The memory of her father being shot from afar with an arrow replayed over and over. Cocoa couldn't get it out of her head, forced to watch his body dissolve and she couldn't do anything. Murakumo never ended up finding the strange girl again or the person who shot that arrow. Though his shadow died, that didn't make visiting him in the hospital any less vivid. The only time Cocoa could spend time with him alone was at night where most of his visitors already passed. Though he was comatose, Cocoa still didn't know what to say and sat in his room in cold silence.

She wanted revenge most of all on the bastard that 'killed' her father. Eager to fight against all odds, not sit and filter through the absurd requests of students from her school. This kind of work was the kind she gave to her maids. Work that would make anyone tired just by looking at it…

"Cocoa!"

She jolted back up in her seat, awoken by Maine tapping the front desk.

"Come on, what's the next request? We aren't going to get this done if we sit around all day."

"Shut up dog I'm getting to it!" She replied loudly. She had been stuck around the annoying dog and her pet Remy while Pro was out in the superdimension doing who knows what. They looked to be having fun despite returning tired and sometimes wounded, and worse, their weapons were starting to get worn. A concern Luka raised here and there. But they had magic! There was no need to fall behind and rely on tools of the middle ages.

"Agh!" Cocoa flipped the paper on her desk, fed up with it all. "Why doesn't Pro take us with her?!"

Remy, again reading a newspaper, said "Because we don't have weapons to use against the dragons."

"We have our magic. My maids trained me to be a proficient thunder mage to defend myself!"

"We'll eventually run dry of mana."

"We'll win with wit!"

"You aren't that smart."

"Y-you..!"

"Enough!!" Maine screamed, bringing their back and forth to a close. She pointed at Cocoa "We have to work together as a team. I don't know why Pro trusted you to be the leader but maybe she saw something special in you that I didn't. Pro, Kyokai, Gachi and Luka are busy and trust in us to finish these requests while they're gone."

"If she trusted us then she would've taken us to fight dragons." Cocoa clenched her fist and stood up which knocked her office chair back to the wall. The whole trust and special spiel was something Cocoa heard many times and she wasn't going to fall for it again, "Whatever I'm outta here. You can do the student's dirty work yourselves--wash their shoes and chase ghosts in the building, that stuff is beneath me as the student council president." she said while storming out of the room and slamming the door shut behind.

Maine let out a frustrated groan being the one singled out as 'dog' and was the most uncooperative with the girl. Ironic with them being feline and canine respectively, but jokes like that weren't enough to calm her inner frustrations. "What's her deal? It's like she wants to pick a fight with everyone."

Remy closed her newspaper to set aside, standing up to pick up the scattered about papers Cocoa tossed "Her mind seems occupied with something but… I'm unsure if we should pry into it."

Maine fell back onto the couch and sunk into the cushions. "You can't think of anything? You understand people better than me Remy, there's gotta be something."

"I suppose she just wants someone to understand her."

On the final day of snowfall in Japan, a breathtaking scene unfolded. The air was filled with delicate snowflakes, resembling glistening crystals as they gracefully descended from the heavens. A gentle breeze whispered through the surroundings, creating a serene atmosphere. Despite the tranquil ambiance, people adorned themselves with warm coats and scarves, embracing the occasion with a touch of wintery charm. February was going to be cold but never like now until the next winter. In Shinjuku, Pro, Gachi, Luka and Kyokai were brought out to the scrambled streets by Kris to go shopping. Not for clothes or accessories but for weapons to combat with. Not only were they on the search for weapons but also for jobs to earn money from and though some of the monsters they fought dropped money, it wasn't going to be enough to buy all the members new weapons when the time to upgrade came.

Before they could start, Gachi glared at Luka and Kyokai's new twintails hairstyle. "Are you two trying to copy my main character trait?"

A reply that prompted Kyokai to swipe the ribbons out of hair "I knew this was a bad idea! I looked so ridiculous."

Luka however, hid her face. "Saya did this. She said we need to look more friendly, like the type of kids who like to eat sweets and candy. I don't get it." And another reason was to get back at Luka for embarrassing her in front of Cocoa, the new leader of Murakumo. She stressed the leader part. The twintails ended up looking better than expected and at least made her hair not too much a hindrance in battle when tied like this.

"You look more like a girl who likes to spin green onion." Gachi commented. A comment Luka didn't understand and tilted her head at. "Really now?"

Pro held up her hair in two. "How do I look?"

"I don't feel the hairstyle suits you." Was Gachi's assessment.

As they tried to regain their focus, Kris confidently asserted that he knew of a metalsmith in the district, recalling a visit he made long ago. However, his information proved to be outdated, leading them to wander aimlessly through the city in search of the elusive metalsmith. This search was reminiscent of their search looking for Cynthia where many responses from people were that they hadn't heard or of such a place that sells weapons to the public. A store like this was hidden by word of whispers, the kind of information that was a secret between a select few.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

Alas they would come up empty handed and together they sat in sorrows in a maid cafe with the worst name they've ever heard for a maid cafe, the Guilty Cafe. They stood aside by a window where they could watch the snow shower while waiting for their server to give them a table, and during that time Gachi bickered about Kris' memory getting old.

He scoffed with crossed arms and a stoic expression. "My information hasn't changed, the world has. I know everything I need to at the present time."

"Oh yeah? What about our friend Luka?" Gachi motioned towards her.

Kris glanced at the most mysterious member of their council. She had no known family, remembered nothing about her past, maybe Cynthia knew but the rabbit was long gone.

