I Became a Spirit in Date A Live, but I Refuse to Date

"Hey, miss, how much is this outfit?"

Lingmeng pointed to the clothes she was wearing as she asked.

The sales clerk gave Lingmeng a quick once-over and put on a professional smile.

"That'll be ten thousand yen."

Ah, ten thousand yen? That feels pretty expensive. Well, I have money now, so I'll indulge myself this once!

With that thought, Lingmeng transferred ten thousand yen to the clerk without another moment's hesitation.

Her heart ached at the expense, but she felt pretty good about it. After all, she had new clothes to wear.

"I've paid. Shiori, shall we go?"

"Mm..."

Lingmeng glanced at Shiori as she spoke. Shiori nodded shyly, then followed her toward the door.

"Thank you for shopping with us. Please come again."

With the clerk's farewell behind them, Lingmeng and Shiori left the clothing store.

"Whoa, how is it already noon?" Lingmeng checked the time on her phone and sighed. "Shiori, are you hungry? Want to get something to eat?"

"Hungry? Now that you mention it, maybe a little..."

Shiori touched her stomach. In truth, she hadn't eaten anything since morning—

First, because she'd needed to do her makeup.

Second, because she'd had to deal with Tohka, who'd wanted to come along on the date, leaving her no time to eat.

The moment Lingmeng mentioned food, Shiori's stomach betrayed her with a growl.

"Ugh..." Embarrassed that Lingmeng had seen how hungry she was, Shiori lowered her head and let out a cute little sound.

"Haha, don't be embarrassed. Stomachs growl when you're hungry. That's normal, isn't it?" Lingmeng smiled. "I'll treat you to something."

"Huh? No, you don't have to. Shouldn't the guy be paying at a time like this?"

Shiori hurriedly waved her hands and declined.

"Oh, it's fine. I got all my money for free from your Ratatoskr anyway. Just think of it as me paying you back. ╮(￣▽￣)╭"

"All right, then... Where should we eat?"

After a moment's hesitation, Shiori agreed.

"Where should we eat?"

Lingmeng scratched her cheek and looked around. Then she seemed to spot something and pointed at a shop across the street with a grin.

"Let's eat there!"

"Hm?" Shiori followed Lingmeng's finger, puzzled.

It was a fairly large establishment, and its sign read—

"Spirit Maid Café" in big letters...

So They Really Are Spirit Maids?

"Lingmeng, are you seriously planning to eat there?" Shiori stared at the shop. "Isn't that a maid café?"

"Yep. I've never been to one. What, Shiori, are you worried I'll start chatting up the maids and ignore you?"

Lingmeng shrugged and grinned teasingly.

Lingmeng had seen plenty of maid cafés in anime, but she had never visited one in real life. Now that she had the chance, of course she wanted to try it.

"Th-that's not what I'm thinking! If you want to go, then let's go."

Shiori's face flushed as she answered.

Lingmeng smiled at how cute she looked.

"Then let's go!"

Lingmeng took Shiori's hand and walked into the maid café with a spring in her step.

"Welcome home, masters!" ×N

They had barely stepped through the door when several girls called out their greeting from inside.

Their voices rang out in perfect unison. Lingmeng had to admit, it was quite something.

"Hey, I'm home!"

Lingmeng waved as though she were a regular, settling into the mood at once.

"Um... Thank you..." Shiori was far more reserved. She shifted awkwardly, twiddling her index fingers together.

To be honest, this was Shiori's first time at a maid café too.

She had never been anywhere like this before, which was why she was acting so awkwardly.

"Well, there are two of us, me and her." Lingmeng gestured toward Shiori and held up two fingers.

"Certainly. A party of two?"

One of the waitresses dressed as a maid, a blonde, gave Lingmeng a polite bow.

"Please follow me, masters."

With that, the maid turned and led the way. Lingmeng and Shiori hurried after her.

"Here is your table, masters," the blonde maid said, gesturing toward a table for two.

Lingmeng and Shiori sat down. The maid handed each of them a menu, then pulled a notebook and ballpoint pen from her pocket.

