Chapter 1364. School Festival B / Experience and Confidence

「 The bodyguard team goes to this room 」

Edie opens the door to the break room.

「 Tomorrow’s the last day of the school festival so I want to discuss a few things 」

「 Roger that 」

「 I understand 」

historical

「 Okay 」

Mitama, Kinuka, and Yomi nods at Edie.

「 Ryoko and Anju too 」

Edie calls out to the two new members of the family.

「 You also need to be stationed 」

「 Oh, right! Let’s go, Anju-san 」

「 O-Okay 」

Kinosh*ta-san accepted what Edie said enthusiastically.

Kurose-san just joined in naturally.

But..

Huh?

「 Edie, where did Anya go? 」

Speaking of which, some aren’t here.

「 Anya’s strong, but she’s not a bodyguard 」

Edie smiled wryly.

「 If you ask me, she’s on the aggressive side. She’s not suited for defending 」

Hmm, true.

Anya’s a subordinate of Kyouko-san and Miss Cordelia’s criminal syndicate.

She’s not a defender but an attacker.

「 That’s why I’m having her accompany Jun in the cafeteria 」

Jun’s the real name of the former professional wrestler, Grace Marinka-san

Grace-san’s also here.

「 it’s time for cleaning up and evaluation, so it’s not a good idea to have someone who’s not from our school in the bakery 」

Oh, I see.

Grace-san’s an adult who was a wrestler, and Anya stands out too since she’s a celebrity.

「 We’re still young so we can gloss it over 」

「 Although they’re well known, we’re not in the same genre as the Onee-san over there 」

Eri and Rie said laughing.

Kinuka and the twins do appear on Yukino’s TV show.

Everyone knows that the show is controlled by some kind of unknown dark force.

Mitama’s also a regular on the same show, and she transferred to this school, so she’s set to watch the school festival today.

It won’t be strange if they’re to stay here, away from the students until they get picked up.

「 I’m here to support Katsuko-oneechan 」

Mana smiles.

Mana’s younger than us, but she’s grown up to become a beautiful and mature lady, so the tennis club girls think of her as someone older.

Katsuko-nee’s the official teacher for the bakery course where Ai and I are studying.

I guess she can pretend that she’s here to assist as personnel for the school festival.

「 But there are still a lot of students left in school, right? Is it okay leaving Grace-san and Anya alone? 」

I asked.

Most of the visitors from the outside who came to watch the festival today have already left, but..

Won’t the students crowd on her since the two of them stand out?

「 I think that the cafeteria doesn’t have many people so I think it’s okay 」

Nei looks at the monitors in the wall, watching the school cafeteria cameras.

「 It can’t be helped, Jun can’t hear our conversation 」

Edie smiled wryly.

Oh right.

Grace Marinka-san doesn’t know about the criminal syndicate, Black Forest.

She sure has noticed that we have some mysterious financial resources and connections, but..

She doesn’t have any interest in anyone but the strong people to fight.

She’s not going to ask.

Tsukiko and Yomi can also support their Miko power.

Either way, we can’t talk about things in front of Grace-san.

「 But, Yo-chan’s right. I’ll go there to watch over them 」

Nei smiled and went to the door connecting to the cafeteria.

「 Ah, wait, I’ll go too 」

「 Yes, me too 」

Eri and Rie follow Nei.

It’s better to have the twins who have sharp intuition than just Nei alone.

It’s harder for strange people to approach if there are more people.

「 Going 」

Nei and the twins went out of the door.

Then, the iron door closed.

「 With that said, the bodyguards go here. I’ll take care of Anju and the girls 」

Edie goes to the break room.

Edie, Mitama, Kinuka, Kinosh*ta-san, Kurose-san, and Yomi, the bodyguard group went to the break room and closed the door.

The room’s soundproof so we can’t hear the voices inside.

「 Then, can you, Mana-chan, and Ai-chan discuss the pastries for tomorrow at the table over there? 」

Katsuko-nee asks me.

「 I had a rough meeting with Ai-chan before you arrived. I have the summary of today’s popular pastries and their hourly sales 」

Oh, we have to consider tomorrow’s stock based on those.

What kind of pastry to bake and how many.

We need to rearrange our baking schedule to prepare for tomorrow.

「 Yoshida-kun, here 」

Ai beckons me.

「 Let’s go, Onii-chan 」

Mana pulls me and goes to the table with the materials.

With that said, the only people left in the middle of the bakery are..

