“I’m really sorry for being short, old and maldeveloped…”
“Gulp!!” Bai Ji’s body trembled as if she had received an electric shock, causing her ahoge to stand up. As if her neck was made out of springs, she slowly turned her head around in an unnatural manner.
“We’ve met again, my lil’ Bai Ji. Can you explain to your aunt why you’ve run to a maid cafe? Don’t tell me you’re trying out some cosplay?” After giving Bai Ji’s shoulder a gentle rub, Anna was grinningly staring at her with her hands behind her back.
“…I think you’ve gotten the wrong person, dear customer. I still have things I need to attend to, so excuse me.” Said Bai Ji with a deadpan face. Just as she had gotten up on her feet and was about to scamper away, her ahoge was grabbed by Anna from behind.
“No! W-What are you doing?? Hurry up and let me go, I don’t know you at all! If you continue like this, I’m going to shout that someone is molesting me!” Bai Ji began to incessantly struggle in the spitting image of a fox being grabbed and picked up by its tail. Having chosen to intimidate Anna with the weight of public opinion, she adopted an extremely ferocious expression that suggested she was going to bite.
“Oh~? Where has the lofty energy when you were badmouthing me a moment ago gone?” Anna looked playfully at the frantic Bai Ji.
Even though the height of the two silver-haired girls were very similar, the aura Anna emitted easily overpowered Bai Ji’s by a notch.
“Eeeh… Uh, Uhm… Girls?” Spectating them from a corner, Blue felt extremely incredulous as she looked to her left and her right at a loss. If it wasn’t for the fact that their scents were worlds apart, she would have probably suspected that Bai Ji had casted some sort of cloning magic to mock herself.
“You lunatic! Hurry up and let me go. What I do is none of your business! You short, old, disgusting vampire that loves to behave like a teenager!” The fact that unrelated outsiders were watching from the side deeply disgraced Bai Ji, causing her to berate Anna in embarrassment and anger.
“Oh my~? Didn’t you pretend to have amnesia earlier and not recognize your aunt? What happened? Have you regained your memories?”
“Why do you care? You developmentally-stunted, short, flat-chested vampire!”
“Hehe, you’re really a naughty girl.”
“What’s going on?” At this moment, the doors to the kitchen opened. Out of it came Green, who had heard the commotion.
Bai Ji’s eyes instantly lightened up. As if she had caught sight of her savior, she opened her mouth and was just about to speak. “Miss Green, save-…”
“Sigh, this maid is somewhat disobedient, Miss Head Maid~ I’ve politely asked her to take my orders… *Sob, sob, sob* Not only did she ignore me, she even made faces at me and scolded me for being short…” Anna’s expression changed as fast as flipping a page, as she gripped her skirt in an aggrieved and pitiful manner. Her voice even carried a trace of sobbing within.
“Eeeh?!” Bai Ji was shocked upon realizing that Anna had let go of her ahoge some time ago and was now tearfully complaining to Green like a daughter does to her father.
‘Hey, hey— Her acting skills are way too proficient, aren’t they? How many times did she practice that exactly? And how many innocent people has she secretly deceived with that adorable act and tearful wails she’s peddling… What would it take for her to call it quits? It’s too much…’
“Hey, hey. Say…”
“Is that so? I’m sorry for the trouble our establishment has caused you.” Green shot a glance at the dazed Bai Ji before she bowed to Anna in apology.
“H-Hold on a moment! That’s not how things went…” Bai Ji tried to explain.
“White-chan. Our customers are Gods here. You have to treat every customer gracing our cafe with a good service attitude. Since this is your first day here, I shall not penalize you. To have a master personally mention you by name is a huge sense of recognition by them, so do your best, alright~” With a smile, Green cheered Bai Ji on.
“Eeeeh??”
“Thank you, Miss Head Maid. ~Hey let’s go, my adorable White-chan~ Aun— Anna still has a lot of requests she wants to tell you~ Let’s go.”
