After Okudera had found the perfect shop, Kyousuke returned to Tokyo.
The place was located near Kasuga Station in Bunkyo Ward—a charming, old-fashioned shopping street reminiscent of Yanaka Ginza.
The building itself was a two-story structure, small and cozy.
Okudera, dressed in a flowing black dress, sat at the shop's only table on the first floor.
She turned to look at Kyousuke, who had donned a matching black suit for the occasion.
"So, this is the one, huh? All set, investor-san."
"Yeah," Kyousuke replied, turning to meet her gaze with a smile.
There was no trace of fear or hesitation in her gentle voice—only excitement and anticipation.
Her amber eyes shimmered with joy.
"Mhm!" Encouraged once more, Miki gave the contract an emphatic stamp.
After shaking hands with the landlord, the two of them stood still for a moment, gazing up at the building that would soon become theirs—at least for the next few years.
The contract had been prepared by a legal scrivener, covering all the business permits and other necessary paperwork.
Although doing it themselves might have saved money, Kyousuke insisted on hiring a professional.
He believed people should earn what they're good at, and so he gently overruled Miki, who had wanted to handle everything herself.
He had actually wanted to buy the shop outright, but unfortunately, properties like this were rarely up for sale. And Miki had flat-out refused what she called his "crazy idea."
"So, what's your plan for the second floor? Living space?"
Holding the building's blueprints, Kyousuke glanced up.
"Nope, that's going to be the café!" Miki replied, tilting her head back to look at the upper windows.
"We'll replace the windows with larger wooden ones, lay down brown wood flooring, and plant some azaleas, jasmine, and gardenias on the balcony."
She clapped her hands suddenly. "Oh, and of course, we'll have hyacinths—your favorite, right?"
Shielding her eyes from the sun, she seemed to envision it all: the blooming flowers, the soft scent in the air.
Her delicate nose twitched as if already smelling the blossoms, and her voice sparkled with vivid dreams.
"When you open the windows in the morning, the fragrance of the flowers will drift in with the sunlight."
"You can sit right here and have breakfast, and I bet the milk will taste even better with a little sunshine in it. And in the afternoon, when the sun shifts, it won't shine directly in anymore—perfect for a nap…"
Kyousuke stood silently beside her, smiling, listening to her plans for the future—and hearing how he fit into it.
"Well then, let's get to work. I want to see this place open before the school term starts!"
Rolling up the blueprints, Kyousuke took Miki's slender hand and walked into the shop with her.
"Mhm!"
Unlike during her time at Garden of Words, where she always wore a polite smile for customers, Miki seemed truly happy here.
Her grin never faded, lighting up her whole face like sunshine.
"Given how small this place is, we probably won't have many customers…"
"What are you talking about?" Kyousuke cut her off. "People will be lining up out the street! Scalpers are going to start camping out just to reserve seats at your place, Okudera-senpai!"
"Hehe, alright, alright. Well, to enhance that sense of exclusivity, I was thinking round tables for the layout. As for chairs, take a look at this—"
She pulled out her phone.
She'd already drawn up her own designs—not just grabbed images from the internet, but actual sketches she'd made herself.
"Leave it to me! I'll build them all for you, by hand!" Kyousuke declared boldly.
From his scattered memories, he vaguely recalled doing woodworking at Miyamizu Mitsuha's place.
As a skilled kendoka, carving perfect circles with just a utility knife didn't seem too far-fetched.
Whether it was manga or glass, when it came to dealing with circles, he was a pro.
"Hehe, well of course. I always planned to make it together with you!" Miki said, laughing.
The "renovation" wasn't much more than creative decoration—setting things up according to their tastes.
The kitchen was already there; all they had to do was place an order, and the company would handle the rest of the appliances.
"This wall will be for the menu, and over here I'll hang a couple of paintings... As for lighting, I want warm yellow tones here, and over there…"
Her cheerful voice echoed throughout the empty space, as she clung tightly to Kyousuke's hand like an excited little bird.
She had plans for every corner of the place.
Eventually, she paused mid-sentence.
"Sorry… I think I'm talking too fast."
