At the same time…at Anja's house, she was struggling all on her own.
"No…" This isn't good enough…
The chocolate with a wolf shape is adorable, but isn't it too small?!
"This isn't it!"
Anja bit her lip in frustration.
No…this is not good…how about she makes lots of wolf chocolate shapes and then puts them together…also made some sheep chocolate too…
As much as she can! Let's make a lot, so at least maybe Leonie will like one of them…
Yes, yes…she should make as many as she can!
And she went to bed with a comfortable mood, yet that night she had a terrible dream…
A white temple with torches decorated around.
A women dressing in blue looks at Anja with her dark blue eyes, her wolf ear wags up and down. As another person raises their hand at her, they slowly annouce is such a cute voice.
"If you can make the chocolate that my adorable Leo likes, you get to do as you wish!"
Anja's hand feels heavy. What is this…shackles on her hand?
"Saint Anja, do you understand my word?"
"Yes…I do." Her mouth moved without her control.
"You're a prisoner right now, but if you succeed in making my daughter, Leo, like the chocolate you make, I'll do as you wish."
The face of that person…look similer to the owner of the coffee shop…Froggy?
Anja held her hands together and started praying to God. Laid her hand on the table in front of her, and the woft and sheep chocolate appeared.
Then, the judge's daughter put one of them into her mouth, and she seemed to take a liking to it.
"Very well." Froggy the judge, asked her what she liked to do.
Then Anja replied that all of the other statues around the judge's house should be broken, and that the judge should fast for three days and then undergo the Leonie sacrament of baptism.
The judge obeyed and, as a result of her fasting and prayer, freed all the sheep that liked Leonie's inmates under Anja's authority.
But later on, Anja is arrested again for spreading the Leonie witnessing too much.
She was sent to the perfect of Fish. Their emperor, Fih seem to take a liking to Anja until Anja convinces Fih to embrace the world of Leonie and become a sheep…
Fih refused and condemned Anja to death! Commanding that Anja either renounce their faith in the fish, or she would be beaten with clubs and beheaded.
"In this house, we follow the word of the Lord Fish, listen to the book of osteichthyans! And pray to my child! Cherry!"
Lulu panicked, jumped in: "E… emperor Fih! Please calm yourself down…you're having too much fun, it's getting out of hand…"
"Silent!"
"Y…yes…"
"In this story, is Lord Fish who holds the pen; I'm simply following their word."
"Fih…" Lulu looks somewhat tired at his emperor…
"Uh, hm…as I was saying…death to Anja!"
An embellishment to this account states that before her execution, Saint Anja wrote a note to Froggy's daughter, signed "from your Anja."
From your…Valentines.
Anja fell out of bed when she heard the alarm clock. Her head hit the floor, and she started growling painfully.
Slowly get up, she doesn't remember much what happened…her head feels dizzy…
"Uh…what the hell was that…"
She quickly stands up and go get ready, today is a special day…! She remembered to bring the chocolate she made with her, but she seemed to be dissatisfied with it again…
I need more than just this…
"Hm… doesn't this look like those…wedding cakes with those small chocolate versions of the bride and the groom on top of it?" Toto frowns as she point to out to Lulu, who is standing right beside her.
Lulu sends Toto a message through his eye signal: 'Still, I'm afraid this is still not enough to make Leonie realize it…'
'Oh, totally…' Toto glances at Lulu with tiring eyes. "You got overwork last night, too, huh, Lulu?" This time, Toto asks him in a clear voice.
"Yes…Fih bully me again…hic…"
"Heh…" Toto pat Lulu on the back: "I understand…"
Belen is standing nearby, looking at them in confusion…
Sometimes they said something about the owners bullying them, but…Fih and Froggy are super nice… compared to some of her old part-time jobs, both of them are like angels from above…
There are times when she was about to go back home, she walk pass the kitchen, and both of them were chatting about something, turned over to look at her with a smile on their face.
