Chapter 10
“...”
…
“Jia Lin… are you okay…? It’s my fault! Your little sister was wrong and went too far with a prank… I want to apologize so please talk to me…! Stay with me, okay…?!”
“...”
I’m… ruined… Ah… in front of so many people I…
“Hic…”
“Big sister?! Please don’t cry again! I’ll make it up to you, okay? It’s all okay now…”
“Xia…”
“Y-Yes..?! Big sister, I’m here, do you need anything?”
“Your big sister… is a slut… I’m ruined now…”
“...”
“Hick…”
“Ugh… Sis, this isn’t really my place to say this… but what do you mean by that…?”
Why is Xia asking that now…? Is my ten layers of agony not enough…? Xia, please don’t tear away even my right to suffer…
Either way… Please cut me some slack too? I tried controlling myself as hard as I could, you know? I really did… I know that just doing your best isn’t enough at times, but it feels unfair to be called incompetent even if it’s true…
I wanted to blame it all on the gender change too, but to be honest, I think I was already like this? Not that I ever had an outburst like this until now, but… I wouldn’t exclude it from any possibility…
A possibility that fortunately never happened…!
Anyways… Hmm actually, hold on a second… how many anyways have I used thus far…? Actually, I’m too lazy to count so pretend I never asked that? Anyways… (Oh and add this to the count too.)
This public execution would probably haunt me forever so… there really isn’t much I can do about it, I guess…
To acknowledge it… Ugh… I hate that but what else can I do? Here's life advice from a failure: If you hate something, don’t delay and just get it over with, okay? It’ll hurt far less than the agony of waiting until doing it eventually anyway.
“I’ve basically become an attention seeking whore… What’s worse than that…?"
“...Pardon?”
“Umm, it’s our fault that it happened… master… You don’t need to be too… negative…”
“Ah, sorry… Don’t worry too much about it though, my sister… is always like this… I think?”
“I’m nwot…"
“Yes, yes… I’m sorry, but please don’t sulk like that now.”
“Hmph…"
“Hah…”
“Either way… S-Sorry for causing a scene…”
“I-It’s fine…! Master! It’s our fault it happened, ahaha… You don’t need to worry…”
After calming down a little, I was able to get out an apology but it seems like she thinks it was mostly her fault. Well, they did start it but it’s still my fault for overreacting like that, isn’t it?
“No, it’s my fault that I overreacted…”
“N-No…! It’s our fault! We will compensate you, master!”
“No… Don’t worry, it’s really okay… I’m the one to blame, I’ll take responsibility…”
“N-No..!
“No…”
“No!"
“No…"
“Hah… Can you both please quit it?! It’s no one’s fault, okay?”
“Okay…”
“Apologies, masters…”
Fortunately, Jia Xia stopped us before it became a competition to see who could apologize the most. Though I would’ve probably won otherwise.
Not that it’s something to be proud of…
“What seems to be the problem here?”
“Ah, manager!"
“Hello, Mr Masayume.”
Before I knew it, a tall, old man suddenly came by our table to find out what happened. It seems like he is the owner of this café?
“Ah, hello, miss Jia Xia, you came today too. Apologies if something had happened. Xiao Hui, can you tell me what happened?”
"Don’t worry about it, Mr Masayume, I just went too far with a prank on my sister, Miss Xiao Hui isn’t to blame…!"
“I-I was on it too, so I’m to blame too…!”
Mr Masayume, huh? It’s rare to see foreigners in this town, let alone someone who sounds Japanese? I hope he’s Japanese and I didn’t just humiliate myself… Ah, not that anyone would know this to begin with…
Either way, he is here to check the commotion I suppose… It feels wrong to just say nothing, so I guess I’ll fix the misunderstanding.
“A-Actually… it’s my fault for overreacting, I’m truly sorry!”
“Hah… please not again…”
“Hmm?”
“Please don’t worry too much about it, Mr Masayume. It’s just a silly thing that happened, really.”
“I see, speaking of which, who is this young miss?”
“A-Ah… My name is Jia Lin, I’m Jia Xia’s sister, n-nice to meet you, Mr Masayume…!”
“Nice to meet you too, Miss Jia Lin, this old man is Majiro Masayume, though everyone else calls me Mr Masayume, haha. You’re Miss Jia Xia’s sister, I see. It’s our apologies for any inconvenience that you faced."
“N-No, it’s fine, really. Like I said earlier, I’m the one who got too excited…”
“If that’s the case, then that’s that. No need to blame yourself, miss. Though this café isn’t exactly to my liking, I hope you still enjoy it regardless…
Pat pat
“...?!”
“Woah~”
“Manager?”
D-Did he just… pat my head…? While I don’t exactly hate it, it still feels weird! Nngh… Actually, wait…! Why is he even patting me to begin with?!
“Mr Masayume…?”
“Oh, sorry. You reminded this old man of his granddaughter… Apologies.”
“...”
“I see, it’s okay…? You must love her very well, so I don’t mind.”