"What would you like to eat today, masters?"

"I'll have omurice and a coffee!" Lingmeng put down her menu and went straight for omurice, the must-order maid café dish in anime.

"Omurice, then?"

After noting Lingmeng's order, the blonde maid turned to Shiori.

"And you, master?"

"Um..." Shiori skimmed the menu. "Could I have the beef curry and an orange juice, please?"

"Of course. Please wait just a moment, masters." The blonde maid quickly wrote down Shiori's order, smiled, and headed into the back.

"Wow, all the girls playing maids here are so pretty."

Lingmeng glanced around at the maids and sighed in genuine admiration.

Truth be told, when Lingmeng had first seen the name "Spirit Maid Café," perhaps because she was a Spirit herself, she had imagined a group of Spirits like her working here as maids.

She had quickly dismissed the idea. Spirits weren't so common that she could go on a date and find a whole crowd of them. She'd figured the name was just a coincidence.

But once she entered the café, she changed her mind again.

Every maid here was breathtakingly beautiful. Take the blonde, blue-eyed maid who had shown them to their seats: she was hardly any less beautiful than real Spirits like Lingmeng and Tohka.

Perhaps the maids were all as lovely as Spirits. If so, Lingmeng thought, the café had earned its name.

While Lingmeng was still mulling that over, the blonde maid returned with their orders.

"Your food is ready, masters."

After setting the food and cutlery in front of Lingmeng and Shiori, the blonde maid asked them a question.

"Masters, would you like me to cast a spell to make your food taste even better?"

"A spell to make food taste better? What's that?" Shiori tilted her head in confusion.

"Sure, sure! Do it! (^0^)/" Lingmeng agreed excitedly.

"Very well." The maid nodded, stretched both hands toward the food on the table, and spoke in a cute voice.

"Let me pour my love for you into your food, masters. Food, become delicious! Magic, magic, yum!"

Then, from who knew where, the maid produced a bottle of ketchup. She promptly drew a heart on Lingmeng's omurice and wrote "love" inside it.

Th-that's the spell that makes food taste better? This is so embarrassing...

Watching from the side, Shiori's mouth twitched. The maid's performance had left her thoroughly baffled.

"There we go! The spell is complete. Enjoy your meal, masters~"

"Thanks!"

The maid waved to Lingmeng and Shiori, then took her leave.

After that, Lingmeng and Shiori quietly got on with their meal...

"Masters, it's time for some fun! Would you like to play with us?"

Lingmeng and Shiori had finished eating, and before they knew it, the café's scheduled time for the maids and customers to play games together had arrived.

It was still the same blonde maid speaking to them, but now she had many other girls in matching uniforms beside her.

Only when they came this close did Lingmeng notice that every maid wore a brooch on her chest.

Each brooch bore a name in cartoon-style lettering. They must have been the maids' names.

Lingmeng glanced over the brooches. They read—

"Xinggong Liuyue"

"Bai Wuling"

"Su Ming"

"Kongying Qianxin"

"Yuehuang Qianzui"

"Amakusa Liuxing"

...and many more besides.

Within a few seconds, Lingmeng had more or less memorized the names of all the maids present.

"Lingmeng... should we stay?"

Shiori asked uneasily.

She had suddenly found herself surrounded by so many beautiful girls—girls as lovely as Spirits, no less. Dressed as a girl, she was nervous enough; even in her usual clothes, she would have been a wreck.

"Oh, it's fine, Shiori. Let's try it out. Besides, what's not to like about playing games with pretty girls?"

Lingmeng waved a hand casually and smiled.

Unlike Shiori, Lingmeng was overjoyed. Surrounded by so many beautiful girls, she felt as though she had arrived in heaven...

(The crowd, laughing: "Now these are real Spirit maids. No doubt about it.")

Want to Try on a Maid Uniform?

Quite some time passed. Lingmeng, Shiori, and the maids had a wonderful time playing together.

Shiori had felt awkward at first, but she soon got caught up in the cheerful atmosphere too.

"Oh, by the way, your uniforms are really cute," Lingmeng said, admiring the maids' outfits.