I’m Spying on the Heroine in an Otome Game World 2721 min read
Volume 2 | Chapter 7: August (Up) – Part 2
“Oh my, I’m not going to wear the cat ears.”
I’m suffering a terrible shock from the very beginning.
Beginning of what? My part-time job, that is. I had my interview at Nyan Nyan Cafe and passed it splendidly.
On the very first day, I will be trained and put to work. I had a notepad in one hand as I followed after Tanaka-senpai, pumped up to learn all sorts of things today.
Yet Tanaka-senpai will not be wearing the cat ears despite wearing the waitress uniform. I tried asking her directly why, and she gave me the following answer…
“Everyone other than those directly serving the customers don’t have to wear them. I’ll be mostly inside making drinks and preparing cakes, you see.”
The owner of Nyan Nyan Cafe was a woman in her forties. In the beginning, she planned on making a cat cafe, which was on the craze. Unfortunately, the room she rented to turn into a cafe forbid animals.
She was troubled by this, but she managed to change her perspective and decided to use fake cats instead. She made her staff wear cat ears and tails. Although the cafe was a normal cafe, she tried appealing to a different set of customers.
I wonder if there was anyone who tried to put a stop to this.
Anyways, I was in a cafe in a certain building, on the second floor.
The store had large windows to let the bright sun shine in, while the floor was covered in carpet. The tables and chairs had a retro design, and there were also plants decorating the store. All the tableware and cups here were so elegant it made me wonder where they bought them from. They were nice to the point of making me want them. Unfortunately, they were brand-name items, so I had to give up on them.
The fanservice the cat ear waitresses gave are their outward appearances only. You were not allowed to touch the tips of the tails either. The owner was quite picky on what kind of drinks and cakes to serve, so they were of high quality. I couldn’t help but feel maybe these cat ears actually give a bad image to the cafe instead. A classic maid outfit might suit the cafe’s interior more.
“I’m acquaintances with the owner here, which is also why I help out on long vacations,” Tanaka-senpai explained.
There were five floor staff here who all worked in shifts. This cafe wasn’t that large. During times when there weren’t many customers, there would only be one person on standby at the front.
When a customer comes, we first bring them a glass of water, take their order, and then pass it onto the kitchen. Once the item is ready, we take it to the customer. When the customer gets up to pay, we will make their bill at the cash register and collect. Afterwards, we will clean up all the tableware from their table. The details of my duties were basically a repetition of the above.
After working for a whole day and grasping the tricks, I was able to work quite smoothly.
If a troublesome customer comes in, I was to call for another staff since it was hard for a new person like me to handle. That being said, I will only be working part-time for a week. I’m sure I wouldn’t run into any annoying customers, I thought.
……I could only think this way on my very first day.
The second day — Iinchou visited.
I genuinely stopped and asked myself, what the hell just happened. Apparently, Iinchou heard my conversation with Tanaka-senpai in the student council room. Well, then again, we were in the same room when I penned down the name of this cafe. Iinchou found himself interested and looked up this cafe since the name was memorable. He splendidly tracked down this cafe and came to visit. Yes, he definitely came to make fun of me.
“Dear customer, please do not hold your stomach and laugh loudly inside the cafe. You are being a nuisance to the other customers,” I said politely to him.
He laughed even more. Hurry up and properly order something!
I couldn’t spend all my time on him, so I only spoke two, three sentences to him. However, I have to note that even Iinchou couldn’t come here by himself. Poor Matsumoto got dragged into this. I feel bad for him. Matsumoto-kun looked at my cat ears awkwardly for some reason.
The third day — Yumi-chan came by after hearing rumours from Iinchou.
She came over to me, condemning me for not telling her about my new part-time job when we went swimsuit shopping. On top of that, she took a picture of me before me. Hieeeeee!
The fourth day — the four members of Neo Candle came by this time.
I’m sure Iinchou leaked my job to them as well. Iinchou knew all sorts of rumours, but to think he also spread rumours as well. What a troublesome man!
They didn’t burst out into laughter at least. But I saw how you guys were on the verge of doing so. I’ll remember this, you bastards! Still, they properly ordered cakes and stuff, so, well, I guess I can let it slide.
Sadly to say, the events above were still on the peaceful side.
The fifth day — Maria-jou came out of all people!
