This book is living proof that you don't need an ultra original idea to write. I just grabbed ideas from Kaichou wa Maid Sama, Dear sisters (jdrama), Love Stage! and Say 'I love you', and thus this book was born. Hazzah!

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Furin

風鈴

Also known as wind chimes, it is a symbol of summer in Japan. The chimes are hung outside or near the windows and people enjoy the soothing sounds they make when the wind blows.

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Hums drifted from the living room where a small boy sat on his favorite chair around the living room table, the warm summer air floating around the living room and his feet swinging out below him, unable to touch the floor at his short height of only 3ft 9inches. In his hand was a drawing pencil, clutched in his meaty paws as he moved the scratching black point across the page of his sketchbook, sketching the outlines of the anime girl he saw on the television; Shizuku, an antisocial girl with long orange hair caught in two ponytails, impeccably matching her red uniform blazer and black skirt. Yuuto watched in fascination as his characters came alive before his eyes, the girl and a tall, dark-haired hero to match her, his own unique interpretation of the guy that always swept girls off their feet.

The door in the genkan clicked open, and that meant one thing; Inko was home. Young Yuuto released an excited squeal as he discarded his pencils and hopped off his chair, turning back last minute to grab his sketchbook. The light sounds of footsteps padding on floor to be heard as he races through the house and to the genkan, where his mother already entered with her grey handbag tucked under her arm.

"I'm home!" she chirped as she kicked off her heels and stepped past the raise in the floor with only socks on. "Sweetie, where are you?" as soon as those words left her mouth, a small boy rounded the corner, his rosy cheeks perked up in a smile, his auburn hair bouncing around his head as he raced forth.

"Mama!"

"No running in the house, Yuu!" Inko chastised, but it was already too late. She knelt just in time for her son to bounce into her arms. Scooping him up, she twirled with him, delighted by the sound of his giggles as she spun, planting kiss after kiss on his chubby cheeks, his light, sakura-scented hair tickling her as she nuzzled her face in his hair.

"Mama, look!" Yuuto squealed as he wiggled out of his mother's holds, breaking away from her kisses. She held him out at arm's length and he lifted his sketchbook, shoving it forward so his mother could have a look at all the illustrations on the page he'd worked so hard to draw. "I drew another, see?"

"Is that Rizuku and Itō again?"

"Yeah! I want to be just like him when I grow up. I wanna be a super popular guy that gets all the cute girls." Yuuto proudly announced, making his mother chuckle as she began setting him down.

"Is that so?" she humored him as she put one hand on his head and ruffled his hair, feeling the auburn locks slide between her fingers like silky clumps of soft cotton. "In that case, you're going to have to work hard to win the ladies over. You should start by finishing up your homework, can you do that?"

"Believe it!"

When Inko rose and stepped back, not even a second later someone stepped out behind her. A man no older than forty, the wrinkles creasing the corners of his eyes and lips, the streaks of white hair in his head and beard giving away the man's aging status. Clad in a crisp tuxedo and having his salt and pepper hair neatly swept to the side to match that, he was handsome regardless, just like all the other men Inko brought home.

Yuuto's eyebrows quirked together and he moved behind his mother, holding onto her skirt as he warily watched the man. Inko chuckled and the man smiled.

"It's okay," she told her son, taking his hand and gently leading him to stand next to her. "This is Uno Hisoka. We'll be seeing him for a while, okay? Do you understand?"

Slowly, shyly, Yuuto nodded. It wasn't his first time, nor second.

"So I hear that you're going to be quite the ladies man, huh?" the smiling man broke the ice as he said that, kneeling down to Young Yuuto's level. He closed his eyes, smiling even wider as he offered his hand to Yuuto. "It's amazing to finally get to meet you then, Maruyama."

Bzz

Bzz bzz!

The incessant buzzing pierced through Yuuto's dream, rousing him from a light slumber. The first thing he was aware of was the warmth of the air and its loamy fragrance, the chimes of the furin by his window filling his subconscious, chasing the grogginess away. Slowly and reluctantly, he opened his eyes, his foggy vision clearing up just enough for him to make out the familiar structure of the roof above and the lazily whirring ceiling fan directly above him. Still half-asleep, irritated to be woken so abruptly, Yuuto shifted on the couch, stubbornly tucking his face into the plush pillows.

Bzz bzzz!

