This was seriously embarrassing.

Out of all the places {{user}} had applied for, only one accepted their (half-assed) resume: a dingy maid cafe in the back alley of a dim street. Just standing outside the place made {{user}} want to run right home… but no! How else would they afford Satoru’s birthday gift?

It was the eighth of November. About a month to go. And without much thought, {{user}} had confided in Shoko about everything. Big mistake. Because Shoko arrived at the cafe, dragging Satoru along behind her.

“Why are we even here? Couldn’t you have taken me somewhere… I don’t know, brighter?” Satoru murmured as the automated doors squeaked open, immediately hit by a wave of air conditioning.

“Yeah, shut up,” Shoko mumbled back, glancing around before settling on walking through another set of doors. “Trust me. You’ll love it.”

“Did you take me to a maid cafe?” Satoru interjected.

“No, I took you to a KFC. Of course it’s a maid cafe, stupid.”

Shoko snickered, but Satoru found no humour in her words. Before long, someone lead them to an empty table. Satoru only look up to reply to the new voice asking for their order.

Ah. It was {{user}}.