Playing Maid Cafe

Before heading back to my own base, I stopped by Penpen's place.

Gin-chan bowed politely.

"Welcome home, Master. Kon."

"Huh?"

"… Welcome home, Master. Kon."

"I-I'm home?"

"Allow me to show you to your seat, kon."

"A seat? Kon?"

I let her guide me for now. Oh, it was just Penpen's regular Home. A bit tidier than usual, though.

When I sat down at the usual table, Penpen was already waiting there.

"Welcome back, Tria-chan. Oh, right now it's Tria-shi, huh?"

"Hey, I'm back… What's with the 'Master' stuff, Penpen? Did you open a maid cafe or something?"

"I was just in that kind of mood, so we've been playing maid cafe! Tria-chan and Alto-chan were both called away on quests, so."

I see, maid cafe roleplay.

… Great taste! I wholeheartedly approve! I want omurice! And have them cast a spell on it for me!

Come to think of it, Coworker probably called Aruka-chan in as backup too.

"But Penpen, aren't you Gin-chan's actual master?"

"Tsk tsk tsk. The whole point is enjoying it from the customer side as a pretend master. That's the mood I was in! Gin-chan's forced verbal tic is part of the whole vibe."

"Makes sense."

If she was in that kind of mood, who was I to argue? Gin-chan didn't seem opposed so much as bewildered, and I certainly wasn't about to complain.

Because being called "Master" by a silver fox maid? Not bad at all! Not bad at all!!

"Penpen-sama! I don't want to be called Master, I want to be called Onee-chan!!"

"No no, Miitei-chan. The whole appeal of a maid cafe is being called Master… Oh, wait. Come to think of it, girls aren't called Master, they're called Ojou-sama!"

"Ooh, you're really committed. Well, I'll take Master, thanks."

"Got it～. So Gin-chan, I'm Ojou-sama!"

"As you wish, Ojou-sama. Kon."

Hmm, aside from the fact that Penpen didn't exactly look the part, Gin-chan really pulled it off.

"Miitei-chan, wanna wear a maid outfit too?"

"Yeah! I'll call Spirit-sama Master～!"

"Tria wants to call Spirit-sama Master too. Requesting a swap later."

"Sure, later, Tria-chan!"

And just like that, Miitei-chan joined the maid side.

Her outfit… she just mimicked it with her body and changed on the spot. She could do that? Handy. Sorry Penpen, hold onto that maid outfit for later. Tria-chan's going to be wearing it.

"Speaking of which, Penpen, if you're calling yourself an Ojou-sama, shouldn't you dress the part?"

"… Oh, good point. Now that you mention it, I look less like an Ojou-sama and more like a farmer here on business. Lemme go change real quick～. Now, where'd I put that 'virgin-killer outfit'…"

Penpen rummaged through the Home's storage and pulled out an outfit.

A refined, cute design. A white shirt with a corset, paired with a subdued black skirt.

Oh no. If Penpen put that on with her blessed figure, I might actually die…!

"Outfit change～… Eep, how do you even put this on? G-Gin-chan, help meee."

"Yes yes. Leave it to me, Penpen… There we go."

"… Hnnngh…!"

Oh, they properly moved to the closet room to change. Good, good.

"All changed!!"

"Whoa, it's an Ojou-sama. An Ojou-sama just walked in. What a perfect Ojou-sama she is, visually!"

"I'm an Ojou-sama, desu wa～!"

Penpen came back completely transformed from the country girl look. But her speech and mannerisms were still 100% Penpen! What a shame! If she'd just kept her mouth shut, I would've been a goner.

"Tria-shi should become an Ojou-sama too! Here, this one's yours."

"Whoa, an Ojou-sama blouse with frills running down both sides of the button line. Fancy～."

"Suspenders and a skirt… Go with this black checkered one! Throwing on a beret too!"

"Oh no～, I'm turning into an Ojou-sama～. Outfit change, click."

The screen blacked out for a moment, and the change was done.

I peeked into the full-length mirror. Reflected there was an absurdly cute girl.

… All that time spent on character creation really paid off. Totally my type!!

"Wahoo! You could show up at a piano recital and fit right in! It looks great on you!"

"This is… me…!? I'm an Ojou-sama! I'm totally an Ojou-sama!"

"Alright, now you're an Ojou-sama too! Gin-chan, Miitei-chan, call Tria-shi Ojou-sama from now on!"

"As you wish, kon… Ojou-sama, may I offer you a drink? Kon?"

"What would you like, Ojou-sama～!"

"Ahem… Mm, then perhaps I'll have some tea? Extra milk, if you please… How was that?"

"So Ojou-sama～! So cuuute!"

"Here is your milk tea. Freshly squeezed, kon."

Ahaha! With stuff like this, whoever has the most fun wins! Oh, the extra-milky tea is delicious～.

"Oh, looks like Alto-shi and the others are back."

"Hm? How can you tell, Penpen?"

"Got an online notification in the group chat. You went offline during the quest too, Tria-shi."

I didn't have that notification turned on.

Wait, so those quests were in some kind of instanced space? Maybe they were solo-only?

Oh. Maybe forming a party beforehand would change that?

"Welcome home, Ojou-sama. Kon."

"Oh, I'm home～… Kon?"

Wow, impressive. Alto was completely unfazed by the Ojou-sama greeting.

And she came in with Nika-chan, who was sucking on a candy.

"Ooh? What's going on? Is today a dress-up day?"

"We're playing maid cafe～."

"We're Ojou-samas right now. Desu wa～."

"I see. But isn't it 'Master' at maid cafes?"

"Alto-shi, girls are called 'Ojou-sama' at maid cafes."

"Huh. I've only been to one in games, so I didn't know."

Ah, in games that feature maid cafes, the protagonist is usually male after all.

Unless it's a simulator where you work at one, that is.

"… Hm? So does that mean Alto just accepted being called Ojou-sama without a second thought?"

"Could she be a real-life Ojou-sama!? O-oh man, I gotta suck up to her!"

"Stop that, Penpen-shi. I'm just a salesperson now… Heh, once upon a time, I was the kind of Ojou-sama who lived in a sprawling 10,000 square meter mansion, had a big white dog, wore a terrycloth bathrobe after every bath, lounged with a cat on my lap, gazed down at the commoners from a high-rise window, and smirked nihilistically with a glass of wine in hand… until the Great Catastrophe took everything from me…"

"W-whoa, I sense some serious darkness there…!"

That was obviously a lie. What kind of Ojou-sama smirks nihilistically while sipping wine?

And keeping both a dog and a cat is one thing, but at least pick either a mansion or a high-rise for your home.

"Well, jokes aside, Alto-chan is just naturally cute and Ojou-sama-like, you know?"

"Come to think of it, the inspiration behind Alto-chan's inspiration was the most princess-like diva in the world. Princess basically means Ojou-sama."

"Exactly. So hand over one of those elegant Ojou-sama outfits for Alto-chan too! I'll pay!"

"Coming right up～!!"

After that, Alto pulled off an unnecessarily high-quality Ojou-sama look, and everyone had fun swapping between their second characters and the Ojou-sama roles.

The omurice with a ketchup heart drawn on it was delicious.