The First Request (6)
"Good morning, Ray-Chan. How are you?" An old lady's voice entered my ears, forcing me to temporarily avert my attention from the book in my hand and put a gentle smile on my face.
"Yes, good morning, Mrs. Milner. Nice to see you in a good health, you're as beautiful as always," I greeted the old lady before me with my gentle smile.
Mrs. Milner is a loyal customer that visits our family restaurant daily. Since she lives together with her daughter that had a divorce from her husband in the neighborhood, she needs to take care of her grandchildren since her daughter needs to work and make a living for them.
It must be hard for her, so we gave her a special discount of 50% on all of our menus. She would come every day to buy breakfast and lunch for her family, while she only comes to eat dinner together with her family when she's too tired to cook.
"Hahaha! Ray-Chan. You're good with your words as always, aren't you? And you're as handsome as always, did you have a girlfriend already, Ray-chan? Or did you finally decided to go out with one of the restaurant's employees?"
!?!?!?!?
S-Somehow... I felt several terrifying gazes from behind me, but when I take a peek behind, they are all doing their works normally.
W-Was that just my imagination...?
"Ray-Chan?"
"Ah... I'm not in a relationship with anyone, ma'am. I'm not really looking for anyone either, after all," I answered her as I scratched the back of my head.
"Hm~ Is that so?" Mrs. Milner seems to be not satisfied with my answer.
"Here are your orders, Ma'am," Hino suddenly appeared and hand out a plastic bag filled with food to Mrs. Milner.
"Still no progress, I see. It must be tough for you girls," Mrs. Milner pats Hino's shoulders.
"Yes, Ma'am. Thanks for understanding..." (Hino)
Huh? What did just happened? I can't understand what they're talking about.
"Well, Then I guess I'll take my leave. Ray-chan, remember to enjoy your youth to your fullest, okay? Highschool life won't come back, after all,"
"Y-Yes, Ma'am. I'll take your advice..."
Enjoy my youth...? Where did that come from...? And to ask someone with an ancient soul like me to love is kind of...
"Well, I guess thinking over something that I won't be able to find the answer to is just a waste of time, huh..." I sit back and continue to read the book I'm holding.
I want to enjoy the brief peace I could have before the battle. When we're about to eat breakfast, I went downstairs to call Ao that seems to have to continue setting up the room that our club will be using to accept requests.
And when I opened the door, the inside is too neat and filled with furniture that even I didn't know I have.
Those sofas... Did it had been always in that room...? I've checked my bank account from my phone and it seems she didn't steal the household's money to buy them.
"That Ao... I wonder why she's so excited about it..."
*Ding-a-ling!*
The shop doorbell rings as the restaurant's door opened, and at the same time, I stand as I 'equipped' my professional smile to greet them.
"Welcome to our restaurant, dear customer,"
"Y-You... You are... Ray Lance...?" The voice that I hoped would not appear entered my ears.
That disturbing white hair.
That ice-cold pair of eyes and voice.
"U-Ugh... White mannequin witch..."
She's wearing casual attire that gives off a different vibe off her, which is completely different from the image I have in my mind.
"That way of addressing... S-So you really are Ray Lance... T-To think that you're 'this' different when you're using a normal-sized attire..." She seems to be a little surprised by my look since I usually use my oversized uniform. Her eyes are relentlessly sizing me up.
But she's not the only one who is surprised.
"I'm surprised as well. I thought you're the type that walks around using a lab coat as a way of fashion,"
"Just what character do you think I am!?" She strongly retorts.
"Even if you asked me that... Anyway, the appointed time is 8 AM, right? This is still 7, though. Don't tell me... You're also as excited as Ao that you came here so soon..."
"N-No, I'm not! Arriving early is a form of courteousness!" Answered her in a rather flustered manner.
"I don't know what kind of website is your source, but arriving too early in an appointment is considered rude, you know?"
".....I didn't know it from a website," Answered her as she turns her head.
S-So you did search it on a website, aren't you...?
