“Not bad, right?”
Hoshikawa Chinami pulled Akiba Sakura in front of the full-length mirror, letting Sakura get a good look at the ‘completely new’ her.
“Hmm…”
When Sakura stood before the mirror, the person reflected back was a completely ‘new’ self.
She couldn’t believe her eyes on the spot.
‘The effect is this obvious?!’
Her eyes instantly widened, as if she’d seen something utterly unbelievable.
‘Oh my god, is that me? This… this… is way too cute! I can barely recognize myself!’
This was the first time Akiba Sakura had ever seen such a cute and beautiful version of herself.
She placed one hand on the wall, waved the other at the ‘girl’ in the mirror, and upon seeing the girl in the mirror wave back, Sakura suddenly felt how terrifying a makeup artist’s ‘makeover’ could truly be.
Sakura leaned her little face closer to the mirror, gently pinching her own cheek with her small hand.
‘I can feel it… the person in the mirror really is me!’
Looking at her originally youthful face, now adorned with makeup that added a touch of allure and maturity, even the current Sakura found it somewhat hard to believe.
“Senior Hoshikawa…”
“Hmm? What’s up?”
At that moment, Hoshikawa Chinami was frantically taking pictures of her ‘masterpiece’ with her smartphone, afraid this beauty would vanish in the next second.
“You… you didn’t secretly swap my face with someone else’s, did you?”
Pointing at the excessively cute girl in the mirror, Sakura looked at Hoshikawa Chinami and asked in a trembling voice, her eyes even shimmering with uncontainable excitement.
“I’ll take that as a compliment on my skills~”
Hoshikawa Chinami laughed and continued taking photos.
She walked right behind Sakura, crouched down, and aimed her phone up Sakura’s skirt.
“?!”
This action instantly snapped the somewhat dazed Sakura back to reality.
“Hey, what are you doing, Senior Hoshikawa?!”
“Hey hey hey, don’t cover it, don’t cover it! This is the most crucial photo! After this one, my life will be complete. Heh!”
Hoshikawa Chinami freed one hand to pull away Sakura’s hand that was pressing down her skirt hem, completely unaware of the iron fist descending from above her head…
“…”
“Alright, Sakura-chan, do you understand now why I said you have the makings of a maid?”
After ‘dealing with’ Hoshikawa Chinami, Niijima Yukina looked at Akiba Sakura with great interest.
“Not really. It’s all Senior Hoshikawa’s doing. I just sat there and then changed into a set of clothes in the dressing room…”
Thinking back to the girl in the mirror just now, Sakura felt an inexplicable itch in her heart and unconsciously swallowed.
‘Come to think of it… if my past self saw a beauty of this caliber, wouldn’t I have abandoned my ‘NTR’ creed without a second thought? Ah, bleh bleh bleh bleh bleh, what am I thinking? I’m a loyal ‘NTR’ enthusiast, bleh bleh bleh…’
“Not at all! The main reason is actually that Sakura-chan’s base is just too good!”
Hoshikawa Chinami, holding the second bump that had sprouted on her head, smiled and shook her head.
“To be honest, she didn’t even need makeup. It’s just that I felt since Sakura-chan fell into my hands… ahem, anyway, it would be a waste not to put on any makeup, so I just gave her a simple, relatively light makeup application. But I never expected that even then…”
Stars began to twinkle in Hoshikawa Chinami’s eyes—
“I never expected the effect to be this good! If it were just makeup alone, it would never achieve this perfect result. From the hairstyle to the colored contacts, from the accessories to the clothes, and then from the aura to the padded bra…”
‘Do we have to mention the padded bra?’
Watching the gradually unhinged Hoshikawa Chinami before her, Sakura felt her eyebrow twitch.
“Each element by itself doesn’t create a huge change, but when all of them are combined, it’s absolutely perfect!”
Hoshikawa Chinami slapped her hands heavily on Sakura’s shoulders, looking at her with excitement.
“So, Sakura-chan, are you sure you won’t let me take a picture of your panties?”
“…”
“…”
Niijima Yukina ignored the Hoshikawa Chinami behind her, now sporting three bumps on her head, and started talking to Sakura about the topic of ‘character personas.’
“Sakura-chan, regarding your character persona, I don’t know if you can accept it, so it’s best I ask for your opinion first…”
“Mhm?”
Seeing Niijima Yukina being so serious, Sakura nodded emphatically.
“Manager, go ahead. What kind of persona is it, exactly?”
“It’s actually not a very specific plan. The persona I thought of for you can be summed up in three simple words.”
“Three words?”
Sakura tilted her head in confusion.
‘What, three words can define my entire persona?’
“Yep!”
Niijima Yukina nodded, then slowly uttered those three words—
“‘Bratty Girl.'”
“…”
“…”
Hearing this answer, the entire staff room briefly fell into silence.
“Brat… Bratty Girl? That kind of arrogant, cocky, condescending, or teasing little brat image?”
“Yep yep, that’s the one.”
“I refuse—”
Sakura immediately shook her head, rejecting this ‘persona.’
Although she sometimes played pranks on Yuuma Tsugumu that weren’t much different from bratty girl behavior, overall, Sakura didn’t want to maintain such an annoying image when dealing with other people.
‘Dammit, my past self hated bratty girls more than anything. And now you want me to play one? No way, absolutely not!’
“Sakura-chan, listen to me. Our shop is currently lacking exactly this kind of role—that cute yet hateful ‘bratty girl’ image. So I think you…”
“Manager!”
Sakura’s little head shook like a rattle drum, making it seem like there was no room for negotiation on this matter.
“No means no! I, Akiba Sakura, would rather starve to death, or get run over by a car right here, than accept this ‘bratty girl’ persona!”
“I’ll treat you to milk tea.”
After hearing Sakura’s ‘famous last words,’ Niijima Yukina didn’t wipe the smile from her lips.
“Trying to test a comrade with just this? That’s not very nice, is it?”
“I mean every day.”
“But then again, I think this matter isn’t something milk tea can…”
“A raise.”
“You read me like a book~”
Sakura instantly switched to a fawning expression.
“Deal! You can’t go back on your word, okay?”
“Of course not, you can rest assured!”
Niijima Yukina patted her small chest as she assured Sakura.
“Not a single bit of falsehood!”
“Of course it’s not false. After all, adding even one yen is still a raise…”
Hoshikawa Chinami muttered quietly from the side.
“Hey!”
“…”
“…”
‘So, next is to officially receive customers… ahem, I mean, officially start work!’
Niijima Yukina wanted to see if Sakura could handle this role, so she directly had Sakura go try serving a customer first.
And so, Sakura obediently stood by the entrance of the ‘Soft Cat Cafe,’ quietly waiting for a new customer to push the door open.
‘What will my first customer be like?’
Premium Chapter
Login to buy access to this Chapter.