Chapter 162
Honoka and Umi soon disappeared inside the house. Once they were gone, only Mineo and Minami Kotori remained on the street. Earlier, while her two best friends were there, Minami Kotori hadn't felt too nervous, but now that her sisters had left and she was alone with Mineo, the tension in her heart began to resurface.
Seeing Minami Kotori standing there with her head bowed, Mineo smiled and said:
"I'm not a tiger, so why are you so tense? By the way, Kotori, you mentioned earlier that there was something you wanted to consult with me about. What exactly is it?"
Minami Kotori lifted her head, stealing a quick glance at Mineo before speaking in a soft, melodious voice:
"I... I just wanted to ask for Mineo-oniichan's guidance regarding some issues with the clothes I recently designed. If it's inconvenient for Mineo-oniichan, we can do it another time."
"Asking for guidance on clothing design?"
Hearing her words, Mineo smiled and said:
"Didn't I hear earlier that the outfits for this performance were already finished? Is this a new design for a future appearance?"
Minami Kotori nodded slowly.
"I... I thought of many cute outfit styles, so I drew them all. I wanted Mineo-oniichan to see them and hear your opinion, and then I'll decide which ones to actually produce."
Hearing this, Mineo asked:
"In that case, are the designs you drew on your phone?"
"Yes, I've taken pictures of all of them. Does Mineo-oniichan want to see?"
"Of course! I'd love to see your work, Kotori."
At Mineo's words, Minami Kotori took out her phone, opened the photo album, and handed it over to him.
Mineo accepted the device. In the photo album, he saw various outfit designs featuring combinations of white and green. As Mineo scrolled through the photos, he could see that Kotori had put a great deal of heart into designing the clothes.
The seven or eight photos basically showed different styles, but all of them were the kind of clothing that was incredibly adorable.
Among them was a uniform with a primary color of pink, decorated with milky-white lace, which Mineo particularly liked.
"Kotori, I think this pink-themed outfit and the light green one from before are really cute. You could consider prioritizing these two models."
As he spoke to Kotori, Mineo continued to flip through the photos. However, very quickly, Mineo's eyes became fixed on the screen.
It turned out that after he finished looking at the last clothing design, other photos in the album had opened up. The image now displayed on the phone was... a selfie of Kotori?
In the photo, Kotori was posing adorably with her hands in the shape of a heart; her spoiled, cute expression was truly off the charts.
Most importantly, Kotori was wearing a maid uniform. Looking at the background of the photo, Mineo immediately recognized that this was likely a selfie Kotori had taken while working her part-time job.
"Mineo-oniichan, why did you stop talking? Is there something wrong with this photo?"
Seeing Mineo staring blankly at the phone, Minami Kotori leaned in to look at the screen out of curiosity.
Once she saw the content of the photo clearly, Kotori's gaze froze. In the next second, her fair face instantly flushed into a deeply tempting shade of pink!
"Mineo-oniichan, this... this isn't that photo!"
"Don't look... don't look!"
"You... you're absolutely not allowed to look at this...."
Even in her state of panic, Kotori's voice remained sweet and musical. She stood high on her tiptoes, trying desperately to snatch the phone back from Mineo's hand.
A moment later, Kotori lowered her head, not daring to utter another word.
Her little heart was thumping wildly and erratically. Just the thought of her narcissistic expression being seen by Mineo filled Minami Kotori with an indescribable mix of embarrassment and nervousness.
The more she thought about it, the redder her face became. But at that moment, Mineo spoke with a tone full of regret:
"Ah, what a shame. Why didn't I look at it a few more times just now? Such a cute photo of Kotori... I still wanted to appreciate it properly..."
Hearing Mineo say such a thing, Kotori felt even more mortified.
"No... you can't!"
"Mineo-oniichan..... I.... I...."
"Alright, Kotori, if you won't let me look, I won't. But I still want to say one thing: the legendary maid of Akihabara really isn't just empty talk. Kotori, you are truly, truly adorable!"
Mineo's words left Kotori momentarily stunned. She stared at him blankly, her voice stammering slightly.
"Onii.. Mineo-oniichan already knows everything?"
"Know everything? You mean the fact that you work part-time at a maid cafe?"
Mineo said with a bright smile:
"I actually found out about that when I bought the restaurant. After all, the previous owner told me that there was a student named Minami Kotori who often came to work part-time and was the star waitress of the shop. He even left a message for me saying that if you ever came back to work, I should look after you well."
"Therefore.... my adorable employee, Minami Kotori-san, if you want to work in the future, please keep coming to the restaurant, okay? That way, I can openly enjoy the sight of little sister Minami Kotori wearing a maid uniform."
Caught in Mineo's gaze, Minami Kotori quickly looked away. Her heart was beating so fast it felt like it might skip a beat. In this moment, she truly didn't dare to speak.
"Kotori, come walk with me by the riverside."
"We've talked quite a bit on our phones before, but this is the first time we've really sat down to chat like this in the real world."
"To be honest, I really like the feeling of being with you."
Hearing Mineo's words, Minami Kotori stole one more secret glance at him, then gave a soft, gentle nod.
"Mineo-oniichan, I know a place with a really beautiful view. I'll take you there."
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
You can also check out my new translation project of a novel about a protagonist who can travel between the One Piece and Hunter x Hunter worlds. Please visit my profile. Thank you!
Join my Patreon here:
patreon.com/FaaanzKun
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —