Chapter 89: Chapter 88 - The Butler Café Disaster

By midday, the festival at Seiran Academy had hit a peak of extreme popularity. The type of popularity that created problems. Major problems.

Kuro Kurogane figured he was going to have an all-nighter dealing with the major problems spawned by the academy festival.

To solve the problem, he had to reunited (found) the missing principal , resolved a conflict between football club members and video game club members , stopped the science club from conducting a test on something that was only "mostly safe", assisted three kids in getting reunited with their parents.

And it was still the early afternoon!

Unfortunately, his greatest challenge lay ahead of him at the Butler Café.

As soon as Kuro stepped into the hallway leading to the Manga Research Club, he realized there was a serious problem.

The hallway was packed with students, there were people packed into the area in front of the entrance to the café and there was a line of visitors that literally wrapped around a corner trying to get into the café.

Teachers were present trying to control the crowd, but none of them were successfully accomplishing that goal.

"What happened?" Kuro asked a student that was nearby.

The student pointed towards the café.

"Those two people happened."

That response was not helpful, but somehow, Kuro knew already what had happened. Kuro stepped through the door to the Butler Café and saw complete chaos.

The café was packed with people; no tables were unoccupied and every seat was occupied. More customers were continuing to arrive. At the centre of the chaos stood Akari and Aoi.

To put it mildly, Butler Akari and Butler Aoi are quite impressive in their uniforms.

In this case, the black dress coats with silver buttons, white gloves for both butlers, the elegant ties, and Akari’s boobs, and Aoi’s curved lines really make them look like characters straight out of a manga.

Since Rika is happy in her involvement, the uniforms could have come from a manga.

Akari just knows she is going to make it big!

She bows dramatically and presents the guest with a menu that creates so much shock that the guest forgets how to speak.

Akari smiles at her latest victim.

Meanwhile, Aoi is carrying a tray between tables in such an effortless manner that the result of her movements seems dangerous. A large portion of the café appears emotionally compromised by the combination of Akari and Aoi.

Kuro is observing the scene.

Then he becomes aware of Rika.

Rika is sitting in the corner doodling, drawing, writing and making notes.

The moment Kuro sees her smile, he knows something is very wrong.

"Kuro," Rika says looking up.

"Kuro, what are you doing?" asks Kuro.

"Research," says Rika.

Kuro didn’t expect to get this answer so fast, and that creates another problem for Kuro.

"What kind of research?" asks Kuro.

"My future masterpiece," says Rika.

Kuro instantly feels frightened for his safety; the questions stop. 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

Kuro’s own survival comes first.

All of a sudden there is another problem.

A panicked student comes running toward Kuro.

"Kuro!" yells the student.

"What is it?" asks Kuro.

"The café has run out of ingredients!" yells the student.

"Already?" asks Kuro, surprised.

"The demand was more than we expected."

The café’s prediction was for one hundred visitors.

In actuality, almost three times that many clients had shown up.

Kuro pulled out an inventory list.

Looked it over.

Then gave a dramatic sigh.

"How much coffee is left?" he asked.

The student looked nervous.

"One container."

"And what about tea?"

"Almost out."

"And snacks?"

"At emergency levels."

Kuro stared up at the ceiling.

The festival gods hated him.

Five minutes later, he was walking back across campus with supplies.

Again.

And as he returned, he found another problem.

Akari.

Of course.

She had accidentally attracted a crowd.

Although she had not tried to do so.

At least, probably not.

The problem stemmed from her enjoyment of entertaining patrons.

To an extreme.

"So, then I told him," she told her audience while pointing a finger at Kuro.

"He needed more social skills," as everyone at her table laughed.

Kuro froze.

"Akari?"

She grinned.

"Yeah?"

"Stop telling strangers stories about me."

"Um, no."

"Why not?"

"Because they’re hilarious!"

The patrons agreed.

Betrayal.

Meanwhile Aoi had quietly slid Kuro a cup of tea.

"You look tired."

"I am tired."

She nodded.

"I understand."

Then she returned to work.

As usual with speed and precision.

The two sisters continued to fascinate him.

Akari created chaos.

Aoi kept chaos under control.

Yet, Kuro was the one suffering from both of their actions.

The early afternoon rush continued.

