Thanks to Iria and Rena’s efforts, the first day’s business was successfully concluded.

 

They had to close earlier than planned due to running out of ingredients, which shows how well it went.

 

Rena thought they should prepare more ingredients from the second day onward.

 

The costs for setting up the booth on the first day were covered by support funds from the academy.

 

Since they started the business without initial costs, the profits generated were not insignificant.

 

Rena used half of those profits to purchase ingredients.

 

It was quite a bold expenditure, but she didn’t hesitate.

 

Judging from the first day’s situation, it was worth investing this much.

 

They had plenty of time, but in comparison, they lacked ingredients.

 

She thought that if they had more, they could have made more profit.

 

That’s how one day passed.

 

Preparation for business starts early in the morning.

 

It involves receiving purchased ingredients, organizing supplies, and preparing materials.

 

While preparations were going smoothly with Iria’s help, an uninvited guest arrived.

 

It was Wendy, a girl with blue hair and sharp features.

 

She wasn’t particularly welcome, but Iria was curious about why she came, so she let her in.

 

Iria put down the boxes she was carrying and greeted the guest.

 

“What is it?”

 

“What do you mean, what? I’m a customer. Is that how you treat customers? Can you call the manager?”

 

“We’re not open for business yet.”

 

“That doesn’t matter, does it? I’m just doing the same thing you did. Is there a problem with that?”

 

Hearing that, it made sense.

 

As requested, Iria called Rena, the manager (or the class representative).

 

The roles were reversed from two days ago, with the customer and manager switched.

 

At this point, Rena felt a bit uneasy.

 

From a business perspective, the customer is in a superior position.

 

Moreover, because of the mischief Iria had caused before, she felt even more tense.

 

But she couldn’t just turn her away.

 

‘Hadn’t they accepted us before?’

 

Thinking it was close to karma, she decided to endure it.

 

“Let her in. She has a valid reason.”

 

“……”

 

Iria showed an obviously displeased expression but did as Rena said.

 

She guided Wendy to an empty seat inside the store.

 

“Please sit over there.”

 

“My, what outdated interior design. Whose idea was this?”

 

“Just place your order.”

 

“Bring me whatever you’re most confident in.”

 

Now in the customer’s position, Wendy seemed to be in a good mood.

 

Rena wondered if she was still holding onto what had happened before.

 

She seemed like someone with quite a strong grudge.

 

However, the reality was different.

 

While outwardly acting as if she was trying to get revenge by doing exactly the same thing as before, she was actually being cautious.

 

Wendy usually doesn’t care about those in lower positions than her.

 

The fact that she bothered to come here means that Class A’s booth must have achieved remarkable results.

 

Enough for her to be wary.

 

If another business is doing suspiciously well, it’s a good strategy to analyze what might be the cause.

 

Wendy sat down and started analyzing the booth’s atmosphere, the staff, and anything that might have value as a product.

 

She was trying to determine what could have enabled such profits from a seemingly unremarkable store.

 

Wendy, holding the menu, glanced at Iria.

 

“I’ve heard the news. Your business is doing well, isn’t it? Well, beginner’s luck is at work, but things will be different from today. Unlike the first day, people now know different booths’ locations.”

 

“……”

 

“Well, no matter what you do, you won’t be able to compete with us anyway.”

 

On the first day, Class B’s profits were slightly higher than Class A’s.

 

However, this was because Class A had to close early due to running out of ingredients.

 

If they had had enough ingredients, the rankings might have been reversed.

 

Wendy seemed concerned about this, as she looked awkward after saying it herself.

 

In any case, it was clear that she was being cautious.

 

Otherwise, she wouldn’t have shown such a reaction.

 

She was genuinely analyzing why Class A’s business was doing well.

 

She thought there must have been some factor at work, as it was impossible to achieve such results with just ‘appearance’ alone.

 

‘What’s the reason they’re selling so well? I don’t see anything particularly special yet.’

 

As Wendy was deep in thought, Iria served her food.

 

It was omurice, the signature dish of Class A’s booth.

 

The appearance wasn’t bad.

 

A delicately covered egg sheet over fried rice.

 

Given the characteristics of a maid cafe, they didn’t forget to add cute decorations.

 

With skills that could produce this level of artistry, the taste would probably be good, too.

 

She took a spoonful and put it in her mouth.

 

And she was slightly disappointed.

 

“Hmm.”

 

To give an honest assessment of the food, it was average.

 

It wasn’t bad.

 

In fact, it was on the good side.

 

But compared to Class B’s, it fell short.

 

It wasn’t that the cooking was bad, but rather that it wasn’t outstanding compared to Class A’s results.

 

It seems they’re not competing on taste.

 

Wendy pointed this out.

