✤
After her shift, Matsuri came straight back to my dorm room. A thought flashed through my mind: She’s basically run away from home without telling anyone, right? But I kept that to myself.
“I don’t know how long I’ll be staying here, but I want you to know once again that I sincerely appreciate your hospitality.”
She was bowing deeply in the doorway, her knees on the floor. Flustered, I urged her to stand back up.
“No need for all that formality! It’s honestly fine.”
“But you’re doing so much for me. You’re letting me stay in your room.”
“That’s really not such a big deal. All this business with Lady Saeko is a surprise, but it’s also a nice chance to talk to you alone, which we haven’t done much before. I’m kind of looking forward to it, actually.”
I took her hands and pulled her up.
“But—”
“No buts. If you keep trying to thank me over and over, it’ll get old pretty fast.”
“Oh. Yes, I suppose. Then I’ll come in, if that’s okay.”
“It’s more than okay!”
Her smile looked forced, but she finally agreed and came into my room.
“Whew. It’s been a while since I’ve stayed in the Domestic Arts dorm.”
“So you do normally stay with Lady Saeko?”
“Yes, for more than a year now. I only go back to my room every once in a while to drop things off.”
“I figured. Lately, I’ve been staying with Lady Himeko a lot too. That must be pretty common for Seraphs.”
“It is. Becoming a Seraph means taking care of your mistress in every facet of her life, so it only makes sense that you’d want to be as physically close to her as possible, doesn’t it?”
“That’s what I thought too.”
I turned to take off my maid uniform. She can talk normally again. It sounds like she’s recovered a lot from earlier.
But when I turned back, she was sitting on the bed, hugging her knees. She let out a heavy sigh, as if she’d shut down completely. I could practically see that dark cloud swirling around her head again.
“Matsuri,” I began hesitantly, “why don’t we have some tea? I’ll make it, so could you clear the table?”
The table still held our empty teacups from earlier, when we’d come here before her shift at the restaurant.
“Oh. Certainly.”
She immediately got up and started working. It occurred to me that she was probably the type of person who felt most at ease when she had some kind of job to do. The best idea is probably to keep her occupied long enough that she can’t start feeling down, but I don’t have that many things I can ask her to do. It would be better if I could lift her spirits by chatting with her.
We both stood in the kitchen. While she tidied and I made the tea, I tried to gauge her mood.
“Did you and Lady Saeko never talk about what would happen when you paid off the debt?”
Part of me was reluctant to bring the topic back to Matsuri’s mistress, but if we were going to fix this, I needed a little more information.
“No, we’ve never discussed it before. The first time I ever met her, she was with someone from the bank. I remember finding it strange to begin with. What was a child doing there? While our parents were talking, I just chatted with Lady Saeko and showed her around the neighborhood, but later I got word that a deal had been made to extend the time we had to pay back our debts. The condition was that I would come to this school and serve as Lady Saeko’s Seraph. Students at Amanotsuka Academy receive wages, after all. To me, it sounded like a very reasonable condition for a payback plan, so I agreed. That’s how it began.”
Once our respective tasks were finished, we moved over to the table and continued our discussion.
Matsuri went on, “At first, she tried to determine whether to make me her Seraph. I never had any objection to doing it, and once she formally made me her Seraph, she was strict, but not unreasonable, and she did everything she could to help me repay my family’s debts. I knew I wanted to serve her for my entire life. That’s why I never thought about what would happen after I paid everything back. I was focused on doing it as quickly as possible, and with Lady Saeko’s help, I finally managed it. All I wanted was to pay her back and say I was looking forward to carrying on working together. But instead, this happened.”
Holding her cup in her hand, Matsuri let out a heavy sigh.
“As far as I can tell, she doesn’t really want to let you go either. She never said that, at least. It’s all about her reputation. If we can find a way to make her comfortable with it, you can go back to normal, I’m sure.”
After a pause, she said, “That would be nice.”
She cast her eyes downward and took a slow sip of her tea. Her expression was unbelievably sad. I could see her lips quivering. There had to be a maelstrom of emotions inside her, with one question at the center of it all: Why?
“I genuinely thought she’d be happy,” she said at last, the words mixed with a deep sigh as tears welled in her eyes again. She’d done her best to keep it together, but thinking too long about Lady Saeko must have made it impossible to hold back.
“I thought she’d praise me. That she’d say ‘Well done’ and ‘You’re my Seraph, so keep working hard.’”
She lowered her head to hide the tears that were falling.
“How can I become her Seraph again? I have no idea. She’s not the kind of person who easily changes her mind, so I don’t think she’ll listen to anything I have to say. So please, if there’s anything you can do, I need your help.”
Still looking down, she turned her body to face me and kneeled down so far that her head touched the floor.
“I’m begging you! Help me be Lady Saeko’s Seraph again. I’ll do anything. Anything!”
“Matsuri, please drop that. You don’t have to beg me—I’m already helping, and so are Himeko and Lady Sakura. You’re the one and only Seraph for Lady Saeko. You know what I’ve realized lately? People who are chosen to be Seraphs are connected by fate to their mistresses somehow. The person the mistress chooses is her perfect match, like puzzle pieces fitting together.”
“Thanks, Misaki. I believe that too. Without being conceited, I don’t think there’s anyone else who could be Lady Saeko’s Seraph.”
Wiping her tears, she raised her head and showed a smile again, even if it was an uneasy one.
Thank goodness. At least she’s calmed down enough to smile again.
After that, we made a modest dinner together, then sat on my bed until late in the night, bragging about our mistresses.