Chapter 7: Gratitude to the Maid Who’s Good at Cleaning
“Th-Th-That’s amazing…”
I hadn’t even seen it happen.
Calling it super speed would be an insultingly inadequate description. No, what I’d witnessed was something from an entirely different dimension.
It was as if only her world had accelerated, leaving everything else behind.
A power beyond even the gods.
The Fairy Queen Titania truly lived up to her name.
…Or maybe I was just getting carried away because I’d found an old battle manga while cleaning and ended up reading it.
Still.
While calling her movements superhuman was definitely an exaggeration, it was true that Yuki Ohira cleaned with such flawless efficiency that every time I looked up, the room seemed noticeably tidier than before.
That was probably why I’d tried to help at first.
Only to be told—
“You’re the master, aren’t you? Then please sit still.”
In other words, I’d only slow her down.
So, following her orders, I stayed put on the one place that didn’t need cleaning—the bed—and quietly read my manga.
Even so, a small sense of guilt lingered.
Was it really okay for me to be lounging around reading while she did all the work?
On the other hand, helping her would almost certainly make everything less efficient.
Caught between wanting to help and knowing the best thing I could do was absolutely nothing, I marked my place in the manga with a finger and stretched out across the bed.
Rolling onto my left side, I felt the mattress creak softly beneath me.
From the faintly swaying bed, I watched Yuki.
She worked silently.
The clothes and socks I’d left scattered around.
The empty soda cans and plastic bottles.
The convenience-store meal containers that had been sitting around for so long I couldn’t even remember when I’d eaten them.
She dealt with every last one without showing the slightest hint of disgust.
Most girls her age would probably hate touching a guy’s mess.
Didn’t she feel that way at all?
Come to think of it, she was always cleaning at school too. Taking out the trash, tidying classrooms…
I’d always assumed it was part of her campaign to become student council president.
Not that anyone minded. If someone was willing to clean and handle garbage duty in exchange for votes, most of us would happily give her one.
But that wasn’t it.
She cleaned because she genuinely liked cleaning.
Watching her work in my room made me realize how shallow my assumptions had been.
I’d looked only at the surface and invented my own story about her.
“What is it?”
While I was silently considering an apology, she suddenly looked over.
Her lips were pressed into a thin line, her narrowed eyes focused directly on me.
I thought you only cleaned because you wanted to become student council president.
Turns out you just genuinely enjoy it.
Sorry for making weird assumptions about you.
…No.
Blurting that out now would just be stupid.
Apologizing for something I’d decided on all by myself was ridiculous.
“I was this close to seeing your panties, though.”
“Wha—!”
Snap.
Her eyes flew open.
She immediately grabbed the hem of her miniskirt maid outfit and yanked it downward on reflex.
The skirt didn’t actually get any longer, of course.
As she held it down, her expression gradually shifted from surprise to a glare so intense it looked capable of freezing someone in place.
“Pervert!”
Her voice trembled, but the insult landed with perfect accuracy.
In response, I made a suggestion.
“That’s why I said you don’t have to wear the maid outfit.”
“No! Why would anyone pass up a perfectly legal opportunity to wear a maid outfit?!”
She really did love maid outfits that much.
At this rate, a maid café might genuinely be her calling.
Kind of enviable, honestly. Most people didn’t discover their dream job this young.
While I was silently admiring her dedication, she marched over to the bed.
Up close, I could see her face was flushed red with anger.
“As punishment for your perverted behavior, I’ve decided to clean that area too.”
She looked down at me with the same expression someone might use on a particularly unpleasant piece of trash.
Then she crouched and lowered herself to her knees.
From the opposite side, it would have been easy to peek under her skirt.
Maybe she trusted me not to do something like that.
Or maybe she was confident she could erase me from existence if I tried.
Either way, she didn’t hesitate to get down on all fours.
Not that I had any intention of standing up and deliberately looking.
Because thanks to her cleaning, the full-length mirror in my room was spotless.
