A day had passed since Orfevre first came to the shop.
What Orfevre didn't know was that Dyna had specially added a time-based surcharge to yesterday's bill. If she could fleece a little more from Orfevre, why wouldn't she? As long as Orfevre didn't lose her mind and start causing trouble, she really wasn't that different from any other horse girl. With Oguri Cap at the front counter, Dyna felt even safer. The only problem was that Oguri wasn't very good at calculating Orfevre's fees—especially when extra time meant extra charges—so Dyna had to handle that part herself.
Today was Valentine's Day.
The man who had commissioned the custom chocolate was already crouching outside the shop before dawn. When Dyna stepped out early for some fresh air, she saw him squatting by the entrance and nearly jumped out of her skin.
"Um… sir, don't you think coming this early is a bit much?" Dyna said, pressing a hand to her chest.
She led him inside and took the one-of-a-kind chocolate from the refrigerator.
The moment the man received it, he lit up with pure delight, like a child who had just gotten the best gift in the world.
"Thank you so much, boss lady! Here's the payment—please, you have to accept it!"
He placed a thick stack of cash on the counter with the utmost solemnity. Dyna didn't even need to count it to know it was far more than her quoted price; every note was of the same denomination, and there were a lot of them.
She had no intention of haggling it down. Trying to refuse money when someone was this happy would only ruin the mood.
"Your beloved must be that gray-white horse girl who comes here all the time, right? I remember her very well, you know~" Dyna said at just the right moment, feeding him the exact answer he wanted to hear.
The man looked even more surprised—and even happier.
"Really? How did you figure that out, boss lady? She's the kind of girl who looks pretty ordinary in a crowd…"
He sounded a little embarrassed. After all, the girl who was special to him was probably just plain and unremarkable to everyone else.
Smiling, Dyna pointed to the logo on his uniform.
"This, right here. She's one of the very few customers who always comes in right when we open, and that logo is impossible to miss. Honestly, I knew as soon as you came in to place the order~"
"Hehe… thank you for keeping it secret! If my confession works out… I'll bring the whole company here to buy from you!"
"Wow~ I'm looking forward to that. Then I wish you the best of luck today!"
The man left, and the shop fell quiet once more.
It should have been a happy little event…
But now her morning run was completely ruined.
Dyna scratched her head, then turned around and took the banner she had prepared long ago from storage. Standing on a stool, she hung it over the entrance.
One bite sweet to the heart, one gift of love to the very limit — Valentine's limited sweets, now available.
"The more I look at this, the tackier it feels… Is that just my imagination?"
She stepped back to inspect the slogan and found it increasingly strange the more she read it aloud.
Still, the shop already had a huge customer base and an excellent reputation. Even if the only notice they put up was Valentine's limited products now on sale, the store would probably be packed to bursting. It made up for Dyna's complete inability to run proper promotions.
They arranged the bouquets—free gifts with purchases—on a specially prepared display rack. Even with Oguri Cap, Gold Ship, and the newly hired pastry chefs helping in the middle of it all, the decorations weren't completely in place until well after nine.
"Phew Great work, everyone This is the first truly meaningful holiday our shop has ever operated through," Dyna said, dabbing the sweat from her forehead with a tissue.
Back at Christmas, she had completely forgotten holiday promotions were even a thing. And at New Year's, the whole shop had been closed!
Oguri Cap sat at the counter looking drowsy, and no one knew what exactly she had been doing last night. Still, with no customers yet, everyone was free to act however they pleased. Gold Ship and the pastry chefs rushed into the kitchen in high spirits to start preparing stock according to Dyna's plan.
The amount they had already made definitely wouldn't last through the morning rush.
As for Dyna… well, Dyna had once again become an idle shop owner with nothing much to do. The longer the shop had been in business, the more she felt like there was less and less left for her personally to handle. So she ended up in the little "trouble-relief" corner for customers, holding a plate of cookies in one hand while scrolling on her phone.
The first customer who entered was instantly captivated by Dyna's handmade chocolates and bought one without hesitation.
In less than ten minutes, one of the special boxes was already sold. It seemed Dyna had underestimated the pull of anything labeled handmade by the boss lady.
