This chapter makes me hungry...

Maybe this is because I haven't eaten since breakfast? Muhohoho. You guys can come first for once, it has been awhile since I prioritized you on top of much. (Of course I love my readers!)

Regardless, if you ever have any questions about the story, please talk to me. I love to discuss it.

Enjoy!

Nagi and Veronica meandered into the main lounge. The room was a large atrium with no floors above it. Ceiling fans above spun slowly, leisurely stirring the air. A loveseat sat in front of a vast television. The eight person couch, a lovely mauve trimmed, lavender color, had impressions of when Nagi used this room as a casual manga-reading spot. The tall windows lit the peach colored room up, livening everything within it.

The carpet needed to be vacuumed, Veronica noted.

"This room." Nagi gestured, "has been one of the most wildly cleaned rooms in the house. This is because it gets the dirtiest fastest. I am not interested in the room getting cleaned." Veronica turned her head, curious to see where this was going, "No. Instead, I want you to clean the ceiling fans."

Veronica opened her eyes a little wider, "Say again?"

"I didn't say it clearly the first time?"

"As you wish, Mistress Nagi, three cleaned ceiling fans coming right up."

Veronica analyzed the height of the fans, hanging at the top of the two and a half story room. Then she looked at her duster, which was only a foot long in reach. She needed to get up there. A ladder wouldn't be the most effective means, she'd fall because her feet wouldn't hook onto the steps correctly, especially because of her roller skates.

She licked her lips once as she smirked. She rolled her way to the couch, and pulled it forwards, making sure her feet were at 90 degree angles of the couch to gain traction to do this. Once it was relatively under the fans, she placed one foot on the couch, and pushed down on it to get a feel for it.

What the hell is she thinking? Nagi wondered.

Veronica turned to Nagi and let loose a withheld breath.

"It's been a long time since I did this, but there is a critical point inside of every couch. If you land on it in the right fashion, it bounces you back up with three times the force."

"I've never heard of such a thing." Nagi stated.

"I learned it in the European schools." Veronica replied, as if that answered everything.

She wheeled her way to behind the couch, and paused. With a few pushes, she leapt from the ground and landed on the couch, square in the middle of one of the cushions.

She went up in the air, but not nearly 3 times as high, nor upwards. No, Veronica landed on her face in front of the couch.

Nagi fell over in ludicrous laughter.

"Cripes, how do I do this again?" Veronica glared at the couch.

She repositioned herself behind the couch once more.

"So ye want to play hardball with me, eh?" She grumbled aloud, closing her eyes in mild meditation.

"You stupid maid, there's no such thing as a-" As Nagi spoke, Veronica leapt once more onto the couch, this time though, she rebounded into the air, sailing upwards towards the fans.

Nagi's mouth dropped as Veronica's altitude climbed.

"And that ought to leave three and a half seconds to..." Veronica mumbled, swiping down the fans in a few deft moves.

"Ho-Ho-How did you just d-d-do that?" Nagi took a step back as Veronica landed on her wheels gracefully.

"I told you, I landed on the critical point of the couch. I factored my puny weight into the equation, tampered with a few variables, and found the critical point. Luckily I can do this still."

"But you jumped two stories," Nagi felt faint.

"Yes, what of it?"

"How-what-when- can you teach me?"

"You'd have to be pretty well trained." Veronica chuckled. "If you really want to, after we go shopping I could start."

Nagi winced. She realized that this girl was making herself rather comfortable at the mansion already, as if she was certain she was going to be living there.

This was an impossibility. Nagi knew deep inside that she could never replace Maria, and was determined to make sure that this girl could never take her place.

Veronica just smiled as she wheeled towards the hallways to continue cleaning the floors.

"You just wait to you face my lovely pet Tama." Nagi growled.

Upstairs, the sound of a tussle had begun. Nagi winced; she had forgotten that Tama and Hayate weren't the best of friends. She may have had faith in Hayate's ability to survive, but she felt mildly guilty about setting him against the tiger.

"Milady!" Klaus addressed his mistress, appearing out of thin air in front of Mr. and Mrs. Belle.

"Don't scare me like that old man!"

