"I'll have two Pile Em' Uppers, a Pile Em' Uppers rge, an Idol's Cream Stew with extra dip, a number seven-seven-seven, two Sweet Judgements, one with honey gze and one without! Oh, a rge gss of Wattamelon juice to go, with four straws!"

  In case anyone was wondering, this madwoman was NOT ordering for all of us!

  The four of us are seated at a round table at [Conditorri Cafe]. As the meido in a green meido outfit with puffy sleeves backs away after taking our orders and an outrageously supersized one, Madi-san slurps on a pstic straw before her, draining her gss cup in one go!

  "So, Aya-chan! What's this about?!"

  Just moments before, I had stopped the [Trono Palido] girls from running into certain problems in their oh-so-secret mission to infiltrate a charity dinner tonight! If the whole point of sneaking into the dinner is to lean in, and get out, don't you think that both of your outfits are a little inconspicuous?

  I am referring to the [Trono Palido] girls of course. They wear the same four-tailed blue bzer uniform with a rge ribbon tie, the only difference between them being Oracion wearing a white pencil skirt and Val-sama wearing a long bck skirt, but otherwise, you two stand out WAY too much going to a party looking like that!

  "I don't see anything wrong with our outfits."

  Of course you wouldn't, Oracion!

  You don't look like you've ever gone to a social gathering in the first pce!

  "Senior, I think I can get what Ayano-dono is getting at." Val-sama ordered a small pte of sad, which was the first to arrive. Delicately slicing at the finely pted cabbage and lifting it up with a silver fork to inspect it, "If we are going to a party, we should be dressed for it. That means wearing the proper party dresses..."

  Oracion stays silent at Val-sama's sensible suggestion. Even if by some magick nobody is able to recognize the two of you, they'll at least recognize the [Hauntsgirl] [1] uniform and start asking questions after the fact! By that time, even hentai bird can't get away with saying that its just a coincidence that two girls with obviously fake names showed up in antique shop uniforms!

  I do sense that Oracion's hesitation isn't borne out of concern for anything this far-reaching. Maybe she just doesn't want to take Val-sama's suggestion?

  "Well, if our idiot master's favorite disciple says so."

  [SFX:Clink]

  Val-sama's knife had just cut through a small tomato, hitting the bottom of her white pte. The cut tomato bleeds thin red juice like an open heart.

  Ah. Don't tell me...

  Oracion is jealous of Val-sama? I'm not too sure what Oracion is jealous about, perhaps in temperament and ability Val-sama resembles hentai bird so much that she could be the bird's illegitimate daughter; but getting jealous over that sounds like the plot of a third rate visual novel with cackling witches. Refinement-wise, there's a stark difference between 'chews-on-cold-cuts' Oracion here and Val-sama who is all table manners and grace!

  "It's just a suggestion, senior. You can think and decide for us."

  "Tch."

  Oracion looks away while leaning her cheek on an upright hand, chewing on another piece of meat dabbed with suspiciously murderous sauce.

  "Ehhhhe?! Oracion... is jealous of Valerie?!?!"

  You didn't have to say the quiet part out loud, you big-boobed idiot! Have some social sense!

  I am nearly about to stand up at my seat at how tone-deaf our purple-haired idiot is, but I would be knocking over the meido pushing a cart to our table and piling up ptes on Madison's side of the table.

  "Your orders, mademoiselle."

  Huh.

  How did you know all those orders were for Madi-san alone...

  I lift my head to look at the red-haired waitress...

  "AHHHHHHHH!!!"

  "Why are you screaming Aya-chan? Why are you screaming?

  This is a cospy cafe, not a horror game livestream, ehehehe!"

  The person who delivered our food is a familiar face in Chisame Kotori, for reasons I will not go into right now, she is also privy to the identities of Annalie and Oracion, working closely with hentai bird!

  Chisame is a girl our age with a high forehead, long straight auburn hair falling to the back of her waist. Instead of the green waitress costumes the rest of the apprentice waitresses wear, she wears a customized red outfit of the head waitress, the interior of her puffy sleeves ced with bck. If she too is a little surprised at the gathering of this impromptu four-girl gang, she's working very hard to not show it on her face, a polished pte of hospitality and professionalism!

  "Hmm hmm! Let me introduce you, Valerie!" Madi-san takes it upon herself to rudely speak in-between bites of her supersized pancake meal. "This is Chisame Kotori, the head meido at Conditorri Cafe! We met a few days ago! She's literally Avalon's favorite meido!"

