Want to be human, but cube-like

Xiangzi couldn't resist in the end, but she only dared to choose what was probably the cheapest meat, and her stubbornness made her emphasize that she would pay for it.

As soon as she finished speaking, Xiangzi regretted it, because she realized that she really didn't have much money left. Moreover, she still had to find a way to pay off the debt she owed Alex last night.

She unilaterally acknowledged the debt.

"Okay~"

Alex didn't agree with her words.

Without saying whether it was okay or not, they simply put the diced chicken into a pot on the side and started frying it.

"Speaking of this."

She glanced at the time, set the timer, and then looked up.

"Xiangzi, could you help me write down the menu?"

After washing her hands and wiping them casually with kitchen paper, Alex walked to the counter, took a piece of paper from the drawer, and handed it to Xiangzi.

She always felt that the reason why there were no customers before was because there was something wrong with her menu. But last night, she spent a long time studying the task book and still didn't know what to do. Then she realized that Xiangzi was from this world, so she must know why there were no customers coming into the shop.

So, I decided to ask them to take care of the menu.

“I have marked the price of each ingredient. You just need to rewrite it according to the prices listed above.”

She spoke with some distress.

"I don't really know how to write a menu. My mom used to do it. Because of this, we haven't had any customers for the past two days."

Xiangzi was taken aback. She hadn't noticed before. She had only thought the burger shop was deserted, but it turned out there wasn't a single customer.

But this shouldn't be a problem with the menu, right?

Although Alex does sometimes speak in languages ​​that the people of this world can't understand, she is still very easy to communicate with. Logically speaking, it's impossible for her to have no customers just because the menu isn't well-written.

Having watched some movies and TV shows, Xiangzi subconsciously thought that this burger shop might have some kind of magic on the outside that would make people ignore its existence, something that only special people could discover.

Although she felt a little embarrassed to say it, Xiangzi considered herself special. After all, she had been approached by a strange creature who called himself Kyubey, who claimed that he was qualified to become a magical girl.

In some animated films, someone with this kind of character setting would be at least one of the main supporting characters, even if they weren't the main character.

"There are absolutely no passersby. Have they even noticed your burger shop?"

With a strange feeling and a slightly faster heartbeat, Xiangzi looked at the menu and asked.

"Yes, quite a few, but I don't know why, they all just glanced at the door and left."

But Alex's words interrupted Shoko's increasingly bizarre delusions.

Following Alex's words, she also looked towards the entrance of the burger shop.

There, a wooden sign hanging on the glass door, engraved with the words "Open for Business," caught Xiangzi's eye.

"..."

She was silent for a moment.

"Alex, you haven't touched that tag for the past two days?"

Feeling that he had been wasting his emotions, Xiangzi asked a question.

"Yes, of course, it says 'Open for Business' on it, right? I can understand that."

Alex nodded naturally, seemingly not finding anything wrong with it at all.

This is a big problem.

Speechless, Xiangzi could only step forward and flip the tag over, finally adjusting the side that read "Open for Business" to face outwards.

Then, the image that appeared in the eyes of Alex and Shoko was the word "rest".

"That's good."

“Actually…?!”

Turning around, Xiangzi saw Alex's surprised eyes.

At that moment, she realized just how complicated the conditions she had set last night for helping Alex keep the burger shop running were.

Will I have extra time to go out and work after this?

Suddenly, a question popped into Xiangzi's mind.

…………

Volume 1: Chapter 21 A Hamburger That Made Xiangzi Poor

However, in the end, Xiangzi still had to go back to the counter and write out the menu for Alex.

Because there are actually quite a few problems with that.

"Alex, what does '2C' refer to?"

She only glanced at it once before looking up at Alex, who was stacking hamburgers in the kitchen.

“It’s the price.”

Alex, who had come over and glanced at him, blinked her large, bright eyes and replied.

"Of course I know it's the price."

Xiangzi was somewhat helpless; the price was written right there on it.

"What I'm asking is, what unit is 'C'?"

She touched the character Alex had written above with the tip of her pen.

"Well……?"

Alex tilted her head, looked at the menu she had rewritten last night, and then glanced at Xiangzi.

"I don't know, that's what it says on the item's attributes."

After a moment of staring at each other, Alex gave Xiangzi a reply that made him sigh.

Having no other option, she had to figure it out herself.

Taking out his phone, Xiangzi first tried searching for information on what kind of currency the letter "C" usually represents.

And she actually found out.

In some situations, "C" may be used to represent ", which is the Euro.

Let's assume that this "C" refers to the Euro...

Xiangzi glanced at the prices of the ingredients listed above.

The diced chicken is 5C, and the cabbage and tomato slices are 2C each, so a standard chicken burger would cost 9 euros.

