Chapter 6 — The Fairy Living Next Door
She wore a short black dress as the base, layered with a frilly apron. The ruffles extended all the way to her shoulders. A pale pink ribbon at her collar added an extra touch of sweetness, while the modest frills of her maid headpiece only served to make her silver hair stand out even more beautifully.
A classic mini-skirt maid outfit.
A silver-haired maid in pure Japanese maid style.
Yuki Ohira.
“Why do you know where I live?”
When I opened the door, the maid standing there had greeted me with the textbook line:
“Welcome home, Master.”
It was the sort of greeting every maid was supposed to give.
The strange part was that I was the one who had opened the door.
Still bewildered by the experience of being welcomed home in my own apartment, I invited her inside.
There were plenty of questions I wanted to ask, but the biggest one came out first as I sat down on the bed.
“I live in the apartment right next to yours.”
“Huh?”
The answer was so unexpected that the only response I could manage was a dumbfounded noise.
“You didn’t notice?”
“Seriously?”
The claim felt so unreal that I couldn’t help questioning it again.
She answered with the calm attitude of someone who clearly expected this reaction.
“People living in the same building often don’t realize it. I’ve only seen you once myself, Morigami-kun.”
Maybe in the past it had been common courtesy to introduce yourself to your neighbors. Even now, plenty of considerate people probably still did.
But this was a single-person apartment building, and the world had become a lot less carefree these days. I’d deliberately avoided going around introducing myself to strangers.
Because of that, I’d never seen the person living next door.
Honestly, I’d barely even seen the other residents in the building.
“My room is farther from the elevator than yours. And when you leave, you only head toward the elevator, right? It’s only natural you wouldn’t know.”
My apartment was Room 502.
The elevator was on the 501 side of the hallway, so I’d never had any reason to walk past my own room toward 503.
I really had no idea there was a fairy living next door.
Maybe the world was a lot more fantastical than I realized.
“Since when did you know?”
“Well, I have to walk past your door to get home. I’ve known since last April. Your name’s on the nameplate.”
“Fair point.”
If our apartments had been swapped, maybe I would’ve been the one who noticed first.
Just that small difference.
Not that it really meant anything.
“So?”
Relieved to learn she hadn’t used some elaborate scheme to discover where I lived, I moved on to my next question.
“Why are you wearing a maid outfit?”
That was the real mystery.
“What do you mean, why? I’m your personal maid. It’s only natural for a maid to wear a maid uniform, isn’t it?”
“I mean, sure, I asked you to be my personal maid, but does it have to be a maid outfit? You could wear something else.”
Not that I was complaining.
It suited her ridiculously well. It was a feast for the eyes.
Honestly, I could stare at it all day.
But changing clothes every time seemed like a hassle, and it didn’t exactly look comfortable. Something easy to move around in—like a tracksuit—would’ve worked just fine.
Actually…
Now that I thought about it, I’d kind of like to see this beautiful girl dressed sloppily for once.
An oversized, worn-out T-shirt, maybe.
“W-Well… um…”
She seemed to understand that I was trying to be considerate, which only made her more unsure how to respond.
Her cheeks flushed faintly.
She shifted awkwardly from side to side, fidgeting.
For a moment I wondered if she needed to use the bathroom, but then she spoke in a small voice.
“I thought… this might be a chance to wear a maid outfit outside of work…”
“Ah. I see.”
That explained it.
She hadn’t shown up dressed like this because she thought I wanted her to.
She wore it because she wanted to.
With cosplay becoming so popular these days, maybe it was a similar sort of feeling.
Besides, she’d chosen a maid café as her part-time job in the first place.
If she said she liked maid outfits because they were cute, that wouldn’t be strange at all.
“Is… wearing a maid outfit not okay?”
“If you’re happy with it, I won’t stop you.”
“Yay.”
She smiled and celebrated quietly.
But honestly, I was the one who should’ve been celebrating.
Getting exclusive access to a silver-haired beauty in a maid outfit…
Just how many good deeds had I accumulated in a previous life?
Thank you, past me.
Present me was currently enjoying the view to the fullest.
“Now then, since I have your approval regarding the maid uniform, let’s discuss our plans going forward—”
Her expression shifted instantly.
After that brief moment of happiness, she looked around my apartment.
“More importantly… how do you even live in a room like this?”
She let out a small sigh.
The disappointment in her voice stung.
“You’re absolutely right. Honestly, I’m impressed I can live here too.”
I spread my hands dramatically like a character from an American sitcom.
“If you’re aware of it, then clean it.”
“My bed’s clean, at least. As long as the final defensive line holds, we’re good.”
“No, we’re not!”
Yuki grabbed one of the empty convenience-store lunch containers abandoned on the kotatsu table beside the bed and held it up accusingly.
“With this place looking like a garbage dump, we can’t conduct that interview from earlier, and we certainly can’t have any productive discussions.”
“Then let’s not.”
“No!”
She rejected the idea without hesitation.
Then she placed a hand on her chest and declared, with all the dignity and authority of a knight commander:
“I am now your personal maid, Morigami-kun. Therefore, I will begin cleaning this room immediately. Objections are not permitted.”
Even in a maid outfit, Student Council President Titania—the Fairy Queen herself—hadn’t changed at all.
At this point, it was impossible to tell which of us was supposed to be the master.
But before I could argue any further, this maid had already launched into cleaning the room at an astonishing speed.