As the customer flow grew heavier, everyone instinctively gave Dyna a wide berth. The sight of the boss lady immersed in concentration had its own unique charm, and with the flower arrangements beside her, she seemed almost hidden among blooms.
Even the couples who came inside lowered their voices.
From the street, the whole shop looked like a place full of lively bustle—and yet strangely silent.
Meanwhile, Dyna was wholly absorbed in browsing the JRA website for information about all the classic-year limited races. Her left hand kept reaching automatically for cookies from the plate and popping them into her mouth.
She did not notice at all that the plate had long since been emptied.
Nor did she notice the orange-haired horse girl who had quietly come up beside her and placed an opened paper box over the plate.
When Dyna pinched the "next cookie," she immediately felt something was off. The texture was rougher than usual. And crisp—too crisp.
But all her attention was still on her phone screen, so she tossed it into her mouth anyway.
The moment her teeth broke through it, a wave of bitterness exploded across her tongue, full of burnt, charred flavor. She nearly spat it right back out.
"Orfevre?!"
Only then did Dyna realize that Orfevre had somehow sat down beside her.
And what Dyna was holding in her hand was not a cookie at all—
It was, more properly speaking, a chunk of charcoal.
"…Mm. Good morning. After I went back yesterday, I thought about it more. An apology should have sincerity."
Orfevre rested one arm along the back of the sofa, but her gaze was angled toward the shop window, refusing to meet Dyna's eyes.
Coughing, Dyna set the half-bitten "cookie" back into the box and forced herself to swallow what she already had in her mouth. Tears sprang to the corners of her eyes from pure reflex.
"So… this was what you came up with…?" she rasped.
"I followed an online tutorial step by step… As for why it's so black, maybe I accidentally turned the oven temperature up by another two hundred degrees…?" Orfevre said, not sounding all that certain herself.
She had come here on impulse, and even now she was deeply restless. There were so many customers around the shop today, and she had really forced herself to come.
Dyna almost laughed in disbelief.
But then she remembered Orfevre's actual skill with her hands. In that light, the fact that she had managed to produce anything at all—even this burnt disaster—meant she had put a tremendous amount of effort into it.
In the end, Dyna let out a soft sigh.
"To be honest, it's not good. It's basically charcoal. You didn't taste it yourself?"
"No. My sister said that leaving a gift untouched in its original state is the highest form of sincerity. I couldn't destroy the original appearance of the cookies."
Dyna turned and looked at her in silence.
What was she supposed to do?
All of a sudden, she really, really wanted to yell at Orfevre.
Join here to read ahead.
In Star Rail, Ultra-Beast Armored — Have I Caught "Equilibrium"? l (Chapter 80)
Uma Musume, But I Only Have Five Years Left to Live (Chapter 178)
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Doctor, Not a Bangboo (Chapter 115)
Ben Tennyson Wants to Join the Justice League ( 126 )
TYPE-MOON: Redemption Beginning with the Holy Grail War (Chapter110)
Yu-Gi-Oh! — Transmigrated into the White Dragon Girl (Chapter116)
"Is this chat group even serious?" (Chapter82)
I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter144)
Can Playing Games Save the World? 65
Crossover Anime Multiverse: The Demon Hunter of an Unnatural World 77
From Junkman to Wasteland 66
Weekly Refresh of Overpowered 31
I'm Grinding Proficiency Like 46
From Kiana, Lord Ravager, Onwa 118
Honkai: Is This Still the Prev 42
Elf: My Starter Pokémon Is Inc 65
Warhammer: My Primarch Is Remi 111
From Demon Slayer to Grand Ass 80
The Way the Umamusume Look at 68
Uma Musume, but My Cheat Power 112
Naruto: Weaving the Future, Be 65
Zenless Zone Zero, but Kamen R 76
Multiverse Crossover: The Perf 66
My Cyberpsycho Girlfriend 65
Uma Musume: The Dark Trainer 95
Uma Musume: A Calamity Born fr 89
I, a Reincarnation-Loop Player 53
The Violent Girl Group Is Beat 61
Uma Musume: The Horse Girl Who 65
Uma Musume: From Beginner 61
Becoming a Horse Girl, I Will 37
Uma Musume: I Want All 35
I Can Copy Unique Skills 36
A Guide to Aid in the Underwor 26
Summoning an Evil God, but the 27
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