“Say ‘aaah.’ Open your mouth. If you don’t, I will make a hole in your cheek.”
“Do not lend your ear to what this outrageous girl says, my lord. Her actions quite obviously indicate she does not have a serious head on her shoulders. Ignore her. Come now, turn toward Muku.”
“What did you say?”
“What?”
“…Um.”
About an hour later, Shido was under a different kind of attack from both Spirits.
They were at a coffee shop well away from the street where they had brawled earlier. Having caused that much of a scene, they couldn’t exactly pop into somewhere nearby and have a quiet cup of tea.
Actually, would “quiet” really be the right word? Regardless, Shido was planted in between Tohka on the left and Mukuro on the right, a fork with a strawberry stabbed on its tines pushed at him persistently.
After some desperate persuading on his part, Tohka had changed from her Astral Dress into normal street clothes, but he couldn’t say this had made her less intimidating. And…how could he put this? The coffee shop Origami led them to was slightly different from a regular coffee shop.
“Welcome home, Master!”
“We await your return, Master!”
Cute waitstaff in frilly aprons greeted and sent off the customers.
Yes. This was a so-called maid café, where girls in maid uniforms served customers. Shido himself had once been forced to toil in a shop like this due to certain unavoidable circumstances, which gave him a decent understanding of how things worked at places like this.
“…Hey, Origami?” he asked in a hushed voice. “Why’d you pick this place?”
“…S-sorry,” Origami replied apologetically from her seat across from him. “I thought we wouldn’t stand out here.”
Yes. She had chosen the shop.
When Tohka and Mukuro had pressed her for an answer about how to get his coveted kiss without force, Origami had told them, baffled, “A kiss is actually what you do after you go on a date and get closer.”
“And I am asking you for a specific method,” Tohka had replied, irritation clear in her voice.
“I—I don’t really know the details myself,” Origami had replied. “But, um, maybe things like making him say ‘aaah’ and feeding him something?”
“Hm-hmm. I see.” Mukuro had nodded. “Well then, let us do that.”
The conversation had proceeded apace, and Shido now found himself pressed between two Spirits with catastrophic powers.
Still, they were either married to the strong-arm style or they hadn’t actually understood a word Origami said.
Shido himself didn’t yet totally understand what was happening. As a fork was shoved at him from either side, he said, “Hey, Origami? Why did Tohka invert? And you, too…”
“Um,” Origami said, obviously different from the usual Origami. “In my case, Mukuro closed the usual memory channels, which allowed the part that still had those access privileges to surface. Which is me, even though I’m not usually out on top too much. And…”
She glanced nervously at Tohka.
“This is a guess at best, but…I think maybe when Tohka’s memory channel was closed off, her sense of loss about losing you built up unconsciously. Nothing else that would make her despair has happened anyway.”
“Y-yeah?” he said. Nothing to make Tohka despair—which meant nothing had happened to Kotori and the others. He was well aware he couldn’t let his guard down in a situation like this, but that warranted a sigh of relief.
Perhaps frustrated with Shido for not paying attention to her, Tohka grabbed his head tightly in annoyance. “What are you whispering about? Forget that and look at me.”
“Hngaah!” His head was turned, and a cry spilled from his throat.
While this was only natural, Tohka showed no sign of any consideration for his pain. She simply thrust the fork with the speared strawberry at his mouth.
In the next instant, a small door opened in front of his mouth and swallowed her fork.
“What…?” she said, bewildered.
“Ompf,” came a voice from Mukuro’s direction.
He peeked over to find Mukuro chomping on the strawberry poking out of the door in front of her. Just as Tohka had been about to feed Shido a strawberry, Mukuro opened a door and ate it herself.
After chewing and swallowing the berry, Mukuro turned to Tohka with a bold smile. “What’s this? Muku assumed that you wished my lord to say ‘aaah,’ but it appears you intended to feed the fruit to Muku. Mm, are you in fact targeting Muku’s own lips?”
“…”
Tohka scowled, and a second later, her fork flashed, invisible to the naked eye.
Skreenk! The strawberry Mukuro held out was knocked flying, along with the end of her fork.
“Hmm?” Mukuro stared at her tine-less fork, and a heartbeat later, Tohka opened her mouth to catch the strawberry falling in a parabola toward her.
After swallowing this, she spit the end of the fork out onto the floor. The stainless steel utensil clattered against the tile.
