"Cheating...? By the way, Lurdona, since when did you become so... talkative? You've gotten remarkably fluent overnight."

  "While you were sleeping, your memories from your previous world were updated into my system. Knowledge included. I suspect a part of you has flowed into me."

  I looked down at my own body.

  "A part of me...? What, like dead skin? Does my exfoliation have some kind of information-sharing function?"

  "Tears, you idiot!"

  The shard of Haniwa on her head rattled violently, sounding like rocks inside a high-speed blender.

  "...Great. So my dark past is all out in the open? Please, format my memory immediately. Otherwise, I'm going to bury my face in this clay and suffocate myself."

  "Don't worry. Most of it is just junk data. Not even worth a defrag. You can rely on me."

  "How convenient... nice Plot Armor you've got there."

  "The hard drive capacity seems sufficient, so rest easy... Anyway, what about that person from earlier?"

  Lurdona was speaking with a strange authority, fueled by her slightly outdated tech-vocabulary.

  "That lad was Igora, a mini-golem. My first customer." "'Lad'? Strange... something about the spirit of that child felt... like a girl. Well, no matter. What matters is that child's wallet is the first step toward paying back that ten-billion-dollar debt."

  Is she really expecting a kid's wallet to cover ten billion? I thought.

  "Fair enough. But before that, we need to renovate this place."

  I looked around the shop. It was so cramped that a convenience store's hot-snack counter would have more territory.

  "Can you even do carpentry?"

  "I saw a video on YouTube once. A 'god-tier' tutorial with a grand total of twelve views."

  "Hire a professional."

  "Immediate rejection?! Can't you at least try to haggle my ten-dollar confidence down to a buck first?!"

  "Do it. NOW! Or I'll knead your head into the shape of a clay pot!"

  "'You got it, dude!' ...Fine! I'm going!"

  I dashed toward the deep crimson sunset. I really want to thank my past self for running ten kilometers every day for 'stamina training.' Hey, past me. You're training right now just so you can be worked to death by a talking piece of pottery in another world. ...If I told him that, he'd probably burn his running shoes on the spot.

  But after only two hours of sleep, I was woken by Lurdona's voice alarm (physical).

  "Wake up! Rise and shine, Sleeping Beauty! We have inventory to raid!"

  "Uuugh... Just let me hit the snooze button for five more years..."

  Normally, I would have succumbed to the eternal slumber known as "sleeping in."

  We went into the forest to hack our way through edible wild plants and small fish from the stream.

  "That wild plant is edible, and so is this one. It seems the knowledge of this world is pre-installed in me!"

  Lurdona was a fountain of knowledge. Following her instructions, I gathered the plants like a sleepwalking robot.

  There were an incredible number of edible wild plants growing in abundance. So this is what a "bountiful forest" feels like—it's like an all-you-can-eat buffet with no checkout counter.

  When I took a deep breath and stretched, Lurdona caught my eye as she searched for herbs. She looked a bit cold.

  "Lurdona, are you cold? Does your ceramic casing not have built-in heating?"

  I draped my thin coat over her shoulders.

  "Eh...?"

  The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  "A capable man does these things subtly. I'm just living up to the gentlemanly standards of my previous world."

  "I think a truly 'capable man' wouldn't bother narrating his own coolness... but thanks."

  I raised a hand in response and went back to gathering plants like a high-speed harvester.

  ***

  "Regarding the side dishes, how about we plate them nicely on the small dishes we made earlier? It's all about the UX (User Experience)."

  Back from the forest, we were now in the kitchen. I planned our sales strategy (lol) while boiling and grilling the wild plants.

  "I see. A bundle-sale strategy. Buy the food, get the plate."

  "Yeah, especially since we can mass-produce the hardware. Even with a discount, the profit margins are solid."

  "That's assuming the 'software'—the food—actually tastes good."

  "Heh... Try this. It's my 'Years of Bachelorhood = Cooking Skills' Special."

  I served the dish to Lurdona.

  "...! It's delicious! My taste sensors are hitting maximum capacity!"

  "How about that? Cooking skills honed from years of living alone! With my seasoning skills that draw out the essence of the ingredients, you might as well call me a three-star chef of this forest!"

  "Honestly, because you're like this..."

  "What, am I too awesome for you?"

  "Well, whatever. You're in another world now. Let's delete the past."

  "In another world... yeah. I like the sound of that! It's like a fresh system reboot!"

  "Your tension shot up all of a sudden. Did you hit a 'Power Up' mushroom?"

  "It's fine! Because I'm in another world! Everything is just a side quest!"