"Belen, you work hard."
"Have a good day, Belen."
They were both waving at her.
They do the same with all the other members, too, just that she never saw them saying that to Toto and Lulu.
Aren't the owners and the butlers are friend?
Then all three of them hear the walking noise loudly behind the kitchen… It's coming from the resting room at the back…
It was Anja walking around the room whispering, "No, no, this is still too small…not enough…Will Leonie like this?" even if she's the culprit bring a whole chocolate cake in all by herself.
Good luck for her. Leonie isn't here right now.
Looks like she came late today.
All three of them watch at Anja went all around the room and almost stepped on the chair and the table in the room if Toto and Lulu hadn't held her back and turned her in another direction.
"This is no good…" Toto frowns.
"M…maybe if we help Anja out…a bit would be fine?" Lulu hugging Mr.Purpura in panic.
Belen's phone is ringing, so she pulls it out to check. It was a message from Cherry.
[I forgot to buy something for you, so I'll be late! And Leonii will be late too! Cherry told her to catch up on some sleep because she have night shift today.]
Good job, Cherry, they always have everything ahead.
Is like a shadow of Cherry appears in the cloud far away with a smile on their face: 'I got your back, Belen and everyone!'
"Right…maybe I should make more…" Anja whispered in a serious tone
"There is no time for that!" Toto immediately stops her: "We still got work to do…"
Then Anja shot Toto a killing look as if saying, I don't care, making a chocolate gift for Leonie is more important.
"Uh…" Belen thinks she should help Anja a bit; if this keeps going on, Cherry and Leonie will arrive and see the chocolate cake: "Anja."
"Yes?"
"How about you hide it and give it to Leonie after today's shift?"
"Uh…yes, I was planning to do just that. But still, just giving Leonie the chocolate cake is not enough…"
"Then…is there something you want to do that we can help?"
"No thanks, I'll do it myself." Anja denies it; to her, she thinks everything on Valentine's that she wants to give Leonie will be more meaningful if she is the one who made it.
"Hi, guys, how have you been~"
"Uh…so sleepy…"
Froggy with a happy face and Fih yarning like they lost ten days of sleep walk in.
Toto and Lulu immediately have some strange air around them.
"Oh my…!" Froggy was surprised when she saw the cake in the kitchen nearby: "That's big…" She didn't think Leonie would be able to eat it all in one day.
"The little wolf and sheep on the top and around the cake are so cute…" Fih wears a soft smile on their tired face.
"Uh…" Belen walked over to the two of them: "Miss Froggy and Fih, do you two have any recommendations for Valentine's? Anja seems to need some help."
The two exchange eyes for a split second.
"I'm not sure either…I just drew something as a gift for my love, so…but…" Fih frowns in deep thoughts.
"Since Anja brought such a big cake, how about…we put that on our outside guest table and show it to Leo when she comes back for the night shift?" Froggy looks back at the cake and turns over to look at Belen.
Anja stops walking and turns over to Froggy: "…!" That is a good idea…let's surprise her with it!
Then they hear the bell noise at the door. Is that Leonie?
"Hi guys! I got the Valentine's decoration!"
No…It's just Cherry.
"Also, line up! Cherry will give everyone chocolate!"
They run into the room and hand out small chocolate cubes wrapped in silver paper to everyone.
"Thank."
"Thank you, Cherry."
Toto and Lulu got the first.
"Thank you so much, sweetie."
"Oh my god…thank you, Cherry…!"
Then Fih and Froggy.
And Cherry gives Belen a special fish-shaped chocolate look-alike.
"Thank you…" Belen looked down at her hand. What a lovely gift: "I love it."
"Hehe, good to know!" Cherry smiled and nodded their head. Yesterday, they were busy helping Leonii and forgot to buy the fish chocolate for Belen. Since Belen likes fish, Cherry wants to buy the fish-shaped one for her.