“I return those words right back to you,” she said. “Exposing that fruit so defenselessly before me is no different from offering it up.”
“What did you say?” Mukuro turned infuriated eyes on Tohka.
Perhaps noticing the chaos unfolding at their table in the corner, one of the maids came racing over. “Ah! No, you mustn’t, my lady!”
“…What are you?”
“…Hmm. Such a strange appearance.”
Tohka and Mukuro both looked at the maid with dubious expressions.
The maid’s eyebrows twitched in surprise, but she was a professional. She quickly regained her service-industry-smile and continued, adorably. “You’ll trouble the master with all this rough play. Why don’t you try feeding it to him in a cute way?”
“Hmm. And what does that entail?” Mukuro asked as the maid cranked up the intensity of her smile.
“I’ll teach you a special secret spell to make the master want some cake, okay?” she chirped. “Put your hands together and make a heart like this.”
“…Like this?”
“Hmm.”
Copying the maid, Tohka and Mukuro made heart shapes with their hands. The maid shot a look at Origami, and she hurried to follow suit.
“Okay! Everybody ready? Here we go! Make it yummy, warm-n-cutie!”
“Make it yummy.”
“Warm-n-cutie.”
Expressionless in Tohka’s case and confused in Mukuro’s, the girls copied the maid’s little dance and repeated the lines. It was a surreal sight.
“Perfect!” the maid squealed. “Now you want to eat this cake, right, Master?”
“Huh? M-me?” Shido said, baffled.
“You. Want. To. Eat. It. Right?” the maid said insistently, pushing her face toward his. Her service-industry-smile was still plastered across her face, but a strange pressure also radiated from it, almost like she was saying, “Quit messing around here. These are your women, reign them the hell in.”
“…Y-yes,” he stammered. “Shido loves cake.”
“Great! You get a little happy face!” The maid smiled brightly, bowed, and left.
“I see. I have learned something here.” Tohka sniffed in satisfaction, reached for the plate of cake, and moved it from the table to the floor.
“…? What’s wrong?” Shido asked, unable to understand her actions.
Tohka made a heart shape with her hands and turned it toward the cake on the floor. “Make it yummy, warm-n-cutie,” she chanted before grabbing Shido’s shirt and yanking him down.
“Gah?!”
Her immense physical strength nearly made him fall over onto the floor. He threw out his hands so that he ended up on all fours.
“Good.” Tohka nodded, satisfied, and released his shirt. Then she stood up and sat down on his back.
He felt an indescribable, naughty pleasure at the soft sensation, the pressure of her weight, and above all else, this posture, and he flushed. “Hey! Wh-what are you doing, Tohka?!”
“Once the spell is cast, you cannot help but eat,” she told him sternly. “The only action you are permitted is the devouring of that which is upon the plate.”
“Uh, l-listen—”
Whap! Tohka slapped Shido’s rear end. “Do not talk back.”
“Hrrn!” Shido yelped at the sudden pain.
“Now eat. Like a dog,” she said, and pushed his head down.
Mukuro also stood up and crouched down in front of his face.
“Pshaw. You are a vulgar girl. Here, my lord. Muku will assist you.” Mukuro picked up a new fork and brought a bite of cake to her mouth. She then caught Shido’s cheeks in her hands and brought their lips toward each other. “Mm.”
“Wh-whoa?! Mukuro?!” Shido cried out as he realized what she was trying to do.
The next moment, his head suddenly turned upward, and Mukuro’s lips, having lost their target, planted themselves on a spot beneath his chin.
He hadn’t turned his own face away, however. Realizing Mukuro’s intentions, Tohka had yanked on his hair.
“What is this?” Mukuro demanded. “How dare you interfere.”
“Stop,” Tohka told her. “The agreement was the kiss comes after alms are given.”
“Hm-hmm? Of what do you speak? Muku was simply attempting to feed my lord cake.”
“Perfect. If you alter our agreement, I will accept its nullification. I can simply make this boy yield to me once I have slaughtered you.”
“You? Slaughter Muku? Surely you jest. I see the elements of a clown in you.”
“How dare you.”
Tohka and Mukuro glared at each other icily, and Shido could almost see the sparks flying.
“My ladies! This is a maid café! You must treat your master with respect and adoration!” The same maid came running over to admonish them.
“What?” Tohka glared at her. “You wish to grovel here as well?”
“Tohka?!” Shido joined Origami in bowing and apologizing and hurriedly dragged Tohka and Mukuro out of the café.