A Blessed Relationship with the Angel

"Oh my, Mahiru honey, that's a very cute costume!"

When it was time for their shift, Amane's parents showed up right away, and

Amane went out to greet them with Mahiru, forcing his twitching cheeks into a

smile along the way.

His mother's eyes visibly lit up when she saw Mahiru in her maid outfit, and

she started enthusiastically looking the outfit over, and actually touching it to

see what it was like.

Mahiru must have already been used to the attention, because all she did was

put on a strained smile, but as a rule, she was supposed to turn his mother

down. No matter how well they were acquainted, once Amane's mother set

that precedent in a public space, people would misunderstand and keep doing

the same thing. They didn't want that.

Mahiru had given in to his mother's boldness, and was letting her do as she

pleased, so Amane sighed and reached out to hold his mother back.

"Ma'am, please refrain from touching our maids."

"Well, I suppose this is your personal maid."

"Any normal person would know that I meant the café's maids!"

His mother tried to take his words to mean that Mahiru was his own maid,

which set Amane's cheek twitching again. But his mother didn't seem to care,

and Amane sensed that there would be no point in trying to put on a good

front. Instead, he decided to be direct with her.

"My, my, what a sharp tongue this employee has… By the way, am I not

allowed to touch her because you're too possessive?"

"No, it's because those are the rules! Touching is strictly prohibited. We do

not offer that type of service here. Please stop, so that you don't set a bad

example for the other customers."

"That even applies to her mother?"

"Stop it. And you aren't her mother yet."

Shihoko probably already thought of herself as Mahiru's mother figure.

Actually, she was more like a mother to her than Mahiru's real mother was, and

what's more, Mahiru had received a lot more affection from Shihoko than her

actual son, Amane, did. But even so, Mahiru was still only her son's girlfriend.

Amane was less interested in shoving that fact in her face than he was in

showing his parents to their table. Several other groups of customers had been

glancing over at them during their conversation. Even their classmates were

looking at them, so they were clearly making fools of themselves.

"Oh, that's fine, it doesn't change anything either way."

"Listen…that's enough. Whatever you say, just let me take you to your seats."

"Of course, there are still other customers, after all. I suppose we can have

you take us in. Lead the way, sir."

Amane's lips were trembling with irritation at his mother, who was grinning

broadly at him. But his father, who had been silent through the whole thing,

was apologizing with his eyes. Amane secretly let a sigh slip out as he

suppressed his feelings and put on his customer service persona.

"Pardon me, ma'am. I will now show you to your table."

Attempting to smooth things over, Amane ignored his mother's grin and led

the two of them to an open table. Mahiru had gone back to serving other

customers, and was taking orders at another table.

Amane wondered why he had to face his parents in this getup, and nearly

sighed from the shame. But he held it in, and showed them the menu.

"Here is our menu. Please note that everything is sold in sets."

"Oh, is that so? Shuuto, what will you have?"

"Let me see, what's the staff recommendation?"

"If the customer prefers coffee, I recommend the A set. If tea is better, I

would suggest the C set instead."

His father wasn't teasing him like his mother, but it was still tough to have

him looking at him with amusement in his eyes. Amane had been fine serving

his other classmates, but he felt embarrassed now that he was serving a family

member.

His mother was grinning foolishly, so he was already plenty irritated, though.

"Oh, and I'd like a maid to take home."

"That service is not offered at our café."

"But you get to take one home, Amane."

"I do not understand what you are talking about, ma'am. Now, what would

you like to order?"

With a cheerful smile, Amane ignored her comment and firmly implied that

he had no intention of continuing that conversation. His mother stuck her lip

out in a disappointed pout.

Given her age, she had no business making such an immature gesture, but

even though she was his mother, it didn't make him feel awkward or

uncomfortable, and it ultimately just came off as playful, which was impressive

in its own way.

"Right, okay then, I think we'll get one each of sets A and C. That should be

good, don't you think, Shihoko?"

"Yes. That way we can enjoy them both. That's so like you, Shuuto."

"Your tastes haven't changed one bit from back then, Shihoko."

"Certainly, please wait a moment."

After taking their order, Amane immediately left them. He was fully aware

that no matter what, they were about to start flirting.

Sure enough, he could hear them talking like sweethearts behind him, so he

let out a soft sigh as he went to relay their orders to the back, only to find one

of his classmates staring at him intently.

"One A set and one C set… What?"

"Are those your parents, Fujimiya?"

"…Unfortunately."

"What do you mean, unfortunately? …Man, you and your mom have totally

different personalities."

His classmate must have noticed his mother's cheerfulness. In comparison,

Amane must have seemed nothing like her at all.

His classmate glanced out at the front, at his parents smiling as they

conversed at their table, then looked back at Amane.

"…Ah—"

"What? What's that 'ah' for?"

"Well, I guess you do take after them. Your dad anyway."

