The spring sunlight pours down on a peaceful holiday open-air café.

“Huh? No way... could it be... senpai!?”

Naoya, eyes wide with shock, stared at me. I sighed briefly and gave a nod. In that instant, Naoya looked up at the sky and clutched his head, then turned to Misaki-sensei beside him—who had no idea what was going on, eyes darting in confusion—and spoke in an extremely serious tone.

“Ah, Misaki-san. Could you excuse us for a moment? I’d like to talk with this guy... sorry, this girl, just the two of us for a bit.”

“Huh? O-okay. Then I’ll go look at the cakes inside, if that’s alright?”

After seeing Misaki-sensei head inside the café with a puzzled look, we faced each other once again across the table.

“...Man, is this for real? I even went to your wake, senpai.”

“Don’t say that. I had a period myself where I’d freak out every time I looked in the mirror in the morning.”

I stared intently at the twenty-three-year-old young man in a spring coat before me.

“Your face is the same as before. Though you look a bit younger than I remember. You were 24 back then, right?”

“Yeah. I guess I got younger through a transfer? Or reincarnation? The family setup is the same as before too. So, what happened to you, senpai?”

“I think I’m reincarnated. Since I don’t have the goods, going to the bathroom is a pain.”

When I grumbled with a straight face, Naoya burst out laughing, shoulders shaking.

“H-Hey, cut it out! Don’t say stuff that reveals the middle-aged guy inside with that cute face of yours! It makes my brain glitch!”

“You have no idea what I go through.”

“Your name changed, huh. You were Seiichi Yanagi before, right?”

“Yeah, yeah. At first I wasn’t used to being called by it, so I’d react a beat late. It made my parents worry that I might have a hearing problem.”

As we sipped coffee and barley tea, we dove into a lively trip down memory lane of our previous lives. I never imagined I’d be sitting at the same table with a junior from my past life in this world with its insane gender ratio.

Then, Naoya suddenly turned serious and leaned forward.

“So, what’s your intention with the situation regarding Misaki-san?”

“Seems my sales skills struck a chord with her.”

I gave a brief explanation of some small considerations during our Kindergarten days and the aftercare moves I made to comfort the exhausted office lady when she came over for New Year’s. Barely had I finished when Naoya slumped face-first onto the table.

“Gyahahaha! Seriously, senpai! Even after reincarnating as a girl, you’re still unconsciously a lady-killer! When I had the arranged meeting with Misaki-san, she was totally not all there. Just how smitten have you made her?!”

His roar of laughter echoed across the terrace seats. I cast a sidelong glare while conscious of the eyes around us.

“Don’t make me sound so bad. All I did was show the same ordinary consideration I gave you guys back in our previous lives.”

“And you’ve already realized that’s a deadly poison in this world, right?! You’re as wicked as ever, senpai!”

Naoya was cracking up in that old izakaya style. Caught up in it, I let out a laugh myself. In more ways than one, being able to talk freely with someone I knew from my previous life is a relief.

After rolling with laughter for a while, Naoya wiped the tears from the corners of his eyes and grinned.

“So in other words, I should just go at it with the sales mindset from our past life, huh? Instead of acting all high and mighty like the men in this world, I should treat clients like I’m entertaining them.”

“Probably. If you heap praise where it’s due and go at it without being intimidated, it should work out. Misaki-sensei is a bit worn out, so if you gently take the lead, you’ll seal the deal in one shot.”

“Got it, understood… Man, my mentor’s advice really saves me.”

We clinked glasses with the same scheming faces we used back in the Sales Department Section 2 days.

* * *

[Misaki’s Perspective]

From inside the café, peeking through the glass at the terrace seats, Misaki gulped.

‘...Amazing. Naoya-kun, you’re talking with Shizuku-chan on such equal footing.’

From Misaki’s position, she couldn’t hear the content of their conversation. But the sight of Naoya clutching his stomach laughing and Shizuku shrugging with a “good grief” smile and a fearless laugh in return appeared to be linked by a mysterious bond of trust that completely erased the age gap between a seven-year-old girl and a twenty-three-year-old young man.

‘...At first Naoya-kun was bewildered, but now he’s absorbing Shizuku-chan’s words like a sponge. That earnest gaze, and the occasional composed smile... There’s no doubt about it. The man inside him is completely awakening under the guidance of Shizuku-chan, the absolute alpha...’

Misaki’s breathing grew ragged with excitement. Naoya was already an SSR-class top-quality catch. If he were to acquire that spine-tingling, thrilling escort ability of Shizuku’s...

‘Ahh... Just imagining it makes my chest tighten... My very own, specially custom-made perfect man who will spoil me more sweetly than anyone... Thank you, Shizuku-chan. I’ll happily take the best man off your hands…’

The mind of the around-thirty kindergarten teacher was completely dyed pink with her own desires and delusions. She didn’t dream for a second that Naoya was simply “shooting the breeze with his office senior from a past life.” On the contrary, the two beyond the glass were starting to look to her like “a god and his successor.”

* * *

“Sorry to keep you waiting, you two. I bought cake.”

When Misaki-sensei returned with her cheeks faintly flushed, Naoya stood up smoothly. With a perfectly natural motion, he pulled out her chair, gave a refreshing smile, and said, “Here you go.”

“Huh... Oh, thank you...”

“Not at all. More importantly, Misaki-san, that spring-colored blouse really suits you. You seem more relaxed than when we met at our arranged meeting, and that makes me happy, too.”

Misaki-sensei’s face burst bright red with an almost audible pop. That Naoya, he immediately unleashed his ‘Sales Mode: Total Affirmation Hospitality Technique’. The skills he honed in the izakayas and group dates of our past life are now blazing in this insane world.

“Naoya-kun’s escorting... Amazing, he’s really inherited Shizuku-chan’s commanding presence...♥”

Watching Misaki-sensei sink into her chair, trembling with emotion, I felt like a mentor witnessing the growth of a brilliant disciple and drained the remaining barley tea.

Just how much would the “sales techniques” I passed on to my former subordinate melt down one around-thirty woman into a puddle? I simply thought, ‘Well, as long as she’s happy, fine,’ and remained blissfully unconcerned.