"Hi! Two servings of the Moe-Moe Heart Omurice are ready. Princess Bamboo, please bring them to Seat 3."
"Understood. Also, Ryougi-san, I am the class representative!"
"Don't talk back. Right now you're just a maid! How dare you disobey the butler?"
"Ugh…"
Although there was no definitive reason proving that the status of a maid was necessarily lower than that of a butler, under Yutsuki's forceful tone, Saoto Natsutake was left speechless for a mont and could only reluctantly carry the dish to the front counter.
"Ryougi-san, Seat 7 needs one each of the Choco-Choco Chocolate Sundae and Sweet Strawberry Sundae."
"Ryougi-senpai, Seat 8 and Seat 9 need special fried rice—three servings and four servings respectively."
"Yutsuki-chan, Seat 5 wants another order of tomato pasta."
"Understood. Please wait a mont."
With a simple reply, Yutsuki worked as smoothly as flowing water, moving at such incredible speed that it seed as though afterimages could be seen in the kitchen.
September 23rd, Saturday—the long-awaited day when Tenou Festival officially began for the high school students of Tengu City.
Among the nearby first and second halls in the shopping arcade, the main sections were set up as food-related simulation booths. The third and fourth halls featured all kinds of research presentations, haunted houses, and other traditional festival attractions.
The second hall where Yutsuki was stationed held an important base that would determine whether Raizen High School would win or not—the food stalls.
And here was the café called "Maid Café ☆ RAIZEN," proposed by the trio Ai, Mai, and Mii from Class 2-3 and jointly organized with Class 2-4, where beauties selected from the entire school had opened a booth.
However, unlike the maid outfits of pale blue and black worn by the others, Yutsuki was dressed in a white shirt and a deep-black tailcoat suit, with a matching black tie around her collar. Her chestnut hair was tied into a single ponytail behind her back. Besides the apron worn over that suit for ease of cooking, she really gave off a composed, capable, and heroic air.
In a maid café full of maids, that kind of outfit obviously stood out. And since this was a maid café and not a cosplay café, Yutsuki had been assigned to work in the back kitchen.
Originally, based on the personalities of Ai, Mai, and Mii, there was absolutely no reason for them to keep such a peerless beauty like Yutsuki hidden in the back. But because the high-quality maid outfits she had personally sewn saved a huge amount of the budget, the trio reluctantly agreed to her request and let her work in butler attire.
"Choco-Choco Chocolate Sundae and Sweet Strawberry Sundae complete. Seat 3, please!"
"Tomato pasta for Seat 5 completed!"
"How much longer for the fried rice? Has the seven-serving order been finished?"
"N-Not yet? It'll probably take a bit more…"
"Seat 8's four servings are mine. Finish them within fifteen minutes!"
"U-Understood!"
As a result, even if Yutsuki wanted to switch into a maid outfit and take the role now, the trio would absolutely kneel and beg her to stay in the kitchen.
"Yo yo~ Yutsuki-chan! Working hard, huh~"
"…Looks like things are going very smoothly, Yutsuki."
"Yo~ Yoshino! Yoshinon! Oh! And Reine-san too!"
Just after she completed the work in hand, a familiar lighthearted voice rang out beside her. Looking up, Yutsuki saw Murasa Reine, the Fraxinus analyst and also Shido's class vice horoom teacher, together with the little girl Yoshino, who was wearing a straw hat and had the rabbit puppet called Yoshinon on her left hand.
"Um… Sorry for interrupting you while you're working…"
"It's fine. I just happened to have a little free ti."
Yutsuki waved off the apology. Replacing Yoshino, the rabbit puppet Yoshinon laughed loudly and exaggeratedly.
"Yawawa~ Sorry, Yutsuki-chan! Yoshino really wanted to co see Shido's work, so she just ca to play~!"
