Want to be human, but cube-like

She stopped smiling, let out a soft sigh, relaxed her shoulders slightly, glanced at the two hamburgers with their lids off on the table next to her, and then sighed helplessly.

Today, I was just a little careless and forgot to check a few hamburgers before preparing them. Sure enough, the toppings for two of the hamburgers were wrong.

After being complained about by a customer, she had no choice but to apologize and give the customer a new hamburger, and even had to give the order free as compensation.

However, Xiangzi has gotten used to it over the past few days.

Ever since that night when she talked to Alex, she seemed to have become absent-minded all the time.

Even at work, various mistakes begin to occur, and mixing up hamburger ingredients is just one of the most common occurrences.

This forced Xiangzi to spend more time and effort paying attention to whether there were any problems with the various dishes that Alex sent out after finishing in the kitchen.

The Alex of the past never made a mistake.

Although he was so busy that he couldn't help but want to complain, Xiangzi could still understand Alex's current state to some extent.

After all, the problems she was facing were far more complicated than what was happening at the hamburger shop.

At the very least, if Xiangzi were in Alex's situation, she would indeed feel at a loss.

The sound of running water still lingered in his ears. Xiangzi, who had only intended to relax a little, lowered his eyes, frowned, thought carefully for a moment, and then chose to walk out from behind the counter, close the door of the hamburger shop, and turn the sign over.

She felt she needed to have a serious talk with Alex.

By the way, let's solve the lunch problem for the two of us.

The lunch rush has passed, and this is a relatively quiet period with fewer customers. Temporarily closing for a few tens of minutes shouldn't be a big problem.

After confirming that the door was locked and no guests would accidentally push it open without noticing the sign, Xiangzi arranged the chairs neatly and wiped down the tables that had just been used.

She went back to the kitchen, used the tap that had been running continuously to wash the dishcloth, wrung it out, and hung it up to the side.

Then they finally managed to turn off the water.

The burger shop with only two girls

The atmosphere returned to tranquility.

"Tick."

The collected water droplets hung from the faucet's spout, solidifying into amber, until gravity stretched them into a transparent stream of light, falling into the sink and creating ripples on the still-undulating surface, producing delicate, vibrating sounds.

Xiangzi turned his head to look, but Alex still seemed unaware of the movement beside her.

She stood with her upper body lowered, her hands clasped together, her chin resting on her hands, leaning over the ingredient counter, staring blankly at the order screen in front of her. Her legs were straight, and her slender and strong waist almost formed a perfect 90-degree angle with her long legs in black stockings.

The perky bodice stretched the skirt tight, its visibly full and elastic, almost making anyone who saw it swallow hard.

The coat that Aine sewed for her by hand trembled and covered half of Alex's body, just enough to hide her breasts hanging in front of her chest.

As for the apron, it was still hanging on the wall.

It's most likely that Alex forgot to put it on.

Xiangzi rolled his eyes almost imperceptibly.

No wonder that young lady was blushing and staring at the kitchen behind her for a long time without coming back to her senses.

"Alex."

He called out helplessly, but received no response for a long time.

She seemed lost in thought, and even Xiangzi's voice couldn't bring her back to reality.

After thinking for a moment, Xiangzi walked to the counter, placed an order for two hamburgers on the order system, and then typed a line of characters in the remarks column.

"It's time for lunch, Alex."

After working for half a day, she was indeed a little hungry.

Alex, who had been keeping some of her attention on the screen in front of her, finally reacted.

She blinked, pushed herself up with both hands, and almost instinctively reached for the ingredients. Then her gaze fell on the notes below, and her fingers, which were about to make a hamburger, suddenly stopped.

"You've been distracted all day... Alex."

At this moment, Xiangzi also came back, and she said with her eyes slightly turned to the side.

"Ah, um... Xiangzi."

After a moment of bewildered thought about whether or not to make the two hamburgers, Alex turned and stared blankly at Xiangzi.

"It's time for lunch, isn't it?"

Not intending to bring up the topic directly, Xiangzi simply smiled and softly repeated what she had just written in the notes.

"I'm sorry... I just..."

Shaking her head, Alex quickly made two hamburgers by pressing the ingredients on the order screen, and then spoke softly.

"..."

Then her voice lowered, and neither of them spoke again.

Xiangzi tacitly accepted the hamburger Alex handed him and took a small bite.

This time, at least the ingredients weren't wrong.

Did I space out for a long time again today?

It seemed that Alex wasn't quite sure what she had just been feeling either. She finished her burger in a few bites and then suddenly asked.

"She was just spacing out and couldn't be woken up no matter how I called her, but even so, Alex was still getting her work done."

Without uttering a single complaint about the two poorly made hamburgers, Xiangzi swallowed the food in his mouth before pursing his lips and replying.

"That's it..."

After all, daydreaming is the only thing Alex is good at.

