(Mio's Perspective)
The books I ordered had finally arrived, so I stepped into Izumi's room only to find the penguin lounging on the bed, playing a video game.
"Yo~"
"…Hello."
No matter how many times I saw it, I still couldn't get used to this.
The penguin was gripping the controller with its flippers (or wings?) and playing like it was the most natural thing in the world.
"This is pretty fun~"
I had no idea how those stubby wings could handle a controller, but pointing it out felt pointless.
"I want to go see Izumi."
The penguin was sitting on the bed, still mashing buttons.
"Ah, before that, I wanna ask you something~"
"What?"
"Do you know someone named AYAKA?"
AYAKA.
The moment I heard that name, a violent shiver ran down my spine.
The vocalist of the band Crazy Nasty that Izumi used to love.
He'd been obsessed with them long before we started dating.
After we got together, he quit being a fan, saying, "Their music changed and I can't get tickets anymore."
The penguin tilted its head.
"Huh? The image I got from reading Izumi's thoughts is totally different from the one you're picturing right now~"
"You can read thoughts?"
"Yeah~ I can use pretty much any mental manipulation ability. It's child's play for me. When I read Izumi's mind, I only got 'he was in love with her and she went crazy.' But the AYAKA in your memories… wow, that's something else~"
"Of course it is!!! That arsonist yandere menhera stalker is terrifying, and Izumi has no idea how bad she really is!"
AYAKA.
The vocalist of a rock band that actually made it to major debut.
She was a woman who became popular for her full-body rock performances and delicate lyrics. But that woman… was seriously messed up.
It was fine while Izumi still went to their lives.
But the moment her popularity grew and her music style changed, causing Izumi to stop coming, she lost it.
The band members came to me, practically begging on their knees.
"Please break up with Izumi."
That was when I first learned about AYAKA's existence.
She had never once approached Izumi directly.
She truly believed that if she created the perfect song, her feelings would reach him without fail.
So she poured everything into making the ultimate love song, convinced it would get through.
Instead, that song became a massive hit, paving the way for their major debut. Tickets became nearly impossible to get. And because of the shift in musical style after the love songs, Izumi drifted away.
Around that exact time, Izumi and I started dating.
"AYAKA is completely lost right now! Just for a little while! This is the most important time for our major debut. I know I have no right to ask this, but please!"
The band's drummer had bowed so deeply it looked like he was praying.
"…You haven't told Izumi yet, right…?"
They didn't want AYAKA to know about this. She wasn't approaching Izumi directly, but she was apparently monitoring him.
So they came to me instead.
"…I happen to be going on a business trip for two weeks…"
I was scheduled to be away for about two weeks.
"We'll finish the recording in those two weeks. We'll owe you big time."
In other words, while I was gone, they planned to tell Izumi, "She broke up with you, so focus on recording."
Izumi remained completely oblivious and continued his normal life.
The recording ended.
I came back.
"The recording is done. Thank you so much."
The band members thanked me, and I went back to dating Izumi normally.
But the penguin suddenly looked shocked.
"Whoa!"
"My ability has limits too~ From Izumi's mind I only got 'he liked her and she went crazy.' But the AYAKA in your memories… that's intense~"
The penguin kept muttering "whoa" over and over.
"So after you two started dating again, she tried to kill you by setting your house on fire~"
Yes.
I still remember it clearly.
AYAKA standing outside the window like a ghost.
The moment I noticed the stranger at the window and froze in shock, she hurled a Molotov cocktail and set the place on fire.
"She's seriously dangerous! That woman! Izumi, wake up already! The title of their first major album was 'Fountain'! I know his surname isn't written with the character for spring, so he probably didn't notice!"
AYAKA had never once approached Izumi directly.
She did stalk and monitor him, but she genuinely believed that if she created the perfect song, her feelings would reach him without fail.
When that didn't happen and another woman started dating him, she tried to kill that woman.
Truly rotten to the core.
In the end, the arson was discovered by her agency and her contract was terminated.
She somehow avoided police involvement.
