This is a continuation of Josette’s perspective before the school festival.
“This is the shop where you’ll be working from today, Josette.”
“Excuse me, but what is this shop’s name? It looks like a restaurant.”
“It is indeed a restaurant. And as for the shop’s name, it doesn’t have one.”
“What?”
After finishing their soup kitchen duty, Josette and Becky, with Marc in tow, went shopping for ingredients to be used at the shop, and then arrived at Becky’s establishment. Marc carried all the shopping from their excursion, leaving Josette and Becky empty-handed. Becky felt apologetic about making Marc carry even her own belongings, but Josette simply stated, “Since he’s a man, he should carry it without complaint,” and had him carry the luggage without a second thought. Marc himself didn’t complain and carried the bags as instructed by Josette, arriving at Becky’s shop.
“Don’t you have a name for the shop?”
“No, we don’t.”
Marc tried to ask for the name of Becky’s shop, but Josette insisted there was no name. The reason was that the shop wasn’t affiliated with the restaurant association and genuinely had no name. Marc, unaware of this, assumed that shops always had names and pressed the issue.
“Well, you see…”
Resigned, Josette explained to Marc the reason why the shop had no name.
“So there are shops like that. So, what am I supposed to do?”
“Uh… well…”
“You’re not very straightforward, are you?”
After hearing the explanation from Josette, Marc turned to Becky to ask about his duties. Becky, surprised by the difference in how Josette addressed Marc compared to herself, was at a loss for words.
“Marc, what are you saying to your employer? You’re putting her in a difficult position. Choose your words carefully.”
“I’m sorry. Then, Becky, what should I do?”
“You can just call me by my name. Also, since it’s a casual place, you don’t need to be so formal.”
“Understood. So Becky, what am I supposed to do?”
“First, let’s go fetch some water for the shop.”
After Becky and Marc discussed their communication styles and work roles, they began the opening preparations.
“Marc, if you start working in your school uniform, it’ll get dirty. Hmm, I’m wearing clothes suitable for work, so I won’t be needing it today, and I’ll lend you my apron.”
“Thank you, Josette. I’ll borrow it.”
Marc was wearing his school uniform, and if he were to work in it, it would get soiled. Josette, when helping out on weekdays, wears an apron over her school uniform. She decided to lend that apron to Marc for today.
“This apron smells nice.”
“What are you doing sniffing it? Stop with the unnecessary remarks and get to work!”
Marc, who had smelled the apron he received from Josette, said with a happy expression. Josette was slightly taken aback by this, but recovered and urged Marc towards the well.
“If Kent does something like that, I don’t mind, but when other men do it, I just get the chills. And I can’t have him working in his uniform, so I need to do something about Marc’s clothes.”
After seeing Becky and Marc off, Josette muttered this to herself as she began the opening preparations.
“I’m back!”
“Welcome home. Where’s the water you brought back?”
Becky, who was supposed to have brought back water, returned empty-handed. Perplexed, Josette asked her.
“Well, you see. Marc is amazing. He carried the amount I would have needed to carry multiple times…”
“Becky, where should I put this water?”
“Ah, sorry. Uhm… could you pour it into this pot?”
“Roger that.”
Marc, who had brought back water in a large bucket, effortlessly transferred it into the pot.
“As expected of a man. It might be because he trains regularly.”
Josette watched Marc’s work with admiration. Afterward, Marc mainly handled the heavy lifting, Becky prepared the ingredients, and Josette took care of cleaning the shop as they continued their opening preparations.
“It’s almost time to open. Marc, today you’ll be doing what I taught you earlier. If you don’t understand something, ask me or Becky. Do you understand?”
“Ah, I understand.”
“Looks like you’re ready. I’ll go flip the sign then.”
With the opening preparations complete, Becky flipped the “Open Soon” sign hanging at the shop to “Open.” And so, Becky’s shop began its operations.
“Welcome. What can I get for you today? The usual. Order coming in! Marc, take the order from the customer who just entered.”
“Ah, ah. Welcome. Have you decided on your order?”
Josette moved gracefully around the floor, working and giving instructions to Marc. Marc faithfully performed the basic actions he was taught before opening and handled the customer service.
“He’s so cool. I’m so happy to have someone like him working here.”
Oblivious to Becky’s fervent gaze, Marc worked diligently.
“Good work today. I think you did well for your first day. Tomorrow is a holiday, so please show up on Monday.”
“Understood.”
“Um… it’s not much, but here’s your pay for today. Please come again starting the day after tomorrow.”
“Ah, leave it to me.”
It had been a busy day, but Marc managed to get through it without any major trouble until closing time. After tidying up and calculating the day’s earnings, they handed Marc his first pay. Although it was a busy day, due to location constraints, the average spending per customer was low, and the profits weren’t substantial, so they couldn’t give Marc a large sum of money. However, Marc seemed satisfied with earning money through labor for the first time.
Several days after Marc started working at Becky’s shop, one day.
“Excuse me for intruding…”
Rachel visited Becky’s shop after closing hours.
“Rachel, I’m sorry to have called you over when you’re busy.”
“Ah, so this is Rachel.”
Josette, who had called Rachel, said apologetically, and Becky, seemingly understanding, said as if her name and the person finally matched.
“Oh? Rachel, what a surprise to see you here.”
“I could say the same about you. Just as Josette said, I’m really surprised you were working here.”
Marc, surprised by Rachel’s sudden appearance at the shop, said. Marc had heard that Rachel was coming here, but he was skeptical, and seeing her in person seemed to convince him.
“So, about what I asked you the other day, can you do it?”
“Three sets of this shop’s uniform, right? That’s why I came here. Leave it to me.”
“Don’t the two of you really dislike each other?”
Marc said in surprise, seeing Josette and Rachel talking amicably.
“We’re very good friends, you know? Right, Josette?”
“Indeed. We’re so close we eat lunch together every day.”
Holding each other’s hands, Josette and Rachel emphasized how close they were. For several months, they had made it a daily routine to have lunch together with Kent and Caro, and they had already become familiar with each other. Marc, unaware of this development, only had the image of Rachel bullying him whenever they met.
“Well then, since it’s getting late, let’s get this done quickly. Becky, please come to the back room. Marc, you’re not allowed in, okay?”
With that said, Rachel took Becky and entered the back room, which was normally used as storage.
“All right, could you take off your clothes?”
“Huh? Why do I need to take off my clothes?”
“Of course, I need to take measurements to make clothes.”
“Clothes? Are you sure?”
“Perhaps Josette didn’t tell you?”
“I haven’t heard anything.”
“Really? Josette asked me if I could make the uniforms for this shop.”
“Isn’t getting new clothes really expensive?”
“That’s why I’m here. I can make clothes incredibly cheaply. If you understand, I’ll measure your chest with your hands up in the air.”
“Kk, it tickles.”
“Alright, alright, don’t move.”
The voices of Rachel and Becky could be heard from the back room. Josette and Marc listened intently.
“Sob… They saw everything.”
“I’ve got Becky’s measurements, so next is Marc.”
“Oh, me?”
Becky, her face flushed with embarrassment, and Rachel, looking satisfied, came out of the back room. Then Rachel pointed at Marc.
“Josette, can you help me?”
“Certainly. Becky, you wait here.”
“Understood.”
“Marc, let’s go.”
Saying that, Josette pulled Marc by the hand and led him into the back room.
