15 “Excuse me, is this room the source of the piano music that was playing a short while ago?” A head suddenly peeked out from behind the Light Music Club room door.
The figure was a female student possessing physical characteristics consisting of a pair of thick, arched eyebrows, wavy light-brown hair that cascaded down to her waist, and a pair of dark blue irises.
Right now, the student was directing her gaze into the room with eyes full of curiosity, taking note of Fūju’s presence sitting inside the Light Music Club room.
Regarding Megumi Kato’s presence, the effect of her passive ability that rendered her existence unseen seemed to have automatically reactivated.
The female student at the door clearly lacked a specialized visual detection capacity like the one Yui Hirasawa possessed, rendering her completely unable to realize Megumi’s presence inside the room.
‘Tsumugi Kotobuki?’ Fūju immediately recalled the name upon seeing the physical traits displayed by the thick-browed student at the classroom door.
Just like Yui Hirasawa, Tsumugi was one of the main characters in the Light Music Club franchise, known among fans for a combination of traits including a wealthy family background, a unique eyebrow shape, and an immense physical strength that defied normal limits.
Fūju began to analyze the possibility that Tsumugi’s arrival at the Light Music Club room was triggered by her interest in the piano music he had played earlier, with the ultimate goal of registering to become a member of the club.
If this analysis proved accurate, it would count as a massive advantage for Fūju.
Through that scenario, Fūju would officially gain his first member for the Light Music Club room.
Furthermore, he would only need to take persuasive action to invite his seatmate, Yui Hirasawa, who was currently confirmed not to have joined any club organization at school.
If this scenario could be realized, the number of members in the Light Music Club room would total three people, including himself.
That number indicated they would only require two additional members to meet the minimum legality threshold of five students set by the school.
Given that the base data of the Light Music Club organization was populated by Tsumugi Kotobuki and Yui Hirasawa, logically the remaining two member slots should be occupied by Mio Akiyama and Ritsu Tainaka.
However, Fūju was also aware of potential plot deviations caused by external factors.
The new school year session had been underway for some time, yet signs of Mio or Ritsu’s presence around the Light Music Club room had not been detected at all.
Fūju assumed that the intervention of his existence in this world had triggered a shift in choices for Mio and Ritsu, leaving a high probability that both had chosen to join other club organizations at Toyogasaki High School.
If this assumption proved true, Fūju chose not to force the issue.
The primary factor was that he possessed no personal relationship or prior interaction with those two female students, making the act of suddenly approaching them to force a merger seem irrational and contrary to his personal working principles.
“Eh?
Aren’t you the young chef from the Chuuka Shochiku restaurant?” Tsumugi, who had been observing Fūju all this time, suddenly uttered a surprising statement of confirmation.
“Chuuka Shochiku?
Young chef?” Megumi tilted her head slightly with a confused expression upon hearing that terminology.
In the next second, she immediately shifted her gaze toward Fūju.
Given that the direction of the student’s gaze at the door was focused exclusively on Fūju, Megumi concluded that Fūju was the young chef referred to in the statement.
“Correct,” Fūju responded with a faint knit of his brow as his past memories began to unlock after Tsumugi mentioned that identity.
The fact regarding ownership of the Chuuka Shochiku restaurant did indeed fall under Fūju’s authority.
The restaurant was a business unit he had purchased independently during the period when he was mastering the skill of cooking traditional Chinese cuisine, with the primary goal of serving as a direct practice facility to produce Chinese dishes possessing the highest level of authenticity.
During the initial operational phase, the volume of consumer visits to the restaurant was relatively low due to the setting of relatively high menu prices and the restaurant’s geographical location being situated in a rather secluded area.
However, one day, Tsumugi along with her family members accidentally discovered the restaurant’s location while they were passing through the surrounding area.
Attracted by the interior design concept presented, Tsumugi’s family decided to try the menu items at the establishment.
The final result of that visit showed that all members of Tsumugi’s family were successfully won over by the culinary expertise displayed by Fūju.
They subsequently spread information regarding the quality of Fūju’s cooking to their social relations network.
The impact of that information spread triggered a surge in consumer visit volume to the Chuuka Shochiku restaurant during the following period, where the number of consumers arriving to enjoy dishes made by Fūju experienced a drastic increase.
