While Fii chased after the running maid girl, the other maids gossiped.

“What a silly girl. This is why none of the other maids ever approach York-sama.”

“Yeah, even though the rest of us can only watch him from afar. Serves her right.”

“She’s a newcomer so I guess she didn’t know. I don’t know if he saved her in the past or whatever, but this is what happens when you try and steal a march on others.”

As Fii was pa.s.sing by, she ran over to the maids. Placing her left hand on her hip and looking a little angry, she leant in and poked the maid on the nose.

“You girls, it’s not good to talk bad about people like that, you know.”

“H-, Heath-kun!?”

The maids all looked at her in shock.
A few maids were even a little flushed.

“Anyway, do you know where she went? I lost sight of her.”

“Ummm…. She went that way, but…”

“Thanks! I’ll see you later!”

Flas.h.i.+ng the maids a smile, Fii ran off with a wave.

“T-, The smile of an angel…”

“So cute…”

The maids stood in a daze as they watched Fii disappear.

After running for a while in the direction the maids indicated, Fii finally found her. The girl was crying as she hugged her knees in the shade of a tree.

Fii down next to her.

“Are you okay? Sorry. Captain said some cruel things.”

“Heath-kun!?”

The girl seemed to have been crying quite a bit.
She hadn’t even noticed Fii arrive, so there was shock all over her face. While wiping her tears, the maid girl spoke.

“No, it was my fault. I didn’t think about York-sama’s feelings. I got in the way of your conversation too. Of course he’d hate me.”

“I don’t think that’s quite right…” muttered Fii.

Still, she pulled out a handkerchief from her pocket and wiped the girl’s tears.

“You shouldn’t rub like that. Your eyes will go red.”

“Y-, Yes. I’m sorry. But is it okay for you to be here? You were speaking with York-sama.”

Her words caused Fii to remember what happened. It made Fii feel a little down.

“Speaking of which, I went and called him an idiot…”

“I’m so sorry! It’s my fault!”

“No, it wasn’t. I said it because I wanted to.”

“But…”

The maid girl looked on the verge of tears again.
Even the fight with York and Fii was brought up.

(I came here to comfort her, but it’s not going too well, is it.)

“Hmmm…”

After thinking for a while, Fii turned the girl’s chin with her index finger, and then peered straight into her eyes.

“Tears really don’t suit you. What I want to see is your smile. So please stop crying.”

“Eh-…”

The girl suddenly froze with wide-open eyes.
And since Fii didn’t know what to say next, she froze as well.
The atmosphere became a little weird.

Folding her arms, Fii tilted her head in wonder.

“That’s weird. I did it just like Crow-san, but it didn’t go too well.”

“Y-, You were copying Crow-sama…?”

“Yeah. He told me to say those things to a girl.”

“I don’t really think it suits you, Heath-kun…”

“I seee. But you stopped crying, so I guess it all worked out.”

“Ah-…”

With that, the girl noticed that her tears had stopped at some point.
Although it was surprise that stopped her crying, somehow all the sadness from before seemed a little fainter now.

“Well, anyway, I want you to cheer up. That’s all I wanted to say.”

The maid nodded at the brightly smiling Fii.

“Thanks, Heath-kun.”

Although her eyes were still a little red, the maid girl smiled back.
While the two of them smiled at each other, a sudden grumbling sound interrupted.
It was the sound of Fii’s stomach.

Now it was Fii’s turn to turn a little red as she held her stomach, embarra.s.sed.

“Uuu, how embarra.s.sing. We had such a good atmosphere going too.”

The maid girl chuckled at her and presented the cookies she was still holding.

“If you’d like, please eat these.”

“Can I?”

“Mn. There’s n.o.body to give them to now, and I’d be happy if you ate them instead.”

“I see. Then I’ll help myself!”

Fii took them into her hands with a smile.
And then she promptly opened the bag and opened wide.

“Mn! It’s really good!”

She could smell the fragrant b.u.t.ter, and the cookies had been baked perfectly crispy. Although Fii felt that it was lacking a little sweetness, that gave it a refined taste instead.
A natural smile surfaced on her face.

It was a smile that caused the girl to stare a little.

“Althea! Where are you!”

“I’m sorry for being mean! We should have warned you properly!”

“Please come out!”

Suddenly, they could hear voices from around the corner. It was in the direction where Fii came from, and the voices belonged to the maids from before.
Their cries were tinted heavily with both apology and worry for the girl they were looking for.

“Ah-, it’s my senpais,” reacted the maid girl.

She didn’t seem to be unhappy about it.
Although the maids probably bickered and argued with each other, it definitely wasn’t everything.

“I guess they’ve come to apologise. So your name was Althea?”

“Ah-, yes.”

“It looks like things are alright now. I’m going to go.”

Fii stood up and dusted off her pants before running off somewhere again.
Though, mid-run, she turned and flashed another smile as she waved goodbye to Althea.

“See you later, Althea!”

“Ah-… Thank you…”

But Fii’s actions were prompt, and she had disappeared before Althea could get the words out.

“Altheaa! There you are!”

“What’s wrong?”

“Heath-kun…”

When her senpais discovered her, Althea was still staring dazedly in the direction that Fii had disappeared in.