  Lurdona laughed cheerfully. However, her limbs were still encased in those cast-like shells. I looked at them with concern.

  "These? Don't worry about them. They're just temporary armor."

  She swung them around energetically. —But then.

  Wobble!

  Lurdona lost her balance and stumbled.

  "Watch out!"

  I lunged forward and reached out, catching her just before she hit the ground like a broken figurine.

  "Th-Thanks."

  "I'm glad... I made it in time. My running training finally paid off in a non-depressing way."

  "You move surprisingly well. Maybe you're not just a clay nerd after all."

  "I've done my fair share of running. Everything's ready now, so just sit tight."

  I carried her and gently sat her in a chair.

  Finally, the sun showed its face clearly, and light began to stream through the window.

  —Time to open for business.

  Around 8 AM the next morning, Marie's husband and the contractors arrived and efficiently hacked the site into a shop. About half of the front area was now a sales space, but in the end, the layout looked just like an "Isekai-style convenience store." Of course, minus the refrigerators, microwaves, and the annoying push for loyalty cards.

  "Well, that's us done."

  The work finished before noon. I'll take it to my grave that I was actually in "Standby Mode" (napping) while pretending to supervise. I called out to the contractors as they were leaving.

  "Ah, wait a moment. If you'd like, please take this... Just a small token of appreciation I made between kneading clay."

  I offered them the preserved small fish and herbs taken from the forest stream.

  "Oh, how thoughtful! Is this a user reward?"

  The contractor accepted with a smile.

  "Whoa, this is delicious! Where did you learn to season like this?"

  "...I lived alone for a long time. I'm picky about the heat. Just like the 'Firing' (Shousei) process of pottery, a split-second temperature change determines the 'Crazing' (Kannyuu) of the flavor... I mean, it determines the kick."

  I accidentally let slip some technical terms I'd picked up on the internet.

  "Hahaha, that's reliable! You've got the spirit of a true craftsman!"

  The contractors popped them into their mouths one after another, and the side dishes were "fully processed" (finished) in an instant.

  "That was great! I'll give you a five-star rating!"

  I saw the smiling contractors out, bowing repeatedly like a bobblehead doll. I felt like I was overlooking a critical error, but at the time, my brain was stuck in a loop of "happy reboots" from the sheer relief.

  ***

  ...Wait, Lurdona isn't here.

  I thought she'd be curled up on the sofa in her "Sleep-Mode Haniwa" state as usual, but she was nowhere to be seen.

  "Did she go out somewhere...? Or did her server go down?"

  Maybe she realized she'd been treated like "talking junk" by Igora-kun yesterday and moved to a different partition out of shock.

  "...Maybe she's just charging (sleeping) in some dark corner."

  I said it to reassure myself. But for some reason, the words rang a little hollow.

  ...She's fine. She's always fine. She's made of ceramic, for crying out loud.

  But the Grand Opening waits for no one. I shook my head and hurriedly began lining up products on the shelves.

  Today was the Grand Opening of my life.

  ***

  "Medicinal herbs and salted forest vegetables on a flat plate. And forest fruits on this dish..."

  Actually, over half the inventory was pottery. Thanks to my long years of living alone, I was good at making pickles and preserves that lasted, but my production line was so thin the quantities were tiny.

  (Just like Lurdona said, I'm glad I focused on the 'hardware' by making lots of pottery... She's got a foul mouth, but she's a capable consultant.)

  I made a large sign by writing "General Store" on a simple wooden board and placed it where it could be seen from the street. Like a private shop in the West, I left the door wide open.

  "Alright, the shop finally looks like a shop. I feel the same tension as a fresh 'Kiln-Unloading' (Kamadashi)."

  A general store where I could casually sell my own ceramics—it was something I'd always longed for. Sitting at the counter, I felt a wave of excitement despite my age. If someone pulled the string on my back, I felt like shouting "There's a pot on my shelf!" instead of "There's a snake in my boot!"

  ...But at the same time, perhaps because the tension finally broke, I became so incredibly sleepy that I ended up nodding off behind the counter. And it lasted until the sun began to dip, signaling the end of business hours.

  —Naturally, zero customers.

  ...Come to think of it, I also forgot to charge the contractors. So the true first-day sales were: zero.

  "No one's going to show up today anyway, so I want to go hand out flyers. But if I leave the shop empty, I might as well be welcoming burglars on my first day..."

  I mused while snacking on the leftover side dishes and working on some pottery, when a small shadow appeared at the entrance.

  "Um... excuse me..."