Episode 26: Old Fans Love Nostalgia
“Ruri-chan!”
“Ruri-chaaan!”
“Ruri-san!”
“Ruriii!”
Voices calling my name come from every table in the shop. I can’t answer all of them, but I want to respond, as much as I can, to the ones who are really rooting for me.
I stop, turn around, flash a smile, and give a small wave. That alone is enough to make the customers’ faces melt into grins on the spot.
This feeling of being wanted… it’s addictive!!
Ever since I went public on social media about working at Sweet Stella, the number of customers who come in specifically because of that has been steadily growing.
And a lot of them say things like, “she’s even cuter in person than in her photos.” Well, of course — I am an ultra-gorgeous beauty, after all…!
Thanks to that, more and more people have been buying chekis with me lately. A lot of them have even said they’re planning to come to the event, too.
Still, there’s one problem. As the number of customers grows, it’s getting harder and harder to remember everyone’s name.
I was wondering if there was some kind of trick to it, when the shop’s entrance door opened. A new customer.
“Welcome home, Ojou-sama— ah, Akane-san!”
She’s an important customer who started rooting for me right from opening day. Even now, Akane-san comes to the shop almost every single day.
We talk every time she visits, so I’ve gotten to know a fair amount about her by now.
She works at a pretty elite company, and she’s apparently on the fast track for promotion.
In exchange, she’s a brutally overworked corporate slave, which means her salary just keeps piling up unspent.
And, above all else—
“Ahh, today too, my angel who descended into this hopeless world, my Ruri-chan, is just so precious…! Every museum on Earth would fight over the right to display you…”
—She’s utterly, completely into my face.
“Oh, right! I saw the selfie you posted on social media! Ruri-chan can even wink, huh, an angel, no, beyond angel, might actually be a god… b-but, somehow it also feels like Ruri-chan’s drifting further away from me, ah, aaah…!”
The moment she sat down, Akane-san’s emotions destabilized completely.
“And Ruri-chan, your customer service has gotten so much better too! You could barely even introduce yourself properly back at the start… you’ve really grown, no, seriously, as a fan I’m proud, and happy too, I mean it, really!”
Flustered, Akane-san chugged her entire glass of water in one go.
Every time another customer called my name, her eyebrows twitched, just slightly.
No doubt about it.
Akane-san is, most likely, an “old fan who resents newcomers.”
She’s happy that I’ve become popular, but somewhere deep down, some part of her probably hates it too.
Old fans can be a little tricky in their own way, but people who keep rooting for you long-term are precious and something to be grateful for — and you have to keep properly holding onto their hearts too… that’s what Miyuki-san said, wasn’t it.
More than anything, Akane-san is my very first fan. I don’t want her to get bored of me, or grow to dislike me, or switch her support to someone else.
As a maid, I need to make sure I keep reeling in my old fan Akane-san properly too!
“Um, excuse me, Akane-san.”
“What is it, Ruri-chan!?”
“…This is a secret, so please don’t tell anyone else, but… actually, I’m not very good at winking. I ended up retaking that selfie a bunch of times.”
“Hiii, hyeek, s-so cu—…!”
Akane-san writhed in place, but honestly, the point probably wasn’t that I’m bad at winking. That part probably doesn’t even matter.
Even if I’d told her my special skill was winking instead, she probably would’ve reacted exactly the same way.
What matters is the “secret” itself.
Compared to my other customers, I gave Akane-san — my old fan — special treatment.
“Um, Akane-san. If it’s alright with you… is there a pose you’d like for a selfie request, or anything like that?”
“C-can I really!?”
“…I want Akane-san to be happy.”
“Ugh…!”
Akane-san clutched at her chest.
“I-is this what they call a ‘DM’…!?”
“Ah, um, but, Akane-san…”
I leaned in, bringing my mouth close to her ear. Then, staying just barely close enough not to touch, I whispered softly.
“This one, please keep it a secret too, okay?”
“Ahh, aaah, the angel’s finally started moonlighting as a little devil too…!”
Nearly fainting, Akane-san requested the “bunny pose.”
And, predictably, she bought chekis of my “bunny pose” all the way up to the purchase limit before heading home.