Several more days passed without incident. Lady Saeko came to the Sky Salon every other day or so, but she hardly spoke to the rest of us. She just stayed in her own private corner and spent her time reading.
When the time was right, we’d hopefully be able to persuade her, but the moment just wasn’t coming quickly enough, and it was starting to stress me out. Maybe it won’t even come until after school starts up again. If so, they’re considering going for Lady Sakura’s plan, but with Lady Angelica’s layered over the top. Then we’d have to ask for Matsuri’s help after all.
As the days dragged on, Matsuri kept going to work as scheduled. For me, having her there was pretty handy. Outside of her shifts, I got plenty of one-on-one lessons in cooking, cleaning, and doing laundry. I felt like my maid skills leveled up a little.
Today I was thinking about asking her to teach me more secret cleaning techniques, but when I waited in my room after her shift, she didn’t show up. It wasn’t like she’d promised to come straight home after work or anything, and I sometimes went out to see Himeko around this time. She’d probably just gone for a walk. On the surface, at least, she was back to her usual self, so there probably wasn’t that much cause for concern. Still, given the situation, I couldn’t help worrying.
My mind started running away with me. She wouldn’t try to break into Lady Saeko’s room, would she?
“I’m back!” Matsuri announced, putting that idea to rest.
Her voice sounded as cheerful as ever; my fears had apparently been groundless.
“Hi,” I said, going to meet her at the door.
Sweat was dripping down her face. Even in this sweltering heat, she had to have been doing more than just walking back to the dorm.
“Should I get a towel?”
“No, don’t worry. I’ll get one myself.”
She showed me a smile I hadn’t seen on her face in quite a while.
“Did something happen?”
“Yes. After work, I went and cleaned inside the school building. No one’s been in there to clean since the start of vacation, right? I realized it must have gotten slightly dusty. When I started, I got more engrossed than I’d expected. When I’m exerting myself like that, I can forget about everything.”
“Sure. Yep.”
Cleaning the school without anybody asking her to? That’s Matsuri all right, but it feels like she’s putting on a brave face to the extreme. It’s almost like she’s swung from a depressive state to a manic one. I hope she won’t have a sudden swing back.
Of course, the fact that she was feeling good right now was a plus. But if she’s doing something like this, she can’t be back to her normal self.
“You’re right that there’s no one to take care of it during vacation. Should I come and help out as well?”
“No, you mustn’t. You have to focus on serving Himeko.” She poked me in the cheek for emphasis.
“I guess you’re right. I’d better make her my priority.”
She giggled. “Definitely. If you have a mistress to take care of, she has to come first.”
“Right,” I said weakly.
Ugh, we really have to fix this quickly, but it’s not going to be easy.