"It should have started already."
After registering at the school gate, Shizuka took Yuzuru's hand and walked into the school.
"Miyamura Auntie, should we go find Sis first?" Yuzuru checked the camera hanging around her neck.
After confirming there were no issues, she aimed at the lively crowd and pressed the shutter.
Shizuka looked at the campus, which was even more bustling because of the School Festival, and said casually, "Let's walk around first. See if there's anything interesting. Tsuna's class is hosting a Maid Cafe. We can have lunch there later."
"Okay!" Yuzuru nodded excitedly.
She didn't care where they wandered, as long as it wasn't making her go back to school.
Her mom had actually given her two days off for this School Festival, plus the two days of the weekend, so she could literally wake up laughing in her sleep.
It was just a bit of a shame she couldn't bring Hachiko here to play...
The sunlight slanted across the white walls of the school building, and the wind chimes at the entrance of the teaching building jingled wildly.
A boy in a dinosaur mascot costume was putting up the "Super Science Institute" poster crookedly for the third time when a mother in a cherry blossom-patterned kimono behind him suddenly reached out and straightened it.
The residual red bean paste from a taiyaki on her fingertips smeared onto the portrait of Einstein.
Electronic guitar wails erupted from a corridor corner, and as the punk band's lead singer shrieked, shaking his Japan green-highlighted hair,
A mother in a pearl-grey suit below the stage quietly switched her video recording mode to silent, but it still captured the screams overflowing from the paper sliding door of the "Edo Ghost Story House" in the next classroom.
A bespectacled father was startled by his daughter, dressed as Sadako, and knocked over a lemon soda, its carbonated bubbles bursting into fragmented rainbows in the rippling light projected by the goldfish tank.
At the same time, Class 1-2's main battlefield was also receiving order after order.
"Seriously! What time is it?!"
"Exactly! I wanted to slack off a bit, but with so many orders, when will these omurice be done?!"
The two girls in the back kitchen complained non-stop, but their movements didn't slow down at all.
Even Tsuna, who had initially been leisurely serving rice and arranging toppings, gradually sped up and became serious.
Shouko was completely focused on processing the line of orders in front of her.
"Ayumi-chan, the omurice with the custom heart design for table three is ready."
"Yes, yes!"
Ajitani quickly walked to the serving counter, picked up the steaming omurice, and turned to walk to table three according to her memory.
She flashed a sweet smile at the two boys at table three. "Master, please enjoy!"
As her words fell, she set down the omurice she was holding, expertly pulled out a ketchup bottle from her Maid costume pocket, and wrote 'Goshujin-sama, meshiagare~' (Master, please enjoy) on it in a cute, bubbly font.
One of the boys met her gaze, then quickly looked away, while the other stared intently at the omurice with the cute, adorable writing.
"Master, is there anything else you wish to command?" Ajitani put away the ketchup and asked sweetly.
"Can… can… can I take a picture with you?" The first boy fumbled to pull out his phone from his pocket.
"Mhm." Ajitani nodded, took his flip phone, and took a photo with the shy boy.
After confirming there were no issues, she lifted her skirt, twirled around for the two of them, then left with a phrase: "Please feel free to command anything you need," and then turned to leave.
"I can't even imagine if I had a girlfriend like that, I'd wake up laughing in my dreams," the boy mumbled softly, looking at the photo on his phone after she had walked away.
The boy sitting opposite him scooped a spoonful of omurice into his mouth. "Heh, coward, I can imagine."
The boy ignored him and continued to admire the photo on his phone.
He thought to himself that when his omurice came, he would get to see her sweet smile and hear her voice again, and just thinking about it made him feel that the 500-yen omurice was worth it!
(500 yen = approximately 4 dollar in 2001)
Kawai, lingering in front of the Maid Butler Cafe, looked at the lively scene inside, then her gaze shifted to Tsuna's life-sized standee:
"You can do it! You'll be fine! It's just eating a meal." She quietly cheered herself on a few times before walking straight in.
"Welcome home, Master!" Takagi was the first to notice Kawai walking in, then shouted loudly without emotion.
"Welcome home, Master!"
The maids and butlers present heard this and echoed the greeting before returning to their tasks.
"Uh…" Kawai awkwardly nodded at Takagi, who had first greeted her, and quickly found a seat.
"Master, here is the menu." Nishikata walked forward with a pink menu and smiled as he handed it to her.
"Arigato."
Kawai took it, quickly scanned it, and went straight for her target, pointing to the most eye-catching item in the middle and asking: "What's this custom heart omurice?"
"Hmm…" Nishikata briefly recalled Ajitani's explanation to them:
"It means you can have one of the maids or butlers present write on your omurice, and then you can take a photo and interact with them, and so on."
This was a Maid Butler Cafe held for the School Festival, so it certainly wasn't as professional or interactive as those outside.
Even having some of the students call others 'Master' was already the biggest concession.
"Oh…"
Kawai nodded thoughtfully, her gaze sweeping around. Not seeing the person she wanted to order, she hesitated for a moment before asking,
"So… why don't I see Miyamura, the one from the standee outside?"
"Miyamura?" Nishikata put his hands behind his back and organized his thoughts. "He's busy, he might not be back for a while…"
He found it a bit hard to tell the truth, and this wasn't the first time someone had come to the shop asking for Miyamura. Later, the class representative had standardized it.
If anyone asked for Miyamura, they were all to say he was busy and wouldn't be back for a while.
"Then… then… then how long will he be gone?" Kawai Miki hesitated. She wanted to get up and leave now.
Her main purpose in coming in was to go straight for Miyamura. If he wasn't there, spending 500 yen on omurice was too expensive; she might as well make it herself at home.
"Are you friends with him?" Nishikata looked at the girl in front of him, starting to hesitate, then asked doubtfully.
He saw that this girl could directly say Miyamura's surname. If she was Miyamura's friend, calling him out to deliver a meal shouldn't be a big problem, right?
And most of the meals had already been delivered, so the back kitchen shouldn't be that busy anymore…
"Uh…" Kawai Miki hesitated for a moment, then nodded. "I was his and Shouko's sixth-grade class representative, does that count?"
"Then could you wait a moment? I'll go ask?" Nishikata was now certain; the other person should be Miyamura and Shouko's friend.
She could even call out Shouko:s name, and she was both of their sixth-grade class representatives.
"Okay!" Kawai stopped her movement to stand up, picked up the menu, and began looking at it again.
Nishikata saw this and turned to leave, walking quickly towards the back kitchen.