Maxima’s invitation

After Ms. Odes, Kath and Ms. Lourdes entered the room with several people following them. I guess that would be our new teachers.

“Anna, could you come here for a second,” Kath said. Anna went up to her mother with a questioning look. I was wondering what she was up to know. But I noticed Anna's eyes turn all starry so my guess was it was something good.

Then Ms. Lourdes came over and started her announcement.

“Ahum, this will be short. Since everyone has already been contacted by their teacher, everyone can just go with them. There has only been a little change for our idols. They will be in Anna's care for the time being. The scout wanted to see what they could do without her. So their first task will be performing this Saturday without their help.”

The girls looked a bit disappointed at that, so Kath said “You girls and Anna will still have full access to the studio, and it is only for this week. Rest assured, they will train you. Consider this as an initiation test.”

It seemed like Elsa, Tina, Therese and Eve took the bait. They looked like they were thrown a gauntlet and they had just picked it up.

“Elodie and Eline will also be helping Yuri Blooms on the marketing and presentation front and all press releases.” A trendy blonde office girl with square glasses added. She presented herself to us as Edith Thorial. The head of the communications department of the Lyst group.

This will be Eline's and Elodie's first big task this week. So we got your backs. Then she took Elodie and Eline with her to the communications department. Everyone went to their respective teachers. Anna was sparkling with enthusiasm. After seeing her go crazy in Thea's shop yesterday, I knew to her, this job was like sending a kid to the candy store.

Suddenly Fien and Maura stood next to me. Fien said, “Let's do our best together!” I noticed Maxima was sizing me and Fien up. I gulped. This might become a long morning, with new Lyst to battle.

Maxima's expression changed into a big smile, as she introduced herself. It was incredible how aggressive she managed to let that smile come over.

“Ah, we finally get to meet. I'm Maxima, Maura's mother, and Kath's sister. You must be Claire, and you must be Fien, Maura's precious friends she talks so much about. I wanted to apologize again for my driver's rude behavior to you the other day Fien. You can rest assured that there have been disciplinary measures. Of course, you can be as close to Maura as you like.”

Fien blushed a little. She was clearly nervous and answered “No harm done. It was resolved in the end.”

Maxima patted Fien's head in response. I could sense an air of patronizing superiority coming from Maxima. Fien on the other hand clearly did not like being patted, and being treated like a child, but Maxima was her new teacher. I guess she didn't want to start off on the wrong foot, so I noticed her struggle to hold back slapping the hand away.

“Ah Claire, I heard so much about you. If everything I heard about you is true, I think we will get to spend an interesting time together.”

I decided to just be polite and thanked her, and told her I wished for the same.

Then she turned to Maura and said “Well, we need no introductions do we, my dear daughter. Be sure to do your best.”

Maura blushed a little, but something in her expression told me she was happy to get to spend time with her mom. I guessed they would not often get the chance to. Not with the kind of job Maxima has.

We went to the salon in the office, where Maxima started explaining:

“For now, I will teach you about the Lyst group's structure. Since you are going to be a part of it. I even prepared some exercises. It is important to know these things. Even if you think it doesn't concern your restaurant, at any given point in time, it might. It is also important to learn how big organizations are structured. It will give you something to fall back on if you ever need to structure your own organization. The Lyst group's structure is very efficient, as proven by our success.”

That promise of interesting times quickly went through the window as we sat through a boring lecture about the structure of a multi-national corporation. How they moved money around, avoided taxes, and the whole lot.

The worst part was that I seemed to be the only one uninterested, and Fien got many compliments for her questions and remarks. Maura did her best to not fall behind on Fien. She was clearly competitive for her mother's attention, but every time she said something wrong, I could see how devastating the disappointment in her mother's gaze worked. I could already see that she was going to work very hard to please her mother.

I really hadn't any questions myself, so I stayed out of range, but I did pay attention. I wanted to know more about Anna's family, and this seemed like an excellent place to start. When it was time for the exercises, the three of us passed them with flying colors.