"Now…" Toto then looks back at the chocolate cake with tired eyes: "We'd better hide this in the corner of the fridge before Leonie arrives."
As Belen and the other gave Cherry an update on the plan, Cherry clapped their hand together: "Oh! That sounds good."
"Yeh…but it seems like Anja still wanted more." Fih looks back at the silent Anja at the corner of the room.
They can hear the noise of Anja clicking her tongue.
"Oh…Anja…" Froggy tilted her head to one side and looked at her back with empathetic eyes for some reason.
"How about wearing something fancy?"
Everyone looks back at Belen.
"Something fancy?" Lulu asked.
"Right!" Cherry quicky understand her idea: "Don't we need to wear fancy clothes on special occasions?"
"Cherry, don't give her more ideas…" Toto jumped over to block Cherry's mouth, but it was too late…
"Manager, I need to buy something!." Anja said and rushed out of the shop.
"That dam sheep…" Toto swore in her mouth.
"Guess we'll let her run free today." Froggy said with a smile like nothing just happened at all.
"She will try to bite anyone if they get in her way…" Lulu nodded his head.
"Well, only Leonie get free pass." Fih also nodded their head: "Last time she actually tried to poison someone for talking badly behind Leonie…"
"We really need to stop Cherry from legally causing ilegal crime somehow…" Toto really can't take it anymore.
Anja is the terifind sheep maid of the Firog maid coffee, and always has this cold air around unless the person near her is Leonie.
Last time? Anja overheard someone saying bad things about Leonie and asked Cherry about what type of poison could knock a person out but doesn't kill them.
Then Cherry smiled like they were waiting for this moment ages ago, ask Anja that she needs the one that will knock one out or to make them suffer, then pass out.
But the other overheard their plan and stopped them just in time.
And oh boy, Anja was still pissing about that…
Lulu quickly hid the cake away before the shop opened with Fih and Froggy's help.
Cherry and Belen went to the front of the shop to put up some Valentine's theme decoration, it's Valentine's today after all, the shop should decorate some to look nice to the customer.
"Cherry even bought some heart balloons!"
"Good job." Belen gave Cherry praise before they went back into the shop.
"Hehe." Belen's praise is the best!
Hardly anyone praises them anymore…well, that was the past, but Cherry grew up with the care of their teacher.
Mother and teacher are the ones who praise them the most.
But becoming a scientist, no one will praise you for what you do anymore. You learn that some simply hate the truth…
Cherry's job is to find out the truth…yet people hate it…people hate what Cherry does…and someday they even thought that Cherry would get killed for it.
People love lies more than anything, as long as it benefits them, as long as it is what they want, even if they have to bend the truth and harm the innocent.
Being the person to uncover the truth about the world of burning trash and sticky living beings is hard.
Is good that Cherry ran away… It's good that this maid coffee exists…
Is good that Cherry found a new home.
"What were you thinking about?" Belen asked when she saw Cherry stop at the front door.
"No…Chery just thinks, being here is really fun."
The shiny glass of the shop reflects the scientist of the past, looking back at them with tired eyes.
'It's good that you let go.'
Is good that I didn't die from that ship crash, so I can still be here with you all.
'It's good that I die.'
And it's good that I come to live a new life.
It's Valentine's Day today, a day to spend with the people I love, right? So Cherry will spend it with everyone!
Cherry stepped into the shop before remembering that they still had one cube left.
"Ah…Anja…well…Cherry guesses Cherry will give her later."
While Anja was on the way to buy some flower.
She just has the best idea from all that recommedation from everyone in the shop.
She plans that when Leonie goes back home, she will put the chocolate cake out and, with a bouquet of roses and lilies, she will surprise Leonie with this!
Anja remembers the first time she met Leonie…when she was on her way back home.
And saw a strange person wearing a maid's dress walking by.
When she turned over to look, she was struck by love at first sight.
Such an adorable maid…with those cute wolf ears and black fluffy tail. The way she wears her maid dress make she even more gorgeous.
