The interior decoration style of the Asakawa Theme Cafe was arranged according to the theme of the day.
Today's theme was sharp-tongued service.
The cafe's style leaned towards being domineering. There were whips on the tables, and slogans insulting customers, such as 'lowlife,' 'damn you,' and 'idiot,' were plastered around.
The menu covers all read, "For scum like you."
When Aozawa flipped one open, the coffee names inside were nothing unusual—just a regular coffee shop menu with pictures of coffee and pastries.
There were quite a few customers inside, occupying two-thirds of the space.
Some were frail-looking men; others were clearly anime otaku, sporting somewhat greasy glasses and T-shirts adorned with female anime characters.
"To dare to show up in that kind of outfit? You pervert! You only deserve to drink coffee made with the water I use to wash my feet, stirred with my toes!"
The café's waitstaff also served customers with sharp words and contemptuous glances.
He sat down.
Out of friendship, Hojo Shouko personally greeted him. "Pervert Master, is there anything I can do for you?"
"I told you not to put 'pervert' before 'Master'."
"Why can't I call you Pervert Master? I don't think being a pervert is a crime. There's no need to hide. You should boldly proclaim to the world, 'I am a pervert!'"
Hojo Shouko tried to convince Aozawa not to hide his true nature and not to lie.
In her eyes, lying was bad behavior. If Aozawa used lies to hide his true nature, he would be adding another bad trait on top of being a pervert.
It would be better to be an honest pervert who's harmless to society.
Aozawa was taken aback by Shouko's remarks. She's quite considerate, he thought.
But I'm really not a pervert! I have nothing to disguise!
Aozawa complained internally but wasn't sure how to explain.
Hojo Shouko had a naive, straightforward personality and needed things explained very clearly to understand them.
This was rare in society and also made her somewhat troublesome to deal with.
Aozawa gave up on convincing her and said, "Give me a latte and a slice of blueberry cake."
"Alright, please wait a moment, Pervert Master."
Hojo Shouko turned and went to prepare.
Before long, Hojo Shouko came over with the coffee and blueberry cake, placing them on Aozawa's table. With a smile, she said, "To cater to Pervert Master's tastes, I specially added my saliva as seasoning."
"You're joking, right?"
Aozawa's expression turned skeptical. Others might not, but with her, it was hard to say.
Hojo Shouko laughed. "Of course, it's a joke! How could I actually do something like that?"
"Is that so? That's quite a disappointment!"
Once Aozawa confirmed it was a joke, he was in the mood to tease her.
Hojo Shouko's eyes widened as she grasped the meaning behind his words.
After a moment's hesitation—considering her brother's friendship with him and the café's principle of serving customers—she pouted and spat a clear stream of saliva towards the cup.
Aozawa was stunned.
Seeing the saliva about to land in the coffee, he quickly used his Time Suspension Ability.
CLICK. A gray filter covered everything in the shop at that moment.
The saliva was less than a centimeter from the coffee, so close it seemed about to drop in.
Aozawa reached for a tissue from the table, wiped Hojo Shouko's saliva from the air above the cup, pocketed the tissue, and then let time resume.
The gray filter before his eyes faded away. Everything became bright and colorful again.
Hojo Shouko assumed her saliva had landed in the coffee, but she found it strange. Why are there no ripples? she wondered.
Aozawa didn't give her time to dwell on it. He took a sip of the coffee and commented, "That almost wasted a delicious cup of coffee."
"Aozawa-senpai, I'm so glad! You've finally become an honest pervert!"
Hojo Shouko clapped her hands in encouragement, raising Aozawa-senpai's level of perversity by another notch. He was a heroic pervert, capable of nonchalantly drinking a beautiful girl's saliva.
"Miss Hojo, please grace my coffee with your Holy Water as well!"
The otaku at the next table, face flushed with excitement, shouted as he held out his coffee cup. His eyes behind his glasses brimmed with anticipation, like a baby waiting for its mother's milk.
Hojo Shouko turned around. Remembering the cafe's theme for the day, a deep chill settled over her features. She stared at the customer with the disdain one would reserve for garbage. "A fat pig like you only deserves to drink the sweat wrung from my stockings after I've exercised all day."
"Ah, those sharp words pierce my very soul! Miss Hojo, you truly are the best!" the otaku shouted, his face a mask of ecstasy. The sight made Aozawa's stomach churn. How can these people say such things with straight faces? They're too perverted!
Seeing the customer's satisfied expression, Hojo Shouko felt a little pleased herself.
No matter the perversion, as long as it didn't harm society or affect others, she believed their interests and hobbies had a right to be satisfied.
"I'll be going now," Shouko said. Then, with a light, quick pace, she went back to the street to attract more customers.
Aozawa internally marveled at his junior, Shouko, and her terrifyingly naive nature.
The nearby customers gathered around him like cats that had scented blood, their eyes fixed eagerly on the coffee in his hand.
"Sir, I'll pay double for your latte!" "I'll pay triple!" "I'll pay quadruple!"
"Don't underestimate Miss Hojo, you guys! That's Holy Water from a beautiful high school girl (JK)! It's worth sixteen times the price!"
Listening to the crowd's increasingly fervent bids, Aozawa said, utterly exasperated, "All of you, shut up! I wouldn't sell it no matter how much you offered!"
Aozawa couldn't grasp their logic. A beautiful girl's saliva is still saliva, isn't it? How could they actually drink it? It's completely unsanitary!
Aozawa took another sip of his coffee, then used his knife and fork to cut a piece of the blueberry cake in front of him, bringing it to his mouth.
A sweet taste slowly spread between his lips and teeth.
Aozawa pulled out his phone and started browsing the news from Shinjuku, looking for anything noteworthy.
This search led Aozawa to lock onto his next target: news about a public nursing home in Shinjuku Okubo that had been exposed for corruption and abuse of the elderly.
Over the past five years, five elderly residents with no family had died due to this abuse. The Devil Caretaker responsible had been lawfully detained and was to receive 'severe punishment' under the law.
Yet the director in charge of the public nursing home had apparently gotten away with just a bow of apology.
There was no further punishment, and the nursing home continued to operate as usual.
Is that reasonable? Clearly not!
Aozawa believed the Devil Caretaker deserved to die, but so did the director who had allowed such a situation to go unnoticed for five years.
The law can deal with the caretaker, Aozawa thought. I'll handle the director.
Aozawa decided he would make that negligent director understand that a simple bow couldn't resolve everything.
If things were that simple, the word 'revenge' wouldn't even exist.
Aozawa began gathering more information, pinpointing the location of the public nursing home.
He planned to finish his coffee and then pay the nursing home a visit, intending to experiment with combining his Telekinesis, X-ray Vision, and Time Suspension abilities.