And in that mirror—
Her panties were completely visible.
Emerald green.
Peeking out from beneath her miniskirt, they were a rich green reminiscent of lush forests and untouched nature.
Emerald green.
Deep, beautiful woodland green.
The perfect color for someone worthy of the title Fairy Queen Titania.
Even if it was only through a mirror, being blessed with the sight of maid-skirt panties felt like an extraordinarily lucky event.
My “son” was apparently equally delighted, experiencing remarkable growth.
Ah.
Thank you.
Thank you, Fairy Queen Titania.
“Why are you bowing?”
Apparently, while worshipping the Fairy Queen clad in emerald-green panties, I had unconsciously shifted into a formal kneeling position and was now prostrating myself before the mirror.
“The highest form of gratitude… I suppose.”
“…?”
She tilted her head.
“You’re being awfully dramatic over a little cleaning.”
Naturally, she had no idea what I was actually expressing gratitude for.
Still on all fours, she reached beneath the bed.
“Trying to distract me with excessive appreciation won’t work. I have no mercy today.”
A triumphant grin appeared on her face.
“I’m about to expose something deeply embarrassing.”
I had absolutely no idea what she was talking about.
Meanwhile, she continued rummaging under the bed with the confidence of someone who had already won.
“Bingo♪”
Her cheerful voice sounded like that of a phantom thief finally discovering a hidden treasure.
The maid in the miniskirt outfit pulled something out from beneath the bed.
An enamel sports bag.
One I used back in middle school.
As she shifted from all fours into a kneeling position, Titania’s panties disappeared from view.
“Ah…”
“Heh. That guilty reaction.”
She smirked victoriously while holding up the bag.
“So there was something hidden.”
She looked every bit like an athlete celebrating an inevitable victory.
“Everyone knows boys keep embarrassing things under their beds.”
She had reached an impressively incorrect conclusion.
“I was planning to leave this area alone,” she continued. “But you made me angry. It’s too late to act pitiful now. I’m going to reveal your shameful preferences to the world!”
Ziiiiip—
The zipper flew open.
Like double doors being thrown wide.
“Eh…?”
The sound that escaped her mouth was astonishingly dumbfounded.
Clearly, whatever she’d expected to find wasn’t there.
She reached inside and pulled out the contents.
“A glove…?”
In her hands was a faded pitcher’s glove for hardball baseball.
A glove I had once known intimately.
And yet, seeing it now felt like looking at something from another lifetime.
“Were you in the baseball club?”
“Nah.”
I was a member of the Go-Home Club.
The fact that I was sitting at home immediately after the opening ceremony should have been proof enough.
Accepting my answer without question, she dug deeper into the bag.
“A baseball… some glove grease… and… Huh?”
She blinked.
“Where are the dirty magazines?!”
She turned on her phone’s flashlight and inspected under the bed again.
“There aren’t any.”
“No way…”
Her shoulders slumped dramatically, like a salaryman who had just been fired.
“I was planning to use them to blackmail you.”
“What a terrifying maid you are.”
This girl’s personality could be pretty awful too.
Though maybe that just made her more human.
“Hey, Ohira.”
“Hm?”
“Since you’re cleaning anyway, throw that out for me.”
“…What?”
Her eyes widened in disbelief.
“Are you sure? You can tell it was something you took good care of.”
“Come on. It’s been abandoned under my bed all this time.”
I shrugged.
“It’s not something important anymore. Just throw it away.”
I managed to say it casually.
At least, I hoped I did.
The truth was, I’d kept it hidden there because it was the one thing I couldn’t quite let go of.
But it was time.
The moment had finally come.
“Alright,” she said softly. “I’ll throw it away.”
“Thanks.”
Maybe this was fate.
Having her do it felt easier somehow.
Throwing it away myself would have hurt.
But keeping it forever would only leave regrets behind.
So this time, the gratitude I gave Yuki Ohira was genuine.
A real thank you.
Maybe now…
Maybe now I could finally say I felt completely at peace.
