Yuki Kurokawa was being led by Qiluo, her heart accelerating like a supercar.
Feeling the warmth radiating from their clasped palms, she secretly tightened her grip a fraction, only to loosen it again, terrified of being found out.
“Our class is just ahead,” she said.
A hand-drawn sign reading “Maid Café” hung over the front door of the classroom, and the doorframe was wrapped in faux vines and a few roses made of ribbon.
She pushed the door open, and the wind chime hanging from it let out a series of crisp, chiming notes.
Inside, customers were already sitting in twos and threes by the windows, flipping through menus, while several of her classmates, also dressed in maid uniforms, took down orders on little notepads.
The girl standing behind the register was the first to spot them, and her order pad almost slipped from her grasp.
Her gaze landed first on Qiluo, then drifted slowly from Qiluo's face to their clasped hands, and finally to her own classmate.
The usually quiet, almost invisible Yuki Kurokawa.
“K-Kurokawa-san? When you said you were going out to meet someone, I thought your sister was coming—”
Staring at their tightly clasped hands, she swallowed the rest of her sentence.
A few other girls in the classroom also noticed the commotion at the entrance.
One girl stopped smoothing a tablecloth mid-motion, while another carrying a tray almost bumped into the corner of a table.
They exchanged glances and whispered in hushed tones.
“Isn't that Tian Gong-san from Class A?”
“Is she dressed as Lightweaver? I heard Class A was doing a Magical Girl theme, but I didn't expect the cosplay to be so accurate...”
“Wait, is she friends with Kurokawa-san? Doesn't Kurokawa-san usually not talk to anyone?”
“That's the transfer student in Class A. I heard Kurokawa-san runs over to Class A every lunch break.”
Yuki had noticed the curious gazes coming from all directions the moment they entered, but she simply led Qiluo to a seat by the window. She pulled out a chair for her, then took a menu from her apron pocket and offered it to her with both hands—a gesture that left her surrounding classmates utterly dazed.
“Your classmates seem to be staring at you.”
“Don't mind them.”
After saying this, Yuki turned and walked toward the register. But after a few steps, she doubled back, pulled a wet wipe from her apron pocket, and bent down to meticulously clean the section of the table in front of Qiluo.
“What would you like to eat? Our specialty is the omurice. We can write on it with ketchup. If you like, we can write something else too.”
Qiluo flipped the menu to the back, then turned it over again. “I'll have the omurice, then.”
Yuki quickly scribbled “omurice” on her order pad. When she finished and looked up, she saw Qiluo was still watching her, so she hurriedly held her pen over the paper again.
“...Anything else? For dessert, we have pudding and cheesecake. For drinks, we have coffee and black tea.”
Yuki held the order pad, softly acknowledged after a long moment, and turned to walk quickly behind the partition.
“I want both the pudding and the cheesecake,” Qiluo said, closing the menu and handing it back to Yuki, looking up at her. “And a caramel latte, with extra sugar.”
Yuki quickly jotted it down on her pad, then looked up again. “A caramel latte is already very sweet. You want extra sugar?”
“I'm in the mood for something especially sweet today,” Qiluo said, resting her chin in her hand and looking at her meaningfully.
Yuki blinked, clearly missing the underlying meaning, but she still nodded seriously and drew a bold “extra sugar” in the remarks column.
She tore off the order slip and handed it to the kitchen, then personally arranged the cutlery and napkins in front of Qiluo before turning to prepare the drinks.
Now, Tian Gong was the only one left at the table.
The girls in the distance sneaked a peek at her, then quickly turned back, whispering to their companions. They had probably recognized her cosplay outfit but weren't sure if they should approach her.
She didn't mind, pulling her gaze back to focus on the neatly arranged cutlery in front of her, which Yuki had placed so carefully.
Suddenly, a muffled squeal erupted from the neighboring table. Qiluo turned her head and saw a girl in a maid uniform drawing a crooked heart on an omurice with a squeeze bottle. Placing the ketchup bottle back on her tray, the maid clasped her hands together.
“Moe moe~ Get delicious~! Master~ Please enjoy~!”
The customer sitting opposite took the spoon and took a bite of the omurice. The girl stood by, her hands clasped to her chest, asking anxiously, “Is it good? Is it good?” Upon receiving an affirmative nod, she hopped on the spot as if she had won the lottery.
Qiluo silently turned back, withdrawing her gaze from the neighboring table.
So maid cafés in this world had this kind of additional service.
The spell that girl just chanted was probably magic to make the food taste better?
Of course, it wasn't real magic, just a performance.
But looking at the customer's expression, they seemed completely healed by it.
If Yuki did that for her too—
She imagined the scene... and almost choked.
With Yuki's personality, she probably wouldn't volunteer to do that kind of performance.
But!
I, Qiluo!
Really want to see it!
A faint clink of cups and saucers came from behind. Yuki emerged from the back carrying a cup of coffee, weaving past several tables as she walked toward her.
The latte art in the cup was a perfect heart, with clean edges and not a single bubble.
She set down the coffee, then lifted a neatly sliced piece of cheesecake from her tray and placed it by Qiluo's hand.
At another table, a maid was drawing a little bear on an omurice with ketchup. After finishing, she clasped her hands and chanted a long spell, making the customer laugh and applaud.
The maid bowed and lightly walked away with her empty tray.
Yuki's gaze drifted in that direction before she quickly snapped it back.
She pursed her lips, her grip on the tray tightening slightly.
The other maids actively interacted with the customers, but from the start of the event until now, she had barely spoken a word except to pour water and hand out menus.
Yuki Kurokawa knew this was standard practice for a maid café, but...
She just couldn't do it.
Just the thought of making those gestures and saying those lines to Qiluo made Yuki Kurokawa's face burn.
Besides, could that kind of performance really make the food taste better?
But...
Would Qiluo want to experience that kind of service too? She seemed to have glanced at the neighboring table just now.
The other customers received such enthusiastic service. If she was the only one who didn't, would she feel left out?
After all, who would want to be served by someone so quiet when visiting a maid café...
But I really can't do it. It's too embarrassing.
No, wait.
If it's Qiluo... maybe it wouldn't be a performance.
What if I was being sincere?
What if I wasn't doing a “get delicious magic,” but truly wanting her to be happy?
Would that make it different?
Rate on N.U.
