Editing Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu:Volume1 Chapter2 (section)

===3===
And then it was lunchtime.

According to the schedule, the place where we're supposed to have lunch is a restaurant named 'Calotte-culotte'.

"What kind of restaurant is it?"

It could be a family restaurant, but it was impossible to tell from the name of the restaurant.

Haruka gave a mysterious smile, looking as though she had been waiting for that question for a long time.

"It's a cafe that I read about in a magazine, a place which I've been wanting to go for a long time. This is the second-most important activity of the day, so please look forward to it!"

The second-most important activity of the day? Hmm, upon closer inspection, there's a small flower-shaped symbol beside the name of the cafe, something which I had missed (or had subconsciously deleted from my field of vision). And also, a 'monster' was drawn beside the large electronics store that was the focal point of our shopping trip. This 'monster' had a needle-like beard, sharp claws and blood-red eyes...Haruka was probably trying to draw a cat wasn't she?

"Lalala...♪"

Haruka hummed the tune of 'A Young Maiden's Prayer' as she skipped along.

But I was unable to relax. My body was ensnared by an unknown sense of uneasiness, like the sudden appearance of rain clouds, together with thunder and lightning on an impossibly sunny day.

"We're here."

Haruka's voice brought me down to earth. Looks like we have already reached our destination while I was lost in thought.

"Looks like there aren't a lot of people inside yet, that's great! Yuuto-san, let's go inside!"

Haruka's voice sounded extremely joyful.

Just what kind of weird (please forgive my rudeness) cafe has Haruka recommended? I looked up while holding on to my biased opinion.

"...Huh?"

It's a very normal-looking cafe!

The exterior of the cafe gave passerbys a cute yet elegant impression, the type which girls like. Looking in through the glass windows, the interior decorations also weren't too flashy, giving potential customers a good feeling about the cafe. After going into the cafe itself, I didn't find anything that was particularly abnormal or unacceptable. Anyway, the interior decorations of this restaurant had white as it's basic theme, giving the cafe a simplistic feel. Although I was a bit concerned about the fact that most of the customers were male, since everything was within my area of tolerance, I didn't give much thought to it. 

We sat down at a table beside the window and looked at the menu. The menu had...many imaginative dishes, but...it's still rather normal I guess! 

Hmm...Looks like I've been worrying for nothing. Haruka should have placed this cafe as the second most important activity due to its cute decor. Yes, that must be it, in principle, Haruka's still a normal girl.

Just as I sighed in relief and prepared to order, a girl's voice sounded above my head.

"Welcome, would you be ordering now?"

Ah! The waitress was here to take out orders. I was still trying to decide between 'Pasta from the unbelievable kingdom', or the 'Seven dwarves' apple pie', while Haruka was also having a hard time deciding on what to order. Well then, I'll just have to ask the waitress to wait for a while more!

I put down the menu and raised my head.

"Hmm, I'm sorry, but we'll need a bit more time to decide, please..."

I was unable to finish the sentence.

Because what I saw made all my bodily functions come to a complete stop.

Even my brain stopped working.

"..."

"Mister, what's wrong?"

Because standing in front of my eyes was a...how should I put it...a maid. She was wearing an apron with a similarly colored hairband (something like a hairband, I don't know the official name for it), and she also had something that looked like cat ears on her head. Was I hallucinating?

"Your friend hasn't decided on her order yet?"

"Ah, that's right. Could you please wait for a while more?'

"I got it~~Please take your time."

The plate-bearing cat-eared maid nodded. A cat-ear maid...If I were to describe her appearance, I would say that her performance is extremely outstanding.

"Then please call for me when both of you have decided..."

The cat-ear maid smiled kindly as she walked away, her tail swaying from side to side behind her. To confirm that my vision was still normal, I immediately shot a question at Haruka.

"Haruka...what is this place?"

"Isn't this a cafe?"

That I know... I mean, when did cat-eared maids become the standard accessories of a Japanese cafe?

"The uniforms of the waitresses here are all very cute, that's why everyone comes here just for the maids."

"..."

...Hang on, Haruka said 'everyone'?

I rushed out of the cafe to check out its sign once again, realizing that the sign really did say 'Maid cafe' 'Calotte-culotte'.

So that's it...It really is that kind of cafe.

I sat back down feeling emotionally drained. 

A maid cafe! Since the truth was now in front of my eyes, I could only agree with the cafe's decision to let their waitresses dress up as maids, since that was their main selling point. There would be no point in running a maid cafe without maids in it.

Which was why I could only compromise. No, not that I wasn't disturbed, but if I was too disturbed, we won't be able to eat lunch. But...

"...Hey, why are all of them wearing cat ears?"

That was my biggest question. And upon closer inspection, some of the maids even had tails...From a purely academic point of view, what are they trying to do with that kind of accessory?

"Isn't it because it's very cute?"

Haruka's answer was short and sweet.

"The original maid costume is already extremely cute, so adding a pair of cat ears would serve to amplify that cuteness. This is a perfect example of a situation whereby 1 plus 1 does not equate to 2, but equates to 3, or even 4."

Haruka smiled. I agree with her analysis, but...

[[Image:NHnH vol01 142.jpg|thumb]]
"It's really cute...I want to try on a maid costume too. I think I'll borrow one from Hazuki next time..."

Haruka looked at the maids with a dreamy look in her eyes. Hmm...I want to imagine...how Haruka would look like in a maid uniform. Haruka in a maid costume and wearing a pair of cat ears, smiling as she says 'Master♪'...it has a nice feel to it.