“Okay, seems like what I taught you stuck, so that will be all for our first session there will be no homework yet. I need to get back to my other tasks. We will see each other again tomorrow. See girls, I told you this would be interesting!”

Maxima seemed really satisfied with herself. Well, at least nothing troublesome happened. Usually, when I had to interact with someone from the Lyst family, it ended up escalating into something really troublesome. But those thoughts quickly betrayed me. When she left, she said “The both of you should join me for tea or dinner one of these days, so that we can get to know each other better, and do bring Anna too. It's been too long.”

Fien gulped. I nodded. Since nothing specific was said, I thought I was still in the clear. I could leave everything concerning dealing with her family up to Anna.

“Perfect!” She opened her diary and then said “How does tomorrow evening at my place sound?” I got suckered in again. I expected she would say something like “We'll get in contact soon.” and then I could put it on the long run, but no such luck. “I guess we are still free then,” I answered. Fien nodded too. I could see she was really nervous about this.

“Ah, brilliant, Kath will be there too. I know you will feel more at ease when there are some guests you are familiar with. ” Maxima said.

Good lord. What did I just agree to? I hope Anna wouldn't be angry that I agreed to a Lyst family gathering.

Maura and Fien occupied themselves with reading some more manga, I thought I'd do the same and picked out a new yuri novel. “After Being Bent by Reader” promised to be a cute and sweet CEO yuri novel. I immediately thought of Anna. She would be the CEO of the restaurant chain, wouldn't she? Maybe I should read up on those kinds of situations, most stories I had read had been about high school girls after all. That way I knew I would be better prepared for what was to come.

I put myself on the sofa next to the other girls and noticed that Pussyini was already comfortable on Maura and Fien's lap. Seems like Fien had conquered Pussyni with Maura's help. She was also a lot calmer when the cat was there and Pussyni made sure to get pets the whole time. Pussyni reminded me a bit of a harem novel MC. Her harem of cute girls was ever-expanding.

After reading for fifteen minutes or so, the idol girls came back enthusiastically.

“Claire, did you know Anna knows absolutely everything about what it takes to be an idol,” Elsa said sparkling.

“She even knows Melissa in person. I would have never thought she was only a handshake away.” Therese said.

“The Lyst studio is mixing our song, they approved of it so hopefully we will get a definite version later. So we can start practicing together.” Tina then said.

Eve then put her arms on my shoulders and shook me a little up. “Act a little more enthusiastic. This is about you too. Have you forgotten that you are going to be on stage with us this Saturday?”

I had not forgotten. How could I be enthusiastic about that?

I started laughing, more because Eve was shaking me than anything else, and acted like I was looking forward to the ordeal.

Talking about ordeals, I remembered Maxima's invitation and told Anna about it. “Tomorrow!?” She said, in a panicking tone.

Oh no, I hope she won't be mad.

She looked at her watch and said. “We can just make it back before noon. Let's go to Thea's. We need fitting clothes for the venue. Fien, do you have an evening dress? Otherwise, I suggest you come too.”

Fien looked up at us, then looked at Maura, then looked back at us and said “I'm coming.”

She got up, Pussyini hopped away and gave an irritated nya.

Maura looked a bit sad that Fien was leaving and said “Make sure to be back for the meeting with Ms. Lourdes at one!”

Mia and Valerie had returned too in the meantime. Mia went up to Fien, put her jacket straight, and said “Make sure to pick out something nice.”

Fien was blushing, I could see both Valerie and Maura fuming with jealousy at Mia giving this kind of attention to her underclassman.

Mia clearly noticed too. She petted Fien and said, “Off you go!”

Then she turned around toward Valerie and walked up super close to her and said “I was just helping a junior, were you feeling jealous?” while putting a stray hair in order on her face. Valerie immediately started. She looked incredibly cute like that. After going on that date with her as the prince, I had no idea she had this cutesy side to her too.