“Yo, you’re here pretty early.”
With the sound of the wind chimes, Lin Yue opened the door and stepped into the shop.
“School let out early. I need the money in a hurry.”
That was a lie—Lin Yue was just sticking to his old habit from his school days: skipping class.
There really wasn’t much point in listening anyway; he’d already been told the same info four times in the game, and knew it all by heart.
Looking around the café, which had just finished afternoon tea, Lin Yue didn’t bother with small talk.
He glanced at the uncollected glasses and dessert dishes scattered about, ready to start working right away.
“You’re full of energy, but don’t rush. It’s a bit weird to work wearing Avelina’s uniform. Better change into the staff outfit, all right?”
“There’s a clean shirt and apron hanging on the shelf in the storage room.” The uncle straightened up, wiping the sweat from his forehead with a towel, and pointed to a small door in the corner of the shop. “Just go in and grab them.”
Lin Yue thanked him and walked straight to the storage room.
Suddenly, as if the uncle remembered something important, he abruptly sat up and reached out, shouting, “Wait, don’t open—”
But it was too late.
Lin Yue pushed open the door, and in the next second, he froze on the spot—there was a girl inside.
A pink-haired girl stood with her back to him, arms raised as she unhooked her top undergarment.
Her academy uniform had slipped halfway off, exposing her pale back.
Their eyes met; both were stunned.
“Ah!”
The girl reacted first, letting out a scream as if she’d been caught by a pervert… Well, that’s exactly what this looked like.
?
What the hell is going on?
Lin Yue’s mind went blank, forgetting he could’ve just turned around and shut the door.
“Mapel?”
She wasn’t wearing her glasses right now, which was probably why Lin Yue didn’t recognize her at first.
Honestly, Mapel without her glasses was surprisingly attractive—on par with Airila, really.
But what was she doing here?
Lin Yue searched his memory for anything about Mapel, but all he could recall was her competing for the student council president—nothing different from yesterday.
“You… ah, Lin Yue.”
The girl seemed about to explode, but when she turned around and saw who it was, she paused.
“You… hurry up and get out, close the door…”
Lin Yue couldn’t tell if he was imagining it, but it seemed like Mapel was working especially hard to hide her anger.
After a long pause, all she did was urge him to leave quickly.
“S-sorry, I didn’t know someone was—”
Lin Yue turned away, shutting the door behind him.
Damn it!
He shot a murderous glare at the uncle, only to see the man whistling and looking elsewhere, trying to disassociate himself from the situation.
Is this place really reliable?
Letting me walk in on a girl changing—unbelievable.
But…
Thinking back on what he’d just seen, Lin Yue realized this girl had a devilish figure, maybe even more impressive than the Valiana sisters.
That waist-to-hip ratio was absolutely not what an average eighteen-year-old girl should have.
Unreal.
Ahem…
After a while, he heard the faint sound of fabric, and the storage room door opened.
Lin Yue turned, ready to apologize, only to find it was indeed Mapel—the same Mapel who’d recommended he apply for a job here yesterday.
She’d put her round glasses back on and wore a staff uniform that almost matched Lin Yue’s, totally different from her academy outfit.
Avelina’s girls’ uniforms were mostly loose, not really showing off their figures, but in regular clothes this girl’s charm had doubled, if not more.
It made Lin Yue see a whole new side to this supporting character.
“Uh… how should I put this? Sorry about that. If you want, you can hit me.”
After all, getting to see such a sight, taking a hit might even be worth it.
Seeing his attitude, Mapel smiled and said, “It’s all right, Lin Yue, no need to be so tense.”
Her face was as innocent and pure as ever, as if the earlier mishap had never even happened.
But the tips of her ears were secretly flushed, hidden by her hair—if you didn’t look closely, you’d never notice.
Fortunately, Mapel wasn’t mad. If she told anyone about this, his reputation at school would be ruined for good.
“Uh… I still feel kind of bad. Oh, right, why are you here, anyway?”
Lin Yue awkwardly changed the subject, hoping to move past this lucky-pervert incident as quickly as possible.
It was a bit odd for her to be here at this hour.
Lin Yue was puzzled—a straight-laced girl like her shouldn’t be skipping class, right?
She wasn’t an important character, so interacting more probably wouldn’t cause any problems.
The uncle suddenly popped out, as if he’d remembered something he’d forgotten to mention.
“Mapel is my niece. She got into this school, so I asked her to help out.”
