Chapter 192: Made in Tokyo

It is just after dusk has turned to night.

Outside the open window, a broken neon tube is making a buzzing sound.

From the front street, there is a clamor of a busy commercial district.

At the back of the alley, the electronic voice of a vending machine with a winning lottery ticket was announcing the winning ticket to some lucky person with a fanfare.

「…It’s a letdown」

「I think you’re overreacting」

Tapeworm looks down at the men lying at his feet and lets out a languid chuckle, while Earthworm shakes her platinum-pink hair and smiles.

On a concrete wall, an American woman in a swimsuit, a tin sign for Coke was placed.

On the floor of the trendy billiard bar, there are five rugged men who look like they could be in an outsider movie. But, they were lying on the floor, half dead, half alive.

「Well, it’s an easy job, isn’t it? I’d rather do this than play with these guys」

Centipede, who had been looking at the cues lined up on the wall curiously, picked up a short one and sat down on the billiard table.

「I don’t know, what is the method of hitting from above like this?」

「Masse」

「Oh, yes, Masse. Natsumi-sama, she seems to like it」

「Masse squueze? …What a joke」

I, Ayumi Saito, the Cockroach maid, cowered my shoulders as I peeked inside the counter to check if there was anyone hiding there.

（Okay, no problem）

Today, we were ordered to go to a small building behind Kabukicho. So, to go there, we got off at the reception room of KKO, an entertainment agency in Roppongi, and moved to Kabukicho by train and on foot.

As the maid’s uniform is too conspicuous.

Today we were allowed to bring whatever clothes we wanted from the “Dressing room”, so each of us wore the clothes of our choice.

Tapeworm wore a plain black T-shirt and straight jeans.

（Yes, very masculine）.

Earthworm wore a navel-baring shocking pink tube top and a denim mini-skirt.

（Yes, very gal-like）

Centipede in a casual white dress.

（Hmmm… safe）

I’m wearing a yellow camisole and a knee-length blue skirt.

Yes, I’m the cutest by far.

Fashion aside, today’s mission is to get rid of the ruffians who have been threatening Chihiro-sama, the president of the newly established entertainment agency.

It seems that the entertainment industry is as dark as they say.

The ragtag group came to beg for money, saying something like, “President Kurashima and I have been working together as a holding company” then Chihiro-sama made them say whatever amount they wanted and said, “I’ll have the girl deliver it to you later. Oh… By the way, you can do whatever you want with the girls who went to deliver the money” and turned them away.

And that’s why we were sent there.

「Hyuu! Four people at once, that woman, the President, she knows what we want!」

The men welcomed us with their noses in the air.

However, about the same time I closed the door behind me, Tapeworm head-butted the nearest man, and a minute later they were all lying on the floor like this… well, that’s the story.

It’s all very dull.

No weapons allowed, no killing, but that’s not a problem.

In fact, Tapeworm crushed them all by herself.

「Oh, that’s so boring!」

Tapeworm is quite unhappy. It had been her first real battle since her defeat by the foreigner woman, and it had lasted only a minute, and she hadn’t received much of a counterattack.

It could not be helped.

After all, she was now facing three Lesser Dragons and strangling a cow-headed monster called Minotaur with a chokeslam, so there was no way that a mere ragtag group of people could handle her.

「Well, I guess the mission is over」

I clap my hands, and Earthworm puts a finger to her mouth and turns her gaze to the ceiling.

「So, are we just going to leave these people alone?」

「Yes, Torture-sama said she would take care of them」

「Hmm… what will she do with them?」

As Earthworm tilted her head, Centipede, who was poking at the balls with a cue in her hand, interrupted her.

「Lili-sama said she’ll make sure they can’t tell anyone before releasing them, right?」

「Oh, so they’re released. Well, I guess I don’t want them to be my colleagues」

「Fuh, I have no use for the weak」

Tapeworm sniffs unhappily, and Centipede chuckles, “What kind of late century champion are you?”. Then, Earthworm and I looked at each other and smiled.

「Well, let’s go back」

Almost as soon as Centipede threw the cue on the pool table, I shouted to everyone.

「Wait, I have an announcement for you all!」

「An announcement?」

「What is it? Out of the blue?」

「Do we still have a job?」

The three of them all nodded their heads, and I turned my head to them a little proudly.

「Actually, before we left “the room”, Lili-sama said…」

Centipede raises her eyebrows bluntly as I break off my words there.

I chuckled inwardly. Perhaps she thinks we’re going to be forced to do another troublesome job.

「”After today’s work, I’ll give all of you half a day off, Devi. Go to Tokyo and relax, Devi!” and she gave us some money!」

There was a beat of disbelief in the air.

And the girls――

「「「Seriously!?」」」

The three of them all rolled their eyes.

「Seriously, seriously! Listen and be amazed! The allowance is 10.000 yen per person, totaling 40.000 yennnn!」

「Forty thousand! Hyaaahahaha!」

「Wow! That’s a lot of money!」

「I love you, Lili-sama! I love you!」

The dimly lit billyard bar echoed with the yellow cheers of the JKs.

「Oh, by the way, Lili-sama said, “If you want to run away, you can, Devi. But, if you can run away… Devi”, I heard Lili-sama said so with a smile, but who wants to run away?」

I asked, and the girls shook their heads in unison.

Of course. No one thought they could escape, and if they were caught, they would probably end up in a sulfuric acid bath. So, there was no way to do that.

「So, what should we do now?」

I asked, and Tapeworm was the first to open her mouth.

「Well, since my digestion is poor, maybe we should attack a karate dojo or a boxing gym」

「Don’t attack them! Which JK gonna attack a karate dojo without a second thought?」

「Which JK? Of course, it’s us!」

Tapeworm was about to interrupt Centipede, but Earthworm intervened, saying, “Well, well, calm down”.

