The soft opening had gone fairly well—at least judging from the steadily rising daily revenue.
The numbers were looking…decent.
And the reason the soft opening's revenue climbed so quickly, at its core, was Tokai Natural's cooking.
After all, Tokai Natural's skill in the kitchen was simply exceptional in every way.
Because the dishes were so good, customer traffic had begun increasing day by day.
Of course, the most important part was—
"…Delicious."
After saying that, Symboli Sirius stood up.
For the past several days, she had stopped by here every single day.
Once she rose from her seat, she turned toward Tokai Natural. "Today's the last day of the soft opening, right?"
"Mm."
Tokai Natural nodded, glancing down at the fully prepared menu in her hands.
This menu had been adjusted bit by bit over the five days of the soft opening. As for rotating daily specials, Tokai Natural had decided to keep that system going.
Hearing her confirmation, Symboli Sirius smiled lightly. "I'll be here after the official opening too."
"Yes. I'll look forward to your visit then."
Tokai Natural collected the payment from the table as she said this.
Symboli Sirius didn't add anything else—she simply turned and left.
Following the road back the way she came.
She wasn't planning to return to the Tracen Academy dorms yet. She remembered Rudolf had something he wanted to discuss with her this morning, so she needed to stop by Tracen Academy one more time.
Although Symboli Sirius didn't particularly care for Rudolf…
The other woman was the current head of the Symboli Family. Things that needed hearing still had to be heard.
So Symboli Sirius was now on the road back to Tracen Academy.
Before long, she arrived at the door to the Student Council room.
Pushing it open, the first people she saw weren't Symboli Rudolf but Mr. C.B. and Maruzensky, walking side by side as they exited.
Symboli Sirius blinked, wondering why the two of them seemed so close—but before she could think further, the pair had already walked around her without showing any inclination to greet her.
Noticing this, Symboli Sirius said nothing and simply stepped into the Student Council room.
The room itself looked much the same as when she'd left—only the person occupying the Student Council President's seat had changed.
That was all.
She walked up to Symboli Rudolf. "You still don't plan on stepping down from that position?"
"Not until I find someone capable of taking it over."
With that, Symboli Rudolf opened a drawer at the side of her desk.
Inside was a file.
"And that is?"
"What you'll be handling next."
Symboli Rudolf stared at the file in her hands. After a brief pause, she spoke again. "Investigate the Tokai Family. No problem, I assume?"
"…Hah?"
Seeing Symboli Sirius's bewildered expression, Rudolf knew at once that she had no idea what had happened earlier.
Rudolf sighed before giving a terse explanation.
"So it was a proxy marriage scam, and now you suspect that Tokai Teio might carry Symboli blood, so you want me to investigate, right?"
Symboli Rudolf's explanation was simple, but Symboli Sirius understood. She summarized quickly, then continued, "And if it turns out that child is your bloodline? What exactly are you planning to do?"
That question made Rudolf fall silent for a moment.
Truthfully, although the Tokai Family wasn't as powerful as the Symboli Family, their current relationship was still considered close.
This incident alone could damage the Tokai Family, but not destroy them outright. And given the situation…
After several seconds of thought, Symboli Rudolf finally spoke. "I'll negotiate with the Tokai Family afterward."
"I'm asking about the child!"
Symboli Sirius's voice was sharp with displeasure. Clearly, she didn't care about the political ties between the Symboli and Tokai Families.
She cared about where that child would end up.
Faced with her demand, Rudolf paused again before speaking: "Even if that child is connected to the Symboli Family, the current situation…"
The Symboli Family was in no state to take in Tokai Teio. Acknowledging this, Rudolf could only shake her head. "Knowing the facts is enough for now. How to handle it can be decided later."
She lifted her gaze back to Symboli Sirius. "We don't yet have the means to resolve the problem."
Hearing that, Symboli Sirius frowned deeply.
She was clearly dissatisfied with Rudolf's answer.
But the matter was indeed significant, and for now, she refrained from pushing further. She simply picked up the documents Rudolf had placed on the desk, turned, and left the Student Council room.
Once the door closed—
Symboli Rudolf rose to her feet.
Leaning near the window, she could see most of Tracen Academy from here, including, naturally, the front gate.
After a few minutes, she saw Maruzensky and Mr. C.B. departing the academy.
And a few minutes after that, she spotted Symboli Sirius, walking and flipping through the documents.
Seeing this, Rudolf turned away and resumed handling the last of her paperwork.
...
Reading through the file, Symboli Sirius finally reached the end of the incident report.
What she was examining now were profiles of the individuals involved.
Of course, only three were truly important: Symboli Rudolf, Tokai Roman, and the final person whose page she was about to flip to—
Tokai Natural.
The moment she saw the photo printed and affixed to the page, Symboli Sirius froze.
She was staring at someone she knew extremely well.
"…The shop owner?"
The owner of that little Western-style restaurant—her photo was right there.
And Uma Musume bearing such uncanny resemblance to one another was extraordinarily rare. So it was almost certainly the same person.
Realizing this, Symboli Sirius quickly flipped back to the earlier sections of the report.
As she read deeper into the details of the case...
Symboli Sirius stopped walking.
Turning slightly, letting her gaze pass over Tracen Academy's walls, she could still just barely see the edge of the building where the Student Council was housed.
"Rudolf… you've really done it this time."