Infinite Stratos - Volume 4, page 6
"But it doesn't matter much anyway. We got our clothes anyway."
"Since you bought it, might as well change into it."
"No, well, about that, actually, it'll be bad if I stain it."
"Oh? Ah, are you going to show it to Ichika the first time you wear it?"
"What? No, that's not it! Th-That Tha-That's not true at all!"
Seeing Laura blushing and all flustered, Charlotte believed that she had it right, but she pretended to be oblivious.
"Okay, sorry for saying such weird stuff."
"Re-Rea-Really!"
"Laura."
"Wha-What?"
"You're holding your fork and spoon in the opposite manner."
"Uu~!"
After Charlotte pointed that out, Laura found out she was holding her cutlery the wrong way, and this really made her blush. The spoon that was about to reach her mouth moved away.
"Wha-What are we going to do in the afternoon?"
"Shop for some life accessories. I want to check the watches out. I really like Japanese watches."
"You want to buy a watch?"
"Mn, it's rare anyway. Don't you want to buy something, Laura? Something Japanese?"
After thinking for a while, Laura simply said,
"A Japanese Sword."
"...Something more feminine?"
"No."
"Something more feminine?"
"None."
Laura answered immediately. Though it was to be expected, after hearing her cold response, Charlotte's shoulders dropped dejectedly.
Suddenly, Charlotte noticed the woman sitting in the next table.
"...What should I do? Really..."
Her age's about between 25 to 30, and she's wearing tight-fitting suit.
She seemed to be depressed as the garlic and pepper pasta that was served was all cold now.
"Haa..."
They could feel that she was really depressed from her sighing.
"Hey, Laura."
"There's a limit to being nosy."
This time, Laura cut off what Charlotte was about to say.
Even though she was shocked by Laura's response, Charlotte looked rather happy and continued,
"So you understand me well."
"Just-Just about there...so, what do you want to do?"
"Hm, anyway, let's hear her out first."
After saying that, Charlotte got up from her seat and talked to the woman.
"Excuse me...what's wrong?"
"Huh--?"
On seeing them, *BATAM!* That woman suddenly stood up and grabbed Charlotte's hands.
"You-You two!"
"Wha-What's the matter?"
"Do you want to work?"
""HUH?""
◆
"So those two suddenly resigned. I think they eloped instead of resigning though. Haha..."
"Ah."
"Mn."
"But today's a very important day! The main office will send people over to check on us, so please help. Just for today! I hope that you'll work today."
That woman's shop was a unique café.
The girls would dress like maids, and the guys would dress as butlers to serve the customers—it's the so-called maid (and butler) café.
"I'm okay with that..."
Having changed clothes, Charlotte hid her emotions and asked,
"But why am I dressed as a butler...?"
"Because you see, it really suits you! You're more handsome and cool than those guys over there!"
"Really..."
Even though she was praised, Charlotte sighed, unable to be happy.
(I want to wear a maid outfit too...Laura looks so cute wearing it...)
Feeling really regretful, Charlotte glanced at the butler attire on her.
(Uu~ am I more suited to this image...)
Perhaps realizing that Charlotte looked rather downhearted, the shopkeeper who was also in maid outfit grabbed her hand tightly.
"There's no problem. It suits you well!"
"Is-Is that so? Ahaha..."
Though she looked rather stiff, Charlotte answered back with a smile.
(That's where the problem lies...)
With complicated feelings of a girl, she again turns to look at Laura who's dressed in a maid outfit.
The graceful maid outfit had a slender yet strong body in the midst of it, and her straight silver hair encompassed everything, including the mysterious looking eyepatch.
(Uu~ I'm so envious! Why must Laura be this cute...)
She once again realized Laura's charm.
Even when wearing men's clothing, Laura would look like a 'Cool Girl', or at least that's what Charlotte thought.
In contrast, once she puts on men's clothing, she would be a 'Cute Guy'. Thinking about this, she naturally sighed.