I…I want to…talk to her…
"Oh? You wanna work here?" A pink maid asked when she came to their shop for the tenth time.
"What? Do our bosses allow it?" Leonie walked over to ask the other maid with a confused face.
"Uh…I'm sure they will." It seems like that pink maid had sensed the hint about something…they look at her with a mischievous smile: "We're short in staff anyway~ Just Leonii, Cherry here, and Lulu and Toto are not enough."
"You right…" Leonie slightly nodded: "More people know our coffee shop now, so there are more customers than when I first hired…"
"So…" Anja really wants to see Leonie, wants to know more about her, that why she often come visit these places, but there's still a limit that Anja couldn't touch if she just here as a customer…She looked into the two maids with serious eyes: "Can I work here?"
"Sure do." The pink maid happily repleas: "The more the merrier after all."
"Yes…" Leonie smiled at her: "I guess I'll be your senior now."
Ah…Anja feels like flowers blooming in her chest…
Leonie usually acts a bit rough with the customer, she guesses that just her thing…but it's rare to see such a smile…Leonie smiled at me…ah…
Such a blessing from god upon.
The pink maid is a little freak, but they told Anja at the first day at work about Leonie and the other staff.
"Leonii might be a little mad sometime but that's just the way she lets out some steam. You still have a long way to go, kid! But Cherry hopes the best comes to you and Leonii!"
Guess this guy already figured out that Anja has a crush on Leonie…
"Don't call me kid."
"What?! But you're the youngest…fine, Cherry will call you Anja then."
"Yes, that's better." Anja then frowns a bit: "Now tell me all you know about Leonie."
"Heh? But isn't finding out for yourself better? Just go slow, you guys got along life ahead anyway~."
"Uh…maybe you right…I will slowly make her fall for me!"
"Wow…such youth…" Cherry claps their sleeve together with an amazed face.
"I also want to make some pocket money for myself too, so it's like one rock, two birds." Anja cracked out a big, satisfied smile on her face. Well, mostly it's because she wants to get close to Leonie, but yes, she's here now…Let's make some money too!
"You'll be fitting in just fine~ just remember to be yourself!"
And that's how Anja became a member of the maid coffee shop.
Remember to be yourself?
To be honest, she doesn't care about that much…
All she wants is to know about Leonie and get some pocket money for herself, and that's already enough for her.
But the more she works here, the more it feels like…a world of weirdo?
We get to disrespect the guest, we get to cry if we want to.
As Toto slaps the guest table and ask "What you want?" but no one gets mad about it.
And Lulu kept crying and complaining about how much one of the manager keep bulling him, the guest seemed to even like it more and comforted him.
Cherry go teach the guests how to make poison at home, climb on table just to teach them about how tall a mountain is. And Leonie growled at them with teeth bared out, yet no one said a thing.
One of the manager laugh at the confused Anja.
"Is there no rule in this place? I thought most maid coffee have something like…do your best to serve the customer or…something like that."
The little plant on her head jiggles as she shakes her head and smiles: "Anja, we don't need to do that here. You like to do things your way, right…?"
It's true…Anja likes to do things in her own way.
Even if others call her brutal, call her rude. Being a sheep doesn't mean I have to eat grass and be nice to you.
Looking all beautiful, they call her a waste for having such a bad personality.
Like her would care…
"Do as you like, Anja." Froggy said with a calm face.
That's not advice, that's not an order… It's just a line, floated freely into her ear.
"Have fun. I hope for you and Leonie the best. I will be here to watch you grow." My children.
The managers are nice. Her co-workers are weird…but she doesn't hate it that much…
And Leonie…slowly opens up to her more and more every day…
It's is fun…I am…having fun.
Then Belen got in. And she was the first one to tell her: "Do as you like."
There are no rules, no role to play. You're not a puppet dancing for anyone to see anymore…
Don't need to be nice, don't need to smile.
