Cafe Kizuna pt 1.

“Welcome home, master!”

A blonde girl wearing a green maid dress greeted Ti as he stepped into the bustling cafe. This particular establishment in the heart of the city had become Ti's go-to spot. Although he had attempted to persuade his friends to accompany him and revel in the presence of the café's enchanting maid staff, they had consistently declined. They were either busy or just not into Maid Cafes, Ti contemplated. Today, however, Ti was in luck since the girl who attended to him was none other than Sakura, his favorite maid in the entire café.

“Please have a seat”

Sakura graciously directed him to an empty table in the corner of the cafe.

“Shall I fetch you a cup of our finest green tea?”

Ti nodded.

“Please bring me some tea, your green tea is the best!”

It took quite a while before she came back with the tea.

Ti wanted to start a conversation with the maid, but she cut Ti off.

“I am sorry master, I have to attend the other master’s as well”

The cafe was quite busy today, all of the tables seemed to be in use. It looked like only two maids were working today, no wonder Sakura had little time to spend on Ti.

A little bit later, Sakura returned to take Ti’s order, a rice omelet with extra ketchup, as usual.

Sakura showed her adorable wink thing as usual, before she disappeared into the kitchen.

Approximately twenty minutes later, she returned, balancing Ti’s omelet in one hand and a bottle of ketchup in her other hand.

“Thank you for your patience master. Here is your Omurice”

She put the omelet on the table and shook the bottle of ketchup.

Sakura playfully shook the ketchup bottle, carefully crafting a heart-shaped design atop the omelet before handing it to Ti.

“Enjoy your meal, master!”

Ti blushed ever so slightly, Sakura was as cute as ever.

Upon finishing his plate, Ti saw the manager approaching his table. She made eye contact and smiled at Ti, who started to worry. Did I break a rule? I never would, right?

The manager now stood next to Ti’s table.

“Please calm down, there is no need to worry”

She must have spotted Ti worrying. The manager was a lady with black hair, she must have been in her twenties. She wasn’t wearing a maid outfit herself. She usually seemed quite modest, but Ti had seen her scream at and kick out customers who couldn’t behave themselves before. Someone you didn’t want to pick a fight with. It was her responsibility to make sure the maids felt safe after all.

“May I ask you a question?”

Ti nodded.

Taking a seat beside him, the manager adopted a serious tone.

“We are a little short on staff due to some recent resignations”

“I don’t usually approach people in this manner, but you seem like the perfect fit to support our team here”

“Would you like to work here in the cafe as a part-time job?”

Ti blushed, working here is something that could only happen in his dreams.

“You mean - as a maid?”

“Yes, we are a maid cafe after all”

Ti looked down at the ground. He looked a bit uncomfortable since he didn’t like to have this conversation, but her felt he should mention it anyway.

“I don’t think I can be a waitress here, since I am actually.. a boy who enjoyed dressing up”

The manager didn’t seem surprised by this information.

“Sakura told me already, considering you also attend that one maid school, I think there should be no issue”

“In fact, male maids have become quite popular among young men these days”

“So we would love to have you working here, serving our customers”

Ti’s face started glowing, it was hard to believe this was actually happening.

“So when can I start working here?”

The manager turned around and looked at Sakura and the other maid, who ran around the cafe trying to get the meals to all the tables. They struggled a lot.

“You should start right this moment, consider your meal today on the house”

The manager quickly added.

“I am sorry if I am imposing on you, if you prefer, you could start on another day."

Since Ti had no immediate plans, Ti gratefully accepted the offer and followed the manager to the back room - the inner sanctum of the café.

The backroom

Ti stood in a small room at the back of the cafe. A big wooden table stood in the middle of the room, surrounded by an assortment of chairs. One was lined the lockers, another with clothes racks containing a variety of costumes. The manager browsed the costume rack and picked out a red maid costume.

“Could you try this one on? The color red matches your headband.”

The manager handed Ti the uniform on a clothes hanger.

“Please try it on”

The manager repeated. Ti started to blush a little. He wasn’t going to change his clothes in front of a woman!

The manager soon realized her mistake and left Ti alone for some privacy.

Before she left, she handed Ti a key to one of the lockers.

“Please put your clothes and handbag in there.”

