Chapter 33: Scary System!
After the manager said something rude, not only Shishio, but the middle-aged woman seemed to be in a state of disbelief, staring at the manager.
Shishio already knew about the story that was related to this restaurant, but watching it on the screen and watching it from reality was different things, especially when he was the owner of this restaurant.
Shishio was afraid that his restaurant might be shut down sooner or later because of this woman, however...
"I"m sorry!"
"Please excuse us!"
The fake loli waitress that had helped him before and one boy quickly grabbed the woman manager and apologized to the middle-aged woman.
Somehow Shishio let out a sigh of relief and knew that the two of them were working so hard because the manager of this restaurant was such a useless woman, but then again, he felt a bit grateful to this woman since he had received a reward from the system because of her and he also didn"t have an intention to fire her, considering he might come to this place from time to time and without that woman, this restaurant wouldn"t be complete and there might be a chance for her to give him more rewards.
Shishio thought to use this restaurant as his hunting ground for reward and he knew that there was still another girl that he hadn"t met, after all, as long as he met a heroine in this restaurant, he would receive a reward from the system.
However, when Shishio was staring at the boy and fake loli that pulled the rude manager away...
"WHAT?!"
Shishio wasn"t surprised by the reward, but rather it was because the person that triggered his quest was a male!
"What... What is this?"
Shishio"s complexion turned pale and looked at the boy with gla.s.ses who dragged the rude manager to the pantry.
"No! No! No!"
Shishio lowered his head and covered his pale complexion with his long hair and hands. He didn"t want someone to see his expression at that moment since he was sure that his expression would be very ugly.
"Does... the system tells me to target a male?"
Shishio felt sick for a moment, but then he quickly shook his head and thought that that boy with gla.s.ses might be a female, but she had a hobby of wearing male clothes.
"That"s right!"
Shishio decided to escape from reality when he thought that a male could trigger the quest since there no way, right?
"No, I need to ask her (him)!"
Even though Shishio knew the boy with gla.s.ses might be the protagonist in this restaurant, he needed to make sure and asked that boy"s real gender first since there might be a change when he came to this world.
Then as expected, the boy with gla.s.ses came to the middle-aged woman and apologized for the rude actions of the manager of the restaurant. He also brought a cold drink for the middle-aged woman, apologized, and hoped that she wouldn"t take the manager"s action accountable.
Both of them talked for a while then the boy with gla.s.ses also brought Shishio"s order since he wouldn"t let him talk with his sweet and cute uppercla.s.sman anymore.
"Here"s your order," the boy with gla.s.ses said politely and put Shishio"s order on the table gently.
Shishio nodded since, unlike the manager, the waiter and waitress in this place were quite good, even though there was one that had always brought a katana and the other one had a small height that could easily be mistaken her as an elementary school, but overall service of this restaurant was quite good.
"Excuse me, can I ask you something?" Shishio asked directly.
The boy was a bit surprised, but he nodded. "Is there something, guest?"
"Was the woman that talked rudely before the manager?" Shishio asked curiously.
"Ugh..."
The boy seemed to be staggered when Shishio asked this question and for a moment, he thought that it was better for Shishio to ask a question about Taneshima rather than the manager that talked rudely before, but he quickly apologized and bowed his head.
"I am sorry for our manager"s actions, please don"t think too much about her actions since she won"t do it again in the future."
Looking at the boy"s reaction, Shishio was satisfied and said, "It"s alright. I am just curious since it is my first time seeing a manager of a restaurant that scolds her customer."
"Haha..."
The boy could only laugh awkwardly and didn"t know what to say for a moment.
"Um.. Takanashi-san, was it?"
Shishio said while looking at the nametag on the boy"s shirt.
"Yes, that"s my name." Takanashi nodded and said, "If you have any problems please tell me, I will do my best to help you." He thought that it was better for him to handle Shishio since he didn"t want Taneshima to have that much of a relationship with Shishio. It might be because of his instinct as a father that told him that Taneshima might be tarnished and become an adult very soon if he let Taneshima get close to Shishio.
"There"s one more question, but I hope that you don"t get angry," Shishio said.
"Please tell me," Takanashi said with a serious expression, and from his expression, anyone could tell that he wouldn"t allow Shishio to get close to Taneshima no matter what!
"You"re a boy, right?"
"....."
When Shishio asked that question, Takanashi suddenly turned in shock, before his expression turned very unnatural, but in the end, he smiled politely and said, "What are you talking about, guest? Of course, I am a boy. If you have any problems please tell us anytime." He left directly since he was afraid the secret that he had kept hidden would be opened and known by everyone.
"..."
When Takanashi escaped and felt scared that his secret might be known, Shishio on the other hand was in shock.
Shishio knew that Takanashi was the protagonist in this restaurant and Takanashi also had a huge secret. He felt conflicted when he thought about Takanashi"s secret since it seemed that the taste of the system was broader than he had thought!
Shishio knew that Takanashi was often dressed as a girl during his childhood time on the story and he also knew from the story that Takanashi also often dressed as a girl during certain occasions, especially when it was related to the heroine of the story.
"A crossdresser can also trigger the system..."
Shishio was in shock, but rather than feel disgusted, he felt scared of the system!
Being a sc.u.mbag was one thing, and even if he knew that being a sc.u.mbag was very bad, it was several times better when he thought that the system might also accept a boy as long as that boy was cute and resembled a girl.
"..."
Shishio took a deep breath and calmed himself. He felt very scared at that moment and the only thing that he was glad that the system didn"t force him to do something to the target. If he was forced to attack a crossdresser then he was sure this book might have directly been thrown away by the readers.
"But... why didn"t it react toward Mita--"
Shishio quickly shook his head and had gooseb.u.mps on his entire body. He took a deep breath and calmed himself before he decided to eat since he wanted to forget the things that had just happened.
In his mind, nothing happened and the system was only triggered by a heroine from certain work that appeared in this world, nothing less, nothing more, that"s all.
Shishio came to that conclusion before he started to eat while checking his rewards since the rewards from the system were quite amazing.