Episode 5: The Childhood Friend Appears
“O-oh, welc—welco— no, w-w-welcome home, O-Ojou-sama…!”
Möbius-san let out an audible sigh, watching my strained smile.
“L-let me show you to your seat…”
The more I told myself smile, smile, the more my facial muscles seized up. I somehow managed to get Möbius-san to her seat, but forgot to bring her water.
“Ruri. You didn’t introduce yourself.”
“Ah, s-sorry. Um, I’m Ruri, one of the maids. Nice to meet you.”
I bowed my head and did my best to take her order.
Next was the ketchup art.
My grades in art class have always been rock bottom, by the way.
I tried to draw a cute rabbit, but what came out was some unidentifiable monster.
“So, um, let me cast a spell on it. Moe moe kyun kyun, become de—”
“Where’s the hand motion explanation for the customer?”
“Ah…”
Bad. I’d been so nervous that half the steps had completely fallen out of my head.
“Ruri. Honestly, with service like that…”
“S-sorry! I’ll, I’ll try harder, I promise…!”
Even I could tell I wasn’t cut out for customer service. But I had nowhere else to go.
“P-please don’t throw me out, Möbius-san…!”
“…Ugh, don’t look up at me like that! You’ll win!”
“So I do win…”
If that’s how it is, I decided I might as well make her lose completely.
So I doubled down — teary eyes, upward glance, the whole arsenal — and clung to Möbius-san without mercy.
◆
“Alright, that’s it for today’s training. Just review everything at home before opening day. …Ruri, you’re getting extra practice. With me.”
“Yes ma’am…”
Once training wrapped up, Hayashi-san headed straight home, and Miyuki-san comforted me for a bit before leaving too.
“Möbius-san, do you think I’ll actually get good at customer service…?”
“…Dunno. But you’ll probably still pull in cheki sales.”
Möbius-san nodded firmly to herself and gripped both my shoulders.
“Seriously, Ruri, your face is doing a lot of heavy lifting for you.”
◆
“Here, your lunch.”
“W-wait, did you make this yourself!?”
Monday morning. I’d just changed into my school uniform when Möbius-san handed me a lunch bag.
“Yeah. Nothing fancy, but you don’t have money for lunch, right? And this too.”
Next, she handed me a transit IC card.
“Charged it with ten thousand yen for now. Use it for train fare. And, y’know, for anything else if something comes up.”
“Möbius-san…!”
I still hadn’t been paid, so I hadn’t paid rent yet. On top of that, she’d covered every single meal all weekend.
And now this, on top of everything else — maybe Möbius-san is some kind of goddess.
“Thank you so much! I’ll never forget this as long as I live…!”
“…Can I ask a favor in return?”
“A favor?”
Möbius-san pulled her phone out of her pocket, eyes averted from mine.
“…Can I take a picture of you in your uniform?”
Apparently, Möbius-san really, really likes my face.
◆
“…Feels like it’s been forever, somehow…”
It had only been the weekend, but standing in front of the school still made me weirdly nervous.
Tsubakigaoka Girls’ Academy — a private all-girls school running from kindergarten through university. I’ve attended since kindergarten myself.
It’s not like every single student is absurdly wealthy, but it’s definitely a school where kids from well-off families tend to gather.
I kept my head down as I stepped onto the grounds. I half expected people to be gossiping about my parents’ company going under, but nobody said a word to me about it. Then again, nobody really talks to me on a normal day either.
I was about to switch into my indoor shoes at the shoe lockers when someone shouted my name — “Riri!”
I turned around to see Maria running toward me.
“Hey! Riri! Where were you all weekend!? Your phone wasn’t even connecting…!”
Mikoshiba Maria. The only classmate I can actually talk to at school, and my childhood friend.
She’s also the only daughter of the head of a major hospital, making her the wealthiest girl in the whole school.
“Well… a lot happened.”
“A lot happened, and you didn’t contact me!?”
“Um, well…”
My parents had apparently cancelled the phone contract, so my number stopped working.
“Why!? You knew I’d be worried, right!? Where were you!? Who were you with!? I looked everywhere for you!”
I’d known this reaction was coming. Maria’s kind, and she genuinely cares about me as a friend.
Which is exactly why I didn’t want to lean on her.
If I’d asked for help, Maria would have handed me a huge amount of money without hesitation. But I can’t borrow money from a friend.
Maria already does so much for me. I shouldn’t put any more weight on her than I already have.
“Okay, listen, calm down, Maria. For now, I’m staying at a friend’s place.”
“…A f-friend? You don’t have any friends besides me, though?”
“Um, well…”
If I told her it was an internet friend, Maria would blow up about how dangerous that is. I’d kept the fact that I post selfies online a secret from her at first too — though my account got identified pretty quickly anyway.
“A-actually, I did have one. I just never told you…”
“Eh?”
“She’s a good person. A bit older, kind of like an onee-san type. I even got a homemade lunch from her today.”
“Homemade!? Wait, hold on. This friend’s house — don’t tell me she lives alone…?”
“Ah, yeah. So I don’t have to worry about being a bother to any family or anything.”
I’d said it to reassure her, but for some reason Maria just clutched her head and sank down to a crouch.
Maria’s an honor student and even serves on the student council, so this reaction of hers drew attention from everyone around us.
“Hey, um, Maria. Class is about to start, can the rest wait until after school?”
“Just let me ask one thing.”
Maria stood back up and put both hands on my shoulders.
Wait, is it just me, or does Maria’s expression look kind of scary right now…?
“You’re sleeping in separate rooms, right? I won’t forgive you if you lie to me.”
“Eh?”
That’s the first time Maria’s ever said “I won’t forgive you” to me.
I don’t want to lie to Maria and end up hated for it.
“It’s a studio apartment. No extra futon either, so for now, I’m sleeping in the same bed as her. She’s nice about it too — never once told me to sleep on the sofa.”
“I-if it were me, I’d have prepared you a luxury suite!!”
Maria shouted it at the top of her lungs, and for some reason her eyes were welling up with tears.
I don’t get it. Maybe, being as rich as she is, the idea of living together with someone in a single studio room just struck Maria as unbearably pathetic.
“Hah… this is a dream. It has to be a dream. There’s no way something like this could actually be happening…”
Maria burst into tears, laughing in this strange, broken way, and I had absolutely no idea what to do with her.