Madam, believe me, how can I be a minotaur?

Asano Makoto didn't even drive; he simply walked for less than five minutes to find the café hidden in the commercial district.

After entering the café and choosing a corner seat by the window, Asano Makoto couldn't help but sigh inwardly: in terms of inviting guests, Konno Yuuka's level is far superior to that of Shinno Risa.

In Japan, besides coffee and baked goods, cafés also sell some common meals, such as omelet rice and sandwiches, which don't have strong odors.

So, compared to real coffee shops, Japanese cafés are actually more like restaurants, and not particularly high-end places, but rather somewhere suitable for eating and chatting with friends.

The café Konno Yuuka chose wasn't very large, but combined with the warm and homely interior décor, it unexpectedly made people feel very welcome.

Looking at the prices on the menu brought over by the staff, they weren't too expensive—slightly more expensive than the izakaya Shinno Risa often went to, but far less expensive than the Western restaurant he ate at initially.

The average cost per person was around 3,000 yen, which is slightly above average for restaurant prices.

And such a price point wouldn't put too much pressure on the invited person, nor would it make them feel they weren't being properly respected.

As recommended by the staff, Asano Makoto ordered a classic Americano, a croissant, and a crème brûlée.

The bread and pudding were delicious, but he only took a small sip of the 800-yen coffee, then stuck out his tongue and put it aside.

Although it smelled very fragrant, it tasted too bitter for his liking.

After finishing breakfast, he ordered a latte that wasn't so bitter, then turned his head to look out the window, silently waiting.

He waited for about an hour, until 9:30 AM, when he saw a tall figure slowly walking towards him.

The person had gray hair tied into a high ponytail that hung down to her waist, and she wore a clean, neat shirt.

Although she wore a light-colored coat over the shirt, the slender, well-proportioned calves exposed by the coat's hem were covered only by thin black stockings, and she wore flat white sneakers.

In addition, she wore a mask and a white baseball cap, completely covering her face.

But just her tall figure and slender legs were enough to attract the attention of everyone passing by.

Regardless of gender.

Author's Note: Dear readers, the 14 chapters owed from the July bounty have been fulfilled as promised.

Although due to review reasons, Se Gui's updates are often late, they have never been absent!

Dear readers, tomorrow is August! So…

Requesting monthly tickets at the beginning of the month! Requesting monthly tickets at the beginning of the month! Requesting monthly tickets at the beginning of the month!

Although this bounty is capped at 30 chapters, if you readers are supportive, Se Gui updating 10,000 words a day for a month is not impossible (hinting).

Chapter 138: Active and Passive (2/3, Bonus 2)

Even though her face was tightly covered by a mask and baseball cap, when Konno Yuuka entered the café, her tall figure and unique aura still made her the focus of everyone's attention.

But seemingly accustomed to the gazes of others, she didn't waver in the slightest.

After entering the café, she looked around at the entrance, and then her gaze was directly drawn to the dazzling golden color in the corner seat.

Actually, she originally just wanted to find a suitable place to sit and quietly wait for the person she was meeting.

But before she could start choosing a seat, she very unexpectedly discovered that the person she was waiting for had already arrived early.

So, after clearly seeing who the person waving at her with a smile was, she subconsciously showed a surprised expression and quickly hurried over.

"Asano-kun, why are you here so early?"

"Konno-san, long time no see."

Hearing the long-unheard husky alto voice, Asano Makoto first greeted her with a smile, then said, "Actually, I just arrived, I haven't been waiting long."

In Asano Makoto's original expectations, Konno Yuuka should feel a bit of guilt or something similar for his early arrival.

Not to mention Shinno Yuna, who doesn't really understand social etiquette, at least if it were Miyajima Eriko or Shinno Risa, they would definitely have such thoughts.

But what Asano Makoto didn't expect was that Konno Yuuka was different from these three.

Her ability to take action is really strong, and she doesn't drag her feet when doing things.

After hearing Asano Makoto's euphemistic excuse, she just paused slightly, then nodded directly, accepting the "just arrived" statement.

"Is that so… Well, sorry Asano-kun, I made you wait, I might be a bit late."

She apologized like this while sitting down in the seat opposite Asano Makoto.

Asano Makoto hadn't even reacted yet, and the matter seemed to have passed just like that.

After sitting down, Konno Yuuka immediately took a box of pastries from her handbag and placed it on the table, stating directly, "Asano-kun, the main reason I invited you out this time is to apologize to you in person—I really didn't mean to laugh at you when we first met."

"But even if that wasn't my intention, laughing at you in that situation must have offended you, right? So I have to apologize to you, I'm really sorry."

Looking at her sincere attitude, even slightly lowering her head as if bowing, Asano Makoto couldn't help but feel a little surprised, and didn't continue to pay attention to her decisive style for a while.

In the eyes of most people, apologizing is equivalent to admitting fault, which also means having to take responsibility for one's mistakes.

And the people who are willing to take responsibility are ultimately in the minority, so most people will not easily apologize unless absolutely necessary.

However, the Japanese are a bit different in this regard.

Although they apologize every day, their act of apologizing itself is meaningless, because they will not actively take any responsibility for it.

For example, the words "sorry" and "excuse me" that they say every day are essentially just going through the motions according to social etiquette, and now many people even use apologies directly as social greetings.

