Editing Maria-sama ga Miteru:Volume7 Chapter2 1

===<noinclude>Rabbit and Cat and Wolf. </noinclude>Part 1===

If life continued like this, she'd become spoiled.

In the cafe opening onto the hotel lobby, Eriko sighed. The ice floating in her fresh juice shifted as it melted. Water condensed on the side of the glass and made a faint sound.

The person she was waiting for still hadn't arrived. She opened her diary and put a cross through yesterday's date. At any rate, all she could do was take it one day at a time.

The pink sweater and matching skirt brought to the hotel had been at the request of her partner for today's date. The fluffy collar was real rabbit fur. He liked that sort of thing.

Based on the time it had arrived at the hotel, he'd slipped out during his lunch break to buy it. The way it had been wrapped like a present was nice, but the receipt that had still been in the paper bag when it had been given to the front desk slipped out. While it had been purchased with a credit card, it was a startlingly expensive set of clothing.

But even so, just how much was their monthly salary? This evening's hotel bill, tickets to classical ballet and dinner, all paid for by him, and to top it all off, these clothes as a gift.

One of them would splurge, which would kick off an endless cycle where they all tried to outspend the previous one.

How many days so far had she not returned home?

Her sole salvation was that they were all corporate employees, so during the day she could escape to school and have an afternoon nap. 

"Eriko-chan."

Seeing the man happily waving at her, Eriko fired herself up with a, "Let's do this," and smiled broadly at him.

"Thanks for the clothes. You like?"

Rising from the chair, she cocked her head.

"Very cute. Like a little bunny rabbit."

He nodded, satisfied.

"Shall we go?"

"Yeah."

His right hand picked up the bill, while his left entwined itself with Eriko's arm. It was something necessary so that they could enjoy their time together. It was a lie, but he was under the impression it was "fun."