Rival Cowfolks in Newcrest: Week 4 (Megumi Soma, Part IV)
Previously :
• Maaike adopts a daughter, a toddler named Erina;
• The household works on its plant collection;
• Bradly invents an Age-Away Serum for the first time;
• Gen2 heir Megumi meets the gardener Wyatt Owen and continues her search for the best Gen4 spouse (yes, we like to plan ahead);
• Megumi maxes her Writer/Author career on Friday afternoon;
• Nacho Mama is now a 4-star restaurant with a resale value of $91,464;
• Akira Soma, the Gen3 heir, ages up to a toddler early Friday morning.
Friday
Maaike: It’s taking me forever to write five good novels.
Then I realize that I’d previously lived with the Dinero Mansion Barons.
All I did in that house was write novels–no childcare and no restaurant.
Erina: I only just moved here on Wednesday. I’m so happy to have left the orphanage!
Here, there are only two toddlers but five adults to look after us.
So different from the orphanage run by a single caregiver! There’s even a nanny!
Erina: The other toddler’s name is Akira.
I only have a mama, but Akira has a mama AND a papa. What a lucky boy!
Ulrike: I continue to paint and work as a painter.
Thankfully, I was allowed to adopt a child-stage daughter, instead of a toddler.
It’s so exciting to think that my daughter will become the next heir’s wife!
Ulrike: I’m sure Akira will come to adore my daughter Jun.
She’s not only very pretty but also diligent and sweet.
Jun’s working hard to become what she imagines would be an ideal spouse.
Megumi: By the way, Ulrike, did you hear the news about Massimo’s wife Morgan?
Bradly visited them very briefly this morning, and guess what?
She had twins. The Gen3 Zanna heir has a twin sister!
Maaike: The Gen3 Zanna spouse, Jung Storey, is one of the Zanna founder’s offspring, I hear.
Serena favors him so much that she even revived him after he fried to death.
Ulrike: And look how he spends his days now that he’s a Daywalker!
He hangs out at parks, surrounded by ladies. Tsk, tsk!
Lilith follows him around with puppy-dog eyes. She’s just asking to have her heart broken!
Megumi: We’re having a really bad at Nacho Mama!
Nanny Imane stands around our entire lunch shift, keeping other diners from eating and leaving.
During our dinner shift, I’m forced to criticize our waitress Ananya Banarjee.
She arrives late to work and out of uniform.
Ananya, however, insists that I’m being too hard on her.
You claim that you’re doing your best, Ananya, then you leave for a jog?
I immediately hire a third waitress.
With Ananya gone, our other waiter must handle all the orders himself.
One couple tires of waiting and walks out, leaving us 2-star reviews. Ouch!
As soon as our new waitress has mid-level skills, I’m firing Ananya.
And notice that Nanny Imane is back for dinner, but actually sits and eats this time.
Whenever we prepare to travel to the restaurant, we get a popup notifying us that we can hire a nanny to stay with our toddlers.
A few tests show, though, that a hired nanny won’t stay while we’re at the restaurant.
We probably need to make the restaurant’s backroom bigger.
Saturday
It’s a little past midnight and we’re waiting on one last table to pay and leave.
That’s when I notice the vampire break-in.
I look around and find this unsavory fellow near the hostess station.
I try distracting this vampire (named Vladislaus Straud IV, it seems) so he’ll leave.
Desperately, I even share photos of our last trip to Granite Falls.
He seems…unimpressed.
He finally leaves around 2 am, long after our last diners have gone.
Just as I prepare to close the restaurant, gather the household, and head home, it happens again.
Tonight’s second vampire break-in is courtesy of Ayaka Mori.
She’s the vampire who always vomits several times during every meal.
Is she unhappy that Braddon upgraded our toilets to be self-cleaning?
We can close the restaurant, thankfully, but our household remains stuck here.
Since Akira is awake, Bradly reads his grand-son a story.
Braddon has stopped chatting with Ayaka, thinking it might prolong the break-in.
How many hours have they been standing there on their phones?
Arrrgghhh!
Unaware of the vampire break-in, Akira rejoices over a successful potty session.
I feel bad for the Zanna family, but we’re going to have to put up garlic wards.
Erina is exhausted, but Maaike keeps waking her up to scold her about “inappropriate behavior.”
Maiike stops waking Erina up once Bradly locks the bedroom door. Sheesh.
Maaike: At 6 am, I complete my fifth Good Novel but we’re still stuck at Nacho Mama.
I go outdoors to publish the 10 novels I’ve been hoarding for my Bestselling Author aspiration.
Everyone’s sick and tired of being stuck at the restaurant for 11 hours!
The break-in ends at 6:30 am (!) and everyone finally gets to go home.
Megumi: We open for dinner around 8 pm tonight.
It’s a good thing I hired a third waitress yesterday.
That slacker Ananya doesn’t even bother to show up this evening!
Though the Big Switch occurs at midnight, we stay open.
We’re waiting for Nanny Imane and her loser companion to pay up.
At 3 a.m., we finally give up and close the restaurant.
The next time our simverse gets overpopulated, I’m requesting that Nanny Imane be deleted!
Alas, our fourth week started out so promising but our last two days were the worst ever!
Week 4 Status: Soma Line
Gen2 Heir: Megumi Soma
*Completed requirements:
Career: Writer/Author (Level 10)
Restaurant: Nacho Mama, Resale value: $112,303
*Incomplete requirements
Star rating: 4.0 stars
Gen3 Heir: Akira Soma
Skills: L3 Comm/Imagin; L2 Potty/Thinking; L1 Movement
Author’s Notes
Vampire Break-ins:
I blame them on those horrid diners who stay for 5+ hours without paying/leaving. Does anyone know how to “persuade” them to leave?
Nanny Imane’s meal was already comped and even offering free drinks later didn’t get her to leave. She sat there for 7 hours!
Ideally, I’d like to open the restaurant from 11:00am to 2 pm, then 6pm to midnight. Oh well.
Toddler Skilling:
It’s official! I’m going to age up my toddler heirs as soon as they become a Happy Toddler with two maxed 5-level skills. No more Top-Notch Toddlers in this challenge.
Speed Run:
The end to Top-Notch Toddlers is part of my general desire to move through this challenge more quickly.
I’m switching to a “Speed Run” style for this challenge in the hope of completing it before the various requirements wear me down. 
Thank you for reading!
oshizu's asylum 