"Shopkeeper~ please help out~"
The floor manager asked for help. The shopkeeper immediately applied the final touches and walked to the entrance at the back.
"We-Well, I have one last question."
"Hm?"
"What's the name of this shop?"
The shopkeeper smiled and pulled her skirt up, bowing as she lifted her skirt in a cute manner that doesn't match her mature appearance.
"Dear customers, welcome to @Cruise."
◆
"Dunois-kun, I'll leave the red tea and coffee for Table 4 to you."
"Okay."
Charlotte received the drinks and put them the tray that has the @Cruise logo on it.
This simple action had such a high elegance to it. At that moment, the workers who became Charlotte's coworkers were all amazed at her elegance.
It was her first time working, yet she was fearless in her gestures. Graceful, but not annoying.
The female customers seemed to be mesmerized by Charlotte's gesture.
"Sorry to keep you waiting. May I know who ordered red tea?"
"M-Me."
Even though she was older, the woman looked nervous as she answered Charlotte.
After passing the red tea and coffee to the female customers, Charlotte asked them if they needed a 'Certain Service' in the shop.
"Do you need sugar and milk? If you do, please allow me to serve both of you."
"Pl-Please do so. U-Umm, I'll have more sugar and milk."
"Me-Me too."
Actually, these two customers normally wouldn't add sugar or milk, but they just want to enjoy this beautiful butler service, so they deliberately answered him.
Perhaps seeing through their thoughts, Charlotte showed a gentle smile and nodded her head.
"I understand. Then, please excuse me."
Charlotte's beautiful slender white fingers held onto the spoon lightly as she silently added sugar and milk and mixed them in the cups.
Even the occasional light knocking sound caused the female customers to hold their breaths.
"Please enjoy."
"Th-Thanks..."
One of the customers received the cup from Charlotte's hands, looking extremely tense as she brings it to her mouth.
Then, the other female customer who let Charlotte stir her cup looked extremely tense as she coughed once.
"Then, if there's any need, please call me again, ojou-samas."
After saying that, Charlotte bowed beautifully and gave off a huge 'Princely' presence. The female customers just looked stunned, and a simple nod from her was the limit for them.
(Ohh, the service industry's really tough. Is Laura going to be alright?)
Charlotte continued to work as she looked for Laura.
And then she saw Laura taking orders from three male customers.
"Huh, you're pretty cute? Mind telling me your name?"
"..."
"Hey there, tell me, what time are you dismissed from work? Let's go out—s"
*DAM!* The table got slammed on (or more like thrown over), letting out a huge clank from the teacups, and the liquid inside spilled down.
As the guys got shocked, Laura said with a cold tone,
"This is water, drink it."
"And one with attitude at that! I want to know you more—"
As he spoke halfway without even ordering, Laura left their table.
Then, she went to the bar and said some words. After that, she put a drink on the tray and walked over.
"Drink it."
Laura placed the cup on the table in a slightly gentler manner (as the coffee tray would break). Even so, the coffee still spilled out from the cup.
"Huh, erm, I don't think I ordered coffee..."
"What? If you're not a customer, get out."
"No-No, that's not it, I just want to check out the items on the menu..."
Perhaps he got a good impression on Laura or got taken aback by Laura's no-buts mentality, as the guy continued to find suitable words to talk to her.
In fact, in this society where women reign supreme, people who dare to talk up girls like this are either brave souls or idiots. These guys are definitely the latter.
"Lik-Like I said, even if it's coffee, there's mocca or Kilimanjaro coffee or something..."
Laura's eyes weren't smiling as it seemed that she wanted to interrupt them. She gave a sneer.
"What? Can you ordinary blokes taste the difference?"
"Huh, that...sorry..."
In the end, the guys lost under the absolute zero stare and mockery of Laura as she backed away to let them drink their coffee.
"Get out once you people are done. Stop hogging the seats."
"Yes..."
The German Ice side of Laura still remains.
