My girlfriend is actually myself.

Chapter 50: No showing affection to a single store manager!

Chihaya Asakura and Yuko Takahashi stared at the two cups with heart-shaped latte art and fell silent.

Don't be fooled by the simplicity of the heart shape; even a talented beginner needs to practice about ten times before succeeding once!

And this is only their third cup!

Even if you draw with a pencil, it's impossible to draw a perfect heart in just three tries!

And how did you two manage to finish it together? What a coincidence!

Yuko Takahashi looked up at the two of them with a suspicious gaze: "You're acting as me?"

She suspected that the two were hiding their true strength.

"We were lucky," Shiraishi Saku and Yukimiya Natsumi said modestly.

"That's true, it's normal to occasionally have a burst of good luck and get incredibly lucky," Yuko Takahashi quickly accepted this explanation. "I also had a stroke of luck before and managed to complete a swan run once, but unfortunately I've never succeeded a second time."

The swan pattern is said to be the dividing line between beginners and veterans. Judging from this, Yuko Takahashi's latte art skills have reached the pinnacle of amateur level, almost at the professional level.

Yuko Takahashi removed the coffee from in front of the two of them and brought out two new servings, placing them in front of them.

She raised her head and patted their shoulders: "Let me tell you, one success is like winning the lottery. You're still a long way from reaching the heart-shaped level! It took me a whole week to go from my first heart-shaped attempt to consistently producing hearts!"

Five minutes later, looking at the row of heart-shaped latte art on the counter, Yuko Takahashi squatted in the corner, questioning the meaning of life.

"You guys were really just acting against me!" She looked up, her face filled with sorrow as she gazed at the couple working at her shop.

The last two cups in that row of heart-shaped latte art had symmetrical patterns and clear edges, exceeding her level!

"I just really feel a connection to this pattern," Shiraishi Saku said.

"It's probably similar to the feeling of playing in the water," Yukimiya Natsune added.

Yuko Takahashi asked skeptically, "Really?"

"After all, you can burn yourself while breastfeeding," Shiraishi Saku provided evidence.

"It will also splash everywhere," Yukimiya Natsune added.

Yuko Takahashi thought it made a lot of sense. The way they were doing the breast-feeding couldn't be faked. These two guys were complete novices, and the heart-shaped pattern just happened to correspond to some kind of technique they had used before.

She felt reborn, a smile spreading across her face: "The heart shape is the most basic pattern, testing only the ability to add and remove dots. The tulip and leaf shapes, on the other hand, require completely different techniques!"

Her competitive spirit soared, her eyes burning with a desire to win, as she looked at Asakura Chihaya: "Asakura-sensei, let's begin the next round!"

Chihaya Asakura glanced at the two of them, then at Yuko Takahashi, hesitating to speak. Her skills and insight far surpassed Yuko's, and she sensed that things might not unfold as Yuko expected.

There are three basic shapes for latte art: hearts, tulips, and leaves.

The heart is the simplest, just dotting and closing; the tulip is more difficult, requiring the skill of repeated stacking. Tulip patterns are divided into double-leaf and standard versions, with the double-leaf version being the simplified version; the leaf pattern is the most complex and difficult, requiring swaying left and right, and using milk to draw delicate leaves.

Before long, a row of finished coffees was placed in front of the three of them.

Yuko Takahashi's double-leaf tulip was successful on the first try, and the standard tulip was successful on the third try, but the center of the pattern was blurred together.

Yukimiya Natsumi and Shiraishi Saku successfully completed the three cups of the double-leaf tulip, and the standard tulip three cups were also successful. The pattern was a little crooked, but there were no blurred parts.

As for the leaf shape, Yuko Takahashi lost all ten cups, while Natsumi Yukimiya and Saku Shiraishi succeeded with seven cups.

The shop manager lied; she hadn't even reached the half-step Swan Realm, at most she was at the half-step Leaf Realm.

