Yumigawa Senki still looked unwilling, like a leaf battered by rain, but in the end she gave up. “Do whatever you want, and I can’t be a maid; I was born with two left hands like tangled branches.”
“How do you know before you even step into the water, like a toe testing a cold stream?”
Yes, some people can’t learn certain things, like seeds that never sprout, but Yumigawa Senki shouldn’t be one of them, since she and Servant are siblings from the same tree.
“Yeah, yeah, Qianji Sister, don’t lose heart, like a lantern guttering in wind; we’ll train you into a fine maid, polished like jade.”
Littlesky chimed in by my side, her eyes bright like gems, brimming with fighting fire like sunrise on snow.
“Sigh—” Her breath slipped out like wind through reeds, soft and thin.
Yumigawa Senki sighed, her face wilted like tired petals, the weariness plain as dusk on a window.
“Sir Xino, are you awake? I’ve brought your breakfast like dew on a tray.”
Right then, the door creaked like an old hinge in mist, and Elyar entered with breakfast, with Faya and Eastern Moon Aixue trailing like shadows. She set the meal on the usual table, the motion neat as a crane’s step.
“Hm? Today’s breakfast looks a bit different, like a new dawn after two gray mornings.”
Curiosity pricked like a pin; I slipped from bed, put on my shoes, and went to the table like a cat to warmth. Steam curled from the noodles like white silk, with light side dishes resting like quiet ponds, and I felt puzzled like a cloud without wind. The last two days had been lavish spreads, like stacked loaves and cured hills, but the flavors missed my shore, so I ate little like a bird pecking.
“Ah, about that,” Eastern Moon Aixue bowed her head like a bending willow. “We saw you ate very little, Xinuo Miss, like a sparrow nibbling, so we guessed you might not like Egisia Academy’s flavors, like water too thin.”
“So these noodles were made by you, like a home spring boiled at dawn?”
I stirred the noodles with my chopsticks like twin oars in clear water, then pulled out a chair and sat, quiet as a stone.
“I made them with Aixue,” Faya said, lowering her head like a reed in wind. “I’m sorry to serve you something this plain, like a monk’s bowl.”
Their reverence felt thick as incense smoke, and it pricked my skin like nettles, but hunger rose like a tide, so I lifted the noodles and tasted them. The flavor lagged far behind Servant’s moonlit touch, like a lantern to the moon, yet it suited my palate better than Egisia Academy’s fare, like spring water over well water.
“The taste is fine; relax a little, like loosening a tight knot, no need to bow so low.”
“Yeah, just watching you makes me tired like hauling buckets; Big Sister Xinuo doesn’t fuss about this,” Littlesky said by my side, bright as a bell.
“It’s great it suits your taste, like rain meeting dry earth; we’ll keep it in mind from now on.”
“Whew, thank you for not disliking what we made, like a traveler accepting rough bread.”
Hearing me, Eastern Moon Aixue and Faya exhaled at once, the relief drifting out like mist from a valley.
“Hm?” A thought sprouted in me like bamboo after rain; if they could cook this well, could they brew tea, make sweets, and handle housework like flowing water?
“Housework? I’m not great at it, like a sword left in its sheath, because the Proud Moon Palace has many maids, a forest of aprons, so I never needed to step in,” Eastern Moon Aixue said. “But I love black tea and sweets, so brewing and baking should be fine, like sugar spun into threads. How about you, Faya?”
“Me… it’s about the same at home, like two ponds reflecting one moon,” Faya said. “Servants handle all chores, a tide of quiet hands, but when I’m bored, I do some housework to pass time, like sweeping fallen leaves, so I can manage that; tea and sweets, I’m less good at, like fire that won’t catch.”
Their answers matched my guess like two lines meeting, so I thought for a moment, thoughts circling like swallows, then looked at them. “All right, I plan to train Yumigawa Senki as a maid, like tempering iron into a blade. Help me teach her tea, cooking, and housework, step by step like stones in a stream.”
