✤
Erisu’s École Kitchen was still open during summer vacation and had students going in and out already. By now, there was no sign it had ever been unpopular. It seemed to have gained a reputation of being a hidden gem.
Squinting in the light of the sun, which had risen fairly high in the sky, Lady Saeko stood in front of the door. Sara burst into action, nonchalantly stepping in front of the ladies and opening the door with a carefree motion.
I gasped. Had I made a huge mistake not thinking about this? What did I normally do when Himeko and I came here? I had a feeling that sometimes she opened the door and sometimes I did. At any rate, I definitely hadn’t taken the initiative to go in front and show her in.
“There, there, Misaki,” Lady Saeko said, stroking my head like she was consoling a child. “You have a good example to follow for next time.”
Ouch. This is even more painful than being lectured. Hanging around with other people makes it really clear just how lenient Himeko is with me.
Groaning, I replied, “I’ll take it to heart.”
Just when I thought I was improving, I’d been shot down again. Lady Saeko was right, though; Sara was a great example to follow. Now that she’d joined the Sky Salon as well, I’d have to absorb everything I could from her.
And wouldn’t it be fun to try and level up while Kirara’s not here and surprise her when she gets back?
“Thanks, Sara,” Lady Saeko said as she stepped into the restaurant.
After that followed the usual cry of “Welcome!” from Hanaka, the waitress.
Except that it didn’t. The voice I heard from inside belonged to someone else. Huh? Who was that?
It didn’t sound like any of Erisu’s three Exousias. It was definitely familiar, but as far as I knew, no one else worked here apart from Hanaka, Mizuki, and Yukina. It also wasn’t the owner herself.
Just as I peered in from behind Lady Saeko, the waitress suddenly froze.
“Lady Saeko!” she said, audibly shocked. “I didn’t expect you to—”
“Goodness, is it so horrible to see your own mistress?”
“Matsuri, is that you?” I asked.
It was true. Lady Saeko’s Seraph, Matsuri, was serving as a waitress at Erisu’s École Kitchen.
What was she doing here? All kinds of scenarios ran through my head. Had she left the Sky Salon? Had Lady Saeko’s bullying finally become too much for her? Or had she been a spy from the Paradise Palace all along?
“Hurry up and show us to our seats. Misaki’s so confused she’s about to explode.”
“I’m not going to explode!”
I couldn’t object to the rest, though. The “confused” part was entirely true.
“Would you like a private booth, or—”
“Out in the open is perfect. I want to be able to watch you work.” Lady Saeko grinned.
“Certainly. This way, please.”
Matsuri led us to our seats with experienced poise. I could have believed she had always worked here.
Once we were seated and she’d gone into the back, I whispered a baffled question to Lady Saeko. “What’s going on?”
“What do you mean?”
“Why is Matsuri working here? She’s your Seraph, so she doesn’t need another job, right? You haven’t canceled her contract, have you?”
“Of course not. I finally got my very own sla— uh, Seraph, so why would I get rid of her? Matsuri always gets part-time jobs during long vacations, that’s all. This time she’s working here because Erisu asked if she could help out every once in a while.”
“But—”
“But what about her Seraph work? Why do I allow it?”
She’d predicted all my questions, so I just nodded in silence.
“It’s all to reduce the amount of time it takes for her to pay off the debt. There isn’t much work for her to do during vacation, so why would I say no? The money’s important to her.”
“That’s true,” I replied hesitantly. In theory, there was nothing suspicious about any of that, but something was still gnawing at me.
Thinking back to how Lady Saeko had looked at the Sky Salon, she hadn’t looked fine with Matsuri not being there. She’d spoken about it in kind of a joking way, but she had undeniably looked quite lonely.
Matsuri came back with water and a menu. “Here you are.”
“Thank you,” her mistress replied. “You’re getting very good at this. Maybe I should ask Erisu if you can work here all the time.”
“Please don’t,” she squeaked. “I’m your Seraph, milady. I couldn’t.”
Smirking, Lady Saeko took the menu. “Don’t worry about that. It’s important to think about your future, isn’t it?”
This wasn’t too different from their usual banter, but there was definitely something a little weird about Lady Saeko’s tone. Her cruel teasing was normally accompanied by genuine concern about Matsuri’s well-being. Now it was almost like she’d thrown that off altogether.
She opened the menu, then quickly closed it again and passed it to me. Apparently not in the mood to decide for herself, she said, “I’d like a drink and some kind of snack. What would you recommend?”
“For today, we have a mango parfait available. We also have mango pudding, or cheesecake with mango sauce. To match that summery atmosphere, I’d suggest having the tropical juice.”
“In that case, I’ll have the cheesecake and a tropical juice. What about you, Sakura?”
“Hmm, the pudding sounds good to me. Do you want the same as I’m having, Sara?”
“Yes, milady. That sounds jolly good.”
“And you, Misaki?”
I thought for just a moment, then said, “I’ll have the same as you, Lady Saeko.”
When I handed back the menu, Matsuri smiled and said, “Two cheesecakes with mango sauce, two mango puddings, and four tropical juices. Coming right up.”
She gracefully bowed her head and started walking back to the kitchen. Every movement looked so comfortable that I’d never have guessed this was her first day on the job.
I could see that Lady Saeko was surreptitiously watching her as well. There was a strange look in her eye, a mixture of affection and loneliness.
While waiting, Lady Saeko engaged Lady Sakura in some casual chatter.
“Where in Britain are you from?”
“Just outside of Mayfair.”
“Oh, that’s not far from Buckingham Palace, is it?”
“Correct. You’re awfully well versed.”
“I visited as a child. The Changing of the Guard was so impressive that I had to watch it several times.”
“Oh, really? I always used to go and watch it as well, so maybe we were even there at the same time once.”
Lady Saeko laughed. “What a romantic idea.”
Soon I saw Matsuri returning with a tray in her hands. Her mistress noticed as well and glanced her way.
“Misaki, I have an idea,” she said with a grin. “Why don’t we have some fun?”