Until now, I had been the guy that the Suzakura students were cautious about, being “the one closest to Tachibana-san,” but the effect of wearing the maid outfit was starting to show in unexpected places.

“Natsuki-chan, could you come here for a moment?”

When I looked in the direction of the voice, I saw the Suzakura students in the far seats waving at me. Since they had already finished eating, I could tell it probably wasn’t anything serious, but if they called me, I couldn’t ignore it.

“……Sorry to keep you waiting. What’s up?”

Since I started wearing the maid outfit, a group of Suzakura students started calling me “Natsuki-chan” and treating me like a girl. According to them, they said I was “cute.”

I couldn’t believe it, so I asked Kobayashi-san for her opinion. She responded with a dramatic gag and expressed her thoughts with a little sigh. What she said that left an impression was, “At this age, everything looks cute to high school girls.” Her oddly philosophical tone stood out.

Anyway, it was a good thing that their attitude towards me had softened. If the manager had planned this, I’d have to thank them. But that probably wasn’t the case.

“Uh… suddenly, but Natsuki-chan, do you play Ruin?”

She asked with a little upward glance. The girl, who had long black hair, was part of the Suzakura group. I had seen her a few times at Cyberia, and although I didn’t know her name, I recognized her face. She always ordered matcha parfait, so with her beautiful hair, I had the impression that she was a “traditional Japanese” type.

“Ruin…?”

Unexpectedly, the word slipped out, so I ended up asking back. I thought she was going to ask for something related to work, like fetching water or getting paper napkins.

“Yeah. If you’d like… Would you like to exchange with me?”

She showed me her smartphone screen. It had a photo of a cat, which looked like a daily life snapshot. When I stood there dumbfounded, unable to move, another girl next to her stepped in to help.

“Saya likes Natsuki-chan in the maid outfit! Right?”

So her name was Saya. She looked up at me dreamily, slowly placing one hand on her blushing cheek. Her strangely seductive gesture made me feel a chill run down my spine.

“Uh, yeah… when I see it, I get this shiver down my spine…”

…This is bad.

Even a fool could tell, this girl was definitely trouble. No matter how starved I was for love as a student of Aotaka High School, stepping into a visible landmine was a whole different matter. It was a rare chance to be asked about Ruin by a girl, but I felt like lying was the only way out.

“…Sorry. I don’t play that.”

She’d probably know it was a lie, but that didn’t matter. I just needed to make sure she understood that I wasn’t interested.

“…I see. It’s a shame, but it can’t be helped.”

I felt a little guilty at Saya’s sad expression, but I knew I wasn’t wrong. She was probably someone I shouldn’t get involved with.

“Sorry for interrupting your work.”

“No, it’s fine. If anything comes up, just call me.”

I bowed and left the table. On my way, I noticed Tachibana-san staring at me from the front. One trouble after another, the phrase crossed my mind.

“…You were talking pretty friendly with them, huh?”

Tachibana-san, who always kept up the “prince” character, looked unusually displeased, glaring at me with a damp, heavy gaze. Maybe I’d talked to a customer too much during work.

“Well, actually, they asked me about Ruin.”

“Ruin? From those Suzakura students?”

Tachibana-san widened her eyes in surprise. Of course, she’d react that way. It was the first time I’d been asked for contact info after wearing the maid outfit.

“I can’t really say it out loud, but they said they liked my maid outfit.”

“…That’s a rare one. So what did you do, Natsuki?”

“I turned them down. The atmosphere felt dangerous.”

It felt good to be complimented, but I wanted to be evaluated as a man, not just because of the outfit. Maybe that’s too greedy, but it’s how I felt.

“…I see. You turned them down.”

Tachibana-san looked somewhat relieved for some reason.

“Also, I’m not very good at Ruin. I’d probably disappoint them if we exchanged contact info.”

I never know what to talk about, so the conversations don’t go anywhere. I’m not good at dragging on conversations. Compared to that, I think Souta is amazing for keeping in touch with Shirataki-san all the time.

“I see. I’ve got some complaints about you too, Natsuki.”

“…Huh?”

This was unexpected. Tachibana-san seemed dissatisfied with my Ruin habits.

“I’ve contacted you a lot, but you never contact me back.”

Tachibana-san puffed out her cheeks like she was sulking. She looked really cute with her maid outfit, but something felt off about her today.

Normally, she was so handsome that even a guy would fall for her, but today, she was just a cute girl. I thought it was her “prince” mode since she called herself “boku”.

“Well… I’ve been a little concerned about it. Wondering if it might be a bother.”

“If it was a bother, I wouldn’t have asked for your contact info in the first place. Don’t you think so?”

Her rebuttal left me speechless. She was right, and even if I didn’t think she was completely right, I felt guilty for making her sad.

As I pondered what to say next, the bell from the intercom rang, and we both reacted at the same time. Tachibana-san gestured for me to stay quiet and walked off.

“…You’re looking forward to tonight, right, Natsuki?”

She whispered as she turned around, and all I could do was nod.