“Eeeek!…” As she was dragged and pulled away by Anna, Bai Ji shot out a pleading glance to Green, only to be met by an innocent smile.
‘It’s over… Black History +1…’
Bai Ji completely fell into despair as Anna ruthlessly hauled her away.
“Miss Green, isn’t this a little…”
“Even an honest and upright official will find it hard to resolve a family dispute. You don’t need to worry about this, Blue~” Green bent down and rubbed Blue’s dog ears.
“Eeeh? When you mean family dispute, you mean…?”
“Dummy. You still haven’t figured it out yet?? …The master at Table 7 is ready to order, but we’re short on manpower right now. By the way, don’t think about skiving on the job, alright? ” Green stroked Blue’s puppy-like head and handed her a menu.
Meanwhile, on the other side.
“Mhm~ A rice omelet, a cup of large-sized coke. Fill it up in a goblet please, thank you. After that…”
Bai Ji held a menu in her embrace as she silently looked through the window, her complicated emotions revealing the emptiness and lifelessness in her eyes.
“Your maid name is White-chan? Pfft, hahahaha… What a truly out-of-sorts and deplorable name! I remembered there was also a lil’ White during the time when I lived in the Scarlet Blood Region — It was a dog.”
“…” Faced with the merciless roasts from the wicked loli before her, Bai Ji chose to remain silent.
“Hey~! Turn your head around, White. I got something good for you to see.”
Her ahoge trembling, Bai Ji silently turned her head around.
“Snap.” The limited edition image of the eldest Princess, Bai Ji, in a maid outfit, was instantly immortalized.
“Ehe~ Say, what would Lilias think if I sent her this picture?” Said Anna jokingly as she crossed her legs and stared enchantedly at her phone screen, which displayed a silver- haired girl with cute twintails clad in a short maid outfit. However, that girl’s eyes were so vacant that it made her resemble the heroines from a certain anime subgenre after they had successfully graduated from their ‘education’.
‘Oh…?’
Bai Ji’s eyes were like a pair of black holes as she tilted her head to the side.
‘What would happen if that woman-… that woman who is a hundred times nastier than that Anna-bitch before me… receives it?? Ha-Haha, I don’t know! I really don’t know at all! That temperamental scoundrel… She would probably do stuff like make it into law that I can only wear maid-outfit in front of her, so that she can laugh like a devil at me whenever she lays eyes on my shameful appearance… The sky’s the limit when it comes to her.’
‘No matter how I slice it, there’s not a single good person among this bunch of parasites.’
“Hey~ Tell me honestly. Why have you come to work here? …Don’t tell me you’re running out of money, are you?”
“…” Bai Ji’s expression turned blank.
“Did Aunty hit the nail on the head? Heh heh…” Anna moved her mouth closer to Bai Ji’s ears with a smile. “What a standoffish child. We’re clearly one big family, so if you’re out of pocket money, why don’t you come and ask Aunty for it? As long as Lil’ Bai Ji is willing to open your mouth and raise the matter, I, your aunt, will be very happy to fork out money to you. So, why didn’t you come and borrow some from me?”
‘Go away, I wouldn’t believe even a single punctuation mark coming from a vampire. No matter whom I owe money to, I’ll never owe a vampire. Who would dare ask you for money??’
‘As I thought, it’s never a good thing to be involved with these guys.’
………….
The morning of the next day.
“This is the money I owe you as we agreed upon. It’s the right amount, not a cent less.” At the agreed time, Ji Bai placed the money in the hands of a somewhat flabbergasted Lin before turning around to leave.
“…Where did you get this from?”
“You speak too much, don’t you think so?” A trace of fatigue revealed itself on Ji Bai’s expressionless face.
“Don’t be mistaken. I’m just worried that you have gone through dirty channels to get that money, so if someone were to find me…?”
“I borrowed it from someone, alright? If there’s nothing else, I’m going back to sleep.” Saying which, Ji Bai walked away without looking back.