Fuuka

(chapter originally by doragom333 on writing.com)

It was Fuuka. So much for the element of surprise.

"Yukari...?" Fuuka asked, and stopped upon seeing the strange silver-haired woman in Yukari's room.

An awkward silence followed; too awkward even for Elizabeth.

"Greetings," said Elizabeth, tilting her head and waving her arm in what she believed to be a friendly gesture.

"Wh-Who are you?" Fuuka asked, nervously edging backwards. "Why are you in Yukari-chan's room?"

"My name is Elizabeth. And you are?" Elizabeth cordially replied, seeing no reason to hide her name, but plenty of reason to hide that she knew Fuuka's.

"Oh, I-I'm Fuuka," Fuuka replied.

"A pleasure. As for why I am here, I was actually just finishing my business and am about to leave," Elizabeth continued.

"Business? What possible business involves that huge mess?" Fuuka asked, pointing into the room.

Elizabeth turned around and looked at the pile again. How to explain this? she puzzled. But soon enough, she had a flash of inspiration.

"Laundry duty!" She proclaimed, turning back to Fuuka and pointing straight into the air.

"Laundry? Wait, does that mean-" Fuuka asked, then looked more closely at Elizabeth. "-You're some kind of maid?"

"A maid?" Elizabeth replied, recalling having heard the word from somewhere before, and thought on this for a second. "Well, an important part of my duties is to provide assistance and perform services to ease the burdens of whomever signs the contract. So yes, I suppose you could consider me as 'some kind of maid.'"

"Wow," said Fuuka. "Mitsuru-senpai actually went and hired maids for us? I didn't think anyone would have taken Junpei-kun's suggestion seriously... I guess that also explains those odd clothes... but wait, that was done last night! The request for your service could only have been sent just mere hours ago!"

"I pride myself on fast and reliable service of the utmost quality," Elizabeth said slyly._ And my clothes are not 'odd,' thank you very much! _she added in her thoughts.

"Amazing. Although..." Fuuka said, leaning her head to look back over Elizabeth into the room. "I think you might want to double-check your 'quality.'"

"What?" Elizabeth asked, taken aback. "And just what is wrong with this? All of Miss Yukari's clothes are back in her room, are they not?"

"Yes... but everything's all messed up," said Fuuka. "If left like that everything will get wrinkled or dusty just lying on the floor all mixed together like that."

"But, that is how Miss Yukari told me to do it," Elizabeth lied, with only a slight amount of hesitation. "She was rather insistent that she be the one to actually put everything away in their proper storage compartments. She has a system, you know."

"Huh, I guess that makes sense," Fuuka said, looking back and forth.

Elizabeth couldn't believe how well this was working. She didn't need to use her compendium or anything. Now, how much fun could she have with this disguise? With the appearance of following orders, she could gather information and experiment right under Fuuka's nose! "Now that I have finished with Miss Yukari's tasks, I am now available to help you with anything you may require, Miss Fuuka," she said.

"Really? Wow!" Fuuka said, surprised. "I'd love some help. But there's no need to be formal, you can just call me Fuuka, all right, Elizabeth?"

"Very well then," Elizabeth nodded. "What would you like me to do first?"

"Well," Fuuka said, thinking it over...