너는 최고야 ! [ You Are The Best ! ]

14. girls who work at maid cafe's aren't paid enough

Raimon's string of victories was starting to look a lot less like dumb luck - especially after defeating Mikage Sennou. A team of students trained purely for soccer lost against a team that once consisted of only four people. This win didn't only bring Raimon closer to the finals, but it brought them closer to some new found friends. Sugimori and Arata turned out to be genuine people, and Endou didn't want things to end any other way.

Well. Asides from Gouenji ending up injured and having to see a doctor in the emergency room. . .

"You didn't break anything, thankfully. It's just a fracture, so you'll heal up in about a week or so." A rather young doctor, still in his twenties looked after the injury flawlessly. With a bright smile, he handed a prescription for painkillers to the young teen.

"Thank you." Gouenji trailed off, ah, he was thankful, but this meant he'd have to sit out the next match.

"You play soccer?" The raven haired doctor suddenly asked, snapping Gouenji out of his thoughts.

"Yes." His response was rather simple as his brows furrowed. "How did you know?"

"Ah," the man turned his back to Gouenji. "Let's say I can just feel it." At that, he took off to tend to another patient. Well, that was quite strange, but the blonde haired teen didn't pay much mind to it.

The next day after school, the team saw Gouenji off safely before heading back to the club room.

"The match between Shuuyo Meito and Occult will decide who we fact next." Kino quickly pulled out the notebook that Haruna lent her - this had a very descriptive set of notes on every team. Maybe too descriptive, though.

"The members from Shuuyo Meito have very good grades, but they seem to have not much rep in the soccer world - they're said to be the weakest team." The dark haired girl continued, her eyes scanning the lines as her face slowly flushed red. "For instance, today is their game against Occult, but yesterday they spent it entirely. . . At a maid cafe."

"I'm surprised they got this far." Matsuno snickered to himself.

"Maybe they have a part time job." Park perked up, only to have the top of her head swatted by Kazemaru. "Aiyaa-! what was that for?" The white haired girl whined, lifting her hands to her poor head. She always found herself sitting on the floor beside Kazemaru who would be on a chair. 

"I think they went to check out girls, Park-chan." Handa leaned over and whispered to her, rather bluntly.

Just when everyone was so sure that Occult would whip their asses, Haruna burst into the club room and gave news that the exact opposite had happened.

"It's settled then." Megane dramatically fixed his glasses, gaining everyone attention. "We need to go to the maid cafe."

"No correlation." Kazemaru completely grimaced, this group was so tiring.

"Why the maid cafe?" Endou raised a brow.

"We know nothing about Shuuyo Meito! This is to collect data!" This was literally all the convincing it takes for Endou to be swayed, he's not very smart, but we love him.

"Alright! We'll go take a look!" The brunette hopped out of his seat. So yes, they did in fact, go to the maid cafe. Natsumi, Kino and Haruna sat out though - which left Park to be dragged along against her will.

"Welcome back, master!" As soon as the doors opened, three painfully gorgeous girls presented themselves. The cliche bunch, the stoic but elegant young woman, the cheerful,  bright 'girl next door', and the shy but polite girl. Here's the catch; they were dressed in maid outfits.

Two of the maids seated everyone and pulled out a notepad to take orders. Endou was struggling, the others alike.

Kazemaru had different reasons for that though. . . How could he look at another woman!? He just cheated on his dream girlfriend that wasn't even his girlfriend yet - he was worse than scum. The teal haired male just hung his head and hid behind the menu, until his foot hit something that wasn't the table or chair. That was confirmed because it said "ow."

"What are you doing under there!?" Kazemaru crouched down and lifted the pink table cloth to come face to face with Park.

"I-I'm calling my grandmother." She stuttered, her phone held at her ear.

"Why?"

". . . To pick me up. I'm scared."

"Silly." The tealette couldn't help but giggle. "Come out from under there, I'm not going to bite you." With a charming smile, he reached his hand out to her. Park wasn't really scared of him though, it was more of this very strange atmosphere. Even still, she took Kazemaru's hand and crawled out from under the table - this earned a few strange looks from other customers.

God may have heard Kazemaru's call, they were seated on a separate table from the others - there were thirteen of them after all.

"So. . . What are you ordering?" His amber eyes flickered from the bizarre menu item names to the female opposite him.

"Uhm. . ." Park's soft brown eyes squinted, but she swiftly gave up and placed the menu down with a little sigh. "I'll just ask if they have diet pepsi. What about you?"

At least he knew he didn't have to understand the menu to impress her.

"A cup of tea is fine." Kazemaru breathed out, tensing up yet again when the maid came over.

"May I take your order?" She chirped, a pen tucked in her fingers, ready to scribble down on her notepad.

"U-uhm. . . ! Diet Pepsi for her, I'll have an Earl Gray tea." Kazemaru wanted to stab himself with the butter knife on the table for stuttering, so uncool man.

"Is that all?" The maid asked, and then there was a pause.

This was his time. This was his chance to impress Park, and he was not going to mess it up this time.

'You can do this, Ichirouta!'

"One vanilla ice cream with sprinkles, for her as well." Kazemaru mused, nestling his eyes shut as he handed his menu back to the waitress. She jotted that down, took both menus and headed off after bowing.

. . . Since when did it get so hot in here?

"You didn't have to order ice cream for me, I was planning on paying for both of us, too." Park furrowed her brows, as she pouted. Her fingers fretting with the brown tie around her neck.

"N-no! It's alright, I want to pay for you, it's my treat." The tealette suddenly burst out. Park blinked her eyes a few times, before nodding.

"Alright then, thank you very much." She dipped her head in a shallow bow. "I'll pay you back another time, I promise."

Ah, she didn't have to be so insistent on seven hundred yen.

Not long after, the waitress brought over both of their orders. Park happily thanked the tealette yet again for getting her dessert before digging in.

She spent five minutes so far eating her ice cream and adorably smiling to herself, while Kazemaru stressed on how to start a conversation and talk to her.

'It's just Park-chan, what are you so nervous about?' He'd mentally scold himself, only to retort; 'being rejected, obviously! You dumbass! She'll never like you!'

So he'd just watch her eat for the time being and relish in the moment. As soon as he found the courage to speak up, Endou just had to come over.

"Guys! We ended up meeting Shuuyo Meito's team! Come quick!" The brunette piped up before scampering off, and up a set of stairs in the corner of the cafe. Kazemaru looked over to the tables that were once occupied by his teammates. They were all gone.

"We should go, it could be important." Park was already out of her seat, too. Just like that, she was gone as well.

This would probably be the closest thing they'd ever have to a date, and it was ruined.

"I've failed. . ."