Their conversation would halt when arguing between a maid and what looked like the manager erupted out from the backroom. The maid stomped out while the manager begged and pleaded for her to stay. They awkwardly watched the argument about the maid being fed up with the constant work and rude customers. The manager tried to desperately explain the dire circumstances, making deals in an attempt to get her to stay but that only infuriated her further and she left making sure to slam the door shut.

The manager, a man with brown hair almost turning grey from age and dressed in a green vest with a green bow like a butler. He stumbled over to the front counter and slammed his head on the hardwood crying out "What kind of maid cafe doesn't have maids! I am a fool, I am a tool, I am guilty of all things that don't make a cafe!"

He spoke rhythmically and dramatically. His plight being the tragic story of hubris and maid love. A story the group of protagonists didn't want to be in but by the hand of fate they would be dragged into it, kicking all the while.

Kris looked at Gachi, "I'm too old for this."

Gachi looked at Pro, "Pro should say something."

Pro looked at Luka, "Luka is smarter dealing with these situations than I."

And Luka looked at Kyokai, "We should probably bail."

Kyokai sighed at their glances, shaking his head then stepped out of line. "L-looks like that was quite the ruckus."

"You!" The manager picked his head up and looked to Kyokai with some hope left in his eyes "My newest employees! My maids!" He exclaimed proudly. Soon that hope just left, he looked down in disappointment.

"You're probably not gonna like it here. I might as well close this place down. I have only two maids left and the one that just left covered most of the shifts."

"Hey don't lose hope." Kyokai snapped his fingers. " Maybe we can help you out."

The manager raised his head. "Is that so? My cafe is failing, debt is rising. I don't think I can pay it off in time. This place used to be so lively. Tourists and people of Japan come here often for casual drinks and sometimes someone to talk with. We had a few cases of weird people but we still managed. Ugh, it's all ruined." He started to bite the tip of his thumb.

Kyokai made the bold and difficult decision, recognizing that their mission required them to confront and overcome despair, even if it meant engaging in actions they deeply despised. "We'll be your maids!"

"No way." Gachi muttered. Pro knocked her on the head and she quickly changed tune. "Y-Yeah! We were fated to meet! K-Kris?"

"These students are mine," Kris said, causing Gachi to brighten up. Then he continued. "But they are irresponsible. A job will straighten them out and turn them into productive members of society."

Gachi's face fell into demise.

Lutz hurried over to shake Kris' hand thanking him graciously. With a bow he introduced himself. "I'm Lutz. The owner of this place, Guilty Cafe. Why is it called that? So men and women can let out their guilty pleasure for maids! Now tell me about your little birdies. Are they fit to leave their nest for maidsmenship?"

Kris nodded as he went through the council members one by one. "There's Kyokai Ikura who's the smartest, Gachi Momomeno is precise and sharp, Pro Shijunko is determined, and Luluria Wagami has a mysterious flair."

Lutz nodded in agreement, scanning his eyes across the students but having his eyes locked on Luka. "I do get an unsettling feeling from her golden eyes. The type of gaze that's hiding true intent, I feel like I've seen it before back when I lived in Osaka."

Luka turned her head to Pro. "Do I look that scary?"

"Maybe like a cat in the night" She teased while poking her cheek.

"But I digress." Lutz grinned while whipping out a measuring tape. "I will train you to become my perfect maids!"

He whipped the measuring tape and it would completely wrap around Pro covering her from head to toe. He pulled then pulled the tapped making her spin like a tornado. She staggered left and right trying not to lose her footing in heels and a new attire, that of a short skirted maid. But that wasn't the only new thing she bore, in her hand was a thing bladed sword, an estoc with an circlour cross guard.

"How'd you do that?!" Kyokai was the first to exclaim and asked another. "Are you the metalsmith we've been looking for?"

Lutz strode across the tables aiming for a painting on the walk. Why yes he was the metalsmith he said to them. Stopping at the wall, she looked up at a framed painting of an armored maid holding a broadsword stabbed in the ground. "This is what I envision to set me apart from my contemporaries. Maids fighting to protect their masters from dragons. In the war on dragons, the knights were all on expedition across the Earth. There was no one to defeat their home towns except the women in service."

"Uh huh…" Pro stumbled over in her dizziness.

Gachi grasped the sword before she fell and stress tested the weapon by trying to bend the blade. It was stiff and silver in color, almost a pure white. Testing its cutting effectiveness she dug the blade into the side of a table and it cleanly cut through like butter. The weapon was very much real and made of genuine steel.

"Scythes, cleavers, pikes, these maids used anything that was sharp to kill dragons that creeped into village territory. I want to bring back that style of our history." Lutz said while returning to the group.

"Interesting." Kris bore real interesting in the subject matter. The idea of a group of women fighting seemed a bit distant to Kyokai but he nodded his head nonetheless.

Lutz took the estoc from Gachi's hands. "If you're honest in wanting to work with me then come to me tomorrow. I'll pay you well for your work and provide benefits such as these weapons."

They took the deal, an offer too good to pass up especially when they were short on equipment. But carrying weapons in public would draw eyes and Kyokai had an idea to alter their pockets and school bags to carry more storage.

When they left the cafe in high spirits, Gachi's loudmouth drew the attention of a group afar who recognized her voice as well as Luka's and Pro's. The stranger they encountered and fought once beside a ginger haired boy who glanced in the same direction she did and gasped upon seeing the council he recognized.

She noticed his eyebrow raised and asked "Do you know them, Rei?"

He nodded slowly, "Yeah, they're the student council in my school. Why do you look so angry? Don't tell me they're the ones you fought, Judith?"

"You'll find out soon enough." Judith turned around and started to walk off. "Let's go, Juno is waiting for us."

Rei sighed and followed with his hands in his pocket, "Cryptic girls are hot but it can be such a turn off."