"I'm sorry Ms. Nagi, but, I believe our guests are hungry. Shall we have Ms. Belle serve us all? Where is Hayate?"

"He, uh, well, he's upstairs fetching Tama. I think he can be excused from dinner." Nagi smiled sheepishly.

Nagi looked at the clock, since Veronica's arrival, it had been a good few hours. It was now nearing 3 o'clock, and marking nearly 5 hours since Nagi last ate. She was decently hungry.

An early supper, late lunch, couldn't hurt.

"Veronica!" Nagi called loudly, given her initial impression of Veronica, the girl would've been halfway around the mansion by now.

"Yes Mistress Nagi?" Veronica materialized behind her, causing her to jump.

Regaining her composure, Nagi gave her orders. "Veronica, I would like to be served supper."

"At such an early hour? Yes your ladyship." Veronica was learning not to question the motives of her new master. "What would you like?"

Nagi pondered this question. She didn't want the Zinged chicken again, that would be boring. No, she felt something with meat, beef, in particularity. The mashed potatoes of last night were delicious, and she wanted something of similar nature, but she was also craved something crunchy like chicken tenders out of a fast food restaurant.

And she wanted it fairly soon.

Veronica's eyes glimmered as she stared at Nagi, waiting for a response.

"I am unsure." Nagi lied, knowing fairly well what she decided, "you pick."

Veronica smiled. "Very well. I will make it a surprise."

At this, Nagi was intrigued.

"Mr. Klaus," Matthias asked, "I require to use a restroom, you know, wash up a tad before I eat, if I may be so excused."

"Of course, right down that hall and to the right. We will be in the dining room in a few moments, same hall, different direction, third to last door on what would be your right."

"My deepest thanks." Matthias bowed deeply, and his tall frame disappeared towards the bathroom.

"Follow me, Madam." Klaus said to Julie in his deeply accented English.

"Thank you." She replied smiling.

"I will be in the kitchen Mistress Nagi," Veronica explained, dashing away to the kitchen, a room away from the dining room.

The moment Veronica was about to open the door to the kitchen, it opened.

"Ah, Veronica, fancy seeing you here." Matthias Belle smiled at her.

"Dad! I was just going to cook her a-"

"Beef Croquette, I know. That's why I already have had the paste whipped up and broiled, and I even wrapped it around nice slabs of beef. You should see their stores, it is fantastic even by my standards. I added a little vegetable crumble to the breading as well. All you have to do is deep fry them, and serve it. That shouldn't take more than a couple minutes, correct?"

"Shi' du mok tez nal! Vator! Vy du bech!" She angrily pushed him against the doorway, even though he was nearly two and a half feet taller than her.

"Now, now, no need to get feisty deary. I simply gave you a nudge in the right direction. To guess what is on one's mind is one trick in and of itself. But predicting what one will think before they think it, and act on it, that takes guts. You have much to learn, daughter."

"You cheated anyways!" She roared in a hushed voice, pushing him once more.

"So? Now, if I remember correctly... I just said I was going to the bathroom... well... lemme see." Matthias walked outside the hall and glanced down it towards the bathroom. Sure enough, the sound of a door closing could be heard at the far end of the hall, presumably the bathroom.

A flicker of light beneath that door provoked a smile from Matthias.

"Well, I'll be off to clean my hands up. Have fun playing maid my radiant little doll."

Veronica grit her teeth as her father elegantly strode out of the kitchen.

She huffed, patted her skirt down once more, and investigated what her father had already done.

Sure enough, it was as he said. There were bread-rolls containing beef, coated in crumbs and microscopic vegetable particles. A small vat on a stove had just begun boiling with oil.

She huffed again. Her father took all the fun out of her job.

"Well, perhaps I can put a little flare to it all the same?" She smiled wickedly.

Her arms and legs blurred with speed as she began concocting something more.

Nagi, Klaus and Juliana had just sat down at the table, making themselves feel comfortable.

"So you're her mother?" Nagi asked to Mrs. Belle.

Juliana looked up, noting Nagi was looking at her, sighed, and looked back down.

"I no know Japanese." She said poorly. Nagi giggled, making the poor lady lower her head in shame.