Realizing that they were still holding hands, she blushed and turned her head slightly, trying to act like she hadn't noticed. Her voice turned a little bashful.
"Not at all," Kyousuke shook his head gently. "I got it all."
He pulled out a blank sheet of paper and began sketching a rough layout—just two walls and a floor in perspective.
Using the measurements Miki had given him for the tables and chairs, he added each piece, then the menu wall, light fixtures, paintings...
It looked exactly like what she had described.
Maybe it was his background in science giving him strong spatial awareness.
Or maybe design, being such an interdisciplinary field, just came naturally to him despite lacking any real artistic flair.
Either way, drawing a simple design like this based on her instructions was no problem at all.
"Amazing!" Miki's eyes lit up more and more as the drawing came together. Her long lashes trembled as she gasped in awe, her lips parted in wonder.
"Haha, well, I am a manga artist, after all. I can at least manage something like this." Kyousuke waved her praise away with mock modesty.
"I've never met another manga artist who can do what you just did," Miki said as she clasped his hand tightly with both of hers, admiration clear in her voice.
"Hahaha, I'm just average. Anyway, take a look—anything missing? If not, we can go shopping for supplies."
Soaking in the compliments, Kyousuke was secretly loving every second.
"Hmm… You nailed it, Kyousuke-kun. It's exactly like I pictured it. I really can't think of anything to add."
She squinted at the sketch for a few seconds before looking up at him with a mock-pout.
"Haha, you're really something, Senpai."
"Um… Kyousuke-kun, I'm not a college student anymore. Maybe it's time you started calling me something else?"
"Hm?" He blinked and turned toward her, noticing the soft blush on her cheeks.
"How about… just call me without senpai?"
Miki's full lips curled into a slight pout.
"Hahaha, alright then—Okudera! We've got a big day ahead!" Kyousuke said cheerfully, pulling her gently to her feet.
"Boss!" x4
The familiar voices came from outside. It was the Oni duo who handled the driving, along with Hata Gorou and Mitsuhashi Ryouma, who were in charge of cleaning.
"Thanks for helping out today," Kyousuke nodded.
Okudera, still holding his hand, looked slightly shy in front of the unfamiliar men.
But feeling his firm grip gave her the courage to steady herself. She bowed slightly to thank them.
"Not at all. I'm just glad I could be of service to the boss one more time before leaving Tokyo," Eikichi Onizuka said seriously.
In truth, the place was already pretty clean.
The property management company had done a decent job after the previous tenant moved out.
If it hadn't been, Kyousuke would've hired a professional cleaning service instead of troubling his subordinates.
This so-called "cleaning" was really just having extra hands around to help with minor touches.
Onizuka drove as the group headed to Chiyoda Ward, where stores selling interior and exterior renovation materials were clustered.
There weren't any of those kinds of shops in Bunkyo Ward.
He drove a small truck, perfect for hauling scattered items like light fixtures.
Larger things like tables that needed customization were handled at the material shop itself.
Otherwise, once they transported everything to the Kasuga Station shopping street, they'd have to be careful not to disturb the neighbors.
The renovation work proceeded smoothly, and within a week, it was nearly complete.
"Technology these days is amazing… You can buy blooming flowers anytime, no matter the season." Okudera gently touched a hyacinth on the balcony, her voice filled with awe.
"That's the beauty of progress, isn't it?"
Kyousuke took a sip of his iced cola.
Though they were technically in a café, coffee had never been his drink of choice—he preferred the drowsy, mellow feeling that came with naps over caffeine jolts.
Okudera clearly knew that about him. The first thing she did after buying a fridge was stock it with carbonated drinks just for him.
"Come to think of it, I still don't know the name of the shop," Kyousuke said, setting his glass down.
It was a detail he'd asked about since they first started registering the business, but Miki had been deliberately keeping it a secret.
"Hehe." Twirling her own glass of iced cola, Miki flashed a mischievous, confident smile that lit up her already radiant face.
"Kyousuke-kun, take a whiff. What do I smell like right now?"
"Cigars," Kyousuke replied without hesitation.
Even with the mixed scents of flowers drifting in from the balcony, none of it could mask the distinct aroma that was uniquely hers.
