Chapter Three: “The Princess Wants to Win the Prince” — Part Twelve

“This is my place.”

Iori-senpai’s home was a high-rise apartment building a ten-minute walk from the café. A well-appointed family-sized complex with auto-lock entry, and a high-end supermarket on the ground floor.
Senpai stepped into the lift with the ease of long familiarity and pressed the button for the thirteenth floor. I’d had a vague sense of it already, but Iori-senpai was apparently quite well-off.

Senpai used a card key to unlock the door and opened it. Dark inside. Just as she’d said, no one was home at this hour.

“Excuse the intrusion.”

I stepped inside, nerves running high. When Senpai turned on the lights, the interior that came into view was surprisingly lived-in.

“It might be a bit messy. Sorry. My parents both work, so they’re busy.”
“Not at all! Oh, does Iori-senpai have any siblings?”
“An older sister, but she’s working now and living alone.”

Iori-senpai’s older sister.
She had to be beautiful. Cool and androgynous like Senpai? Or maybe the complete opposite, very feminine. Possibly the glamorous older-woman type.
I really, really wanted to meet her.

“Himena-chan.”
“Y-yes!”
“You were just thinking about someone else.”

She sighed with a mildly sulky look.
Iori-senpai, you are far too adorable.

“My room is this way.”

Senpai led me to the room at the very end of the hall.
The room read less as tidy and more as having very few things in it to begin with. Beyond the bare minimum of furniture, the only distinctive features were the trophies and medals arranged on a shelf.

Every one of them had a basketball tournament name on it. Iori-senpai really had been working at basketball since she was small.

“You can sit there.”
“Thank you!”

I settled into the floor chair, and Senpai sat on the edge of her bed.
Senpai sitting on her bed is somehow a little… a lot.

“So what should we do. As you can see, there’s nothing much in my room. No games, no TV.”
“What do you normally do in here?”
“Strength training, stretching. And sleeping, I suppose.”

Of course. Iori-senpai would never be the type to lie around scrolling on her phone until late.

“Is there anything you want to do, Himena-chan?”
“Something I want to…”

One idea surfaced in my mind immediately. I wasn’t sure if Senpai would go for it.

“Um! I have a request!”
“What?”
“Would you put this on?!”

I jumped up and pulled the café uniform out of my bag. We were supposed to return it after it was cleaned.

“…What?”
“I know the women’s uniform would suit you, Iori-senpai.”

I’d wanted to see Senpai in that cute uniform from the very beginning. And right now, this room had just the two of us in it.
Which meant I could have Senpai’s adorable side all to myself.

“Please, Senpai. I’m begging you!”

I bowed my head all the way to the floor with full force. For the chance to see Senpai being cute, prostrating myself was a small price.

“Himena-chan, stop. And this kind of thing really doesn’t suit me.”
“It absolutely does.”
“It doesn’t. My hair’s short, and my face isn’t the cute type.”
“Senpai, you are incredibly cute!”

Our eyes met, and Iori-senpai’s cheek went pink as she looked away.

She’s embarrassed, isn’t she. It doesn’t feel like she genuinely doesn’t want to.
I would never try to force her into anything, obviously. Well, in one sense the image of that was compelling, but I knew perfectly well it was out of the question.
Still — it felt like one more push might do it?

“…Himena-chan. Why do you want me to wear the maid uniform so much?”
“Because I want to see lots of your cute side, Senpai!”

I stood up and took her hand in both of mine, holding tight. I looked up at her steadily, and Senpai let out a slow, resigned breath.

“…All right. If you win rock-paper-scissors, I’ll put it on.”
“Prepare yourself. I currently have more passion for rock-paper-scissors than any other person on earth.”

Please, if there’s any mercy in the universe, let it be on my side right now.
If there was ever a battle in life I absolutely could not afford to lose, it was this one.

“First the fist, rock-paper-scissors… shoot!!”

I threw rock. Senpai threw paper.
No matter how many times I blinked, the result stayed the same.

“No… that can’t be right…”

The shock was enough to drop me to the floor. The floor of Senpai’s room was cold.
Why did I lose? Does the universe have something against me? Is the universe also in love with Senpai?!

“Himena-chan, I think you’ve misunderstood.”
“What?”
“I lost just now.”

Senpai crouched down and peered at my face. Her cheek was just slightly pink.

“I threw late, so it’s a foul. My loss.”
“…Huh? What? Wh-what does that…?”

My brain went completely blank and I couldn’t get the situation to make sense.
Senpai lost on a foul? She threw late? Why?
Did she throw late because she didn’t want to wear the maid uniform? But then she wouldn’t have said anything about it, would she.

“Anyway, that means I’ll go and get changed.”

She picked up the maid uniform from where it lay on the floor and left the room.
A few dozen seconds later, I finally understood what Senpai had done.

“She wanted an excuse to say she lost, so she didn’t have to just put it on for no reason… right?”

Wait. Iori-senpai, was she always this adorable?!
She’d been perfectly willing to wear it all along, but it was too embarrassing to do without a reason, so she’d manufactured the rock-paper-scissors in the first place.

“Oh no…”

Heat spread through my whole body. Senpai wasn’t even back yet, and I was already going out of my mind.