"First on our agenda is the school fair. All clubs are required to have an exhibit and the student council is no exception. Indeed, not only do we have to put on an exhibit, but it must be the example to which other clubs will be held in both quality and execution."
"Finally, I've been waiting for this!" I stood up and couldn't resist a smile. "I think we should do a maid cafe!" As I expected, Asami frowned when I revealed my plan. I got some backup elsewhere though.
"An excellent idea, I agree with this" Matsuko smiled and gave me a thumbs up. "I expect that you already have designs for costumes and decorations made up?"
"Of course. This was one of my designs for the council uniforms back then. It's great that I'll finally get to see you wear it, Asami-san" I slid the sketches across the table to the other members. I could see their various reactions, but I wouldn't let them escape this time.
"It's certainly... an interesting design." Hinari smiled bitterly as she looked at the sketch. This design, a two-piece outfit, had a skirt barely long enough to cover the underwear, a bare midriff, and a lacy top that showed off an unreasonable amount of cleavage. Paired with this are the usual maid accessories: gloves, stockings, garters, heels, a headdress, a choker.
"What's with that face, Asami-chan? You look like you just ate something terrible. You should know a lot about this kind of thing, shouldn't you? Why don't you help the president out a bit since you know so much?" Matsuko prodded the grimacing secretary with her finger while appearing to be having a great time.
"...Fine, I guess I can't remain uninvolved if we are to execute this plan. I will contact my family and discuss having them send some pastries over for us to sell at the cafe. But I have a more important question for you, Kogamo. Have you ever been a maid before? It's not like you become one just by putting on a costume. There's a lot more to properly serving a customer than you might think."
It was true. My plans had basically not gone past the point of figuring out what kind of costumes I wanted the rest of the council to wear. "It can't be that hard... can it?"
Asami seemed annoyed. "Why would someone go to a maid cafe? They want to be treated like a princess, have their every need tended to before they even think about needing it, be surrounded by the utmost elegance at all times. Don't treat it so lightly, Kogamo-san. Now, let's do a test." She walked over to the instant tea machine at the side of the room and filled a paper cup with tea. Then she went back to her seat and sat down, crossing her legs and closing her eyes gently. "Come, I've already done the hard part and made the tea, now all you have to do is serve it to me. Impress me with your service."
I clenched my fists but was determined to pass this test. How many ways can you give someone a cup of tea? I noticed when I got to the table that the cup of tea was filled almost to the top. "Wait, you filled it too high, I can't carry it without spilling it" I looked over to Asami who seemed disappointed.
"Of course it's full. The customer paid for a cup of tea, not a half a cup of tea. A proper maid would never spill tea no matter how full the glass is. Now hurry up, I don't have all day." Her snap caused me to twitch a little, but I didn't say anything back.
I carefully carried the cup with both hands, but as expected, a fair amount of it splashed onto the floor before I got across the room. I set it down on the table in front of Asami and gave a slight bow as I backed away, trying to imitate what I'd seen in anime and manga, while saying "Your tea, miss."
Asami picked up the cup of tea and took a sip while seemingly mulling something over. "3 out of 10. A truly amateur performance. This school, and especially the student council, has a reputation to live up to. We would be a laughing stock if this is what we presented at the class fair."
"You can't be serious, I know I spilled a little, but surely this deserves more than 3? It's not like my family owns a chain of restaurants like yours!" I felt targeted unjustly, and lashed out reflexively.
Asami smiled. "Yes, I was hoping you'd say that." She stood up and motioned to her seat, and pushed me down into it by the shoulders. "Matsuko, would you give her a show?"
Matsuko smiled and stood up. "Of course, I'll do you a favor, but I'll expect suitable repayment later." She went over and filled another cup with tea, even higher than Asami did. She grabbed a plate from the cupboard to use as a platter, and in a sweeping motion, put the cup on the plate and spun around in an elegant manner, holding the platter above her with her hand, cup perfectly balanced on top. Looking closely, you could see her even slowly rotating the platter while still not losing a drop of tea from the cup. She was perfectly in control of her body and had an overwhelming aura of elegance as she moved.
With a few confident steps, she quickly approached and fell down on one knee, presenting the plate with the cup right in front of me. I could see the tea in the cup swirling, a single tea leaf spinning around and around in the current. "I have brought the beverage you ordered, My Lady" Her smile was bright and she looked me in the eyes as she said it, which somehow made my heart start to race.
"Y-yes, t-thank you." I stammered out a few words and took the tea from the platter, took a quick sip and put it on the table before looking back down.
"Wow, way to go vice-president, I think she might burn up with how much she's blushing right now." Hinari poked fun from the side while drinking from her own cup.
"Very good, I assume you can see the difference between your performance and the vice-president's. The hard truth is... Everyone else here could do a similar performance, as expected of members of upper class society. You're the only one who would be holding us back." Asami's criticism hurt, but I couldn't really argue when the results were so clear. "As such, I'm going to do you a favor. I'll talk to the manager of one of our pastry shops, and ask her to give you some training. You'll have to satisfy me with your performance at the end of one month, or else there is no way we are going to be able to do this properly."
Matsuko patted me on the shoulder, "Don't worry, we all know who she's talking about. She'll take good care of you and I'm sure you'll pick up the basics in no time. I have faith in your abilities, Ko-chan~" She then turned back to the rest of the room. "Alright, while Ko-chan is learning about maids, we will have to take care of the rest of the work before the fair. Asami, you can forward the costume plans to your family's tailor, they make all the uniforms for your restaurants, right? Naruyo, you're in charge of interior design for the cafe. Hinari, you can go with Asami to pick out the menu and design the advertisements and banners. I will file the paperwork with the school and figure out a good location for us to run it from. Remember, we only have a month, so let's not waste any time."
With this, the student council split up to their own tasks. Asami handed me a piece of paper. "After school, go to this address and ask for Yotaku. She will know you are coming. We don't have much time, so expect to spend both nights and weekends training with her until the fair in a month." I winced when I heard the words "both nights and weekends", but I consoled myself by remembering the prize at the end-- being surrounded by the student council members in maid outfits for three whole days. I would do whatever it takes to fulfill my dreams.