When the final bell rang, I followed the directions and arrived at a small but very fancy looking pastry shop. Inside, I was met with a long glass display case filled with various pastries and a few tables and booths spread around the remaining space. Two tables had people sitting at them, and there was one girl in a maid outfit handing a small plate with a slice of cake on it to a customer. A woman wearing more standard manager's clothing stood behind the counter writing on a notebook. As I approached the counter, she looked up at me and smiled.
"You must be the fairy girl. The young miss said I wouldn't be able to mistake you, and I guess she was right." I didn't seem to understand immediately, so she gestured towards my clothing and I suddenly remembered that my current uniform was quite unique.
"Ah...that's..." I suddenly felt embarrassed again after getting used to the uniform for a few months.
"No need to get flustered, I didn't mean anything about it. Let's get started right away, I'll show you around the store, since you'll be working here for a while." She led me around the counter and through the door into the back.
I followed her around to see the kitchen, storage, break room, office, and changing rooms, which were all roughly how I expected them to be. After the tour, she brought me to the changing room, and guided me to a locker with an empty nameplate. "You can use this locker while you are working here. The young miss sent me the designs you made, and she sent over the sample set of clothes that the tailor girl on your council made, so you can immediately start work with it today. Why don't you try it on and I'll do a quick examination of your current skills before I plan out your course of learning."
I opened up the locker and saw the design I had sketched earlier inside. "But... this design wasn't for me, it was for the others."
"Our tailor isn't magical, she only got the designs today. Don't worry, the other girls will have their outfits in time for your fair. Now hurry up and get changed." She headed for the door to give me a bit of privacy.
"Wait, I meant, couldn't I wear a uniform like the other girl I saw outside while I'm training? I'm not sure I'm ready to---"
The manager, Yotaku, came up and put her hand on my head. She was relatively tall, around 170cm, so I barely even reached up to her chest. "Miss Kogamo, do you think I keep uniforms around in your size? Grow at least another 20cm and maybe you'll fit into one of the other girl's spare uniforms. Don't even ask about your school uniform because, while cute, it doesn't really match my cafe's aesthetic at all."
I stood there with the skirt in my hand, still hesitating for a few seconds before she continued. "You designed the costume in the first place, so I don't understand why you don't want to wear it. Either way, if you're not gonna get changed, then we can't continue your training. It's no trouble to me if you don't want to go through with it, I'm only doing this as a favor to the young miss."
Based on what I know of Asami, she would never cooperate with the rest of the cafe plan if I bail on the training from the start. If I didn't want to waste my efforts so far, I needed to just deal with this until she's satisfied with my progress. Besides, no one I know even comes to this shop, so no one will see me, right? "Fine, just give me a minute to get changed and we can start your lessons."
"Good. I'll await you in my office, don't keep me waiting too long, dear." She left and closed the door to the changing room on the way out. With a deep sigh, I reached behind my back and started loosening the corset back of my tutu. A few minutes later, it slid to the floor and I hung it up on a hangar in the locker. My school uniform was slightly laborious to put on and take off due to all the laces and fasteners, but I had gotten used to it by now and was fairly quick to loosen the boots and gloves and put them in the locker along with all the accessories.
The maid outfit was much easier to put on, considering it was two pieces and mostly held up by elastic instead of laces. When I reached the boots, I noticed they weren't quite the way I designed them. There was a small note tucked into one of the boots. "Kogamo, Since you're probably already used to them due to your normal uniform, I changed the boots for your maid costume to ballet boots. I hope they are more comfortable than the lower heels you had designed. --Asami"
"Asami-chan, let's talk about life when I get back to school..." I muttered to myself as I laced the boots up to my ankles, but I didn't have too many problems, since I was already used to them from my school uniform. With a quick adjustment of my hairband, I was ready to go, and found my way back to the office. Manager Yotaku was working on her laptop facing away from me, so I spoke up from the door, "I'm ready..."
Yotaku turned around and smiled "My, what a unique body shape. That costume looks adorable on you, I think you have great taste in design, dear." She came over to me and took a look around. "Well, I don't know why you were so reluctant before, but let's get started right away. Go get a plate from the counter over there and serve it to me like you would if I was a customer. She sat down at a coffee table and crossed her legs.
My second attempt was not much better than my first. After seeing my performance, Manager Yotaku seemed deep in thought. "Well, I suppose it's not terrible from the standpoint of the first attempt by someone with zero knowledge or experience, but there's certainly a lot of work to be done. We'll start with some basics. First, you must always address your clients as My Lord or My Lady. Any other address is unsuitable for general work. Second, you must not stutter or hesitate. This will come in time as you gain experience though, so don't worry about that too much. Third, your movements are far too unsteady and lack coordination. We'll need to train your balance and control so that you do not spill a drop no matter what happens."
