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"An entry permit?"
"Mhm."
Before Ishikawa Katori could explain, Shirogane Ginjirō, who was nearby, spoke up, "Shopkeeper Ishikawa has obtained permission from the Onmitsukidō and can freely enter and exit the Seireitei using the 'Entry permit' issued by the Onmitsukidō.
If you have any work that needs to be entrusted, you can come and find him."
Ishikawa Katori directly handed over the 'Entry permit'; he had realized that this token was useless unless people held it in their hands to see it.
"I was only recently allowed to enter the Seireitei.
From now on, for my business, I'll have to trouble both Vice-Captains for your continued support.
You can come to me for any odd jobs like cleaning or repairing squad barracks."
Ise Nanao subconsciously took it, and after examining it carefully, she looked at Shirogane Ginjirō beside her.
When she saw Shirogane Ginjirō nod, the seriousness on Ise Nanao's pretty face lessened a bit, though due to her personality, she still gave off a somewhat cold impression.
Ise Nanao handed the token back to Ishikawa Katori and asked, "Can you tell me how you obtained this 'Entry permit'?"
"My apologies."
Ishikawa Katori took it back smoothly and said gently, "It's not that I intentionally conceal it, but without the client's permission, our store will not disclose the content of the commission.
The process of obtaining this token involves the commission's content, so I'm afraid I cannot tell you the details."
Ise Nanao nodded and did not press further.
Ishikawa Katori's words were already very clear.
Although he didn't mention Onmitsukidō in his words, since this token, issued by the Onmitsukidō, involved the commission's content, the client Ishikawa Katori spoke of could only be the Onmitsukidō.
The Onmitsukidō's actions only needed to be reported to the Central 46 and did not require notification to the Gotei 13, let alone a Vice-Captain, even the Captains of the Gotei 13 were the same.
Ishikawa Katori didn't know Ise Nanao's thoughts and was solely focused on how to get closer to her.
What should he do?
He couldn't just blurt out, 'Please be my friend,' could he? He'd definitely be thought of as crazy.
Then what reason should he find?
Ishikawa Katori's peripheral vision scanned the eyeglasses shop and finally landed on Shirogane Ginjirō, his eyes lighting up.
Got it!
"I'm sorry to disappoint you.
As an apology, I'll also help Miss Ise pick out a pair of glasses."
At these words, the few people in the eyeglasses shop were all stunned.
Shirogane Ginjirō looked at Ishikawa Katori strangely; could this kid really have fallen in love with little Nanao at first sight?
However, he felt like he had heard these words somewhere before.
Ishikawa Katori, however, used the method Shirogane Ginjirō had used to keep him earlier on Ise Nanao, except instead of Shirogane Ginjirō giving away glasses, Ishikawa Katori offered to help her pick out a new pair.
His initial plan was actually to give Ise Nanao a pair of glasses, since it wouldn't cost him anything anyway.
But when the words reached his lips, he changed 'give glasses' to 'help pick out glasses'.
Because ever since he discovered the system's function, Ishikawa Katori, a semi-socially anxious person, had been trying hard to make friends.
Although he was still not good at communicating with people, after stepping on too many landmines, he also learned how to avoid them.
According to Ishikawa Katori's past experience, one should maintain a 'friendly yet indifferent' attitude towards women met for the first time, which means leaving a good impression on the other party while maintaining a comfortable distance.
In the past, Ishikawa Katori had tried being overly enthusiastic or trying too hard to please women he met for the first time... The result was that most of the time, it would make the other party feel pressured or wary, and some even treated Ishikawa Katori as a backup to cultivate.
To be honest, Ishikawa Katori didn't mind being a backup; he just wanted to be friends with them anyway.
But...
Those backups who were extremely enthusiastic on the surface but didn't gain a single point of favorability secretly were completely unacceptable to Ishikawa Katori; if you're going to keep me as a backup, you should at least give me some benefits, right?
Getting back to the main topic.
Giving gifts upon first meeting can indeed increase the other party's favorability, but there's a lot to be said about the choice of gift.
For example, with Ishikawa Katori's Everything Store, if he helped women for free, he would only be seen as having ulterior motives or being taken advantage of without gaining any favorability.
But if it was just a discount, and it was a discount for the entire group, female customers would gladly accept it and would therefore have a good impression of Ishikawa Katori.
A pair of glasses that cost hundreds of thousands of Kan even at their cheapest would obviously be too expensive as a gift, and according to Ishikawa Katori's past experience, giving such an expensive gift upon first meeting would not only be rejected but would also make the other party wary.
To express his apology, helping to pick out glasses was a very good reason.
