"Teacher Kamimori went to the salon."
The assistant instinctively answered the guest's question. Then, after speaking, her tone suddenly turned somewhat complicated. "Teacher's newly released book is selling very well. There's going to be a small celebration party tomorrow, so she had to get her hair done in advance."
Okiya Subaru: "..." A salon. Thank goodness—he had almost thought she was in an oven...
Nearby, Aunt Yashiro clicked her tongue when she heard "celebration party." "How impressive."
Yashiro's voice pulled Okiya Subaru out of the terrifying little drama playing out in his mind, and he nodded in agreement.
But just as he finished nodding, Yashiro Kazue continued without pause:
"Making a fortune by plagiarizing someone else's ideas, yet feeling no shame whatsoever—now that's an impressively thick skin. I remember that more than half the dishes in that 'bestselling recipe book' were painstakingly created by Miss Assistant, weren't they?"
Yashiro Kazue looked at the assistant and said with mock sympathy:
"In the five years you've been her assistant, she's practically squeezed you dry to the marrow. No wonder you're always so thin—you look like a gust of wind could blow you over."
"Please don't say that." The assistant lowered her head awkwardly, tugging at the hem of her clothes. "Those weren't important dishes... and Teacher improved them herself."
"Ha! Anyone can make revisions. I could do that too." Yashiro Kazue let out a cold laugh and pushed up her reading glasses.
"But the foundations were all yours, and you don't even have a single complaint... Honestly, is there something wrong with your head?"
Nishitani Hiroaki could not listen any longer.
"Kazue, stop it. This is between Teacher and Yuko! Outsiders like us butting in won't help anything."
"Is that so?" Yashiro Kazue glanced at him through her lenses and smiled