That time Yuuto sat up with a low groan, dragging his feet off the bed and planting them to the carpeted floor instead, rubbing his eyes until the glue of sleep completely melted away, leaving him bare to his current dilemma, his ringing phone and the stirring other next to him who he woke with his movements; his cat, Lulu

Lulu was black, but not fully black like a typical cat you'd see in an alley. She had white speckled across the coat on her back, most of the colour to be seen on her white feet, tips of the tail and just below her neck, all visible as she rolled over on her back, her soft teal blue eyes lazily watching Yuuto. She had a soft look about her and in the gentle summer light she was enchanting, irresistible to the point Yuuto had to reach over and scratch the white patch of hair on her white neck.

"Good morning, Lulu," Yuuto softly said, smiling to himself when the cat closed her eyes once more, leaning into the touch, her throat beginning to vibrate like a bike motor against his fingertips. "Did you sleep well?"

The car merely stretched and closed its eyes before rolling over to face away from Yuuto, its ears twitching in delight. Yuuto's lips twitched into another smile at that, and at once the memory of his situation flowed into his mind; having moved away from his family house in Tokyo to a more urban, bustling city of Otsu, Kyoto, he didn't know anyone besides his childhood friend Kaito, who'd also moved to attend Shigaraki High School. Yuuto had been alone at his apartment all along (with occasional visits from Kaito and a few other friends he made) but then that situation changed when he opened his door to find a small black and white kitten wrapped in a basket in front of his door.

A year later and, well, the rest was history.

Yuuto's phone buzzed again and this time he stood, ditching Lulu for a moment as he walked over to the kitchen table, exactly where he left it. As he powered on the screen and glimpsed the caller-ID, the blinking red light at the top of the screen caught his attention, reminding him that he hadn't even remembered to charge it last night. He'd arrived at his apartment later than he'd anticipated, and in his exhausted state he barely managed to take a bath and eat some leftover Tempura before he passed out on the couch.

Glancing at the caller-ID again and paying attention to the number at that time, Yuuto was mildly surprised to see the name Saiki Yamato on the screen instead of Kaito's, one of the few other people that had his number. He flipped his phone open and pressed the cold screen against his ear.

"Hello?"

"Maruyama! Good morning! Good to hear from you," a loud, chirpy voice flowed through the speakers, forcing Yuuto to move the phone a few inches away from his ear to preserve his hearing capabilities a while longer. "Did I wake you? It's twelve in the afternoon, man! Get up!"

Albeit irritated, Yuuto pressed the phone back against his ear to hear what his colleague had to say. He pulled the door to the tiny veranda back, the tiles warm on the soles of his feet and the sunlight equally warming as it spilling down on him and chased away and remittance of sleep as he walked further into it until he was by the railings separating him from an untimely death. He was on the fourth floor, reminded of that as he gazed down, seeing the floors beneath him as well as the other apartment buildings standing next to his own. On impulse he stepped away from the railing, back somewhere he thought he would not fall.

"Well, what can I do for you?" he finally answered, eager to just get off the phone and venture to greater heights, like shoveling leftover Tempura down his throat. Then there was also Kaito to answer, who still had a barrage of questions upon reading Yuuto's vague message, 'mission half complete'.

"I'm at work now, so I can't really talk, but I can tell you that it's about the conditions for your internship," Yamato said and Yuuto's annoyed expression melted away instantly, forcing him to perk up and listen more keenly to whatever the man had to say about Yuuto's internship at Kowakawa Publishing, something he applied for months ago. Having worked for the publisher last summer from a 1-month gig his father managed to set up, Yuuto ventured in skeptically but ended up falling in love with the manga department of the company, counting down the days until he could go there for real as a more experienced intern, able to put out his best effort in the publication of their weekly Shounen manga, Kiba.

"Conditions?"

"Er, yeah, conditions," Yamato mumbled, sounding conflicted about anything he'd tell Yuuto from thereon. "Look, man, come see me today and I'll explain everything better. I don't think you'll like it, but I'll treat you to some piping hot ramen and that'll everything better, believe me."

The next few minutes consisted of Yuuto racing back into his apartment, almost forgetting to take off his outdoor slippers in his haste to make it back to the living room, where school supplies and papers still lay sprawled across the center table from where he'd accidentally fallen asleep whilst trying to study earlier. Plucking his Physical Education notebook from the obscuring pile, Yuuto expertly angled his phone to his ear as he flipped to a clean page and clicked the pen out, readying himself to jot down Yamato's time and place.

Yamato's apartment, 6 p.m.