Katsuko-nee, and Tsukiko.

Also, Setsuna, Nozomi, Momoka, Tokuda-san, and Kurosawa-san, the prostitute cadets.

Then, Megu.

「 Yoshida-kun, you see 」

Ai points at the laptop.

Oh, it’s a timetable of clients and number of customers and the sales of each bread at a glance.

As expected of Katsuko-nee, I mean, Kana-senpai who managed the open cafe.

Kana-senpai definitely added the minute details.

「 It’s Sunday tomorrow so the number of customers from outside will increase 」

「 Besides, someone heard about the situation here so there will be more spectators 」

Ai and Mana said.

「 They already know that people who appear on TV show up here 」

「 Yeah, the twins and Kinuka-chan came over to play and even opened a talk show. I’m sure they expect something for tomorrow too 」

It’s not really a talk show, but rather a street performance from Mitama and Kinuka.

「 But, you know, what we’re doing in our store isn’t an official event of the school festival 」

We did get scolded by the school festival committee.

「 They came over to play today, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that they will come again tomorrow 」

It’s not like our school website announced that “****-san is coming to our school”

This is just an ordinary high school so there are no official comments from the school festival committee or anything that’s posted online at any given time.

「 That’s natural. If we announce that tomorrow will be like today, TV stations will cover it 」

Mana laughs.

Right.

It’s that level of threat.

「 That said, since this is a private high-school, media people will be turned away, right? It’s Mniaho-oneesan we’re talking about so she’s strict at that 」

Mana said.

Right..

Even today, Kudou-papa or his subordinates took out all the enemies who slipped in today.

Tomorrow, the security will be the same.

They will intercept anyone involved in the media that’s trying to creep in.

「 But, our students, their families, their friends.. and those who think that “Maybe..” will still come tomorrow.. and there will be a lot.. 」

Ai said.

「 Yeah. It’s not like we’re going to get unlimited customers, but we might get twice what we had today 」

The families and acquaintances of the current students alone will be visiting the festival, and there will be a lot.

「 Then that means that we have to plan it out deliberately 」

We need to bake more so the open cafe doesn’t get sold out

「 And so..Yoshida-kun 」

Ai looked at me.

「 It’ll definitely be hard 」

What is?

「 I..I wanted to sell some souvenir pastries 」

It’s a lot of work to keep the bread flowing for the customers in the open cafe.

Then, souvenir pastries.

「 It’s hard.. but if we have many customers.. then it’s a chance.. 」

Ai said.

「 Right now, only people in our school know about our baking course, right? 」

The reputation that our bread is delicious has spread among the students.

However, it’s almost unknown to people outside the school.

We’re all high-school students and we get hungry easily.

Almost all the bread sold at school is eaten on the spot by the students.

Not many students go home with pastry as a souvenir.

「 But, if we have souvenir bread..the people from their families.. will also discover our pastries, right? 」

That’s..

「 We only have two and a half years..until Yoshida-kun and I graduate..so if we don’t..start building up our reputation..for having good bread..we won’t be able to open a bakery in time.. 」

I see. When we open our business.

The family and acquaintances of the current students may come to buy our pastries.

「 We need to advertise..whenever we can.. 」

Ai’s so constructive about this.

「 We’ll make only one souvenir pastry type. Something like a croissant or any staple 」

We can’t make various types so the customers can choose.

「 We don’t need something original..but something normal, yet delicious.. 」

We need to go with the straight ball to let them know the quality of our bread.

「 But, we can’t make souvenir pastry on our own 」

We’re lacking in hands.

We don’t have enough storage and ovens in the bakery either.

There are absolute limits.

「 That’s not a problem Onii-chan 」

Mana smiles.

「 Tomorrow is Sunday so everyone will be at the mansion. We also have ovens in the mansion 」

The mansion was originally Katsuko-nee’s bakery,.

「 Our girls know how to make bread, and Ruri-oneechan can’t come and visit because of security reasons, right? 」

Ruriko and Misuzu, the girls who go to the school for the young ladies can’t come here.

We had enemies today, so who knows if there will be another tomorrow.

「 And so, we can have Ruri-oneechan and the girls make some souvenir bread in the mansion and bring it in via a car every few hours 」

Oh, we can do that.

「 Mana’s going here to help out too so Ruri-oneechan has to run things over there 」

Ruriko knows how to work with the machines in the bakery.

She occupies the housewife of the mansion status, just next to Katsuko-nee, so Agnes and the girls follow Ruriko’s instructions.

