Kissing My Student, It's Over if We're Caught-Chapter 3Volume 2 .6 - Kirihara Touka - Happy Moment: "Welcome back," "Im home," "Lets eat"

The room fell into a hush… Had my question been too vague?

“It’s about the products we sell at the café, right?”

Kirihara threw me a lifeline.

“Correct. …Well, if we were a genuine maid café operating in the real world, the service charge for the maids would also be included, I suppose. But if we’re running a maid café during the cultural festival, the sales would likely come more from the products. Even if boys from other classes come because they’re targeting the girls in our class, if they don’t order tea or sweets, it won’t contribute to our sales.”

“Hmm…, but, sensei. If we don’t have enough customers in the first place, wouldn’t we end up not selling much food? Like I said yesterday, if rumors spread that our outfits are lame, wouldn’t everyone stop coming?”

Higashi’s rebuttal made me nod in agreement.

“That’s also not wrong… If we’re promoting the maids as our main ‘attraction’. However, delicious food can also be a significant draw. You like tasty stuff, don’t you, Higashi?”

“Well, yeah… I guess that’s true?”

“So, well, this is something I picked up from the store manager back when I was working part-time, but when running a shop, it’s essential to imagine the flow of the day. Doesn’t the cultural festival get tiring, even though it’s fun? You get hungry and thirsty. Wouldn’t you want a place to rest?”

Higashi silently agrees. I check the expressions of Kasahara, Kirihara, and everyone else, but no one voices any objections.

“Inspired by the excellent summarizer Kirihara, let me share my thought— If I were the store manager deciding the direction of our shop, I’d allocate the budget to ingredients rather than outfits. Outfits might attract our own students, but they won’t be a strong point for visitors from outside the school coming to see the festival. On the other hand, tasty food will appeal to most people… Besides, there’s another reason to prioritize ingredients.”

I point to the word “Revenue” I’d written earlier.

“The income a food business can generate isn’t infinite. There’s always a limit. Does anyone know why?”

“Yes! My family runs a delicatessen, so I know! It’s because there are limits to the ingredients and the chef’s capacity!” (tln : refers to a retail establishment that sells a selection of fine, unusual, or foreign prepared foods. )

A girl raises her hand enthusiastically. “Correct,” I respond.

“Especially in the case of the cultural festival, it’s the ingredients that limit us. If we allocate the budget to outfits, reducing the amount of ingredients we can procure, we might run out of stock faster. Since it’s a café, if that happens, no matter how cute the maids are, no more customers will come in. Naturally, we won’t make any sales either. What would the atmosphere in the class be like then? Fun?”

Ew~, voices echo from various places.

“It would be hellish during such a supposed-to-be-fun festival…”

“It’d be too cold to even become a memory. It’s definitely going to be a dark history for sure.”

“Man, that’d be rough...” Higashi joins in. I continue speaking.

“Remember, Higashi mentioned how much it would cost to upgrade the outfits? It was about getting a few dresses, and improving them by one rank would differ by around thirty thousand yen, right? If we change this into ingredients, we could get quite a bit more. Ingredients equal service hours, ingredients equal the maximum revenue possible, so if we have enough ingredients, both these aspects can be extended.”

“So, if we sell everything, the max amount we can earn increases, right?” Kasahara interjects.

“Exactly. Essentially, prioritizing ingredients is crucial if we aim for the top sales again. I don’t deny the potential of the outfits boosting our reputation… But focusing on ingredients is a safer bet with a firm basis in numbers. Moreover, the prizes for the games hosted by the maids, meant to be exchanged at the festival, could be vouchers for use within the festival. If the provided sweets are delicious, we might even expect returning customers after they’ve toured the festival… What do you think? Aren’t all these points connected?”

Ooh~, impressed voices rise.

“But what if we make too much and have leftovers?”

“We call it a ‘wrap-up party’ and eat everything together. In that case, everyone would be happier if it’s delicious.”

Laughter erupts, but some seriously nod in agreement.

“The whole issue started when the cooking team proposed to adjust the recipes to be more luxurious, right? Wasn’t it about adding more butter to the cupcakes and cookies and increasing the granulated sugar?”

“Yes!” The energetic leader of the cooking team responds.

“But it wasn’t me who wanted to adjust the recipes; it was Kobayashi who’s better at making them.”

It was Kobayashi, who once got sick during a pool lesson.

Considering her shy nature, I give her a gentle directive.

“If possible, could you try making them once by tomorrow or the day after? …Cookies would be better than cupcakes since they’re easier to share with everyone. If you can prepare both a luxurious recipe and a cost-saving recipe, that’d be ideal. We can use the budget for it.”

“Ah… Is that okay?”

“Tasting is important. If we have everyone try a bit for tasting, it shouldn’t cost much, and if everyone can agree on it, it’ll be worth it… Since Kobayashi proposed the ‘luxurious recipe’, there must definitely be a difference in taste. I like cooking, so I can guess without tasting, but… let’s just try it.”

“...Okay, I’ll make some as soon as I get home.”

“Thanks. …So, we’ll use a bit of the budget for a tasting session, okay?”

No objections were raised. Thus, the discussion concluded for the day…

The next morning, during homeroom, Kobayashi’s cookies were distributed to everyone.

The moment we tasted them, everyone had the same thought.

“…The sweetness and richness are completely different.”

I expected this. I haven’t tried making homemade sweets much, but it’s all about the sugar…

After taking a vote again, it was unanimously decided to allocate the budget to ingredients.

“Now it’s about the quantity of ingredients we need to purchase… Kirihara. I feel like it’s cheating to ask, but with the current budget, how many servings do we need to sell to become the top in sales? About this much?”

Based on the budget and the rough cost of ingredients I had in mind, I calculated a likely number and wrote it on the blackboard.

Kirihara smiled and nodded “Yes.”

“You’re on the right track, sensei. You really know a lot about running a shop and cooking.”

“…I’m not that confident, but thank you.”

Being praised by Kirihara, the honor student version at school, felt refreshingly new. I made sure not to let my bashfulness show as I turned back to the students.

“Is everyone okay with proceeding like this? I’ll draft the festival plan and submit it to the student council, okay?”

A chorus of “Aye” and “Yes” followed.

“Sensei, you were a big help this time!” “Wait, you worked part-time at an izakaya?” “A cooking guy?”

This content is taken from freeweɓnovel.cѳm.

Questions flew from every direction.

“…We’ll talk about that some other time when we have more free time.”

Being the center of attention isn’t my forte.

Plus, the morning is short on time, so I made a quick retreat to the staff room.

As soon as I sat down, a sigh of relief naturally escaped.

Ever since speaking up at yesterday’s homeroom, a shadow of anxiety had lingered in my mind. Kirihara was so considerate she hardly spoke to me about it.

…I guess I managed to navigate the situation safely.

I had imagined worse scenarios.

Though the bitter memory from my past hadn’t completely vanished, I felt a bit like I had redeemed myself.

But it wasn’t perfect.

This time, I almost entirely dictated the direction based on my experience, but perhaps providing hints for the students to contemplate would have been better.

That way, I could’ve utilized Higashi’s efforts without undermining him… Not that he seems the type to mind, but there could’ve been a way to leverage the hard work of someone trying to consolidate the class’s opinions.

Before heading to teach, I jot down these thoughts in my notebook, which I’ve been gradually filling since starting the job, hoping it might come in handy someday. Let’s keep pushing forward.

And of course, I need to thank Kirihara.

Checking my phone, I see she’s already messaged me first.