I Just Wanted a Peaceful Life After Transferring, but I Fell into a Rom-Com Trap and a Hidden Battlefield No One Knows About

Chapter 23: Bad at Math, Karate Master? Solved in One Punch? Is This Guy Bruce Lee?!

“Yes~! Just a moment, please!”

“Senpai, could you grab a spoon for me?”

“Ayana, don’t cause a ruckus while you’re working! Do your job properly!”

“Ehh~? But I am working properly!”

“There’s no way someone dressed like that is working properly!”

Despite various hiccups along the way, the café we had extensively remodeled was finally open.

A week had passed since the grand opening. Sasaki-sensei’s father, Hiroji Sasaki, had regained some confidence thanks to his daughter’s encouragement and decided to resume managing the café.

Since we could only work here after school for about three to four hours, we weren’t expecting much. Yet, the place was bustling with customers almost every day, keeping us busy beyond belief.

As someone who usually spent his afternoons either napping or gaming, I found club activities to be a nuisance that stole my precious free time. I was always scheming ways to skip, but Sasaki-sensei would inevitably catch me and lecture me every single time.

In the end, while our working hours were short, the impact was fairly decent.

“Haaah… Working is seriously exhausting…”

After closing, I was sprawled across the table like a melted puddle of mud.

Even though I had slacked off a little, I was still dead tired. Just thinking about how many more days I’d have to endure this exhaustion made me want to die.

“Misaki-kun, isn’t that a bit dramatic?”

“Dramatic? Don’t you get tired?”

“I do, but not that much.”

“What the hell… Are you some kind of monster?”

“If anything, you’re just too weak, Misaki-kun.”

“Alright, alright, everyone! Have some iced coffee and cold watermelon. Great job today!”

With business picking up, Hiroji-san seemed in good spirits. Every night after closing, he treated us to iced coffee or milk tea and served chilled fruit.

“Thank you, Ojisan.”

I grabbed a slice of watermelon and an iced coffee, then sat down at a nearby seat to enjoy my well-earned reward.

“Speaking of which, Satohama-senpai, you were amazing that day! It was like something out of a shounen manga!”

“Ehehe~ It wasn’t that big of a deal~”

“Maybe you could go pro, Senpai!”

“Ooooh! Yuki, you’ve got a good eye! My dream is to go pro!”

“If you enter a professional match, I’ll definitely come watch!”

Satohama and Sasaki were chatting animatedly at the café counter. Honestly, the reason the café was thriving now was almost entirely thanks to Satohama.

On the second day after opening, the “bad guys” Sasaki had warned us about had immediately paid a visit.

But Satohama, all on her own, unleashed some truly impressive martial arts skills and wiped the floor with them.

That day, when we arrived after school, the promotion had worked somewhat, but the number of customers wasn’t as high as we’d hoped. Still, it was a significant improvement.

Looking back on the “battle results” of the previous day, our customer count had increased from just a few to over a dozen. That alone was major progress.

“What’s with all these bottles? Are we making a crystal light or something?”

When we arrived at the café, we noticed Hiroji-san lining up a bunch of beer bottles on the counter and putting lightbulbs inside them.

Curious, Satohama immediately asked,

“Yup! DIY crystal lights using beer bottles are cheap and super effective. Want to help?”

“Ooooh! That’s awesome! I’m in!”

“We’ll help too.”

With Nakano’s suggestion, Tsunekawa and Sasaki had no objections. And if they were helping, I couldn’t exactly refuse either.

After a while, as we continued stuffing bulbs into bottles, Satohama started counting them.

“Hmm… That’s a lot of bottles. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve… Huh? What’s four times five again?”

“Huh?”

We all exchanged looks.

Did she just seriously ask that question?

“Oi, Satohama… Did you just say you don’t know what four times five is?”

I instinctively blurted out.

Satohama tilted her head in genuine confusion.

“Hmm… Four times five… That’s forty, right?”

“HAH!?”

We all shouted in unison.

“Wait, wait, what kind of calculation is that? Four times five isn’t forty!”

“But there are four fives, so it’s forty, isn’t it?”

Satohama said with complete confidence.

“Ayana-chan, that logic is completely off.”

Nakano facepalmed, utterly defeated.

“Satohama-senpai, this is kinda bad…”

“Eh? But isn’t four times five forty?”

She cocked her head, looking completely unconvinced.

“No! Four times five is twenty! Twenty!”

I shouted in frustration.

After a moment of silence, Satohama hesitantly replied,

“Ehh, but I’m not very good at multiplication tables…”

“WHAT?! You don’t even know your multiplication tables?!”

Nakano was in utter disbelief.

“Hmm, but I do know five times six! It’s… thirty-six!”

“…Hold up. Did you just say six? Did you really say six?”

Once again, we all gawked at her.

“Huh? Yeah, five times six is thirty-six, right?”

Satohama stated as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

“NO, IT’S NOT! Five times six is thirty! THIRTY!”

I practically screamed.

Satohama furrowed her brows, looking even more confused.

“Hmm… But five times six is thirty-six, isn’t it? It’s a multiple of six, after all…”

“Where the hell did you learn that math?”

Nakano was now laughing so hard she could barely breathe.

For a while, we kept testing Satohama with basic arithmetic problems, but every time, she gave the most absurdly wrong answers.

And just when we were laughing so hard we could barely breathe—

Three unexpected guests descended upon us.

