At the ntion of the word, Kotomi involuntarily shivered and pulled her head back. "Is it possible to switch the chocolate sundae to another flavor?"
"Hmm… that could be arranged. Just let know once you get the chocolate sundae, and I'll change it to a different flavor for you."
"Great, I'd like the blueberry flavor."
Having agreed on the sundae's flavor, Kotomi proceeded with her order, but she wasn't choosing from the regular nu—no, she was opting for the…
"I'd like to take on the 12-Layer Commorative King Burger Challenge."
She pointed at the nu's largest, most eye-catching item: the 12-layer King Burger. This thed store didn't just feature the 12-layer commorative Whopper, even the nu design was updated. Now, if only they could update the price along with it…
Hearing that Kotomi wanted to take on the challenge, the cashier instantly perked up. Nothing wakes up faster than soone actually taking the challenge!
"Are you sure you want to take on the 12-layer commorative King Burger?" the cashier asked, voice brimming with excitent.
It wasn't just the custor who felt excited; this particular Burger King location, being one of the thed stores, enjoyed extra advertising support. But that ca with high expectations. If they didn't et their quota for the promotion, they'd lose their thed status for the next event—and the major advertising boost with it.
The 12-layer commorative King Burger was certainly eye-catching, but only a few were brave enough to actually try it, mostly just curious patrons who ca in hoping to catch a glimpse of anyone daring enough to take on the challenge. Today, only two had been sold all day, which left them far from their goal. The manager was nervous, and so were the staff. If they lost their thed store status, what would happen to their bonuses?
Life was full of competition, whether between people or stores.
To put it bluntly, if soone ordered a 12-layer commorative King Burger now, the manager would probably be tempted to bow down in gratitude.
Whether they finished it or not was irrelevant; as long as they sold enough of these 12-layer burgers, the goal would be t.
When the cashier asked again to confirm, Kotomi nodded without hesitation. "Yes, I'll take the 12-layer commorative King Burger. Once I finish it, anyone with gets free food too, right?"
"Exactly! As long as they're friends, family, or loved ones who ca with you, they can all enjoy free als along with you. You'll also receive a Burger King voucher valid at any location," the cashier explained.
Kotomi chuckled and raised both hands, forming a one with one hand and a two with the other.
"Alright then! In that case, I'll have twelve of the 12-layer commorative King Burgers."
Huh…?
Hearing that Kotomi wanted twelve of the 12-layer commorative King Burgers, even the seasoned cashier was montarily stunned. Did he mishear? Was he just imagining things?
But he hadn't misheard. Kotomi repeated it clearly and even helpfully held up one finger on one hand and two on the other, making sure he knew she wanted twelve of the 12-layer commorative burgers.
The cashier was anxious; selling twelve would indeed bring the store closer to their sales target, but what if the custor was only joking?
A single 12-layer commorative King Burger not only takes ti to prepare but also uses up a considerable amount of ingredients, which is no small cost for a thed store. After being designated as one of the thed stores, they'd spent two weeks preparing all the special ingredients for the commorative burger. Yet hardly anyone dared to take on the challenge.
To put it bluntly, this was a PR move orchestrated by Burger King headquarters—profit wasn't the point, it was all about expanding influence, even if it ant losses.
Not to ntion, they didn't receive any extra funding…
Preparing one 12-layer commorative burger would take at least 15-20 minutes.
Thankfully, they always had the ingredients on standby, and they'd assigned a team of kitchen staff exclusively for making these commorative burgers. Without that preparation, the wait could be up to three hours.
But then there was the cost to think about. If this was all just a joke, the wasted ingredients for twelve of those 12-layer burgers would be no small expense—and he, just a lowly cashier, would be the one held responsible. Yesterday's overti pay hadn't even arrived yet.
With that thought, the cashier turned to Kotomi and said, "Please excuse for a mont, I'll be right back," before heading off to find the manager.
The manager, who had been in the kitchen, fretting over their performance against headquarters' targets, was delighted to hear that soone wanted to take on a 12-layer commorative King Burger. Every sale counted! But upon hearing that the custor wanted twelve, his glasses nearly fell off his nose in shock.
"Are they really taking on twelve? Could it be a vanload of people? Well…even though the rules say it has to be a single person taking the challenge, headquarters' quota is impossible to et anyway. If they really buy twelve, even if they don't finish, we'd be the thed store with the most sales."
The manager continued with growing enthusiasm, "Plus, if we work with them, we could make a bit of news from this—get soone to pose as the challenger and promote 'one person vs. twelve 12-layer King Burgers!' Self-dia would spread the news fast, and we'd pull in enough custors to cover our costs!"
The manager's excitent was clear—he was really cut out to be a commander, after all!
The cashier, seeing how worked up the manager was, hesitated but eventually pointed out, "Manager, there's no need to fake it… the challenger really is just one person."
"Oh, just one… Wait, what?! What kind of monster is this? Taking on twelve 12-layer commorative burgers? Is this so kind of prank show? Can we get sothing realistic, please!"
