.

In reality, it was thanks to her looks.

And she had no idea.