CH ss - 33

SS 33: The Couple Becoming a Pair of a Young Lady and Her Butler

Translated by: chocolalaProofread by: Seiryuu

“Yamato, I think you should do some training in acting.”

In a cafe with a peaceful atmosphere, Yuzu suddenly blurted that out.

“Acting? But I’ve never had the opportunity to perform in front of an audience,” I brushed away Yuzu’s remark and glanced at the waiters around us.

After school hours, Yuzu suddenly took me to a cafe…

However, this didn’t seem to be a normal cafe. To describe it more accurately, the waiters here were all males. Furthermore, they were all in butlers’ outfits. A so-called butler’s cafe? The clientele was almost exclusively female, making it slightly uncomfortable for me to be inside it.

“Aren’t you doing it? You’re acting to be a couple with me, you forgot?”

“No need. Even if the form is fake, my feelings for Yuzu are real. I really love you. So there is no need for acting. Now that we’re done talking, let’s go home.” I had a bad feeling about being told about such a topic in this place, and I left my seat as soon as possible.

However, Yuzu would not rise from her seat along with me but stopped me with her hand.

“Well, well. I know that Yamato-kun loves me, and I love Yamato-kun too, okay? We are in a position where we have to show it to the people around us. What do we need in order to demonstrate this? Yes, acting skills.” Yuzu persuaded me in a logical tone.

However, since playing as a fake couple was my job, I couldn’t ignore such a convincing argument. I sat back in my seat with a sigh to proceed to listen to Yuzu’s talk.

So I asked, “Why do I need training at this time when we’ve already gotten used to this fake couple thingy anyway?”

“It’s the other way round. You are used to it, that’s why. It’s when you get used to everything that you lose all the tension and it’s easy to have an accident.”

“Well… Now you mention that, that might be true…”

Now I remembered how my dad used to tell me that the most dangerous time to drive a car is when you are used to driving, rather than right after you get your license.

It might be better to listen to Yuzu, so that I could pull myself together.

“I got it. So, what should I do?”

I straightened up and asked Yuzu what she meant. She nodded her head in satisfaction and opened the menu list on the table.

“Um, I’m thinking of doing this,” she said as she pointed to a string of words.

So I read it aloud, “ Limited to couples. A course where your boyfriend becomes the butler …?”

+++++

A few minutes later…

“Oh, nice. It suits you quite well, Yamato-kun. You look so sleek. I like it.”

An oddly excited Yuzu was taking photos of me with her smartphone.

“Just what is this…”

I looked down at my outfit with a mixture of dismay and bewilderment. It was a butler’s uniform. The clothes were slightly different from the one worn by the shop attendants, perhaps to make a distinction, but they were unmistakably butler’s clothes.

On top of that, black-rimmed glasses had even been added under an option.

Oh my, just what the heck is this.

“Hey, Yuzu, just what do you mean…”

“Watch your words, call me ‘my lady’. You’re my butler.”

The mysterious ‘retake’ was instructed upon me. I thought of just ignoring it, but there was something strangely powerful about it and I couldn’t resist.

“…My lady, what do you mean by this?”

“I’m glad you asked. This is a special course designed to help Yamato-kun compensate for his shortcomings.”

“My shortcomings?”

My response seemed to have hyped her up, Yuzu’s speech became increasingly fervent.

“Of course, the part where you treated me badly till now! Like when you stood aghast at me, or gaze at me with eyes saying ‘Just what the hell is this girl talking about?!’ or not paying any attention to me! This is especially true when we’re in the classroom!” Like a prosecutor denouncing a suspect, Yuzu vented her daily frustrations.

“Eh, even if you say that, how can I be with about you 24/7—”

“Butler’s speech!”

“…It is not possible for me to be together all day with you, my lady. My lady also has friends to spend time with.”

When I made my point, Yuzu lost a little of her heated excitement.

“Even if you can’t help it, I don’t think it’s good that you’re treating me poorly like that so obviously. I hope you can understand how I feel when my friends look at me as though saying with their eyes, ‘Oh, she’s not being taken seriously by her boyfriend.’ It’s quite sad, you know?”

“Is that how it is?”

“That’s how it is.”

Yuzu nodded earnestly.

As for me, I thought I was being considerate of Yuzu in order not to reduce the time she spent with her friends, but it seemed that it had backfired. It was a bit of a miscommunication, but this was the kind of thing that could cause cracks in a human relationship.

I think I’d better take care of her and listen to what she had to say.

“Understood, my lady. Just for today, all right?”

When I nodded in agreement, Yuzu’s expression brightened.

“Yep! Thanks, Yamato-kun!”

…I thought it would be troublesome, but once I saw the innocent smile on her face, it made me feel like it was okay to go through the hassle, so strange.

—Alas, I soon came to regret that previous statement.

“Yamato-kun, prepare the tea.”

“Yes, my lady.”

“Yamato-kun, feed me the cake~”

“Yes, my lady. Open your mouth,”

“Yamato-kun, massage my shoulders~”

“Y-yes, my lady.”

