Chapter 22:

Cafe Kizuna pt 2.

Maid School

The next morning, Ti arrived at the cafe. Aside from the manager, he was the first employee to arrive. Ti was excited by his new job, he couldn’t wait to wear the red maid uniform again. The only thing still worrying him was whatever Mariko was doing yesterday after closing time. Is this something he should tell the manager about? It could be that Ti was just misinterpreting the situation, maybe those supplies weren’t needed anymore and the manager told them to throw them away. Yes, that must definitely be it!

At that moment the manager spoke to Ti.

“How have you been doing Ti? You look a little worried”

“Worried? Me? No, I am just excited to start working here again!”

Ti started browsing the clothes rack for the red outfit and put it on in a corner of the room.

Sakura was the first employee to arrive, she greeted Ti and put on her green maid outfit. After she helped Ti with putting on some makeup.

“Alright, you're done! Please turn around and look in the mirror”

As Ti looked into the mirror, he started glowing.

“I look so pretty, thank you a lot Sakura!”

“Maybe you can teach me - someday”

Sakura glimpsed and then winked at Ti.

“You’re welcome, master”

This made Ti blush a little.

“Haha, I am just practicing, Ti-chan!”

The manager looked a bit worried, she kept looking at her watch.

“Sakura did you hear anything from Kentarou and Mariko?”

Sakura shook her head.

“No manager, I haven’t heard anything”

The manager grabbed her phone and started dialing a number.

“I’m getting sick of these two always being late”

A couple of minutes later, the two of them arrived. Mariko quickly changed into her outfit, she didn’t say a word to the other maids. She put on some makeup to hide the bags under her eyes. After all the employees were done, the manager spoke to them.

“Alright everyone, let’s get to work today. I expect it to get busy again like yesterday, so there is no time for slacking off. I’ll be leaving shortly after to have a meeting at the headquarters.”

The manager looked at Kentarou.

“If any guys start misbehaving, please call for Kentarou to kick them out.”

“Yes, chief!”

They all said in unison.

When Ti and the other maids walked to the door, there were guests waiting there alright.

Mariko sighed

“I guess we’re having another day like that…”

“Welcome home, masters!”

The maids started letting in the first guest, appointing them a table, and bringing them some beverages. Even though Ti just started working here, he was able to manage his guests quite well. When the manager came back to the cafe, she praised Ti for his hard work.

“You are doing a good job here Ti!”

Ti smiled and continued his work.

Afternoon

“Here is your cappuccino, master!”

Ti bowed before the customer and offered him the drink.

When he turned around, he was startled by Mariko standing right next to him.

“There is a girl at the entrance, she says she knows you”

Ti turned around and saw Mona enthusiastically waving at him.

What in the world was she doing here? This was a bit embarrassing. Ti walked up to the entrance and greeted the familiar guest.

“Welcome home, lady”

Mona glimpsed.

“You look cute today, Ti-chan!”

“Although, these outfits remind me of something - something terrible”

Ti got confused, why would Mona say something like that?

“They remind me of - school”

Mona’s body shivered.

“Mona! You startled me there for a second.”

“School isn’t that bad right?”

Ti added.

“Sure, I guess we have teachers there to pull pranks with. And Nia bringing us food - for free.”

Mona grinned.

“It is nice to have rich friends, right?”

Ti sighed, was that what friendship meant for Mona?

“Anyway, are you showing me a table or will we just keep standing here Ti-chan?”

“Excuse me, lady!”

Ti quickly brought Mona to a table.

“Do you visit here often Mona, I’ve never seen you around”

“Nah, I just heard you started working here so I thought I came to visit”

“You came all the way here, for me?”

“Yes I did - my darling”

Ti blushed.

“Haha, I was just kidding Ti, I am not leaving the house just for you”

Mona grabbed her bag and showed Ti a manga.

“This is my true darling”

She said when pointing to the girl on the cover. Mona always was - so predictable. Anyway, more guests were waiting so Ti had to cut short the conversation.

“Excuse me lady, I have to cater to my other guests. Would you like some tea?”

“Sure, sure”

A little later, when Ti came back with the tea, Mona had put her head into the manga. She didn’t seem to notice Ti having returned.

“Here is your tea lady”

“Sure put it somewhere on the table”

Mona said without even looking up from the comic.

Ti sighed, her friend was definitely no easy customer.

After hours

At the end of the day, cafe Kizuna’s employees all gathered in the staff room. They were all really tired from another busy day at the cafe. The manager spoke to them.

“Good job everyone. Even though I had to go away for a while, you seemed to have managed quite well”

“I am pretty exhausted though.”

Mariko said in an annoying tone.

“I’ll put up a job ad for another girl tomorrow, I promise”

“If you know any friends that like to work here, please ask around”

Sakura looked at Ti.

“What about your friend that came to visit today? She goes to the same school as you right?”

“She kept complaining about how expensive everything was, can she work as a maid here?”

Ti sighed.

“That’s Mona, she’s way too lazy to work anywhere.”

“I would have expected differently for someone going to a maid school”

“You would right… I think she just went there since there are a lot of maids in anime and stuff”

Sakura smiled and added.

“I think a lot of these guys that visit here would have to if they were allowed to”

Ti chuckled. He imagined the cafe regulars wearing maid costumes.

