Chapter 26: The Maid and the Young Master

“Ahh, there’s something wonderful about having a maid prepare your breakfast in the morning, isn’t there?”

“I’m glad you’re enjoying it.”

“No, I’m serious. Maids are the best. Keiji, you’re such a perv.”

“How does that make me a perv?”

The morning sun filtered into the Kiyomiya family dining room, where a scene I never would have imagined just a few days ago was unfolding. Hisaka Sayaka, dressed in a maid uniform, and Sogano Maki, in her school attire, were seated at my table. Despite the unusual company, the three of us finished our breakfast without incident.

Leaving them to their own devices, I returned to my room to prepare for school.

“Keiji-kun, are you ready?”

“Whoa.”

I turned to find Sayaka standing perfectly still by the door, having entered the room at some point without me noticing. She was, of course, still in her maid uniform.

“Sayaka, you should change into your school clothes. You’ve done enough work for now.”

“There’s still time. If it comes to it, I’ll run. I was first in my grade for the long-distance run in the sports test, you know.”

“R-Right… but I don’t think you should be sprinting to school.” A cute high school girl running frantically through the streets… People would definitely stare.

“So, did you need something from me?” I asked.

“Is it not natural for me to check on my master? I am being paid, so I must perform my duties diligently.”

“Heh…I see.”.

“Keiji-kun? What is it?” As expected, Sayaka was sharp; she seemed to have noticed the subtle shift in my demeanor instantly.

“I have something to talk to you about, Sayaka,” I began. “It could have been anytime, but… yeah, the sooner the better.”

With that, I walked over to my bookshelf and pulled out a thick, worn children’s book.

“Sayaka, you know what this is, don’t you?”

“No, I don’t.”

“You really know how to lie with a straight face,” I couldn’t help but chuckle. There was a time when I thought Sayaka was cool, mysterious, and surprisingly straightforward. I was wrong.

 

“You’re a liar, Sayaka.”

 

“…What are you talking about?” Sayaka tilted her head slightly, her expression unchanging. It was a gesture that could almost be considered cute, but I knew it was a part of her trap.

“This children’s book was my favorite when I was a kid,” I explained, holding it up. “It’s so thick and bulky, but I still brought it all the way from my family’s home.”

“So you had a cute side once, Keiji-kun.”

“Apparently so. Let me tell you something embarrassing. In my favorite scene, I kept a photo of my mother tucked away—I know, it’s really embarrassing for a first-year high schooler.”

“I think being embarrassed about treasuring a photo of your mother is what’s truly shameful,” she countered.

“…You’re right.” I nodded slowly. Looking back, there was no reason to have hidden it. “You saw the photo tucked inside this book, didn’t you, Sayaka?”

“…Why do you think that?”

“This is just a guess, but you dropped the book and couldn’t remember which page the photo was on, correct?”

“Even I can be clumsy sometimes.”

“It would be one thing if you’d simply dropped it while cleaning. But you were clumsy because you were so absorbed in looking for something, weren’t you?”

“Are we in the middle of a deduction? Is this some special service for me, a mystery lover?”

“I’m not exactly the detective type, and I’m not looking for a murderer, so it’s a relief that I can be wrong.” Seeing as she didn’t deny it, however, I was fairly certain I wasn’t.

“You couldn’t remember the page, so you flipped through the book, tried to recall its approximate location, and tucked it into the most climactic part──the moving scene where the protagonist reunites with the mother he’s been searching for. Am I right?”

Sayaka no longer answered. She simply stared into my eyes, her face a perfect mask.

“That’s right, I tucked the photo into my favorite page. But that’s not it. My favorite part isn’t the climax, where the boy reunites with his mother. It’s the scene just before that, where the boy despairs, thinking, ‘The mother I thought I finally found got on a ship and sailed far away again.’ ”

“…You have bad taste. The mother wasn’t on the ship in the end. The boy gets to meet her, so you should just enjoy that happy scene.”

“I’ve lived my life being looked down on by everyone,” I confessed. “I could empathize more with a scene of despair than one where hope blossoms.” It felt like a fitting place to keep a photo of my mother, who had passed away and whom I could never meet again. I thought so as a child, and I still think so now.

