A peace offering to my cousin who requested an EliNozo and maid cafe prompt. If you excuse me, I must recover from the blood bath of the Umi event...

"Come on, Eli, you're the one who wanted to go to a maid café."

"W-W-Why is it all the way out here?! In Akihabara?!"

Nico stands impatiently in front of a door with cute characters (that looked like maids) drawn in the front, glaring at a flustered blonde who was staring dumbfounded at the building. "Because that's where most of them are, duh." She answers with a grumble. Sometimes Nico forgets that her partly Russian friend only recently moved back to Japan.

"Harasho..." Eli whispers, in almost fear, at the maid cafe building standing before them. Because of Eli's hesitance, Nico is done waiting for Eli to attempt to walk into the café on her own. She grabs her wrist, "Let's go you crazy chocolate loving Russian." She finally shouts before tugging Eli into the building with her.

"Welcome home, Master!"

A purple-haired pigtail girl in a maid costumes greets Nico and Eli brightly. Her maid outfit is very long, covering every inch of her skin (except her arms). She has a cute bow that sticks out amongst her purple hair. Eli feels blood rushing to her cheeks as she stares in awe at the girl in front of them. She's cute, very cute... Just like everything in this cafe, she notes as her eyes wander around furiously trying to not stare at the girl in front of them.

She can't help but feel like she's also seen this girl somewhere before.

Nico kicks her and Eli yelps loudly at the sudden pain. "Let's go you big dork." The black twin-tail girl mutters before following the purple-haired girl (who laughs silently). Eli obeys obediently, looking almost like a kicked puppy.

They are seated at a table in the corner of the cafe. The purple-haired girl smiles brightly at them before leaving to get them some water. Eli is staring dumbly at the menu in front of her, it was all so foreign and cute to her! Nico feels the opposite, but her attention isn't even on the menu. She has her menu propped up, hiding most of her face. The top of Nico's head is the only thing Eli can see, but in a second, Nico moves her face upwards, her ruby eyes stealing glances around the café. "Damn, I don't think that's Minalinsky." She mutters as her eyes went back to the menu.

"Minalinsky?" Eli asks, wondering if Japanese slang was always this difficult. She receives another kick and yelps. Nico is glaring at her now, "Not so loud! It's a secret mission!" Eli just whimpers slightly at the bruise that was forming on her shin.

Laughter from their Maid flies into their ears. "If you're looking for Minalinsky, she's not here at the moment." Two glasses of water is put in front of them, and their Maid is back with a warm smile on her face. "You just missed her actually."

Nico scowls but Eli's face is written with confusion, "whose Minalinsky?"

The Maid blinks in surprise, her mouth forming an 'o' as she raises a hand up to her cheek. "You don't know?" Eli shakes her head. Nico sighs loudly, "Don't worry about her, she just recently moved back from Russia."

The Maid giggles, "That would explain a lot." She turns to Eli with a warm smile still. This makes Eli's cheek heat up again. "Minalinsky is a legendary maid in Akiba. She's kind and cute, especially her soft voice!" She explains with a small giggle. "I wouldn't mind being served by her."

"I-I think you're cute."

Eli blurts out, making Nico widen her eyes in surprise and the Maid raise a brow, but giggles shortly after. "Why, thank you." The Maid gestures kindly at the two menus afterwards, "Have my Masters decided what they would like yet?"

"M-M-Masters?!"

Eli sputters, her thoughts all over the place with this one. Nico groans, "I think we're just going to have two of your special parfaits." She answers for Eli, since the blonde was too busy with her imagination. The Maid smiles warmly, "Of course! Would you like anything to drink to start, Master?"

"C-Can we be called something else?"

The blonde cuts into the conversation between the Maid and Nico, both of them looking at her now. Eli blushes a little, looking away from their stares. "I-I mean, can't we be called by our names?" She points a finger at herself, "Eli." and then at Nico, "Nico."

Nico swears she's never doing this ever again. She's never going to bring Eli to a cafe-no, with her in public, ever again. The Maid, however, is amused, and smiles. "Eli... Nico..." She repeats their names to herself before grinning. "How about Eli-chi and Nico-chi, then?"

"Sure, fine. And about the drinks, just surprise us I guess." Nico says nonchalantly, although the nickname was kind of cute. She rolls her eyes at the way Eli smiles and nods as she hands the menu back to the Maid, "I like the sound of that." Eli just reminded her of a love-sick puppy.

"Okay then, Eli-chi, Nico-chi, please wait for a moment while I go ring in your order and get a drink started for you."

The Maid disappears and Nico stares at Eli now with a raised brow. "Wow, I've never seen the cool and suave Ayase Eli, the simultaneous heart snatcher and breaker of Otonokizaka High be reduced to a pile of goo from one maid in Akiba."

