"She's doing well, isn't she?" Hinari whispered into Matsuko's ear as they slacked off in the corner. "You'd never guess she was in tears on the floor a few hours ago. What a quick rebound time for that girl."
Matsuko nodded in response. "If she wasn't like this, I wouldn't be anywhere close to as interested in her. Even though, at the beginning, I just wanted to mess around with her a bit, I've started to think of her as one of my own pretty quickly since then."
"Is that why Asami is dressing as a maid at the dorm lately? She looks absolutely miserable every time I see her." Hinari asked the question she's been curious about for a few weeks.
"She meddled too much. Have you seen that silly way Ko-chan holds her arms nowadays? That'd be part of Asami's sabotage. She's also the one that sabotaged the package with Ko-chan's maid outfits right after I told her we were going to actually wear them. She's recovered some of her pride now that she can sit down again after her punishment a few weeks ago, but I can easily crush it again if she doesn't start listening to my commands. If she can't get over grudge against Ko-chan, she's gonna wish all she had to do was wear a cute maid outfit around the dorm."
"Well, as much fun as it is to watch Ko-chan try and handle six tables on her own, shall we help out a bit again?" Matsuko finished her drink and went back in to help deal with customers.
* * *
"Ughh....I'm so tired...." I slumped down at a table with a bottle of water in front of me.
"Nice work today, Ko-chan~ Everybody loved you! Look at this!" Hinari held up her phone with the school's discussion wall on it. She scrolled past endless pages of "Class president was so cute!" "You HAVE to go visit the school council's cafe, they have the cutest maid!" "My class president can't possibly be this cute" "Sisters, I doubted, but I've seen the light!"
I'm not sure what's more embarrassing, putting on the show, or listening to non-stop compliments from everyone around while doing so. "I don't want to see this, I want to see tall, sexy beauties in maid costumes!" I waved my hands around while leaving my head square on the table.
Hinari chuckled, "Oh, we all know. I was looking forward to putting on a little show for you too. Next time we'll check the costumes before the start of the event, okay? With enough time to get replacements if something goes badly."
"..Yeah.. Thanks for the encouragement.. I know it's no one's fault.." After this I closed my eyes and quickly fell asleep.
* * *
The next two days were even busier than the first, once word got around everyone wanted to take the chance to come see the student council's little maid with the flexible arms and her dashing butler friends. By public demand, they even opened up a photo booth to take pictures with Ko-chan, and the line for pictures was even longer than the line for cakes. Some of the patrons even tried to match Kogamo's arm position, but none of them were flexible enough to even come close.
After a whirlwind three days, the cafe finally closed its doors to a chorus of disappointed fans who desperately wanted to get one last cake or photo.
Naruyo locked the cash register and smiled "Success. We made tons."
"Yeah. We made over thirty times as much as the council did last year during the fair. This is enough to not only fund our activities, but also enough for us to do some special trips or events along the way. It's all thanks to Ko-chan's idea." Hinari rubbed my shoulders, but I was too exhausted to react. "Speaking of extra money, here's something you may be interested in, Ko-chan. You know that CEO, who mistakenly got the costumes you designed? He liked them so much that he decided to order more for the rest of his staff, and the tailor sent you her portion of the commission as an apology for screwing up the package. It's quite a bit of money."
"Hmmmm...." I was only sort of paying attention, but with extra money, it seemed like I would be able to enact some of my other ideas a bit sooner than I first imagined.
"Well, this has been a fun pity party, but since we're done, I'm out of here." Asami, who had already changed back to her school uniform, dropped her butler uniform on the table and left the room without another word.
Hinari frowned with disgust. "Really? Abandoning the cleanup like this? How petty."
"A glutton for punishment. I guess she wants to spend another few days unable to sit properly." Matsuko's eyes glinted with annoyance. "I'll deal with her later. For now, let's let Ko-chan sleep while we clean up the other room."
* * *
"And that summarizes the current finances and upcoming events for the student council" Asami finished her speech, but with a visible snarl, and she kept shifting around during the speech. "Next up... Hinari will describe our plans to support the upcoming track meet with the 16th District." Despite saying this, she made no movement to go back to her seat.
"Are you going to sit down, then? Asami?" Hinari sounded concerned, but she clearly knew that Asami would not be sitting any time soon. ".....I'm good, my legs are falling asleep, so I'll just stay standing for a bit." She forced a smile and bowed slightly.
"Of course. So, as mentioned we have a track meet soon...."
* * *
"Ko-chan." Matsuko called to me after the meeting as I was getting ready to leave. I looked over curiously, "Yes? Do you need something?"
"I just had to ask. It's been a week since the maid cafe, you know? You don't have to act like a maid anymore." Matsuko looked at me, concerned.
"What do you mean? I don't feel like I've been acting like that though?"
"Ko-chan. You're still holding your arms behind your back ever since the cafe. That isn't even a real thing maids do, it was just a joke."
"Hmm. Well, even if that's true, I've already gotten used to it. It feels uncomfortable to hold my arms in other positions by now. I guess all I can say now is... Ha ha, they got me."
Matsuko, normally unflappable by anything, didn't have any response to this turn of events. Not only was she not mad about the trick, but she was also going to keep it up from now on just because? She was annoyed because Asami's sabotage worked better than she ever imagined it would, but there was nothing she could do about it now. She couldn't force the girl to stop doing it, could she?
"...Fine, do what you want but also, you've called me My Lady three times so far this week."
I blushed again when she said this. "Ah.. that is... When you get serious... you're so cool I can't help but let it slip out. I'm sorry, My Lad---ah" I blushed even harder when I caught myself doing it again.
Matsuko blinked, trying to comprehend what she just heard. Was she just... confessed to? She closed her eyes that were starting to ignite with white fire and focused her thoughts before opening her clear eyes again. "How do I even respond to that? Regardless, if you keep calling everyone My Lady, people are going to completely forget that you're supposed to be the student council president."
Hmm... I hadn't thought about it that way. "Very well. I'll endeavor to only call you that in private, then." I giggled and bowed, then left the room, running off to head home.
"Well, well, Matsuko, stunned speechless twice in one conversation, I've known you my entire life, but who would have imagined this day would come for you too?" Hinari, who had been quietly browsing her phone in the corner, finally looked up and poked fun.
"What do you want, Hinari?" Matsuko seemed much less amused than Hinari did.
"Nothing, at all. Just musing that if even our impenetrable ice queen can have her armor penetrated by someone, then maybe there really is someone out there for all of us." She continued to poke fun.
"Sounds like there's a second person on the council that's aching to stay standing for a while." She glared at Hinari unkindly.
"Oh no, It's nothing like that, Ma-chan, I'm sincerely happy for you! I'll just see myself out now~" Hinari quickly fled the room before she caused more problems for herself.
"Hmm... It's a bit annoying, but she's right. I can't seem to keep my mind off of her lately." As she sorted out her feelings, her phone buzzed. She picked it up, glanced at the message, then smiled.
"Even the world itself is helping me, huh? What timing. I guess it's time to move to the next step of the game." She picked up the phone and dialed a number while her eyes slowly burned with white flame.
"Hello, yes, I was just told that her room in the dorm is finally ready, you can inform her to move in whenever she wants. Thanks."