“So then.”
I stood in front of Ameno Yotsuba, still holding the order notepad in my hand.
Honestly, this scene looked completely wrong no matter how you saw it.
Inside the maid café, I was wearing a specially designed little devil-style maid outfit, my expression stiff like it had been coated in paste.
Meanwhile, the man sitting in front of me looked like he belonged in a strategic conference room or at the core stronghold of a BHAO territory.
“May I take your order… Master?”
I tried to make my voice sound as normal as possible.
At the very least, I didn’t want it to tremble with the obvious I want to disappear right now vibe.
Ameno Yotsuba looked up at me.
His gaze wasn’t that of an otaku admiring his favorite maid, nor was it filled with simple mischievous malice.
“I’ll have the highest-spec set on your menu.”
Ameno Yotsuba seemed to be holding back a laugh, forcing his words to sound more dignified.
I subconsciously lowered my head and glanced at the menu description.
Moe Moe Maid Set That Steals Your Heart ♡～
The set included:
Omurice Spellcasting
Personally Feeding the Master
Maid Companion Chat
“…”
I fell silent.
More accurately, my brain briefly entered low-power escape-from-reality mode.
“Do I have the option to refuse?”
I looked up, trying to sound firm, but my soft, milky voice didn’t carry much conviction.
“No.”
Ameno Yotsuba replied coldly, as if rejecting something extremely important.
“If you refuse,”
The corner of Ameno Yotsuba’s mouth curved upward slightly.
“I will complain to Shop Manager Kuroha Aoi that Yorumi-chan refused service.”
“According to the café’s rules, Yorumi-chan’s pay might be completely canceled.”
…I see.
So this is how a KING exerts his rule.
Overbearing. Tyrannical.
“I mean…”
I sighed inwardly while keeping a blank expression on the surface.
“Do you always screw over your own subordinates like this?”
“And right now, I’m your only subordinate.”
“By relationship, I should already count as your trusted retainer, right?”
I paused.
“TRUSTED RETAINER!”
Ameno Yotsuba glanced at me.
There was no displeasure at being challenged in that look.
Instead, it carried a hint of… amusement, like he was observing an interesting toy.
“But isn’t it better than a certain famous Night Witch pretending to be a boy at school?”
At that moment.
My brain completely shut down.
I double-checked whether the maid café’s list contained any information that could have sold me out.
There wasn’t.
Which meant… this guy had watched my match?
The air seemed to freeze for a second.
But soon after.
The noisy clamor of the maid café filled my ears again.
Laughter, camera clicks, conversations.
This layer of sound became the perfect cover.
“How did you find out?!”
I whispered urgently.
Ameno Yotsuba didn’t answer my question. He simply looked at me quietly.
His gaze wasn’t oppressive, yet it left me nowhere to hide.
So—I had no choice but to give in.
Continuing to dodge would only make me pay a more humiliating price later.
The omurice was served.
I stood in front of him.
I raised both hands.
“To make the omurice delicious, it needs love and magic♡～”
“Moe, moe, magic♡～”
In that moment.
I could clearly feel a certain part of me called “male dignity” being marked by the system as an optional sacrifice.
After the spellcasting ended.
I picked up the spoon, hesitated for a second, then blushed furiously.
I couldn’t look directly at Ameno Yotsuba.
With my eyes half-squinted, I brought the spoon with an “appropriate amount” of omurice to his mouth.
Ameno Yotsuba ate it without hesitation.
“Not bad.”
He said.
“The movements are a bit stiff though. Practice more. You’ll have chances to feed me again in the future.”
“…Shut up.”
I replied in a low voice.
After the procedure was finished, I sat down beside him.
Playing the role of a “companion chat maid.”
Honestly, compared to feeding him earlier, this stage made me feel even more uncomfortable.
Because now I had to face this person at close range.
“So.”
I started.
“What’s your reason for coming here?”
“It can’t possibly be just to make fun of me, right?”
Ameno Yotsuba leaned back slightly.
“I watched your match.”
He said.
“It was brilliant.”
“Especially the second form.”
“Dawn Witch.”
“Your character is quite special. With that second form, you essentially have two completely different skill sets.”
“That makes you much more versatile in battle.”
His tone was calm and objective, like he was reviewing a high-level match.
“But I don’t understand.”
He continued.
“Why are you pretending to be a Tier 0 ‘UNKNOWN NAME WARRIOR’?”
At that moment.
I realized something.