"Mistress Nagi! That is not proper!" Klaus argued.

"Oh who cares? She'll be gone later today, hopefully with this maid who can't do anything right." Nagi promised herself, knowing full well it was a lie, and that Veronica exceeded any and all expectations thrust upon her.

"Mistress, I haven't found a reason to fire her yet..." Klaus admitted.

"So, you're her mother?" Nagi asked in fluent English.

"I apologize," Julie said in crude Japanese before continuing in English, "I am her father's wife." She confirmed.

"But you didn't give birth to her?" Nagi pondered in her own language, "that would explain the difference in appearance." In English once more, "Does she have any form of weakness that you know of?"

Klaus shot her a look.

Julie looked up at the chandelier, ruminating.

"I can say, with utmost honesty, that she does not have a weakness." Julie answered.

Nagi winced. That was the wrong answer.

At that moment, Matthias Belle walked in.

"Ah, hello! I am sorry, that took a touch longer than anticipated." He sat down next to his wife.

"You weren't gone for more than a minute you doof." Nagi grunted, shifting her legs in her chair.

Matthias smiled widely at her. "Even so."

"So what, we just wait here for her to finish cooking? Ugh, I could be playing my Wii..." She grumbled, lolling her head back.

A voice from the kitchen echoed throughout the dining room. "Veronica Quasar Belle, now presents your dinner!" The doors snapped open, and a red blur dashed out with multiple platters all balanced on top of her miniscule form.

A small tune appeared in the dining room as the red blur delivered 4 individual platters to the four people sitting down. Nagi pushed herself into her throne of a chair as the platter appeared, then forks and knives, a napkin, and then she looked up to see Veronica, skating backwards with her eyes closed smiling, taking off the lids of each platter.

In the matter of thirty seconds, dinner had been successfully served.

"Well Mistress Nagi?" Veronica smiled, now stationary at her side. "Dig in."

Nagi gazed incredulously. Beef Croquette was essentially was she had in mind, and to top it off, a baked potato with a touch of cheddar cheese.

"How the hell did you do that?" Nagi demanded. It hadn't been more than a minute since she began cooking.

Veronica smiled, curtsied, and humbly boasted the truth, "Nothing is impossible for me."

Nagi looked back at the food and had to agree with her. Beef Croquette takes a long time, nearly thirty minutes to properly set so that it can be fried. The baked potatoes can take an upwards of an hour, especially if they were twice baked, which they were.

Mathematically, speaking, to properly make a dinner this eloquent in that little amount of time was not physically possible. That gave Nagi two ideas. Either the food was poorly cooked, and only looked perfect, or she had help.

She took a bite into the food, and her mind melted in ecstacy. The crunch of the fried shell of the beef croquette gently gave way to her teeth as she bit down, and the extraordinarily succulent meat blended with it to form a putty of tasty flavors that Nagi could not resist for longer than the time it took her to swallow and take another bite. The potato was the same in concept, perfectly cooked.

This ruled out plan one. Which elicited a glare at Juliana and Matthias Belle.

"Klaus, were those two with you all day?"

"I gave them a tour of the mansion."

"They never left your side though?"

"Aside from Matthias using the restroom right before dinner, that was the first time I left either unattended." Klaus reported.

This is too strange. That isn't possible. It just can't happen that way. Unless...

"European Maid Schools are a breed apart." Veronica bowed, answering Nagi's mental question.

"How did you do that?"

"Do what?" Veronica asked humbly.

"Read my mind?"

"Oh, no, I simply saw the puzzled look on your face after you ate. Presumably you were confused as to how I did that. Whilst maintaining my aura of secrecy, I informed you that my schooling was divine, and hoped that that would clear up the befuddlement." Veronica smiled.

Nagi was weirding out.

"Mistress Nagi, just enjoy your food for now, I will continue cleaning the floors. If you need me, just call." With a large, warm smile, Veronica dashed off.

"Still thinking about trying to fire her?" Klaus daintily nibbled at his food.

"Shut up." Nagi growled.

Yep, I'm hungry.

Chapter added 17:40, 2/20/2012

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