"Follow me, dear." She led me to the back of the storeroom where there was a long plank about ten cm wide which stretched the length of the storeroom, around twenty to thirty meters. "This balance beam will be your first training aid and your new best friend. Your first goal is to be able to walk from end to end on this beam without falling off a single time. Why don't you give it a try for about thirty minutes, and then I will come back to check on you?" She smiled and gave a little wave before going back to the front of the store.
I looked at the beam and took a step onto it. Standing there I could feel my balance was a bit unsteady, especially on my ballet boots. Silently cursing Asami's "helpfulness", I took a few steps along the beam but only made it a few steps before I lost my balance and stepped off. It was clear this was going to be a slow process. I stepped back on and used my arms to help balance as I tried to remember the feeling of balance.
* * *
"How are you faring, Kogamo?" Roughly thirty minutes later, Yotaku came back to check on me. While it wasn't what I'd call great progress, I was still able to get about ten steps on the beam before losing my balance. "Hmm, progress is progress, you can't become an amazing talent overnight. Let's give this a break and try another exercise."
She pointed at a line painted onto the ground next to the beam. "Stand here, arms out." After I followed her instructions, she took out a thin book about 50 pages and held it above my head. With a smile, she let the book go, and it immediately fell off of my head onto the ground. "It's a simple task. Walk from here to there without letting the book drop a single time." She pointed to the other end of the line near the wall of the storeroom. "If you let it drop, pick it up yourself. You know where I'll be if you need something."
Before she had even left the room I had already tried several times to balance the book on my head. "This is impossible, who could do this?" My grumble must have reached her ears because she turned around and came back to me and smiled.
"Watch and learn, I'll only show you this once." She snatched the book from my hands and put it on her head, where it stayed there. "The important part is that no matter how your body moves, you must keep your head stable." She took a few steps before sprinting off towards the end of the storeroom, doing impressive leaps, gentle pirouettes, and other types of ballet dance moves. Despite her vigorous movement, her head stayed stable and the book was still on her head when she got to the end of the room. After reaching the end, she danced and skipped her way back and stopped in front of me, grabbing the book as she bowed deeply. "See? Easy as pie. Keep up the good work, dear, all it takes is a bit more effort." She gave me a wink as she dropped the book into my hands again.
* * *
I made even less progress with the book drill than I did the balance beam. I could barely keep the book on my head while slowly turning my head left and right. I was saved from my misery by Yotaku-sensei coming back to show me the next exercise. This time I had to move a cup filled with water from one table to another without losing any water along the way. After that, memory lessons, so I could improve my ability to remember orders from multiple people without forgetting them. After that, facial control and determination lessons, where I had to stare into Yotaku's eyes without looking away or losing my smile.
"So far you've done quite well, Kogamo-chan. This is the last lesson for the day. Have you ever seen those guards at famous places? No matter what goes on around them, they always focus on their duties. Even if someone comes up and waves in their face, they will not blink or respond at all. Their entire body is always under full control." She grabbed my hand that was idly playing with the lace of my skirt. "This is what I mean. A proper maid will never let her hands and arms wander around when she is not using them for something. This kind of thing will distract the guests and important customers, so we must make sure to keep our bodies under control."
"Alright, stand up, I'll show you a few common positions people might hold their hands." She pulled me to my feet and had me stand up straight. "First, cross your hands in front of you like you were shaking your own hands." I tried the position which felt fairly natural. "Now, I want you to hold still and not move for two minutes while I make a cup of tea." She turned around and started making her tea while I tried to hold still. This was far harder than I thought it would be, and I was already nervous, so I unconsciously started to wring my hands a bit.
"Hmm, this position won't work, clearly. Let's try it again, but this time put your arms straight at your sides." I adjusted my arms, but I still couldn't hold still for two minutes. "Try holding your hands behind you, like you did in front. Soldiers often use this kind of idle position, so it is fairly natural and common." I tried holding my hands behind my back but right where my hands rested was a crink in the fabric. While I was trying to smooth it out, Yotaku-sensei sighed and sipped her tea. "I've never seen someone with such anxious hands like yours. I'll have to think about what to do with you. For now, let's head up front and have a snack. You've worked hard today. You should also meet your coworker, since you will be working alongside her for a while."
She led me back to the front and let me pick out one of the cakes to try. While I was eating that, the other maid came over and introduced herself. "Aya, this is Kogamo-chan, who will be helping here for a few weeks as training. Please get along with her." "Nice to meet you, Kogamo-chan! I love your costume!" She did a bow while holding her tray and waved before going back to work. I didn't even get a chance to tell her that I didn't intend to wear this costume myself... maybe next time I'll make it clear.
After helping clean up and close the store around midnight, I headed home and flopped onto my bed, exhausted. Within seconds, I was out like a light, without even changing out of my uniform.