She checked the current exchange rate and found that one euro was roughly equivalent to 120 yen.

"hiss……"

He secretly gasped for breath, and Xiangzi suddenly had the urge to rush into the kitchen and tell Alex not to make him a hamburger.

Although a hamburger costs less than 10 euros, which isn't actually that expensive in a hamburger shop, that price is enough to buy Xiangzi several discounted bento boxes.

This is enough money for her to live on for two or even three days.

Remembering the egg burger she ate last night, Xiangzi glanced at the price tag and saw that the fried egg was priced at 3C, while the one she ate last night was a double egg.

In comparison, I'd rather choose a beef burger.

Seeing that the beef patty was priced at 6C, only 120 yen more expensive than the diced chicken, and the same price as two servings of fried eggs, Xiangzi clutched her chest in distress.

If the price is in euros, it seems reasonable, except that the vegetables are a bit expensive. Xiangzi also tasted Alex's cooking last night, and in terms of the quality of the ingredients and the taste, the price is not too outrageous.

Once you understand the price unit, everything else becomes much simpler.

Feeling guilty about his wallet, Xiangzi picked up his pen and quickly wrote down the menu.

Then she noticed that the menu seemed to list only the prices of ingredients, and not the prices of individual hamburgers.

"Alex, is it enough to just list the prices of the ingredients on this menu?"

After checking again and finding nothing missing, Xiangzi turned around and asked.

"Yes, because they are all..."

"A custom-made burger, huh?"

Just then, Alex, who had finished making two hamburgers, came out of the kitchen carrying her tray.

Along with it came the rich aroma of meat, which was enough to make Xiangzi's stomach rumble.

As Alex spoke, she placed the plate in front of Xiangzi and sat down opposite her.

"custom made……?"

Xiangzi glanced at the two hamburgers on her plate, swallowed hard, and then pretended not to care as she continued to ask.

"Just like I said, you can add whatever you want to the burger. As long as it's in the store, you can put as much meat and vegetables as you like."

As soon as she sat down, Alex picked up one of the chicken burgers and handed it to Xiangzi.

"Here, as a thank you for helping me a lot, this is for you, have some."

Using the tone of voice she remembered her mother using when praising and rewarding tamed cats and dogs, Alex smiled and spoke softly.

"Um...thank you."

Although she felt something was off, Xiangzi took it anyway. She glanced at Alex's smile, her pretty face flushed slightly, and she lowered her head to take a bite.

Compared to the single-layer chicken burger in Xiangzi's hand, the burger in front of Alex was much more exaggerated.

A beef patty, two slices of cooked bacon, a boneless lamb chop, a portion of diced chicken, and two servings of tomato cabbage.

Just looking at the height of the meat and bread stacked together, Xiangzi felt it was taller than his own head.

It’s daunting.

But it must be said that the way Alex ate did indeed increase Xiangzi's appetite.

The moment Xiangzi took a bite, he could clearly see the juices from the hamburger in Alex's hand seeping out from the muscle fibers, flowing onto Alex's fair fingers, wetting her neatly trimmed nails, which reflected a pale color under the light.

"Ok?"

Alex, who had just taken a small bite, suddenly stopped. She stared at the hamburger in her hand and made a nasal sound of confusion.

"what happened?"

Xiangzi, who was also taking small bites of his chicken burger, looked up when he heard the sound.

"I can't believe I can't even finish this hamburger in one bite!"

She stared in surprise at the tiny bite mark she had made on the hamburger. A small tooth mark was still visible on the hamburger lid, glistening under the light because of the saliva.

What surprised Alex was that the gap did not close up after she let go, and there was still food left in her mouth.

And most importantly, she discovered that her mouth had shrunk, and she could no longer eat the whole hamburger in one go.

In that case, with such a tall hamburger, she would have to eat it in several layers to finish it slowly.

"Is this one of the prices that has led to this state?"

Alex shook her head, her expression looking somewhat regretful.

"Isn't that obvious...? Even someone with the biggest mouth couldn't eat such a big hamburger in one bite, right?"

Completely unable to understand Alex's train of thought, Xiangzi stopped looking at her and just continued eating with his head down.

"tasty……"

This long-lost feeling of being able to eat meat at will made Xiangzi involuntarily squint her eyes, and she whispered something.

After Alex's demonstration, Xiangzi finally understood what the specialty of the burger joint she ran was.

"If that's the case, I suggest adding a few standard burgers to the menu."

A short while later, Xiangzi finished her hamburger, washed her hands, picked up her revised menu again, and made a suggestion to Alex.

"For example, a basic beef burger consists of a beef patty and two kinds of vegetables. If customers want other ingredients, they can add them on top of that."

She studied the menu while waiting for Alex to finish the enormous burger.