Thud.
I placed a cup of coffee in front of Kagami with a polite attitude.
The demeanor and the atmosphere were somewhat lavishly decorated. We even had coffee beans that showed some effort. Honestly, I can’t tell the taste too well, but the boss recommended it, so it must be good.
As the number of students increased and we prepared for the cultural festival, there was plenty of budget set, which made it all possible.
“So, when does your shift end?”
“…I do not respond to advances toward the maid.”
“Come on, don’t be like that. You’re not going to work all day, right?”
I glanced sideways; it felt like someone might hear us.
They weren’t staring at us weirdly from the next table. Although Kagami spoke formally to me, it didn’t really create an awkward vibe between us.
I wasn’t sure if it was because she saw me as a mom or something, but it was evident that we were close from the start.
“Yeah? Yeah?”
Kagami leaned on her chin, pressing further.
I let out a big sigh.
“…I’ll be done in 20 minutes.”
“Then, I’ll wait until then.”
Even if my mom said something like the main character from a soap opera that passed its prime, I wouldn’t even feel a hint of happiness.
No, more than that, I wouldn’t feel happy even if a guy said it. It would just be annoying.
I grumbled to myself and turned away.
Then, I made eye contact with other maids, who were watching me with very pleased expressions.
The Literature Club Room was spacious enough for all the club members to fit, but it wasn’t exactly generous. Usually, we pushed the desks together to utilize the space somewhat efficiently, but with a few café tables inside, the space usage dropped drastically.
So, we couldn’t fit all the supplies in there, and instead, we rented another classroom to store everything else and take it out as needed.
The hallway was swarming with maids. Outside, Izumi and Kaoru were diligently lining up people, while inside, I was serving alongside Koko, Yuka, and Tsuneda.
We couldn’t stop all the club members from enjoying the festival, even so. And with the space issues in the classroom, we decided to take turns serving.
Izumi and Kaoru… it seemed they wanted to stick around in the Literature Club for their final activities.
After all, they had built up three years’ worth of memories there.
Still, I had to make sure they could enjoy the festival by tomorrow. For now, though, it was a bit tricky to step away with so many customers.
“Get to work, work.”
“Yes, Maid Master.”
Who the heck is the Maid Master here?
I really wanted to retort to Yuka’s words, but ultimately, since I was the one in charge right now, I couldn’t deny it.
*
“Have a good time!”
“We’ll be keeping an eye on things here, so relax!”
“…Thanks for your hard work.”
Mako, Harumi, and Yuuki said in turn. All three were incredibly unique maids.
Moreover, they were wearing those outfits while saying this, claiming it was a kind of commemoration while they wandered around the festival earlier—amazingly, they didn’t get anything dirty.
“Shall we go then?”
Kagami said, filled with excitement.
“Alright, I’ll be back.”
“Yeah, yeah, enjoy yourselves.”
“Eat lots of delicious food.”
Kaoru and Izumi, dressed in maid outfits, waved cheerfully at us, and we waved back as we left.
So, it turned out to be a pretty big group including me, Koko, Yuka, Tsuneda, and Kagami.
In reality, we weren’t too far from each other. Yuka’s dad and grandpa had stopped by earlier, but it seemed like they were satisfied just sitting in the café and taking photos with Yuka rather than wandering around. Watching her grandpa’s slightly bitter smile as he muttered, “Doesn’t seem like there’s anything for me to enjoy here,” made me think there was some truth to that.
Most of what we sold were super sweet things. The limitations in cooking meant we mostly had to use finished products.
It’s true that many seniors don’t particularly care for sweets.
Yuka, of course, didn’t take his words at face value, and she had quietly mentioned to me, “I’m planning to hang out with those two tomorrow.”
Well, spending time with family is essential, after all.
Koko was naturally going to stick with us, and Tsuneda… It seemed she found a friend, but for now, she wanted to hang out more with us, which is why we ended up in this group.
“Hey, look! Those crepes look delicious, don’t they?”
“Shall we go eat?”
Even though they sold cookies that we bought at the café earlier, Kagami had only been sipping coffee. It seemed she wanted to try different things while wandering with us.