「 I’m sure that Ruri-oneechan, Agnes-chan, and the girls will be happy to help out Onii-chan with the school festival 」

「 If so..I’ll think of a recipe for them 」

Ai said.

「 Anyway, we will make a clear distinction between our pastry and the pastry made by the tennis club even more than today and make it a brand 」

「 Yeah, making them think that the pastry we made is much better than the pastries the ordinary school girls made. This is for the future 」

Ai and Mana are looking to the future.

「 Good, then let’s work hard but not break ourselves 」

I also readied myself.

We still have another day of the school festival.

So, I want to do my best if possible.

「 I’ll call Ruri-oneechan 」

Mana stood up and went for the extension telephone on the wall.

Cell phones don’t work in the bakery because the signal is blocked.

The only way to make a call to the mansion is through the extension telephone with an internal line.

「 Then, Ai..we’ll just clean up here today and do the prep work for tomorrow at the mansion. 」

We have the numbers so it will be fast.

We also need some time to think about our plans.

We can just put them in Katsuko-nee’s van and bring them in tomorrow.

「 Okay 」

Ai told me.

「 Yoshida-kun 」

「 Hmm? 」

「 It’s fun 」

Ai smiles.

「 Thanks to Yoshida-kun, my every day has become fun, and improved 」

Ai changed because she started making pastries.

「 Thank you, Yoshida-kun 」

「 No, it’s Ai’s hard work, it’s not all thanks to me 」

「 That’s not true 」

Then, Ai rubs her shoulder to mine.

「 I love you 」

She whispered in a small voice.

Then..

From inside the bakery..

「 Megumi’s the girl in this situation 」

Katsuko-nee introduces Megu to the prostitute cadets.

「 Yes. I was born in a brothel. My mother was a prostitute 」

「 Yes, she was just like me, kidnapped, and turned into a prostitute. Megumi-chan’s mother looked after Minaho-ojousama 」

「 She died when I was still young though 」

Megu speaks mournfully.

「 Back then, the one managing the brothel was an utter villain so there were a lot of horrible stories. Minaho-ojouasma, me, we all had our pain. But now, he’s no longer in this world 」

Shirasaka Sousuke.

Mana’s looking at me in pain while still in call.

「 He also planned to make me a prostitute. Yoshi-kun, Minaho-san, and Katsuko-oneesan all saved me from that 」

Megu said.

「 You’re all here because you accepted the choice to become a prostitute, but many were forced to become one 」

Katsuko-nee said..

「 I managed to retire in five years, the same as your contract period, well, I still haven’t officially retired yet. Still, I’ll never sell my body ever again 」

Katsuko-nee’s lines are heavy.

「 Minaho-ojousama’s kidnapped at the age of 12 and had been tied to the brothel ever since. She’s retired as a prostitute, but you already know the problems with her body 」

An illegal abortionist made Minaho-neesan’s body unable to have sex anymore.

「 She lived in the brothel for sixteen years now and she’s seen the suffering of a lot of women. It was hell. That’s why she wants to make it better for you girls. Having to become a prostitute might be painful, but we’re trying to avoid any more unnecessary suffering than that 」

The prostitute cadets have various reasons why they accepted this bitter fate.

They decided this on their own so their choice has to be respected.

「 But, there are also prostitutes like Iwakura Yukiyo-chan who you just met, who loves perverted plays and being a prostitute. They do exist 」

Oh, right.

Minaho-neesan wanted to show the prostitute cadets various stuff so she called Iwakura-san.

「 If you become a sex maniac like her, selling your body might not be so bad. I won’t criticize. Look at the various examples of prostitutes and decide what kind of prostitute you want to be 」

Katsuko-nee said.

「 However, Ojou-sama will close down the brothel in five years. That’s an absolute. By then, you’ll be free 」

They can’t continue after five years, it’s a firm promise.

「 You need to prepare now on what you want to do once the contract is done and you’re leaving the brothel. If you’re a free woman and can only make money through prostitution, you’ll end up in a world of hurt for the rest of your life. Prostitutes only sell high when they’re young 」

Yeah.

People grow old.

If you want to prostitute yourself for the rest of your life, you’ll die a dog’s death.

「 I’ll open a bakery. I’m already making preparations for that. I’m serious about it, you figured that out from the taste of the pastry you ate earlier, haven’t you? 」

Katsuko-nee apparently fed her homemade bread to the prostitute cadets before I arrived.