Anyone like her, who has been unable to control their body since they became conscious and can only stare blankly at what is in front of them, would most likely be like her, completely ignoring everything around them once they start daydreaming.

As for making the body act according to instructions, those are habits ingrained in our instincts.

"Xiangzi, I still don't know what to do..."

Finally, it was Alex who brought up the topic with Xiangzi first.

"Just thinking about how this would hurt Aine makes me completely unable to speak."

She once again turned her pleading gaze to Xiangzi.

"But you can't keep putting it off."

With his eyes slightly closed, Xiangzi's hands, holding the hamburger, drooped slightly.

"Aine will find out sooner or later."

She racked her brains trying to figure out how she could help Alex.

"The fact that you treat her as a substitute for your own mother..."

In this matter, Xiangzi herself had no suitable position to participate, and even if she wanted to help, she was powerless to do so.

Even now, verbally advising Alex is, in Xiangzi's opinion, a form of excessive interference in her feelings.

It even made her feel like she was meddling in other people's business.

"Click..."

Just then, a slight noise suddenly came from the corner of the kitchen, near the back door of the burger shop.

This startled both of them.

…………

PS: I was writing this when the power suddenly went out in my neighborhood for two seconds. My heart almost stopped, but thankfully there was an autosave function.

Volume 1: Chapter 183 I've made up my mind!

The white-haired girl lightly gripped the neck of the violin with her left hand, her fingertips tapping the strings. Her right hand, tightly gripping the pick, rapidly swept the strings up and down. As she swung her fingers, her rolled-up sleeves revealed her fair wrists, with faintly visible veins under the soft light.

Her improvisations were intense and sharp, and the distorted vibrato resonated powerfully in the café air.

Ai Yin smiled and listened quietly until Le Nai's performance ended, at which point she gently clapped with her slender fingers.

"You played wonderfully, Xiao Le Nai!"

The girl is never stingy in expressing praise to others; she is very good at providing abundant emotional value to those around her.

Even at this moment, she herself still harbored many thoughts in her heart, just like that.

"Satisfied~"

A faint smile played on Lena's lips as she unplugged the audio cable from the guitar, squatted down, turned off the effects pedal and the audio equipment, and began tidying up the cables.

"I can handle this, Xiao Lenai, your matcha parfait is ready!"

Rinrinko, carrying a tray of food, walked out of the kitchen at that moment.

Upon hearing this, Lenai didn't hold back at all. After carefully putting her grandmother's guitar back in place, she threw down the pile of cables and rushed back.

How's the matcha parfait here?

With her hands supporting her chin, Aine smiled and looked at Ryuna sitting opposite her, asking a question.

"Delicious!"

As soon as she sat down, Lena buried herself in her matcha parfait and began to devour it. She then looked up, still biting her spoon, and said...

"Which tastes better, the matcha parfait or the one Ellie makes?"

With a mischievous smirk, Aine pressed on.

Ever since Lena mentioned wanting a matcha parfait, Alex actually had Xiangzi install an ice cream machine in the burger shop and bought a lot of fruit and jelly as ingredients for the dessert.

This also saved a lot of money that would normally be spent on feeding Lena.

"Well……!"

As you can see, because of Aine's question, Lena suddenly became troubled, her little face scrunched up, and she couldn't figure out which one tasted better for a long time.

Can't you tell the difference?

Holding a small spoon, Ai Yin gently stirred the coffee in front of her and said with a smile.

"...They're all delicious!"

After thinking for a long time, Lena finally answered.

Alex's matcha powder is of higher quality, and Lena would definitely prefer it, but that doesn't mean she has to choose between the two.

The matcha parfait in front of me is the only thing I can't miss.

Aine looked through a photo she had taken of the matcha parfait before Lena even started eating, and posted it on her social media with a short caption about visiting the newly opened livehouse.

She glanced at the coffee again, the latte art now turned into a swirling foam by her own actions.

"I have a feeling we're sneaking over from the burger joint across the street to gather intelligence... um, corporate spies?"

He said it with a slightly joking tone.

That being said, the two are actually quite different in terms of positioning. After all, there are no fast food restaurants selling fried chicken and hamburgers in the ring, and there is no indoor live venue specifically for band performances in the hamburger shop.

"..."

Lena remained silent, simply eating her matcha parfait in quiet contemplation.

Ai Yin smiled faintly, but her gaze lowered slightly, landing on the gradually calming surface of the coffee liquid.

She saw her own somewhat blurry face reflected in the mirror, but her light gray eyes appeared exceptionally clear.

Perhaps it was because she knew, even without looking, what kind of emotion was in her eyes at that moment.

Her smile slowly faded as Aine stared intently at the trembling ripples on her coffee, lost in thought.

Originally, Aine's only concern was how to handle her relationship with Alex, but now it seems that she also needs to consider what will happen to Rana if Alex leaves.

Aine had never realized that Rakuna had always valued them so much.

And... a final destination?