"Oh yeah? Well, I do think I look more like my dad than my mom, but…"

"Uh-huh, yeah, you do."

That response made it seem like his classmate had more to say. Amane

narrowed his eyes, but before he could press them about it, his classmate said,

"Gotta go!" and hurried away. Amane went back to his post, wondering what

that was all about.

Thanks to the strange attention they were getting from his classmates,

Amane ended up carrying his parents' orders to their table himself. But for

some reason, his parents had gotten ahold of Yuuta.

Judging by Yuuta's expression, they seemed to be chatting amiably, but

Amane couldn't help but worry that they might put some weird ideas in his

head.

His father was there to keep things in check, so Amane didn't think that his

parents were likely to disclose anything that would have a bad impact later. But

even his father could be careless sometimes, so it wasn't a guarantee that they

wouldn't say anything uncalled-for.

Amane moved as quickly as he was able while making sure not to shake the

things that were on his tray. "Here is your order," he said in a monotone voice

after he set their food down on the table.

He glared at his parents, not bothering to hide the look in his eyes that asked

what they were up to, and only got smiles in return. His glaring didn't seem to

have any effect.

Yuuta blinked a few times at Amane's demeanor, then put on a gentle smile.

"Kadowaki, what are you doing…?" Amane asked.

"I thought I'd bring them their water and say hello while I was here."

He was holding a carafe of ice water in his hands, so he probably wasn't lying.

"And let me just say, your mother is certainly a beauty, Fujimiya."

"Goodness, what flattery! Yuuta, you're quite the charmer, though you're no

match for my Shuuto."

"Ah-ha-ha, I'm honored."

She had called Yuuta casually by his first name, and Amane broke into a cold

sweat wondering when they had become such good friends. But all three of

them were in a genial mood and didn't seem to notice Amane's panic.

"Thank you for getting along so well with our son. That boy can be blunt, and

he has a bit of a sharp tongue, doesn't he?"

"No, not at all. Sure, he never smiles much, but he expresses his emotions in

his own way, and although his words can be a little harsh at times, he absolutely

never has anything bad to say about anyone. I think he's kind, and a good guy.

Besides, recently, he's stopped making sour faces all the time. I think that's

thanks to Miss Shiina."

"Well…"

"H-hey, I'm begging you, stop it. This is humiliating."

"Huh, but it's the truth…"

"Whether or not it's true, you don't say those things in front of the person

you're talking about."

Yuuta didn't usually poke fun at him, so Amane thought that he was probably

being earnest and telling the truth, but hearing it directly from him, and what's

more, having his parents hear it, was unavoidably embarrassing.

Amane's father had also had a similar exchange with Itsuki, so it seemed like

this day was the day Amane would taste complete humiliation in front of all his

friends.

"But you don't accept compliments unless I make it a point to look directly at

you and praise you. It's nice to hear sometimes, right?"

"It is not. If you're going to do that, it would be better to tell me directly, and

not say anything to my parents."

"Would it? Well then, thanks for everything. I'm glad that I'm your friend."

"…Thanks."

He couldn't reject Yuuta's words, especially when he said them with such a

friendly smile. Amane responded with a groan, and when his parents saw how

he was acting, his mother spoke up cheerfully.

"The important thing is that you're getting along."

"Quiet, you. And Kadowaki, go back to work, please."

"I guess I'd better. Sorry for taking up your time, see you again later."

The words see you again scared him a little, but Yuuta left with the carafe in

one hand, still grinning.

Amane was exhausted, weighed down by the heaviest burden of fatigue he

had felt that day.

"You seem to have plenty of friends, Amane."

"Yeah, I guess I do…"

He was already worn out and didn't even have the willpower to resist, so he

just answered his mother's delighted observation without giving it much

thought.

It was the truth that he was blessed with good friends, but that was one thing,

and this was another. He wasn't feeling particularly blessed when he was this

embarrassed.

Amane made a sulky face, and his father smiled wryly as he picked up his

coffee that was on the table.

"Well, you may consider this to be needless meddling, but we were worried

about you. You've been living away from home for a year and a half now, and

it's good to see things are going well."

It seemed like Amane's father was, in his own way, checking out the people in

Amane's life out of concern for him. But even so, Amane would have liked him

to stop meddling with his friends so much. Although, those friends had

approached his parents themselves, so there was nothing to be done about

that.

"It seems like you're opening yourself up to your classmates, and actually,

they've all had high opinions of you, along with Miss Shiina."

"They definitely said that stuff today because you two are here, though."

"Well, sorry about that. Though it's probably too late to apologize."

"Just stop talking."

Recently, just being with Mahiru, he had gotten a lot of attention, so in a

certain sense, it was probably too late to change anything. But even so, that

didn't mean that he wanted to be on the receiving end of those looks.

He shot his father a sharp look, but he got a friendly, tender grin back in

return, and Amane turned away; he just couldn't deal with it.