Apparently, she visited because she saw our ‘accepting part-timers’ advertisement. Since she was cute, she was immediately hired. After her interview, she was sent to the floor to work. Her first day will also be the day of her training, and Tanaka-senpai was supposed to be her teacher.
Unfortunately, today was busier than usual, so Tanaka-senpai couldn’t be with Maria-jou the whole time. I, too, tried to give instructions whenever I could to help out Maria-jou.
“Niimi-san, you’re working here too?” Maria-jou asked. She was quite surprised to see me, and I was surprised by her appearance too.
In any case, I thought she’ll definitely suit the waitress dress here, and she definitely did. I felt the urges of my hands aching to take photos of her.
Just look at her. Maria-jou was walking with a cat tail swaying behind her. She’s way too cute.
“Just for one week though,” I explained to her how Tanaka-senpai introduced this cafe to me.
Maria-jou smiled in response. “I’m glad. This is my first time working, so it’s really comforting to see someone I know.”
Being told something like that made me feel happy too. I was new as well, but I told her the tricks I’ve picked these past few days. The two of us enjoyed a heartwarming time together.
Maria-jou lacks consideration for her surroundings in many ways during her romance events. Out of events, she was actually a normal girl, albeit one that acted a bit cutesy-childish. She was taking notes as she zealously learned the ropes of this job.
However, the day didn’t continue on peacefully.
“Hey, missy, pour me a drink, will ya? Ahhh?” Such a voice echoed in the cafe. Some rude and vulgar man started to harass Maria-jou.
“Eh? U-Umm…” Maria-jou looked bewildered.
The man implied alcohol, but what was in front of him was coffee and not beer. If he meant he wanted Maria-jou to serve him a new cup then he should stop acting so arrogant and place an order normally.
“U-Umm, I…” Maria-jou looked around, seeking help.
I wanted to rush over immediately to her. Unfortunately, I just came out of the kitchen and in my hands was a tray with two cups of black tea and cake on top. I can’t move carelessly.
“Hey, hey, you sure are pretty, aren’t ya?” The man stretched out his hand, trying to pull Maria-jou’s arm.
Maria-jou was surprised by this and dropped her order booklet onto the floor.
“Yeah, she sure is. And have you ever looked at yourself in the mirror?” Someone cut in, making Maria-jou turn around to see who it was.
And that’s when she noticed there were familiar men sitting at another table. Maria-jou shouted, “Mizusaki-senpai!? Kaneshiro-senpai!?”
Hey, hey, Maria-jou? They were here earlier, you know? Didn’t you see them come in? I mean, I properly noticed them.
Mizusaki-senpai acted arrogant just like the vulgar man yet Mizusaki-senpai looked quite elegant instead. Good-looking guys sure have it nice. Kaneshiro-senpai was sitting properly with a composed expression on his face as he took the menu placed on the table into his hand. He was watching the event in front of his eyes like nothing big was happening. I couldn’t help but think he was gentle-looking as always.
The two of them truly made a picture.
I carried the two teas and cake to the table at the corner of the floor. The two customers there were stealing glances again and again at Maria-jou and the others.
I pondered whether or not I should intervene. I would like to have the vulgar man peacefully excuse himself from the cafe somehow, but… As I was thinking this in my mind, customers near the entrance asked me to ring up their bill. I hurried over to them and noticed how their cake and tea were not even half-eaten yet.
I assumed they felt uncomfortable with the trouble brewing in the air. After I collected their money, I went off to clean up their table.
“Hey there, honorary member. You look full of energy. Are you a beggar working part-time?” Mizusaki-senpai asked with a smirk on his face. I wonder if he really planned on helping Maria-jou out. Either way, he didn’t move from his seat.
“Homare, you are being rude. Good afternoon, Maria-san,” Kaneshiro-senpai said with a small smile. He stood up and approached Maria-jou.
“C-Calling someone a beggar is rude! What’s wrong with a student working part-time! Also, I don’t agree with the whole honorary member business!” Maria-jou said aloofly with a pout. This was also when she noticed she dropped her order booklet and quickly bent down.
“Hahahaha!” Mizusaki-senpai laughed like something was really funny when he watched her. In the end, it was Kaneshiro-senpai who actually picked up the order booklet. He knelt down, smiled elegantly, and handed the booklet to Maria-jou.
Maria-jou couldn’t help but turn red.
Meanwhile, the vulgar man stood up in anger since he was treated like air by those three. However, at the very next moment, a staff snuck behind the man and grabbed his arm.
