That afternoon, Xiao Xi arrived at the café twenty minutes earlier than their agreed interview time.
After following the navigation to find the place, she only then realized—it was the very same café where she had her blind date with Ye Xinglan!
Xiao Xi still remembered how the ceiling had been smashed through by a sudden monster attack back then.
Judging by the looks of it, the café had been fully renovated, though it hadn’t opened for business yet.
“Hello? Is anyone here? I’m the one who scheduled the interview.”
Xiao Xi cautiously pushed open the door and was immediately struck by how completely different the interior décor was.
Compared to before, the café had adopted many more moe-style, anime-themed elements.
“Ah, just a moment! I’ll be right there!” came a crisp female voice from behind the counter.
Moments later, sitting by the window, Xiao Xi watched as the girl served her a slice of matcha cake and a cup of Earl Grey tea, feeling somewhat flattered.
“Thank you.”
Xiao Xi subtly sized up the girl sitting opposite her.
She looked to be in her twenties, wearing a white shirt with a brown apron, her short black hair framing a pair of clear, approachable eyes.
“Hello, I’m Su Ying, the manager of this café.”
Xiao Xi recalled that Su Ying had been the one to receive her and Ye Xinglan during their blind date, and that she had made the coffee back then.
She hadn’t expected this all-in-one machine of a girl to actually be the manager.
At the same time, Su Ying gave Xiao Xi an approving once-over, nodding with satisfaction.
“Not bad. You’re so cute; you pretty much fit the hiring criteria perfectly.”
Xiao Xi let out a small “eh?” feeling a bit bewildered by the sudden compliment.
“Ah, sorry, I completely forgot,” Su Ying said sheepishly. “The recruitment notice was just posted yesterday, so some parts haven’t been fully revised yet. I didn’t expect anyone to come for an interview this quickly.”
Xiao Xi finally understood why she hadn’t seen this perfect job for her before—it was only posted yesterday.
Then, through Su Ying’s explanation, Xiao Xi gradually understood what kind of person they were looking to hire.
After the café was damaged by the monster attack, the Association had granted Su Ying some compensation funds.
She also had a bit of savings herself, so she figured it was a good opportunity to renovate and change the business style at the same time.
Su Ying wanted to relaunch the café as a maid café mainly targeting the anime and manga-loving crowd.
She was personally interested in this kind of thing as well.
Therefore, the real target for recruitment was maid waitresses catering to the otaku audience, making appearance naturally a very important criterion—which was one area where Su Ying was very satisfied with Xiao Xi.
“I really like coffee, and I also love anime, but since the café business was doing okay originally, I was hesitant about changing the business style.”
“Although the monster attack was frightening, it gave me the push I needed to make a firm decision. Otherwise, without the Association’s compensation, my own savings wouldn’t have been enough for the renovation.”
Su Ying stuck out her tongue, and Xiao Xi thought that was a kind of blessing in disguise.
But… a maid waitress? Even though she had been a girl for quite some time, Xiao Xi had never really paid attention to wearing feminine clothes, let alone maid outfits.
Still, she quickly accepted reality—after all, being a maid was more respectable than writing those damned “small emperor” novels, and her bottom line had already been lowered by those.
“The café’s main focus is desserts and afternoon tea. The commercial street here has more customers in the afternoons, so I want to hire someone for a half-day shift.”
“As for salary, it’s 3,100 a month, plus extra commissions based on customer service. How does that sound?”
Xiao Xi nodded.
Considering it was just a half-day shift, that salary was reasonable.
Plus, with commissions, she couldn’t think of a reason to say no.
“Oh, right, there’s one more important thing. Are you familiar with anime and magical girls?”
Magical girls?
Xiao Xi was momentarily confused—why would a waitress job even be related to that?
Su Ying led Xiao Xi to the southwest corner of the café.
Only then did Xiao Xi notice that this area had been sectioned off with several rows of shelves, stocked with all kinds of anime and magical girl merchandise.
The walls were plastered with numerous anime posters.
“Well, since most customers who come to maid cafés are otaku, I thought it would be good to expand the business a bit and set up a corner to sell merchandise.”
“I’ve studied this specifically—this marketing strategy is called business format integration.”
“Integrating multiple services within a single space can increase customers’ dwell time and spending opportunities…”
Su Ying rattled off the explanation with ease, clearly having put a lot of effort into this business pivot.
“So it’s best if the waitresses are familiar with anime and magical girls—at least knowing the IPs and characters so they can introduce and promote them to customers.”
As for the anime part, Xiao Xi had no problem; she had been a hardcore otaku for years.
But looking at the rows of magical girl merchandise on the shelves, she couldn’t help but furrow her brows and squint.
“What’s wrong? Are you not familiar with this stuff?” Su Ying asked, misreading Xiao Xi’s complex expression as unfamiliarity.
“No, I’m… quite familiar,” Xiao Xi said casually, pointing at a row of magical girl merchandise on the shelf, listing their names off like a menu.
Of course she was familiar—most of these famous magical girls who had merchandise were ones she had encountered on the battlefield, while the rest were either her old teammates or… herself.
Besides those that had become popular in the past three years, Xiao Xi knew them all quite well.
But when she looked at the merchandise for Eternal Star, she couldn’t help but frown.
Promoting merchandise of herself was weird no matter how she thought about it.
Damn it. Unfortunately, the image rights for Eternal Star belonged to the Association.
If only she had known back then that magical girl merchandise would sell so well… sigh, no use dwelling on the past.
On the other side, Su Ying’s expression lit up like she’d found a treasure.
She clasped Xiao Xi’s right hand earnestly.
“Miss Xiao Xi, please, you have to work here! Salary and everything else can be discussed!”
Where else could she find a cute girl who also knew so much about anime and magical girls?
Such a beautiful girl was basically the ideal type for dating!
So the two quickly came to an agreement. Su Ying promptly hired Xiao Xi, and Xiao Xi was very satisfied with the job.
“Come on! I’ll show you around the back first.”
“This is the storage room, here’s the break room—you’ll change clothes here as well.”
“That door leads to the back exit. Oh, and this room you shouldn’t enter—it’s my private room.”
Xiao Xi nodded, taking note of everything.
She even asked Su Ying for a copy of the café’s menu to memorize.
“Oh, and we need to prepare for the opening event too…”
Su Ying chattered on energetically.
Xiao Xi didn’t mind working with someone so driven.
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