“Sis, yo—”
“Yes, I treasured her a lot. She’s a good child like you, thank you.”
Mr Masayume interrupted Xia before she could say anything, but I could tell from his expression… that something had happened between him and his granddaughter.
“I-I see… alright…”
Still, being called a good child by another person even if they are old enough to be my parent is… ugh… embarrassing to say the least.
Even then, good child… I don’t really consider myself a good child at all. How could someone like me be good? I’ve done nothing but cause trouble for my family. If anything, I am a horrible child.
Someone like me…
“Sister… Is something wrong?”
“Hmm?"
“You look gloomy, are you okay?”
“Ah… Don’t worry, it’s nothing special… just thought of something unpleasant, that's all.”
“Okay then…”
“Hmm… If there’s nothing else, this old man will return back to the kitchen. There’s more customers than usual, so I’m unfortunately a bit busy.”
“It’s fine, sorry for bothering you to begin with, Mr Masayume. Good luck with your work…!”
“Hahaha! No problems, no problems. Enjoy your meals and have a good day,”
“...”
“That’s the owner of this café, what do you think, sis? Not what you expected, right?”
“That’s true, usually Maid Cafés are owned by younger people, aren’t they?”
“That’s too stereotypical."
“Ahaha… I never went to any places similar to this, so I wouldn’t know?”
“Don’t worry, master! If this is your first time, we just need to give you a memorable experience, right~☆?”
“Yeah, what she said is true, sis.”
“I think I already have a memorable one…”
“...Right.”
“S-Sorry, master…”
They still feel guilty for what happened earlier? I did say that I never blamed them, didn’t I? Well, I suppose verbalizing it again isn’t exactly hard.
“It’s not your fault. That aside, you must be busy, right? We won’t keep you up any longer, uh… Miss Xiao Hui."
“Ah, it’s fine…! Thank you for your concerns, Master ☆! Please enjoy your meal~☆! If you need anything, you can use the bell over here~! Sorry for what happened earlier, and I hope you have a great time as compensation~☆!”
“It’s not your fau—Oh, there she goes.”
“Just accept the apology, sister… we took the prank too far to begin with.”
“It still feels wrong to accept someone’s apology when they did nothing wrong though…”
“Hah… just accept it, please?”
“When you phrase it like that… Fine, I accept your apologies…?”
“That’s good enough.”
“Hmm… Xia, I have a question...”
“What’s wrong?”
“Do people usually stare at us this intensely?”
Ever since I started going out after becoming girl, I know I've been getting countless stares from others, I got used to this by now, and that hasn't changed since we got to this place too. I did noticed the other customers’ gazes since entering, but… aren’t they quite blatant compared to the others? Though, I understand that they were probably curious because of what happened earlier.
Still…
“Even if we exclude what happened earlier, it’s still weird to receive so much attention right now…?”
“Sister… Do you seriously need an answer to that…?”
“Why not?”
“Have you forgotten how you look right now? You’re prettier than most celebrities! If such a person comes to an unexpected place like this Maid café, you’re bound to attract a lot of attention, you know? I’m actually surprised Xiao Hui or Sherly was able to treat you normally…”
“It’s that bad…? I don’t think I look that special though…”
“Hah… Forget it.”
“Sorry…”
“N-No, there’s nothing to be sorry about. It’s normal that you don’t understand it, so don’t fret about it.”
“Ah, sorry…”
“Hah… Let’s just eat before it gets cold.”
“Alright…”
To be honest, I still don’t really understand what she meant, but it would be stupid to continue, right? Some questions are better left unsaid after all.
Anyhow… I’m curious about how the omurice tastes too. Didn’t Xia praise the place for having good food? If my sister is saying good things about it, surely it would be amazing…!
Omurice.
A simple dish that consists of an omelette and rice with sauce, at least that's what I think? Though I did see in videos that this dish could be elevated to a different level depending on the cook.
Nom
Oh? Wow, Xia really didn’t lie…! The texture of the egg is amazing and pairs up well with the soggy rice. There’s also bits of tender chicken inside that gives it a perfect mix of sweet and salty…! How did Mr Masayume get the egg to be so runny yet so smooth? He said he would go back to the kitchen so he is the cook, right? He really is amazing despite being so old… Woah…!
“It’s really good.”
“Right?”
I have to agree with Xia, the food here is really good. Good enough I’d even endure the embarrassment of coming here just to try it again!
“Hehe..”
“Pfft, you’re melting apart just from eating it, is it that good?”
“What kind of question is that? Of course it is!”
It’s so good that I can’t even manage my expressions right now! I can’t stop shovelling it into my mouth!! How could anyone expect a simple dish like this to taste so amazing?! I had tasted omurice before and it was nothing like this. To think that a difference in the cook could change so much…!
“Well, Mr Masayume’s food is one of the reasons why this place is so popular to begin with, so that’s understandable.”
“I see…!”
