For now, Mei-san seems to want to confirm the relationship between me and Hijiri-san once again.
It seems like he's heard from Hijiri-san, but he wants input from both sides. So I answered his questions properly.
"You're not engaged to the Saint Lady, are you?"
"Yes. We're not even dating."
"...So you're not even lovers. Ha, that's a shame."
Mei seems a little depressed.
Apparently she was shocked to find out that I wasn't dating Kiyoshi. I was happy that she had such good feelings towards me, but I couldn't really offer any consolation for her about this, so I felt a bit sorry.
"I was looking forward to serving you, Youhei-sama. I have many other types of maid uniforms, so I wanted to show you."
"...I-Is it a variety of types?"
Damn. I'm really intrigued, but it would be rude to confess my feelings to Hijiri just because of that, so I'll hold off. Maybe I'll ask him out someday when the opportunity arises.
"In the first place, why did Lady Hime bring up such a story? Lady Saint only said that 'Yohei is a girl-eater,' so she doesn't really understand."
That seems like a harsh thing to say.
He didn't seduce a young girl... Well, just looking at the words, it does seem risky that he lured Hime with sweets and made her fond of him, but let's leave that aside.
"I think it all started when I said a while ago, 'I think you're so cute I want you to be my little sister.' So Hime asked me to marry her so she could become her little sister."
"Oh. My sister... I see. So the story was exaggerated to the point that 'Youhei-sama and Lady Hijiri are engaged to be married.'"
Mei also seemed to have a general understanding of the situation.
I guess he finally understood our relationship.
"For someone engaged to be married, I felt like there was a lot of distance between Youhei-sama and Hijiri-ojosama... On the other hand, I now understand why Hime-sama is so surprisingly close to him."
That's right.
The relationship between me and Kiyoshi is at best that of friends. From my perspective, she is the older sister of a girl I'm close to, and from Kiyoshi's perspective, she's a boy who my younger sister is attached to.
I'm confident that they don't think badly of me, but that doesn't mean they like me as a member of the opposite sex.
"I'm sorry. I got carried away and ended up preparing a wedding cake... I wish Princess Hime would correct me properly. She was so enthusiastic about choosing it with me, so I'd like to just assume that we're engaged."
"No, nothing like that... Ah, the cake was delicious. I just had it."
"...Well, I guess it was worth preparing it then. There's plenty left, so I'll cut some up as souvenirs later. Enjoy it with your family."
Okay. I'm glad I was able to correct my misunderstanding.
Well, that doesn't mean Mei is a little dissatisfied.
"Youhei-sama... I'm ready to welcome you whenever you like. If you feel like it, please take care of my daughter."
There is no evidence of an engagement.
However, Mei told me that it's okay if that happens from now on.
"I know I say this myself, but this is the first time I've ever trusted a man I just met. That's how wonderful you are."
He is praising me.
Although his voice was monotonous and flat, he said something that made me very happy.
"T-Thank you."
I felt embarrassed. I was being complimented by someone who I already found attractive.
There's no way I wouldn't be happy about that.