Aren’t You Too Sweet Salt-God Sato-San?

“Flower garden”, the pride of this store… And on the terrace seat overlooking this was the figure of a highschool girl.

[Hmm… Close, I wonder if it would have been better to take a close-up for this photo? No, close-up… sizzling…]

That girl was staring at freshly-made pancakes through the screen of her smartphone.

I mutter while looking at her from a distance,

[Sato-san… isnt it?]

Sato Koharu, we’re in the same class. She also has another name, “Salt god Sato-san”.

Pop-cut black hair that is evenly cut around the shoulders and gently wrapped inside, long eyes and a straight nose. She looks like she’s somewhere between cute and beautiful, and her well-groomed appearance attracts a lot of attention.

With a cute name like Koharu and of course with her well groomed and lovely appearance, countless people tried to get close to her.

However, till now, not a single classmate was able to get close with her, and the reason is,

—I’m not that close with you to begin with.

This was the legendary reply given by Sato Koharu to a handsome guy from another class who came to invite Sato-San to a date with a nonchalant attitude.

All of this transpired in just a few seconds and her face didn’t twitch even once.

—I think you might be able to understand the reason, no?

Sato-san is always “salty” to everyone, regardless of age, gender, and of course, whether they’re beautiful or not.

[No.] [It’s tiresome.] [So what?] [Can I go home now?]

Etcetera, etcetera… These words, devoid of any warmth, were shot out from her mouth like a shotgun with a deadpan expression.

Nevertheless, her overly well groomed appearance still attracts a lot of people.

Hence, She was given the nickname “Salt god Sato-san” in recognition of her achievements in shooting down people who were attracted to her.

Leaving aside that…

[Sato-san, what is she doing alone…?]

Currently, she is looking at her phone right in front of my eyes while swaying her body in all directions and repeating “un, not that” and “ah not that” among other things.

Judging from the situation, I think she is trying to take a picture of the pancake, but,

[Does she usually take photos of pancakes with such a serious face?]

She was so focused that she did not even notice that the pancake was passed to her by me.

No, I think in Sato-san’s case, she doesn’t even recognize that I was her classmate. But if I heard that directly from the person in question, I’m sure my heart would be broken. So that being the case, I pretended not to notice it either.

—Incidentally, the name of this naive high school boy is Oshio Sota.

Who is currently doing his part-time job at “Cafe Tutuji”, a hidden garden cafe in Sakuraba City.

In my experience as a skilled part timer, even though I’m the only part-timer here, it’s rare for customers to come to the store alone. More so if it’s a high school girl.

Moreover,

[I wonder from what angle would it look best from…?]

She is even muttering to herself in an interesting way.

It’s impossible not to pay attention to her like this.

Though saying that, she’s now a customer so it’s not good to listen too much.

I thought better of it and was about to retreat to the back of the store when it happened…

[…Onee-san, what are you doing from a while ago? ]

Vaguely, I heard a sickeningly sweet voice and so when I turned around to look. There were three male college students from the next table who started a conversation with Sato-San.

At first, Sato-san seemed a little perplexed by the sudden call, but she soon regained her usual beautiful expressionless face.

[Does it have any relation with you?]

Seems like Sato-San’s “saltiness” is strong even outside of school.

At the spine freezing cold voice, I couldn’t help but let out a voice of admiration, “Oh…”.

However…

[Haha cutie, don’t be so cautious.]

[You were taking pictures for Minsta, right? Give me your phone, I’ll take one for you.]

[While we’re at it, let’s exchange Mine too. Yeah, yeah, Let’s share!]

The university students just laughed and didn’t take her seriously. Sato-san’s “salty attitude” didn’t work.

On the contrary, they are halfway trying to snatch Sato-san’s phone.

[H-Hey…]

As expected, Sato-San is in quite the pinch here.

Realizing that, I immediately turned on my heel, walked right up to the college students, stood in front of them and said,

[This store isn’t for things like that.]

Saying that, I point at the “No Picking Up Girls” sign at the entrance of the store.

[She seems to be in trouble, so may I ask you to stop?]

Though not as good as Sato-san, I said it in a tone with a certain coldness.

The three college students and Sato-san looked up at me as if I was a mentally senile person.

I hoped they would give up like that, but as expected—

[Hahaha, no way part timer-kun, we are just chatting, aren’t we?]

[That’s right. Hurry up and return to work. You get paid for your job after all, no?]

As far as I can see from those grinning faces, they have no intention of quitting.

Then I guess It’s time for me to reveal my ace up my sleeve.

“Suuu”— I sucked as much air in as I could and shouted at the top of my voice towards the kitchen.

[Father, the customer here said the pancakes were delicious!]

[Ha?]

One of the college students let out a confused squeal at my sudden and strange behavior.

However, their stupid faces soon turned pale in an instant.

The reason is that the next moment “a muscular man who looked like something you’d only see in a Western movie” crawled out from the back of the store and headed straight this way while his shoulders were heaving.

This was no longer a logical scene rather a horror that appeals to instinct.

[Hiiii?!]

[Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey!!]

[We’re gonna get killed!!]

The rest was quick.

The grinning college students who were looking down on us just because we are highschool students ran away like newborn spiderlings and disappeared in the blink of an eye.

When the muscular Daruma who was a bit late in coming saw this, his face literally scowled like a daruma.

[Damn, they escaped again! I thought I could definitely catch them today.]

By the way, the name of this Daruma is Oshio Sezaemon.

Store manager of “Cafe Tutuji”, and my father.

Because of his splendor build, he usually stays back inside the kitchen but his dream is to have a customer directly tell him [Your cooking was delicious] one day.

Although it’s been a few years since he opened this restaurant here, his dream has yet to come true.

Anyway, I rushed over to the now shocked Sato-san.

[Sato-san, are you all right?]

Forgetting that I was pretending to feign ignorance, I called out her name without much thought.

When I called out her name, she looked up at my face in surprise.

[Oshio… kun…?]

Oh, she remembered me…

Just as my chest was filled with slight satisfaction, Sato-san hugged me.

[Ehh…?]

And soon, hot drops spilled from the eyes of Sato san, wetting the chest area of my shirt.

Then she,

[Uuh-uuuuuuuhh… I was so scared…]

Was she really that salt god Sato-san?

That Sato-san is crying with her face buried in my chest.

Because this unexpected scene, I turned stiff for a second but it soon struck me,

—Are you stupid? No matter the reason, you shouldn’t let a girl’s crying face be exposed to the public.

[Father, I’m sorry. I have to withdraw for a while.]

[It’s alright. Father here will do his best as the one-man army!]

Without asking for any particular reason, he immediately agreed, and taking advantage of the opportunity, showed off his splendid front double biceps.

I wonder if it’s his way of saying [Okay. Your dad has your back covered.]

No, no, it’s not the time to ponder about that now.