The simplest example is that when Japanese people visit someone's home, they always say "sorry for disturbing you" first.

But in reality, they are not really sorry for disturbing others; this "sorry" is more like a greeting like "hello".

And the apology that Konno Yuuka made when she just sat down can better illustrate this point.

Because she was not late at all, but arrived half an hour earlier than the agreed time.

So even if Asano Makoto waited a long time, it was definitely not her fault, but she still apologized to Asano Makoto for this matter.

From these points, it can be seen that in the eyes of most Japanese people, apart from some very serious issues that require apology or even atonement, apologizing is just a trivial matter in daily life, and most people don't really care too much about other people's apologies.

So it is very rare for someone like Konno Yuuka to specifically invite someone out for a meal to apologize, and even bring a pastry that looks expensive just from the packaging as an apology gift.

Just as Asano Makoto was surprised by this woman's unconventionality, and was about to say something, Konno Yuuka once again explained the reason for inviting him out.

"Although I also apologized to you once at the gym, Asano-kun, that time was too rushed, and I didn't make any preparations, so I could only say it verbally, which is definitely not enough, and there is no sincerity, so I was thinking of finding a time to invite you out to apologize to you in person again."

Seeing her say so many sincere words, Asano Makoto couldn't help but show a somewhat helpless wry smile: "Konno-san, I feel like you are too concerned about this matter, actually, if you didn't mention it, I might have already forgotten about what happened at that time."

"And I also said last time that I was really not angry at the time, and the sudden departure was simply because I remembered that I hadn't turned off the gas at home, so I rushed back to turn off the gas."

Asano Makoto has never forgotten this matter.

Although he also knew that the other party might not have been laughing at him at the time, this matter after all directly led to some changes in the direction of his life, so he couldn't forget it even if he wanted to.

Some people may ask: Isn't awakening the system a good thing? Haven't you also benefited a lot from the system? Why do you still have to be so petty and remember this matter until now?

To this, Asano Makoto just wants to say that even without this system, his life could be very comfortable.

And even if he takes a step back and says that using the system to get benefits is the result of his own efforts to complete tasks, what does it have to do with the two people who made him awaken the system?

But although he thinks so in his heart, in order to make it easier to win over Konno Yuuka in the future, he can only talk nonsense like this in front of the other party now.

As for why he feels helpless, it is not just because of Konno Yuuka's momentum of insisting on apologizing.

Although there may indeed be some of that reason.

But the main reason is that from the time they met until now, the initiative of the topic has been firmly grasped by Konno Yuuka.

In fact, Asano Makoto has never been very good at passively responding like this.

But it is precisely because he is not good at being passive that he has a very strong ability to seize the initiative of the topic.

But even so, he still hasn't taken the initiative of the topic from Konno Yuuka's hands.

Actually, at this time, he has probably figured it out.

Although it is a bit unbelievable, all of this is very likely planned by Konno Yuuka in advance.

Yes, from the beginning, deliberately ignoring the fact that he arrived here a long time in advance, then directly turning the topic to the serious matter of apologizing to him, and finally saying a lot of words without giving him a chance to speak.

All of this is very likely something that Konno Yuuka planned in advance.

Author's Note: PS: Dear readers! Requesting monthly tickets at the beginning of the month! If you don't vote, there are still thirty days to waste!

Chapter 139: A High-Level Model? (3/3, Requesting Monthly Tickets at the Beginning of the Month)

Asano Makoto even suspects that this plan may have been conceived by Konno Yuuka in an instant after seeing him.

After all, Konno Yuuka came here half an hour early, it's impossible that she was just as idle as him.

As for why Konno Yuuka would do this, it is naturally to guide the direction of the topic, so that she can mention the real purpose of inviting him out with Asano Makoto later.

To be honest, Asano Makoto really hopes that his guess is wrong.

Because if that's really the case, then this woman's level is a bit too high.

And for Asano Makoto, it is impossible for him to always maintain this state of passive response, because he also has things he needs to do.

So next, he must find a way to take back the initiative as much as possible.

Thinking of this, he immediately considered his words, and then quickly spoke during the pause after Konno Yuuka finished speaking: "However, Konno-san, I don't think you invited me out this time just to apologize to me, right?"

"I don't think you look like someone who likes to beat around the bush, so if you have something to ask me, just tell me directly, even if there is something you need my help with, it doesn't matter, you don't need to specifically find a reason to invite me out for these things."

When saying this, his tone was somewhat stern and displeased.

Especially the last sentence, it was almost like saying: You are not sincerely trying to apologize to me, you just want to ask me for help.

After saying this, he changed his tone and apologized to Konno Yuuka: "Of course, this is just my guess, if it's not like this, then please allow me to apologize to you."

Asano Makoto directly put his thoughts on the table, even if Konno Yuuka's level was high, she couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed for a while, showing a somewhat awkward expression.

Fortunately, although the internal space is not very large, this café did not arrange the seats very closely in order to put more tables.

On the contrary, each seat in the café still maintains a sufficiently long distance, and special partitions are set up for isolation, leaving enough space for each guest.

It can be said that this place is really very suitable for chatting and talking, and it seems that many people do regard it as a place specifically for talking.

Just in the hour after Asano Makoto came in, he saw many people who looked like "social elites", carrying briefcases and walking to different positions, and then either quietly sat in their seats waiting for someone like him, or chatted in low voices with their companions.