Sota Oshio is a high school student who works as a waiter at his family's café, Café Tutuji. His classmate Koharu Sato has a school-wide reputation for her cold, or salty, demeanor, which has earned her the nickname Salty Koharu. She keeps everyone at a distance with curt replies and an expressionless face, rebuffing all attempts at friendship. Sotas view of her changes drastically when he sees her alone at the café, intensely struggling to take the perfect photo of her pancakes. She is so focused that she does not even notice him. His perspective shifts further when a group of male college students begins to harass her. After Sota scares them off with some unconventional help from his muscle-bound father, the cafes owner, the tough exterior Koharu presents to the world crumbles. Overcome with fear, she drops her icy mask completely and breaks down crying, revealing a shy and unexpectedly vulnerable girl. In this moment, Sota learns her secret: she is not cold, but simply terrible at social situations and painfully awkward.

Following this incident, a different side of Koharu emerges, but it is one she shows only to Sota. Away from the judgmental eyes of their schoolmates, she is sweet, clumsy, and surprisingly sincere. The story follows the gradual deepening of their relationship as they navigate the space between their public personas and private realities. Sota, who is kind and adept at social media while working at the stylish café, discovers that Koharu is hopeless at taking pictures. Under the pretense of giving her photography lessons, the two begin to spend more time together. This arrangement masks the true feelings both harbor. Unbeknownst to the other, Sota and Koharu have secretly liked each other since their first meeting in school. This creates a situation of mutually unrequited love, where each believes their affection is one-sided, leading to a series of awkward, tender, and heartwarming encounters as they try to bridge an emotional gap that neither is fully aware exists. The series is a slow-burn romantic comedy that explores first love through the lens of misunderstanding and hidden softness, set against the backdrop of high school life and the comforting atmosphere of the Oshio family café in Sakuraba City.