Chapter 4: A Morning with a Maid

“Good… morn… ing…”

Ngh!?

A woman’s pained voice?

I bolted upright in bed.

“Ngh… are you… awake…?”

As my eyes adjusted to the morning light, I found a maid standing beside my bed. Well, not just any maid—it was Hisaka Sayaka.

“Hisaka? What are you doing here?” I asked, my own voice still thick with sleep.

“Not Hisaka… Sayaka-chan…”

“I don’t remember asking you to add ‘-chan’ to your name.”

Looking closer, I saw her head swaying unsteadily. Her large eyes, usually so sharp and clear, were barely a third of the way open. I doubted she could even see what was in front of her. The ribbon she normally wore at her chest was missing, and a few undone buttons on her maid uniform revealed the soft valley of her cleavage. Her headband was askew, framing a mess of disheveled hair.

“…Sayaka, are you not a morning person?”

“Ngh, that’s not… true…” she insisted weakly. “I’m a maid. Waking up my master is an important part of my job…”

“I haven’t hired you yet, and frankly, correcting you every time is getting exhausting. Haaaah… You should probably focus on waking yourself up before you try to wake me up.”

“Ngh…”

She couldn’t even manage a proper response. It had been several days since Sayaka had forced her way into my mansion, and it seemed she was now getting serious about her self-proclaimed employment. She hadn’t attempted a morning wake-up call until today, and I never would have imagined she’d be this weak in the mornings. For a maid, isn’t an inability to handle mornings a fatal flaw?

“Breakfast… is not ready…” she muttered.

“Of course it isn’t!”

“I’ll make it now, so Kiyomiya-kun should get ready… Do you need help… changing…?”

“First, go wash your face and wake up,” I ordered, trying to ignore the last part of her offer. “The thought of you using knives and a gas stove in your current state is terrifying.”

“Leave it to me…”

With that, Sayaka staggered out of the room. She’s really going to be okay, right?

Worrying about the potential for disaster, I headed to the washbasin to splash some cold water on my face. This spacious mansion had multiple washrooms—I still hadn’t even found them all—and each basin was large enough to wash your face and hands at the same time. After I’d finished, I returned to my room, took my time getting dressed, and then made my way downstairs to the dining room. The former Kiyomiya family residence had a formal dining room that existed solely for the purpose of eating meals, a relic of a bygone era.

“Good morning, Kiyomiya-kun. What a lovely morning.”

“What a complete transformation!” I exclaimed.

In the few minutes it had taken me to get ready, her sleepiness had completely vanished. Her headband was perfectly in place, the ribbon was neatly tied at her chest, and her eyes were wide open and sparkling with energy.

“Kiyomiya-kun, could you wait for about an hour?” she asked cheerfully. “I’ll go and prepare breakfast.”

“You’re going to spend a whole hour on breakfast this early in the morning!?” She’s suddenly way too energetic!

“Breakfast is important,” she declared. “You have to eat a hearty meal. Also, I wasn’t sure if you prefer rice or bread, Kiyomiya-kun, so I’ll make both.”

“Bread! Bread is fine!” I said, a little too quickly. “No, I mean, bread, please!”

“I admire your respectful attitude, but there’s no need to use such polite language with a maid.”

I’d be in trouble if she started by cooking rice… The mansion’s kitchen had been recently renovated with high-performance equipment, but cooking rice still takes time, no matter how advanced the technology.

“Then, please wait about twenty minutes,” she said with a confident smile.

“…Well, if that’s all it takes.”

It was just past seven o’clock. Sōshūkan, was about a twenty-minute walk from here. Even if we left at eight, we’d have more than enough time.

 

“~~~~~♪”

 

“………..”

How unusual… This is the first time I’ve ever heard Sayaka hum. At school, with her cool and distant persona, she definitely wasn’t the type of character anyone would imagine humming to herself.

“It’s ready,” she announced, placing a plate in front of me.

“Whoa…”

Before me was a picture-perfect breakfast: two pieces of toast, toasted to a crispy golden-brown and spread with butter, alongside ham and eggs, sausages, a fresh salad, and even a bowl of soup.

“I apologize, there wasn’t enough time, so the soup is instant.”

“This is more than enough,” I said, genuinely impressed. “Seriously, Sayaka, I didn’t know you could cook…”

“What do you mean by that?” the girl in the maid outfit asked, looking slightly offended.

