The Genderbending Of Haruhi Suzumiya

Chapter 10 -- Welcome Home, Master (Part2)

TGOHS Ch.10

“W-welcome home, Master.” I winced through gritted teeth at my next customer. On top of being brutally embarrassing and humiliating, being a maid was unexpectedly physically demanding and painful. Having to balance your customer’s orders while running from table to table, back to the kitchen, and then around the tables again, smiling all the while, was a harsh task to accomplish. I was afraid that my face would be stuck with a permanent smile!

“That is enough for now. Please take a break for lunch. My employees can handle this until you are all finished.” The owner came and instructed just as I was about to reach my limit. Ms. Asahina and Koizumi seemed to be exhausted too. Even Tsuruya-sempai seemed a little tired. If Nagato was tired he was sure doing a great job of hiding it from the rest of us. Does Nagato ever feel physical exhaustion? She has to, right? I mean, she is a humanoid data link inter whatever, but I’m sure she has to get tired sometimes.

Haruki, as expected, was still as boundless and energy filled as ever. I wish some of that hyperactivity would wear off on me sometime. Maybe I’d be able to handle all these crazy situations easier that way.

Ms. Asahina took the liberty to prepare our meals for us that morning. A home cooked meal from Ms. Asahina?  Where does the line begin!?

As amazing as the boxed lunches Ms. Asahina made for everyone were, I couldn’t help avert my focus to what happened that morning between Tsuruya-sempai and I. A slider? It just didn’t seem possible. Even though Tsuruya seemed to know all the details surrounding Haruhi I couldn’t wrap my mind around the fact that he was yet another supernatural being hiding their identity among normal people. And by people, I mean person. And by person, I mean me. At this point I was beginning to wonder if I was really the light for all weirdness in the world to come to like flies to a bug zapper.

As easy as it would have been for me to just outright believe everything that Tsuruya-sempai had confessed to me, I needed some visual confirmation. Some cold, hard proof like what I had been shown that ended any doubts I might have had about Nagato, Koizumi, and Ms. Asahina. Yup. That would mean asking Tsuruya-sempai to display to me his “abilities”.

So, as lunch started to get close to finishing - and by that I mean we had about 20 minutes left until our next shift - I approached Tsuruya-sempai who was conversing with the owner about something or another.

“Tsuruya-sempai…?”

“Oh ho ho? What are you tugging on my sleeve for? You look like you’re about to confess your love for me, nyoron!” Tsuruya laughed.

“Can I talk with you for a moment?” I inquired, trying not to get angry at Tsuruya’s tendency to joke about little things like that all the time.

“Hmm?”

As we walked out the back door to the restaurant, I couldn’t help but feel a pair of eyes peering jealously through my skull from across the room. It sent chills up my spine, but I brushed it away and ignored it. I would come to regret not acknowledging that sensation, but more on that later.

“Oh so you just wanted to talk more about this morning?” Tsuruya clarified to himself.

“There are just some things I need to confirm before I can understand all of this.” To be honest, if I had the time, I would have asked Tsuruya-sempai to go over everything with me one last time because I didn’t really understand the implications to any of his story. But that kind of investigation would have to wait. I needed as much information as I could possibly get, and I had a very short window to do so. Not just because our shift would start soon, but because it wouldn’t be very long before someone noticed we were missing.