Chapter 30:

The young maiden and the golden fish pt 3.

Maid School

“Ladies, we have arrived at the location”

The driver turned off the car, stepped out, and opened the door for Serena and the mistress. After which he briefly bowed, tipped his hat, and then drove off again.

They were standing in front of the big modern mall, situated in the center of the city. The glass behemoth was surrounded by several high-rise office towers. All these massive buildings made the little square they were standing on feel cold, in personal. It lacked human scale. Aside from that, the place was bustling with people, like tiny ants entering and exiting their colony. Uther chaos, and certainly not a situation Serena felt at ease in.

The master’s mother grabbed her hand.

“Let us enter darling”

They entered the mall’s door and walked through a long gallery lined with the fronts of luxury shops and boutiques. The neon signs above their doors were trying their best to lure in unsuspecting customers. At the end of the hallway, a long line was trailing out of one of the shops. The lady pointed at the line.

“That must be our destination, Serena-san?”

Serena nodded her head.

They arrived at the shop and queued up at the back of the line. The line was so long, that Serena couldn’t see the beginning of it. She worried whether she would be able to get there in time before the signing would end. After standing there for a while, the line seemed to be moving forward a little. The signing must have started then, Serena concluded.

After waiting in line for about half an hour, Serena could finally look into the shop. There was a long, zigzaggy line in there as well. In front of it, she could make out her favorite author sitting behind a table where she was signing the books. The mistress spotted her as well.

“The girl with the blonde hair, that must be her right?”

“She is quite young and really beautiful isn’t she?”

Serena was getting more and more worried about what she was going to say to her big idol. What would be the most appropriate thing to do? Just ask her for her autograph. Praise her for her books. Or maybe she should ask her a question, that indicated she has really read and appreciated her novels. Serena started shaking a little when she suddenly heard someone screaming.

“Serena! Rena-chan! Please come over here”

She recognized that voice, it must be Mona, her friend from school. Next to her stood a girl with long black hair and a red hairband. Who else could it be but Ti-chan? They were a lot further along the line than her. What would they be doing here, she had only ever seen Mona read a novel once. And that wasn’t even a real piece of literature, just some kind of other-world fantasy light novel.

“Serena we’ve been waiting for you, please join us”

Mona screamed again, with Ti trying to hush her. Did they really mean her? Or maybe another Serena they knew, this was quite a common name after all. So Serena still didn’t make any eye contact and ignored them.

“Make place!”

Mona had started pushing people to the side and made her way to Serena and the lady was standing. She grabbed Serena’s hand and pulled her back with her.

“You are coming with me”

But Serena resisted, pointing at the mistress who was standing in line with her.

“Do you know this girl Serena? Is this a friend from school”

Serena nodded.

“Alright, then I’ll be leaving you girls alone for a bit.”

She left the line and entered a store opposite the bookshop.

“Mona, you couldn’t just make her skip the line! That is not allowed you know?”

“She is not skipping, she is just replacing me as your companion”

She rubbed over the stomach.

“I am starving, so I’ll grab some food for us.”

It seemed like Mona couldn’t wait to get out of line.

“See you later!”

And she disappeared into the crowd in a wimp.

The signing

Serena was now standing in the line next to Ti.

“So, you are here to Serena?”

Ti looked a bit uncomfortable.

Serena nodded her head again.

“I took a day off from work”

A long silence followed.

Wait, shouldn’t she say something to Ti?

“Wha…at is your favorite novel - Ti?”

Ti blushed a little and then reluctantly grabbed a novel out of their backpack.

The title read “Love Boat”

“That one is… good - really romantic”

Ti looked a bit embarrassed.

“I like girl’s romance novels okay, there is nothing wrong with that”

Ti then pointed at Serena’s heavy-looking handbag.

“What book did you bring Serena?”

“All.. all of them”

Serena’s voice cracked a little.

“I couldn't.. choose”

Ti smiled.

“Alright, they are all pretty good aren’t they?”

The girls were now at the front of the line, and Serena was shaking a little. She still hadn’t thought about what to say to the author.

“You - first”

Serena said to Ti.

Ti then laid down two copies of Love Boat on the desk.

“Could you sign both of these for me, please? I love your work so much”

“Thank you for coming here, I am happy to sign them for you”

The author put her signature on both of them.

Ti looked back and winked.

“Your turn Serena”

But Serena was still busy browsing her bag, indecisive about which book to pick.

“Next one please”

The author said to Serena.

Serena blushed and mumbled some words. She was shaking a little.

“She is a bit shy”

Ti said to the author.

Then Serena dropped her bag on the ground and all books scattered over the ground.

Ti quickly helped Serena to put them back in.

Serena then grabbed one of the books and put them on the table.

“This one... please”

The writer glimpsed at her.

“Since you brought all my books, I’d better sign all of them right?”

One for one, Serena placed them on the counter. The author signed them all. After she was done she asked a question to Serena.

“Thank you for coming today, what is your name?”

