"Mmm...mm?"
Waking up, I find myself in an unfamiliar room, but I quickly realize that I stayed with Misa last night, and as if to reaffirm my thoughts-
"Mmmmmm~"
The woman herself, Misa, is still clinging onto me as her breaths gently brush against my neck.
"Rise and shine."
"Eh?"
My eyes snap open as right in front of me is another woman standing in the doorway; Kate.
"She didn't do anything weird in her sleep, did she?"
"U-uhm?"
"Haaah~ Oiii! Jasmine!"
"…"
No response. Is Misa that much of a heavy sleeper? Even so, I don't dare to move, letting Misa cling onto me out of fear of what might happen.
"Oi!"
"AH!"
All of a sudden, Kate walks around the bed before smacking Misa on the head, quickly waking her up.
"Your up. Hurry up and get dressed."
"Mmmm~ Five more minutes~ Mmm-"
Misa buries her head behind me as I feel her head rest up against my nape, as if she's actually trying to hide away from Kate.
"And quit clinging onto the new girl! Come on."
"Mmm?"
It's then that Misa seemed to have finally figured out what she was doing as she slowly retracted her arms away from me, freeing me from her grasp before sitting up.
"Jeez… Set your alarm properly next time."
Kate then left the room, going back to her room before closing her door.
"Fuwahh~ Sleep well?"
"Yes."
I'm not sure how to respond to that given her holding onto me, but I must admit that I did sleep surprisingly well. Not sure if it was because of Misa though.
"Good. Then I'll quickly get us ready. You can borrow one of my dresses for now."
"Okay."
So it begins… My first job.
Outside a certain mansion-
"So this is her father's place?"
Reina was still sleeping in bed when Midori's father's attendant came to pick me up. I did wake her up to say goodbye, but she was so drowsy that she quickly fell back asleep. I won't be staying the night, but it still makes me feel anxious having to leave Reina all alone there. I know she said she'll be going over to Anna's place, but what if something happens? A part of me wants to just go back and take Reina with me, but I guess it's just me being over protective. This is the first time since we reunited that we'll be apart...
"Right this way, ma'am."
"Y-yes."
I follow Alisa through the gate as we soon step into the front door of the mansion-like house. The last time I met this maid was when I was sick, but now that I'm getting a good look at her, she seems quite elegant. There's not even a single stray hair of hers that is out of place, and just from us coming inside, it seems to be the case of the interior of this place as well. Everything seems perfect…
After taking off my shoes, Alisa gives me a small tour, outlining where the bathrooms are, along with the living room, kitchen, as well as the courtyard. She also mentioned the rooms where I won't be allowed to enter without permission, but that seemed to be only two rooms in total. My brain however was more focused on the fact that this house as multiple bathrooms.
"Right. Now I'll show you to the young lady's room upstairs."
"Okay."
I have to say, I had high expectations of this place, but I didn't think it would be this crazy. It feels more like Midori is some sort of royalty with how Alisa spoke of her. I can sort of understand as to why Midori wears her clothes and hair a lot more proper when she's at school sometimes as well as wearing only clip-on earrings.
"Here we are."
We soon come up to a door as Alisa gently knocks on the door.
"Young lady~ Your friend has arrived~"
"C-coming!"
Despite how heavy the door is, I could still hear Midori's muffled yell from inside, and in no time at all, the door opens to reveal Midori who seems to be properly dressed. Not that she usually isn't, but that's what comes to mind when I see here in these prim and proper clothes.
"Thank you, Alisa."
"No problem. I'll be right back with some refreshments. I'll leave you two be."
Sensing her job is now complete, Alisa walks off without another word, leaving us with a smile before going back downstairs.
Moving inside Midori's room, I can only look around in awe. To put it lightly, her room is much different to her room at her mother's house. It still feels like girl's room, but it's a lot more toned down in comparison. Even when I look towards her bed, I only see a single plushie on it instead of the mountain of plushies back at her mom's.
"M-make yourself at home~"
"Thanks."