After that, her bandmates and family had her committed to a psychiatric ward for treatment.
Essentially, she was locked up.
All of this was only told to me, the person directly involved. Izumi still knew nothing.
"Let's go meet her~"
"Huh!? Stop! She needs to forget Izumi and move on with her life!"
"No can do~"
The penguin answered instantly.
"You know it too. There's no rehabilitating that one~"
The penguin stood up on two legs and headed for the door.
"W-Wait!?"
"That girl…"
Its voice suddenly sounded strangely lonely.
"She's a lot like Karina. She believes her greatest work will definitely reach the other person~"
The penguin spoke weakly.
"But it doesn't reach them, does it, Karina? Humans are always so dense. You have to say it to their face for it to get through~"
＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝
The hardest part of running the shops was money management.
Every single day we had to update the ledgers, check daily sales, and double-check for mistakes.
I had hired two people specifically for this exhausting job, and they started working right away.
Thanks to them, we quickly discovered several problems with the shops in Shiki.
"Our food offering is too weak."
Exactly. Our food side was lacking.
After running the numbers, it became obvious.
"Indeed. We only have two shops that serve proper meals in the morning and afternoon, and even those only offer light snacks."
Right. Both my soba shop and Mr. Urdorips' place only started operating properly in the late afternoon.
The reason was preparation time.
But in this world:
"People mostly eat heavy meals in the morning and at lunch. At night they just have drinks and light snacks."
That was the reality.
Unlike Japan, people here ate big breakfasts and proper lunches. Dinner was more about alcohol and small bites.
"I knew that, but…"
Still, not many people ate breakfast outside, and although I aimed for lunch, the market in my district opened late, so by the time we were ready, lunchtime had already passed.
I tried launching lunch a few times, but the guild chairman stopped me, and it never really took off.
"To be honest, with the prices you charge for meals, morning and lunch service probably wouldn't change revenue much."
Yeah, that made sense.
We were talking one or two copper coins per meal.
Meanwhile, Sekauma and the high-end sake brought in gold coins.
100 yen versus 500,000 yen. The difference was massive.
"Since you're already making high-quality, expensive sake, why not open a proper high-class restaurant?"
High-class restaurant…
"Oh, that's a good idea."
I loved my current soba shop and wanted to keep it, but there was no reason I couldn't run a luxury place too.
And we had the space.
The original building where we first opened the cabaret was now being used by Coché for her tea shop, but it was far too big.
There was plenty of extra room.
Coché could continue selling tea, and we'd use the remaining space for a high-end restaurant.
Yeah. That could work.
I looked at the two people in front of me.
The one who had been speaking the whole time was Dengle, the old man.
The other was Komora, a woman who had been silently watching Dengle with admiration.
I was starting to worry about her.
After the meeting, Dengle called me aside for a private talk.
"…It's about Komora…"
He looked troubled.
"Komora is truly hardworking, but… she can only do exactly what she's told, nothing more."
I thought that was fine, but he continued.
"Of course that's acceptable in normal jobs. The problem is our profession. We have to think for ourselves. It's extremely rare for us to be hired as a pair. After all, we're expensive."
That was true.
"I don't have much time left. I don't need much pay. Please… use that money to keep employing Komora…"
Dengle was genuinely worried about her.
"…Of course. You're getting older too, Dengle. It'll be easier with Komora helping with the physical work."
"Thank you. I'm really concerned about that girl."
His worry turned out to be completely justified.
"I'm so sorryyyyy!"
Komora was bowing repeatedly.
The ledger had burned.
Yes, literally burned.
Dengle was clutching his head in despair.
How did it burn?
While organizing the ledger, exhausted Komora had fallen asleep at the desk… and in her sleep, she unconsciously cast a fire spell.
Don't use magic in your sleep.
"I've always been like this! At the most critical moments I make impossible mistakes!"
Komora was crying.
Both Dengle and I had the same expression: "What do we do now?"
Then—
"I remember that ledger."
Avael appeared.
