Chiori Mikami

"Miss Chiori, I'm so happy to meet you!"
"Hmm, even though mom says that the simplest greetings are usually the sincerest, would this be too simple? Should I try to say something more eloquent? After all, this is my first time meeting her..."
The childish little face of Riu Kujou, now ten years old, is reflected in the car window. Outside the window, green trees and flowers keep fading in the background as the car keeps moving forward, pulling her thoughts back to that summer a long time ago.
That August was swelteringly hot, and Riu Kujou practiced the essential maid skill of sorting out letters for the master at home every day. Although she couldn't read many words yet, she could already identify her parents' names instantly, so this letter-sorting task wasn't difficult for her.
When she was sorting her mother's letters today, a letter with pictures of a baby caught her attention. She couldn't understand the words written in the letter, but the photo featured a swaddled baby girl who had red lips, fair skin, and soft hair that had a light-gold luster, and she was sleeping peacefully like a little princess in a fairy tale. Riu Kujou even started holding her breath, as if afraid to disturb the baby's sweet dreams.
*Jingle*... The sound made by the wind chime at the entrance brings Riu Kujou to her senses, and she runs barefoot all the way to the entrance to meet her mother who had just returned home after taking care of some business. Her small body jumped up and down anxiously with the letter and photo raised high in her hands.
"Mom! Mom! There's a letter and this!"
"Oh my... This is wonderful! This is great news from the lady. Oh, I should call her Mrs. Mikami now."
To respond to Riu Kujou's excited questioning, her mother puts aside her work, then sits down and starts combing Riu Kujou's messy and sweaty red hair while telling her the contents of the letter. "Well, the lady who mommy used to work as a maid for has recently given birth to a daughter—the baby in the photo. She sent this photo along with this letter to solemnly share this good news with her best friend.
"Wow! So this is the daughter of the lady you served!"
Riu Kujou is completely ecstatic.
After that particular role-playing game ended, Riu Kujou's fists gained quite a reputation, and no one dared to play this game with her again, so she never managed to find herself a master whom she liked.
What a fortunate stroke of serendipity.
"Where does she live? Can we go to visit her? C-Can I be her maid?"
Riu Kujou's mother is slightly stunned by her daughter's barrage of questions and can't stop herself from smiling. She never realized that her daughter's desire to become a maid wasn't just something said while playing house, or that her longing eyes were not just filled with blind admiration due to the stories she had heard about her mother's past career... But it is still too early to draw any conclusions.
"She lives in One Han City. Why don't we wait until you grow a little older before we go to see her? It'll also give this..." Riu Kujou's mother reads the letter carefully, "Miss Chiori Mikami a little time to grow up. When she grows older and no longer needs as much adult care, you two can decide how you two want to get along."
Riu Kujou hugs her mother and nods solemnly.
"Okay!"
After that, Riu Kujou keeps her promise with her mother. She no longer readily mentions her dream of being a maid to others and no longer looks for a master to serve through role-playing games. A year passes in the blink of an eye, and she says goodbye to her kindergarten friends and starts elementary school. After learning more words, she understands more of the contents of the letters her mother and Mrs. Mikami send to each other, and develops a better understanding of Chiori Mikami based on their contents.
Miss Chiori is intelligent and independent, and she loves teddy bears the most.
Miss Chiori's parents are always busy with work, so she has always been taken care of by a nanny since she was little. The truth is, she has always felt a little lonely.
Miss Chiori speaks harshly to the children who come to play at her home, but she will give her toys to them generously...
By reading about her, Riu Kujou starts to understand her, imagine what she's like, and interpret her actions. At some point, the two mothers discover that Riu Kujou seems to understand the true intentions of some of Chiori's actions better than them, which makes them realize that it's time for the two girls to meet...
Back to the present.
After a car stops in front of Chiori's house, a five-year-old Chiori Mikami opens the door of her house and pokes her head out excitedly as Mrs. Mikami helps Riu Kujou out of the car. The moment Riu Kujou sees Chiori Mikami, she forgets the greeting that she had rehearsed and makes a heartfelt exclamation.
"Wow, you're so cute!" The real Chiori Mikami is ten thousand times cuter than in the photos she's seen!
Chiori Mikami, who is completely lost, looks speechless upon hearing this slightly exaggerated comment.
Well, although things didn't go exactly as planned when establishing their master-servant relationship, no lasting damage was caused. Riu Kujou is confident that she'll gain the approval of Miss Chiori in the future!
After all, she likes Miss Chiori the most.