When I Made the Girl I Like My Maid, I Received Some Midnight Service

The mansion I live in is absurdly spacious. Maybe it’s because the garden is just as huge, keeping the neighbors at a distance, but at night, the entire house falls dead silent. For a high school guy like me who isn’t particularly a scaredy-cat, even I have to admit it can feel a little creepy.

“Guess that’s a wrap… That was interesting,” I murmured, tapping my tablet to end the movie I’d been streaming. One of the few perks of living in a place this big was that I could enjoy movies with the volume cranked up high without anyone complaining about the noise.

The film had been about a girl living alone in a creepy, Western-style mansion who gets tormented by a series of suspicious adults breaking in, which eventually spirals into a full-blown horror. The setting was so similar to my own house that it felt incredibly immersive. Towards the end, the girl’s continuous screams were so piercing I thought my eardrums were going to burst.

“Keiji-kun.”

“Whoa!”

A soft knock sounded, and before I could even reply, the door swung open. The one who entered was a beautiful girl in a maid uniform──my classmate and the sole maid of this mansion, Sayaka.

“Ah, my apologies,” she said, though her tone was teasing. “You were watching something naughty, weren’t you? School uniform? Bunny suit? Don’t tell me it was a maid outfit?”

“Could you stop jumping to conclusions and running with it?” I retorted. Just because I’m watching a tablet on my bed doesn’t mean it’s something perverted. And what’s with the immediate jump to cosplay?

“It was just a normal movie,” I explained. “The first half was a comedy with some bumbling petty thief, but then the incidents gradually got more serious── Ah, but that’s a spoiler.”

“I’m more of a novel person, so I’ll forgive you,” she said dismissively. “More importantly, this is perfect timing.”

“Perfect timing?”

“Yes,” she confirmed, her expression uncharacteristically serious. “That petty thief might be in the mansion.”

“I see, that certainly is perfect──ly terrible!” A burglar in this mansion!?

“And what’s more, it’s happening right now. As in, right now.”

“Now!?”

This maid of mine was always so cool, and even now, her expression hadn’t changed one bit.

“I thought it was strange for you to show up this late at night, Sayaka!” I said, sitting up straight. “Are you okay?”

“I’m scared.”

“Hey.”

Now that I’m looking closely, I can see her knees trembling beneath the skirt of her maid uniform. So that cool face is just a front.

“I just finished my work in the kitchen when I heard something from the second floor,” she explained, her voice low. “A window at the far end of the hall is rattling. I thought it was just the wind, but it’s clearly the sound of something tapping on the glass.”

“Are you serious?” My room was also on the second floor, but I hadn’t heard a thing over the movie. “What about the security system? Sayaka, you stay here.”

“I understand.”

“…Hey.”

Before I could move, Sayaka suddenly hugged me tightly. The ample bust of her maid uniform pressed firmly against my chest──

“I’ll make sure to jump right into my master’s chest,” she declared, her voice muffled against my shirt.

“Haah… That’s not what I meant by ‘here’.”

I can’t move like this. Or rather, I’d like to stay still and enjoy the feeling of her large chest── No, that’s not it.

“I’d be in trouble if you abandoned me in a situation like this. No, don’t go,” she pleaded, clinging to me without any intention of letting go.

The mansion is already creepy enough at night; I guess she really doesn’t want to be left alone when there might be an intruder.

“Alright,” I relented. “Then at least stay behind me. Let’s go.”

“Yes, Master…”

She usually only called me Master as a joke, but it seemed Sayaka was genuinely flustered. With her clinging to my back, I slipped out of the room and headed toward the far end of the second-floor hallway. As we got closer, I could definitely hear it—a strange, rattling sound. It sounded like something was knocking on the window; it certainly didn’t seem to be the wind. The window’s curtains were drawn, so I couldn’t see outside.

“Come to think of it, the branches of that tree in the garden extend right up to this window,” I whispered. “Are they planning to climb the tree to get in?” Now that I think about it, it was a thick tree with plenty of branches. It did look easy to climb.

“Alright, let’s do this── Hey, who’s there!”

I turned on my smartphone’s light, yanked back the curtain, and pointed the beam outside the window──

“Meow.”

“Eh?”

Perched on a tree branch just outside the window was a small black cat. Startled by the sudden light, it hopped from the branch to the trunk and quickly scurried down the tree.

“So fast! Anyway, it was just a cat… What a troublemaker. I wonder if it came looking for food.”

“Nyaan…”

For some reason, Sayaka made a cat-like sound herself and then plopped down onto the floor in a heap.

“That cat…” she muttered. “Even though I gave it food and milk, it’s causing such a fuss…”

“You were feeding it, Sayaka?” The mansion’s garden is ridiculously huge, so I probably wouldn’t have noticed a stray cat getting in…

“So that’s how it is, Keiji-kun,” Sayaka announced, puffing out her chest from her spot on the floor.

“Hm?”

“Because I’m a capable maid, I protect the mansion by staying vigilant, even late at night.”

“…You’re so reliable,” I said, playing along. The maid, still sitting on the floor, seemed to have decided to forcefully cover up her own embarrassing mistake. It’s a little pitiful── but at the same time, I find it incredibly endearing. I really shouldn’t get excited seeing my usually cool maid looking so flustered and frightened.

“Here, Sayaka.” I offered her my hand.

“…Thank you.” She took it, and I gently pulled her to her feet.

I’m actually a little grateful to that troublemaking cat. Thanks to it, I got to see this adorable side of my maid. I’ll have to prepare some delicious food and milk for it next time.

“So then, Keiji-kun,” she began, her tone shifting back to something more formal, though she hadn’t let go of my hand.

“Hm?”

“An incident like this must have been scary for you, right? It can’t be helped. As a loyal maid, I will graciously sleep beside you tonight. Just for tonight, of course.”

“No, the one who was scared was you, Sayaka──”

“My own loyalty scares me sometimes,” she declared, cutting me off as she gripped the sleeve of my clothes tightly. I can feel her strong determination not to let me get away. It seems her fear hasn’t subsided even after the identity of the petty thief was revealed.

“As a maid, I will protect my master’s bedroom tonight,” she continued, looking up at my face with an anxious expression. “Please rest assured.”

Yeah, that cat seriously did me a favor. The frightened face of my cool maid is so cute it makes my heart race. It seems that even the nights in this eerie mansion can be enjoyable once in a while──