Bella responds.
Is it because she’s worried about getting caught working at a maid café?
Well, that could be it.
“Your Master’s Master.”
Just when I was coming to terms with it.
Bella calls out to me.
“Miss has been practicing making injeolmi bingsu every night to serve to your Master’s Master.”
“Really! Bella! Wh-wh-what kind of nonsense is that?! It was just simple menu practice! There’s absolutely no deeper meaning or selfish intent! Don’t, don’t get the wrong idea!”
Olivia squints her eyes shut and shakes her head.
“Bonaparte tends to stutter when she’s flustered or lying.”
Aris, sitting across from us, speaks in a cold voice.
A black aura emanates from her body.
What’s with Aris now?
“Miss has been getting up at dawn to roast beans and make soybean powder to serve bingsu to your Master’s Master.”
“So I said, that’s not true! Ughhh!! Bella! Are you going to keep saying weird things?!”
Olivia snaps back at Bella again.
“Hmph.”
Aris puffs up her cheeks a bit at that sight.
Sparks fly as Aris and Olivia’s eyes meet.
Suddenly, the atmosphere turns icy.
“Oh my, look at that.”
“Is that a catfight?!”
“The Black Beast must be quite the popular guy!”
“Well, if he came all the way to France to save me and shout that this engagement is off, I might fall for him too. In that sense, the Black Beast might be unexpectedly cool?!”
“Don’t get dazzled by that! You might get enchanted by the Black Beast and end up wearing maid outfits every night, moaning?!”
I hear the extras chiming in.
Isn’t this getting out of hand?
It’s absurd.
“Ah, uh, anyway! Th-th-that was just for menu practice! I-I’ll just give it to you! For experimental purposes! Yes! It’s like a, a, an experimental mouse or something! D-don’t get the wrong idea! Got it?!”
As Olivia stutters and shouts, Bella opens the lid of the tray that she brought over on the cart.
Inside, you can tell at a glance that it’s a carefully made injeolmi bingsu.
The transparent bowl holds white snow-like ice powder, topped with yellow soybean powder, injeolmi rice cakes, red beans, condensed milk, and various toppings.
“This injeolmi bingsu has been specially made after inviting a chef from Korea and careful consideration. I hope it suits your Master’s Master’s taste.”
“So I’m saying it’s not true!!”
Denying Bella’s words again, Olivia blushes and uses one hand to cover her cleavage while placing the bingsu on the table with the other.
“I’ll set the utensils······.”
Just as Aris was about to open the utensil holder.
“Setting the utensils is the job of his personal maid! Chairman-senpai. You’re a ‘guest’, so please enjoy being treated properly.”
Tap.
Olivia’s white hand, emphasizing the personal maid and guest roles, taps the lid of the utensil holder.
She puffs up her cheeks.
“…….”
Aris withdrew her hands with a blank expression.
“Hmph.”
Olivia snorted and placed a spoon in front of me and Aris.
“Just try saying it tastes bad! Ugh… You fool, idiot, sea cucumber, sea squirt, anemone!!”
“The lady wanted me to tell the Master that the rice cake bingsu is on the house.”
“Th-that’s not because you’re particularly cute or anything! I just didn’t want to waste it!”
“Well then, I’ll take my leave. Enjoy your meal, Master’s Master.”
Olivia and Bella duo exited.
Only Aris and I were left at the table.
“This extracurricular activity frequently engages in immoral conduct…”
Aris trailed off.
She poked the rice cake bingsu with her spoon and continued.
“We might need to appreciate the cooking club.”
“No, senpai, that’s a bit…”
“I was just joking.”
Aris smiled faintly.
[Partner, that joke doesn’t sound like a joke.]
I agreed.
Just as I was about to say something to Aris.
“By the way, I’ve never seen this kind of bingsu before. Is this what all bingsus in Korea are like?”
Aris switched the topic.
She seemed fascinated by the bingsu she had never seen before.
After all, Japanese bingsus are just finely shaved ice topped with colorful syrup.
It makes sense she would say that.
“How do you eat it?”
“Just like this…”
In response to Aris’s question, I lifted my spoon and mixed the bingsu.
The various toppings, including soybean powder, rice cakes, and condensed milk, blended with the ice flakes.
“You mix it before you eat.”
Some people just scoop it without mixing, but I prefer mixing it.
“I see. Then I’ll taste it first.”
Aris took a spoonful of the bingsu and put it in her mouth.
“…It’s delicious. This Korean bingsu is quite good.”
Her expression brightened slightly.
It seems the bingsu was a hit with her.
