We get the usual mishap to kick off the episode. It’s the day of the big collaboration event at a local cafe, but Kamegawa naively relied on the merchandise not just being delivered on time, but also on the day of the event. Yeah, that’s kinda silly of him. Why would you not hedge your bets and schedule it a couple days earlier? Naturally, Kannawa scolds him, but she then also blames herself for not double-checking his work. Apparently, she didn’t want to come across as a nag. Girl, you’re his superior, not his wife. Besides, this is hardly the end of the world. The collab hasn’t started yet, so you’re not technically late. Oh yeah, Hotta is also here for some reason. Just to be a third wheel, I guess?
As an aside, one thing I’m (mildly) jealous about is how I can’t try any of the cafe collaboration they have in Japan. For a racing game featuring maids? Of course not. But I would love to hit up the Final Fantasy Eorzea Cafe as someone who has played the MMO for over a decade (on and off), and I’m sure Atlus must have done a collab for one of their games. But alas, there’s a massive ocean between me and these events — the largest ocean too! And if they ever bring one of the collabs overseas, it’s almost always held in Los Angeles or New York City. I’m just surprised Nintendo opened up a store in San Francisco. Too bad I’m a Nintendo fanboy anymore. A couple decades too late for that!
The cafe manager suddenly has bad news to share: three of his workers literally just called out so they’re understaffed. Oh no, not on the day of the big collab! Well, you know what this means: our awkward Kannawa is going to have to get dressed! Naturally, Hotta gets roped into this as well. It’s not even her project or her kouhai! Is she getting paid for this? Well, as long as she’s having fun, I guess! But seriously, don’t they have responsibilities back at the office? Isn’t this supposed to Kamegawa’s project? Did Kannawa really plan on being at the collab the entire day? If everything had gone swimmingly, what would she be doing instead? Just watching over her kouhai’s shoulder the entire time?
Besides, I honestly don’t think the missing workers is a big deal. The understaffed part, I mean. First, I feel like no one is putting enough blame on the cafe manager. He should’ve been better prepared for this considering that it’s a big event for his store. But even then, it’s not like we’re headed straight for disaster. Three people can be a lot of manpower to make up for… assuming that they’re gone for the entire day. But the manager did say he could contact other employees to fill in. Yeah, they won’t get here immediately, but what does that mean? How long does it typically take to get to work, especially in a country with a competent mass transit system? Kamegawa tells us later that the replacements won’t arrive until the afternoon, but I call bullshit on that. We’re then told that they arrived sooner than expected, but both Kannawa and Hotta are still in their costumes. Huh? Even when it’s late into the afternoon, we still see Kannawa passing out fliers for the collab. Again, huh? Did we get the replacements or not?
Plus, as an office worker, you couldn’t pay me enough to put on a tacky ass costume and start serving customers in such an embarrassing way. Kannawa even has to dance on stage. This isn’t one of those fancy shows from big name studios like Madhouse or Cloverworks. As a result, there’s no real dancing here. The girls just kinda… vibrate on stage. But I digress. It’s not just my pride holding me back. It’s also the simple fact that I literally don’t even have experience being a service worker. I wouldn’t have the slighest clue on how to be a proper waiter, much less one of these hyper-energetic, “moe moe kyun” meidos. And from the looks of it, neither does Kannawa. I’m sure it’s physically impossible to dispense this much ketchup in one squeeze. I know I’m being a humorless killjoy, but I assure you this gag isn’t funny. Nevertheless, by fucking up, she’s actually creating more work for the already understaffed cafe. But hey, Kannawa literally put her life on the line to work through a typhoon, so we already know it’s more important to look like you’re working hard than actually being competent at your job.
Kamegawa starts himself for everything, which is ridiculous. He didn’t cause the workers to call out. Yeah, the tight delivery window could’ve been handled better, but christ, the way he’s talking, you would think they just lost a huge client. It’s a fucking video game collab. No one’s going to quit playing a game they love because the service at a collab is slightly slower or sloppier than usual. Get a grip, people. But everything has to turn into some invaluable life lesson that you carry forward into your career! Oh Kamegawa, your senpai just wants you to lean on her more! Now let’s get back to grinding so we can earn our corporate overlords even more money!
Towards the end of the day, it’s Kannawa’s turn to be down in the dumps, because she’s not your prototypical bright and bubbly maid. Kamegawa then has to awkwardly cheer her up by listing a bunch of his faults and foibles. Oh no, he’s not good at swimming! But thanks to him, she gets her second wind and can thus get back to being the perfect, little worker bee that she is. Kannawa ultimately finds one thing that she’s good at: being the blunt, “bitchy” maid. Yeah, sure, whatever.
