Chapter 378 379: Dog-like Girl Chisato Nishikigi

"Nymph, help me check the overall structure of the café — I need to give it a complete renovation."

"Understood. Master, are you planning to work there as the Store Manager?"

"Yeah, being a Store Manager once in a while sounds fun."

"Got it. I've already sent you the new café design blueprint."

"I'll take a look when I get a chance. I'll head home and cook you something good." Jhin hung up the phone, and seeing Kurumi and Chisato Nishikigi looking at him with curious eyes, he explained, "My little sister, Nymph."

"So you've got both an older sister and a little sister, huh."

"Shouldn't we be commenting on how all three of them have completely different naming styles instead..."

"Ahaha..." Chisato popped a piece of grilled chicken skewer into her mouth, then gave Kurumi a thumbs up. "A diverse family!"

"Hah~" Kurumi shook her head, clearly exasperated with this idiot whose head was already full of her life-saving benefactor, and took a small sip of sake.

That's right — Kurumi was drinking. After Jhin suggested they celebrate, she'd proposed going to an izakaya, then pulled out some kind of ID that convinced the staff to let her order a cup of sake.

The way she looked right now easily reminded him of a certain pink-haired, legally-adult loli teacher who smoked and drank.

I hope Kurumi doesn't have too poor a tolerance for alcohol, or else I can't guarantee I won't do something.

Kurumi naturally sensed the meaningful look Jhin was giving her. She curled her small bare feet under the table, quietly set down her cup, and started eating skewers instead.

She felt a serious crisis to her chastity brewing. She really shouldn't touch alcohol again — otherwise it wouldn't be strange to wake up one day and find this guy lying beside her, smoking a post-coital cigarette.

"Chisato, where do you live these days?"

"I've got an apartment not far from the café. Want to come check it out sometime, Jhin?"

It sounded like an ordinary invitation, but Jhin sensed something oddly threatening about it. He'd originally wanted to see what her solo living situation was like, but after picking up on that threat, he gave up on the idea. "Some other time, maybe. Kurumi, you're staying at a hotel tonight — the café's getting renovated and rebuilt."

"Fine, I'll come visit some other time then." Chisato lowered her head to hide the disappointment in her eyes.

Such a shame. If only Jhin had come along...

Kurumi looked thoroughly disgusted. "Don't renovate. Moving everything around is such a hassle."

"I won't touch the break room, then. You can just go stay at a hotel for one night."

"What renovation crew works that fast?"

"My own company."

"Ah... that company. I see."

Chisato listened to the two of them talk in riddles, her face full of question marks. "What are you two even talking about? Don't leave me out of this..."

Jhin patted her little head. "Just talking about renovations. Tomorrow you'll see a brand new café."

"Wow, can't wait!"

After the celebration wrapped up, Jhin said goodbye to the two of them. Before he left, he told a worried-looking Chisato, "Don't worry, I'm not going to disappear."

After he got home and settled on a renovation style with Nymph, a swarm of small flying devices equipped with built-in cognitive interference fields launched from Synapse Corporation. They flew to "Hamster Home" and began remodeling the café according to the blueprint.

The huge quantities of special minerals Jhin had brought back from Another World had dramatically accelerated the company's technological progress, which had previously been bottlenecked by limited raw materials. Biotechnology in particular had filled in a major gap for the company — though he'd explicitly banned any research into ethically questionable technologies like artificial humans.

After the construction drones worked through the night, the café was completely transformed. The once slightly shabby wooden storefront had been remade into a sleek, modern look, with a round hamster-shaped standee placed on the roof, fitting perfectly with the shop's name, "Hamster Home."

Aside from the break room, which was left untouched, a basement, a living room, and a whole series of other new areas had been added. The overall style and decor leaned warm and cozy, with plenty of plants Jhin had brought back from Another World potted and placed around as decoration. The walls were also covered with posters of currently popular anime, manga, and games.

Chisato had specially set an alarm to get up early just to meet Jhin sooner, but before she even saw him, she was floored by the newly renovated café. "Is this really the same old rustic, drafty Hamster Home?"

"No matter how bad I am at running a business, I wouldn't let the café actually get drafty, would I?" Kurumi appeared behind her, arms crossed in annoyance, the toes of her hole-punched sandals tapping restlessly against the ground.

"Heh heh... I was just exaggerating a bit."

"You two are both here pretty early."

"Jhin!"

"Oh, morning, Chisato." Jhin always felt she was like a golden retriever — the way she came bounding over the moment she spotted someone familiar was uncannily similar. "Come on in. I'll give you both a tour of the renovated café."

"Mm."

After a quick tour of the brand new café, Kurumi nodded in satisfaction. "You even set up a living room just for me. You really thought this through."

"Hm? That one's for me. I figured you were planning to turn the break room into your living quarters."

"You're going to live in the café?"

Jhin asked her back, puzzled, "Can't the Store Manager live in the shop?"

Her chastity — in danger!

Kurumi forced out a stiff smile. "Well... you're the Store Manager. It'd look pretty bad if you actually lived in the café."

"I don't see what the problem is."

Seeing she couldn't change Jhin's mind, she turned her sights on Chisato instead. "Chisato, why don't you move in too? It'd liven the place up."

Weren't you complaining before that I was too noisy?

Chisato didn't say that thought out loud. Getting to legitimately live under the same roof as Jhin — she was too happy to even consider refusing. "No problem! I'll go pack my things right now!"

"Now that that's settled, let's get down to business."

Chisato pinched her thumb and index finger together, leaving just a sliver of a gap between them, and said with some embarrassment, "Um... Jhin, our shop's sales record is... kind of a little bit rough."

Between Kurumi's poor business sense and Chisato only being able to make plain-tasting desserts, Hamster Home's income basically relied entirely on Kurumi's pay from her DA field work. She could occasionally scrape together a month or two's worth of funds to keep the shop running, but honestly, it was a miracle the place hadn't gone under before Jhin showed up.

More like a whole lot of a little bit...

The lack of foot traffic wasn't really an issue, though, since Jhin could always rally people to come, and with his cooking skills there was no way customers wouldn't show up. But the key point was... he had money. A lot of money. Whether a little café turned a profit or not simply didn't matter to him.

Worst case, he'd just turn the place into a hangout spot for his girlfriends.

"I'll call some people over. You two go change into your uniforms and get ready to greet customers. Kurumi, don't even think about running off!"

"Ah, so the good days of being acting store manager are over."

"I don't know what kind of contract you and Kazuki signed, but... I'm pretty sure some of those clauses would let you live a pretty good life, if you're willing. Right?"

Kurumi trudged listlessly toward the changing room. "I don't want to talk about this."

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* Early Access: Can't wait?

🔥 New history: COTE: My High School Life Became Jujutsu Kaisen — posted on The_Mikudayo