The burned ledger belonged to her shop.
"Even if I don't have it memorized word-for-word, I can reconstruct the前后 connections."
"Oh, thank you so much!"
Dengle and I both sighed in relief, but Avael smiled.
"However, this shop has an iron rule: 'Mistakes must be punished.' You're not officially part of the shop yet, but you caused trouble for us, so you'll have to accept your punishment, okay?"
Komora answered brightly.
"Yes! Of course!"
I had a bad feeling.
Cabaret punishment…?
Was it going to be something erotic or something cruel?
"Everyone~♪ Today we have a special guest, Komora-chan♪"
About twenty cabaret girls surrounded her.
Komora looked confused about what was going to happen.
"Komora-chan's mistake was 'burning the shop's ledger'~"
Avael announced cheerfully.
The other girls smiled sweetly.
"So the punishment level is 'E'! Alright everyone, let's do our best!"
At Avael's lively signal—
"Punishment time~♪"
All the girls swarmed Komora and started stripping off her top.
"Kyaa! W-What are you doing!?"
Komora screamed in shock.
"In this shop, mistakes are inevitable. If someone gets depressed over one or two slip-ups, it causes problems for everyone."
Avael explained calmly.
"What this shop needs most is boundless cheerfulness. We can't have people dragging mistakes around and serving customers with dark, scared faces. So once the punishment is over, the matter is closed. No one will bring it up again."
Komora's face brightened.
"Really!?"
"No matter how many times you make the same mistake, we won't get angry. The punishment level just goes up. Once this punishment ends, the story is over."
Komora looked relieved.
But I understood exactly what this scene meant.
They had stripped Komora's top off, leaving her large breasts completely exposed.
They were quite big.
"Now, let me explain punishment level E. This punishment is—"
Sloira took over with a bright smile.
"You have to cum 100 times with your breasts before it's over♡♡♡"
Komora froze.
Sloira kneaded her own massive tits while continuing.
"It's breast hell~ You'll get your breasts so thoroughly trained that just having them rub against your clothes will make you cum♡♡♡"
Komora stood there stunned.
Then—
"I'll start♪"
Sloira latched onto one of Komora's nipples and started sucking hard.
"Ooooooh!!! I'm sorry♡♡♡ I won't do it again, I swear♡♡♡"
Thirty minutes later.
Komora was still having her breasts sucked nonstop.
"Rero rero~"
"Hiiiuuu♡♡♡"
Now it was Rom, the 13-year-old (appearance-wise) loli idol who was second only to Sloira in popularity, licking and rolling Komora's nipple with her tongue.
Every flick made Komora's body jerk violently.
"Hmm, how many is that now?"
"Fifteen."
"Hiiii♡♡♡ Kuuu♡♡♡ I'm cumming again♡♡♡"
"That's right. You're going to go crazy, Komora-san. Why don't you quit ledger work and join the cabaret? It's so much fun♪"
"N-Nooo♡ I take pride in my job…"
"If you're so proud, don't burn things."
Avael, who had been kneading the other breast, started sucking hard too.
"Hiiyaaaaah♡♡♡ That's bad♡♡♡"
"I think you'd be perfect for cabaret. You've got huge tits and a pretty face."
"Yeah yeah, let's work together♪"
Now all the girls were groping and squeezing Komora's breasts at once.
"Ooooooh♡♡♡ So many hands are rubbing me♡♡♡"
Her body twitched and spasmed again.
"It's not over yet♡♡♡ Keep cumming for us♡♡♡"
Three hours later.
"…A-Aheee…♡♡♡"
Komora had passed out with her eyes rolled back, tongue hanging out in a completely broken ahegao.
All trace of her usual neat and tidy appearance was gone. She looked like a wild animal in heat.
Her breasts were covered in thick saliva and reeked of it.
"Exactly 100 orgasms from her breasts alone."
"Ehehe, let's play again sometime♡"
The girls finally dispersed.
"…Now what do we do with her?"
In the end, I had to wipe Komora's body clean and lay her down on a bed.