「For the time being, we can think about it while drinking at a family restaurant」

◇ ◇ ◇

After leaving the building, we started to wander around the city.

None of us had any familiarity with Tokyo. After all, we are all a bunch of country bumpkins. We felt that the city was amazing.

On the way, we were bothered by hosts and scouts, but the highlight was probably when Tapeworm snapped the fingers of a man who came to pick us up and put his hand on our shoulders in a friendly manner.

Then, we were surrounded by his friends and taken into a back alley, but there was nothing to worry.

All we had to do was to brush off the fire that was falling on us.

After wandering through the Shinjuku streets with ambulance sirens blaring, we finally found a family restaurant across from the ward office[1] and stepped into it. 

「 I wonder… this kind of thing makes me feel very nostalgic」

The three of us nodded our heads in agreement to this comment from Earthworm.

It must have been a regular thing for us to hang out at the family restaurant by the station on the way home from club activities, but it seemed like a very distant event.

We sat down, looked at the menu, and ordered mango parfaits and a drink bar, since the restaurant was holding a midsummer mango event.

We took a bite of the food that came out and looked at each other.

「Well, it’s like this, isn’t it?」

「Well, it’s not that it doesn’t taste good」

The sweets that we were allowed to eat in our room were all very expensive, even though they were leftovers. It seems that our taste buds have become quite fatigued.

「Somehow, I feel so restless…」

Tapeworm muttered, and Centipede nodded her head.

「It’s really troubling when we’re told we can do whatever we want」

「What have we been doing on our days off? Karaoke? Maybe go to the arcade to get some prizes?」

「Well…I’m not really into that」

At Earthworm’s suggestion, Tapeworm let out a languid voice. If anything, I’m the same as Tapeworm. I’m not in the mood for this at all.

「If it was a date with Confinement King-sama, I’d be all over it, but not the four of us…」

My casual comment was met with a fierce response from the three of them.

「A date, or rather, Confinement King-sama, will he hold our hand?」

「Yeah, yeah, that’s the part that I would love to」

「But, first of all, isn’t it bad that the four of us are always together? Confinement King-sama might not be able to tell who’s who」

「I think we need to have our own personalities… like Lili-sama’s characteristic endings」

As I say this, Earthworm pokes Centipede next to her with her elbow.

「Well, Centipede, try adding “Devi” to the end of your words」

「No, I don’t want a sulfuric acid bath」

When Centipede says this, Tapeworm makes a serious face and holds up a finger.

「But, more importantly, if you want a general, you must first shoot a horse. Why don’t we go to the favorites princess and ask them to invite us to their bedrooms?」

Earthworm and Centipede looked at me as if they knew what was going on. I probably have the same look on my face. I’m also surprised that Tapeworm said something rather clever like a proverb.

「So, let’s talk about which favored princess we’re going to take…」

「How about Misuzu-sama?」

「She’s a little scary」

「Yeah, she’s kind of pushy」

Everyone groaned and froze.

「Then, how about Masaki-sama?」

「…I think she’s going to be a little wild with her smiling face. She seems like she’s going to tell us to eat lots of food and it’s a dog food」

「Actually, she seems to be a serious S. That’s what Kyoko-sama told me the other day」

「Tapeworm, you’re a M, so why not?」

When I said that, she sighed heavily and cowered.

「You don’t get it, do you? Being bullied doesn’t mean anything is okay. The ideal is to be twisted down by force and have my virginity taken away while crying in frustration」

「Uh… yeah. What about Ryoko-sama?」

When I said that, everyone’s face turned ashen at once.

「Well, Ryoko-sama, but then you’d be under Akira-sama, wouldn’t you?」

Centipede’s mouth twisted as she said this, and Earthworm nodded in agreement.

「Do you know how many times she said, “I’ll tell my Master!” before she got dressed?」

So far, everyone doesn’t have a good impression of Akira-sama. Of course, neither do I.

「In the end, I think Ui-sama’s place is the safest one. Shima-senpai is there, too」

「Well, they won’t force us to do anything」

We all looked at each other and laughed. Despite what we say, Captain Tashiro and Shima-senpai are easygoing.

「Speaking of which, what about the recent additions?」

When Earthworm said that, Centipede raised her eyes a little and showed a sign of thinking.

「Well, Chihiro-sama?」

「Yes, yes」

「Chihiro-sama… to be honest, I’m not sure about her. She’s not the favorite princess, but she’s taken the last name of Confinement King-sama as if she’s his wife, right?」

I feel like it’s going to be a fire hazard, and I’m quite scared.

「The princesses don’t seem to be happy about it, but…. they all seem to think that they love and are loved by the Confinement King-sama the most…」

「And then there’s Yamauchi-sama, right?」

As soon as Tapeworm mentioned her name to change the subject, Centipede jumped.

「Oh, you know what? I heard that Torture-sama is torturing Yamauchi-sama…. and the head maid said in a whisper that it was too much for her too」

「「「…Seriously?」」」

I can’t imagine any torture that would make the head maid, who was given us a sulfuric acid baths, feel uncomfortable.

The four of us were suddenly surrounded by a heavy atmosphere.

「Well, let’s just go with Ui-sama for now, we should think of a way to appeal to her in our own way, right?」

However, this comment by Earthworm led to us being scolded severely by the head maid later.

And from the simple idea that appealing from maids = maid cafes, we went to maid cafes after this, and later on, we gave the Confinement King-sama the “moe moe kyun ?” we learned there.

As a result, we were called “weird” by the head maid, stripped of our maid uniforms, and spent a few days completely naked, but that’s another story.