  Oracion snorts a ugh back through her nose.

  Of course. Of course.

  Let's not go down this rabbithole again.

  For (You), Chisame Kotori is Chisame Kotori.

  Nobody else!

  For now.

  The meido is a minor character!

  Don't think too hard about it!

  "Master's... favorite meido. You must be really talented if Master looks up to you!"

  Oh, more than you imagine, Val-sama.

  Val-sama is now looking up to the auburn-haired meido with a mixture of genuine awe and respect, even with her hair down, Chisame is very good-looking after all. Our golden-haired ojou-sama thinks a little too much of hentai bird, giving him credit for liking Chisame for anything besides her good looks!

  "Ahem. My thanks, but the truth is I'm just a simple meido, Lady Valerie. What were you saying, Ayano??"

  shimatta[2] , I forgot this woman can read my thoughts like Madi-san!

  "I was about to say... this is a cospy cafe right? Val-sama and Oracion here need a pair of party dresses." I swiftly wobble a finger between the two to distract Chisame's heat on me, but she's completely locked on me like bringing them here was my fault!

  Having given this some thought, Chisame gives me the side-eye that practically screams "we'll have a talk about this once we get home".

  Thankfully, this went unnoticed by Madi-san.

  "Certainly, Ayano. May I ask what is the occasion...?"

  "They are attending a Refurbishment charity!"

  "A what...?"

  "You know! Charities are all scams! They're all just money rackets, the aid never reaches the people who actually need it! Imagine being the organizer and pocketing a 85% cut! No shade on (you), Valerie, but not everyone is as kind-hearted as you!"

  I quickly cover this thoughtless idiot's mouth.

  "Okay, you've had enough watermelon juice, Madi-san!" Even Val-sama is looking a little embarrassed by that one, look at how her sad fork hangs limply in her hand right now! I am quite sure our ojou-sama here has organized charities in the past, and she definitely doesn't look like someone who would pocket an 85% cut!

  "No, I understand that completely, but..."

  Sachi... I mean, Chisame, you what?!

  "... who are these 'Refurbishment' people?"

  "I think Madison here means the 'Restorationist Faction'."

  Oracion finally has stopped ughing, still wheezing a little but bringing matters back at hand.

  "Fufu, that makes a lot more sense." Chisame smoothly removes a pair of finished ptes from Madi-san's side, and pushes the next pte of pancakes towards the gorger with a bck hole for a stomach,

  "Word on the street is that the Restorationists are not good people."

  "Pft? You are here listening in all the time, so do drop a hint or two, Miss Kotori."

  Oracion intentionally drags out the st two words on her tongue, and Chisame looks like she has been hit by a lightning bolt, upper body tilting towards two-o-clock! Thankfully, this little jab didn't st long, for the professional meido rights herself quickly, holding a silver pte before her skirt apron, with all the demureness she can muster.

  "Of all the factions in Vespana, the Restorationists are a faction without a seat on the Ten Major Factions of Vespana. They wish for a return to the days before the Olden Days, before the age of magick."

  "Sounds like a bunch of anti-funs, then!" Madi-san pipes up, flecks of stew flying in my direction.

  Biichi, please! They're just holding a charity dinner!

  "All the more reason moi' all should be looking into whatever shady organ collection drive they are holding, ehehehe!"

  I bury my face in my hands so I can avoid the heat-hot gnce of Oracion's eyes. Abhorrent table manners aside, the very insides of Madi-san's head are abhorrently conspiratorial. sumimasen! hai! Please shut up now, Madi-san! Drink your watermelon juice!

  "... but why?" Valerie chooses her next words carefully, knowing that she is a visitor to the New Continent, "Wasn't that what you Continentals fought 《The Princess Wars》 for? The right to use magick freely? There are many in Arcadia who can't use magick even if they wanted to..."

  Chisame shrugs her shoulders, clearing the st of Madi-san's empty ptes.

  "That, little princess, you have to ask the Restorationists. I'm just a simple meido working at a cospy cafe."

  There is a small silence.

  Which is broken by an idiot's yapping.

  "So... Aya-chan, are you gonna eat that or what??"

  Go Go And Learn Moonrunes With Aya-chan![1] [Hauntsgirl] - The antique shop that Avalon runs as a front. It serves as the base of [Trono Palido] and a tourist trap.

  [2]shimatta- しまった, or "oh noes!" in my ancestral tongue. Usually I use this when I realize I say something wrong.

  HouseDerouxScribbles