Well… in order to increase the café's popularity, Tohka, Yuzuru, Kaguya… and Shiori-chan—had been placed at the front of the shop as the signboard girls to greet custors. That was Ai, Mai, and Mii's idea. In other words, Yoshino had already seen Shiori in the maid outfit…
"Oooh…"
Hearing that, Yutsuki's face took on a aningful smile. She raised her thumb toward Yoshinon and said, "Very cute, isn't she=w=."
"Um… yes."
Perhaps troubled by Yutsuki's words, and perhaps understanding what Yutsuki ant, Yoshino's cheeks gradually turned red, but in the end she obediently nodded.
The feeling of a parent being praised for their child by another parent welled up in Yutsuki's heart, and she smiled very happily.
"Good, good=w=! Yoshino is such an honest good child! What would you two like today? It's on !"
"Yo yo~ As expected of Yutsuki-chan, this is so amazing service~"
"…Much appreciated…"
In the end, because the puppet Yoshinon had no organ for eating, Yoshino and Reine each ordered a sundae. Yutsuki added extra portions of toppings and cream according to their needs.
In particular, for Reine's portion, Yutsuki added a large amount of syrup and sugar.
"Well then… we'll be taking our leave."
Satisfied, Reine nodded and took Yoshino to go around more.
The short chat ended, and new orders quickly piled up again. Yutsuki soon returned to work.
After a little while, the sound outside the shop suddenly grew noisy. It looked as if sothing had happened with the line outside.
"…I'll go check the situation outside. Leave things here to you for now."
"R-Ryougi chef!"
Ignoring the cries from her classmates as the workload suddenly increased, Yutsuki took off her apron and stepped outside to check.
"Shiori-chan, what happened?"
Standing at the entrance was only Shido, holding so flyers. It looked like the others had gone elsewhere to hand out promotions.
"Um… I'm not really sure. The crowd suddenly started getting agitated."
Shido also looked confused.
At the passageway leading to Hall 1, a densely packed sea of people had suddenly ford. Of course, there were already many people in the venue, but only that area had an abnormally high density.
A mont later, the dense crowd split into two halves, and from the center of that opening, a girl walked forward like Moses parting the sea.
Around her, there was a group of girls wearing the sa pale-blue sailor uniforms. Looking carefully, there were even photographers with television caras following behind her.
From the lineup alone, even if she had been wearing a Super Sentai style mask, Ryougi Yutsuki would still know exactly who she was.
—Izayoi Miku.
As if noticing Yutsuki and Shido's presence, Miku's brows twitched lightly, then she kept her calm pace and walked up to the maid café entrance, smiling.
"Good morning, Shiori-san, Yutsuki-san. It looks like you're very busy here~"
"It's okay. Not nearly as lively as your side."
Surrounded by the crowd, Shido answered while suppressing his unease.
"Hehe, it suits you very well~both Shiori-san's maid outfit and Yutsuki-san's butler suit."
Miku's cute voice rang out. Shido's mood imdiately beca complicated. He himself, despite being male, was forced to wear clothing he would never have touched in his entire life, while Yutsuki preferred the more masculine outfit even more… honestly, Shido had always felt that one of the gears in sothing called "fate" must have broken.
"This is really nice…"
Miku kept examining their outfits. The more she looked, the more satisfied she seed, and she smiled.
"Maybe after Yutsuki-san and Shiori-san beco mine, wearing those clothes all the ti to serve will be fun too."
At the sa ti Miku said that, the crowd gathered around them began to murmur noisily. The TV cara also started filming the three of them… how should one put it, it was an incredibly annoying feeling.
Miku also turned around with so displeasure and said to the cara staff nearby:
[—You're too annoying. Go over there.]
"...!"
The mont Miku spoke, the crowd surrounding her suddenly dispersed. Not only the cara staff, but even the girls who had been around Miku withdrew, leaving only Miku alone.
Without a doubt, Izayoi Miku must have used her 'voice' mind-control ability again.
