Outside
the open window, a broken neon tube is making a buzzing sound.
From
the front street, there is a clamor of a busy commercial district.
At the
back of the alley, the electronic voice of a vending machine with a winning
lottery ticket was announcing the winning ticket to some lucky person with a
fanfare.
「...It's
a letdown」
「I
think you're overreacting」
Tapeworm
looks down at the men lying at his feet and lets out a languid chuckle, while
Earthworm shakes her platinum-pink hair and smiles.
On a
concrete wall, an American woman in a swimsuit, a tin sign for Coke was placed.
On the
floor of the trendy billiard bar, there are five rugged men who look like they
could be in an outsider movie. But, they were lying on the floor, half dead,
half alive.
「Well,
it's an easy job, isn't it? I'd rather do this than play with these guys」
Centipede,
who had been looking at the cues lined up on the wall curiously, picked up a
short one and sat down on the billiard table.
「I
don't know, what is the method of hitting from above like this?」
「Masse」
「Oh,
yes, Masse. Natsumi-sama, she seems to like it」
「Masse
squueze? ...What a joke」
I,
Ayumi Saito, the Cockroach maid, cowered my shoulders as I peeked inside the
counter to check if there was anyone hiding there.
(Okay,
no problem)
Today,
we were ordered to go to a small building behind Kabukicho. So, to go there, we
got off at the reception room of KKO, an entertainment agency in Roppongi, and
moved to Kabukicho by train and on foot.
As the
maid's uniform is too conspicuous.
Today
we were allowed to bring whatever clothes we wanted from the "Dressing
room", so each of us wore the clothes of our choice.
Tapeworm
wore a plain black T-shirt and straight jeans.
(Yes,
very masculine).
Earthworm
wore a navel-baring shocking pink tube top and a denim mini-skirt.
(Yes,
very gal-like)
Centipede
in a casual white dress.
(Hmmm...
safe)
I'm
wearing a yellow camisole and a knee-length blue skirt.
Yes,
I'm the cutest by far.
Fashion
aside, today's mission is to get rid of the ruffians who have been threatening
Chihiro-sama, the president of the newly established entertainment agency.
It seems
that the entertainment industry is as dark as they say.
The
ragtag group came to beg for money, saying something like, "President
Kurashima and I have been working together as a holding company" then
Chihiro-sama made them say whatever amount they wanted and said, "I'll
have the girl deliver it to you later. Oh... By the way, you can do whatever
you want with the girls who went to deliver the money" and turned them
away.
And
that's why we were sent there.
「Hyuu!
Four people at once, that woman, the President, she knows what we want!」
The
men welcomed us with their noses in the air.
However,
about the same time I closed the door behind me, Tapeworm head-butted the
nearest man, and a minute later they were all lying on the floor like this...
well, that's the story.
It's
all very dull.
No
weapons allowed, no killing, but that's not a problem.
In
fact, Tapeworm crushed them all by herself.
「Oh,
that's so boring!」
Tapeworm
is quite unhappy. It had been her first real battle since her defeat by the
foreigner woman, and it had lasted only a minute, and she hadn't received much
of a counterattack.
It
could not be helped.
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After
all, she was now facing three Lesser Dragons and strangling a cow-headed
monster called Minotaur with a chokeslam, so there was no way that a mere
ragtag group of people could handle her.
「Well,
I guess the mission is over」
I clap
my hands, and Earthworm puts a finger to her mouth and turns her gaze to the
ceiling.
「So,
are we just going to leave these people alone?」
「Yes,
Torture-sama said she would take care of them」
「Hmm...
what will she do with them?」
As
Earthworm tilted her head, Centipede, who was poking at the balls with a cue in
her hand, interrupted her.
「Lili-sama
said she'll make sure they can't tell anyone before releasing them, right?」
「Oh,
so they're released. Well, I guess I don't want them to be my colleagues」
「Fuh,
I have no use for the weak」
Tapeworm
sniffs unhappily, and Centipede chuckles, “What kind of late century champion are
you?”. Then, Earthworm and I looked at each other and smiled.