Thinking this, I scooped a spoonful of the rice cake bingsu and tasted it.
It was better than I expected.
Better than the one I bought from the store.
“But where did Yuji and Ishihara go?”
“I’m puzzled too. They must also be part of the cooking club…”
Aris nodded in agreement to my statement.
She seemed curious about the two’s whereabouts as well.
At that moment.
“Master, if it’s about them…”
Suddenly, Makoto’s green hair popped up beside me.
Having changed from her butler outfit into a maid dress, she startled me.
[Kamiyako, I heard you were trained as a professional assassin, and your stealth skills are top-notch. To think you could hide your presence so well that even I didn’t notice… Or is it just that you have no presence at all?]
The Black Prince’s nonsense echoed in my head.
“They’re out handing out flyers.”
“Oh, really?”
Well, of course, someone had to be handing out flyers.
I thought as I shifted my focus away from Yuji and Ishihara.
“Then enjoy your bingsu! Master.”
As I heard Makoto’s farewell, I dug into the bingsu.
It was delicious.
*
At Shuo Hero Academy’s campus.
Along the main road.
A bustling street filled with vendors.
In that place where numerous students were out distributing flyers for their respective classes, two students caught everyone’s attention.
A stunning beauty in a maid dress with black hair, so exquisite she looked like a girl.
It was Yuji, dressed in women’s clothing.
“Come to the cooking club cosplay cafe!”
He faithfully executed his mission.
Even if it meant dressing up as a maid.
At first, it felt awkward, but as time passed, it didn’t feel so bad.
“Kyaaa! So pretty!”
“Hey, could you give me your email address?”
“Is there such a cute girl in our school?”
True to the light novel protagonist cliché, Kurosawa Yuji in women’s clothing was nothing short of a breathtaking beauty.
Kurosawa Yuji’s cross-dressing appearance was nothing short of a stunning beauty.
Naturally, the students flocked to her(?) like clouds gathering in the sky.
“Ah, ahahaha… I can’t share my contact information, but I would appreciate a visit here.”
Kurosawa Yuji awkwardly laughed while speaking.
Beside her, Ishihara Daiki, also dressed as a girl, muttered in a disgruntled voice, “Why do we have to go through all this…?”
Although he was handsome like Yuji, his cross-dressing didn’t quite suit him, making it evident that he was a cross-dressed male maid at first glance.
“Oh my, there’s a cute little one over there. Could you share your email address?”
Thanks to this, he was even flirted with by a muscular cross-dressing man.
“I don’t need it! I said I don’t need it!”
Watching Ishihara flee from the muscular man, Yuji chuckled.
In his line of sight, a poster of Kim Deok-Sung’s anime was plastered to a cherry blossom tree.
The poster featured a strikingly handsome Kim Deok-Sung drawn in the center, alongside the cooking club member.
Behind Kim Deok-Sung, a villain was depicted as a dark shadow.
“Oh right, I had to go to the anime screening. I wonder if Kim is coming?”
Just as Yuji was thinking this, a familiar voice whispered in his ear.
“Nishishishi, oppa. What’s with that look? It’s so funny!”
Yuji turned his gaze forward.
There was the mischievous little girl, Kurosawa Haru, with a playful smile and side-tails.
“Nishishishi. Oppa, I was just wondering what you were up to, and here you are, cross-dressing and handing out flyers? Our oppa looks so good in girls’ clothes. Should I start calling you a cute girl?”
Haru said, patting Yuji’s head.
“Haru, that’s…”
Yuji trailed off.
His face turned red.
While he had accepted the hefty responsibility of being a cross-dressing maid to attract customers, being seen by family was a whole different story.
‘To be caught cross-dressing by my little sister, of all things…’
Yuji despaired inwardly.
The sight of a stunning beauty blushing was a spectacle, but not for Haru.
Whether she knew Yuji’s troubled feelings or not, Haru let go of his head and pretended to gag.
“Ugh. What’s that, oppa? Don’t flush your face. It suits you too well, making it super unpleasant.”
Unlike others, Yuji’s cross-dressing maid outfit didn’t look that great when viewed by his little sister, Haru.
“I’ve been abandoned by Haru…”
Yuji fell into despair and sat on the ground.
“Kurosawa-chan! Where have you gone?”
A familiar voice echoed from a distance.
“What the…”
“Saori?”
Ishihara, who barely won the chase against the muscular cross-dresser, recognized the voice’s owner.
From behind came a red-haired, bespectacled girl in a white gown covering her hands, Ishihara’s younger sister, Ishihara Saori, rushing toward them.
