Today was another peaceful festival preparation day.

 

Rena was teaching Iria the customer service manual.

 

The life of a maid cafe is in the hospitality and service towards customers. Fundamentally, it’s a store that attracts people with certain tastes rather than food quality.

 

Therefore, Iria’s role was quite important this time. And Rena was doing her best to teach her.

 

“Now, watch carefully and follow me, okay?”

 

She made a heart with her hands and aimed it at the omurice. After that, she chanted the order in a refreshing voice.

 

“Become delicious!”

 

Of course, she didn’t forget the cute action befitting a maid server.

 

She turned her body once and showed a customer service smile. It might seem a bit excessive, but that’s what maid cafes are like.

 

Since it was originally that kind of concept, this much was necessary.

 

And after seeing everything with her eyes, Iria followed Rena and chanted the order.

 

“Become delicious.”

 

A voice that seemed to have no soul leaked out of her mouth.

 

Surprisingly, this was even considered a bright voice coming from Iria’s mouth, but it was far from being a maid.

 

It wasn’t a tone for responding to customers. Actually, she didn’t expect much, but she didn’t think it would be this bad.

 

“That’s too stiff. Customers will want something softer than that.”

 

“Become delicious?”

 

“Why is it in question form this time……”

 

“Be. come. de. li. cious.”

 

“Now I don’t understand the meaning.”

 

Will this festival run smoothly?

 

Rena felt a sense of unease coming over her.

 

***

 

One day left until the festival day.

 

Rena and Iria decided to check the preparation status of other classes for a moment.

 

Class A’s preparation had been messed up from the start, so they were going to see how other classes were doing.

 

“We’re not the only ones who failed. Right?”

 

“Why did we fail?”

 

“Well……”

 

Rena swallowed her words, unable to say it was because of her.

 

Honestly, Iria’s customer service sense was terrible.

 

There were already countless reasons why she wasn’t suitable for the role of a maid greeting customers, the biggest reason being that her personality wasn’t ideal for being with people.

 

Whether she had talent or not, it was just her nature. She was basically blunt and not good with words.

 

In Rena’s view, this aspect of Iria was one of her charms, symbolizing her, but it was clearly not suitable for greeting customers.

 

‘But since she’s pretty, she might be popular if we just stand her there……’

 

In the end, appearance alone couldn’t overturn everything.

 

Although it might initially attract attention, there needed to be something to captivate the customers who came.

 

“Anyway, let’s look around other stores. Surely we’re not the only ones having difficulties.”

 

“Why do you keep saying we’re having difficulties?”

 

“……”

 

Poor thing, she had no self-awareness.

 

There was Rena, who couldn’t honestly say until the end that it was because of Iria.

 

“That’s Class B’s booth over there. I heard they’re selling desserts.”

 

“Doesn’t that overlap slightly with us?”

 

“That’s right. That’s why we need to look more closely. Let’s see how they’re preparing.”

 

Although Class A’s main menu is omurice and fried chicken, since it’s a cafe, they’re also selling desserts like cake and parfait.

 

If they’re a dessert cafe, inevitably some of the menu items will overlap.

 

So, the internal situation shouldn’t be much different. It seemed they wanted to see what strategy the other side was using.

 

Wendy was standing in front of the booth.

 

When their eyes met, her expression distorted.

 

“Tch, what do you want?”

 

If it were usual, she would have maintained a confident expression. Still, she lost to Rena in the last practical exam.

 

She always showed an arrogant expression, but the deflated look suited her quite well, too.

 

It seems meeting face-to-face was quite unpleasant.

 

Iria, not minding, opened her mouth.

 

“Are you taking customers?”

 

“……What?”

 

“We’re customers, aren’t we? The employee’s attitude is poor. Can you call the manager?”

 

“Are you crazy?”

 

There was still one day left until the festival period.

 

What was she doing in front of a store that wasn’t even open yet?

 

Rena was at a loss in the middle due to Iria’s sudden outburst, but she judged that it was impossible to take back the spilled water.

 

In this kind of situation, it might be a good method to act confidently instead.

 

“Th-that’s right! Tell them to call the manager!”

 

“Now the crazy bitches are acting up in pairs.”

 

Now, she was beyond anger, just dumbfounded. Wendy heaved a deep sigh and then opened her mouth.

 

“Come in then.”

 

She knew their purpose. They must have come for a pre-visit anyway.

 

Although it’s not open yet, it’s not difficult to receive two customers first.

