Episode 2: Take Care of Me for a Long Time to Come
“This is my place.”
Möbius-san led me to Akihabara Station. She stopped in front of a small building a five-minute walk from the station.
A large sign hung over the first floor, reading “Sweet Stella.”
“Um, wait… isn’t this a concept café?”
“Yep. I’m opening a maid café here soon. Second floor’s my place. C’mon, this way.”
She waved me over, and I followed her up an outdoor staircase. She unlocked the door and let us in, revealing one large room.
“Second floor used to be part of the café too, apparently, so it’s spacious, but there’s only the one room. I’d like to renovate it properly, but, well, no budget for that right now. Oh, but I did put in a proper bath, so don’t worry.”
The room was tidy, but with a kitchen, sofa, and bed all crammed into a single space, it had a strange, disjointed feel to it.
“Anyway, you want something to eat? Instant noodles okay?”
“Ah, yes.”
“Udon or ramen?”
“Ramen, then…”
“Got it.”
Möbius-san put the cups together with practiced efficiency. We sat side by side on the sofa, waited three minutes, and started eating.
“…Instant noodles are actually really good.”
Maybe it was just because I was starving, but it genuinely tasted good too.
“Wait, have you seriously never had instant noodles before?”
“No. I haven’t really had ramen at all…”
“Guess the rich-girl thing wasn’t a lie after all. So how’d someone like you end up homeless?”
“Ugh…”
To feed my need for validation on social media, I used to wear high-end brand items all the time and make sure they showed up in my selfies.
I didn’t have any real talents, so getting attention using my parents’ money had been the quickest route available.
When I told Möbius-san everything that had happened that day, her eyes went wide with shock. Which made sense. Losing your home and your parents in one afternoon isn’t exactly believable under normal circumstances.
“So, what’s Ruri planning to do from here?”
“Honestly, I have no idea… broke as I am now, my face is basically all I’ve got left…”
“You’re just gonna say that yourself, huh.”
“W-well, isn’t it weird to deny something everyone can already see for themselves?”
“Wow…”
Möbius-san, wearing a slightly appalled half-smile, suddenly grabbed both my cheeks and pulled my face in close.
Eh, wh-what’s happening all of a sudden!?
She’s popular as an influencer for a reason — Möbius-san has a great face too. The gal makeup suits her well.
And more than that, at this distance, her large chest was pressing against mine.
Unlike me, whose only asset is my face, Möbius-san has the figure to match.
“Yeah, you’re actually better-looking in person than in photos.”
“Ugh, ehehe…”
“That laugh’s kinda gross, though.”
“Rude…”
She kept staring at me like that for a while.
Nobody ever looks at me this closely, so my heart started pounding from the nerves.
“C-could it be… you want me to pay rent with my b-body, or something like that…?”
“Nope. What exactly do you take me for?”
“…I, I did think you had a thing for pretty faces. You only follow back girls who are good-looking.”
“Well, yeah, that’s true!”
Möbius-san pulled back and grabbed a flyer from a corner of the room.
The flyer read: “Sweet Stella — Now Hiring Cast Members!”
Fifteen hundred yen an hour, plus various bonuses. I’d never had a part-time job before, so I had no idea if that was good or bad.
“Ruri, wanna work at my maid café?”
“Huh?”
“Your customer service is questionable, but with that face, you’ll pull in customers no problem. Rent’s thirty thousand a month, meals included. Cheap, right?”
“Thirty thousand a month… at fifteen hundred an hour, that’s thirty hours…”
“Twenty hours. Are you stupid?”
“…I, I really do have nothing going for me except my face…!”
Thanks to my parents’ money, I’d gone straight from kindergarten through an elite girls’ school, so bad grades were never going to be a problem for getting into the next one. Which meant I’d never studied a day in my life either.
“So? What’s it gonna be?”
“…Um.”
Twenty hours a month didn’t sound like a particularly harsh condition. If I worked more than that, it’d go toward my own pocket, and apparently there were various bonuses on top of it too.
For someone in my position right now, there probably wasn’t a better offer out there.
And besides — I might not have confidence in customer service, but I have confidence in my face. Nothing but confidence, really.
“I’ll, I’ll do it! Please let me work here, Möbius-san!”
“Alright! Deal!”
Losing my home had felt like the end of the world, but maybe things would work out somehow.
“Th-thank you for having me, for a long time to come, Möbius-san!”
If Möbius-san ended up hating me, I’d be right back to having nowhere to go.
So for now, I decided I’d be as polite as humanly possible.
“‘For a long time to come,’ geez, that’s a bit much…”
Möbius-san looked away, embarrassed, her face turning as red as a strawberry.