“Put that vase over here! Hey, that cross is off-balance.”
Time flies like an arrow—or so the saying goes—but it was true. After a dizzying whirlwind of hard work, it was finally the day of the Genius Festival.
It was early in the morning, and here in the Phoenix Class, the final preparations were underway for the opening of our café. Albert, Colette, and I usually spent this time training, so it wasn’t a problem for us, but most of our fellow classmates would still be in dreamland at this hour. Some rubbed their eyes sleepily, and others wandered around like zombies, but the classroom was still in a restless fervor.
As for me, I was barking orders left and right. This was just the thing for the zombies—the closer we got to opening time, the more their cheeks filled with life. As my peers became more lucid, the long-awaited Genius Festival was starting to feel more real to them.
“Mylene, don’t you think it’s about time we changed into our uniforms?”
“Yes, you’re quite right, Colette. Melissa…also, Hermia, Romilda, would you all please join us?”
“Yes, my lady!”
“As you wish, Miss Mylene.”
Aside from Melissa, we’d chosen two other girls to be servers. Hermia was a class beauty with curves in all the right places. Romilda was slender, but she had a rose-kissed, healthy glow to her skin.
Combined with the innocent Melissa and the queenly Colette, they satisfied everyone’s tastes.
“All right, Prince Albert, the gentlemen are in your hands.”
“Of course, Miss Mylene.”
Albert was in charge of the boys. We parted ways into our separate dressing rooms. Once inside, we were given our uniforms. This would be my second time wearing it. I’d put it on the first time in the shop to see if it needed alterations. Now I needed to put it on again so I could work as a server.
I had avoided wearing it all this time with the excuse that I didn’t want to risk getting it dirty, but now it was game time. I had to suck it up and wear the damn thing.
“These uniforms are just so cute!” Rolinda carefully held up her uniform to avoid wrinkling it. “Remind me, Miss Mylene, was this your idea?”
“Yes, mostly… Having said that, Princess Colette contributed to the final uniform you see here. As such, you might as well consider it her idea.”
It might have come across as modesty, but I meant every word. Since I knew I’d be forced to wear the damn thing myself, I had only vaguely asked the shopkeeper to make colorful maid uniforms.
“Oh, so it was Princess Colette. I can see that. They are a bit provocative but very beautiful.”
And that’s how we wound up with these provocative—well, let’s just call them what they were: skin-exposing costumes. Having said that, they were still tame enough for our classmates to be okay with wearing them…but I still dreaded putting one on.
It was too late to complain, though. I changed into the uniform. It came with other accessories, but I wanted to delay putting those on as long as possible.
“I see you’ve all changed!” Colette said. “Then let’s head back to the classroom and show everyone just how beautiful we are.”
Romilda and Hermia nodded eagerly in reply. As you’d expect, they both had a lot of confidence in their looks. And in truth, all five of us were charming in our own way. If you’re going on outward appearances alone, I was included in that statement.
I really need to stop shitting on this whole thing. This is starting to feel out of character.
As we left the dressing room and headed for our classroom, we turned the heads of every student in the hall we passed. Getting all that attention made me feel even worse—
“Well, hello, ladies and gentlemen. Do visit the Phoenix Class, won’t you?”
—but I told myself to ignore it and sent the enraptured students some light flirtation.
Hey, I had all eyes on me. How could I pass up a good PR opportunity?
I’m sure we sparked a lot of curiosity. What would these beautiful girls in modern, skimpy costumes do? I figured Albert and his posse were attracting their fair share of attention from the female students, too.
“Shrewd as ever, eh, Mylene?” Colette teased.
“Hey, when you’re dressed like this, it’s more embarrassing to stay uncomfortable. One must play all the cards in one’s deck, my dear.”
“You sly fox.”
I hid my urge to curse under a smile and waved elegantly as I walked down the hall.
Okay, we’re almost ready now… No, wait. I still have one very important personal matter to tend to.
I returned to the classroom to find Albert and his team had already returned. They were standing in the center of the classroom, surrounded by a crowd of eager students much like actors who had just stepped off the stage.
Albert and the other boys were given riding uniforms—a variation on tailcoat suits. Only they were much tighter-fitting, with the eye-catching areas emphasized and bright-colored lining that brought a flashy sense of style to the party.
And just as I’d hoped, this youthful spin on formal wear was a real hit with the ladies.
It wasn’t an exaggeration to say everyone had stopped working. Ideally, I’d let them admire the boys for a bit longer, but the truth was that we didn’t have time to sit on our asses.
“Ladies and gentlemen, we’ve returned,” I announced loudly, to draw the eyes on the class on me.
“Welcome back, Miss Mylene…?!”
…Well, I had faith that we ladies would draw even more attention than Albert and the boys. And as I’d anticipated, the eyes of all our classmates fell onto us, fresh from the fitting room.
The once rowdy classroom fell silent. Little gasps of awe escaped the covered mouths of the girls, while the boys went stock still from shock.
“H-how beautiful…! You’re an angel—no—a goddess?”
Albert had a particularly overblown reaction—legs were shaking like a newborn deer’s. Not that I blamed him. I had to admit, Colette’s design really was something.
The bodice was quite low-cut, and it came with a separate pin-on collar. Since it was an aproned dress, the short hems left our thighs exposed, too. It was a daring design indeed.