The Entourage

“Alright, let’s do it again for the first time in a while. But this time, I want to try being the one who attacks.”

Because Rachel brought it up—and because the topic of “entourages” came up by coincidence—we ended up playing pretend: a “heroine girl” being bullied by a villainess.

“I’m not sure I’m satisfied with being labeled the villainess, but anyway—who’s playing which role?”

Josette complained while asking Rachel.

“Okay, then Caro-san is the villainess, I’m the entourage, and the heroine is Josette-san. Big brother is the love interest.”

“Oh my, with Kent-san? What should I do?”

Josette blushed and slid into full maiden mode.

“We’re starting already, huh? Fine.”

Seeing Josette’s attitude, Rachel misunderstood it as the cue to begin and launched in.

“Hey, Josette-san. Why are you trying to steal Caro-sama’s man?”

Rachel said it to Josette in an exaggerated, theatrical tone.

“Steal? How rude. I was the one who noticed him first.”

Josette fired back with intense conviction. I found myself thinking she might actually have talent for acting.

“He likes me now. There’s no room left for you to squeeze in anymore… you know.”

I could tell Caro was trying, but her acting was stiff.

The three of them kept arguing, and the heat kept rising. All I could do was watch.

“Because I already went all the way with Kent-san.”

As the bickering continued, the mood suddenly shifted—and Caro dropped a bombshell.

“W-what did you say?!”

“Big brother, you’ve got guts.”

The two of them snapped out of it and reacted in shock, and only then did Caro make a face like, Oh no.

From Caro’s expression, Josette and Rachel became convinced she wasn’t joking.

“Kent-san? I told you to treasure Caro, didn’t I? Why would you go and—”

The blame turned toward me, and Josette pressed in.

“Um… it just… happened…”

I struggled to respond and gave an evasive answer.

“And you too, Caro-san. If you were forced, I’d blame Kent-san, but even if it ‘just happened’… why would you do something so reckless?”

“I saw Josette-sama kissing Kent-san, and I thought I couldn’t lose. At first it was just a kiss, but then… things happened.”

“Josette-san, you kissed Big brother? Were you actually in love with him?”

Rachel asked Josette in surprise.

“I thought no one was there, but if I was seen, then it can’t be helped. I like Kent-san. The reason I stopped interfering with Rachel-san is because I found someone I like, so there was no need anymore.”

Josette said it as if it were obvious.

“So it was Big brother’s fault everything got weird. I kept thinking it was strange that the events weren’t progressing right. I get it now. I can’t believe you were two-timing.”

Rachel said that with a dead-eyed stare aimed at me.

(I couldn’t exactly tell my little sister that there was actually one more….)

“Lunch break’s almost over. Should we head back to class?”

Right as Rachel said that, the warning bell rang, signaling that lunch break was nearly over.

The four of us returned to our respective classrooms and took our afternoon lessons.

After afternoon classes ended, Caro came to my classroom like usual.

“Kent-san, I’m sorry. The student on cleaning duty left early, so I ended up having to cover. Could you go home first? And could you tell Marie-san I’ll be late?”

“I see. That’s rough. Got it. I’ll tell Marie-san. Good luck with cleaning.”

I watched Caro head back to her classroom and started getting ready to leave.

From a distance, Josette watched and seemed to think this was her chance, because she came over to my side.

“Oh, Kent-san. Are you alone today? If you’d like, let’s go home together.”

“You saw that exchange just now, didn’t you? I don’t mind, but I think we’re headed different directions.”

“Josette-sama, today you have committee—”

A female student I didn’t know told Josette that.

“Oh my. How careless of me. I had such a perfect chance… but I suppose it can’t be helped. I’m sorry, Kent-san—I seem to have a prior commitment, so please another time.”

“That’s too bad, but another time. Good luck with committee work.”

Looking disappointed, Josette left the classroom with the girl.

With no choice, I decided to go home alone today.

As I walked down the hallway, I saw a tall female student with purple hair tied back hurrying somewhere.

(Um… was that Prim-san? The tall one from Josette-san’s entourage. I think they said she was from a merchant family.)

I felt a little guilty, but I was curious, so I followed her.

Prim headed to the school cafeteria on campus.

The cafeteria here basically only operated at lunchtime.

I’d never eaten there, but according to Josette, it wasn’t good.

A few people—probably staff—had gathered around a table and seemed to be in a discussion.

Students were allowed to enter the cafeteria even after school, and outside business hours, open tables could be used freely for studying.

So I sat a little distance away, took out a textbook from my bag, and pretended to study while observing.

Prim seemed to be discussing something with the staff.

“I hear the number of students coming to the cafeteria has dropped sharply lately.”

Prim said to the staff in a strong tone.

“Yes, milady. It seems many students are bringing bread onto campus and eating it as lunch. As a result, the cafeteria’s sales have dropped drastically.”

One staff member reported to Prim.

But I found myself bothered by how they addressed her as “milady.”

“Even so, that’s strange. Bread alone shouldn’t make a complete meal, should it?”

Prim said to the cafeteria staff.

“That’s the thing—at the shop selling the fluffy bread everyone’s talking about, they’re also selling unusual bread with side dishes inside, so it can be eaten as a full meal. I was amazed someone thought of that.”

A staff member told Prim.

“That bakery. I haven’t tried it myself, but I’ve heard it’s exceptionally good. And if I recall, there was even a rumor that the one who came up with that bread was a student here. If the cafeteria bought bread from them, could we recover at least some sales?”