Yuuto's lip twisted to the side as he fell back onto the couch next to Lulu, his thoughts racing as he continuously circled the address whilst mulling over what Yamato said. Conditions for the internship? The previous year had been a simple process where Yuuto merely had to attend a short interview, where he presented his art portfolio for the supervisor's approval. Impressed with his work and being short-staffed anyway, they took him onboard only a day after, showing him the ropes whilst slaughtering him with a barrage of small tasks like sketching out character designs according to given descriptions, and of course, errands like fetching coffee for the more experienced editors. It was a hectic and fast-paced environment as editors and artists scurried to meet the weekly deadlines, and every hand really made the work lighter.

As Yuuto brushed the dreadful feeling aside he stood, heading to the kitchen for some food that would fuel his motivation to study for the upcoming exams. With Kaito's growing curiosity and the scheduled meeting with Yamato, Yuuto knew he had a long day ahead of him, a day that did not involve going to the annoying maid Café or anything else to do with Soejima Chiho.

And so Yuuto forgot his obligations for just a moment, obliviously getting ready for his day.

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The door jingled open, a middle-aged man clad in his usual brown business suit stepping into the cool establishment of Cure Maid Café. As usual the intoxicating scents of melding dishes wafted in the air and slinked by his nose, his growling stomach reminding him of his long day of work then the inevitable of venturing back to his lonely apartment and spending the evening playing games by himself.

Granted, there were better places he could eat, more preferably somewhere where the main demographic wasn't a place bustling with teens, young adults and maids, but as light piano instrumentals and jazz music flowed through his ears, he was reminded of exactly why he'd taken a fancy to Cure Maid Cafe. No, just one of the reasons.

Someone approached the man.

"Welcome home, Master!"

He turned in the direction of the voice, his bloodshot eyes first darting to the person's ID card. Soejima Chiho. That made his shoulders fall in relief, his purpose for venturing complete. His bloodshot eyes darted to the young maid's face and once again he relished the sight of Chiho's fair skin and curvy cheeks, the double eyelids framing her deep-seated brown eyes and the way her flaring pink maid costume fit her petite frame perfectly, from the adorable white bows in her hair down the lace stockings on her slim legs. To say she was beautiful didn't feel like enough. She looked like a glowing model that walked right off the cover of a kinky magazine.

The man's eyes lifted from Chiho's flat chest to the other part he frequently fantasized about indulging in; her lips. They were a pale rose pink that reminded him of a rosebud. The top lip was thinner, but not too thin, and it had a natural shape; the bottom one was larger and plusher, like plush buds molded in the shape of tantalizing hearts. Chigo was nibbling on them as she always did, making them seem even more swollen, even redder than before. Reddish pink.

As she bit down on them again, the man's nose flared. Was she trying to be a tease, or worse, flirting with him? She, a young girl no older than twenty, interested in a man like him? The thought was preposterous. Surely she had a young, attractive boyfriend that could date her, right?

"Master?" Chiho prodded, her ponytail falling to the side as she tilted head. "May I show you to your seat?"

Master.

The man ripped his eyes away and swallowed the thick accumulation of saliva in his mouth, a muscle popping in his jaw from where he tightly clenched his teeth together afterward. He clutched his briefcase tighter and walked ahead first, ignoring Chiho as he made his way to his usual seat furthest away from the counter. Why did he ignore her? How stupid was he, to so coldly turn her down? Perhaps she'd have to work harder, or he'd have to stop being such an ass in order to make things work.

Glancing over his shoulder, he caught Chiho's eye, and his heart did ten flips in his chest at the simple connection. She was following him.

The man kept his cool as he put down his briefcase and pulled out his chair before slipping off his coat. He sat and Chiho locked him in polite conversation, occasionally glancing at him with those doe, flirty gazes as she did so.

"What would you like to order today, Master? May I interest you in today's special? It's—"

"I'll have that," the man cut in. "Also a coffee, please. Black, no sugar."

Chiho nodded and jotted down his order of coffee and the moe moe onigiri special. Lifting her gaze from her bobbing pen and back to the man, their eyes connected instantly. "I'll have your order ready in a jiffy. Thanks for making it Cure Maid Cafe."

She bowed before she walked away. Watching her go, looping the entirety of their conversation through his head, the man's blood flared.

Boyfriend or not, she was interested, and he could almost already see the sight of her contorted face as he hovered over her small frame in his bed, hearing her breathe his name thrust after thrust. It'd been so long, the man almost forgot what it felt like to feel someone's warm, slick skin roll underneath his own in a blissful night of intimacy, but because of Soejima, all that would change tonight, or tomorrow perhaps. It'd be soon though, no doubt.