"It's true. Two girls ca together, but the other girl said she wasn't participating. So it's just one girl taking the challenge."
The manager's mind reeled as a series of question marks popped up. His worldview was shattered for the third ti!
A girl…
Challenging…
Twelve 12-layer commorative burgers?
Was this the true Queen of Burger King?
"Should we allow her to take the challenge?"
"Hmm… years ago, there was a little girl in Chiba City's Burger King who achieved legendary status by eating ten of the 6-layer commorative King Burgers. She left before the manager could even get to the store, otherwise he would have made a half-bust statue of her to keep in the store!"
And now, here was another unbelievable challenge: twelve 12-layer commorative King Burgers—again, from a girl.
Was this so cosmic mandate of destiny?
"Great! If she's daring enough to challenge twelve, we're bold enough to serve them. Others are cautious, but we'll embrace it! That's the investnt strategy that once lost ten million yen!"
Saying this, the manager couldn't help but tear up a little. Had it not been for his impulsive investnts, he might have more to show than a single burger shop.
"So, should I place the order?"
"Wait—I'll take care of this one myself. You go take a break." Then, the manager turned to the kitchen staff. "Alright, everyone, gear up to prepare twelve of the 12-layer commorative King Burgers! If we pull this off, it's double overti pay for each of you today!"
"Damn it, give us yesterday's overti pay first!" they shouted back.
The manager made his way to the counter and saw Kotomi, still waiting there. Plastering on a professional smile, he asked, "Excuse , miss, may I confirm—you're challenging twelve of the 12-layer commorative King Burgers?"
"Yup. How long will it take? I'm pretty hungry. And by the way, your cashier walked off, so my friend hasn't ordered yet," Kotomi said with a hint of exasperation. Halfway through placing her order, the cashier had vanished, leaving gumi without a chance to order.
The manager quickly apologized, "I'm very sorry. Your order was quite a surprise for our staff—he's a temp, so please don't hold it against him. I'm the manager of this location, and I'll personally take care of both of your orders. Twelve 12-layer commorative King Burgers… And what will the other young lady have?"
"I'll have a spicy Angus beef burger with pepper jack cheese, a fire-grilled chicken sandwich, and an orange juice," gumi replied.
"Got it, not a problem at all. Please take a seat, and we'll bring everything to your table shortly."
The manager gave a bow as they turned away.
As far as he was concerned, if Kotomi was willing to take on twelve 12-layer commorative King Burgers, she was now the Queen of this Burger King.
Queen, the place is crowded, so I'll bow to you after you're done eating!
Once they'd taken their seats, Kotomi was about to pull out her phone to pass the ti when gumi spoke up, "Kotomi, while we were waiting in line, I called your na several tis, but you didn't answer. What were you thinking about so deeply?"
This was a little white lie; gumi hadn't actually called her. But she wanted to see Kotomi's reaction.
Kotomi's eyes widened. Had gumi really spoken to her earlier? How had she not heard? She had been reminiscing about her childhood, but not so deeply that she'd completely tuned out her surroundings. She had kept her eyes on the line, after all.
Seeing gumi's earnest expression, Kotomi felt a bit guilty. Did she really ignore gumi earlier?
And she did have a track record of getting lost in thought to the point of not hearing others when they spoke to her.
"Well… I guess you could say that. While we were in line, I couldn't help but think about sothing from when I was little," Kotomi replied.
"Sothing from your childhood? What was it? Would you be willing to share it with ? Of course, if you'd rather not, that's alright too…"
gumi added a slightly dejected look, as if her spirits were quietly sinking. It was enough to make anyone feel a pang of sympathy.
Seeing this, Kotomi quickly reassured her, "Of course, I'd love to share! If you're interested, I'll tell you."
gumi imdiately perked up, smiling brightly, "I'd love to hear it!"
After gathering her thoughts, Kotomi began telling gumi about the friend she had as a child. Though a bit embarrassed, she even ntioned how she'd once devoured ten of the 6-layer commorative King Burgers in a single sitting.
Would gumi think she'd been a little glutton as a child?
Childhood… girl… a friend whose na she couldn't recall… a promise still unfulfilled… always with a cane…
gumi picked up on all these details, her beautiful eyes narrowing thoughtfully. Then, in a playful tone, she said, "Could it be Arisu Sakayanagi?"
"Huh? Why would you think of her?" Kotomi blinked, a bit taken aback, then shook her head with a laugh. "Arisu and I only t for the first ti recently, so she can't be the friend from my childhood."
"But the cane just naturally brings her to mind," gumi replied, sharing her reasoning.
"There must be lots of people who use canes. It's probably just a coincidence…"
Kotomi smiled, but her expression suddenly stiffened.
She rembered many details about her childhood friend—the way she relied on her cane when walking and the strong feeling that the two of them had made a promise back then.
But she still couldn't rember her friend's na, nor could she recall exactly what their pinky promise had been about. What was it they'd sworn to do together?
Was it Arisu Sakayanagi?
That couldn't be… but then again…
Before she could reflect further, her phone, which was resting on the table, suddenly rang.
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