And all the staff here know Anja is a terrible person, but they laugh and enjoy that.
"If it's Anja, Anja would knock that guy on the head, right?"
"I won't say no to that."
Cherry giggled out loud when they heard Anja answer with such calm voice.
Yes, this place is weird but at least they are the same as her.
"I would like to buy some roses and lilies. Yes, and warp into a bouquet for me, thank you."
Chocolate and flowers. All I want to give to Leonie.
Maybe if she could, she would rip her heart out to give it to her, too.
I love you, and I wanted to give you everything I have.
This is such a weird feeling, isn't it? How can someone do so much for someone…just for them to love you back?
Walk out of the store with a big bouquet she hugs in her chest. She feels all flushed and puffed.
Is like poison, but you can never let it go, and before she knew it…she realized, 'Am I that deeply in love?'
Just waiting for her to smile, just want her to be happy, step by step she walks.
Is going to be a long way, she knows…
But everything will be worth it as long as she loves it!
The sheep maid ran off to buy the things she needed, while the wolf maid had finally arrived at the coffee shop.
"She's not here yet! Hurry!"
"Get your feet going!"
Cherry and Toto push Leonie to the kitchen, but they don't dare to let Leonie touch the fridge herself.
Lulu takes the clover chocolate out and puts it on the kitchen table while Belen walks out at the front of the shop to see if Anja will be back soon or not.
Leonie was too focused on her chocolate to notice that the others were acting a bit off.
Leonie brought a small, cute box on the way here to put the clover chocolate in. And use some of the paper wrap in the kitchen to wrap them up before placing them side by side in the box.
"This…uhm…" Leonie hesitates to close the box.
"What's wrong?" Toto asked.
"No…it's fine…I think…I hope Anja likes it." This is all Leonie's hard work, all that she can do now is give it to Anja.
"You did well." Toto studiously praises her.
"You work hard, Leonii! Give yourself a rest."
"Uhm…thank you…" her tail can't stop moving side to side, this is embarrassing, how happy she is even with just two little praises…
Belen slowly walks in and signals to the other that Anja is back; they quickly push Leonie to the corner of the kitchen.
"Leonii! How about…thinking about how to give that to Anja." Cherry tries to block her view, but they're a little short to do that.
Lulu and Toto immediately jump over to help Cherry while Belen and the two owners help Anja bring the bouquet into the rest room and hide it in her closet.
"We should be good to go…for now…" Fih breathes out a relieved sigh. While Froggy looked like she was on the verge of tears.
"My children grown up so quickly…hic…"
"Yes…yes…" Fih pat Froggy back: "Remember to give me their wedding ticket, ok? I wanna go too…"
"Oh god, of course, yes, I will!"
Belen frowns slightly when she hears they're talking behind her back about it, aren't you two moving a bit too fast?
Cherry pops their head into the room to give them a sign that everything is settled now: "Hawaiian wahoo, good, go!"
Belen and Anja nodded. And everything is back to normal…for a moment or so…
Unlike yesterday, Anja is moving way too fast…
"Cherry thinks she's about to break the speed limit…" they whisper to Belen.
"I think she got too excited."
Belen was right, she can't wait until tonight, all she can think of in her head is for time to run faster and the day turn dark right away.
"Maybe if the God of time is real, she would have come over to threaten them and tell them to hurry up and change the day to night or face their worst fear."
"Cherry…"
Cherry is at it again.
For Leonie…she was like a car out of fuel…
She just walks and stops and walk for a little bit more, and stops again, then walks, then stops.
All the other staff, not including Anja, knew why she walked like that.
'Should I give it to Anja now? No, no, no, no! Maybe later…'
Then, a little longer, the thought kept coming back to her.
'Maybe now? No, not the right time yet!'
She just can't find the right time at all!
'No, what are you thinking, Anja is serving the guest right now!'
The others can't really help her on this, so they can only pray that she will be able to give it to Anja somehow…