@ofchaldea
“Geez, what a pain.”
In the absence of whoever it was who made the little-thought-out decision that, today, the servants would perform their duties in pairs so as to keep an eye on each other’s work, Reina has only her poor fellow maid to bear the brunt of her aching and moaning.
Unfortunately for this poor fellow maid, however, she is as much the cause of her elder’s grumbles as she is the recipient.
–Actually, there’s a chance that having been paired with the youngest - and, frankly, most unpopular - of the girls means she’ll work better than she would have. There’s less of that impetus to chat and gossip, much as she simply doesn’t care for her company; save for the odd, disdainful glance she throws her junior, she glides through the grand dining room an angel of cleaning–! Of course, a noticeable envy gnaws at her from within: any of the other girls are surely enjoying their shift more than usual, given their good company, and she almost hates them for it.
But in place of idle chit-chat, she finds herself another means to pass the time and break from her (admittedly all-too leisurely-paced) work. While the cat’s away, the mice will play – and none with more entitlement and mischief than the larger mice.
With an exaggerated sigh - the latest of many -, Reina loosely balls up her dustcloth before dropping it onto the sideboard behind her, against which she then leans casually. Sly girl that she is, she’s developed a talent for quickly resuming her professional stance at the faintest sound of approaching footsteps or a door creaking open, and so she has very few qualms with slacking off for a little while. “…But at least like this, we get to spend some time together, right? Me and the others barely know anything about you, you’re so quiet…
“Isn’t that right, Kanon-chan?”
What a pain indeed.
Kanon winces with every new sigh and complaint that leaves her coworker’s lips. She’s not good enough of a maid to hide her dissatisfaction yet, so in order to tune out Renon’s whining, she focuses extra on the tasks at hand. She already feels that she must work harder -- at present, she’s the only one of the fully employed maids of middle school age, after all. Her pride lies in that fact, so she wants to keep up the good work.
That said, at present, it’s hard. Not simply because her companion is much more vocal than she’d expected (than she’d hoped -- if only she’d been paired with Benon, who would at least ignore her entirely) and that’s distracting, but, in truth... She’s somewhat frightened of the older girls around her. She’s devoted herself entirely to her job (to her first love) and so her lack of popularity does’t bother her a whit -- until she’s alone with one of them.
It makes her nervous, but she keeps her hands as steady as she can while cornered by Renon; a mouse being eyed up by a cat, or worse -- a snake.
“... I don’t have much to say,” She responds quietly, eyes averted. Her lips tighten into a small frown, but she refrains from mentioning anything about her feelings on Renon’s laziness. She’s not brave enough to step on toes, as is. “I’m the same as the rest of the children from Fukuin House, so there’s nothing else to add to that. I just want to do my work well.” So saying, she returns her full attention to her sweeping in silence for a moment.
“... You’ll get in trouble if you keep standing around, Renon-san,” Kanon finally adds, still refusing to look in her direction. “If Genji-san comes round you’ll get told off for not doing anything.”
It’s concern, yes; but it’s also admonishment. It’s simply easier to disguise her distaste with a pretty package. To her, so devoted to becoming a maid, it makes her... Angry, perhaps, to have her partner for the day to be so unenthusiastic and (dare she say it) ungrateful.