“Dear customer, fighting inside the store is troubling for everyone,” Tanaka-senpai said with a cold voice.
Ah, I see now. The reason why Mizusaki-senpai came here is to laugh at Tanaka-senpai. He heard our conversation in the student council room and decided to come here to find Tanaka-senpai’s weakness. This way he would be able to get revenge for all the times Tanaka-senpai talked down on him. Kaneshiro-senpai was probably just accompanying Mizusaki-senpai.
Unfortunately, I have disappointing news for you. Tanaka-senpai doesn’t wear the cat ears or the cat tail…!
“Tch! What the hell is with this store! I’m never coming here again!” The man shouted indignantly. He forcibly shook off Tanaka-senpai’s hand off and left the cafe without paying. Just to make more trouble for us, he kicked the table near the entrance.
……!?
——Clatter! The table, teacups, cake, and me, who was trying to clean up, also tumbled down onto the ground. Thankfully, the floor was covered with carpet, so I didn’t get hurt. The table didn’t hit me either.
I only suffered damage from having half of the leftover cake land on my head…… Damn, it’s sweet. And my hair is now all sticky and dirty. Damn it.
“Niimi-san!” I heard Tanaka-senpai shout.
I quickly got up to my feet and lifted up the table back to its original position. The tables here had retro designs and ornaments and looked heavy. But they didn’t weigh as much as their appearance suggested. From what I could see, nothing was damaged or chipped.
“Please excuse me,” I said with a louder voice than usual before picking up the teacups and tableware. Tanaka-senpai rushed by to also help me.
While we were doing that, Maria-jou and the guys continued to talk.
“That sure was dangerous, wasn’t it? Honorary member. Where’s my thank you?” Mizusaki-senpai asked.
“Ugh…… T-Thank, you…” Maria-jou was zoning out but she quickly bowed her head down in a hurry. Her voice was stiff, but her cat ears also bounced down with her. She was cute, but you should also thank Tanaka-senpai later, okay?
“I don’t feel any gratitude at all,” Mizusaki-senpai complained.
“Homare, stop teasing her so much. Maria-san, are you hurt anywhere?” Kaneshiro-senpai’s kind words bought Maria-jou back to her senses.
“Ahh! That’s right, I don’t have time to be talking……!” Maria-jou finally noticed the disaster in the cafe after looking left and right.
She approached us in a panic, but Tanaka-senpai stopped her. “Please take the other customers’ orders. You don’t have to worry about us here.”
“Y-Yes!” Maria-jou answered energetically. And she really didn’t pay any attention to us as she went off to take orders from the other customers. Well, that’s fine I guess.
Mizusaki-senpai was amused with how Maria-jou was flushed. Meanwhile, Kaneshiro-senpai was concerned about me and Tanaka-senpai and looked at us with worry.
“Can I take your order……?” Maria-jou went straight to Mizusaki-senpai and Kaneshiro-senpai’s table.
“What does this cafe recommend? Waitress.”
“Eh? A-Ah, umm…. The jumbo fruit sundae! There are four kinds of different fruits with chocolate toppings and…” Maria-jou started to show off the sales talk she learned from Tanaka-senpai but she was cut half-way mercilessly.
“I hate chocolate, so I don’t want it. Give me cheesecake and coffee,” Mizusaki-senpai ordered.
“I’ll have black tea,” Kaneshiro-senpai added.
“Y-Yes, of course……” Maria-jou said before she returned to the kitchen, dejected.
Incidentally, there were still customers around those two seniors whose orders haven’t been taken. Did you notice them at all, Maria-jou?
Anyways, the two of us somehow cleaned up everything and returned to the waiting room for the staff.
“Niimi-san, I’m sorry but once it calms down, could you please return to the floor? There’s a sink and dryer over there. I’ll also grab a spare uniform and cat ears for you,” Tanaka-senpai told me before she put on cat ears and tail.
I couldn’t help but be impressed by what a cool-looking beauty cat she made. You look so cool, Tanaka-senpai! Maria-jou was also a cat, but she was the cute type, so she and Tanaka-senpai gave really different impressions.
I poured water over my hair with the somewhat wide sink to wash the cake away. There wasn’t any shampoo, so I had no choice but to use hand soap. When I finished, I changed into a spare uniform and put cat ears on my head once more. My hair was all stiff, which I tried to smooth down with the dryer somehow.