"Hah, now it finally feels a little cleaner. I should have done this sooner."
"…That's true enough."
Yutsuki let out a resigned sigh and said, "Then, Lady Miku, would you be interested in visiting our maid café and helping raise our sales? By the way, your special discount is… everything off by one hundred percent."
"Uh, um! Yutsuki was joking…"
Hearing the slightly barbed tone in Yutsuki's words, Shido broke into a cold sweat and hurriedly tried to explain.
But Miku's smile did not change. It seed she had not taken it to heart.
"Well… that is certainly a very attractive proposal. But this ti I ca here to invite you instead."
"Invite…?"
Shido tilted his head with so surprise, and Miku answered in a soft, lazy voice:
"I want to have a three person date with Shiori-san and Yutsuki-san."
"…Huh?"
"Forgive , but I refuse!"
Before Shido could understand what Miku ant, Yutsuki imdiately rejected it with a cold expression.
"Shiori-chan and I are both working right now. We don't have any free ti."
However, even after being refused so directly, Miku showed no sign of giving up.
"Ah… then I'll go talk to your managers. I'm sure they'll be willing to arrange so free ti for you—"
It sounded like a kind offer of help, but if it were this girl, "request" would probably instantly beco "command."
"I'm sorry, but that kind of thing…"
Just as Yutsuki was about to refuse, Kotori's voice suddenly ca through the earpiece.
"Yutsuki-nee, don't reject her too directly. If you provoke Miku too much, the consequences probably won't be good. And besides, she rarely makes an invitation like this—there's nothing wrong with using this chance to raise her favorability. After all, if we don't reach a certain level of favorability, even if you win the competition, we still won't be able to seal Miku's spiritual power."
"Guh—"
Yutsuki was montarily speechless. Indeed, Kotori's reasoning was perfectly sound. Even if you got the ticket to the amusent park, if the amusent park itself was closed, there would be no point at all. Though she was annoyed, this clearly was not the ti to act on emotion.
"…Shiori should be able to ask for so free ti, but if I leave, it'll probably have a big impact on the shop's operations, so I won't be leaving."
This compromise was directed both at Kotori and at Miku.
"Mmm… that is a bit disappointing, but if Yutsuki-san says so, then I'll have to give up, I suppose—"
With a slightly regretful sigh, Miku pulled Shido's hand and smiled.
"In that case, then we can only go on a date with the two of us—"
"Eh… wait!"
Before Shido could answer, Miku had already pulled him toward another booth.
"…Haa—fuu—"
After taking a deep breath and expelling the faint irritation in her heart, Yutsuki's expression beca serious again as she returned to her work station.
"…Ryougi-san, did sothing happen? You look so disappointed."
At so point later, after clearing up the dishes and cups from a table of custors who had just left, Saoto Natsutake ca to the back and, noticing Yutsuki's sowhat downcast expression, asked with concern.
"Nothing…"
Yutsuki replied without looking up, while continuing to cut vegetables.
Natsutake tilted her head in confusion, then seed to think of sothing and clapped her hands.
"Could it be that because Shiori-san went off to rest, you're dissatisfied that you can't secretly take pictures?"
Smack—!
With a loud crash, the cutting board in Yutsuki's hands split in half together with the tomato on it.
"W-What are you saying, Princess Bamboo?! I-I-I-I've never taken secret photos or anything like that!"
Rarely, the normally composed and calm Yutsuki was now so flustered that she actually stamred.
"I am the class representative!" After almost reflexively correcting that again, Natsutake said with so confusion, "But every ti there's a break after you finish cooking, Ryougi-san, don't you secretly take out your cara and aim it at Shiori-san…?"
"Mmgh—"
Unleashing a portion of her extrely low-level Realizer uniform, Yutsuki cut off the communication with Kotori through electromagnetic waves and, almost imdiately, covered her class rep's mouth and dragged her into the rest room.
User Comments
0 comments from readers