Natsumi Murakami nervously swept the floors despite the looks some of the customers were giving her. It’s been only two days since she and her friends were enslaved to work here and some of these people have already tried to… well, let’s just say she’s glad their new master is very civil and protective of them (even though the woman just happened to look like an overly buffed stuffed animal).

Just then, she noticed someone enter the vicinity of their open air café. At first she was a little baffled, not because this person was yet another bizarre denizen of this magical world but in fact this one appeared to be the complete opposite. It was a young girl and she looked hardly older than her ten-year old Negi-sensei. She was wearing a simple black t-shirt and a pair of black-and-white checkered pants. Her dark purple, medium length hair was partly covered by a black, gatsby hat which also overshadowed her creamy brown colored eyes. The only think remotely strange about her was the small black collar around her neck. It looked slightly similar to the obedience collar Natsumi herself was wearing, but instead of a tiny, hanging padlock, there was small crystal blue jewel embedded on it.

The girl was looking around the café, her eyes scanning the place carefully before heading towards a small table. She then sat down and looked expectantly while ignoring some of the curious looks the other customers were giving her.

Natsumi then looked around and suddenly realized that there was nobody else to serve her. Ako was still sick and Akira was still tending to her. She quickly rushed to the counter to drop off her broom and picked up a notepad and a rather large, feather pen before approaching the girl’s table.

“Umm… can I get you something little girl?” Natusmi said as nicely as possible. Upon seeing her face up close though, Natsumi just realized how cute she was. Staring at her like a curious child who just saw something they haven’t seen before. And who could blame her? The maid uniform she was wearing wasn’t exactly the kind of stuff you’d want little kids to see you in.

After a while though, Natusmi began to feel a little nervous. It had already been a whole minute and the girl still kept staring at her. She was about say something when all of a sudden,

“I’ll have a lemonade please.” she said, her voice almost like a whisper.

“Oh! Ehe…” she said, sighing slightly in relief as she wrote it down, “All right, wait right here!”

Later, Natsumi was carefully carrying a tall glass of lemonade (complete with a little pink umbrella) and slowly set it down in front of her new customer. “Is there anything else I can get you?” she asked politely.

The little girl shook her head slowly as she started sipping her lemonade through the small straw. A little saddened to find that she did not seem to be in the mood to talk, Natusmi decided to go back to sweeping… but not before stealing another look at the girl as she calmly sucked on her straw.

Kawaii… she thought shyly.

However, just as she finished sweeping up the last cloud of dust on the floor, Natsumi heard a loud commotion coming from the little girl’s direction. She quickly turned around and was immediately terrified to see three men standing in front of the girl’s table. One of them was a particularly lecherous regular who never passed an opportunity to harass Natsumi and her friends.

“Hey little lady, what’s a cute little kid like you doing in a place like this? Maid cafes aren’t a good place for girls you know.” the man said, his hand leaning rudely on the girl’s table. The girl though, remained unfazed at this intrusion and continued sipping her drink as if the three men weren’t even there.

“Why don’t you come with daddy and we’ll find you a new place to play eh?” the man then said as he winked suggestively at his two buddies.

“Hey man, I know you’ve got taste but don’t you think you’re going a little overboard?” another man next to him muttered uneasily, this one was taller than the other two and had a somewhat reserved air about him.

“Geez… don’t tell me you fell for it?” the lecher said irritably. “Ya should’ve paid closer attention to her eyes. I can tell, this girl’s really older than she looks.”

Then, he leaned lower, his face now on the same level as hers. “So, how old are you really miss? Fifteen? Sixteen?”

Natsumi watched them helplessly from a distance. Her legs were shaking terribly but she just didn’t know what to do. I have to help her… but… she thought bitterly as she clutched the padlock on her collar.

Suddenly, she heard a loud electronic sound coming from somewhere from behind the three men. A bright blue symbol then appeared on the floor and small beams of light started running upwards from it accompanied by a deafening drone. There was a flash of light and on the spot where the symbol appeared, stood a tall, bulky robot.

E-e-e-ehh!?!?! her mind screamed as her mouth opened in shock. A r-r-r-robot!? How’d a robot get here!?

It had a green and gray color scheme with arms and a body reminiscent of those futuristic robot movies she once saw Kotarou watching. Its body was extremely large and its wide arms and short but firm legs made it look dangerously powerful. Despite its large size though, it had a very tiny head.

And it looked like she wasn’t the only one who was shocked too. Over half the customers were now standing, staring agape at the thing that just appeared out of nowhere. However, it seemed that they had a different reason to be surprised.

“Did she just summon that thing!?”

“Could she be what I think she is?”

“That symbol that appeared, did you guys get a good look at it!?”

Suddenly, much to everyone’s surprise, the robot spoke.

“These people bothering you Shelly?”

Its voice sounded male and sounded human. Much to Natsumi’s surprise considering that she was expecting a robotic voice. However, the robot still had its back to her, so she couldn’t exactly see its face.

“I’m not in the mood to fight right now Bulkhead. Please send them away.” the girl requested, her emotionless eyes gazing almost sadly on the table as she sipped her drink (which was already three-quarters empty)

The android then placed its large, three fingered claw firmly on the shoulder of the man who was bothering her and said, “All right, you heard the young lady. Buzz off.”

The man however, just scowled at him and said, “You ain’t the boss of me ya tin-headed frea-AAAAGGHH!!!” he the shouted all of a sudden as the robot lifted him high above its head much to the fright of the people around them.

“Please don’t do that, he doesn’t like people calling him names.” the young girl muttered, unmindful of the fact that the man’s legs were now flailing frantically in front of her.

The enormous green machine then turned around and dropped the man roughly. From there Natsumi could see its front. Its tiny head had two small blue lights that appeared to be its eyes while its lower jaw had cragged metal teeth.

The man crawled backwards from it, his eyes staring at it fearfully. “I-I ain’t gonna forget this!” he declared as he scrambled up and ran away, his two buddies not far behind.

Just then, the girl gave off one final slurp and the last drop of lemonade vanished from the bottom of her glass. She then slowly stood up, causing some of the other people around her to back away slightly, and headed towards Natsumi’s direction. Her gigantic partner instantly followed suit.

Natsumi could not help but shake as the large robot loomed over her but upon seeing the frightened look on her face, the machine suddenly frowned as if ashamed. “Uhhh… sorry if that scared ya… I don’t like people picking on Shelly over here.” he said as she scratched the back of his metallic head shyly.

“It’s okay Bulkhead,” the girl said but then looked to Natsumi, and for the first time, was smiling softly. “Thanks for the lemonade. I needed it.” she said as she took something out of her pocket. “Here.”

Natsumi slowly reached out her hand and felt something cold and round land on it. “I hope it helps. It must be pretty hard working here with guys like that around.” the girl named Shelly said sadly as her eyes lingered on Natsumi’s collar. When Natsumi looked down and saw what it was she gave to her eyes widened.

It was a large, beautiful gold coin and it was nearly as big as a cookie. The hieroglyphic text around its rim and the strange symbol in its center made it look extremely old and definitely not a part of the currency she usually handled.

“W-wait! I can’t accept this!” she blurted out but before she knew it, the girl and her large friend were gone.

“Hey newbie! What’re ya standing around for!? You’ve still got work to do!!” Natsumi heard a big booming voice bark from behind her. She quickly pocketed the coin and started sweeping again. “Aaahhh!! Yes chief!!”