Volume 6 - CH 37

Tanikawa Sakuya wants to Renovate

“Welcome.”

“Hi, Master.”

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I arrived at the coffee shop earlier than the scheduled time.

Since I decided to rent the whole place today on a whim of Tatsuyuki-san, I thought that I should apologize to Master for the trouble just in case.

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“Sorry for making you close your shop on Sunday, Master.”

“It’s all right. Tatsuyuki-kun gave me a week’s worth of revenue for this after all.”

“……..eh?”

“Rather, it would be nice if he can rent the place like this every day you know.”

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“Ahaha.” Master jokingly laughed but he’s definitely serious.

It appears that Tatsuyuki-san has become a regular customer of Master’s coffee shop since the first time I met him here.

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“Mm? You came, Hideyori.”

“Sakuya.”

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While chatting with Master, his daughter Sakuya came down from the second floor.

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“Today’s the day CoffeeChild is born☆.”

“Oi, today’s protagonist is not you okay?”

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Sakuya gave me a CoffeeChild-smile. It looks like she was inspired by StarChild-Smile.

It seems Sakuya is pretty influenced by the idea of CoffeeChild these days.

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“Man, now StarCha will have a duet partner huh.”

“You’re being a silly doting parent again……..”

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Master was clapping his hands while looking at Sakuya.

Sakuya AKA CoffeeChild also seems to be happy about that.

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“Is StarCha really going to visit this kind of place though?”

“Can you not call your own house this kind of place.”

“Tatsuyuki-san said that he would bring her here. In the first place, isn’t the reason why this place has so few customers because of Master’s poor marketing skills?”

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Whenever I visit, Master would have time to chat with me.

Whether when I came here with my acquaintances or when I came without Sakuya, there would be around 3 customers here at best, and that’s already including myself.

Honestly, I can’t tell at all how Master makes a profit with this place.

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“The concept of my shop is a place where you can elegantly enjoy coffee in silence. It’s intentional alright.”

“So, between a coffee shop buzzing with customers and a coffee shop that’s always empty, which one do you prefer?”

“……….the former.”

“Then it seems some renovations are in order, Master.”

“I’m going to renovate Master’s shop too.”

“I would die of anxiety first if I leave you two in charge of that!”

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When I and Sakuya went out of our way to bring up renovation to attract more customers for him, saying that he would die of anxiety is just too hurtful you know.

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“Hideyori, what do you think would attract more customers?”

“Well, first we would have to lay off Master.”

“Hey! Wait a minute! It’s my shop so don’t just try to casually lay me off alright!”

“So I have no choice but to become 3rd Gen J-Soul Masters huh…….”

(TLN: Reference to J-Soul Brothers, a J-pop band)

“You think I can leave my shop to a girl with a communication disorder!?”

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On that, I completely agree with Master.

I kinda get the feeling that this pair of parent and child is not suitable to run a coffee shop in the first place though.

Also, it’s unrelated but Master is the 2nd gen owner of this place huh.

This place might have been set up by my aunt and Master’s parents then.

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“Then we would have to promote Master himself right.”

“Meaning?”

“Hmmm……………like a Master who makes delicious coffee?”

“So straightforward! Do I really have no other charm!?”

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Even when I really tried coming up with a nickname that would make him famous, I came up with nothing.

Still, his retort gave me a good idea.

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“Let’s go with the Poison-tongue Master then. I’m confident Master’s foul-mouth won’t lose to anyone in Japan.”

“Even my existing customers would leave me then!”

“But you get to be Japan-top something you know? Isn’t that going to make people curious? [[I wonder how bad it is!?]] like that.”

“Hmm, certainly…….”

“Personally, I would never visit such a place though.”

“That part about you is really irritating, you know.”

“That’s so awful of you to say…….”

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I went out of my way to come up with advice but Master doesn’t buy it at all.

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“Then I will become a signboard girl!”

“That’s bold coming from a girl who can’t even say ‘welcome’ properly.”

“Welcome.”

“She did it!?”

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But it’s true that Sakuya is a cute girl if she keeps her mouth shut.

With a cute signboard girl, the place should become more popular too.

This one is from Maidreamin in Ikebukuro

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“Certainly, this coffee shop is too dull with Master alone after all. A signboard girl would be nice…….”

“I’ve been keeping this place afloat all by myself until now you know.”

“Don’t you think it’s sad when you say that out loud yourself…..?”

“I don’t want a middle schooler pitying me!”

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At least, I want this place to last until the end of my third year in high school. The time I might die.

I will protect this coffee shop no matter what until then.

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“If I can’t hire someone then I would have to put a Sakuya statue in front of the shop like a Peko-chan or Uncle Sanders at K*C huh.”

“I don’t want that.”

“Then what are you going to do?”

“Put up a Tsugaru Madoka statue instead.”

“That’s a good idea.”

“First, I don’t have the money to buy that kind of thing. Second, Tsugaru-san will really hate you two for that you know.”

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He doesn’t have the money huh?

It would be difficult to promote a shop without any budget though.

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“I think the fastest and most effective way would be to decorate the shop with StarCha’s signature right. It would work really well if she can spread the word on social media too. We’d be using StarCha like an attraction though.”

“Why are you suddenly getting so realistic!?”

“But even if we make the place go viral, it won’t last in the long run right……….”

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I think asking StarCha for her autograph is doable.

But the effect it will have is only temporary.

We need a lasting solution here.

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“I will work at the shop as CoffeeChild then.”

“You are fine when I and Master are with you but you’re normally silent around strangers right.”

“Then there would be no problem if Master and you are with me.”

“Why are you dragging me into this though.”

“Rather, Hideyori can just become the new Master.”

“Wh…..what…….?”

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She wants me to actively work at the Tanikawa family’s coffee shop……?

I only wanted to give Master some advice you know.

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“I see, Hideyori-kun can just inherit the title of Master from me huh.”

“Marrying Hideyori, that’s my solution.”

“Solution to what? I would wreck this place in 11 days you know.”

“A short rule…..like Battle of Yamazaki huh……..”

(TLN: Battle of Yamazaki where Akechi Mitsuhide took power from Nobunaka only to get taken down by Hideyoshi 13 days later)

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In the end, it turned into our same old silly banter.

It seems our conversation always ends up like this huh?

I think Tatsuyuki-san would be able to come up with a solution if I ask him but I feel like I will lose if I do so I probably won’t do that.

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While we were chatting, someone arrived.

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“Good afternoon, Hideyori-san, Sakuya, Master-san.”

“Umu. Hello, Towa.”

“Thank you very much for inviting me today.”

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Sakuya returned her greeting.

I stay silent.

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“Everyone looks so worked up today. Did something happen?”

“That’s right! Towa is the smartest person in our grade! Master, Hideyori, let’s ask Towa for some advice!”

“……advice?”

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I know that Eien-chan is smart but I’m not sure that she knows anything about marketing.

Still, Sakuya decided to ask her for some advice to liven up the coffee shop.

TLN: Will Hideyori fall for the marriage trap………..find out in the next episode of DB–[email protected]#!#$%#$