Following the direction Kiana was pointing, they saw a fried chicken shop. Alright, Kiana wanted to eat fried chicken legs.
Ryn felt the few hundred-dollar bills left in his pocket after paying the rent, but still took Kiana into the fried chicken shop. He planned to buy a dozen or so fried chicken legs. Although it definitely wouldn't be enough for Kiana, it could still satisfy her craving a bit.
The owner was a middle-aged man whose weary eyes told you at a glance that they were full of stories. He was wiping his knives behind the display window, and customers could see him as soon as they pushed open the door.
However, it was not the owner who greeted them, but a girl about the same age as Kiana.
"Welcome." The girl smiled sweetly, guided Ryn and Kiana to a table at the side, and then handed them a menu.
Ryn and Kiana looked at the menu and discussed for a moment. "Let's just get the fried chicken legs, not the crispy ones. Let's have one of each of these flavors: sour plum, spicy, garlic, honey, and so on. To go."
"Alright, that's a lot of items, so you'll need to wait a while." The girl noted down the request, nodded at Ryn, and then went into the back kitchen to tell the man the order.
The man started frying the chicken legs, while the girl began to mix the sauces.
Ryn watched the girl's skillful hands, then turned back to look at Kiana, who was staring at the various delicacies in the display case with sparkling eyes and drooling incessantly. He shook his head helplessly.
"Boss, is this your child? She's so well-behaved, helping out at such a young age."
The owner looked up and smiled at Ryn, then happily explained, "She's not my child. She's a student from Senba Academy, working here during the holidays to earn some money to help her family."
"Hiring child labor?" Ryn was a little surprised. "You might as well say she's your child, helping to share your burden. Isn't this just openly admitting you're hiring child labor? That's against the law, mister."
The man was taken aback for a moment, but seeing that Ryn and Kiana didn't seem to be locals—foreigners, huh, then it's fine. The man smiled and told Ryn and Kiana, "This is Academy City, and we receive policy support. The schools encourage children to work part-time to gain life experience, and this can also provide some help for children from difficult family backgrounds.
However, it's limited to letting children do things like being a waiter or a doorman, simple and easy jobs. Dangerous or strenuous heavy labor is strictly prohibited."
Ryn and Kiana struck a pose often seen in anime from the Far East, tapping their fist on their palm with a look of sudden realization and saying, "Soudesune."
"This is considered a special feature of our Academy City here. How about it, would you like me to recommend a job for you two?"
"Thank you, boss, but please allow us to consider it first." Ryn thought about it; this wasn't a bad idea. "Kiana, do you have any thoughts? What do you think, want to find a job?"
Kiana looked at the fried chicken, fried chicken legs, and other delicacies nearby, thinking that if she earned money, she could buy these delicious things and also buy some gifts for Ryn.
"Sure, this young lady is very capable!"
"What an energetic child! In that case, later you can go to the street across the road, and you should be able to see a coffee shop nearby. The owner of that shop and I are good friends, and she was just complaining to me yesterday that she was a bit short-staffed. I'll give her a call for you, and she should take you two in!" The man laughed heartily and took out his phone to make a call.
"Thank you, boss!"
Later, while waiting for the fried chicken legs, they also learned the girl's name: Aoi Miyuki.
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The coffee shop the fried chicken shop owner mentioned was a place with a sense of history, elegant and peaceful, with beautiful music flowing gently. Ryn and Kiana arrived there.
The owner of the coffee shop was a sexy and alluring woman, but her strong arms and long, powerful legs told others not to mess with her, or it would end badly.
"Ara, ara... to think it's such a cute boy and girl. XX (fried chicken shop owner's name) actually gave me such good prospects. Come, come, come over to big sister."
The proprietress greeted the two of them very warmly and personally prepared two cups of coffee for them. However, neither of them knew how to drink coffee, and the resulting mishaps made the proprietress laugh out loud.
After a brief exchange, they began to discuss the job requirements and content. But...
"I'm very satisfied with both of you, but I don't hire boys here, unless little brother Ryn is willing to cross-dress~"
"No, no, it's fine for Kiana to stay here. I'll come to pick her up and drop her off from work." Ryn quickly waved his hands. It would have been nice if he could stay, but since they didn't want boys, so be it. Cross-dressing was even more impossible. It just so happened that he also needed to work on making a game and find investors, so he didn't have time to work here.
"What a pity, I really wanted to see little brother Ryn in a dress~" Kiana and the proprietress both shook their heads in regret.
"By the way, since there aren't many people right now, let's have Kiana change into her work uniform, shall we? I'll show you our shop's uniform. It should be very much to the taste of you young boys." With that, the proprietress took Kiana's hand and headed upstairs.
"Ooh~ Kiana is developing quite nicely. You'll definitely be a beauty in the future. Be a good girl and let me see."
"Oh, ma'am, don't~"
The sounds of the two of them playing and teasing, the proprietress's happy laughter and Kiana's shy voice, drifted down from upstairs.
Ryn picked up his coffee and slowly savored it using the method the proprietress had taught him. He thought to himself, why does the sound from upstairs sound so strange?
After a while, the proprietress came down, leading a little angel by the hand. The proprietress was all smiles, while Kiana beside her was blushing crimson.
Kiana's two braids lay quietly on her shoulders, tied with blue ribbons. She was wearing a black and white long dress with an additional white apron in the front. There were cute bows tied on the sides of the dress, at her waist, and on her back. A pair of thick white stockings on Kiana's beautiful legs were paired with a pair of delicate and cute little leather shoes.
Ah—
It was the ultimate, super-duper, incredibly cute Kiana.
The delicate pink of her skin, combined with her blushing little face, made her look exceptionally cute. For a moment, Ryn just stared, his thoughts grinding to a halt. Her cuteness was truly indescribable.
"You big dummy, am I that nice to look at~"
"Hehehe, of course. Kiana is the cutest in the world."
"You're making me blush, you big dummy Ryn."
The proprietress stood to the side, watching the two little ones playfully banter, and couldn't help but sigh at how good it was to be young. Unlike that idiot who only knew how to laze around in his shabby fried chicken shop and never came to praise her. Wasn't she dressing up so nicely just waiting for his praise?