Several days passed since Mocha-san, Aria-san, and I started working at the cafe.
"Welcome to Blue Moon Cate~" I flashed a bright smile, hearing the store bell as they customers entered the front door.
I must say, our work chemistry was better than expected.
"Here's your order." Aria-san handed the orders to the tables, with a forced smile, wondering, 'Why am I even doing this in the first place?'
Aria-san was doing much better than I thought, and Mocha-san too has improved quite a lot over the time she spent working in the cafe.
"May I take your order?" Mocha-san inquired, waiting to take down the customers' orders.
"You looked cute, how about I order you instead?" A customer replied, trying to flirt with the waitress, which is Mocha-san in this case.
Mocha-san anxiously and apologetically replied, "S-Sorry, Sir. I'm not on the menu... Also, t-that would be cannibalism!"
She's now handling herself much better when dealing with people.
Also, we decided to make rotations after realizing how much Mocha-san was covering.
I was a bit embarrassed to say this, but I only realized this fact after I got bored staying at one spot, tending the counter.
I remembered that look of relief in Mocha-san's eyes after realizing she's getting actual help moving forward.
'Does this mean, I passed?' Mocha-san thought, assuming I was testing her for the past few days, believing the reason why she was getting help now was because she achieved some form of character development I set for her to reach.
I was hesitant to ask for Aria-san to help, minding that she's probably not used to constant labor, but she agreed with no complaints to the rotation, and promos to cover each other during busy days.
During weekends, our shift starts from 8am to 5pm. We're especially busy at 12pm, during rush hours that sometimes you can see the three of us working as waiters at once.
With each day passing, we got more and more accustomed to work, it became easier to move around even during busy hours.
At the end of the week we received our salaries.
The first time Mocha-san and I received our wages, we felt a mix of excitement, accomplishment, and validation for our work in the form of an envelope.
These hefty amount of bills that we now hold in our hands, it's even higher than what was written on the contract.
Old man Roji-san raised our salaries because he said the cafe was doing so well, and thanked us.
A nice boss, and a well paying job. It was like heaven for Mocha-san and I that even on the busiest of days we didn't lose motivation working there. Though, Aria-san might not fully understand our joy, as she kinda indirectly paid our salaries including her own. Though we aren't aware of that.
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At school.
There's only a few more clubs we haven't checked, so we decided not to rush ourselves and take it easy on our vacant time.
[Moments before recess.]
Standing in a launching position, along with one other,
"Are you ready?"
"Yes!"
We, Shiki-kun and I simultaneously replied, confirming that we're prepared to take off in a race.
Timing the countdown to the bell.
"Ready..."
"Get set..."
"GO!"
Shiki-kun proceeded to dash along with the sound of the bell, while I stayed on my spot and got left behind.
Actually, prior to the race, I gave him a three seconds head start how overpowered I am, which pissed Shiki off that I was taking him lightly.
Of you may recall, he's one of Soba-kun's friends I played with in that one basketball match at PE.
Leaving from his launching position, passing the door, Shiki-kun tried slamming the door shut, but it wouldn't. He was trying to delay my run but the door just wouldn't close.
Shiki-kun started to wonder why. When his eyes traced the gap on the door, he discovered a blackboard eraser stuck on the gap, preventing the door from being shut.
Peaking through the gap of the door, there I was, still on my spot, hand extended as though I just threw something.
Connecting the dots together, Shiki-kun and everyone who saw thought. 'That's just crazy!'
Shiki-kun abandoned closing the door, but before he could even turn his back, there I was, already reached the door, passing him from the classroom entrance.
You might be wondering, why are we having a race in the first place?
Actually, you might not know this as it happens off screen, but I spent most of my vacant time with the boys during free time.
I love my fair share of roughhousing, and most of our interests (outside of being Chuunibyou) align.