“I’ve looked at this photo so many times. And yet, why didn’t I notice?”

“I apologize for looking at the photo without permission,” she said formally.

“You don’t need to apologize. You desperately wanted to see this photo, didn’t you, Sayaka? No, more than that──it’s possible you came to this mansion just to see this photo.” I took the photograph from the book and showed it to her. Then, I flipped it over, my gaze shifting between the young woman in the picture and the girl standing before me. “You know this person’s name, don’t you, Sayaka?”

“…Why do you think so?”

“This person is Wakura Honoka. An unfortunate woman who was not permitted to marry Kiyomiya Takatsugu.”

“I see…” Sayaka’s expression turned just a little sad. Of course, she knew this person’s name. Not just her name, perhaps, but more about her than I ever could.

 

“This person──Wakura Honoka is your mother, isn’t she, Sayaka?”

 

Really, why didn’t I notice sooner? If you looked closely, their beauty and intelligent air were strikingly similar. Come to think of it, the first time I saw Sayaka under that cherry blossom tree, I felt like I had met someone I had been yearning for. That feeling was right on the mark; I had recognized the face from the photo in the girl who took off her glasses under the cherry blossoms.

“It wouldn’t be strange for me to have at least one photo of my mother,” I continued. “You obtained the master key, were allowed in and out of my room, and you couldn’t resist searching for it, could you?”

“Yes. I didn’t think you would go to great lengths to hide it, so my first guess was your desk drawer, and the second was your bookshelf. I found it surprisingly quickly.”

“The fact that you’re not even a little bit sorry is amazing.”

My maid was always so calm, cool, and collected. So reliable.

“But there’s no guarantee she’s my mother, is there? Even if we look alike, we could be relatives, or it could be a sheer coincidence.”

“That’s what I’m confirming right now. Hisaka Sayaka, who are you?”

“You are the son of Hisaka Tsukasa.”

“…”

That was a much bigger response than I was expecting.

“Hisaka Tsukasa was my adoptive mother. She offered her newborn son to the head of the Kiyomiya family, whom she served.”

“…Why?”

“The head of the Kiyomiya family──it’s a laughable story these days, but he wasn’t allowed to marry the woman he loved due to a difference in status. Still, if a child were born, they could become a successor to the Kiyomiya main family’s bloodline. However, it had to be a boy who inherited the head’s blood.”

“Huh? A child born out of wedlock can’t be the heir, even if he’s the son of a Kiyomiya. I know that for a fact.”

“Are you sure? Isn’t it just that you’ve convinced yourself of that?”

“…”

She might be right. But… I think it’s a little different. It’s not that I’ve convinced myself, but that I’m trying to convince myself. I’d been looked down on by the Kiyomiya relatives and treated as the black sheep of the family. However, neither my father nor any of my relatives had ever explicitly said I couldn’t be the successor. I was just scorned and alienated by the clan who carried the Kiyomiya name. That’s why I don’t want to become the heir to a family like this. Not that I can’t, but that I don’t want to. I think I was somehow maintaining my mental balance by telling myself that.

“So I was alienated because I could become the heir, despite being born out of wedlock…?”

“Assumptions can be frightening things, can’t they? But you can surely become the head of the Kiyomiya family—so long as you are prepared to fight for it.”

“Sayaka, did you incite me to become the head of the family for that reason…?”

“Who knows? It might have just been a whim,” she said, shaking her head from side to side. “But my adoptive mother offered up her newborn son to her master, and in exchange, she received and raised the Kiyomiya’s daughter.”

“A baby swap…” I never would have imagined such a story until yesterday. And what’s more…

“It wasn’t a mistake at the hospital or anything. We were children who were intentionally swapped…!”

It was a conclusion I had partially expected ever since arriving at the terrifying thought that Sayaka might be the true daughter of the Kiyomiya family. My imagination had run wild, and my surprisingly clear mind eliminated several possibilities, constructing a highly realistic deduction. Thinking about it now, it was understandable why even Maritsuji acknowledged Sayaka’s dignified demeanor. The blood she inherited at birth, passed down through a prestigious family with a thousand-year history, was what made her conduct so refined and elegant.