...What am I thinking about! 

I don't like the me that's thinking unwholesome thoughts. To purge those impure thoughts from my brain, I twisted my body and looked at Haruka, who was still looking dreamily at the maids in the cafe out of the corner of my eye. Suddenly, Haruka lightly hit the palm of her left hand with her right hand as though she suddenly remembered something.

"Yuuto-san...I thought of a good idea."

"...What good idea?"

I don't think that it'll be anything good for me, which was why I was rather afraid of Haruka's answer.

"I want to ask them to allow us to take pictures of them."

"Huh?"

"It's such a rare chance for me to be here, so I want to take a photo with the maids ."

"Wait minute..."

I wasn't even able to try to stop her before Haruka started moving with a digital camera that had popped out of nowhere in her hand.

"Excuse me, but...could I take a picture with you?"

Haruka called a maid over and made her request. 

"I'm very sorry, but our cafe prohibits the taking of pictures..."

The cat-eared maid rejected the request politely.

"Hmm? Is that so?"

"Yes, I'm really sorry..."

The maid bowed apologetically. That's great, though I felt that it wasn't very nice to Haruka, but at least I won't be forced to take an embarrassing picture in this kind of cafe.

But, I seemed to have relaxed a tad too early.

"Really...can't? I really really wanted to take a picture with cat-ear maids..."

Haruka looked like an abandoned kitten. Perhaps the cat-ear maid couldn't bear to see a customer in such a depressed state, she thought about it for a while before telling Haruka, 'Hmm, please wait for a while, perhaps there's a way,' and then ran off towards the employee area of the cafe. I fervently hoped that she wouldn't come back with a solution...but before I could do anything, the cat-eared maid came running back.

"Mister, Miss, please follow me."

"?"

"About this, I told the manager about your request, and he allows you to take pictures. If you don't mind, I could take the picture with the two of you. But so as to not disturb the other customers, we'll have to go into the employee section of the cafe to take the pictures..."

"Really? Of course that would be alright. Thank you."

Haruka nodded in appreciation as she smiled joyfully, causing the cat-ear maid to blush in embarrassment. How should I put it, because Haruka used her angelic smile (ultimate move), that was effective against both genders. Hmm...perhaps there would be one more female member for the fan club, which doesn't have many female members. (By the way, the male:female ratio of the Hakujo Academy Nogizaka Haruka Fanclub is 5:1).





Anyway, on that day, the 'Nuit étoile', the cat-eared maid and I smiled for the camera (my face was cramped up), obtaining a photo that could be passed down to later generations, but was too embarrassing to talk about. 

Under the smiling face of the cat-ear maid, I left the maid cafe feeling extremely tired. But almost immediately, Haruka saw something that she liked once again, swiftly going into her fifth special operation of the day. I could only sit down on the dirty bench in front of the store, staring blankly at Haruka. 

"Ah! Isn't that Yuuto?"

A voice that shouldn't be heard here came from the crowd.

I pretended not to know this person as I turned away. But this fellow was extremely stubborn and never gave up easily.

"Hey, Yuuto..."

"..."

"Yuuto?"

"..."

"Ah, you're ignoring me on purpose! Alright, you have a strategy, I have one too."

"..."

"Hmm...watch out! Ayase Yuuto, Hakujo Academy Year 1 Class 2, during his kindergarten years, had once been......"

"...I get it, I get it, Nobunaga, it's my fault."

Seeing that I surrendered, this childhood friend of mine said childishly, 'That's more like it.'

"But...Nobunaga, what are you doing here?"

"Huh? You just asked a very strange question. As long as it's not a school day, I'll always be here. You of all people should know that this is our sacred land."

"...Right, now that you mention it."

...I guess I do.

"It just so happens that there's an event today! No, to be precise, it started from yesterday...The more surprising thing should be your presence here. You always reject my invitations to come here!"

I don't want to come precisely because you're the one inviting me. To me, the combination of this person and this street was the worst copulation on earth. Particularly during New Years and festival times, it feels like everyone on this street is attending a funeral or something. 

This fellow was right, it wasn't surprising at all for him to be here, for it was like seeing fish in the ocean, a natural phenomenon. For where else would Otaku be if not here at Akihabara?

The problem was, I had completely forgotten about shopping with Haruka. Ah, now that I've remembered the reason behind my presence on this street, I have to think of a solution to this situation. 

"What's wrong? Yuuto, you don't look well."

"I have a slight headache..."

"That's bad, do you want me to give you a pill for it? Half of the contents of this pill is my kindness."

How could he say something like that to a person with a headache!

"Never mind, Nobunaga, aren't you busy? You don't have to care about me, just go!"

"I'm not busy. The main event has already ended, so I'm free."

"But isn't being together with me really boring? On such a rare Sunday, you should spread out your wings and fly!"

"Yuuto, why do I get the feeling that you're trying to brush me off."

"No, why would I do that..."

The situation was really bad. I have to make this fellow disappear before Haruka comes back or things will get ugly. 

"Hmm...Whatever makes you happy! Since my event has finished and I'm so tired, I think I should just go home and sleep."

A sleepy-looking Nobunaga gave a loud yawn, a rare action for someone as healthy as him.

"Because the event started yesterday, I've practically been awake since yesterday. Luckily everything went smoothly at the stall. Hahaha,"

Looks like this guy is really tired. 

"Then I'll be going first. Yuuto, see you in school tomorrow!"

Nobunaga waved the paper bag in his right hand as he walked towards the station.