During this time, Tanaka-senpai rotated between the floor and kitchen in the centre of everything. Ahhh, I’m causing her so much trouble. I’m so sorry.
When I popped into the kitchen to show how I was back, Tanaka-senpai called out to me. “Could you find the right timing to return to the floor? Until then, could you help the kitchen here? You can leave the cooking to the staff. Just hand over items the customers ordered to the waitresses.”
“Yes, understood,” I agreed.
Sadly, Maria-jou wasn’t taking one step away from Mizusaki-senpai and Kaneshiro-senpai’s table. If she could just ignore them and turn that passion towards work, our jobs here would be a bit easier.
I kept my eyes out for an appropriate moment to return back to the floor so that I wouldn’t get in another waitress’ way. Eventually, I half-ran to a table that still hasn’t been cleaned up.
“Are you going to work all summer long, beggar?” Mizusaki-senpai, your question right there has turned all the part-timers here your enemy. Also, I want you to stop using the word beggar.
“No, not the whole summer…” Maria-jou kept her words on the vague side. To begin with, she was still in training and on her very first day.
“Then in that case, come to Karuizawa with us. I’ll give you work that won’t be all different from here. You’ll be a waitress that serves tea,” Mizusaki-senpai said.
“Wait, Homare!?” Strangely, it was Kaneshiro-senpai who was shocked and not Maria-jou. “Didn’t you say you wouldn’t be bringing any women to Karuizawa?”
“What’s the big deal? It’ll just be one woman. Plus, I won’t be bringing any of my fanclub members with me.”
“Still……” I wonder if Kaneshiro-senpai was against the idea of Maria-jou going with them. Yet, he immediately made a smile. “I’m sure we will be troubling Maria-san. She could have her own plans.”
“Hah! She should just cancel all her boring plans then. I, out of all people, am inviting her with me on a trip. You’re not going to turn me down, am I right?” Mizusaki-senpai declared as he trained his eyes on Maria-jou in a glare.
Maria-jou was bewildered.
“Three days from now at the Tokyo Train Station. Make sure to come, understand?”
“Eh!? Wait! I haven’t agreed yet…!” Unfortunately for Maria-jou, her coming on the trip was already decided in Mizusaki-senpai’s mind.
Maria-jou remained captured by Mizusaki-senpai, even as they were ready to pay and leave. In the end, it was Kaneshiro-senpai who got up with the bill in his hand. I quickly headed to the cash register to greet him. He seemed to recognize me and looked slightly surprised.
“Are you hurt?” He asked, sounding a bit concerned.
It looks like he also knew I was the one who got mixed up in the drama earlier.
“There’s no need for any concern,” I said, accepting his money with a sales smile.
Kaneshiro-senpai’s gentle expression coloured a little with bitterness. “Are you working part-time here as well?”
“Only for one week,” I replied with a dry smile.
Today was horrible. I could only pray, hoping that nothing will happen in the last two days. However, I feel like incidents could happen endlessly for as long as Maria-jou works here.
“It suits you quite well,” Kaneshiro-senpai commented.
Yeah, no, he wasn’t complimenting me at all. “Kaneshiro-senpai, do you prefer cats?” I asked as I prepared his change.
Kaneshiro-senpai laughed slightly. “I think I prefer dogs. While I find cats quite adorable, when they are too fickle, I find myself wanting to hurt them.”
He uttered words that made a shiver almost run down my back.
Now then, now then, the two seniors stayed about an hour in this cafe. During that time, Maria-jou only served two tables. And, yes, this included the vulgar man who left without paying. Before Mizusaki-senpai and Kaneshiro-senpai showed up, she properly worked and accomplished her tasks. I wonder how she could change her attitude quickly…
Once her training ended, Maria-jou quit the job and left. A vein popped up on Tanaka-senpai’s forehead since she had to deal with Maria-jou the most. However, it turns out this happens often with young part-timers, and it wasn’t unique to Maria-jou.
Are you serious? That’s amazing. The owner even said that Maria-jou was quite refreshing since she boldly quit her job compared to other teenagers who don’t even bother to contact and just stop showing up.
As for me, I worked my last two days safely without a problem. Just as I planned, I ended my part-time job in a week. The owner said to come back and work here again someday, which made me happy.
