Not All Things Change
So here they were again in the mansion, after all this time. Actually, Maria supposed that it hadn't really been so long, but it had felt like a long time. But to be honest, sometimes just being around Nagi for a few minutes felt like a very long time, even though she truly loved that lazy little girl. Still, she was glad of the occasional respite, like this one right now, where she'd gone out shopping for fresh ingredients for dinner, and was returning to the mansion once again ...
... to find that there was a woman standing outside the gates, staring at them with an upset expression on her face. Maria blinked, and approached. "Excuse me, is there something the matter?" she asked politely.
"Oh, yes," the woman said, turning to look at her. Something familiar about those features, but Maria couldn't quite recognize her. "Do you work here? I really need to get in to see my son. He works here, you see. Maybe you know him?"
"... is he one of the security personnel here?" Maria asked. And yet, somehow, she already knew ...
"No, no," the woman said. "He's the butler."
"Ah," Maria said. "You're ... Hayate's mother."
"Yes, that's his name. Is he here?"
"Yes," Maria said. "Yes he is. I'll ... this way, please," she said. "I'll take you in through the servant's entrance. It's much faster."
She started walking, and the woman followed her. "Such a large mansion, he must really be raking it in here," the woman said. "I'm so proud of him, rising so high."
"Yes," said Maria, since she supposed that she had to say something.
Eventually, they arrived at the construction project that had been going on for some time now. "This way," Maria said. "Mind your step."
It didn't take her long to find what she was looking for, but the woman started frowning just a bit before that. "Um, where's that entrance?"
"Oh, there isn't one," Maria said, picking up what she'd been looking for. "We all go in through the main doors."
"Well then why -" the woman started to ask.
She was interrupted by Maria swinging the metal bar in a perfect arc that impacted against the side of her head.
"You are never going to hurt him ever again," Maria said, her voice unchanged. "Never," she repeated as she brought the bar down in the first of many blows. "Never. Never. Never. Never. Never. Never. Never. Never. Never -"
"And eventually, I'm sure that I wouldn't need to hit her anymore," Maria concluded, then sipped her tea.
Saki stared at her, jaw low.
"How did we get on to this topic, again?" Maria asked.
"Uh ... I think I asked if you'd ever felt driven to violence," the other maid replied, in an unsteady tone.
"Ah, right. Well, I haven't. But I've worked out what I'll do if I ever am," she concluded.