At the peak phase of the restaurant’s popularity, Fūju encountered constraints regarding labor limitations to service all orders.
This condition drove Fūju to make the firm decision to shut down restaurant operations after operating for only a single lunch session to avoid physical exhaustion.
The thick-browed student at the door was currently confirmed to be the very Tsumugi Kotobuki involved in that past culinary incident.
To a certain extent, Tsumugi could be categorized as one of the parties who contributed to the commercial business development owned by Fūju.
Following that initial incident, Tsumugi and her family were recorded visiting his restaurant several more times, allowing the relationship between them to be categorized as a casual business acquaintance.
“So it’s you,” Fūju responded with a nod as a form of formal greeting to Tsumugi.
Based on his personal characteristics, Fūju would not display excessive enthusiasm when interacting with individuals who lacked a deep emotional closeness.
Currently, the only female student capable of triggering a positive emotional response in Fūju was Shoko Nishimiya, the kind-hearted girl who shared a strong bond of closeness with him.
“Why did you decide to halt that restaurant’s operations entirely?
We made several visits to the restaurant location during the period afterward, but the restaurant doors were always locked,” Tsumugi delivered the question with a vocal intonation carrying a slight tone of protest.
This focus caused Tsumugi to temporarily forget her original purpose for coming to the Light Music Club room.
That response was considered normal because all members of Tsumugi’s family had developed a palate dependency on the quality of authentic dishes served by Fūju.
They had become a group of fanatical admirers of Fūju’s cooking and possessed a desire to consume those dishes regularly.
The quality of Chinese cuisine at other restaurants was judged to have flavor standards sitting far below Fūju’s quality, causing them immense disappointment every time they found the Chuuka Shochiku restaurant closed.
If they possessed Fūju’s private contact data, Tsumugi’s family would undoubtedly have extended a special financial offer so that Fūju would be willing to cook privately at their residence.
“The closure decision was made because I had a fairly packed allocation of other agendas, leaving me with inadequate time to manage daily store operations,” Fūju offered a logical explanation.
The reason Fūju ignored potential financial profits and chose to close his culinary business was because he had to allocate his energy focus to mastering disciplines in other fields.
Considering his Chinese cooking skill level had reached a recognized master phase, he judged there was no rational urgency to maintain daily restaurant operations, choosing instead to pivot toward learning new knowledge materials.
“That explanation is highly logical, yet this condition remains a matter of great regret for us.” “Is there any probability that you will reopen restaurant operations during your remaining spare time in the future?
For instance, during weekends or long school holiday periods,” Tsumugi conveyed her hope with eyes full of anticipation.
Hearing the request from Tsumugi, Fūju did not offer an absolute refusal.
In reality, the intensity of club organization activities at present was relatively low and tended to be relaxed.
After school hours ended and he returned home, he also lacked urgent agendas that required completion.
Therefore, the option to reopen the Chuuka Shochiku restaurant during spare time was viewed as a productive alternative activity to fill time while gathering additional financial capital for his future.
“Based on the analysis of the upcoming schedule, I possess adequate time availability.
I will consider reopening restaurant operations by adjusting to real conditions on the ground.” “After school hours wrap up, if there are no urgent agendas, I plan to open the shop for two to three hours.
Meanwhile, for weekend holidays or long national holidays, operational duration will likely be extended, depending on the availability of spare time I possess.” “To ease the information delivery process, I will create an official website page for the Chuuka Shochiku restaurant in the near future.
Information regarding the operational schedule will be uploaded to that site, or you can assist me in spreading this information to other loyal customers,” Fūju provided an explanation of his work plan after thorough consideration.
Given that the Chuuka Shochiku restaurant possessed a good reputation and superior flavor quality, the existence of loyal customers from various backgrounds was absolute.
Representatives from large financial groups such as Totsuki Academy and Shino’s were even recorded having extended massive financial offers to recruit Fūju as their private chef, yet all those offers were politely declined by Fūju.
To Fūju, accepting a job as a private chef for another party was conceptually equivalent to a position as hired labor.
His life principles strictly rejected a employment format as a contract laborer under another’s authority in order to safeguard his personal freedom.
CREATORS’ THOUGHTS FaaanzKun Can’t wait to see what happens next?
Plus, I’ll be dropping exclusive 18+ content there much earlier.
Your support means the world to me!