Chapter 4: Amari

Akira and the maids sat around the table eating breakfast as usual. Amari was eating a bit faster than she normally would..

“Slow down Amari, you’ll choke.” Sakura said, worried.

“I’ll be fine.” dismissed Amari.

Akira looked over at Amari and smiled. Looking down at his plate he knew why she was so excited. Today was the day he was taking her to a bookstore.

“Ok, I’m done eating.” Amari exclaimed, rushing to put her dish away and hurrying to the bathroom. “I’ll go get ready now. Thanks for making breakfast Rose!”

“Why of course. I enjoy serving people.” Rose said with a smile.

“So, is this just how she is now?” Akira asked.

“I dunno, it’s really weird.” Yuri replied.

Amari returned wearing her new outfit.

She wore a blue sweater with the sleeves rolled up to her elbows, black shorts with tights underneath, and black knee high boots. She wrapped a red scarf around her neck, slightly oversized and covering her mouth, adjusted her glasses, and placed her twin braids over her shoulders, draping them in front of her chest. The rest of her hair was slightly disheveled from her rushed dressing.

“Ok, I’m ready, master.”

“Great. This is gonna be a mind blowing experience for you.” Akira said.

“You guys are blowing stuff up? Can I come?!” asked Rose enthusiastically from the kitchen where she was washing dishes.

Everyone looked at Rose. Her personality seemed to switch to her previous one.

“Oh dear, I’m terribly sorry.” She stuttered in realization, “I’m not quite sure what came over me just now. I sincerely apologize for disturbing you master.” Rose said bowing in apology.

Akira pulled Rose aside to speak with her personally.

“Alright listen, you’ve been acting real strange since Willow got onto you. If you fulfil your promise of making me a special meal to appease her, will you go back to how you were before?” he whispered.

“Yes master. To be honest, Willow kind of scares me, and I don’t do very well with people yelling.” Rose replied sadly, obviously remembering something that happened before.

“Alright, don’t worry about it too much. I’ll pick up the ingredients before I come back home so this can be over as soon as possible.” Akira said, hugging her for reassuring comfort.

“T-thank you, master. I appreciate it.” Rose was being polite, but this time it was genuine.

“Alright everybody,” Akira announced, turning back around. “We’ll be back later.”

Akira and Amari took a train to the electric town he had previously taken Sakura to.

“W-w-wow! This place is amazing! Look, there are anime posters over there, and over there too, and wow, and look! There’s an ad for that game you play!” Amari excitedly announced to Akira.

“Dang, you’re already this excited and we’ve only just left the station. I can’t wait to see how you’ll react when we actually go inside some of these places.”

Amari didn’t say anything in reply. She was too busy taking in the sights.

The two walked past a few buildings before coming across an arcade.

“Wow, look at that plushie! It’s super cute! I want one, but I don’t know how to get it out of that glass box.”

“Oh yeah, you’ve never seen a crane game before have you? Well, I’ll teach you how to play.”

Akira skillfully tried to teach Amari how to play crane games, but didn’t succeed in winning anything.

“Alright, this is the place. Once we enter this building, you’ll find more manga than you’ll know what to do with! Don’t try to buy all of them though, I still need to pay rent this month.” Akria said, slightly worried about how many things Amari was going to make him buy.

Amari’s eyes lit up as she walked into the store. Her gaze panned over the rows and rows of books. She walked around looking at the series she’d already read, and some that Akira pointed out. There was a specific section that caught Amari’s attention.

“Hey, Akira? What’s a doujinshi?” Amari asked.

“Oh, those are stories written by people using other series and characters that already exist. Kinda like if I wrote a story using the big purple robot.” Akira responded, happy to share his knowledge with a new fan.

“Ok, but why does that section say R18 on it?”

Akira felt a chill rush down his spine.

“Nope, I’m not going to say anything. You can’t look at those until you’re older. Wait, how old are you anyway?”