Eli fidgets in her seat, almost blushing a bright red at the description that is often heard about herself in school. "I-I don't think it would be any maid... I-I think it's just her..." She whispers in response, cerulean eyes darting over to where the Maid is serving another table, smiling warmly as always. She looks back at Nico, who is just sighing deeply. "Be-Besides, doesn't she look kind of familiar?"

Nico's gaze goes over to where the Maid is now standing at a counter in front of the kitchen, most likely making their drinks. She narrows her eyes a little, "Sort of. Dunno though. I admit I've probably come to Akiba enough times I probably seen her in passing."

Eli is not satisfied with the response. She knows that she must have seen her somewhere.

A huge cup, full of some colourful liquid, with a straw looped in a heart shape before having each side facing out towards both of them appears. The Maid was finished with their drink a short while back, and is smiling brightly. "It's our special drink!"

Nico pales, "I-It's... Wonderful but uh." She looks at Eli, and then at the heart shaped straw, and then at Eli again. "I don't think I want to share it with the Russian dork."

The blonde protests, but one stare at the heart shaped straw, and then back at Nico, and she's red. The Maid laughs at both of their reactions, "How about I share the first sip with her, and then I can get you a separate straw?" She suggests.

The twin tail girl shrugs, "Sure." She looks at Eli, who's a bright red now. "W-W-We're sharing the drink?" She repeats quietly, nearly leaping up from her seat as the cup is slightly turned, so one side of the straw was facing the Maid.

The Maid is looking at Eli, bright emerald eyes twinkling in amusement. "Don't be embarrassed now Eli-chi. You can't get me in trouble for this, okay?" She says and winks, "It's our little secret."

Eli nods dumbly and slowly but surely, she puts her mouth to the end of the straw and sucks. The Maid does the same thing simultaneously, and Eli can't help but feel her heart pound a little. How come she was getting so worked up over these small little things? The little show is finished, and the Maid straightens herself up with a smile. "Did you like that, Eli-chi?"

Eli nods dumbly again. The Maid says a small 'good' before she leaves to check up on other customers and to get Nico a straw. Nico is staring at Eli with a raised brow again, "... You're an incredible dork."

"T-T-That was an experience..."

Eli mumbles as her and Nico exits the cafe. The parfaits were very good and sweet (Eli is quite pleased at the amount of chocolate). Nothing too embarrassing happens after the drink situation (although, the Maid does wipe Eli's nose with a napkin because the partially Russian girl is a slob when she's embarrassed).

Nico is disappointed she didn't get a chance to meet Minalinsky, but... well, for all of Eli's expressions she's seen, the blackmail would have to do for now. "Don't take me along with you if you decide to go back." She responds sharply as they go through the streets of Akihabara back to the train station.

Eli looks at her with wide eyes, "B-B-But..."

Nico groans, knowing that she would have no choice even if she wanted to say no.

The next day at Otonokizaka, Eli resumes her 'cool' self. Not that flustered, dorky, embarrassed girl at the Maid Café, but the cool, suave, heart snatcher and breaker Ayase Eli. She passes through the school gate, waving to a group of girls screaming 'Ayase-senpai!' and 'Eli-senpai!' at her. As the girls are out of sight, Eli just smiles, what a nice group of girls.

She thinks about asking Nico to go out with her for parfaits after school but the pigtail girl's threats about not wanting to ever go with her again lingers on her mind. Eli soon laughs, Nico was such a joker, she wouldn't say no to her, right? She hums softly to herself, her mood in the clouds at the moment.

Everything comes crashing down when cerulean falls upon two girls standing near the entrance of the school. Eli vaguely recognizes one of them as a second year—the daughter of the Headmistress, Minami Kotori but the other one… Cerulean meets bright emerald.

"Oh, Ayase-senpai, good morning." Kotori turns around, greeting the blonde formally. Eli, somewhat shaken up, greets the second year hastily back, but her eyes still focus on the bright emerald (which is now twinkling in amusement). "Good morning, Eli-chi."

Eli chokes on that nickname. That's when she remembers why she recognized the Maid. Toujou Nozomi, the girl who sat behind her during her entire time at Otonokizaka. "N-Nozomi—Er, I mean, Toujou-san, g-good morning! T-The d-d-drink was good wasn't it?" She stumbles with words, pushing out anything coherent so she didn't look like too much of a fool.

Nozomi's smile widens, before she winks and places an index finger against her lips. "That's our little secret, isn't it, Eli-chi?"

Eli's voice is caught her in throat, and she quickly excuses herself. She needed to talk to Nico, she needed to tell her that the Maid that served them the day before was the girl who sat behind her since the beginning of the year.

Kotori blinks in confusion, looking between her upperclassman who was making her way inside the school quickly to the purple-haired girl next to her. "… I'm guessing it was an eventful day at work yesterday, Nozomi-chan?"

Nozomi just smiles as she watches Eli's fading backside. "You missed out on a lot of fun, Kotori-chan."