Customers kept coming to the cafe. Many members of the football club visited. Also, many members of the music club visited. Teachers also came. Parents visited the cafe. Even the principal came to visit the cafe! This was surprising because when he was last there, he had lost something:

His sense of direction.

Then came the big tragedy:

A social media post.

Someone had posted a picture of the cafe.

Particularly, a picture of Aoi and Akari.

Customer numbers doubled in less than half hour!

Kuro wanted to cry.

The hallway was filled with people.

Teachers were having to make waiting lines for their students and direct traffic for the guests of the cafe. The cafe had become legendary.

Rika was happier than ever at the end of this experience.

And that was dangerous for Kuro’s plans.

"Kuro!"

"No!"

"You don’t even know what I was going to ask."

"I know enough!"

Rika looked disappointed.

Kuro had never seen her disappointed before – a rare occurrence.

Then there was another challenge for Kuro:

A customer challenge.

In other words, various students were having trouble deciding which sister was more popular.

Akari thought this was a fantastic idea.

Aoi did not.

However, Aoi’s refusal only encouraged the competition between the two.

Thus started a stupid contest.

Customers were retrieving ballots to vote between the two sisters.

Akari treated it as though it were a championship event.

Aoi treated it as though it were an inconvenience.

In the end, they tied.

Exactly tied.

The cafe exploded with noise and excitement.

Akari demanded a rematch.

Aoi agreed quietly to the rematch.

Rika took copious notes.

Kuro ended up with a headache.

At that moment, Minami had just entered the cafe.

She reached the door and saw the crowd.

Minami’s spirit separated from her body.

"What’s going on?"

Kuro points to the twins at one of the doors to the cafe.

Minami got it right away.

"Oh, no."

The teacher sat down at her table for about 10 seconds before another student approached.

"Asakura-sensei!"

Minami closed her eyes in response.

"What’s it this time?"

"There’s a major argument between Gaming Club and Drama Club , it all starts from someone stealing a costume."

"Why didn’t they just resolve the issue like adults?"

"I need a cup of coffee."

"There is barely any left."

A sense of hopeless emptiness showed on Minami’s face.

As the evening continued, the chaos in the cafe began to die down.

The crowd began to dwindle, the line to be served began to reduce, the customers began to leave.

For the first time in over 10 hours, the cafe finally had enough room to start breathing again.

Akari fell into a chair and said, "My feet have died."

"But you have been standing all day."

Kuro said.

"I blame society for this."

"That isn’t how standing works."

Aoi was sitting next to Akari.

"You did very well today."

Kuro sat silently with his head down, wishing for the day to end.

Akari smiled at Rika. Rika had more than enough drawings to publish multiple volumes of manga in her sketchbook.

Rika had too many drawings.

The festival still had a day to go, but by this point, the Butler Café had become the school’s most popular attraction.

Kuro found this very depressing.

Kuro knew the busier the Butler Café became, the more work they would have to do.

And as expected the phone rang.

Again.

Kuro picked up his phone.

He saw it was the Football Club.

Great.

Kuro stood up.

Akari pointed at him and said, "Where are you going?"

"I’m going to take care of another problem."

"Good luck!"

"Thanks."

"You’re going to need it."

For once Akari was completely correct.

When Kuro walked out of the café, he looked back one last time.

Aoi was cleaning off tables.

Akari was keeping the exhausted staff entertained.

Rika was planning for next year’s insanity.

And somehow the festival was still alive.

And somehow the worst was still to come.

At the same time, Minami Asakura was doing her best to maintain order throughout the festival grounds. She moved with a clipboard in hand between clubs, handling their complaints, approving their requests, and preventing students from causing new problems. After each issue that she resolved, two new problems appeared.

The Football Club lost equipment again.

The Science Club requested to conduct an experimental activity that she wasn’t sure would be approved.

The Music Club needed additional time on stage.

Minami could already feel a headache coming.

As she walked across the courtyard, she saw Kuro rushing towards yet another incident. She just had to stop for a few seconds and look at him.

"How can he possibly be all over the place...?"

Then the other teacher called out to her.

Minami sighed, adjusted her glasses and returned to work.

She still had a number of hours until the festival was done, and she still had a lot of chaos left to deal with.