"I should have known," Yuko Takahashi said, hugging her knees, her eyes vacant, squatting behind the counter. "You were just making fun of me."

"And what's more!" she cried out, raising her fist in protest, "It's one thing to mess with me! But to show off like that! I know you two are close and like to flaunt it in the convenience store, but there are no customers here, why are you hurting an innocent single woman like me!"

"Show off?" Shiraishi Saku and Yukimiya Natsune were completely baffled.

"Still pretending!" Yuko Takahashi pointed at the coffee on the counter. "You always succeed together, and the designs are always exactly the same, even the mistakes are exactly the same! Even the same barista would have a hard time making the exact same design!"

Yuko Takahashi grew increasingly heartbroken, looking at the two of them in despair, and muttered, "I was so stupid. I thought you really wanted to compete with me, but it turns out you just wanted to show off your relationship and toy with my feelings. That's too much! I'm your manager!"

Shiraishi Saku and Yukimiya Natsune fell silent.

He really couldn't explain it!

He really just wanted to give Yuko Takahashi a technical blow; he and she never intended to show off their affection!

However, this is also quite interesting.

Shiraishi Saku and Yukimiya Natsune both smiled.

Yuko Takahashi's eyes widened. The two women's smiles were excessively synchronized, their curves and expressions exactly the same. This was mockery, it had to be mockery!

"Asakura-sensei! Look at them!" Takahashi Yuko grabbed Asakura Chihaya's skirt, heartbroken.

Asakura Chihaya crouched down, patted her shoulder, and silently mourned for her mistress for two seconds. It was foreseeable that the innocent Lady Tsukimiya would be manipulated at the mercy of her adopted daughter and her husband.

"Does Ms. Asakura have a boyfriend?" Yuko Takahashi tried to win over her comrade.

"My daughter is already in high school," Chihaya Asakura replied.

"What?! She looks about my age, yet she's already a high school student's mother!" Yuko Takahashi covered her forehead. "So, I'm the only single one?!"

She sensed the malice of the world.

Chihaya Asakura didn't tell Yuko Takahashi that she was a single mother. She took her phone out of her apron pocket and scanned the new messages.

"Lady Moon Palace will be here soon," she said to the three of them.

"Is the gold medal barista, Ms. Tsukimiya, available?" Yuko Takahashi immediately straightened her clothes.

The title of gold medal in the international latte art competition is not important. What is important is that the other party is a friend of the behind-the-scenes financier. As a freeloader, Yuko Takahashi must maintain a good relationship with the other party and follow the nepotism route.

She led Shiraishi Saku and Yukimiya Natsume to the shop entrance to greet them.

The bell rang, the wooden door opened, and a woman in a fuchsia suit dress walked into the coffee shop.

"Madam." Asakura Chihaya walked up behind Tsukimiya Aoi and took her coat.

Yuko Takahashi walked over solicitously: "Welcome, Ms. Tsukimiya... Huh?"

Yuko Takahashi recognized Aoi Tsukimiya, as the latter was a frequent customer of the convenience store. Chihaya Asakura, the maid, had only accompanied Aoi to the store once, so Yuko didn't recognize her.

Aoi Tsukimiya glanced at Yuko Takahashi's face, guessing her confusion, but she wasn't going to offer any explanation.

She stepped through the entryway, walked to the dining table, sat down, and snapped her fingers: "A cappuccino, let me see what you're made of now."

She looked at Yukimiya Natsune.

This proud and aloof mother is quite into her role.

Shiraishi Saku thought to himself that Asakura Chihaya's earlier statement that Tsukimiya Aoi was temporarily unavailable was probably a lie. She was afraid that Tsukimiya Aoi's arrival would scare him and the girl away.

Asakura Chihaya's appearance set the stage, and seeing that the atmosphere was good and the situation was safe, Tsukimiya Aoi was called in.

The one strategizing behind the haughty mother's back must be this maid with a classical air.