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“There’s an order for two sets of carrot cake and black tea in table eight!”
“Someone carry this to table two please!”

Everyone on waiting duty was constantly taking and delivering orders. There was also an incessant stream of customers, not giving the students a moment to rest.

“There’s still a huge queue of customers outside!”
“Someone bring more tables and chairs! There should be some reserve ones in the storehouse, and we can fit at least two more next to the window!”

No one could afford to take a break as they had to find more ways to increase their efficiency.

“Who would’ve thought opening a cafe would be this chaotic!”
“It’s just because your advertisement was too effective!”
“You two, less talking and more working. Take these three sets of baked cheesecake and special vegetable juice to table three!”

Kou, Subaru, and Hijiri were also working hard in that environment, having to be careful to not spill anything amidst the frenzy.

Two hours had passed since they began service, meaning it was already noon and time for lunch, which only increased the hordes of clients lining up to enter. Attempting to serve everyone in a satisfying way felt like a death march.

In that short time, Kou was already longing for the times when she was free…

◇◇◇

Classroom 1-A was located on the third floor, and that was Kou’s class.

For the festival, it had been turned into the Fantasy Cafe: Nightmare House, as the sign hung outside described.

All of the guests going there would first pass through a small closed off room, with a big whiteboard with ‘Please keep AR functions turned ON within the cafe’ written in menacing red letters.

Next to it was a code to enable AR overlays, which would be automatically registered into the NLDs of the clients entering the cafe.

“…Mwahahah, welcome to my humble cafe, I shall show you to your seats!”

Someone welcomed the clients, holding a hand to her chest as she laughed in an overly serious tone. Her hair was black, as was her dress, and the left side of her face was concealed by a strange mask, all of which created a strong contrast against her white skin.

That was Kou…still wearing the hairpin she had borrowed from Haru.

…According to Haru, they would always return those hairpins once their shows were over, but since Haru would not even be on stage in person, she let Kou keep it for longer.

Kou’s attitude would usually be considered rude towards clients, but considering her short stature compared to everyone else in the classroom, it was rather endearing. Everyone looked at her with soft smiles as they were taken to their tables, after which someone else would take over serving them.

“Here, have a glass of water. What would you like to order? W-woof…”

The one who came to take their orders, clearly still embarrassed by her attire…dog ears, a kimono and an apron, like some waitress from the Taisho period, was Kasumi.

*She’s so cute.*

Seeing the usually studious Kasumi do her best to stay in character made Kou’s pretentious act fall apart, so she also had to shut off her emotions.

Also…since the cosplay cafe was being run on school grounds, all costumes were rigorously checked to be modest, making sure they could hardly be considered revealing.

But there was still plenty of charm in the girls with various animal ears and tails attached, wearing colorful kimonos and aprons, as well as the boys in waiter outfits from the Taisho era.

And Kou was not the only one getting a lot of attention…there was someone else, a male student.

“Welcome milady, please come on in. May I show you to your table?”
“Y-Yes please…”

The one with a pleasant smile, making the girls and ladies blush effortlessly as he escorted them to their table, was Reo, who somehow managed to wear an old imperial Japanese military uniform coupled with a white cloak and not look ridiculous while doing so.

All the women going with him had hearts in their eyes, his prince-like charms on full display.

But…he was not the only male student who stood out.

“I’m at your full service during your stay, ladies.”

He had all his hair swept back in a professional style while wearing a gray tailcoat and vest, like a butler.

Subaru’s cool demeanor attracted a lot of ardent stares as well, especially from the older girls. Despite all that, he continued working without letting those looks affect him.

*I’m sorry to say, but never trust that four eyed b̲a̲s̲t̲a̲r̲d̲.*

Kou kept those thoughts to herself, but she couldn’t help feeling strange watching her childhood friend become so popular.

While some of the boys managed to stand out, the main attraction were still the girls in their various outfits. It was hard to pick favorites amongst them, but the one that attracted the most looks after Kou was probably Hijiri.

She was the kind of girl who always had a smile on her face, and was wearing a white kimono with gothic influence that really highlighted her natural beauty. Her outfit was clearly designed after a snow woman, but the added white apron and her demeanor gave her a comforting presence.

She was mostly taking care of clients with small children because of her calm and kind appearance, but sometimes the male clients would also stare at her longingly…which kept making Kou restless.

The unexpected contender turned out to be the girl with dog ears…technically they were supposed to be wolf ears, but Kasumi acted more like a puppy.

She was constantly embarrassed, making her clumsy, which only made everyone want to take care of her…and consequently made her even more embarrassed. Still she had managed to somehow keep herself together and Kou commended her on that.

Kou paced around the cafe, bustling with clients, when…

“Hieeee..?!”

There was a barely audible scream from one corner of the classroom.

*We got one!*

When someone was told not to do something, it was human nature to oppose that instruction. And that had likely happened there, with someone ignoring the warning in the entrance to the cafe and turning off their AR overlays.

Kou and her classmates quickly discovered the woman who had broken that rule, her face pale as they turned to stare at her.

“Heheheh… So, you’ve seen the truth, have you?”

Kou went up to her as the representative of the class as a whole and whispered into the woman’s ear, making her jump a little.

She was probably still looking at the true reality of the 1-A classroom, without any AR overlays.

She probably suspected that all the costumes that looked so elaborate were only AR projections, while the students just wore their regular uniforms. Without much more thought, she had decided to check it out, only to fall into a trap.

In truth, Reo was an oni, Subaru and Kou were both vampires, and most of the other boys were either zombies or werewolves.

The girls were no different. In AR they looked like they were just wearing simple accessories to gain animal ears or fantastical features, but without AR they were wearing uncannily realistic makeup turning them into hideous monsters.

In short… Their AR cosplay sets included their whole body and human features, while in reality they wore special makeup to completely transform into monsters.

Even the lighting of the whole place was handled in AR, as without it the classroom looked dark with creepy red splotches everywhere. What looked like a cutesy cafe in AR turned into a house of horrors when switched off.

That was the secret gimmick the students of the 1-A classroom had worked into their cafe. Subaru had been the mastermind behind it, as he said that a regular cafe would be too boring, and everyone followed his lead.

That woman’s shock was understandable, as she had never expected any of that. Once it got to that point, it was time for Kou, Subaru, Hijiri, or Reo to deal with the rest.

“…Oh well, I’ll let you go. But don’t you dare say a word of what you saw.”

Kou said that while looking straight at the woman, momentarily removing the mask hiding half her face to reveal her left eye…which had a golden shine and a vertical pupil. Seeing that, the woman jumped again.

But Kou smiled softly, placing her index on her own lips and saying shhh, asking her to remain silent.

After that, the woman just stared around in a daze while Kou fixed her mask and went back to work.

The Fantasy Cafe: Nightmare House on Morinomiya High’s third floor.

A slightly scary shop owned by a cute vampire princess, with many monsters and spirits working for her. They mean no harm to anyone…but only go there at your own discretion.