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Seeing her let out a deep sigh, it must have been a pretty tough job for step-mom. And seeing Saori let out a wry smile in response, that must’ve brought back some memories. Still, the hidden child of a millionaire, huh.

「In that case, does that also make you a daughter from a well-off family, Mrs. Saori?」
「Nah, not at all. I heard this from my mom, but we were only provided child support. Other than that, they didn’t really intervene.」

Hm~n, I guess she’s somewhat similar to me. In my case though, I don’t even know who my actual father was to begin with. The hag wasn’t really anything close to mother material, after all.

「I didn’t know about it until then either. It seriously took me by surprise when she suddenly told me that we might be able to completely pay off our loan soon.」
「Where is your mother now, Mrs. Saori?」
「She’s just chilling in the countryside. She doesn’t seem to like coming here that much, so we’re just letting her live as she likes.」

Well she sounds pretty carefree. It sounds like there’s other reasons for her not coming here, though. Still, it might just be that Saori goes to visit her frequently enough. I can’t really imagine them just suddenly cutting ties.

「Sayoko, you were really of great help that time. It just gives me chills thinking how I could have been seriously wrapped up into the inheritance squabble with those people I don’t even know about.」

If a large sum of money was involved, then I wouldn’t be surprised if they did go that far. Though I guess if a hidden child no one ever knew about suddenly popped up and joined the fray, I can’t really blame them for panicking.

「I didn’t intend to specifically stick up for you, but it just felt bad seeing someone with no interest in the succession dispute to be dragged into it for so long.」

If she still had the leeway to feel that way back then, this must have been from before I passed. After I died, she stopped being emotionally attached to her work and simply had everything done in silence.

「Still, it’s amazing how you just casually gave such a thing to a prospect employee on your first meeting.」
「Eh? Something like that happened?」

My step mom seems pretty surprised. Now that you put it that way, Saori did just basically give a really expensive watch to a random stranger for free. It’d make more sense if she did that only after knowing if I’m trustworthy.

「Well after being shown that, I couldn’t help it. Being a mother with a daughter to you close in age, I couldn’t just be unconcerned.」
「That?」
「This.」

Making sure that the other customers don’t see, I moved the wristwatch and exposed the scar. Still, it’s really not disappearing, is it? It’s already been half a year, though.

「Agck!?」

For some reason, instead of my step-mom, it was master who sat next to her that smacked my head with no questions asked. I’m pretty sure I already told her what happened, so why the smack? Come to think of it, I’ve never shown them the scar before.

「Before! It’s from before!」
「It’s the first time I’ve ever seen Kotone scared.」

Right? I generally don’t cower before anyone, but master is a different story. I’ve gotten some traumatic experiences from her, after all. I just can’t stomp down my fear.

「Actually, I’m surprised you showed it so casually, Kotone. Are you that close with them?」
「They’re Isami’s mother and her neighbour. Isami had me stay overnight at her house during summer break and we got bonded then.」

I haven’t shown Isami the scar, though. There’s no telling how she’ll react to it. Also, I just don’t want her to get worried, but I’ll never say that in front of her.

「The mother of that lively lady, huh. It’s fun watching her go, but it must have been tough being her parent.」
「Tough isn’t enough to describe it. There’s just trouble after trouble, so I had to put effort in educating her.」

That counts as educating? Well, yeah, it might have been the right way to prevent repeating offences, but thanks to that, both Isami and I have fear instilled in our soul. Isami keeps doing the same stuff and never learns her lesson, though.

「Kotone’s face is looking pale for some reason…」
「Who knows? Why could that possibly be?」

Please stop it with the ominous smile. You’re making me recall stuff and rekindling the fears within me. Though in terms of psychological damage, step-mom is higher on the scale.

「R-right, that’s right. Mrs. Saori, there’s something I’d like to consult with you about.」
「She ran away.」
「She definitely ran away.」

I’ll just ignore master and step-mom’s remarks. Saori was startled with how I suddenly asked for advice, but I feel like it’ll be bad if I don’t change the topic ASAP.

「Actually, we decided to do a cafe for the school festival and we’re going to be serving snacks there, so…」
「You want help with the recipes?」
「Thank you for understanding so quickly.」

When you’re an amateur, it’s far better to get the advice of a professional instead of brainstorming by yourself. This might just be a class project for the school festival, but I’m not holding back. If I’m doing something, it’s all or nothing.

「Since it’s you we’re talking about, you probably want something that’s simple but can be easily modified to be delicious, right?」
「Precisely.」

Low-cost and delicious. Isn’t that the best? Well, even with a good recipe, there’s no telling if we can make it as good as it should be. This’ll need practice too.

「Well then, after relaxing for a bit more, we should probably go home.」
「Right. As expected of Kotone’s workplace. It’s quite a nice shop.」

I’m glad to see our customers satisfied. It’s definitely better than hearing complaints. Still, if they become regulars here, there’s a high chance that they’ll bump into mother. Now what to do if that ever happens.

「Well, why don’t we try making it now?」
「Thank you.」

Now then, time to prepare for the coming school festival.