“Yamato-kun, make a collection of healing cat images on my phone.”

“…Yes,”

“Yamato-kun, play the recommended playlists on YouTub—”

“Time out! Am I a butler or a coolie?” I was standing by Yuzu’s side, dealing with her constant barrage of selfish demands and finally I raised my voice.

This no longer had anything to do with acting. I was simply being her servant.

“It’s just your imagination. You’ll never be a good butler if you give up over just this.” My complaint might have dismayed her, Yuzu indignantly rebuked me while gracefully sipping her tea cross-legged.

Truly a selfish young lady.

“No, no, no. Rather than a butler, I’m starting to be able to relate to Cinderella. Halfway through I was wishing for the fairy godmother to come.”

“Who are you saying is the wicked stepmother? If I were the stepmother, the prince would choose me over Cinderella, and the story would end differently.”

“That’s one hell of a bad ending… Anyway, I demand better working conditions. Learn to be humble and reserved, young lady.”

Yuzu seemed to feel conflicted at my butler-like remonstrance, she only pouted her mouth without rebuttal.

“*pouts* …Indeed, I admit I had so much fun from halfway there and lost sight of what we were doing.”

“Right?”

Yuzu was easy to be carried away but she could be reasoned with.

“Then, one last thing, this time we’ll practise properly and be done with it.”

“All right. What shall I do?” I braced myself up, considering what had happened until then.

“Don’t be so cautious. The last thing we’re going to do is ‘Practice on telling sweet stories about your partner’1.”

“…Sweet talks?” The unexpected request made me tilt my head.

“Yes! I thought the best way to show others how much you care about me is by letting them listen to you talk about me in a lovey-dovey way. So, think of me as a third person and tell me how you love me.”

“…Talking sweetly about you, to you? Huh, is this a a new kind of torture?”

“No-no. This is simply training.”

“…Aaaah, fairy godmother, please come soon. I wonder if they have glass slippers for men.”

“Who’s your stepmother? I’m not bullying you! I’m serious about this!”

Such a humiliating treatment made me want to escape reality, but apparently she was for real.

“No, no… Can you even enjoy listening to those?”

“I’m sure I will!”

How she could unswervingly say yes here was none other than Yuzu’s shortcoming.

Whatever… There was nothing good in it but it was not like I had any other choice.

I’m a man who gets the job done. I’d just do my duty and talk sweetly about her to the utmost!

“Okay… I got it. I’m going to talk about you in a super lovey-dovey way, listen carefully!”

“Yay! Come now, give me all you got! From here, I’m no longer Nanamine Yuzu, just another person! Do it wholeheartedly!”

When I sat down in front of Yuzu with determination, she leaned forward with a look of excitement.

If she’s staring at me like this, this is going to be difficult, but I’m a man who does what he has to do.

“Um, firstly, my Yuzu is pretty and cute.”

“Yes, so cute!” Yuzu seemed to be fully enjoying it.

Darn you, narcissist.

“And then, her personality… is also quite cute.”

“Ow, that’s surprising. I didn’t expect you to say that.”

“Really, she’s just cute like that. She is so considerate towards others, and works hard when people are not looking, also despite being a narcissist, she never looks down on others.”

“Eh, ah, um…”

“In the first place, that narcissism is probably partly a cover for her bashful attitude. When I think about it that way, I think she’s really cute.”

“Wa-wait, it’s a shame to be called a narcissist in front of a third party, but I think you give me too much credit…”

At first, Yuzu was in high spirits, but as I continued to speak more and more, she gradually began to act a little strange.

“Is that so? Then I should be praising something else more. For example, Yuzu can be a bit harsh with me sometimes, but I think that’s only the way she’s acting spoiled with me. That’s because there’s no one else she could do that other than me. How should I say it? It’s the side of her that she only shows me?”

“T-time out! Enough! I get it already! I’m sorry anyway! More than I imagined, it made me feel way more embarrassed instead!”

At last, Yuzu stood up with a red face.

But I smiled like a bodhisattva and carried on with my talk, “Ahaha, when we say ‘sweet talks’, it only begins for real when the person you’re telling it to can no longer take it. So, let me continue. When others are with her, Yuzu is so good at making sure people don’t have to fuss about her.”

“Ya-Yamato-kun… Are you mad at me? Are you holding a grudge at me for treating you like Cinderella until just now?”

“No? I’m rather grateful for it. You’ve given me the opportunity to talk about what I love about Yuzu in such an open and honest way. Now, I’m going to have you stay with me until the end.”

“As I thought, you’re mad at me! Sorry! Truly sorry! I apologise for getting carried away!”

Afterwards, the public execution in the name of sweet-talking lasted for nearly an hour.

chocolala: Yuzu got attacked by critical hits!!

Footnotes

Just let me rant, this is actually a very short word in Japanese, but there’s no equivalent verb/noun in English, so it resulted with this