You could have told me that earlier.
Still, this explained why she was always running around the shopping street in the original story.
So that’s why.
“Lin Yue, I can’t believe you really came to work here. And wearing a wig…”
Mapel turned to the uncle and said, “Uncle, you really have an eye for talent, huh, hehe…”
Out of Lin Yue’s line of sight, Mapel shot the uncle a terrifying look, as if she’d kill him the next second.
The uncle instantly held his breath.
But when she turned back, Mapel’s expression was as pure and cute as ever, and she shyly said to Lin Yue, “Next time, be careful, okay? It’s the first time I’ve been seen by a boy…”
Uh, was the original Mapel like this?
He had no idea.
“Okay… I’ll be more careful next time. But really, it’s thanks to you for recognizing me—saved me a lot of trouble.”
Lin Yue tapped the wig on his head and spoke casually.
Mapel seemed pretty confident in her ability to recognize people.
Smiling, she explained, “My magical abilities aren’t great, but I’ve always been good at reading people. One look at your eyes and I knew it was you, Lin Yue.”
Even if it was in that situation…
Sounded reasonable enough.
After a while, Lin Yue changed into the staff uniform and stepped out of the storage room.
The outfit fit him quite well.
Just as he walked out, the uncle took off his apron and said, “I’m heading out to pick up some goods. You two watch the shop. I trust you.”
Why did it feel like he was running away from responsibility for that earlier incident…
Lin Yue was speechless.
Just the two of us?
That’s a little awkward.
Watching Mapel tidy up the café, Lin Yue decided to just go with the flow and threw himself into work.
Business picked up quickly, just as the uncle said.
All the customers were women.
“Pepe! You’re working again today!”
“Yeah, my uncle hired a new employee, so I don’t have to do as much anymore!”
“Oho, and he’s a hottie too. Lucky you! Got any thoughts about him? If not, introduce him to me, okay…”
“You guys… stop teasing me, we only just met today…”
“Still so easy to fluster, huh? Makes me want to tease you even more!”
They must be Mapel’s friends.
In the original story, Mapel was always the sociable type—like one of those ‘normie’ good girls from a Japanese light novel.
Lin Yue listened to their lively, girl-centric chat without minding, busying himself with cleaning up so the café could squeeze in more customers for the after-school rush.
After a while, Lin Yue noticed Mapel kept glancing his way, but whenever he looked up, she’d be seriously wiping a table, leaving him puzzled.
When the shop finally quieted down a bit, Mapel seemed to find the right moment and began, “Lin Yue, are you—”
The wind chime rang again.
A young man in fancy noble attire strode in—the same lackey from the other day with Charles.
“Hey, new guy, come pour us the most expensive, whatever it’s called—just pick something good!”
The leader pointed at Lin Yue, his tone arrogant.
“Hurry up! If you make our boss wait, you’ll regret it!”
Lin Yue frowned.
He was just here to work, didn’t want trouble, and started to walk over—when one of the lackeys suddenly reached out to grab Mapel’s hand on the counter, muttering,
“Miss Mapel, our boss invited you to dinner before the semester started. Why haven’t you given him an answer?”
Mapel instinctively pulled her hand back, her smile fading a little, but she patiently replied, “Sorry, we only serve food and drinks here. If you’re bored, you can go upstairs and read.”
“Oh come on, give it a thought. Charles is a rich guy, he’ll treat you right…”
Mapel’s smile was almost gone, but she held herself back and said, “If that’s all you came for, please leave. Our little shop can’t serve you.”
“Tch, acting all high and mighty!”
He’d lost patience and reached out to grab Mapel’s wrist.
At that moment, the atmosphere in the shop froze.
“Hey! What do you think you’re doing!”
“Trying to harass someone in broad daylight?”
Mapel’s friends reacted first, immediately putting down their cups and crowding over.
They were just regular students, but seeing their friend bullied, they bravely stepped in to shield Mapel.
“Get out of the way!”
The guy waved his hand impatiently, trying to shove the girls aside.
One of them lost her balance, stumbling back several steps and nearly falling.
“You!”
The others caught her, glaring angrily but not daring to say more.
After all, these were powerful nobles.
Standing up this much was already pretty impressive.
Seeing them back off, the lackey got even bolder: “Miss Mapel, don’t play hard to get. Come with me!”
Just then, a hand clamped down on the lackey’s wrist.
“Sir, if you continue causing trouble, we’ll have to clear the shop.”