「 I’ll take you to Nagisa’s flower shop next time, and other retired prostitutes who are now successful entrepreneurs. They had a vision of their future while working as prostitutes, steadily preparing 」

The prostitute cadets listen to what Katsuko-nee’s telling them.

「 In exchange for five years of hard work, you’ll earn money to start a business, and connections with influential people in various industries. You’re dealing with people who are famous in various fields 」

The new Black Forest will only accept the VIPs from the political and business circles.

「 What your future holds is entirely up to you 」

Katsuko-nee said, but..

「 Excuse me. I’m late 」

Misato entered from the cafeteria door

Behind her are Arisu and Rei-chan

「 Oh? How was your first job? 」

Katsuko-nee asks Misato.

「 I’ve worked with nine people today 」

Misato smiles.

「 Oh, that must’ve been hard 」

「 Yes, they were all strong opponents. They taught me a lot 」

「 But, Misat-oneesama won all her matches 」

Arisu said with a smile.

Misato’s invited by some politicians and business heavyweights to play “Go” with them.

「 Oh, Arisu-chan went to pick up Misato-san? 」

Katsuko-nee said.

Oh yeah, Rei-chan went to pick up Misato without me knowing.

「 I thought that I should say hello to some of the customers of Onee-sama today 」

Misato and Arisu’s parents disappeared.

The young ladies of the Kurama house had to greed them together.

「 Right. We can’t be rude to the customers who called her over today since they will be Misato-san’s customers 」

Katsuko-nee said.

「 You don’t even need to have sex, Misato just made millions in just half a day. Even if the contents were just playing Go, we still charge them as stipulated 」

Yes, Misato played Go as a job for the Black Forest.

「 Don’t think that it’s unfair. That’s Misato-san’s strength. She still earned money as a result so you can’t complain 」

「 No, I feel sorry for earning money from just doing that 」

Misato felt ashamed and told the other prostitutes.

「 Don’t. That’s your skill, Misato-san 」

「 Yes, we’re not complaining 」

「 We also need to find our special skill 」

Nozomi, Momoka, and Setsuna said.

Tokuda-san and Kurosawa-san remained silent.

「 But, Misato-san’s debt is a hundred times greater than yours. And so, don’t mind if it’s Go or anything, just continue earning 」

Nozomi and the girls accepted prostitution to repay their parent’s debts.

The debt that the Kurama house owes is a magnitude different.

Eventually, they’ll buy back the Kurama Kaku that Jii-chan moved away.

「 Yes, I’ll do my best 」

Misato replies with a smile.

「 Still, it must be relieving that you have experienced earning money by entertaining a customer 」

Katsuko-nee said with a smile.

「 Yes. I feel sorry that someone like me gets paid for something like that, but I have to move forward 」

Misato had her resolve.

「 The customers today promised that they would introduce me to many more people who love to play Go. Therefore, I think that I’ll do what I can, and move forward from “Go” 」

If the old men of Politics and Business are willing to pay good money to play “Go” with a young and beautiful girl like Misato, who grew up as a young lady of nobility..

There’s no need for her to sell her body.

「 But, continue your sex training as a prostitute. Who knows until when they want to play “Go” with you 」

Katsuko-nee said, but..

I know that Jii-chan and Kaan-san ban everyone from buying Misato’s body as she’s a daughter of nobility.

People who were indebted to Misato’s grandfather, the previous head of the Kurama house are also supporting Misato. Therefore Arisu went and greeted them too.

Even if Misato’s a prostitute, she will never be working as one during the five-year contract.

That’s the plan.

But, Misato.

「 Yes, I understand 」

She replies with a smile, she looks at her fellow prostitute cadets.

「 I’m just like everyone.. 」

She smiles.

Misato’s resolve is fixed.

Therefore, she will retain her dignified beauty and calm.

「 Onee-sama’s gotten stronger in “Go” since before 」

Arisu said.

「 Yes, “Go” is no longer just a game to me now 」

Misato said.

「 I need to study “Go” more and more, and become the kind of player that makes the customers think that they want to play with me again 」

She’s serious.

And that determination in her eyes is beautiful.

「 Good, Misato-san, you have the eyes of the professional now 」

Katsuko-nee said.

Misato earned money from her customers, even if it’s playing “Go” with them.

She’s become more beautiful, stronger, and more confident.

「 You guys will soon have the same eyes that Misato-san’s showing 」

Katsuko-nee told the prostitute cadet girls.