"Seems like we've gotten a crowd outside." Grim said in his normal voice, looking through the windows of the break room. He was awake as the sun started to rise. He was still in his maid outfit except for the wig which was on the ground.
George was near him, starting to awake from his slumber. The others were also there. They were readying up for the day.
Isaac and George had a hard time yesterday. They did all of the dishes and it all ended with perfection. The menus were renewed and the prices were set.
The prices were as follows:
Roasted Chicken: 350 S.C.
Vegetable Soup: 200 S.C.
Steak: 500 S.C.
Mashed Potatoes: 210 S.C.
Sandwich: 250 S.C.
After that, the three then rested but George stayed a few more minutes awake so that he could set up a schedule.
That took a toll on him.
"That's a lot." Emily muttered as she went near the window and peeked through it.
There was a large line of people waiting for the restaurant to open.
"Seems like the flyers did a good job." Tina said.
"What time are we starting again?" Yu asked as she readied.
"About an hour from now." Grim replied, not taking his eyes off the window. During that time, George stood up, ready and awake, and went to the window to see the crowd.
"Damn, that's a lot." George mumbled as he started sweating a bit. "Good thing I'm in the kitchen."
"Well, we need to ready up now." Grim said, walking away from the window and getting his wig that was on the floor. As he put the wig on, the seriousness in his face was gone and what replaced it was a carefree little girl.
"We've prepared for this...we've trained for this. You can do this..." Mileena was muttering to herself. She shook her head violently as she prepared herself for the opening. That was before Ted entered the room and announced something. He looked distressed for some reason.
"Hurry everybody! We will open in 20 minutes!" He exclaimed, sweating and looking troubled. This surprised everyone.
"What?!" Tina shouted in disbelief.
"I know! I know! But since there's a huge crowd at the entrance, we have no other choice! They'd be mad if it opens at another hour!" Ted informed them. "Fred is already here and is cleaning everything up."
With that, he exited and slammed the door close, leaving the rest to hurry up. Isaac and George quickly ran downstairs to set up the kitchen. That left the girls and Grim left inside.
They then hurried to prepare and went down. As they went down, they saw the three cooks preparing the ingredients. They were not doing good as the two of them just woke up.
Once they exited the kitchen, they saw Fred waiting at the counter. Taking one good look at the maids, Fred now knew why there were so many people waiting outside.
"So you guys were the reason..." Fred mumbled.
"Well, this is our job to get money." Grim replied. Fred sighed.
"Good luck." Fred said with a solemn tone. He then prepared himself for the oncoming storm.
"Who's going to open the store?" Yu asked the other maids. Seeing that no one volunteered, Grim raised his hand frustratingly.
Grim then prepared himself as he gripped the door knob. he took one deep breath before his face changed into a happy one.
"Welcome to the tavern! Nya~" Grim said in his girl voice as he opened the door. The crowd shouted in excitement as they slowly entered the tavern. The others greeted the customers as they entered. The customers went to the register to order food. Some went to the tables to wait for their friends to finish ordering.
All in all, things were going well.
But inside the kitchen, they were having a hard time.
"Two sandwiches, three dishes of steak, and five mugs of beer!" Isaac told George and Ted who were cooking some dishes.
"Here...give this to table number five." George gave Tina, who was there, a tray filled with dishes. "Isaac! Give Emily the five pints of beer."
Isaac got the five mugs of beer and gave them to Emily.
"Table number 9." Isaac said as he received another order thanks to Fred.
"News!" Isaac shouted, gaining the attention of the two cooks. "5 more plates of sandwiches, two roasted chicken, one vegetable soup, and three bowls of mashed potatoes."
"Get Grim!" George said as he started cutting some more bread. Ted was busy getting pouring some soup into a bowl. Isaac then went to a bowl where the mashed potatoes were made beforehand. He then scooped some into three bowls and put them on a tray.
Grim entered the kitchen. He was then given a tray full of dishes by George.
"All of those are from table 10." He said before going back to cooking.
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Meanwhile, the maids were having a hard time. Having to go inside the kitchen and carrying heavy trays filled with dishes was no joke.
For Tina, Emily, and Grim, some of the tasks were easy.
For Yu and Mileena meanwhile...
"U-u-u-hmm...t-t-table e-eight?" Yu asked shyly as she carried a tray with both hands.
"This is table seven." The customer replied. Yu widened his eyes and blushed in embarrassment before leaving but not before apologizing.
"I-I-I'm s-s-sorry..." She muttered incoherently.
To her it was embarrassing.
To the customers?
'Cute' The customers thought as they saw the little interaction.
'She seems to be one of the shy ones. The shy twin of the two cat maids.' The customers thought. They noticed that she was the big sister of the two since Grim called her 'Big sis.'
'She's the type who you want to see smile ever so often to brighten your day and give you a purpose to live.' Some of the customers smiled at the imagination of giving a child happiness.