Ti quickly put on the maid uniform and looked in the mirror. Ti smiled, it fitted him perfectly!

Ti made a couple of poses and greetings, practicing a little in front of the mirror.

“Knock… knock”

The manager was knocking on the door.

“Are you done… ehh what was your name again?”

“I am done! My name will be Ti-chan miss”

The manager entered the room, looked at Ti from top to toe, and then smiled.

“That uniform suits you well”

“So, what do I do now?”

“A new customer has just arrived, please greet him and show him a table”

“You visit here quite often, you must know the lines right?”

Ti nodded and smiled, even though he had visited many times, he couldn’t help but feel a bit nervous. What if the customers would get angry because they didn’t want to be served by a boy maid?

The manager gave Ti a pat on the back.

“Don’t worry, I know you can do it!”

Cafe Kizuna

Ti saw a man with black hair and glasses lingering near the cafe’s entrance area. Since he was looking at his phone, he must have been standing there for quite a while. With a bit of hesitation, Ti walked up to the customer and said the same line Sakura had said to him many times.

“Welcome home, master”

Luckily, another guest had just left, so there was an empty table left. Ti led the customer to the table and offered the customary green tea. The customer didn’t say a word, he only nodded. He seemed a lot more interested in whatever was going on on his phone than in the cafe. When Ti walked to the kitchen to get the tea, she almost bumped into Sakura.

“You look amazing, Ti-chan!”

She looked at the customer Ti was serving.

“That is a tough guest you have there, he comes around here a lot and doesn’t pay much interest to his surroundings. Don't let it bother you if he doesn’t seem interested okay?”

Ti nodded and followed Sakura’s advice.

Once Ti entered the kitchen door, Ti saw a guy there busy with his phone. As he noticed Ti entering the room, he quickly put it away in his pocket and started cutting some vegetables. He seemed about the same age as Ti and was wearing an apron and a chef's hat. Out of his mouth came a single word.

“Hey”

Ti soonly introduced himself and asked where to get tea.

“So you are new here?”

“Yes, I just started”

“We keep some tea there in the can, it should still be warm”

He pointed at a thermos standing on the counter. Some empty bags of supermarket-brand tea lay scattered beside it.

A sense of disappointment crept over Ti. He had always imagined the tea to be made in a cute-looking pottery teapot, brewed from fresh leaves. Reluctantly, he poured some tea from the thermos into a teacup and left the kitchen, questioning whether this was truly the dream job Ti had dreamed about…

After hours

At eight o'clock in the evening, the café closed its doors, after which Ti and the other employees met in the backroom.

“Good job everyone, we had a busy day today and managed just fine. But -”

The manager looked at Ti.

“We wouldn’t have been able to get through the day without our new maid, Ti-chan”

The other employees quickly introduced themselves as well.

“Hey, I am Kentarou - you’ve already met me in the kitchen”

The other maid also introduced herself. She had mid-length dark hair.

“My name is Mariko, I work here as well I guess”

“Tomorrow will be busy as well, can you come help here as well Ti?”

“Of course, manager-san”

“Can you close the shop for today Kentarou?”

“Yup”

The manager handed him the keys and then left.

“Make sure to close the door correctly, you’ll be in big trouble if I have to come back tonight to turn off the alarm!”

Sakura and Ti did some cleaning and left soon after. After exiting the building, Ti wanted to reach for his phone. But he seemed to have left it at the cafe. Luckily the door was still open, Ti opened it slowly, not wanting to startle the remaining employees. But he saw something strange happening.

Mariko was stuffing supplies in a trash bag. Why would she be doing that, these supplies looked brand new, nothing you would throw away.

“Creek”

The door made a loud sound. Mariko now looked at Ti. She looked like a reindeer caught in headlights. She quickly hid the trashbag behind her back. Ti felt a bit embarrassed by what he just witnessed.

“I.. left my phone”

Ti pointed at the table, grabbed the phone, and then rushed out the door. He felt quite uneasy, some things just didn’t line up here. He had a bad feeling that Mariko wasn’t up to anything good. What could she be doing with those supplies - could she be stealing them? Surely nobody would do such a thing at Cafe Kizuna, right? After all, it was the best cafe in the city.