"A subtle woody sweetness with a hint of fruit... and just a trace of bitterness, if you really pay attention."
That cigar-like scent was something Kyousuke had noticed the first time they met.
Back then, unfamiliar with his own unusually keen sense of smell, he'd assumed it was just the lingering trace of smoke.
But Okudera had quit smoking—especially cigars—after leaving her gyaru lifestyle behind.
Now, though, that scent had evolved.
Maybe it was the addition of the floral notes, or maybe something else, but the bitterness was gone.
In its place was a warm, gentle softness. If he closed his eyes, it wrapped around him like silk—like Miki herself.
"Aww, then I guess my perfume was totally wasted," Okudera said with a playful pout.
She always chose her fragrance carefully for each date, but this guy never commented on it.
"Haha, but that scent is you, Okudera. I could never get tired of it. No designer perfume could ever compete with that," Kyousuke said with a laugh.
"You say things like you're in a fantasy novel… Guess that's just what being a manga artist does to your brain," Okudera said with a dramatic sigh, though her smile only grew brighter.
"Oh! It's here!" she suddenly exclaimed, springing to her feet as she spotted a van labeled "Nagai Advertising" pulling into the shopping street.
"Oh, the sign's arrived," Kyousuke said, rising to follow her.
"Yep! Hurry, come on!"
Still wearing her white one-piece dress, Okudera grabbed Kyousuke by the hand and rushed for the stairs.
"煙亭"
The two bold, black kanji were engraved into a solid wood signboard.
"Entei?" Kyousuke read aloud, tilting his head.
"Yup! It's a ryouri-tei—a dining house—so it's going to smell like delicious cooking all the time.
And since you said I smelled like cigars, I thought, why not play off that too?" Miki said with a cheeky grin, watching him examine the sign in the middle of the street.
"Then the food will definitely taste even better."
Standing in front of her restaurant, hands clasped behind her back and her amber eyes glowing with joy, Miki looked at Kyousuke with a gaze full of affection.
He smiled back.
The next day, Entei quietly opened its doors.
Even so, the entrance was packed with flower wreaths.
Some were from Kyousuke, some from Miki's teachers and friends, and one was from Hiratsuka Shizuka, who would be stopping by a bit later due to school commitments.
They're styled similarly to funeral arrangements, but use bright and celebratory colors like red.
Sometimes they're even made into circular garlands.
The restaurant's glass doors hadn't opened yet, but Miki wasn't nervous at all.
Instead, she looked happily at the boy across from her, who was tasting her cooking.
"Are you sure it's okay to ignore the crowd outside for now?" Kyousuke asked, sitting in front of a massive plate of steak.
It was high-quality beef sent from his family's home. From now on, his family would be Okudera's exclusive supplier.
"Of course! The investor has to be satisfied first," Okudera said with a sweet smile, resting her chin on her hands.
"You once told me that when we eat together, everything tastes better, right?"
Kyousuke chuckled as he looked into her glowing eyes and picked up his knife.
"Well then, itadakimasu."
The two of them were taken back to the first time they met at the Garden of Words.
The lighting back then had been soft and golden, casting an almost dreamlike atmosphere.
Okudera had sat nervously beside him, lips pursed, unsure of how to act.
Despite her having ordered him around all evening due to a misunderstanding, he hadn't shown a hint of anger.
She remembered being both embarrassed and curious, he said food tasted better with her, but the look he gave her back then felt like he might just devour her instead.
Now, under the same warm lighting in a space they could call their own, Okudera watched him cut into the steak she'd cooked herself, drenched in the sauce she had carefully prepared.
Watching him savor it slowly, she felt incredibly lucky.
A misunderstanding had brought them together, and somehow, he had become part of her dream.
In her amber eyes, there was no one else but him.
And in Kyousuke's mind, fireworks exploded.
"Received a gift from 'Okudera' — Artistry Unlocked."
'Could this be the cure for my writer's block?' That was the first thought to pop into Kyousuke's mind.
"Kyousuke-kun, you're graduating high school soon, right? Have you decided on a university yet?"
Okudera's voice brought him back from his dreamy thoughts. She looked at him from across the table, the softest curiosity in her gaze.