Kagami, in a particularly good mood, generously bought crepes matching the number of people in our group.
Since students were making them, it took a little time, but we didn’t have to wait too long.
*
“Yum.”
Since they couldn’t use fresh cream due to spoilage risks, it must have been whipping cream made with vegetable oil.
Still, during festivals, everything tastes better; meaning if it doesn’t taste good, it really is bad.
I felt happy watching Koko, Yuka, and Tsuneda enjoy their food.
“Awesome.”
When I said that to Kagami, she puffed up with pride.
“Then, where shall we go next?”
“How about the haunted house?”
“The haunted house?”
I laughed.
The school’s haunted house has its limitations. The kids couldn’t do special makeup, nor can they utilize an entire building.
Just walking through a darkened classroom decorated sparsely while watching awkwardly dressed ‘ghosts’ popping out and scaring us was about it.
Ah, it’s not that I dislike that. It’s just that usually, when going to a haunted house in places like this, you don’t go expecting to be genuinely scared. It’s about appreciating the effort that went into it and enjoying the school festival.
“Yeah, let’s go.”
As I replied with a smile, Kagami smiled back.
*
Even if it was an awkwardly created haunted house, a haunted house is still a haunted house.
To make it seem somewhat scary, the number of people entering shouldn’t be that high.
Since there were five of us, we split into two and three.
Kagami insisted that at least one of us—either me or Koko—had to go in with her, so in the end, it left me alone with Kagami while Koko went with Tsuneda and Yuka.
Fortunately, the other kids didn’t seem to have any complaints. Koko liked Yuka, and she was fond of her junior, Tsuneda.
Although Koko still preferred to stick with me, it was good to see her learning how to play with others.
“Shall we go?”
Kagami, linking arms with me, said as she moved forward.
With the child-like voice of Kagami, I walked next to her, chuckling.
It was still bright outside. Nevertheless, somehow, they managed to darken the classroom as much as possible with heavy blackout curtains; the room was totally dark unless you caught a glimpse of light sneaking through the cracks.
Making a path with desks and erecting pillars with thick paper to form a wall with cloth required quite an effort—
“Eek!”
Before I could be startled by a suddenly reaching hand through the curtain, I was more surprised by Kagami’s scream from beside me.
Looking up at her, she was clinging to me with a completely unafraid expression.
“Th-this is scary.”
Come on, that’s clearly an act.
Even if a real ghost came out, you wouldn’t even flinch, right?
But… well, it’s one of the ways to enjoy the festival. I had nothing to say about it.
It took just a little over five minutes to make it to the end of the winding path.
Along the way, an unexpectedly popping ghost asked us riddles and rewarded us with candy, and a zombie covered in blood approached us slowly without any significant meaning, with some hands jumping up here and there.
Throughout all of that, Kagami was sincerely amazed, clinging to me.
By the middle, I just gave up and acted surprised with her.
And to be honest, it was pretty fun.
“Thank you for your hard work!”
As we walked out through the curtain of the back door, a female student dressed in a ghost costume greeted us and handed us a commemorative card. It was something like a certificate of surviving the terrifying haunted house.
Kagami received it with both hands, as if it were precious.
“How was it?”
“Better than I expected.”
I didn’t know if it had originality or not, but it surely took a lot of time to decorate the classroom like that.
Just decorating the café nearly left me exhausted; I wondered how much harder that was.
Kagami and I exchanged smiles.
“Yelling my head off felt good.”
Right?
It felt somewhat similar to coming back from karaoke.
After waiting for about another five minutes, the three people who had gone in after us came out.
Yuka, of course, had an expression that showed she wasn’t scared at all, whereas Tsuneda seemed a bit tense. Koko was petting Tsuneda’s head affectionately.
“Good girl, good girl.”
I wonder who she learned that from.
Of course, it would be their mom.
“Did you enjoy it?”
“Yep!”
Koko said that, probably unaware that it was all just a setup to scare us.
Well, it doesn’t really matter, I guess.
Everyone has their own way of having fun.
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