“Se..serena”

“Great to see you here Serena-chan, I am glad to meet such dedicated fans like you”

The mall

After the signing, Ti and Serena browsed the bookshop a little.

“She is so nice, isn’t she?”

Serena nodded.

Ti looked down at the ground a little.

“Do you know why I brought two books Serena?”

Serena didn’t know.

“I wanted to give this one to you as a present since I knew you were a big fan”

Ti sighed.

“But I didn’t expect you to come yourself, usually you don’t like busy spaces like this”

“So I dragged Mona along”

Serena had a big smile on her face. All this time Ti had been thinking about her! She completely underestimated the bonds between them. There was so much she still didn’t know about her friends. It has only been one semester after all. Serena thanked Ti anyway.

“You’re… so thoughtful”

Serena blushed as well.

Both of them didn’t really know what to say after that until Ti broke the ice.

“Where is Mona anyway? I mean, it has been half an hour, she must have been able to track down some food, right?”

Serena and Ti left the bookstore and went to search for Mona in the mall’s food court.

But Mona was nowhere to be seen.

Ti sighed.

“I know where we are going to find here”

Serena followed Ti around the mall.

Hidden away in a corner, next to the cinema was a video arcade. Not a place where Serena had ever set foot. There was a myriad of flashing lights and a whole orchestra of different songs and chimes playing over each other. Too bright… too loud.

“Let’s head in Serena”

Ti grabbed Serena by the hand and together they wormed themselves between the different game cabinets. In the corner stood Mona, mushing some buttons of a game Serena didn’t recognize.

“Hey Mona, where is our food?”

Mona shook and jumped away from the cabinet. She hadn’t heard her friends approaching.

“You made me lose… can you now give me my money back?”

Mona said with a sarcastic voice.

“Where is our food? We looked all over for you”

Mona pointed at two cups of ice cream that stood on a ledge next to the game cabinet.

“Look, I bought some for you…”

As Mona looked at them her expression certainly changed.

“Ohh.. I see”

The cups had completely melted.

“Hehe… I am sorry pals - I got distracted again”

Ti sighed and changed the conversation.

“Look, Mona, we got our books signed!”

“Oh yeah… that’s where we came for today”

“Mona…”

“Anyway Mona, you promised we were going to look for yukata’s after we’re done with the book signing”

“Let’s head to the shop then!”

The clothes store

As the group enters the clothes shop, Ti immediately runs off to the yukata section. Ti holds up a grayish to show it to the others.

“How does this look on me?”

“Mmm, not sure. Let me look”

Mona walked into the other aisle and came back with a bright red yukata that matches Ti’s hairband.

“I think this looks a lot cuter on you Ti, please try it on”

Ti blushed.

“Is it really okay for me to - wear a girl’s yukata?”

Mona sighed.

“Ti-chan, Ti-chan, you wear a maid outfit all day. And now wearing this yukata is suddenly a big issue?”

“You are not paying me enough for this Ti..”

“I am not paying you at all Mona!”

“Maybe you should”

Mona smirked. She was clearly done with this conversation and walked up to the counter and lay down the red yukata.

“This one please”

“I haven’t even tried it on!”

Ti tried to struggle against it, but Mona proceeded and paid for it.

“Here Ti, you got a yukata now so - I guess we’re done here?”

Mona shoved the yukata in Ti’s arms and started heading to the shop's exit. But Ti wasn’t done quite yet.

“Now you two are here, I’d like to invite you to visit the summer festival next week”

“I already asked Nia”

Mona mumbled something.

“Ah, I guess I am not your best friend then - disappointing”

Ti ignored it and added.

“Feel free to ask any other friends to go with us as well”

“Alright, Ti - let me quickly browse my agenda”

Mona immediately added.

“I am in, I hear they have good food and fun games I can beat you guess at”

“You’ve never been to the festival?”

“I spend most time indoors, Ti”

Ti sighed and then looked at Serena.

“Will you come too?”

Serena’s face started glowing.

“Yes, I will”

“Okay that’s set, see you later then!”

“Bye Serena, bye Mona.. Mona?”

But Mona had already left…

Back at the mansion

Later that day Serena was sitting on a bench, reading her now-signed, favorite novel for the sixth time. As she turned the page, she heard the front door slamming open. Kate and Mary had arrived home from their trip to the beach. Mary was holding a blowup beach ball in her hands.

“Think quick!”

She threw the ball at Serena, whose hand’s were holding a book.

“Bounce”

The ball bounced away on the wall beside Serena. The sudden throw shook her so much, that she dropped the book on the ground.

“Quit playing games Mary, you’re scaring the girl!”

“I am so sorry!”

Mary picked up the book and gave it back to her.

“Have you been sitting here the whole day, reading that book?”

“You must be bored aren’t you?”

Mary said before Serena could reply. She then looked at Kate.

“Maybe we should invite Serena sometime as well?”

“Sight, if she’s up for it”