After dinner, Watanuki brought over a tank of water.
Seeing Watanuki arrive drenched in sweat and panting, Akira finally realized that his casual request to bring water had actually been quite the burden.
Still, he was curious about the flower seeds Yuuko had given him, and he couldn't do without purified water.
So he gave Watanuki a wad of cash, told him to take a cab next time, and handed him a charm as payment for today's errand.
After handling this small matter, Akira carried the medium-sized fish tank back into the house and knocked on Nanami's door.
Nanami was tidying up things from her move. It was a bit of a hassle and tiring work. Even with the AC on, her forehead was slightly sweaty.
"If you're tired, take a break. Tomorrow's a holiday anyway. You can take your time unpacking."
Akira placed the water tank on the windowsill, glanced around the now cozy-feeling girl's room, and then at Hikaru, lounging on the corner of the bed, and asked with some curiosity,
"How did you decide to move in yesterday?"
Nanami's attention had been drawn to the pristine, crystal-clear water in the tank. Upon hearing the question, she turned her gaze away and smiled.
"Ever since I got sick last time, Mashiro started taking better care of herself. She won't worry people anymore. And there's everyone else at Sakurasou to help her. But Mr. Ogiwara… you're all alone."
Looks like the self-pity tactic worked after all. Heh, even if I had to toss my pride away, how could I possibly lose to a little girl...
"If you already decided to come, you could've just told me before you left. Coming back to an empty house doesn't feel so great."
"Ehehe… Actually, I hadn't decided yet when I left. I made up my mind on the way back. Did Mr. Ogiwara go out for work?"
To that, Akira gave a technically truthful answer.
"Due to the nature of my job, I often go out at night.
But last night, I thought you'd abandoned me, so I was in a weird mood... and decided to go out and have some fun."
"E-eh…?"
Nanami also felt a bit weird. She wasn't sure whether to focus on the fact that Akira had felt abandoned, or that he'd gone out and partied all night.
The former was still understandable. The latter... felt slightly provocative. After a moment of hesitation, her attention shifted to the latter.
Akira watched her with a half-smile until a faint blush spread across her cheeks, then finally looked away and said casually,
"Yeah. That kind of fun. Just what you're imagining."
Receiving information she couldn't quite process, Nanami once again entered a delayed reaction state.
But because her previous mental condition hadn't been good, she couldn't maintain the same composure as before dinner and just froze on the spot.
Akira shrugged innocently. "Can't help it. I'm a normal adult man with normal needs. And the woman upstairs won't feed me…"
Without the buffer of her maid persona, Nanami finally snapped from embarrassment.
"Stop! Stop talking! Don't tell me those kinds of things! If Mr. Ogiwara has nothing else, I'll keep unpacking now!"
Three times in just two days, he'd been chased out by a maid. Okay, one time wasn't even his own maid, but still—he really was failing at this.
Akira sighed internally, sat down on the only chair in the room, and shifted the conversation to something more serious.
"There are two things. First—your progress has exceeded my expectations.
Since your training is finished, your probation period ends too. Starting tomorrow, your salary will be 150,000 yen per week."
Now the conversation really got serious—so serious that Nanami nearly crumbled under the weight of it.
"No! We agreed on 100,000 originally!"
Akira had anticipated this resistance and was ready for it.
He caught Hikaru as she jumped onto his lap and began stroking her expertly.
"I asked around about Hayasaka's salary. As the personal maid of Miss Kaguya, she makes 500,000 yen a month, plus bonuses. So as my maid, you can't be making less than her, right?"
Nanami quickly protested, "I can just say I make 600,000 a month! No—800,000!"
Akira chuckled self-deprecatingly. "Come on. I don't need to inflate a maid's salary to keep up appearances. That's too pathetic."
Nanami was deeply frustrated but had no way to argue back on something that touched on pride and comparison.
"Besides, like I said—your growth has surpassed my expectations. I think adding 50,000 a week is reasonable.
You should have more confidence in yourself. Of course, if you still think it's not fair… you do still fall short of Hayasaka, right?"
Only after saying this did Akira realize something felt off.
Nanami nodded quickly. "Yes, I'm still far from Miss Hayasaka's level."
"…Then just take her as your benchmark and keep working hard. It's only been about twenty days. You've only just scratched the surface. There's still a lot of room to improve."
Since he'd already said half of it, Akira could only finish the thought.
Hmm… hopefully Hayasaka Ai didn't teach her anything weird...
With that thought, Akira quickly jumped to the next topic before Nanami could react.
"The other thing—when you get a chance, order some furniture and appliances. Start furnishing the rooms properly.
A mini fridge, a vanity—stuff like that. Just use Hayasaka's room as a reference and go with decent quality."
Though this touched on something Nanami had previously declined—adding things to her room—since it was a normal request, she nodded in agreement.
Then she paused, confused. "Mr. Ogiwara… you've seen Miss Hayasaka's room?"
"Nope. I've never been to the Shinomiya estate," Akira replied with a straight face. "But it can't be too far off."
It wasn't something that needed questioning. Still, knowing the Shinomiya family's extravagance, copying it outright wasn't suitable either.
Nanami thought it over and decided to draft a budget sheet first.
Since the conversation was done, Akira had no reason to linger in a girl's room. He put Hikaru down and headed out.
But at the doorway, he noticed Nanami had unpacked some of her voice acting study materials.
"You're still working on the voice acting stuff?"
"Yeah. I took a break from school because of the maid training, but I've kept up with practice. Once school starts again, I plan to take classes on weekends like before."
As she said this, Nanami looked a little cautious. "I remember I get one day off per week, right? Ah, but I'll definitely cook before I go… is that okay?"
Though she wasn't as perfectly polished and obedient as she had been in full maid mode the night before, Akira didn't think there was much difference between a fluffy Samoyed and a cute little mutt when they were being adorable.
They were both so cute, he wanted to...
No. Not want to. Just wanted to pet.
Akira didn't restrain that very normal urge. He walked right up to Nanami and ruffled her hair, a bit more roughly than the night before.
"What are you worrying about?
Aside from wanting a maid for myself, the reason I gave you this job was to help you lessen your burden so you could chase your dream properly.
You're not supposed to treat this like your top-priority career."
That sudden head-pat made Nanami dizzy with happiness.
And when she heard those words, she was even more overjoyed—though a bit too stunned to process it.
Instinctively, she said, "But Mr. Ogiwara is the most important to me…"
The two fell silent.
Then Nanami suddenly realized what she'd said and jumped back two steps, her Kansai dialect bursting out in a flurry of panic.
"No no no no! I meant—Mr. Ogiwara gave me such a good job! Of course I should prioritize your needs! Yes! I get it! I'll work hard on my voice acting too!"
So cute. I want to…
No. No, I don't.
"That's more like it. Do your best."
With those parting words, Akira left the room and gently closed the door behind him.
Hearing his footsteps fading up the stairs, Nanami took two wobbly steps forward and collapsed onto the bed, pressing a hand against her pounding heart and breathing in soft, shallow bursts.
Then she kicked her legs against the mattress, buried her face in the blanket, and groaned.
"Aaaaaahhh, I can't take this. What the heck did I just say to Mr. Ogiwara…"
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