'She reminds me of my daughter...so precious...so innocent...' Some of the older customers thought as they were reminded of their children. Tears left some of the older customers' eyes as Yu reminded them of some precious memories. 'I miss my daughter...'
"H-here you go..." Mileena said shyly as she gave table number two their order. She then left, not wanting to communicate anymore.
'She's the older shy type. Cute.' The customers thought. 'She's the one you want to cuddle with when you're ever feeling down.'
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"Here you go!" Grim said with a smile on his face as he gave some dishes to another table.
'Now that twin is the energetic and go-lucky one. Judging by the slightly darker skin tone of that twin, I can suspect that that twin is carefree and athletic.' The customers thought. Some of the older customers cried as they were reminded further of their children whom they miss.
'She is the one that you want to spend your days playing with since that is their source of happiness.' They thought.
The customers then looked at Emily.
'That is the older sister type who comforts you when you're troubled. The one who always does what's best for you.' The younger customers thought. 'Don't you just want to feel loved and cared for by her?'
"Shut up!" Tina shouted angrily at a customer. "Don't you see I'm serving here?"
Tina was holding a tray that was filled with roasted chicken.
The customer drooped his head in sadness.
"I just wanted to know where the bathroom was..." The man said as he went back to his seat.
'Ah. The Masochistic Marauders would love her.' Some of the customers thought as Tina smacked a person in the cheeks because he was touching her.
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"Woohoo! Break time!" Grim exclaimed happily as he went into the kitchen. After some hours of serving non-stop, he finally got a break.
It was his break time which had a duration of 10 minutes.
He then went to the back door of the kitchen and exited the place because of the loud screaming and sizzling in there. The back door led to the outside which was in an alleyway. So, he sat on a chair that was there and proceeded to eat a sandwich.
As he gobbled up the sandwich, three figures appeared at the entrance of the alleyway. He noticed them and took a good look.
Two of them were humans. They also appeared to be of average height and scrawny. One was bald and another had a ponytail.
The last one was tall and fat. He had hair everywhere. He was a beast man. He had a nose that looked like a pig's.
'They look like the average thugs you see in an anime.' Grim thought as he looked at them and continued munching on his sandwich. He then looked right to see that there was no other way in here. He sighed. 'Just shut them down if they start flirting with me.'
Just like that, the beast man spoke up.
"Hey, little missy." The beast man greeted in a deep voice. "I see you're having a break there."
The beast man was trying to be nice as he put on a smile.
'Why the fuck is he smiling so creepily...' Grim thought to himself as he saw the smile. 'Anyways...'
"Yup! I am in my break." Grim said, still in his girly voice.
"Oh, well do you mind if we have a little fun? Wanna play a game?" The beast man replied.
'So blunt. He's clearly saying he wants to do 'it' with me.' Grim thought as he finished his sandwich.
"Well, my shift is going to nearly start so I..."
"Come one, just a quick one?" The ponytailed one said.
"Nope." Grim said as he stood up and entered the tavern but as soon as he saw the bald man reach for something in his pocket, he stopped and attacked them.
It all happened so fast as Grim punched the guys in the face.
The punches were powerful as they flew a few feet and fell on the ground.
In pain, the guys groaned as they tried to stand up. Grim then went inside, ending his break.
As he entered, he was starting to regret not staying outside.
"Another order! Five mugs of beer for table 21!" Isaac shouted at George.
"Table 21?! There is no table 21!" George shouted as he finished some roasted chicken.
"Oops! I meant table 17!" Isaac corrected himself as he went to make more mashed potatoes.
"Grim! Take this to table 17!" George gave him a tray filled with five mugs of beer.
Grim started serving food and drinks again.
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It was closing time now and the maids and Fred were cleaning up the tables while the cooks were cleaning up their equipment and the plates.
To say the least, Ted was happy. Happy that people finally came to his establishment. In these rough times, he found help.
He was thankful for George and his party. He wanted to thank them, but he thought he would save it once the week was over.
George was currently putting a stack of plates inside a cabinet. He was having a hard time as his legs were staggering and his arms were shaking.
He was not used to that much heavy lifting so he was having such a hard time. Emily appeared behind him, saw what was happening, and decided to help.
"Here, let me help." Emily spoke up, startling George a bit. Emily gripped the bottom plate and carried it. George let go, he then saw Emily put it inside the cabinet with ease.
"How are you so strong?" George asked. Even he couldn't do it with ease like that.
"I'm a Chimera, I can destroy boulders with my strength. If I could do that, then I could carry stacks of plates." Emily replied.
"O-oh..." George was a bit saddened. The other party members had skills and abilities beyond him. He wasn't strong nor skilled with weapons. He wasn't good at spells. What could he do in this world without Grim or Mileena? Nothing.
Emily saw that George was sad and decided to ask.
"What's wrong?" She asked with a caring and soft tone.
"N-nothing. Just got lost in thought." George waved it off, not wanting to continue the conversation. Emily knew something was off.
"Don't lie please." Emily told him. George stopped doing what he was doing and finally, after a few seconds, replied.