“Sixteen.”

“Yeah, no. Can’t look at any of those. Well I mean, you technically can online if you wanted to, but no. I don’t condone that and hereby forbid you from doing so.”

“I don’t even know how to do that, but I won’t go against your wishes. Oh look, that one has a cute monster on it!”

Amari got distracted looking at manga again.

Akira and Amari left the store with 30 new volumes of manga.

The two headed one building over to a figure shop. On the way out of the manga store however, something caught Amari’s attention.

“Woah, look! Another maid! I wonder who her master is.” Amari said, amazed at the sight of another maid who wasn’t a part of her group.

“Well, she isn’t a real maid like you or the other girls. She’s just a worker at the maid cafe right there. You can think of them as professional cosplayers in a way, but they do serve customers, so they’re also waitresses.”

“Cosplayer? What’s that?” Amari asked.

“A cosplayer is someone who dresses up as a character, usually from anime, manga, video games, or comics, but it extends to basically any fictional character. These maid cafe workers aren’t exactly cosplaying as a specific character, but it’s a similar enough concept.”

“Wow, that sounds like so much fun! I wanna try cosplaying some time!” Amari announced excitedly.

“Sure, maybe someday. Anyway, let’s look around the figure store.”

The pair went inside the figure store and Amari’s eyes lit up yet again. They spent a long time looking at figures from Akira’s favorite anime, since he wanted a figure of the redhead wearing a cute gothic dress, but it was a bit out of his budget.

A strange man in baggy clothing was staring intently at Akira and Amari.

Akira noticed this stranger and looked in his direction. The man got startled and pretended to be looking at a figure. Akira didn’t think much of it, but was on guard.

“Hey, how come there aren’t any figures from some of the manga you have?” Amari asked.

“Well, sometimes a manga is just so new that they haven’t had enough time to make any figures yet. I’m sure if we came back in a few months or a year they’d have some.”

“I can’t wait that long, I might not remember those manga by then!” Amari whined.

“Nah, don’t worry. If a series leaves a big enough impression on you, you’ll remember it for a long time.”

The strange man was staring at Akira again. He felt as if he was being watched.

Akira put his hand on Amari to keep track of her.

Amari got startled out of looking at figures and blushed.

“M-master Akira, what are you doing?” she stuttered.

“Don’t worry about it. There’s this weird guy who’s been watching us since we got here. I’m just keeping a closer watch on you in case he tries anything funny.” Akira said in a serious whisper.

“Oh, ok. Thanks for looking out for me.”

The man had a strange look on his face. One of jealousy. Was he jealous of Akira for being with Amari?

“Hello, do you need any help looking for a specific figure sir?” asked a worker.

“Oh, no thanks, I’m just looking.” replied Akira.

“Ok. If you need any help, feel free to ask!” the worker said before walking off.

“The people here are so nice. You’re really nice too, master.” Amari said with a smile.

“They really are. Also, stop calling me master in public. I guess I need to remind everyone of that.” said Akira.

“Hey, mas- Akira, where is this girl from?” Amari said, pointing to a figure of a girl.

“Oh, she’s not from an anime or a manga. She’s a livestreamer online. She’s an idol who mostly plays video games, but she also sings occasionally.” explained Akira.

“Hey, this figure box seems different. It says it’s a model kit. What does that mean?”

“It means you put it together yourself. I actually have a few at home.”

“That sounds like a lot of fun.”

“Alright, pick one out then.”

Amari was shocked.

“R-really? I can pick one out?”

“Yep. As long as you plan on putting it together, I’ll buy it for you. You can even borrow my tools to help you cut out the parts.”

“Yay! Thanks master!”

“I told you not to… you’re welcome Amari. Now, let’s go pay and start heading home. I have to pick up groceries for dinner.”

Akira paid for Amari’s model kit and the two went back to the station.

On the train home, Akira noticed the strange man sitting not too far from them. He couldn’t really do anything about this, but hoped this was all just some strange coincidence.

