“Let’s go to the maid cafe to recharge first, and… have a coffee while I’m at it. I really don’t want to wander around aimlessly like a headless fly, nor do I want to ask for directions one by one.”
Yuuma Tsugumu sighed, then slowly walked up to the door of ‘Soft Cat Cafe’.
His hand hovered over the push-handle, his heart still hesitant.
After all, he had never been to a maid cafe before.
This was his first time in his life!
‘It won’t really be like in the comics, will it? The moment I push the door open, a maid will call me “Master”?
Yuuma’s Adam’s apple bobbed involuntarily.
He glanced down at his completely dead smartphone, gritted his teeth, and pushed the door open.
A crisp bell chime sounded, and warm yellow light immediately enveloped him.
The air was mixed with a faint scent of caramel.
The shop wasn’t very spacious, with only a few small wooden tables scattered about, each corner adorned with lace trim and small, cute bows.
The walls were painted a soft creamy white, decorated with some cute paintings and strings of pink fairy lights.
However, almost the instant Yuuma stepped inside, a clear yet somewhat teasing voice came at him:
“Small Fry Master, you’re here?”
It was this one word—’Small Fry’—that completely short-circuited Yuuma’s brain.
‘Huh… what?’
Yuuma locked his gaze onto the maid who had called him a small fry.
Yet, just this one look made Yuuma freeze as if struck by a high-voltage electric shock—
Her skirt swayed gently, adorned with ribbons, an apron, lace frills, and the well-behaved hair clip on her head.
Following that was the breathtakingly beautiful face that made Yuuma suck in a sharp breath.
Those pale pink eyes seemed to speak, yet were filled with mockery.
Although, for some reason, that mockery vanished instantly from the girl’s surprised face, Yuuma was still completely captivated.
‘Can a girl this beautiful really exist?’
At this moment, Yuuma completely forgot the ‘Small Fry’ title the girl had just given him.
Because in the face of her beauty, it didn’t matter at all.
“Um… Small Fry Master…”
The girl’s cheeks were slightly flushed now, and her voice, even more high-pitched and cutesy than when she opened the door, instantly snapped Yuuma back to reality.
“Ah? Oh! Sorry, sorry!”
Coming back to his senses and seeing the slightly shy expression on the girl opposite him, Yuuma instinctively thought he had been staring too rudely and hurriedly looked away.
“Huh?”
Hearing Yuuma’s apology, the girl was taken aback, her eyes seemingly filled with confusion.
But soon, the confusion in her eyes disappeared, replaced by a mischievous, teasing glint.
“Hmph, you’re so slow, Small Fry Master~ Why are you still standing there like a dumb fool? My legs are getting numb from standing. Hurry up and come sit over there with me!”
“Oh, oh?! Got it!”
Yuuma quickly nodded and followed the girl to the seat in the farthest corner.
“Hurry up and look! So slow… Decide what you want to eat quickly! I still have other things to do!”
After Yuuma sat down, the girl went to the front counter to get the menu.
She walked over briskly, then smacked the menu down on the table with a rather rough motion.
But as if realizing it was wrong, she quickly softened the force.
‘Whoa—! How can she be this cute?!’
Although Yuuma picked up the menu from the table, his gaze never left the girl in front of him.
The girl now stood with her hands on her hips, chin slightly raised, but her eyes were evasive.
She seemed unwilling to make prolonged eye contact with Yuuma, her gaze drifting elsewhere from time to time.
‘If I place my order, will she not come over anymore?’
Yuuma looked at the various dishes on the menu, feeling very conflicted.
As he struggled, his eyes involuntarily drifted back to the girl again.
“S-Stop staring! If you keep looking… I’ll… I’ll put a huge dollop of super bitter cream on your dessert!”
“Then I’ll have…”
Yuuma quickly scanned the menu and casually ordered a cream cake and a Raw Coconut Latte.
“Hmph…”
She let out a ‘hmph’ and turned to walk towards the front counter.
‘Whoa, this maid cafe is so interesting?’
Yuuma looked around at the other customers in the shop.
He noticed that the attitudes of the other maids serving the other customers were completely different from the girl who had just served him.
‘Did I hit the jackpot?’
Yuuma glanced at the girl still at the front counter, then took out his charger from his backpack and plugged his phone into the socket under the seat.
“Hey, Small Fry Master, here’s your cake—the coffee will be a bit longer!”
After a short while, the girl set down the cream cake, hugged the menu, and turned to leave.
“Hey—wait a minute!”
Looking at the girl’s small back, a strong sense of mischievousness suddenly sprouted in Yuuma’s heart.
“I’m not ‘hey,’ Small Fry Master. My name is Sakura!”
The girl turned her head and shot Yuuma a glare, then returned to the table.
“Does the Small Fry Master have anything else? I’m very busy!”
“Didn’t you forget something?”
Yuuma pointed at the cream cake with a sly grin.
“?”
The girl looked puzzled for a moment, then showed an expression of disdain.
“Small Fry Master, the coffee will take a bit longer. Didn’t I already say that?”
“Who said it was about that?”
“?”
Hearing this, the girl was even more confused.
She tilted her head, waiting for Yuuma’s next words.
“You forgot to cast your ‘Love Magic’ on the cream cake.”
As soon as these words were spoken, the girl froze completely.
The next second, she lowered her head sharply and glared at Yuuma, her eyes wide.
“Y-You… what are you talking about? What kind of magic is that?!”
The girl’s voice rose sharply, but she quickly covered her mouth in a panic, afraid of being heard by other staff.
Her cheeks puffed up with anger.
“What love magic… there’s no such thing! Who would do something like that for you?!”
She lifted her chin, putting on an extremely disdainful look.
“I… I would never do such an embarrassing gesture! Y-You… don’t push your luck!”
Although the girl was desperately refusing with her words, her body didn’t actually walk away.
She just stomped her feet on the spot.
“Come on~ I remember the sign said ordering a cream cake comes with ‘Love Magic’!”
Yuuma smiled and continued to urge the girl, but she remained unmoved.
“Take a look at the menu if you don’t believe me.”
“…”
The girl obediently opened the menu.
The more she looked, the more her expression crumbled, her face clearly saying, ‘Which idiot made this rule?’
Helpless, the girl slowly turned her face away, mumbled a string of unintelligible incantations in a voice as soft as a mosquito, then quickly made an extremely perfunctory heart gesture towards the cream cake.
“…T-There’s your magic—! Is that enough now? Hurry up and eat your cake, you baka mono!”
After saying that, she immediately turned and ran towards the front counter as if fleeing.