With her cool, almost otherworldly demeanor, Sayaka didn’t seem like the type to be proficient in any kind of housework.

“I lived alone with my mother, so I had to learn whether I liked it or not,” she explained. “My mother was a professional maid. More importantly, please give it a taste.”

“Learned from a pro, huh? Well, thanks for the meal.”

Ham and eggs might be a simple dish, but she had skillfully cooked the thick-cut ham without burning it, and the fried eggs were seasoned perfectly with just a hint of salt and pepper, exactly how I liked them. I took a bite without any sauce first, savoring the flavor, before adding a little to the next bite. I’m not strictly a soy sauce or a sauce person—it depends entirely on the meal. Since today was a Western-style breakfast, it had to be sauce.

“Yeah, this is delicious,” I admitted. “Maybe you really could work as a maid…?”

“Just how much were you underestimating me?”

“No, it’s just that I assumed genuine upper-class kids have people to do all their housework for them. I never imagined a girl my age would know how to cook.”

These days, hiring servants is rare—but that only applies to new money. Most students at Sōshūkan could trace their family trees back for generations, even hundreds of years. It wasn’t unusual to have classmates whose ancestors were figures in history textbooks. The Kiyomiya family was one of them. From the Heian period to the modern era, several of my family members had appeared on the stage of history, accomplishing some great ‘work’ or another. People from that class often consider it their duty to leave domestic tasks to their servants.

“You should just let me handle the housework, Kiyomiya-kun.”

“Hmm…”

Until now, I had only asked Sayaka to do some light cleaning. We ate our meals separately, and I still did my own laundry. I mean, having a female classmate cook for me—what kind of person does that make me? My sensibilities were much closer to those of a commoner, and I wasn’t unhappy about that.

However, as a practical matter, it was impossible for me to maintain this vast mansion by myself. And there was no way I could prepare my own meals every single day. I had been fully prepared to survive on a diet of convenience store bento and delivery.

“So, Kiyomiya-kun, which do you prefer?” Sayaka asked, her voice laced with challenge. “A high school girl’s home cooking, or a meal from the convenience store?”

“Is the phrase ‘high school girl’s’ really necessary?” The way she put it made even the most normal choice sound vaguely perverted. “Besides, you don’t have to be a maid—wait, speaking of which, Sayaka, you haven’t eaten, have you?”

“A servant cannot eat at the same table as her master,” she stated primly.

“Come on…”

It was true that a professional maid wouldn’t eat with the family she served, but this was different.

“It’s fine, so eat with me, Sayaka. If you don’t hurry, we’ll be late for school.”

“I don’t eat much, so a piece of bread is plenty for me.”

“You can eat whatever you want, but I feel guilty eating alone.” A female classmate cooked for me, and I’m the only one eating? Seriously, what does that make me? “Also, let me say this again. You don’t have to be a maid. You can stay here until things settle down. I’ll make sure you have food, clothes, and a place to live.”

I received more than enough living expenses from my father to live here. How I chose to spend that money was up to me, so taking in Sayaka was not an issue. Of course, hiring a real maid wouldn’t be a problem either, but I couldn’t bring myself to say that out loud.

“Hey, can’t you at least stop wearing the maid outfit?”

“I have to do housework anyway,” she countered. “A maid outfit is work attire. You could say it’s professional-grade, so it should be fine.”

“…Well, I guess what you wear is your own business.”

“This uniform is also a symbol of my determination,” she continued, her gaze unwavering. “My determination to work for you in this house, Kiyomiya-kun.”

“Hmm… Shouldn’t you be more concerned about your own future before you worry about working for me, Sayaka?”

“What a noisy master… The Kiyomiya family lacks discipline.”

“Don’t insult me and my family’s name in the same breath.”

“No, it’s fine,” she said, her voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper. “I’ll be the one to discipline you from now on.”

“Huh?”

She leaned forward and grabbed my shoulder, her grip surprisingly firm.

“I am a maid, and you are my master. I will make sure of it. I’ll forge you into a splendid master, one who can command me as you please with a single order──”

Sayaka leaned in even closer, bringing her lips right next to my ear.

“I’ll be the one to discipline you.”

“………..”

What’s that supposed to mean? That’s creepy.

And to think, it was all because I took in a classmate who was wandering the streets.