Heading into the grocery store near home, Akira noticed the man walking in behind them. This guy was obviously following them for some reason.

“Hey, Amari, do me a favor real quick. Go get me a bag of flour and a carton of eggs.”

“Ok.”

Amari went off to get the things Akira asked her to get. Akira walked straight up to the man and confronted him.

“Alright, I don’t know who you are or what you want from me, but you need to stop following me. I don’t want things to get ugly in front of the girl, but if you don’t leave right now, things aren’t going to be pretty.”

Akira was extremely intimidating for a skinny otaku in a pink hoodie.

“I-I’m not following you. I don’t even know who you are. It’s just a coincidence.” said the man, obviously nervous.

“Oh yeah? Then why were you staring at us in the figure store, huh?”

Akira got closer to the man.

The man had a distinct scent about him. He smelled of flowers and citrus.

Akira recognized this scent from somewhere. He hadn’t known the smell for long, but it was so distinct that it stuck with him.

“Nice smell you’ve got there. Smells familiar to me.”

“T-that’s pretty weird. Why would you even say that to a stranger?”

“That’s because you aren’t a stranger, are you?”

The man tensed up.

“Let’s see. Not only do you share the scent of a certain someone I know, but these clothes look oddly familiar. Almost as if they came straight from my own closet.” Akira said.

“What, now you’re implying that I stole your clothes? What says these are yours and not mine, huh?” asked the man, slightly panicked.

“Those sweatpants have a white paint stain on the left pocket. You aren’t about to stand here and tell me that’s a coincidence too, are you?”

The man started to sweat out of nervousness. Noticing this, he stepped closer to the exit.

“I don’t want any trouble. I’ve gotta go.” the man said before his wrist was grabbed by Akira, stopping him.

“Yep, just as I thought. The scent, my clothes, the slenderness of your wrist. What are you doing here Sakura?” Akira said in a disappointed tone.

The man’s appearance faded and revealed Sakura, looking down at the ground.

“You really found out from my smell and a paint stain. I can’t tell if that’s impressive or sad.” Sakura said.

“Hey, to be fair, you have a really nice smell. Someone should make a perfume that smells like you.” Akira said, trying to lighten the mood a bit. “Why were you following us?”

Sakura’s face turned red in embarrassment.

“I wanted to go with you too since we went out together the past few days. Also, I might have been a bit jealous seeing you alone with Amari.”

“So you used your power to stalk us all day because you were jealous? Wait, does Willow know about this? I don’t need her freaking out again.”

“Don’t worry, she knows I went out. Sorry for following you and abusing my power. I won’t do it again.” Sakura apologized.

“Ok, I’m back with the flo- oh, hello Sakura. I didn’t think we’d run into you here.” Amari said, returning with a bag of flour and eggs.

“She used her powers to change her appearance and followed us. She’s the weird guy I was protecting you from.” Akira explained to Amari.

“Oh, I see. That’s kinda creepy Miss Sakura.”

“Don’t say that, I’m not some sort of creepy stalker, I swear!” Sakura blurted out.

Some people in the same aisle as them looked over in confusion, causing Sakura to get even more embarrassed.

“Am I in trouble?” Sakura asked.

“No, you aren’t in trouble. As long as you don’t do it again we’ll be fine. If you wanted to come with us, you should have just asked.”

The three just stood in silence for a bit.

“Well, we should pay and head home so Rose can cook my special dinner. Her being overly nice is really starting to creep me out a bit.”

Arriving home, Akira went into the kitchen and set out all of the ingredients for Rose.

“What are all of these for? You haven’t told me what I’m supposed to be making yet.” Rose said, confused.

Akira handed her a sheet of paper with a recipe on it.

“Chicken fried steak? What’s that, I’ve never heard of it before.”

“It’s my favorite food from back home. My mom used to make it sometimes, and I’d always order it at restaurants when I had the chance. Although, those ones were never as good as the ones my mom made. Nothing beats a nice home cooked meal.”