「Well,
let's go back」
Almost
as soon as Centipede threw the cue on the pool table, I shouted to everyone.
「Wait,
I have an announcement for you all!」
「An
announcement?」
「What
is it? Out of the blue?」
「Do we
still have a job?」
The
three of them all nodded their heads, and I turned my head to them a little
proudly.
「Actually,
before we left "the room", Lili-sama said...」
Centipede
raises her eyebrows bluntly as I break off my words there.
I
chuckled inwardly. Perhaps she thinks we're going to be forced to do another
troublesome job.
「”After
today's work, I'll give all of you half a day off, Devi. Go to Tokyo and relax,
Devi!” and she gave us some money!」
There
was a beat of disbelief in the air.
And
the girls――
「「「Seriously!?」」」
The
three of them all rolled their eyes.
「Seriously,
seriously! Listen and be amazed! The allowance is 10.000 yen per person,
totaling 40.000 yennnn!」
「Forty
thousand! Hyaaahahaha!」
「Wow!
That's a lot of money!」
「I
love you, Lili-sama! I love you!」
The
dimly lit billyard bar echoed with the yellow cheers of the JKs.
「Oh,
by the way, Lili-sama said, "If you want to run away, you can, Devi. But,
if you can run away... Devi", I heard Lili-sama said so with a smile, but
who wants to run away?」
I
asked, and the girls shook their heads in unison.
Of
course. No one thought they could escape, and if they were caught, they would
probably end up in a sulfuric acid bath. So, there was no way to do that.
「So,
what should we do now?」
I
asked, and Tapeworm was the first to open her mouth.
「Well,
since my digestion is poor, maybe we should attack a karate dojo or a boxing
gym」
「Don't
attack them! Which JK gonna attack a karate dojo without a second thought?」
「Which
JK? Of course, it's us!」
Tapeworm
was about to interrupt Centipede, but Earthworm intervened, saying, "Well,
well, calm down".
「For
the time being, we can think about it while drinking at a family restaurant」
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◇ ◇ ◇
After
leaving the building, we started to wander around the city.
None
of us had any familiarity with Tokyo. After all, we are all a bunch of country
bumpkins. We felt that the city was amazing.
On the
way, we were bothered by hosts and scouts, but the highlight was probably when Tapeworm
snapped the fingers of a man who came to pick us up and put his hand on our
shoulders in a friendly manner.
Then, we
were surrounded by his friends and taken into a back alley, but there was
nothing to worry.
All we
had to do was to brush off the fire that was falling on us.
After
wandering through the Shinjuku streets with ambulance sirens blaring, we
finally found a family restaurant across from the ward office[1] and
stepped into it.
「 I
wonder... this kind of thing makes me feel very nostalgic」
The
three of us nodded our heads in agreement to this comment from Earthworm.
It
must have been a regular thing for us to hang out at the family restaurant by
the station on the way home from club activities, but it seemed like a very
distant event.
We sat
down, looked at the menu, and ordered mango parfaits and a drink bar, since the
restaurant was holding a midsummer mango event.
We
took a bite of the food that came out and looked at each other.
「Well,
it's like this, isn't it?」
「Well,
it's not that it doesn't taste good」
The
sweets that we were allowed to eat in our room were all very expensive, even though
they were leftovers. It seems that our taste buds have become quite fatigued.
「Somehow,
I feel so restless...」
Tapeworm
muttered, and Centipede nodded her head.
「It's
really troubling when we're told we can do whatever we want」
「What
have we been doing on our days off? Karaoke? Maybe go to the arcade to get some
prizes?」
「Well...I'm
not really into that」
At
Earthworm's suggestion, Tapeworm let out a languid voice. If anything, I'm the
same as Tapeworm. I'm not in the mood for this at all.