At first, we didn’t pay them any mind.

We just assumed they were here for coffee.

Nakano immediately picked up the menu and, with a smile, called out to the customers.

“Dear customers, what would you like to drink?”

One of the men, whose face was covered in a thick beard, lazily flipped through the menu on the table before casually setting it back down. Without any change in expression, he looked at Nakano and said,

“A hand-dripped coffee. No sugar, no milk. One for each of us.”

“Understood! Please wait a moment.”

At that point, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Even when Kouji-san and Sasaki-sensei brewed the coffee and safely delivered it to the table, there were no issues.

However, the unexpected happened afterward.

“Here is your order, sir. Please take your time.”

Just as Nakano placed the coffee on the table and turned to leave, the bearded man suddenly grabbed her arm.

In that instant, all of our eyes locked onto the group of men.

“Wait a sec, miss, you’re really cute! Let me buy you a drink.”

“H-Huh? I can’t! I’m just a staff member—”

“No need to be so shy. Come on, just one drink.”

“Yeah, yeah, don’t be so uptight!”

One after another, the three men spoke to Nakano, their voices pressing in on her. She squirmed in distress, desperately trying to shake off the man’s grip. In her eyes, I could see the silent plea—”Help me!”

“Hey, miss, we—”

“Understood. It’s finally time! Misaki, pull Nakano away. Tsunekawa, execute Plan A!”

Plan A—our prearranged strategy for resolving situations rationally.

To be honest, though, I never believed it would actually work.

I mean, these guys were basically yakuza, making a scene in a public place like this. There was no way logic would get through to them.

Following Sensei’s command, I immediately approached the men to stop their actions.

“Excuse me, gentlemen, but she is one of our employees. I must ask you not to interfere with her work.”

As I spoke, I forcibly pried the bearded man’s hand off Nakano and pulled her behind me. The man scowled in dissatisfaction and growled in a menacing tone,

“I’m just offering to buy her a drink. Who the hell are you?”

“I am—”

“Misaki-kun, don’t push yourself.”

Just as I was about to argue back, Nakano tugged on my sleeve, hurriedly whispering for me to stop.

“Misaki-kun, leave this to me.”

At that moment, Tsunekawa casually walked past me and whispered something under his breath.

Reluctantly, I led Nakano further back.

“Are you okay?”

I asked softly, and she immediately shook her head.

“Yeah, I’m fine! Thank you.”

“That’s a relief.”

“Nakano, are you hurt?”

“I’m fine. It hurt a little, but nothing serious.”

“Good, I’m glad to hear that.”

After confirming that Nakano was unharmed, we finally exhaled in relief.

Meanwhile, Tsunekawa stood before the men, furrowing her brows slightly as she spoke in a calm tone.

“I understand that you may be joking, but your behavior is inappropriate. She is an employee here, and she is currently working. If you forcibly grab her like that, it disrupts her work and the order of our establishment.”

However, the bearded man didn’t seem to care at all. Instead, she sneered and looked down at Tsunekawa with an even more intimidating gaze.

“Who the hell do you think you are? I’m just trying to buy her a drink. Why are you butting in?”

“I am one of the employees here. It is my responsibility to maintain order. I would appreciate it if you could show a little respect toward both our staff and the other customers.”

Tsunekawa was doing his best to stay composed, but to me, it was obvious that reasoning with these guys was a lost cause.

The bearded man suddenly slammed his hand down on the table.

“The hell you say?! I’m paying money here, so I can do whatever I want!”

Tsunekawa’s face darkened, and her voice grew sharper.

“This is a public space. You can’t just do whatever you please!”

But that only made things worse. The bearded man grabbed a vase from the table and smashed it onto the floor.

The vase shattered, sending shards of glass flying. The other customers gasped, wide-eyed, trying to grasp what had just happened.

“Say that again, I dare you. Do you even know what’ll happen?”

The bearded man picked up a shard of glass, pointing it menacingly at Tsunekawa.

Tsunekawa, completely exasperated, let out a sigh and retreated toward us.

“…These guys are impossible. Seriously.”

He chuckled dryly, exhaustion evident in his expression.

“I mean, the fact that they’re making a scene in public like this already tells you what kind of people they are. There’s no way reasoning with them is gonna work.”

“Looks like words won’t cut it. Satohama, initiate Plan B!”

“Roger that! If the café is at risk, we resort to force!”

The moment Satohama finished speaking, she launched a flying kick straight at one of them, knocking him down.

What the hell?! Was that a Leo Kick?!

Without missing a beat, she followed up with a whip kick and a side kick, effortlessly taking down the other two men.

It all happened so fast that it took me a few seconds to process what had just occurred.

She’s strong!

I knew she practiced karate, but I never expected this level of skill.

A single girl just wiped out three grown men with only three kicks—what the hell kind of monster is she?!

Could she be Bruce Lee’s reincarnation or something?!

Among them, the bearded man looked like he was in the most pain. Satohama’s flying kick had landed squarely on his chest, knocking the wind out of him.

“What the hell… is with this chick…?”

“She’s insane…”

“Damn it…!”

I took a step forward, looking down at them slightly intimidatingly.

“You see, our employee here is actually the strongest karate master in the house. She was holding back just now. Do you really want to find out what happens when she goes all out?”

As expected, the three men scrambled to their feet, their faces twisted with frustration. But in the end, they had no choice but to limp away in shame.

As soon as they were gone, the café erupted in applause.