After a moment, Yukinoshita sighed softly and finally spoke her first words:
"Let's go to the back kitchen and try the cookies first."
Like she had just received an order, Yuigahama flusteredly replied:
"Ah, okay! This way, this way…"
Without any hesitation, Yukinoshita walked forward, and the rest simply followed behind her.
Even though he was brought here by Hayama, right now all the attention seemed to be on Yukinoshita. But that was fine. If things could be solved without him having to do anything, that was exactly the kind of outcome Hachiman preferred.
The group sat around in the back kitchen, waiting for the two to try the cookies. The more they waited, the more Hachiman felt the pressure from everyone else. Yukinoshita, on the other hand, didn't seem fazed at all.
She simply picked up a cookie, tasting it with the calmness of a seasoned food taster.
But... after just one bite, she set it down.
Her usually expressionless face finally changed—though not for the better. She frowned slightly and pressed her temple.
"Hard to believe..."
"From the interior design, to the location, to the flavor—it's all lacking any character. The fact that this place has lasted until now is nothing short of a miracle."
Hearing Yukinoshita's words, Yuigahama's face turned a bit awkward and downcast. Miura, on the other hand, looked angry. Hands on her hips, she snapped:
"Who do you think you are, talking like that...?"
Yukinoshita: "If all you wanted to hear were nice comments, this shop wouldn't have fallen this far."
Miura: "Then tell us how you'd fix it. Let me see if you even have the right to say that."
Yukinoshita didn't argue with her. From start to finish, she simply spoke her thoughts in a calm and steady way.
"First, the cookies themselves need to be improved. Selling the same thing with no change is bound to get eliminated sooner or later. Even if it can barely keep going for now, it'll never really grow."
"Do you still have ingredients in the kitchen?"
Yuigahama: "Yes, yes!"
Yukinoshita: "Then come watch me make them."
Yuigahama: "Okay!"
Making cookies is a troublesome process, with plenty of steps and lots of time needed. Yet Yukinoshita was ready to do a live demonstration right here.
'Looks like as long as Yukinoshita is here, the flavor problem is solved...'
Hachiman also set his cookie aside. He had already tasted it earlier, and just like Yukinoshita said, it had no distinct charm. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't anything that would make people stop and buy.
He stood up quietly. While everyone's attention was on Yukinoshita, he returned to the main area of the shop and carefully looked around.
For handmade goods like cookies, flavor came first, but how they were presented was also very important. Yuigahama hadn't put enough thought into either.
Unlike regular restaurants, this kind of shop wasn't about making customers stay. It was about convenience—letting them buy and leave quickly.
Stepping outside, he looked up at the big signboard and suddenly felt a bit dazed.
Now that he thought about it...
"Stutter Cookies..."
'What a strange name. But... maybe that's its only strength. At least it grabs people's attention.'
As he thought that, another idea suddenly struck him.
A handmade cookie shop, yet the kitchen was hidden behind a thick wall. Didn't that basically tell customers, "Our kitchen isn't clean"?
'That's definitely unreasonable...'
Still, it wasn't hopeless.
Since the place had a traditional look, paired with little surprises like the wind chimes, they could easily develop toward a "modern Japanese style" cookie shop. Replace the wall with glass, let people see the kitchen, and the whole place could improve.
But of course, the foundation was still the cookies themselves. The flavor had to become unique, and after that, some clever marketing could bring in customers.
Hachiman already had a plan forming in his head. He pulled out his phone, snapped a couple of photos, and posted a message on Instagram:
"1 yen cookie tasting event! First come, first served."
The post instantly caught the attention of many locals nearby. For them, taste wasn't the main concern—price was. And they would become the very first batch of customers to draw others in.
Meanwhile, in the back kitchen, Yukinoshita continued explaining how to properly bake cookies. At the same time, Hachiman took out all the leftover cookies from earlier.
Two hours later, customers started showing up one after another, most of them just for the 1 yen cookies. Hachiman kept his promise. After all, with Yuigahama soon making better cookies, leaving the old ones around would only hurt the shop's image.
But his plan didn't stop there.
He added everyone who bought a 1 yen cookie into a group on Instagram and announced that this event would happen every day.
For every 100 new members in the group, three lucky people would be chosen to get 1 yen cookies.
Yes... it was the simplest form of marketing. No wasted time, no wasted money. Just a few taps on his phone, and countless people would want to join in.
For example, with 322 people in the group now, that means 9 cookies are given out every day. And that's not the only perk…
Hachiman planned that if Yuigahama couldn't sell all the cookies made that day, they would just be given away.
First, this would keep the food fresh. Second, it would help the shop get more attention.
At Totsuki Academy, Hachiman might just be a chef, but outside of it, he was more of a businessman. Sometimes what kept a shop running wasn't just the food—it could be the atmosphere, or the service. But most importantly, it was the strategy.
After putting his plan into action, Hachiman finally returned to the kitchen. At the same time, Yukinoshita already had a helpless look on her face.
She had spent the whole afternoon trying different ways to teach Yuigahama, but…
Maybe Yuigahama was just clumsy, or maybe Yukinoshita was simply too fast. Either way, after an entire afternoon, Yuigahama still hadn't made anything that met Yukinoshita's standards, and she was completely worn out.
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