Keiichi held his head low as he walked through the town, a quartet of girls trailing behind him. Even closer behind him was the little tail coming from underneath the dress he was wearing. This sort of sight had grown to be customary in the village, though sometimes it was one of the girls leading the pack in some odd costume ore another. Sometimes.
"Why do I put up with this?"
He had asked himself that very question many times. More often than not, he either hadn't meant it seriously or got reminded of the answer only moments later.
Let us examine the facts. On a daily basis, Keiichi put his skills to the test against two teenage girls and two younger girls. And on a almost-every-other-day-and-more basis, Keiichi's skills would prove to be no match for them - he figured they were ganging up on him sometimes - and he would be forced to some humiliating task, usually in a costume.
Sure, there were the rare occasions when Keiichi was victorious, when Rena would wear a maid's dress and do his homework, where Mion would have to wear the Angel Mort outfit and serve him all day long, where Rika and Satoko called him "onii-san" and cooked his favorite foods for him. But those victories, sadly, were far and few in-between, but he was getting better.
So why?
The answer was simple. These girls were his best and most treasured friends, and no matter what happened, no matter what hardships were thrown their way, no matter what arguments or fights they might have someday…
They would always be there, be friends. They would always have his back, and he'd have theirs in a heartbeat. Rena would always coo at him and offer her support when he needed it - even if he wouldn't admit it. Mion would always find some stupid ojisan way to cheer him up or get him up and raring to go - even if it was done through taunts and insults. Satoko would always be sure to cook him a little extra when his parents went out of town - even when she and Rika hadn't gone shopping for themselves. Rika would always be there to pat him on the head after something bad happened - even if she too had gotten wrapped up in his mess.
And he would always be there for them.
When Rena went down to the dump for teasure, Keiichi made sure to go with her to life the heavy things. When Mion needed help at one of her various jobs, more often than not Keiichi was the first to show up for duty. When Satoko was facing some terrible vegetable (usually cauliflower), Keiichi would be there to dramatically eat it and tear it apart, and then tell her it would all be okay and he was taking her out for ice cream. When Rika was looking moody about whatever went on in her cute little head, Keiichi would be there in a flash, with a speech or two and the heart to back his words up.
And those things would never ever change.
So the kitty maid raised his head and grinned, despite the humiliation of wearing such a thing for all to see.
Besides, he was going to get one of them in that skimpy swimsuit he had picked out for sure during tomorrow's games!