“Well, guess I’ll get cooking then.”

After an hour of preparing and cooking the meal, Rose served dinner.

Each plate had a piece of tenderized beef coated in a golden fried crust topped with white gravy, salted mashed potatoes, and pan fried green beans.

“Oh yeah, now THIS is a meal.” Akira said, salivating at the sight of the deliciousness sitting in front of him.

The maids all enjoyed the new dish greatly. They’d never had anything like it before.

After dinner, Rose picked up the plates to wash them.

“Thank you Rose.” Akira said condescendingly.

“Whatever, I don’t really want to wash the stupid dishes.” Rose replied.

“Hey, she’s back to normal!” Akira joked.

“Shut up, idiot. Don’t talk like I was gone or something.”

Akira stood at the end of the table and cleared his throat.

“Now, girls, I have something I need to tell you all.” Akira said.

The girls gave their full attention to their master.

“Starting tomorrow, I’m going to be working at the convenience store not far from here. As I’m sure you’re aware, that means I won’t be home as often, except on weekends and any other days off I get. I ask that nobody causes any trouble for Sakura and Willow while I’m away.” Akira announced.

“Wait, so Master Akira won’t be around anymore?” Lysia asked.

“No, I’ll still be around, just not as often. Sakura, Willow, Amari, please come to my room. I’m going to teach you three how to use the Internet so if anybody needs to go anywhere, you know how to find your way there.”

Akira sat down with the girls and taught them how to use his computer. Amari picked up on it quickly. Sakura understood most of the things he taught her, but not everything. Willow got the basics down, but only enough to search for things online.

As Willow and Sakura were leaving his room, Amari stayed behind.

“Um, master? Can I borrow those tools you mentioned for my model kit?” Amari asked.

“Of course you can. They’re in that clear bin in the closet. Just don’t hurt yourself.”

“I won’t. I promise.”

Amari opened the closet and grabbed the clear bin. Inside was a pair of nippers for cutting excess plastic from model kit pieces. Amari noticed something else in the bin.

She had found a yearbook, a high school one to be exact.

“Hey, is it ok if I look through your yearbook?” Amari asked while holding it.

“Oh, that? Sure, go ahead. Just put it back when you’re done.” Akira said, too busy playing video games to look over.

Amari flipped through the glossy pages of the large hardcover book. On the pages showing the school clubs, one in particular caught her eye.

“Wow, you were in your high school anime club?” Amari asked in fascination.

“Yeah, I was. Wait, how are you able to read that? Everything you’ve read until now was in Japanese, but my yearbook is in English.” Akira asked out of curiosity.

“Our powers also give us the ability to understand other languages without having to study them.” Amari explained.

“Gee, that sure sounds convenient. I’d have loved that back in high school taking my foreign language class.” Akira replied in a monotone voice.

“These are all of the people you were in the club with?”

“Yeah. That guy right there was the president of the club. The guy over here with the longer hair was vice president. Oh, and the girl with the short hair and glasses was our publicity manager. She always made the best posters and was super helpful. We even called her the club mom as an inside joke.” Akira reminisced on his past fondly.

“Who’s this girl standing next to you?” Amari asked, pointing to a shorter girl standing very close to Akira.

“That’s… I don’t really wanna talk about it.” Akira looked sad, bad memories rushing back into his head. “Well, I think that’s enough reminiscing for today.” Akira grabbed the book from Amari and put it back in the closet.

“Ok then. I’m gonna go work on my model kit while Lysia watches TV. Big robot, here I come!” cheered Amari, more enthusiastic than she had been the day they first met.

When Amari left the room, Akira opened the closet again and took out his yearbook. He flipped to the page he and Amari had just been looking at, and stared at it in silence.

A tear rolled down his face and landed on the page.

“Those were the days…” he thought to himself, losing himself in remembrance.