“You didn’t know.”
I said softly.
“You didn’t know that the male Yae Yoruichi and the Night Witch are the same person?”
I was somewhat surprised by this result.
It seemed PROGRAM TAMPER hadn’t sold me out.
He didn’t respond immediately.
He simply looked at me with those deep eyes before speaking.
“You don’t need to be nervous, Yoruichi. Communication between a KING and his TRUSTED RETAINER requires honesty. The fewer secrets between us, the smoother our future cooperation will be.”
I took a deep breath.
I leaned closer to him.
Under the cover of the maid café’s noise, I quietly confessed everything in a very low voice.
About how I was originally a boy.
About the BUG incident in THE NIGHT THE DAWN.
About the secret behind the Night Witch account.
About how I was still living as the male Yae Yoruichi at school.
And.
Why I could only use the completely empty “UNKNOWN NAME WARRIOR” account as a disguise.
After I finished.
I realized.
I felt unexpectedly relieved.
“…Do you think I’m a pervert?”
I asked softly.
“If you think I’m disgusting, you can kick me out of your territory conquest plan.”
“I’m used to it anyway.”
That was the truth—and my usual way of escaping.
I had always been the one who got abandoned.
Ameno Yotsuba stood up and looked down at me.
In that moment—his aura completely changed.
“If a king,”
He said.
“Cannot face his subject’s honesty.”
“Then he doesn’t deserve to be called a proper king.”
He reached out his hand.
“I accept your confession.”
“And.”
“I will regard you as my one and only subject.”
“My one and only TRUSTED RETAINER.”
His domineering presence washed over me like a gust of wind.
My brain froze for a long moment before I finally managed to squeeze out the simplest words.
“Thank you…”
I meant it from the bottom of my heart.
“Thank you for not abandoning me.”
“Let’s get down to business then, my cute little Yoruichi maid.”
Ameno Yotsuba suddenly changed the subject.
“Your fighting style relies a bit too heavily on skills.”
“Even though BHAO is a game.”
“Its level of realism has far surpassed ordinary games.”
“Especially in the time-slowed environment of THE NIGHT THE DAWN.”
“Many players who have reached KING level, along with their trusted retainers, can already defeat the vast majority of opponents without using skills at all.”
“To them, skills are trump cards. They won’t use them unless they have to…”
I frowned.
“…Without using skills?”
“Then how do you fight?”
He looked at me.
“That’s why I came here today. PROGRAM TAMPER told me you attend this school, so I came directly.”
That bastard Kiyama Yune indirectly exposed me again!
I mentally noted this down, then continued asking.
“Is there a method?”
Immediately after, Ameno Yotsuba gave an answer that nearly made my jaw drop.
“Do you know that you can raise your level in BHAO?”
Level, not Tier.
At that moment, my heartbeat quickened slightly.
BHAO.
This game that the world acknowledged as having “abandoned the level system.”
Yet he used this most basic concept from traditional MMOs.
Level.
A concept that determined a character’s base attributes.
What people criticized about MMOs was that if you leveled up fast enough, you could crush other characters purely with stat advantages.
BHAO’s gameplay was designed around removing the level system and replacing it with the Tier system.
Everything else relied on the player’s own skill.
But now, Ameno Yotsuba was proposing this nearly boundary-breaking concept.
Level.
Ameno Yotsuba seemed to notice my confused expression and continued.
“The ‘level’ I’m talking about isn’t the kind you raise by killing monsters. After all, BHAO isn’t a traditional MMO.”
“It is achieved through training, increasing your mastery over the character model itself.”
“Thus enhancing strength, agility, speed, and magic power.”
After hearing Ameno Yotsuba’s words, I fell into a brief silence.
In my mind.
Countless possibilities flashed by.
Perhaps “UNKNOWN NAME WARRIOR” wasn’t a trash character at all. Maybe it was a class that needed to work in tandem with level.
However, that character had already disappeared.
My speculation could only stop there.
“Alright, since that’s the case.”
Ameno Yotsuba suddenly stood up.
“After school, come do special training with me.”
“Our target is the N3 District BOSS—EVIL MASK DIVISION.”
“I need you, Night Witch Yoruichi. Therefore, I also need a stronger version of you.”
I looked up at him.
This time, I didn’t choose to run away.
“…I’ll go.”
“But.”
I added in a low voice.
“Next time, don’t come to my school just to mess with me!”
My words brought the serious atmosphere back to the lively maid café once again.