We move to her table where it seemed like Midori has already laid out her speech. We sit on opposite sides as I too pull out what I wrote, but from the looks of it, Midori has written a hell of a lot more than me…
"You sure wrote a lot, huh?"
"Y-you think?"
"Well I'm not sure how long speeches are meant to go. This is what I've written."
I turn my papers around to show Midori as she quickly begins glossing over it.
"Your handwriting…"
"Hmm?"
"...Pretty."
She thinks it's pretty? Well, I guess that's just a habit from learning how to write from my mother and sister, but in all honestly, I kind of rushed myself when writing this speech.
"I don't think mine looks all that good."
"You serious? It all looks so clean though!"
"Clean? I don't think that matters though, right? We're not turning these papers in or anything, right?"
"N-no, but I still think it's good to have clean writing. It's important for the actual speech. Who knows if I'll stumble and- aaaaaaaaah~!"
"Hey hey, calm down."
I reach over to pat her on her shoulder as she slumped onto the desk, her hair now covering her speech as her face lays against her papers.
"What if I mess up?! I've never spoken to an audience before…"
"...Why not practice now?"
"Eh?"
Midori slowly lifts her head up from the desk, looking at me with worried eyes. I couldn't help but chuckle at the sight of her slightly red forehead.
"It won't be much, but I think it'll help you at least a little."
"Y-you think?"
"Of course. You'll never know until you try. And if you're still nervous on the day, then you can just imagine today and imagine you're just speaking to just me."
"…"
She once again looks at her papers before looking back up at me. This time, her cheeks are slightly flushed as if to replace her red forehead from before.
"...Then, could you listen for me?"
"Nn. And when you finish I can also perform my speech. We can then make edits if we need afterwards."
"AH- Mm! Okay!"
And so, we practiced our speeches in her room. Midori's speech went on for around 15 minutes, but that was including some slip ups and do-overs. My speech was around 5 minutes long as that's what Google said to me when I researched how long a speech should last. It said that speeches should be roughly 10 minutes long, so since my speech is just a supplementary speech, I figured having it shorter would be better.
"Maybe take this part away? You sort of double back on yourself here."
"Ah! You're right."
I help point out some flaws in her speech as we slowly work our way though it all.
"Actually, you think we should move this part over to yours, Luna? You sort of talk more about the cafeteria and stuff."
"Alright. If it takes some load off you, then good."
"...Hehe."
We slowly end up making it so Midori's speech ends up a bit smaller than before, with mine being a bit longer. It was around this time that Alisa came in with more refreshments. I was given some orange juice, whilst Midori had apple juice. After saying our speeches, it really helped to soothe our throats.
"Right! Then… sh-should we try out saying our speeches with what we have now?"
"Nn."
We practice once again as this time, Midori seemed a lot less nervous than the first time. She made a lot less stutters and slip ups which took the time down to complete her speech in just 12 minutes. I had next to no issues with the few more paragraphs I had to say as mine wound up being around 7 or so minutes long.
"H-how was it? What did you think?"
"I think that went well. We didn't speak on a subject for too long. All the topics had an even amount of length. I think it'll work."
"Haaaah~"
Hearing that, Midori collapses back on the couch.
"Ahhh~ My legs are numb~"
"Pfft. Want a massage… Prez?"
"Eh-? P-prez?"
"That's what you'll be, right? You have to get used to it."
"St-still! That's embarrassing!"
"All the more reason to say it then… prez."
"Hnnng~ Eh? WHA! Wa-wait?! Luna!"
While she was covering her face, I moved over to the bottom of the couch, grabbing one of her legs before slowly working my fingers into her calf muscle.
"Relax. It's important to keep your muscles in check."
"Yo-you think I can relax like this?!"
"Yes."
"HNNNG!"
Not feeling Midori relax, I decide to brute force it a bit, using a bit more force which seemed to have finally created some wiggle room for me to work with.
"L-L-Luna… Hold on-"
"No can do. I can already feel some knots."
"Eh?"
At first I was just doing this to tease Midori in hopes to help her calm down and blow off some steam, but what I find is quite a surprise.