「If it
was a date with Confinement King-sama, I'd be all over it, but not the four of
us...」
My
casual comment was met with a fierce response from the three of them.
「A
date, or rather, Confinement King-sama, will he hold our hand?」
「Yeah,
yeah, that's the part that I would love to」
「But, first
of all, isn't it bad that the four of us are always together? Confinement
King-sama might not be able to tell who's who」
「I
think we need to have our own personalities... like Lili-sama's characteristic
endings」
As I
say this, Earthworm pokes Centipede next to her with her elbow.
「Well,
Centipede, try adding "Devi" to the end of your words」
「No, I
don't want a sulfuric acid bath」
When
Centipede says this, Tapeworm makes a serious face and holds up a finger.
「But,
more importantly, if you want a general, you must first shoot a horse. Why
don't we go to the favorites princess and ask them to invite us to their
bedrooms?」
Earthworm
and Centipede looked at me as if they knew what was going on. I probably have
the same look on my face. I'm also surprised that Tapeworm said something
rather clever like a proverb.
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「So,
let's talk about which favored princess we’re going to take...」
「How
about Misuzu-sama?」
「She's
a little scary」
「Yeah,
she's kind of pushy」
Everyone
groaned and froze.
「Then,
how about Masaki-sama?」
「...I
think she's going to be a little wild with her smiling face. She seems like
she's going to tell us to eat lots of food and it’s a dog food」
「Actually,
she seems to be a serious S. That's what Kyoko-sama told me the other day」
「Tapeworm,
you're a M, so why not?」
When I
said that, she sighed heavily and cowered.
「You
don't get it, do you? Being bullied doesn't mean anything is okay. The ideal is
to be twisted down by force and have my virginity taken away while crying in
frustration」
「Uh...
yeah. What about Ryoko-sama?」
When I
said that, everyone's face turned ashen at once.
「Well,
Ryoko-sama, but then you'd be under Akira-sama, wouldn't you?」
Centipede's
mouth twisted as she said this, and Earthworm nodded in agreement.
「Do
you know how many times she said, "I'll tell my Master!" before she
got dressed?」
So
far, everyone doesn't have a good impression of Akira-sama. Of course, neither
do I.
「In
the end, I think Ui-sama's place is the safest one. Shima-senpai is there, too」
「Well,
they won't force us to do anything」
We all
looked at each other and laughed. Despite what we say, Captain Tashiro and
Shima-senpai are easygoing.
「Speaking
of which, what about the recent additions?」
When
Earthworm said that, Centipede raised her eyes a little and showed a sign of
thinking.
「Well,
Chihiro-sama?」
「Yes,
yes」
「Chihiro-sama...
to be honest, I'm not sure about her. She's not the favorite princess, but
she's taken the last name of Confinement King-sama as if she's his wife, right?」
I feel
like it's going to be a fire hazard, and I'm quite scared.
「The
princesses don't seem to be happy about it, but.... they all seem to think that
they love and are loved by the Confinement King-sama the most...」
「And
then there's Yamauchi-sama, right?」
As
soon as Tapeworm mentioned her name to change the subject, Centipede jumped.
「Oh,
you know what? I heard that Torture-sama is torturing Yamauchi-sama.... and the
head maid said in a whisper that it was too much for her too」
「「「...Seriously?」」」
I
can't imagine any torture that would make the head maid, who was given us a
sulfuric acid baths, feel uncomfortable.
The
four of us were suddenly surrounded by a heavy atmosphere.
「Well,
let's just go with Ui-sama for now, we should think of a way to appeal to her
in our own way, right?」
However,
this comment by Earthworm led to us being scolded severely by the head maid
later.
And
from the simple idea that appealing from maids = maid cafes, we went to maid
cafes after this, and later on, we gave the Confinement King-sama the "moe
moe kyun ❤" we learned there.
As a
result, we were called “weird” by the head maid, stripped of our maid
uniforms, and spent a few days completely naked, but that's another story.