“Yes. We believe we could recover at least some. However, the cafeteria did approach them once already, and we were told the shop is quite small. They’re already at full capacity just selling at their own store, so at this stage they can’t supply us.”

“I see. Then we must bring that shop under our umbrella no matter what—and learn their production method.”

(This might be something I should warn them about. I want to hear more, but I’ll be late for my shift, so I can’t.)

I put my textbooks back into my bag, left the cafeteria as if nothing had happened, and then headed home before going to my part-time job.

“Kent-san, welcome back. Huh? Where’s Caro-chan?”

Marie spoke to me, then asked when she noticed Caro wasn’t with me.

“Um, it sounds like Caro-san got asked to cover for cleaning duty, so she’ll be a bit late.”

“I see, got it. Then I’m counting on you for the second half too.”

I started the second half of my work.

In this world—aside from my house—there was no electricity, and no gas either, so baking bread meant heating an oven fueled by burning firewood.

Because of that, the room got brutally hot.

With summer approaching, it was especially rough.

Marie usually watched the oven, but sometimes I did it too.

“Once it gets hot, this work really is tough.”

“Yeah. But I think if you do it for years, you’ll get used to it.”

Right now, I was watching the oven while Marie kneaded dough.

Being near the fire was hard, but kneading dough was heavy labor too.

Both of us worked drenched in sweat.

“Ah—Marie-san, sorry. I think I messed up the heat, and it all got ruined.”

“It’s fine. I mess up sometimes too, so don’t worry, don’t worry.”

Either way, controlling the heat on a wood-fired oven was difficult.

There was no thermometer and no clock, so I had to rely entirely on my own sense.

“I really want an electric oven…”

I muttered.

“What’s an electric oven like?”

Marie asked, curious.

“It adjusts the baking automatically, so there are fewer mistakes. And if you get a large-capacity one, you can bake a lot at once.”

When I’d been browsing the ordering device before, I’d found a commercial-grade electric oven that the home-improvement store itself didn’t normally sell.

It was very expensive, but it would dramatically improve our efficiency.

Even if we did get it, the real issue was securing electricity.

Because it was commercial-grade, it would draw a lot of power.

To run even one unit, my house’s solar system would probably be stretched too thin.

We’d need to install a larger solar system as well, and once I added that cost, it became a huge amount.

“About how much would it cost?”

Marie asked, clearly interested.

“Um…”

I told Marie a rough estimate of the installation cost.

“That much…? With our income, that’s pretty hard…”

Marie said regretfully.

“Oh? If it’s only that much, I can pay it for you.”

Josette was there before I knew it.

“Josette-san—when did you get here…?”

I said, startled.

“Yesterday I helped at the shop, and it was educational, so I wanted to help again today. I finished my committee work quickly and came right over.”

“About what we just discussed—it’s a lot of money. Are you sure you’re okay with that?”

I asked Josette.

“The bread from this shop is popular in my household, so on days the shop is open, I have a servant go buy it every day. If it’s an investment that helps the shop, I’m happy to support it.”

Right then, Catherine came into the bakery workshop.

“Mom, the duke’s household messenger is here.”

“Oh my, is it that time already?”

Marie quickly put on her serving apron and went out to the front.

Josette followed after her.

“Thank you as always. Um, shall we do the usual today as well?”

A messenger from the duke’s household, dressed in a maid outfit, had come into the shop.

A carriage was stopped outside.

Usually they came while I was at school, but sometimes it ended up being this time of day.

For the shop, they were a major customer.

“Oh? You’re the one on duty today?”

Josette spoke to the maid messenger.

“Josette-san, you can’t talk to the duke’s household staff like that—”

Marie tried to stop her in a panic, but she froze when she heard the maid’s response.

“My lady. I never expected to see you in a place like this. What are you doing here?”

“Practical life experience. I’m helping with work here.”

“I see. Then you must be tired.”

“Marie-san, are the breads for my household the ones gathered here?”

“Huh? Yes, these.”

“Then please take these home.”

“Y-yes, milady.”

The maid took the bread, loaded it into the carriage, and headed back to the duke’s estate.

“Um… could it be that Josette-san is connected to the duke’s household?”

Marie asked me timidly.

“Josette-san is the duke’s daughter.”

I quietly told Marie.

“O-oh no… I’ve been so rude… Even if I didn’t know, I made someone from the duke’s household work here….”

Marie spoke with apology toward Josette.

“I’m doing this because I want to, so there’s no need to worry. Please treat me like any other employee, just as you always have.”

“Josette-san says that, so you don’t have to worry either, Marie-san.”

“O-okay. Sorry—I panicked.”

“And about what we discussed earlier: I don’t mind investing, but if that feels awkward, it can be a loan instead. I looked at your ledger yesterday, and with this shop’s profits, you could repay it quickly, couldn’t you?”

“Kent-san, what should I do?”

Marie hesitated at Josette’s offer and asked me.

“I think you can accept it, since she’s offering. If production increases, we’ll have fewer times we turn customers away because we’re sold out. And if we streamline the work along with it, your workload should get a little easier too, Marie-san.”

“Really? If Kent-san says so, then maybe I’ll accept it as a loan. I’ll work hard and repay it properly, so would that be alright?”

“I would have been fine with an investment, but if that’s what you prefer, then we’ll do it as a loan. Just tell me the amount later, and I’ll have it prepared.”

With Josette’s cooperation, the plan to significantly upgrade Marie’s bakery began to move forward.