Still──I couldn’t believe it. Sayaka and I were children swapped by our parents right after we were born.

“By the way, this old manor was assigned as Wakura Honoka’s residence, and Hisaka Tsukasa served her as a servant here.”

“Wakura Honoka… I knew she lived in the old manor.” My mother──the woman who was my mother in the eyes of the world──had not been allowed to live in the Kiyomiya main residence.

“Did you know? For the Kiyomiya clan, this old manor was recognized as the official residence for the family head’s mistress.”

“…Truths I never even considered are just popping up one after another.”

“You’re the one who drew them out. It’s impressive that you noticed this much, Keiji-kun.”

“So you knew because your adoptive mother told you. But, yeah. The photo was the deciding factor, but I think I also figured out why you were so fixated on the Kiyomiya house. And there’s one more, a minor thing.”

“What is it?”

“‘Sayaka’──I wondered if your name was taken from a character in the Kiyomiya surname.”

“Ah, I see. I don’t know about that. Surprisingly, the name ‘Sayaka’ might have been given by your father──no, my biological father.”

“I’ll have to ask him next time. Though I’m not sure if I can even call that person ‘Dad’ from now on.” I placed the photo on the nearby desk. “So, what’s your goal, Sayaka? Surely it’s not just to see a photo of your biological mother, right?”

“While I was struggling to live in a cramped apartment, you were living comfortably in the luxurious Kiyomiya main residence. My goal? You should already know. To kick you down and take over the Kiyomiya family as the true successor.”

“Wha…!”

“Just kidding!.”

“Pick a better time and place for your jokes!” For a moment there, you had me going! Then again, while it would contradict her inciting me to become the family head, that didn’t necessarily mean her goal wasn’t to take over the family. For example, it was easy to imagine a scenario where the surprisingly capable illegitimate son was manipulated from the shadows by the even more capable true daughter to control the Kiyomiya family. All sorts of terrible possibilities flooded my mind.

“You are, and always will be, the son of the Kiyomiya family, Keiji-kun. And I am the daughter of the Hisaka family. I don’t have the slightest desire to return to the Kiyomiya house.”

“If you returned to the Kiyomiya house, they’d pay for your school fees without a problem.”

“I’ll earn money by working as a maid. The contract is absolute.”

“Even after this conversation, you’re telling me to use you as a maid?” If what she said was true, then I was the son of a servant, and Sayaka was the true young lady of the Kiyomiya family. Was it even permissible for me to keep her as my maid?

“Keiji-kun, after cornering me like a detective, surely you’re not going to be the one who’s troubled, are you?”

“…I’m not so composed that this wouldn’t trouble me.” Kiyomiya Keiji is not just a child born out of wedlock, but the son of a servant. Hisaka Sayaka is not just a commoner maid, but a real young lady. There was no way we could continue our swapped lives as if nothing ever happened.

“It’s fun to watch you being troubled like this, but──” Sayaka walked briskly out of my room and stood in the hallway. “Seeing my master off is part of a maid’s job. You’re heading out first today as well, right?”

“Wait, wait, don’t just continue being a maid as if nothing happened!”

“Hisaka Sayaka is a maid──your maid, and yours alone.” With a full smile, Sayaka curtsied, holding the hem of her skirt in a perfect display of a maid’s conduct. “Have a safe trip. Your one and only maid will be waiting for you at the mansion.”

“…” It seemed that no matter what, Sayaka intended to continue this relationship where I was the master and she was the servant.

“…I’m off.”

She was such a perfect maid that I found it hard to go against her. I was at my limit, too, reeling from the weight of the truths that had just come to light.

“I’ll always be waiting here for you. So, please come back home to me, okay?”

“…!”

Sayaka wrapped her arms around me from behind, her chest pressing firmly against my back. I swallowed the retort that she would be leaving soon too and that we would see each other at school. The overwhelming sensation was more than enough to shatter the serious atmosphere.

“You’re right,” I relented. “You’re my maid. We made a contract, after all.”

“Yes, make sure you uphold the contract.”

Even if Sayaka was a real young lady, right now, she was my maid. My one and only cute maid. For now, that’s what I would believe.