Chapter 1: Hyperion Cafe in Long Hollow City

　　Long Hollow City.

　　The gloomy-faced young girl with her head slightly bowed, walked into a cafe alone.

　　On the signboard of the cafe was a string of English - Hyperion.

　　The girl's name was Raiden Mei, a sophomore in high school, who was once a star-struck young lady, the "Queen of Raiden". No matter where she went, she was surrounded by countless people, but now those people who used to surround her have all turned against her overnight.

　　Because half a month ago, her father was suddenly charged with economic fraud, suffered a prison sentence.

　　A father is a child's heaven, and it's no different for Raiden Mei, and now, the sky has fallen.

　　Today was the last day of November, and a long overdue weekend, and although she had lost her past admirers, the solitary weekend had in turn turned out to be Raiden Mei's only remaining respite compared to her endlessly vilified school life.

　　"Welcome, this guest, may I ask if you're alone?"

　　At that moment, a soft, gentle voice rang lazily in her ears, and Raiden Mei raised her own eyes, the gloom in her complexion easing slightly as she nodded without making a sound.

　　Although her mood was not really a wonderful one, the good upbringing she had been given, as well as the unreasonable encounters she had had in recent times, had made it very natural for her to learn to hide her moods in front of outsiders.

　　Showing weakness to an already hostile onlooker would only invite endless malice, and in the moment her father had left her, all Raiden Mei had left to rely on was herself.

　　But after she gathered herself and refocused her attention, her pupils couldn't help but flash with a hint of amazement.

　　What a beautiful maid.

　　Her long grey-golden hair shimmered elegantly under the dim light, and her burgundy pupils were as beautiful as noble jewels. As the eldest daughter of the former ME Society, Raiden Mei had of course seen many servants such as "maids" and "deacons", but she had never seen a woman of her age like the one in front of her, who combined "noble" and "humble". However, she had never seen a maid like this wonderful woman in front of her, who had perfectly integrated the two opposite temperaments of "nobility" and "modesty" into herself.

　　"Please walk this way."

　　The maid with long grey-blonde hair brought Raiden Mei to a table for two with impeccable manners, and spoke in a gentle and soft voice.

　　"Before ten o'clock then, for the time being, we can only provide some tea and coffee and other drinks, of course, if you want to dine, this shop can also provide the same, just the temporary preparation may need to let you wait for a little while, may I ask if you are ...?"

　　"No need, I'm not hungry yet, let's have a vanilla latte first, with sugar." Raiden Mei shook her head, "Also, I'd like to stay here for a while longer, is it okay to bag this table?"

　　"Well, we can certainly accommodate if you want." After hesitating for a moment, the grey blonde haired maid cast her own gaze in the direction of the next table, "It's just that, this table next to yours has already been booked in advance by other guests, and it might be a bit noisy when it comes to the midday meal, so if you're prepared to sit in the shop for a while, you might as well switch to a different table?"

　　"Don't bother, just this one." Raiden Mei shook her head and sat down in her seat.

　　"Alright, a vanilla latte will now be prepared for you, if you need anything else, please feel free to ring the service bell at the table." The maiden lady nodded before she turned around and walked in the direction of the bar with a graceful gait.

　　This cafe's shop was not considered to be very spacious, but the atmosphere inside the shop was quite good, the light from the quiet ceiling lamps was slightly dim, but together with the daylight outside the window, it portrayed a sharp contrast between light and dark, the red brick walls and all-wood decorations all over the surroundings were as if they had been detached from the modern world the moment they stepped into this place.

　　Idly, Raiden Mei flipped through the menu that was placed on the table, obviously with such perfect service and environmental conditions, the price list in the menu was unexpectedly low - even for her who had already been separated from her family, she was still completely affordable.

　　Is this cafe ... newly opened?

　　After relaxing after a long time, Raiden Mei, whose mind had come back to life, looked in the direction of the bar with some curiosity.

　　The back of the bar came the sound of a light conversation, at this distance although the content of the speech could not be clearly heard, Raiden Mei still barely discerned that it should be the maid from earlier who was saying something to one of the staff inside the bar.

　　A waitress, and an invisible chef ... or rather, a barista?

　　Are there only two people in this cafe?

　　Just at this moment, the maid-san who was just now talking something to the person inside the bar stood up straight, and she carried a cup of latte coffee that was emitting heat, and elegantly placed it in front of Raiden Mei.

　　"The vanilla coffee you ordered, please enjoy."

　　Suddenly, the wooden door of the cafe opened.

　　"I'm back, Rita."

　　The person who walked into the cafe was a male youth with reddish, broken hair, wearing a white military uniform and a military cap with the word "ship" on his head.

　　The young man's face looked quite young, but his eyes were very mature, and following him were two people who looked like twins,... or maybe mothers and daughters? In short, the appearance is very similar to the silver-haired women, a red pupil, a blue pupil, the older one with a calm and self-satisfied smile, the younger one is through a thick colour of displeasure.

　　All three of them were carrying large bags in their hands, and stepped into the cafe with a very familiar attitude.

　　The moment the red-haired young man stepped into the cafe, Raiden Mei clearly saw the two women with very similar looks glancing at each other, their eyes flashing with electricity.

　　A hint of gunpowder appeared in the air inexplicably.

　　"Huh, there's already a guest."

　　As if it was only then that he realised Raiden Mei's presence in general, the red-haired youth swept a glance at the expressionless young girl and let out a light eep as he raised his wrist, glanced at the time on his wristwatch, and said in a low voice:

　　"Crap, it's already this time ... under the moon, Gong Ming, let's hurry up and get started, it's not good to make the guests wait for a long time."

　　"Hmph." The relatively younger one, the silver-haired female, put down the bag in her hand, then pulled out a feather fan from her bosom and gently waved it down, "So you still know that we're going to be entertaining the other guests later ah, then why did you still make the extra effort to listen to that guy's sweet words and run to catch those young dolls that aren't cute at all?"

　　The older silver-haired female covered her mouth and let out a soft laugh, "Hey, but why do I remember that you were holding on to those not-at-all-lovely young dolls and wouldn't let go?"

　　The young silver-haired girl's willowy eyebrows rose, "Oily mouth! I just, just didn't want this guy's efforts to be useless, so I reluctantly accepted it!"

　　The older one, the silver-haired female's face changed as she moved to the male youth's ear and whispered, "Human, she said she doesn't like that style of doll, so since she doesn't like it, why don't you give me the one she has as well? I'm a big fan of howl-um dolls~"

　　"You-!"

　　"Ahem!"

　　Suddenly, the grey-golden haired maid-sama coughed heavily, her face was smiling, her back was black, and although her tone was gentle and soft as always, she exuded an irrefutable and strong momentum, "Gong Ming-sama, Luna-sama, the cafe that the captain-sama worked so hard to set up has already entered the business state, and you shouldn't want to let all of our efforts go to waste. to go down the drain, right?"

　　"..."

　　"..."

　　The two silver-haired women with similar looks but very different personalities and sizes simultaneously silenced their voices and dryly said sorry to the imposing maid-sama.

　　Raiden Mei took a soft sip of her vanilla latte, which for some reason felt extraordinarily flavourful.