Officer Sato eyed the proprietor before her suspiciously, but he clearly did not take any of this seriously.
Just then, another guest happened to enter. The store owner hurriedly greeted him, "Back to rest?"
Everyone turned and saw a somewhat scruffy man with medium-length hair walk in.
The man did not respond at all to the store manager's greeting. He merely walked to the counter with a grim expression and rapped on it.
Understanding at once, the store manager quickly took out the room key he had been keeping for him. The man picked it up and went upstairs without a word.
Suzuki Sonoko nearly got bumped into by him. After hurriedly dodging aside, she could not help muttering to her two classmates, "How rude. That face of his is so long, like everyone owes him several gold mines."
The store manager heard her, but could only pretend not to. With the same unchanging smile, he professionally welcomed this group of new guests. "Dinner is ready. You may dine at our Garden Restaurant—there aren't many flowers in winter, but the snowy view is quite nice."
"Garden Restaurant? Isn't that outdoors?" Officer Shiratori looked outside. "Wouldn't it be..."
He had been about to ask whether it would be too cold, but then suddenly remembered that he could use the opportunity to lend his coat to Officer Sato, so he shut his mouth and did not continue.
The balding store manager saw through his concern and smiled inscrutably. "I'll take you over to have a look."
Soon, the group followed him through the inn and arrived at its famous attraction, the Garden Restaurant.
It was a wooden platform extending out from the inn beside a valley, with several simple dining tables set upon it. The valley walls beneath their feet were steep