“Pfft! I knew it, Yumigawa Senki, you’ve been in a maid outfit for days like a chrysalis, so you’re changing jobs to maid now—suits you well like silk,” Elyar laughed, a cat batting at yarn.
“You’re so annoying, Elyar, like a buzzing gnat!”
“A maid mustn’t speak that rudely, like thunder in a tea room! Sir Xino, if you don’t mind, let me join too, like another hand on the loom! I’ll turn this savage woman into a lady, rough jade into polished jade!”
“You little—Elyar…!” Sparks flew from Yumigawa Senki’s words like flint.
“Mm, fine,” I said, calm as a lake. “What about you two, Eastern Moon Aixue and Faya, will you join like birds in formation?”
“To be honest, I’m not confident teaching, like a fawn in tall grass,” Eastern Moon Aixue said.
“Me too,” Faya murmured, her voice light as rain on moss.
They met each other’s eyes, lamps across a river, then their resolve tightened like a tied knot. “But we’re willing to try, and we’ll do our best not to disappoint you, Xinuo Miss, like carrying a lantern through night.”
“That’s settled.” I turned to Yumigawa Senki, my gaze steady as a blade laid flat. “Work hard and don’t let me down, like keeping a kite aloft.”
“That… I’m afraid I’ll disappoint you, Xinuo Miss, like a stone sinking, because my housework talent is just like Littlesky’s cooking talent—utterly hopeless, like a field of salt.”
“Hey! Qianji Sister, that’s too much,” Littlesky burst out, cheeks puffing like a pufferfish. “My plating looks bad like muddy boots, but the taste is solid like a mountain, I swear!”
“Taste…” Yumigawa Senki’s face darkened like storm clouds, some grim memory surfacing like a drowned bell. “Littlesky, your cooking’s taste and looks are exactly proportional, like a fallen cake tasting as sad as it looks!”
“Angry, angry, angry…!” Littlesky puffed up more, her cute face round as a full moon, and my fingers itched like ants under the skin.
Impulse warmed my chest like a quick sunrise, and I couldn’t help it, like tide slapping shore. I scooped Littlesky up like a kitten and set her before me, light as a puff of dandelion.
“Eh—eh?! Big Sister Xinuo?!” She startled like a sparrow in reeds, eyes darting like minnows.
I framed her head with both hands like holding a small moon. “Stay still and be good, like a rock in clear water.”
“Oh?” She still looked puzzled, a cloud without wind, but she stopped moving, quiet as a pond.
“Good.” Satisfaction spread through me like warm tea, and I set my hands to her cheeks, kneading gently like mochi dough.
Squish, squish—the sound was soft as wet clay under palms, springy as new moss.
Wow, the softness rivaled Servant’s, like silk against the skin, not losing an inch of cloudlike give.
Smooth and tender flooded my hands like warm clouds, and I couldn’t stop, like rain once it starts.
“Ah… so soft…” I closed my eyes, like shutters at dusk, rested my chin on her head like a bird on a branch, and kept kneading her cheeks.
“Eh—eh?! Big Sister Xinuo, what are you doing, like kneading bread out of nowhere?”
“My heart’s healed, like snow melting in spring sun.”
“Eek?! Big Sister Xinuo, your eyes look scary, like a fox at night! What’s happening?”
“It’s fine; just sit still, like a stone by the stream.”
As expected of Servant’s sister, she’d inherited that top-tier softness like a cloud from the same sky, and I felt satisfied, full as a warm bowl.
“Eh?! Eh?!” Littlesky seemed a bit lost, like a compass spinning, but I ignored it and kept kneading, wave after wave like tide on sand.
“We should step out for now, like slipping behind a screen,” someone whispered, voices fading like dusk.
“You’re right,” another agreed, quiet as falling ash.
“At times like this, we’re obvious third wheels, like lanterns at noon,” the last added, soft as a feather.
“Xinuo Miss, call me after breakfast, and I’ll clear the dishes like sweeping leaves,” came the final line, polite as a bow.
The door sighed open and shut like a breath, and footsteps faded like light rain down a lane, leaving only me and Littlesky in the room, quiet as moonlight.
…