"I-i'm not lying-" He was interrupted by Emily.
"I can see it in your eyes. Your body tone. Somethings troubling you." Emily said.
"I'm just tired, that's all." George then proceeded to go upstairs.
"You think you are useless, don't you?" Emily inferred. George stopped and looked down.
"Yes..." George admitted.
Emily sighed, she then called upon him. "Come with me for a bit."
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Emily and George were outside the tavern as they took a little walk. The walk was quite nice. The moon shun upon the place. Distant chatter were heard.
"You're not useless." Emily spoke up.
"I am. I'm not powerful like you and the others. I even had a hard time carrying plates. I'm not capable of magic like you guys as well. I'm just a normal human." George said, looking down. Emily could feel the sadness inside of him.
"But not all of us are smart like you." Emily tried to cheer him up but he just chuckled.
"You can find someone else like that who is more powerful than me." George replied.
"And you can find someone else like me that is more powerful." Emily replied. That statement made George look at her with a raised eyebrow. Emily decided to continue. "I'm not that powerful. You can find other people that are. But looking at it, some of them are going humans and demons. A human can go toe to toe with a Chimera if given the right equipment and training. People can become stronger and more powerful with the right training."
"..." George was silent as Emily ranted.
"Do you think people are born powerful?"
"N-no."
"They aren't born powerful but they are given the choice to become powerful. Look at Tina, with training, she became more powerful than her own older sister."
"Wait, you guys are sisters?"
"Yes. What do you think we were?"
George was about to answer but just kept silent.
"Anyways, back to the topic at hand. At first, Tina was like you. Weak. But as time went on, with training, she became stronger."
"Where did she get her angry and brash demeanor?"
"She got it along the way and though she has an angry demeanor, sometimes she can be nice."
"Was she nice before training?"
"Yes...and before training, she had the same mindset as you. Low self-esteem."
"Why is that?"
"We...we had another sister. One day she and Tina were playing inside a forest when she encountered a human boy. One thing led to another and she was never seen again. Tina blamed herself for not being brave and strong enough. So, I comforted her and encouraged her. She still has nightmares from time to time and a huge distrust in men because of it."
"..." George heard the story and felt bad for the two. George was lost in thought.
"Though she has grown some trust for you and the others." George heard Emily say that. "Thanks to you, she's starting to lose her distrust a bit. You're a good person. You think about others and find another way to solve a problem."
George smiled at what she said.
"Thanks, I needed that." George said before another thought came to mind. "By the way, how old are you?"
"Oh me? I'm 21 and Tina's 15."
"Damn..." George muttered.
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As they returned from their little walk, they found the group celebrating. Ted said that they deserved it.
"I know they deserve it..." George looked at them. "But why would you give them some beer?"
Indeed they were, Isaac and Grim were conversing with each other as they drank beer and Yu and Tina did the same. Mileena was the only one that wasn't drinking. Fred left.
"Don't worry, they're at the right age to drink beer." Ted replied. He then mentioned the consent age for drinking beer which was 13.
Seeing that there was nothing wrong with it, the two then joined in on the celebration.
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"You what?!" A man wearing expensive clothes shouted. The man was sitting on a chair with a desk in front of him. The man had long black hair that was tied in a ponytail. He sported a goatee as well. The man looked like a man in his 40s.
He was talking to the three thugs from earlier.
"W-w-we're so sorry boss!" The beast man shouted as he bowed. "I-I was s-so stupid!"
Seeing the beast man bow and apologize, the boss sighed in frustration.
"No need for bowing Brok." The boss replied. The three then breathed a sigh of relief. "But you need to fix the problem you started."
"Yes sir!" Brok replied. "We'll go into the establishment where the cat maid was working and finish the business."
"One question though." The boss started. "Is it a her or a he?"
"Um...to be exact, the cat maid looked like a she." The bald man replied to the boss.
"Well, a warning, Cat people are cheeky and like to mess with people. I speak from experience."
"Y-yes, sir. You've already said that story to us hundreds of times. You fucked a cat boy and got into a crisis." Brok said.
"Exactly. Just be careful." The boss said. "Now leave. I need to do something."
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Somewhere else, in an abandoned building, a group of people was present. They each all had weapons with them and full leather armor. Their faces were hidden by helmets.
One of them was down on the ground, beaten up and bruised all over. The beaten up person had no armor nor weapons with him.
"What happened to him?" One of them asked.
"Jerry said he was going somewhere." Another replied.
"Where did he go..." One voice bellowed. The other members turned their heads at the source. The person was taller than the rest. The person also had a more bulkier type of leather armor as well as a much more menacing helmet. It was the leader of the group.
"I think he said he was going to a tavern where maids were working in." One of them replied.
"Good. Now, let us teach them a lesson..." The leader replied, menace filling his words as the others happily whispered with one another. The leader was getting irritated by the whispers so he shouted at them. "Quiet! That was a good line. Roland! Write it down!"
"Yes, boss."