"Great work today! I wish I could talk to those customers like you do. You're a natural, Chiho-chan, or should I say," Sakura leaned in, a mischievously knowing smirk curling her lips as she cupped her hand to her mouth and whispered, "Hanae-kun?"

"It's Chiho at work. Don't call me that," Chiho mumbled back, glancing around to make sure that none of the other maids overhead. Thankfully none did, for Chiho and Sakura were the only ones in the changing room, the latter watching her friend as she exchanged her maid costume for something more casual, hoodie, and jeans as she always wore out when her shift ended. "It's just for the customers. You know how I am in real life."

"Of course! You're an adorable ball of cinnamon goodness." Sakura exclaimed, a burst of hearts appearing around her as she clasped her hands together and twirled, much to Chiho's discontent. "But really, that guy you approached today, I don't think I could do it. He was so creepy, and the way he looked at you...he's like a pervert stalker!"

An image of the greasy-hired man flashed in Chiho's head, the thought of his beady, piercing gaze making her feel uneasy until she shook the feeling off. "Bottom line, I'm just doing my job, nothing personal. And anyway, he already left like thirty minutes ago, no biggie," Chiho dropped her hand on Sakura's head, fondly ruffling her black hair as she smiled. "I'll be fine, don't worry."

Sakura bit her lip as her cheeks glowed a light rose pink. "I'm not," she argued, stepping away from her friend's soft touch and combing her fingers through her tousled hair to fix it. "I'm just pointing out that you draw a lot of attention. Remember those other two guys? Not that I'm complaining, they were easy on the eyes, don't you agree."

"I wouldn't know that," Chiho absently replied, slipping on her square glasses and wrapped her favorite blue scarf around her neck. It was contrary to wear a scarf especially because the days were getting hotter, but most nights were still chilly, like that one and the day before. Temperatures dipped as low as 15°C some nights, enough to make Chiho breathe most and subject herself to an unattractive flushing face and foggy glasses. The latter was her fault for forgetting to purchase a new saline solution for cleaning her clear contact lenses.

"Speaking of which, I didn't see those guys today, what a bummer. Maybe they have school?"

Chiho merely shrugged. Who knew, who cared?

"I'm off," she announced to Sakura and all the other maids, who wished her a safe walk home. She changed her shoes and took the front door as usual, the night air enveloping her in an icy hug as soon as the automatic doors parted for her, stepped outside. Shivering slightly, she tightened her scarf around her neck and pulled it over her cold nose as she walked on, down the street.

All at once the full effects of the day began weighing down on her, her exhausted, aching muscles, drooping eyes, and a growling stomach all reminding her that as much as she enjoyed her job, she wasn't Superman. On top of all that was the fact that she still hadn't started studying for final exams as yet; every time she sat before a book, she'd ended up plowing face-first into it and passing out for the rest of the day, leaving another fresh patch of drool on yet another virgin page before being rudely awoken by her rebellious stomach.

That day was supposed to be one of the nights when Chiho could rest in peace, but then she remembered earlier that morning before school when Ryoko bounced up to her just before leaving for work.

"We're out of milk and rice. Pick up some after work, won't you? I have another date tonight so that's why I can't. Maybe this time I'll find a rich guy that can take care of us, don't you think?"

Chiho pulled the note from her canvas shoulder bag, glaring at the words milk, rice and ramen penned onto the page in Ryoko's scrawny handwriting. A long sigh flowed out of her mouth as she attempted to calm herself before shoving the crumpled note back into her bag and walking off again. First, convenience store, then home, sleep. Then school, work, repeat.

A shuffling just up ahead caught Chiho's attention. Just like de ja vou from an earlier day, she quickly glanced up, noticing someone standing on the side of the street, leaning on the concrete wall next to Cure Maid Cafe's neighboring building, the convenience store. Familiar eyes stared down at her, eyes she remembered from earlier when the tall businessman stepped into the maid Cafe and blatantly ignored her call. Just like then, he was scratching unkempt beard as he stared down at her, with an unnerving look Chiho just couldn't place.

It was uncanny for the man to just be standing there unless he was specifically waiting for someone, but Chiho wouldn't let that bother her, and furthermore that wasn't even her business. She shook off the feeling, choosing to acknowledge the man with a slight bow just because he was one of her customers. She threw that to the back of her head and looked ahead, taking a detour into the convenience store.

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