It's not like I don't enjoy my time with girls like Aria-san and Mocha-san. There's just this invisible connection, a comfortable feeling with the boys that you just can't get anywhere else, like wanting to do something stupid out of nowhere.
Right now, we're having a race who could get to the cafeteria first and come back.
Some of our classmates made us go for an errand to buy snacks, so we decided to turn it in to a competition.
"Hey, no running on the halls!"
We got yelled at but didn't payed any attention to the warning.
Meanwhile, at the classroom after we left.
Naturally, students get together and talked about trivial things. You know, normal highschooler stuff.
Though the fuzz over me and the other two transfer students died down, it doesn't prevent others to stop approaching each us, wanting to have trivial talks because of our strong presence.
Aria-san was the center of attention for the girls currently.
They talked about the recent trends and stuff, about her family, and the life style of someone as wealthy as her and her family. Sometimes they still couldn't comprehend her answer when she answered out of the norms replies for commoners.
"Wow... Who knew toilet paper could be that expensive." A glimpse of the type of conversation they're probably having.
Eventually, a certain question arised.
"Aria-san, do you like Yukiya-kun?"
A normal curious question for a highschooler to be having.
"I-"
When Aria-san was about to open her mouth, I had already returned along with the snacks my classmates asked for.
I handed bread for Mocha-san, juice for Hitomi-san. They thanked me and I proceeded to approach Aria-san.
"Here."
I handed her snacks she requested earlier before I left. Several others crowding her spot internally squealed seeing our interaction.
I proceeded to move on, handing several others their requested snacks.
Going to the boys' spot, they put on this sinister grin on their faces. They proceeding to sit me to a spot they decide to call "hot seat" just now.
"So, Yukiya-kun. What type of girls do you like?" They question me with a mischievous intent, curious about my answer.
They overheard the girls conversation, they too are curious about relationships stuff. Depending on my answer, they thought they could be wing mans, the same time sobotagers depending on their whims.
'I can't really say a hot thousand year old mage, so let's think something closest.'
Pondering for my answer, I put my hands together, making a serious face.
"A tall gothic girl, with big chest."
I answered which I thought was a normal reply. 'That's a normal reply, right?' From what I recall, most boys likes big chest.
"S-Sorry. Can you repeat that again? I thought I misheard something."
One of the boys was baffled and couldn't believe my shameless reply, to the point wanting me to repeat myself if what they heard was actually correct.
"I said, a tall Goth Girl with big chest."
I repeated, a little lauder than the previous reply, still maintaining a serious expression on my face.
Everyone was stunned from my shameless answer.
Well, I don't really have a certain preference. I just replied what I thought was the most standard one. [That wasn't the most standard one.]
"Um, sorry. Can you repeat that again."
They wanted to make my answer clear for everyone, with malicious intent for why they wanted to repeat myself again.
Getting annoyed, without a hint of shame to myself, I shouted.
"Are you guys deaf? I said, A Goth Girl With Big Chest!"
The boys started laughing, even the quiet otakus on the corner started chuckling. Everyone else was stunned for a moment before laughing as well from my answer. Eventually the room got filled with laughing, thinking.
'His appearance might change, but he's still the same Yukiya-kun we know from the inside.'
They remember me for my first semester antics, not even concerned from what I wear or what people think about me for being a chuunibyou.
Hearing everyone's laughter, I started to become conclusion that my answer was probably not a normal one. However, I wasn't very concerned about it as I lost my sense of shame a long time ago.
"So, Aria-san. Do you still like Yukiya-kun."
One of our female classmates mischievously forced to continue the conversation they are having earlier, knowing full well we are at hearing distance.
"Haru!"
Because of Haru-san's insensitivity, her close friends blocked her mouth and scolded her.
Raising her hands to her chest, pondered for seconds, then replied.
"I hate him." She replied with a cold smile on her face, seemingly frustrated for some reason.
"Eh?"
I cluelessly tilted my head on the corner, wondering why was I being hated all of a sudden.