Now that I think about it, Frostina doesn't really have any friends, isn't she? She did invite some people to enter the club to be our third member, but it seems that they rejected her.
And she had been getting along well with Ao behind my back, so maybe she's excited because she's going to meet Ao outside the school?
I try to observe the unsociable girl called Frostina Arlandine once more. She's staring at me with a hostile gaze, and slowly, she's moving her hand upwards and covered her chest.
"What the hell are you doing?"
"I'm covering myself since a pervert is staring at me with his lewd- no, dead eyes," (Frostina)
"No, no, no. No perverts have dead eyes like me, Frostina. Dead eyes and pervertedness contradict each other, you see,"
"Hm..." She seems to be processing my words.
"Indeed. Dead eyes shouldn't have any emotions, so they wouldn't get excited, I guess. That's true indeed," she nods as she completely agrees with my words.
I don't know why, but the way she agreed with it kind of hurt. Do my eyes look that bad?
"Well, anyway. Ao is waiting for you at the-"
"Hello~ Are you the rumored 'White mannequin witch', Frostina Arlandine!?" Tama suddenly appeared out of nowhere and asked Frostina, making her startled.
"Y-Yes... Wait, I'm not a mannequin, nor a witch, though," Frostina glares at me with a 'You're the culprit behind it, aren't you?' look.
"No, no. I never told her anything about you. In the first place, why should I even told her about you,"
"Well, well~ I knew the stories from Ao~ Come here, come here. Ao had been waiting for you, Arlandine-chan~" Tama forcefully pulled Frostina's hand without even giving her a chance to respond.
Tama's energy completely dominates her, huh... Well, our club will only start if there is someone that will give us a request, so I guess I'll leave Ao to take care of her.
Hm... I felt like I forgot something...
"Ah! Ao's using the restaurant's uniform. Well, I guess answering her with 'I'm having a part-time job here for extra cash,' would be enough," I convinced myself and continue to read the book in my hand.
I should still have more or less one hour before the appointed time of our club to start, I'll enjoy the remaining time to the fullest!
*********************
And that's what I thought but...
"U-Um... Frostina-san. What are you doing?" I asked the girl who is sitting beside me.
"I-I'm assisting you in the cashier..." (Frostina)
H-Huh!?
"J-Just why?" I asked her the reason since my head couldn't understand why is she using our restaurant's uniform as well.
"I don't know either!!! When I entered the room that Tama-san mention as our clubroom, all I found is Ao-san sleeping on top of the sofa! The size of the room is surprising, but the ambush waiting for me inside the room is even more surprising! They bombard me with questions, forcing me to try the restaurant's uniform, and they give me some snacks!" (Frostina)
I-Isn't getting some snacks are good...?
"Y-Your restaurant's employees are terrifying..." (Frostina)
"S-So you're sitting next to me is a strategical retreat, huh..."
"Yes, it is..." Replied Frostina weakly.
"I-Is that so...?"
Ugh... It hasn't even been 10 minutes... Well, it's fine. We're not really in good terms, to begin with. So I have no obligation to keep up a conversation with her either, right?
I guess continue reading my book should be fine... Or so I thought but-
"So, what book are you reading?" (Frostina)
Why the hell is she opening a new conversation...?
"It's a novel," I replied her shortly and uninterestingly to make sure the conversation stopped.
"Hm... What genre?" She continues to question me.
Read the damn atmosphere, white witch!
"Medieval fantasy,"
"I see... So you're interested in that kind of stuff too, huh..." (Frostina)
"Yeah, that's right,"
Wait.
Too?
"Frostina, don't tell me you're also-"
"I don't. It seems that not only your personality, but your hearings are rotten as well. Could you please don't bend people's words as you see fit, Mr. creepy rumor-spreading four-eyes?" (Frostina)
I haven't even finished my words, though...? This girl sure is a huge pain, isn't she?
Well, whatever.
"Is that so?"
I guess I'll just continue enjoying my limited reading time and just ignore her presence.