My Beautiful Childhood Friend Is Working in a Maid Cafe For Some Reason

I began to distance myself from Yusuke-kun.

At first, I didn’t separate from him completely.

When he invited me to walk or go home together, I avoided him by saying I had something to do. If he tried to talk to me, I’d intentionally hurry over to Nishiguchi’s group of friends and ignore him. Gradually, I started spending less and less time with Yusuke-kun.

I avoided him, ignored him, and tried not to talk to him… I did everything to reduce the time we spent together.

Every time I saw Yusuke-kun’s lonely expression, my chest tightened. And whenever I saw Nishiguchi happily chatting by his side in my place, I felt like crying.

But I couldn’t tell anyone. Even when Mom worried about my relationship with Yusuke-kun, I lied, saying we were just having a little fight.

When I finally cut Yusuke-kun off completely, I ended up all alone. Nishiguchi and her group, who I thought were my friends, started treating me like I didn’t exist.

Ignoring me, as if saying, “You’re useless now. Disappear.”

That’s when I finally understood everything. I was in their way. Being next to Yusuke-kun all the time made me a nuisance. So, they pretended to be friends, used me as much as they could, and once I was no longer useful, they threw me away like trash.

I had never hated anyone as much as I hated her. I thought things I shouldn’t have, over and over.

But I couldn’t go back to how things were with Yusuke-kun.

The distance between us had grown too far.

If we hadn’t been in the same class, maybe I could’ve managed. But the bond of childhood friendship was too strong.

It was a bond I had once cherished, but now, it caused me more pain than joy.

Even when we entered middle school, Yusuke-kun and I were always in the same class. By the third year, it had become so normal that I didn’t even feel anything about it anymore.

In the end, I never found out if Nishiguchi confessed her feelings to Yusuke-kun. But one day, I heard something.

Apparently, Nishiguchi was dating a handsome guy.

Since many of our middle school classmates had been with us in elementary school, Nishiguchi was still around. I truly hated her. In the end, all she did was tear apart the relationship between me and Yusuke-kun.

If Nishiguchi had a boyfriend, there was no need for me to keep my distance from Yusuke-kun anymore. I wanted to talk to him again… to laugh together like we used to.

But I couldn’t.

Even though I was the one who distanced myself, even though I hurt him, I didn’t know how I could possibly face him now.

And besides, Yusuke-kun seemed to have stopped caring about me altogether.

One day, while handing out notebooks, our fingers accidentally touched. I thought it might be a chance to talk to him again, but all Yusuke-kun said was, “Sorry, Himemiya-san.”

He didn’t use my name but called me by my last name… as if I were a stranger. That made it clear to me that my relationship with Yusuke-kun had completely ended.

After that, I just cried and cried. Every day, I’d go to school, cry in the bathroom, then go home and cry some more.

Seeing me like that, even Mom couldn’t bear it anymore and started crying too. It made me even sadder that I had made her cry, even though she had nothing to do with it.

After calming down, I told her everything. I confessed that I still loved Yusuke-kun and wanted to be close to him again.

Mom acted right away. She explained the situation to Yusuke-kun’s mother. Yusuke-kun’s mother said she would scold him, but I told her not to because Yusuke-kun hadn’t done anything wrong.

Then, Yusuke-kun’s mother made a suggestion. She said I should go to the same high school as Yusuke-kun and live next door to him, as he would be living alone.

Normally, a mother wouldn’t agree to let her precious son live separately just because of some childhood crush. But Yusuke-kun’s mother said, “Yusuke only has Yukina-chan, so do what you want.”

At that moment, I loved Yusuke-kun’s mother even more. I knew then that she was the only future mother-in-law for me.

From there, everything started falling into place. I chose a high school that Yusuke-kun could get into and found an apartment with adjoining rooms nearby.

Yusuke-kun’s mother carefully guided him onto the path she had planned. Of course, we kept all of this a secret from him.

Time passed, and we began our new lives in this ideal setup. Living next to Yusuke-kun, waiting for the chance to interact with him was, to be honest, frustrating.

I thought I could just go over, push him down, and make something happen, so he’d be mine. But then I worried that he would run away, thinking I hated him. I didn’t want to ruin everything after getting this far. I needed his cooperation to go from living together to marriage.

So, I decided to wait until Yusuke-kun talked to me first.

One day, I overheard Yusuke-kun talking with another boy. Apparently, he had become an otaku and was really into maid cafes.

For a moment… just for a moment, I was a bit taken aback. But I didn’t want to deny something that the person I love enjoyed.

If I became his personal maid, maybe he would shower me with love. That’s why I decided to become a maid. But I didn’t know what being a maid involved. So, I thought I’d work part-time at a maid cafe to practice.

I was worried about whether it was okay for a high school girl to do this, but Miyuki-san, the person who interviewed me, hired me right away because she thought I was cute. She also reassured me that it was a perfectly legitimate job, so I had nothing to worry about.

Being a maid turned out to be harder than I thought, but I worked hard for Yusuke-kun’s sake. I kept working hard, and little by little, I learned what being a maid meant. But my relationship with Yusuke-kun didn’t change.

If I told him, “I’m working at a maid cafe,” I’m sure he’d be horrified. So, I held back.

Then one day, after some time had passed, Miyuki-san asked me to cover her shift because she had something important she couldn’t miss. I agreed.

And that’s when I reconnected with Yusuke-kun.

As usual, I greeted the customers who came in with a smile.

“Welcome home, Master—”

The moment I saw who the customer was, time froze. It was Yusuke-kun.

I had no idea which maid cafe Yusuke-kun visited. It could have been a coincidence. Maybe he just stopped by. But finally, I had a chance to talk to him again… or so I thought.

Even so, I couldn’t just confess my feelings. He probably thought I hated him.

So, I played a part. I acted cold, even though it might make him hate me more.

But it didn’t matter as long as I had a connection with him. Once I had that, I could take it from there. Even if he tried to pull away, I’d make sure our bond continued.

“Welcome… Welcome home, Master!”

Ah, finally… finally, Yusuke-kun.