 

“It’s more ordinary than I expected. It’s not bad, but it doesn’t feel like a dish that represents the store. Should I say it lacks character? I feel like if you had put in a bit more time and effort, you could have made something better.”

 

“Rena is the only cook. She said to tell you that with only one body, she couldn’t devote time and effort to every dish.”

 

“One person? But you had so many customers. She made all that alone?”

 

“No one else knows how to cook.”

 

It’s an excessive amount for one person to have made.

 

Class A had so many customers that they had to wait in line.

 

It was questionable whether this was actually possible, but if it were true, the drop in food quality was unavoidable.

 

The number of dishes one person had to make was beyond imagination, so there was no room to pay attention to each one individually.

 

Wendy decided to slightly revise her evaluation of the food.

 

Considering those circumstances, it was impressive that they could produce even this level of cooking.

 

Rena’s skills were certainly worthy of recognition.

 

Without the unfortunate incident between them, she would have assessed Rena as talent too good for Class A.

 

It would have been nice if Class B had someone who could handle that much work alone.

 

Feeling slightly regretful, she made her next request.

 

“So? This can’t be all there is. What else do you have here?”

 

“Our service is good.”

 

“Hmm, show me.”

 

Iria poured ketchup on Wendy’s head.

 

She seemed to have become accustomed to pouring ketchup, as she did it in a cute pattern.

 

Wendy remained frozen in place, unable to move even after the entire process was over.

 

They say when people are too shocked, they become calm instead.

 

This was such a situation.

 

She just blinked in place, not understanding what was happening.

 

Wendy’s blue hair turned red.

 

There was a sour tomato smell.

 

“W-what are you doing…?”

 

“It’s service. This sells well.”

 

“?????”

 

“It’s true.”

 

To Wendy, who was showing a confused expression with ketchup on her head, Iria briefly left her seat as if to show her something.

 

Not long after, she brought a customer from outside,

 

And she poured ketchup on their head, just like she did to Wendy.

 

After that, she stroked their head to spread it evenly.

 

“Do you like it?”

 

Iria looked down at the customer coldly as she spoke.

 

Whether she was aware of it or not, her eyes were red but piercingly cold.

 

I’m not sure what’s good about looking down on someone, but it seems some people with niche tastes like that sort of thing.

 

The face-stepping she often did was also an action that sharply divided opinions, but no one expressed dissatisfaction.

 

This was because Iria gauged the customer’s preferences by looking into their eyes.

 

She only provided that kind of service to those who preferred it.

 

This time, Iria deliberately sought out such a person to bring in to show Wendy.

 

The customer gave a thumbs up as if satisfied.

 

Of course, she didn’t pay for the laundry costs.

 

“What the hell, this actually works?”

 

Wendy felt like her common sense was crumbling.

 

From her perspective, it looked like Iria had just gone outside, grabbed any random person, and suddenly poured ketchup on them.

 

She wanted to say so many things–why they liked this, why Iria’s attitude towards customers was like this–but she didn’t voice them.

 

She wasn’t sure where to start criticizing.

 

It was confusing because everything from start to finish was incomprehensible to her.

 

She didn’t even have the presence of mind to get angry about the ketchup poured on her own head.

 

She was dizzy from witnessing a scene she couldn’t believe, even with her own eyes.

 

“Yes. You should try it too. At Class B’s store.”

 

Could it be a trend she wasn’t aware of?

 

Iria poured ketchup on the customer’s face as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

 

As if she had already done this act several times.

 

This also meant that Iria was doing similar things to most of her customers.

 

If this was Class A’s business secret, it might have been better not to know.

 

Wendy asked Iria again, as if to confirm.

 

“…Do customers really like this?”

 

“They like it even more if you wipe it off with a handkerchief after pouring. Watch this.”

 

Iria wiped the customer’s red-stained face with a handkerchief.

 

As she had said, the customer seemed to be feeling ecstasy from the act itself.

 

To Wendy, who was a normal person, he just looked like a crazy person.

 

“Try it once, even if you think you’re being fooled. Your sales might increase.”

 

“Hmm……”

 

Certainly, Class A’s booth growth was frighteningly good.

 

They had barely won on the first day due to ingredient issues, but who knew what would happen from today.

 

If this outrageous behavior was really the point that attracted customers, should she learn from it?

 

That day, there was an incident at Class B’s booth where Wendy poured strawberry syrup on a customer’s head, resulting in a sharp decrease in sales.

 

***

 

After seeing Wendy off, Iria went to find Rena, who was preparing to open.

 

She wanted to report on her actions in her own way.

 

“I just eliminated a competitor.”

 

“What? How?”

 

“……”

 

It was complicated to explain in words.

 

She just vaguely said that something like that had happened.