He really was the cook after all. If I see him again, I’ll have to thank him for such a tasty dish!
That aside, nothing is stopping me from finishing this masterpiece…!!
◈
“Had a good meal-nya~? That’s good-nyan ☆! Please come back again, masters-nyan ☆!”
"Thanks, Sherly. We'll come back next time."
After finishing our meals, we paid and went out, of course, being greeted by the maid at the front. I almost forgot that this was a Maid café… but the food was worth it, so I can endure this much…
“That was satisfying…”
“You ate so well earlier that it would be surprising if it wasn’t.”
“Was I that bad?”
Earlier, Xia did say that I looked silly while eating. I wonder if I looked weird?
“No, the opposite actually. You looked so cute that I wanted to pinch your cheek.”
“C-Cute…?!”
“Just joking~”
“Ah, that so?"
Being called cute is embarrassing… I almost believed Xia too… I guess I’m too gullible. Though I don’t think that’s exactly new news…
…
“Hey, Jia Lin.”
“What’s wrong?”
We’ve been walking for a while and Xia suddenly spoke up. Her expression was quite hard to read so I wonder if something has been bothering her.
“I tried to call you earlier, and Mr Masayume…”
“...What about it?”
“As you can tell, Mr Masayume is Japanese. It’s uncommon to see someone like that in a province like this, right? He’s here due to certain circumstances.”
“Yeah.”
“At first, I did go there out of curiosity, but sort of stayed somewhat of a regular after hearing his stories.”
“His story?”
“Mr Masayume said that you remind him of his granddaughter, right? I guess he was just too excited, but don’t think too hard about it.”
“What exactly happened to him and his granddaughter?”
“His daughter and son-in-law died in an accident… from what he said. Only the granddaughter survived, so he had been taking care of her.”
“...”
“She would’ve been the same age as you from what I’ve heard.”
“Would...? Did she…”
“She died too, he said it was suicide.”
“I…”
Suicide…
To be honest, I still had that kind of thought sometimes. The feeling of wanting to end it all, to not want to be bothered by anyone anymore… It’s an understandable feeling.
Even so, I could never bring myself to do it because the guilt of hurting my family is even stronger than that.
So… for her to do it, despite having someone like Mr Masayume by her side… How awful and painful it must’ve been. To go through so much to the point she gave in to the urge…
I can’t understand it at all, and part of me… felt envious of that.
It’s wrong, I know. I’m a sick person for even thinking like that, I know. But, you know, I wanted to die too, failed because I was a coward who couldn’t do it myself of course, but I still wanted to die.
I... No. It’s wrong to think like that… The least I can do now is to hope that she is in a better place now.
Not to mention… Aren’t I trying to change too? I’m trying to work for that reason, aren’t I? My family is supporting me so hard, so I should stop those thoughts too.
“Don’t think too hard about it. It’s not something that we could’ve prevented.”
“Yeah.”
“His daughter loved anime and those types of cultures, so he opened a Maid café as a memorial.”
“I see…”
“A sad story, isn’t it?”
“Yeah, and to think that he could share something like that with others… Mr Masayume is much more amazing than I thought.”
“It’s admirable, yeah.
"Why did you tell me this, Xia?"
"No particular reason."
"Is that so?"
"Well, if you wanted to work there, you should know about the circumstances of the owner, right? And after realising it again, you... Ah, nevermind."
"Okay."
I don't really get what Xia is trying to convey, but I think I can at least understand her intentions.
I still don't know what happened to Mr Masayume's granddaughter to push her to the extreme, but I can promise that I won't be like that.
I'm too much of a coward to do it, after all.
"I won't end up like that, don't worry."
"Sister, I..."
"It's fine, you must've been worried about me too, Xia. Thank you."
"Mhm..."
Xia came closer and leaned on my shoulder while we walked. I didn't dislike the feeling, it was nice.
As for what happened with Mr Masayume... My stance with it is still the same, really.
Opening a Maid café. He did say that it's not his preference, yet he still did it anyway.
Even if it’s such an embarrassing thing, to do it out of the love of your granddaughter is an amazing thing… Yeah, in the end, I’ve made up my mind.
“Xia.”
“Mhm?”
“I think I’m going to apply for the recruitment offer."
“Yeah, that’s good. I hope you succeed.”
“Thanks… Should I go tomorrow? Would it be weird to suddenly go back asking for a job after eating there once?”
“Hmm? Not really? Ah, wait, speaking of tomorrow, you can’t go.”
“Why not? Is it weird after all?"
“No, not that. It’s about your medical appointment, it’s tomorrow.”
“Huh? It is?”
I don’t think I knew this… or I just clumsily forgot it like everything else… Ugh, why am I such a failure…
“Yeah, so you should get ready for it.”
“Alright.”
Well, even if I had an appointment tomorrow, the plan to get a job at the café remains unchanged. The staff there were so friendly and even the owner himself was admirable.
If I work there… I wonder if I could improve as a person.
Such a thing, I suppose only god would know.