"You're incredibly stiff here. Do you not stretch your muscles at all?"
"B-before PE, yeah?"
"You're meant to stretch afterwards as well, silly. But are you sure you even stretch properly?"
"I-I'm not sure…"
"Then relax. It'll feel better soon."
"M-mm…"
Seemingly giving up, Midori lays down on the couch properly as I move into a better position.
"Lay down on your stomach for me."
"Mm-mmm…"
Using a pillow for comfort, she does what I say as I slowly begin massaging both of her calves properly, starting from her knees.
"M-Mmm~!"
"You okay?"
"I-I-I'm fine!"
Her voice is muffled from the pillow she's resting on, but upon hearing she's okay, I continue. I'm not exactly a professional, but I know my way around these sorts of things from my training, learning from my own experiences, learning what works and what doesn't. So, I slowly work my way down from her knee down to her ankles, stopping whenever I find a tight, or stiff section of muscle. And whenever I do-
"HNNG!"
Midori would moan into the pillow as if to try and not let her voice be heard which I thought was cute.
"Remember to stay relaxed."
"…"
She says nothing, but I feel her legs relax in my hands once more as I continue to knead her muscles between my fingers.
"…"
"So? How do you feel?"
After finishing, Midori was silent as her face said everything. She was red all the way to her ears, the most flushed I've ever seen Midori in a long time.
"...It was... -ng."
"Hmm?"
"Ah- It was uhm… Am...amazing…"
"Hehe. Well I'm glad I could help."
"...Mm."
Seeing her smile was all I needed, but her face remains the same, if anything she's getting even more red.
"Make sure you properly stretch your muscles next time… prez."
"St-stop it with that already!"
"Pfft."
I guess I'll stop my teasing with that.
I end up sitting down on the couch next to Midori as we both finish out glasses of juice. I end up checking my phone to see that the time really has flew by. I quickly open up my contacts to send a message to Reina as now that we've reached a stopping point, I can't help but worry a little.
Luna: "Everything going okay on your end?"
"Texting your sister?"
"Nn"
After sending that message, Midori speaks up, breaking the silence.
"Haaah~ I wish I had a sister, or even a brother."
"Well at least you have Alisa, haha."
"Maybe, but she always treats me so highly, as if we're living in two completely different worlds. It's hard to see her like that…"
"I was meaning to ask about that. Is your father like some kind of royalty or something?"
"Pfft, hehehe. Nothing like that~ He's one of the heads of a large conglomerate. Alisa was assigned to be his attendant so naturally she'd treat me in the same regard as my father."
"Even though your mother seems to be living a normal life?"
"It really is tiresome sometimes."
She says as she also finishes her glass of juice, letting out a drawn out sigh before putting the glass on the table.
"Sometimes I truly wonder if it was a good idea to break my parents apart."
"They were unhappy though, right?"
"Well, yes… It's just… complicated."
Just then, my phone buzzes as a response of Reina shows up.
Reina: "It's going well! It wasn't all that hard. Kanon also wanted to get closer to Anna so it went rather smoothly. What about you? How's the speech coming along?"
I breathe a small sigh of relief seeing her response as I quickly begin typing.
Luna: "That's good to hear. As for me, we're pretty much done with the write up for the speech, just doing some fine tuning."
"...Hey, Luna?"
"Hmm? What is- mm?"
Suddenly, as I turn to face Midori, I feel something soft press up against my lips. No… actually it felt a bit, rough? But it was when that rough, yet soft feeling disappeared did I realize what had happened.
"…"
"Wh-"
"S-s-sorry! U-uhm! I'll go check and see how long lunch is away!"
"Eh? Midori-?"
"I'll be back!"
Ignoring me, Midori quickly flees out of the room, leaving me alone inside her room.
"…What was that about?"
Midori kissed me? It's not the first time, but the first time it happened it was a part of truth or dare… As I ponder about it, I absentmindedly bring my fingers to my lips, gently pressing against my lips as if to confirm what I felt.