“Why did you leave without me? Where’s the loyalty of the Little Sisters’ Alliance?”
Saori puffed her cheeks.
Although she had run into Haru today by chance, being the same age and both being someone’s little sister quickly bonded them as an undefined duo known as the Little Sisters’ Alliance.
Haru covered her mouth and giggled at the sight.
“Oh, my bad. Saori. Nishishishi. I found some interesting oppas.”
“Interesting oppas? Hieek?! What’s that disgusting outfit, oppa?!”
Saori gasped, looking at Ishihara dressed as a maid.
“Saori just called me disgusting…”
Ishihara, seeing this, sank into despair much like Yuji.
“Well then, if it’s disgusting, just call it disgusting. Saori’s honesty doesn’t know fake compliments.”
Saori adjusted her glasses and said.
“Hang in there, Ishihara…”
Ishihara…”
“Thank you, Kurosawa…”
Yuji pats Ishihara’s back.
At that moment, when the despairing Ishihara was shaking her shoulders…
Zap!
A flash erupts from the katana hung at Yuji’s waist, and a black-haired beautiful girl wearing a maid apron over a kimono appears.
It was Kusunagi.
“Master, don’t worry! No matter what anyone says, this Kusunagi loves every part of you, including your cross-dressing!”
Kusunagi blushes and shyly twirls her fingers.
Her gaze shifts to Yuji.
“K-Kusunagi?!”
Yuji is startled by Kusunagi’s straightforward confession.
“Master. Oh, you look even prettier than Kusunagi! Hehe. It seems there’s nothing you can’t do!”
Kusunagi moves closer to Yuji, lightly touching the hem of her maid dress.
Yuji’s face turns red from Kusunagi’s touch.
Prettier than herself?
She was contemplating whether to take that as a compliment when…
“Hehe? Kusunagi, you’re really enthusiastic aren’t you? Nishi-shishi.”
Haru narrows her eyes.
“…Yes, that’s correct, Miss Kurosawa.”
Kusunagi responds politely to Haru’s words.
For Kusunagi, Haru is the only blood relative of her beloved master, someone to be treated with utmost care after the master.
“Hmph. Who’s your lady? Haru. I feel really bad. Totally displeased.”
But it wasn’t Haru.
Ever since Haru had dared to treat her precious Kim Deok-Sung as gay, she had never liked Kusunagi.
“Miss, did Kusunagi do something wrong? Please forgive me…”
Wahhh.
Kusunagi pretends to wipe her tears with the sleeves of her black kimono.
Seeing that, Yuji’s heart softens.
Even if she’s a spirit, seeing a beautiful girl cry, kind Yuji couldn’t just ignore it.
But Haru is also his precious younger sister.
He couldn’t be harsh with her, not with someone else for sure.
“Okay. Haru. Kusunagi isn’t a bad girl… I hope you two can get along.”
“Absolutely not. I don’t like Kusunagi at all. Hmph. You better try hard on your own. You’re even pretending to cry right now.”
“…I, Kusunagi, will do my best to win your heart!”
Kusunagi stops pretending to cry and resolves herself earnestly.
Just then, as Kusunagi stands determined, Haru turns her head away.
“Whooooa! Is this the transcendent armored spirit? Saori, it’s been a while since I saw you in person! Can I touch it?”
Saori gleams behind her glasses and rushes toward Kusunagi.
“Don’t touch Kusunagi recklessly! Only Master is allowed to touch Kusunagi!”
Kusunagi gasps and jumps into Yuji’s arms, and Yuji awkwardly smiles while trying to hold Saori back when…
“Everyone, can I join too…?”
A voice calls from behind.
Everyone turns to look.
There stands Satou Rena, a green-haired beautiful girl and friend of Hoshino Kasumi.
“Uh, Rena! You’re here now?”
“Saori, what were you planning, leaving me behind?”
Rena, excited for her first outing from the lab in a long time, complains.
“Oh, sorry, sorry.”
“No worries, but where is the animation screening?”
After receiving Saori’s apology, Rena asks.
“Right. Today’s the day for Deok-Sung oppa’s animation screening, right? In our class! Haru, I’m totally looking forward to it!”
Haru grins mischievously.
“Deok-Sung-chan’s animation screening is a big event that I can’t miss as his number one fan! Of course, Saori, who’s also Deok-Sung’s top fan, knows this very well. There’s about an hour and a half until the screening.”
Saori checks the time and says.
“Then we need to get ready and go. Oppa should come along too. Time to guide for the screening.”
Haru looks at Yuji and speaks, having heard Saori’s message.
