/jp/ - Otaku Culture

"You haven't? Well, come along, Elly. Be quick about it. There's a good girl." Miss Yuuka placed her hands behind her back and stepped forward to examine the oven on the other side of the room. "The delicate layering of the pastry can only be refined with careful attention paid to the process." She eyed the girl sharply. "Not when you're busy clutching your chest and crying about me teasing you every once in a while."

"You tease me every day!" Elly cried in reply as she scrambled back to her feet.

"Yes," Miss Yuuka began, turning and heading over to the edge of the room where her apron and headscarf was hanging, "And if you think of it in terms of seconds, then a daily thing is every once in a while. Therefore, it's fine." Miss Yuuka smiled pleasantly and lifted her apron from the hook, tying it around her waist. "You two, please come over here. No lingering at the door, now." She stared at us mysteriously. "Especially when you don't know what might be on the other side of that door."

Staring at her in confusion, I slowly put my ear to the door. At first there was nothing, but then I realised with some alarm that I could hear muted breathing. Right on the opposite side of the door. I lurched backward, breathing hard.

"Well, not to worry. They don't enjoy it when there's no thrill of the chase." Miss Yuuka snapped her fingers twice and I turned back toward her. Yamame, clearly having seen my reaction, had already backed away from the door. "Over here, now. That's good." She nodded cheerfully once I'd come to join her. "You'll be fine by the time you leave. Now, would you like to try some of this?" She indicated the supply of baked good in front of her. With another nervous glance back at the door, I nodded and decided, again, to stick to Miss Yuuka.

Yamame, it seemed, didn't need to think about it. "Oh, um - Yes, please!" She said brightly, stepping forward. I considered asking her if she shouldn't be a little more scared but decided that just going with things would work out better. So, finally, I nodded and joined her.

"Excellent. Elly? The plates, if you please." Miss Yuuka raised a hand toward Elly, who snapped to attention and headed stiffly to the other side of the room and opened a cupboard, within which I could see several plates. "Chocolate croissants." Miss Yuuka explained as Elly returned with four plates. "Elly." She said, looking pointedly at the gatekeeper.

"Uh...Yes?"

"Only three." Miss Yuuka said calmly. "You've been spilling things far too often lately."

"Er, what? Lady Yuuka, that's because you keep surprising me!" I felt a little bad for the gatekeeper. "You can't just bang open every door to surprise me and then say that I'm the one who's spilling things!" There was a fun difference here between this gatekeeper and the Vampire's Mansion. While Elly clearly worked for Miss Yuuka, she was a lot less rigid in her speech toward her compared to the likes of Sakuya Izayoi.

Hesitantly, I opened my mouth to ask Miss Yuuka if she was willing to let Elly have some, especially since she'd made them, but before I could, Yamame beat me to it. "Um, Miss Yuuka, I think that your gatekeeper has done a very good job." I turned to Yamame with a raised eyebrow, and some worry. "Are you suggesting, Miss Kurodani, that I do not know how to treat my own staff?" Miss Yuuka asked quietly, tilting her head to the side slightly. I tried to shift myself slightly in front of Yamame, just in case Miss Yuuka decided to attack. For a tense moment, I weighed up a fight with Miss Yuuka against whatever waited outside the door of the kitchen, when she suddenly smiled. "Only teasing. I think she deserves a reward too. Oh, Elly? Four plates. Won't you join us?" Elly looked up from where she'd been trudging over to the cupboard to return her plate, then blinked twice before slowly returning toward us. "I do appreciate your work, Elly. Do not think that because I tease you like this, I don't."

"U-Um, thank you, Lady Yuuka..." Elly mumbled, bringing the plates over to a door, which she opened and stepped through. Miss Yuuka motioned Yamame and I through, and we found ourselves in what seemed to be another of her greenhouses, though it was empty of plants and had carpeted floors, as well as a table in the middle which was big enough to fit all of us while having the Winter sun beat down on us.