“It would be nice to have some other guys around”

The manager interrupted their conversation.

“Enough chatter, it is time for you to start cleaning”

She handed Ti a wooden broom.

“I have to leave early today”

The manager said as she was putting on her coat.

“Have a nice evening, manager”

The employees waved her goodbye.

The manager hadn’t even left the room when Mariko and Kentarou started chitchatting and showing each other stuff on the phone.

Ti whispered to Sakura.

“Is it always like this?”

Sakura nodded.

“Just focus on your work”

“Should we say something to the manager Sakura?”

Sakura sighed.

“I think she is already aware of it, but as you know we are short on personnel so they get away with it”

“Alright, Sakura-san”

Ti continued brooming the cafe and clearing the tables.

When clearing the back of the cafe, she could just about make up some chatter in the backroom.

“Do you have any more, trash bags Kentarou? We still need to put in the contains of that box”

Ti carefully walked up to the door and peeked through the door crack. Just like yesterday, Mariko was transferring items from supply boxes into supply bins, now with the help of Kentarou.

When Ti tried to get a better look, Sakura noticed and walked up to Ti. She whispered.

“What are you doing Ti-chan? I said to just let them, you don’t want to get in any arguments with them, trust me, I tried”

A couple of minutes later, the two of them left the building. They left the trash bags behind.

“Can you please get rid of the trash, Ti?”

Ti agreed, he walked up to the bags and took a quick look. Just ordinary trash… none of the new supplies they were throwing away. He had clearly seen them transfer them in there. Before Ti could take another look, he noticed Sakura entering the room.

“Where do I bring these though?”

“The bags need to go in the big green container in the alleyway.”

“The key hangs on the wall”

Ti lifted up the bags, they were quite heavy. He lifted them, when outside and brought them to the container. Ti doubted whether he should spit through them, but he didn’t want to seem suspicious to Sakura. He just started this job, and as Sakura said, it is best not to start any conflicts. But Ti was still convinced Mariko and Kentarou were up to no good. But how would he go about this? He clearly needed help.

Mona’s plan

Ti needed someone to talk to about it. Luckily, he knew the right person to call.

“Hi Mona”

“Hello Ti, are you done working already?”

Mona said with a slow and monotone voice. She sounded pretty tired.

“Yes, I am, but something strange is happening at work”

Ti explained the situation to Mona on the phone.

To Ti’s surprise, Mona suddenly sounded pretty interested.

“Oh Ti, you're onto something! This sounds like another matter for the investigation squad!”

“So do you have any clues about what could going on?”

Mona took a quick pause”

“Mmm - I think I actually have seen this before!”

“In this manga…”

How predictable, a manga, Ti thought.

“- people were stealing gold from the bank by putting it in the trash”

“They came back later to pick up the trash bags”

Ti thought about it, this seemed rather plausible.

“You are a genius Mona”

“Hahaha - no genius, just a nerd”

“So does that mean they come back later tonight to pick up the bags?”

“Only one way to find out - I’ll meet you in the MacDougles across from the cafe in 15 minutes okay, roger?”

“Roger that… but -”

Ti couldn’t finish the conversation since Mona had already hung up the phone.

Ti went to the fast food chain where he waited for Mona. 15 minutes - 20 minutes - 30 minutes… Just as Ti was about to leave again, he saw a brown heard girl walking in carrying a white plastic bag. That must be her.

Mona sat down across the table from Ti and started unpacking the contents of the bag.

Some weird hats, sunglasses, binoculars, and newspapers.

“What would we need these for?”

“These are our disguises, silly!”

Before Ti had time to respond, Mona reached for his lips and stuck something brown and harry on it.

“Whahaha - what is this Mona?”

“Your mustache, I have one too”

She grabbed another one from the bag and stuck it to her own face.

Ti sighed and mumbled.

“You don’t know how much time goes into shaving my face”

Mona chuckled.

“Trust me, it’s removable. The super glue only sticks for a week”

“I hope you are joking…”

Ti couldn’t help but laugh too, since Mona started doing weird expressions - she looked so stupid with the mustache.

“Anyway Mona, what is the rest of the plan?”

Mona looked at the screen hanging on the wall showing advertisements for the various types of fast food they sold.

“Eating some chicken nuggets?”

“We have no time to waste Mona, what if they have already picked it up?”

“Alright.. alright.. I scout out a position, you go buy use some nuggets okay?”

Mona put on the hat, sunglasses, and binoculars and picked one of the newspapers. She then exited then opened the door, but didn’t step through it. She turned around and asked.

“Ehh.. Ti-chan, where is that dumpster exactly?”

Ti pointed her to the position of the green dumpster, luckily there was a bench just before the entrance.

“Alright, sergeant Ti. I’ll sit on the bench keeping a close look at the entrance.”

“Please try not to raise any suspicion okay Mona? This isn’t a game”

Ti arrived about 10 minutes later carrying two trays of chicken nuggets.

“Thank you”

Mona said as she grabbed both trays out of Ti’s hands.

“Ehh… Mona… one was meant for me…”

“I expected more from you now you have a fancy job and all”

Mona mumbled.

The rest of the night the girls sat there - waiting.

“How much time has passed Ti-chan? It feels like 100 years”