Although this 'apology' was a bit forced, Ishikawa Katori couldn't care less at the moment.
And most importantly...
What Ishikawa Katori had always pursued was equal friendship, not fawning in a subservient manner.
Fawning like a dog is not as good as working diligently and using the results of his work to gain the other party's favorability, and Ishikawa Katori also did not believe that mere fawning could gain a woman's favorability.
Ise Nanao was slightly stunned when she heard how Ishikawa Katori addressed her, but after thinking about it carefully... she found that there was nothing wrong with Ishikawa Katori calling her Miss Ise, because he was not a member of the Gotei 13, so there was naturally no need to use the addressing conventions among the Gotei 13 members.
"Thank you."
A smile appeared on Ise Nanao's serious face: "It should be me apologizing.
My knowledge was too shallow, and I asked such a question without thinking carefully.
You don't need to apologize for that."
There's a chance!
Ishikawa Katori's eyes lit up when he saw the smile on Ise Nanao's face; sure enough, he had made some progress in his friendship-making skills.
"It's alright, I also have some understanding of eyeglasses, and I should be able to offer some humble suggestions to Miss Ise."
Ishikawa Katori's words were pure nonsense; before he even stepped into this eyeglasses shop, he didn't even know there was an eyeglasses shop in the Seireitei.
But this did not prevent Ishikawa Katori from using it as an opportunity to communicate with Ise Nanao, after all, Ishikawa Katori's learning ability was very strong.
Moreover, when he had observed the surroundings earlier, he had habitually memorized the characteristics, materials, prices, display positions, etc., of all the glasses.
The words Shirogane Ginjirō and Shirogane Mihane, father and daughter, used to introduce glasses to other customers in the store were also kept in his mind.
By cross-referencing, Ishikawa Katori had gained a certain understanding of how to choose glasses.
"Miss Ise, your skin tone is fairer, so these thin frames are more suitable for you... And your eyes are closer together, very heroic, so I recommend frames that go from light to dark from the bridge to the temples..."
Ishikawa Katori started introducing on his own.
Initially, Ise Nanao only listened politely, but after a few sentences, she realized that he wasn't just talking nonsense; his vocabulary was surprisingly professional, giving the impression that he was someone in the optics industry.
She didn't know...
All of Ishikawa Katori's words were heard from Shirogane Ginjirō, and then combined with his own understanding, he rephrased them to tell Nanao.
Shirogane Ginjirō looked at the eloquently speaking Ishikawa Katori, his eyes full of surprise; he hadn't noticed this kid seemed to understand glasses before.
...If considering strenuous activity... hmm...
Ishikawa Katori looked left and right, and finally pointed to a pair of glasses on the adjacent shelf, saying, "I just noticed that these glasses, with their modified temples, fit the shape of your ears very well, which can prevent them from falling off during strenuous activity."
"You have good taste, kid."
Shirogane Ginjirō, who was nearby, praised, "The temples of those glasses were modified by my own hands.
Now that you mention it, I just realized that this type of temple is indeed very suitable for little Nanao."
[Ise Nanao Favorability +1, gained 160 experience points, current favorability: 1]
The information in his mind made Ishikawa Katori squint.
With this one point of favorability, it meant that he had left an impression on Ise Nanao, though not a big one, but if they met by chance on the street next time, she wouldn't forget him.
The smile on Ishikawa Katori's face grew even gentler: "You're too kind.
Rather than saying I introduced them well, it's more that Miss Ise is very suitable for wearing glasses; she can perfectly adapt to almost all styles of glasses."
"Being too modest can make people dislike you, you know.
After hearing you talk, I'm almost tempted to ask you to work in my shop."
Shirogane Ginjirō laughed heartily, and then he also started helping Ise Nanao pick out glasses with Ishikawa Katori.
Finally, after careful selection, Ise Nanao chose a pair of glasses priced at 1.4 million Kaku, which made Ishikawa Katori's eyelids twitch uncontrollably.
Too expensive!
This one pair of glasses was equivalent to one-sixth of Ishikawa Katori's savings.
Ise Nanao held the packaged glasses and said to Ishikawa Katori and Shirogane Ginjirō, "Shopkeeper Ginjiro, Shopkeeper Ishikawa, I've troubled both of you."
After seeing Ise Nanao off, Ishikawa Katori refused Shirogane Ginjirō's offer to give him a pair of glasses as an apology, then also bid farewell to 'Gin Tonbo' and continued distributing flyers on the Commercial Street.
When he had distributed most of them and it was nearing noon, he walked towards the Comprehensive Relief Station.
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