The next morning, Kent woke up. Beside him, Caro was sleeping, letting out breaths that sounded happy.
Last night had been quite a commotion, but Caro had been more forward than usual in seeking Kent. Because of that, he had stayed up late and was feeling a little sleep-deprived.
*Knock knock*
“Lord Kent. Excuse me.”
Someone entered the room, perhaps thinking he was still asleep.
“It’s time to wake up…”
The voice stopped mid-sentence. Curious, Kent sat up and looked, and there stood Clara.
“Kenttt. I love youuu.”
Just then, Caro, still groggy, hugged Kent. Of course, neither of them were wearing any clothes. Caro’s two small mounds pressed against Kent’s body, conveying an indescribable comfort.
“I apologize for interrupting your intimate moment. So you are in such a relationship with this young lady. However, it is time for both of you to wake up.”
Saying this, Clara began gathering Kent and Caro’s clothes, which were strewn around the room. She then neatly folded them and placed them on the table.
“Shall I help you change?”
“Ah, I can do it myself, thank you.”
“Understood. Then I will go and prepare breakfast. Please come when you are ready.”
“Please.”
Clara bowed and left the room.
“Caro, it’s time to get up.”
“Good morning, Kent. Is it that time already? But just a little longer.”
After embracing each other for a while, Kent and Caro got dressed and began preparing to go out.
“Older brother, you had a good time last night, didn’t you?”
When they went to the main hall for breakfast, everyone was already gathered, and Rachel greeted them with a smirk before saying anything else.
“Caro, it seems you had a difficult time yesterday. Are you injured?”
Marie asked with concern.
“Thank you for your concern. I’m fine now, thanks to Al.”
“Oh, that’s good then.”
Marie said with relief. After that, they all had a light breakfast, and the group decided to head to Marie’s Bakery. They had initially intended to walk, but as there were young children, Caro arranged for them to commute to the shop by carriage during their stay.
Upon arriving at Marie’s Bakery, everyone, including Emily who was already at the shop, began preparing for opening.
“Well then, I’ll help out too. Let’s see, the cleaning supplies are… here.”
Clara was moving faster than anyone else. She took out a vacuum cleaner from the shelf where cleaning supplies were stored.
“This is an unusually shaped broom, but if I do this… Kyaa!”
The vacuum cleaner, which wasn’t even plugged in, suddenly exploded.
“Whoa!”
“Huh? What was that?”
“What happened?”
Kent, Rachel, and Elnet, who were nearby, exclaimed in surprise. Fortunately, the explosion only caused the lid of the vacuum cleaner to fly off, so the damage was minor, but the vacuum cleaner was rendered unusable.
“I’m so sorry. It seems I’ve caused trouble again.”
Clara apologized profusely.
“Older brother, Clara, could it be that…?”
“No way. It’s not like we’re in a gag manga, so I don’t think so, right?”
Rachel said something that came to mind, looking at Kent. Kent understood what she meant, but he thought such a thing wouldn’t happen in reality.
“Hey, hey Clara. Could you press this button for a moment?”
“This one? Yes, I’ll press it then.”
Rachel pointed to the power button of the radiocassette player, which was installed to play music in the store, and said to Clara. Clara did as Rachel instructed and pressed the power button.
*Boom!*
The radiocassette player emitted smoke, and the outer casing flew off.
“As I thought.”
” I didn’t want to believe it, but things like this really happen.”
“I, I’m so sorry. It seems I’ve broken another store fixture…”
Clara apologized again.
“It’s fine. That was just an experiment. Besides, it was cheap, so don’t worry about it.”
“I… is that so?”
As Rachel said, the broken radiocassette player was inexpensive, so it wasn’t a financial blow.
“Clara’s character setting is that she’s definitely terrible with machines.”
“That seems to be the only conclusion we can draw.”
A machine exploding just from pressing a button is a common trope in stories, but in reality, doing this incurs significant financial damage. Kent wondered if the reason his kitchen at home had exploded might be related to this, but he couldn’t reach a conclusion without seeing the scene himself.
“I’m sorry Clara, but please do the cleaning with this.”
“Y-yes, I understand. I apologize for everything.”
Kent handed Clara a broom and dustpan. Surely, these wouldn’t explode. From then on, Clara was assigned tasks that did not involve operating machinery. They then disposed of the broken vacuum cleaner and radiocassette player and ordered replacements from the terminal.
After that, there were no further troubles, and they opened the store at the scheduled time.
“Order for table one is ready!”
In the kitchen, Hanako was already preparing dishes alone, having moved beyond Emily’s instruction. Since she couldn’t reach, she worked with a portable step stool, but she was producing meals that were up to the standard for customers.
“What’s wrong, Caro?”
“Y-yes!”
Kent called out to Caro, who was hiding and watching the scene.
“Ah, um, there’s something I’m a little concerned about… No, it’s nothing. I’m sorry, I’ll get back to work.”
With that, Caro returned to her work.
“What was wrong with Caro?”
Kent was curious but couldn’t ask further, so he returned to his own work.
After a considerable amount of time had passed, it was time for Kent and the others to go to school. Kent, Caro, Rachel, and Patty prepared themselves and headed for school.
“It feels a little lonely without Josette here.”
Rachel mumbled as they walked toward the academy.
“Yes. We’ve always been together, so it feels even more so. However, I believe she is doing something that requires her to stop spending time with Kent. This is just a guess, but perhaps she is helping someone in trouble. I was helped by her once before as well.”
Caro said, recalling how Josette had helped her when she was homeless and wandering the town.
“Ah, it’s almost time… Excuse me. See you after school.”
Patti then separated from Kent and the others. Immediately, male students began to gather around Patti.
“Patti, you must have a tough time every morning.”
“Yes… If it were me, I’d just reject them outright by saying I have someone I love.”
Rachel said with a sympathetic look, and Caro, gazing intently at Kent, added.
“Well then, we’re this way.”
“Kent, please do your best with your studies. See you later.”
“See you.”
After bidding farewell to Rachel and Caro, who were heading in different directions, Kent proceeded alone to his classroom.
“Good morning.”
“Yeah, morning. You’re not with Josette today?”
When Kent entered the classroom, Bobby was there, so he greeted him. Bobby then grinned and asked.
“We’re not always together, you know.”
“That’s true. You have lots of girlfriends. You should share one with me. Just kidding.”
While they were chatting, the classroom door opened, and someone entered.
“…Good morning.”
Josette entered, lacking her usual spirit and with an exhausted expression. Usually, she would be surrounded by female students at this point, but Josette, radiating a different aura today, deterred anyone from approaching her.