The very next day I finished my job, Yumi-chan sent me a message saying, [Thank you for your hard work]. Her message included a picture of me with cat ears in the waitress outfit working on the floor. When did she take this picture of me?
While I was looking at this picture of me, Kazu-nii popped up, showing interest. He begged, wanting to see it no matter what, so I struck a bargain. If he bought me kudzu starch noodles with brown sugar syrup, I will show it to them.
That being said, I actually promised a week ago to show him a picture of me, but I decided to cleanly wipe it away from my memories.
□ ■ □
Finally, today is the promised day with Yumi-chan! That’s right, it’s our pool date! Yahoo~!
The pool we went to was the leisure pool within the city. It wasn’t that big, but there were water slides and a pool with running water.
“But let’s skip the water slide. Kids are making a really long lineup for it. See?”
“You got a point. If we line up, we’ll barely have any time to swim left.”
Fufufu, but since we’re not kids, we have other ways to enjoy ourselves.
Inside the facility, they sold drinks and light meals for everyone. As such, I prepared my wallet with change inside. I mean, I even worked part-time. Now that I have extra funds, I can live luxuriously!
Now, as for Yumi-chan’s swimsuit that I really, really looked forward to… She was wearing a slightly old-fashioned flower design on white. There were also black frills at her chest, and I had to say it was a really cute bikini. How wonderful! Yumi-chan was self-conscious of her body figure, so she also wore a tunic with a ribbon on it and black shorts on top of the bikini.
But that was also cute too! Uwah, my heart wasn’t prepared for this. Camera! Where’s the camera!?
Yumi-chan smiled tiredly when she saw how I melted with her cuteness. “Well, since we did come to the pool, how about we take a picture together?” She suggested.
Her words showered my heart in happiness, so I took out my cell phone from my vinyl bag to do just that.
“Let’s get someone to take it for us,” I said.
The two of us looked around restlessly and came to realize how just about everyone was occupied with cheering and enjoying themselves. Hm? Why, why? Well, it’s nothing to ponder about, so we asked a staff selling drinks nearby to take the photo for us.
The staff happily agreed. “And… Cheese!”
Click! What a nice sound. Yumi-chan and I immediately checked to see how the photo came out.
This was also when the staff called out to us. “And? Which drink will you buy today?”
Grr! What amazing sales talk! Well, I’m super excited right now, so I’ll happily buy some! Yumi-chan got cola while I ordered ice tea. We were all quite pleased with ourselves.
Eventually, the two of us walked around with our drinks in hand, looking for a place to put down our belongings. In this leisure pool, many people will put towels to use for later in vinyl bags and left them by the poolside. If no one watched the bags, there was a possibility of them being stolen away. As such, there were notices put up, advising us not to bring anything valuable and expensive.
Both Yumi-chan and I bought vinyl bags today. I had a towel, a wallet with change, and my cell phone inside the bag.
When we reached where we heard the cheering earlier, there was a large crowd of people.
“Is there something happening?” I tried asking.
The person nearby pointed at the pool. “That guy over there is amazing. He’s been swimming nonstop for a while now.”
The said pool was around 50 metres. It was also deep, so children were not allowed inside.
The guy swimming in there looked to be a high school student.
“Wow~ That person’s amazing. He swims really beautifully. On top of that, he’s so fast!” Yumi-chan raised up her voice with admiration.
As for me, I feel like I’ve seen this swimming silhouette somewhere and tilted my head in confusion. The boy eventually climbed up after swimming some number of laps back and forth the pool. When I saw him wearing a swimsuit meant for racing, I came to an understanding.
“I see now. It’s Tsuchiya-kun,” I said.
“Eh!?”
He climbed up to the poolside out of breath. Tsuchiya-shounen placed a towel over his head as he breathed in and out heavily.
Was he here with someone? I observed his surroundings but the person I envisioned wasn’t here. Ah, yeah, I’ll be blunt. I thought Maria-jou might be here with him.
“Yumi-chan, something is bothering me, so is it okay if I talk to him?” I asked.
Yumi-chan widened her eyes in response.
Tsuchiya-shounen was using his whole body to catch his breath. I could hear just how ragged his breathing was. It was to the point I got anxious, wondering exactly how long he had been swimming today.
“Hey,” I called out to Tsuchiya-shounen.
He slowly lifted up his head, and when he saw me, he looked somewhat surprised.
TL: There is always a beach episode! Well, in this case, it’s a pool episode 😉