But the hard-to-approach attitude of hers, coupled with her pretty looks seemed to become a charm, as the male customers in the shop were giving a 'I want to be served the same manner'.
"That-That girl's amazing..."
"I want to be scolded by her, stared down by her, looked down by her!"
Even though quite a few customers were rather excited, the other customers and even the staff members pretended not to notice it as they continued with that work.
"We-Well, can I add another order? If possible, I'll have that blond butler!"
"I want coffee! Can the silver-haired maid come over?"
"I want the bishounen butler!"
"I want the bishoujo maid!"
This commotion spread throughout the entire shop, causing an explosive ruckus.
Feeling really troubled, Charlotte and Laura didn't know what to do, but the shopkeeper moved in and directed them to whichever table they needed to go to and controlled the way they were called. As expected of a professional, the shopkeeper was clear on the instructions, and they skillfully finished serving 5 times the usual number of customers.
This chaotic situation maintained itself for about 2 hours. As Charlotte and Laura were mentally tired, something happened.
"EVERYONE, DON'T MOVE!!!"
Three men broke in and shouted loudly.
For a while everyone present didn't know what was going on, but after hearing a gunshot, someone screamed.
"KYAAAAHHHH!!!"
"SHUT UP! BE QUIET!!"
The men were dressed in jackets and jeans. Their heads were masked and they had guns. They also had quite a lot of bank notes in the bags behind them.
In one look, anyone could tell that they were robbers, and they had just robbed a bank.
The 20th century manga attire stunned everyone, but that was something else altogether. Besides, they were savage criminals with guns, so everyone had to follow their orders.
"HELLO—THE ROBBERS INSIDE! YOU'RE ALREADY SURROUNDED! HURRY UP AND SURRENDER! I REPEAT—"
The police sealed off the place extremely fast, creating a yellow area in front of the station. Looking through the windows, the patrol cars sealed off the roads outside the shop, and they were policemen dressed in bulletproof vests and riot shields in their hands, forming a perimeter.
"...For some reason—"
"...The police are responding in the same manner."
"...How old fashioned..."
Several customers remembered the old-chronicles of history that wouldn't be useful to teenagers, forgetting that they were hostages as they muttered.
"Wha, what do we do, aniki[4B 2]!? If this keeps up, we'll all—"
"Don't panic! There's nothing to panic. We have hostages. They can't force their way in."
What looks like the leader of the trio, a relatively well-built man said this, and the other two that wanted to run away naturally regained their confidence.
"He-Hehe, that's right! We have lots of cash to get this."
*DUKIN!* As the hard sound of metal could be heard, the men started loading their pump-action shotguns, and then shot at the ceiling to terrify them.
"KYAAAHHH!!"
As the lights shattered, the (mentally) lost female customers let out an ear piercing scream. In response, the leader fired a pistol to make her shut up.
"SHUT UP! WE WON'T KILL YOU IF YOU FOLLOW WHAT WE DO, GOT IT!?"
The woman went pale and nodded a few times, biting her lips tight for fear that she could let out her voice.
"HEY, THE POLICE OUTSIDE, YOU CAN HEAR ME, RIGHT!? IF YOU WANT ALL THE HOSTAGES TO ESCAPE SAFELY, PREPARE A CAR FOR US HERE! OF COURSE, YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO SEND CARS AFTER US, NOR ARE YOU ALLOWED TO PUT A TRACKING DEVICE ON US!!"
After the man shouted that coolly, he added a 'This is payment for being our gofer' and shot at the cops.
Luckily, the bullet only broke the window of a patrol car, but that was enough to scare the surrounding onlookers.
"Hehe, these guys are in a mess."
"Someone said that 'It's easier to commit a crime in a peaceful country', so that's true after all!"
"Yeah."
The men gave vicious smiles, but a pair of eyes were observing them.
(One of them has a shotgun, another has a submachine gun, and the boss has a pistol. There may be other weapons prepared, but anyway--)
Charlotte continued to keep low as she calmly analyzed the situation.
