In This World That Favors Men, I... ~Starting a Sweet School Life in a World With a 1:8 Gender Ratio~ - 25

Chapter 25: Summer Part-Time Job and BatFla

ーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーー

“Phew, it’s so hot. How about we grab something cold to drink?”

“Yeah, good idea. But the cafés are probably packed. If we’re going to a café, wouldn’t you rather sit down and enjoy your drink?”

“In that case, there’s a hidden gem of a coffee shop in the backstreets. There’s always a seat available and I think they have parfaits, pancakes, and other sweet treats.”

“Really? Then let’s go there.”

＊

“Welcome.”

Two female customers. As for the seats… That table should be good.

“Let me guide you to your seat. Please follow me.”

“Huh? Oh, no, I was mistaken. Today the café is busier than usual, huh? I’m glad we found a seat right away.”

“Thank you for your continued patronage. It’s been particularly hot lately, so the lunch hours are usually this crowded.”

It had been a week since I started this job. Lately, the café had been busier than I expected. Probably because this was the only place around here that served proper shaved ice. The shaved ice had been our most popular order lately. My personal recommendation, though, was the pudding à la mode.

Apparently, in early spring, the café lost a lot of customers to the one near the station, but now, thanks to the heat, that café became extremely crowded, and a lot of their customers had started coming here instead. The café was busy, but since I was working here anyway, I prefer this than having no customers at all. 

“Have you decided on your order?”

“Yes. One strawberry condensed milk shaved ice…”

“And I’ll have the pudding à la mode, please.”

Pudding à la mode… Do you like pudding? Same as me. That makes me happy.

The pudding here was handmade by the owner. It had a rich egg and vanilla flavor, a firmer texture, and a slightly bitter caramel sauce that soaked in the pudding. It was my favorite menu item in the café.

“Alright. One strawberry condensed milk shaved ice and one pudding à la mode. Understood.”

Long spoons for the shaved ice, and a short spoon with a fork for the pudding. Got it.

＊

“Oh my god. Did you see that?”

“He was seriously good-looking. When did he start working here?”

“Do you think he’s a high schooler? He’s tall, but he didn’t seem like a college student.”

“It’s summer break, so maybe he’s just a temporary worker. What a jackpot! I had no idea he’s here. I’ve been going to the café near the station this whole time.”

“From now on, I’m coming here. The air conditioning is perfect, there’s always a seat, and most importantly, it’s a feast for the eyes! ♡”

“Their sweets are actually pretty good too. I was on a diet for swimsuit season, so I hadn’t been coming here, but…”

“I can’t wait! I want to go play at the beach too! Also, did you see the way the waiter smiled when I ordered the pudding à la mode? He looked so happy. That has to mean it’s delicious.”

“That smile hit hard. I’m getting the pudding à la mode next time too.”

◇

After finishing my shift, I headed home. I went straight from the entrance to the bathroom and took a shower to wash off the sweat. 

Alright, now that I’ve cooled off, time to log in.

Today, my party and I were finally moving to the next town outside the floating island. But there were still about three hours until our scheduled meeting. Might as well do some hunting nearby.

Login.

My registered login location was the hall inside the Adventurers’ Teahouse. Since it was an odd hour, only a few players were around. And yet, those few players suddenly hurried over to me.

Do I know them?

“Um, are you Takeda-kun?”

“Huh? Oh, Kobayakawa-san? And Tachibana-san and Nabeshima-san?”

Yeah, that’s right. 

On my first login day, I had registered as friends with the girls from my class. But we were busy then, so I hadn’t gotten a good look at everyone individually.

Okay… The one with the light blue ponytail was Yuuko Kobayakawa. The one with curly yellow hair was Hinano Tachibana and the one with a short marine blue bob was Mika Nabeshima. Alright, got it. I needed to be careful. When girls changed their hairstyles, it made them much harder to recognize.

“That’s right. We passed by each other briefly last week, didn’t we? Are the other guys not here today?”

“We’re meeting up as a party later tonight. Right now, I’m alone.”

“Yes!”

Huh? What’s with the enthusiasm?

“Takeda-kun, do you have any plans right now?”

“No, not really. I was just thinking of doing some solo hunting nearby.”

“Really? Then, would you like to form a temporary party with us? There’s only three of us right now, and we were planning to go hunting too. You’re a samurai, right? Having a frontliner would be a huge help.”

I see. They were short on members. In that case, I might as well join them.

“I can only stay for about two hours. Is that okay with you all?”

“That works perfectly, since that’s about how long we were planning to hunt too.”

And so, I teamed up with the three girls from my class for a hunting session. Since we were in a party, there was no need to stick to the Slime Grasslands. Instead, we headed out through the west gate to hunt Hyper Rabbits and Clever Foxes.

“It’s heading your way! Takeda-kun, take care of it!”

A Hyper Rabbit dodged Kobayakawa-san’s fire spell and charged straight at me.

This large white rabbit specializes in ramming attacks, using the single horn on its forehead as a weapon. As it curled up and thrust its horn forward, I dodged and sliced it in half with my sword. A follow-up slash. That was the fatal blow. The rabbit’s HP drained, and it disappeared into the air. After taking down the rest of the rabbits, we took a short break.

“Rabbits are tough when they come in groups.”

“Yeah, but they drop more loot that way.”

We collected white rabbit pelts, single rabbit horns, and a good amount of money. Kobayakawa and Tachibana were both Hana masters—one specializing in fire, the other in water. Nabeshima was a monk. They had two other frontline members in their usual party, but their schedules didn’t align today. Apparently, since girls tend to prefer backline roles, this kind of situation happened fairly often.

“I had fun playing with you today.”

“If you’re ever short on members again, let me know. I’m usually free around this time.”

“Thanks, we’ll definitely call on you again.”

“See you, Takeda-kun.”

After parting ways with the girls, I logged out. Temporary parties with friends like this were pretty fun.

◇◇◇

“You three traitors. Abandoning your comrades, huh? And it looks like you had quite a good time too.”

A gloomy voice called out to the girls after they parted ways with me. It was the two remaining members of their usual party, the ones who couldn’t make it earlier.

“Sooorry! Our bad! We seriously apologize. Please forgive us.”

“You ditched our meetup to go on a date with the prince? This is a huge debt you owe us. How do you plan on repaying it?”

“I know, I know! We got him to promise to team up again. Next time, we’ll all go together. You’ll get to be on the front lines with the prince. Tempting, right? If we play it right, we might even get more guys to join.”

“Side by side with the prince… Tch. Fine, I’ll let it slide this time. But next time, I’m definitely coming.”

“Kyo-chan, Shizu-chan, really, we’re sorry. Other groups were trying to invite him, so we had to act fast.”

“Hearing that from you makes it hard to believe.”

“No, seriously! If we had hesitated, someone else would have snatched him up.”

“If Hina says so, then I guess that’s how it is. Fine, we’ll let it go.”

“Oh, and by the way, the prince said he’d be logging in again tonight. He’s heading out of the floating island with the guys’ party.”

“Tonight? What time?”

“Seven o’clock.”

“Should we follow them?”

“If we’re too obvious, Yuuki-kun and Saitou-kun will get upset at us.”

“Then let’s lie in wait instead. Just casually hunting nearby so we won’t look suspicious.”

“Sounds good. Let’s meet at six-thirty.”

“Deal. Let’s log out and rest up. Stay hydrated and use the restroom before logging back in.”

“Got it. See you later!”

ーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーー