Later that day…

“What’s going on here…?”

People.

A crowd.

A massive crowd.

We stopped in front of Cyberia after school to find the entire hall packed with people, so much so that it overflowed into the parking lot.

“…Hey, Natsuki, is Cyberia running some kind of special event?”

Souta was just as surprised as I was, staring at the crowd.

“I don’t think so… I haven’t heard anything like that.”

Even if there were, it shouldn’t cause this kind of chaos. This was definitely the busiest I’ve seen since I started working at Cyberia.

As I watched the crowd, I noticed something.

“Wait… isn’t everyone here wearing Suzakura’s uniform?”

Yeah, the entire crowd was dressed in the Suzakura High School uniform. It seemed like a group of Suzakura students had flooded into Cyberia.

I had a bad feeling.

“—Sorry, Souta. I might need to leave for a bit. I’ll catch up with you later.”

“Uh, okay… Good luck with your part-time job…?”

I left a confused Souta behind and rushed to the back.

“Ah, Natsuki! You came at just the right time! Sorry, can you jump in right away?!”

When I entered the back, Souda, who was rummaging through the freezer, called out to me in a hurry. Usually calm even during peak hours, Souda was clearly panicking now. That meant the kitchen was probably in chaos.

I quickly understood the situation and rushed to wash my hands.

“I’ll be right there after I wash my hands. Can I work the floor?”

“Yeah, sorry, but we need you! That cool new girl is handling it alone, so help her out!”

“Wait, alone?!”

I was shocked. Tachibana-san was still far from fully trained.

“Yeah, the kitchen’s completely understaffed, and then that new girl—’Leave it to me,’ she said and went out. So, please, hurry!”

With that, Souda dashed through the door, leaving me behind.

“…I hope Tachibana-san’s okay.”

The only things I had taught her yesterday were the basics like guiding customers and bussing tables. She hadn’t even dealt with customers directly yet. I felt a strong sense of unease.

“Good morning! Let’s do our best today!”

I quickly changed into my uniform and ran out to the floor.