 

Didn’t they say they were a cafe too? Rather, suppose they could clearly establish dominance with this opportunity. In that case, they might give up and change to a different stall with the little time left.

 

Wendy guided the two inside.

 

The first thing that caught their eyes was the clean background interior.

 

Rather than placing unnecessarily flashy decorations, it was a place that created a calm atmosphere by being faithful to the basics.

 

A sign in the store’s center said, ‘We do business with skill.’

 

It seemed to be a message aimed at Class A, which used a strategy of attracting customers with appearance.

 

Wendy handed over the menu in a cold tone, reflecting her inner desire to have them eat quickly and leave.

 

“Here’s the menu. Since you came before the opening period, pay double.”

 

“Attitude score deduction.”

 

“Oh for f… Fine. What’s the point of talking to you.”

 

Actually, if judged by customer service attitude only, there wasn’t much difference between Wendy and Iria.

 

Of course, neither seemed to lack such self-awareness, so only Rena knew this fact.

 

Iria and Rena ordered a parfait and lemonade respectively. It didn’t take long for the ordered menu to come out.

 

What was slightly different from expectations was that Wendy took the order, prepared and brought it herself. She’s the only one looking after the store today. She did the customer response, cooking, and serving all by herself.

 

Although she was prickly, she was quite skilled in operating the store.

 

Although Rena didn’t want to admit it, it felt much more stable than Class A, where everything was clumsy.

 

Rena jotted down various things in the notebook she brought.

 

“Please eat quickly and leave.”

 

“O-okay…”

 

Although her attitude towards customers was also the worst, she probably wouldn’t be like this to all customers, so for now, it was hard to find any flaws.

 

Rena hoped the taste would at least be bad, but she actually knew.

 

That couldn’t be the case.

 

The parfait Wendy brought out was beautiful in shape and had cute decorations. How could food made with this much care not taste good?

 

Wendy’s specialty was cooking, and Rena knew this. She scooped up a spoonful of parfait and pushed it into her mouth.

 

“……?!”

 

The first taste was sweet, but as she chewed the fruit, it left a refreshing taste in her mouth.

 

Moreover, the texture was soft, providing a clean satisfaction even when swallowing.

 

Is this what they meant by doing business with skill? It was plain yet delicious. Even more than what Class A was selling.

 

“This is delicious! Can’t you tell me the recipe?”

 

“Huh? Of course not. Just pay.”

 

“Why does the lemonade taste like lemon?”

 

“You, just get out.”

 

Iria handed Wendy two silver coins.

 

It’s slightly more than twice the price of the dessert. She just said it casually, but she didn’t expect her to really charge double.

 

No matter how much you dislike someone, they’re a customer if they pay. At least that’s what Wendy thought.

 

“Hmm, hmm…… Just this once.”

 

And so they avoided being kicked out before finishing their food.

 

***

 

Class B’s store was superior to Class A’s in every aspect.

 

From the store’s interior to ingredient preparation and the quality and skill of cooking.

 

The kitchen’s hygiene was flawless, and even the marketing was quite good.

 

They attracted customers by distributing small amounts of desserts to passing pedestrians. It was a strategy they could employ because they were confident in the quality of their food.

 

‘At this rate, we’ll lose.’

 

At this point, Rena felt a bit of a crisis. Class A hadn’t even decided how to operate yet.

 

“These guys, really! How come there’s not a single person who knows how to cook among so many people?”

 

“……”

 

“……”

 

“I know how to cook.”

 

“No, Iria. Not you.”

 

The number of eggs Iria burned while trying to cook has already exceeded two digits.

 

She thought it might be okay if it were anyone else, but Iria shouldn’t be sent to the kitchen.

 

Then they needed to find someone to look after the kitchen, but how could that be easy? It seemed like they had gathered people who were just pretty faces with no life skills.

 

Rena heaved a deep sigh.

 

Right. At least they should be good-looking.

 

If the food wasn’t tasty, they needed to gather customers in other ways.

 

“Sigh…… Then let’s do this. I’ll look after the kitchen, so I just need a few people to help me with my work. Iria can gather customers in front of the store, and the rest can do serving and service.”

 

In the end, Rena decided to look after the kitchen alone.

 

Although it was a bit different from what was planned, a reasonable personnel placement was only possible after she took on the heavy position alone.

 

The overall role distribution was finished.

 

Now, they could only pray for luck to be on their side.