Checking the situation in the shop again, she moved her eyes, but suddenly widened them in shock.
Other than the criminals, the only one standing in the shop was Laura. Besides, the pretty girl that would dazzle anyone with her silver hair and eyepatch would make anyone want to stop for her.
"What's with you? Didn't I tell you to be quiet?"
Unexpectedly, the boss went over. Laura just glanced at his gun and looked away.
"Hey, are you listening? Or do you not know Japanese?"
"Forget about it, Aniki. Isn't this good? We have lots of time, so let's get this girl to serve us!"
"Ah? What are you saying, kid?"
"Because you see, she's really cute!"
"I-I agree! I've never been to a maid café before..."
The two henchmen snickered, looking rather excited yet shy. The boss frowned, and sat down on the sofa.
"Humph, oh well, I'm thirsty anyway. Hey, bring me the menu!"
Glancing at the three men, Laura didn't look back as she walked to the bar.
And brings out a jug of water with ice filled to the brim.
"...What's this?"
"Water."
"No, we want a menu..."
"Shut up and drink it—if you dare."
Laura suddenly spun the tray, and the ice water naturally dances in mid-air. It seems that she wanted to overturn it as she grabbed the ice—and flicked it out.
"OUCH!! WH-WHA-WHAT ARE YOU—"
That was an ice bullet from Laura's finger as the ice bullet immediately knocked out the index finger, separating it from the trigger. The eyelids, eyebrows and throat got struck while he was defenseless.
And before the criminal could even roar, Laura launched a knee-strike at another guy's abdomen.
"STOP MESSING AROUND! YOU PUNK!!"
Quick to recover from the pain, the boss immediately started firing.
The explosion of the bullet could be heard, but it didn't hit Laura.
Laura used everything in the shop, including sofa, tables, plants, vending machines as cover as her slender body darted through them at an unimaginable speed.
"An-Aniki! This-This brat—"
"SHUT UP! SHE'S JUST A PUNK, HURRY UP AND DEAL WITH—"
"—Unfortunately for you, there's not just one."
Closing in behind the boss while he was reloading was a bishounen dressed in butler attire—correction, it's the bishoujo Charlotte.
Saying this, Charlotte sighed in pity. The reason wasn't just because she got involved in some needless criminal activity, but also that Laura took action without waiting—and that she had to support her.
"WHAT!? You—"
"Ah, good thing I'm in butler attire. Yup, then I can lift my leg without worry."
Charlotte said that as she kicked the pistol off the boss' fingers.
Then, she raised her leg, and it landed on the shoulder of the man who was holding the shotgun, making him unable to fight back. With a crisp rattling sound, the man's arm that was holding the shotgun fell in a limp.
Both of them were already used to it—because, this isn't some hi-level combat.
This was also proof of how many tough battles they'd been through.
Once someone becomes a personal IS pilot, any country would have a mock training session for 'All possible scenarios', and that applies for representative cadets as well.
They're trained to overcome difficulties even when they can't deploy their ISes.
Of course, Laura, who was a soldier, had much better skills, reaction ability and physical ability than Charlotte, who was not from military personnel.
But it wasn't too much of a problem for her to handle this.
"Target 2's taken down—Laura, what about you?"
"No problems. Target 3's taken down as well."
Both of them confirmed that the two henchmen had lost all consciousness and mobility (they're knocked out), and nodded at each other.
Only the final target was left—the boss. As expected, the guy who got his finger kicked readied his pistol in his left hand, trying to stand up.
"ST-STOP MESSING AROUND!! HOW, HOW CAN I, HOW CAN I LOSE TO TWO BRATS LIKE THAT...!"
The moment he was about to squeeze the trigger, Laura went leaping forward like a bullet.
Turning around to dodge the first bullet, Charlotte stepped on the special @Cruise tray under her foot.
The 'Item' that was stepped on the edge flew in mid-air, and flew to Laura's hand that was just there.
