That Butler, New Face

That Butler, Brand New

"As I believe I have mentioned before... servants are to perform their work unobtrusively..." Sebastian lectured the three stooges. Mei-Rin and Finni were white as sheets with tears in their eyes, trembling while they huddled together. Bard was acting like he couldn't care less. "Well?" the butler asked sternly. "How many times must I repeat myself until you understand the meaning of 'unobtrusively'?" One wing of the manor had been demolished, and parts of the roof were damaged here and there.

"We're sooo sorryyyy!" Mei-Rin and Finni cried, terrified.

'Wow, he's letting them off easy...' Chêne thought, sweat-dropping. Just a scolding? Usually he would give them triple-decker ice cream scoops and then some. 'Well, they did do a good job of protecting Elizabeth.'

"In any case... Please clean up what you three have scattered about," Sebastian told them, putting a ripped flour sack into a trash bag as he got started on the cleanup. "Chêne and I shall do something about repairs and our daily duties."

'We will?' Chêne thought, sweat-dropping again. She didn't mind cleaning, but even with Sebastian's help, that was a lot of work... "Hm? What's that?" she asked, squinting. She picked it up. "A red hair?" Her face deadpanned when she recalled where she had seen hair like that before. 'It's a really good thing we weren't here, or things might've gotten complicated...!' she thought, sweating nervously. The damage to the manor would probably be at least twice as bad.

"..." Sebastian was also glad to have missed that particular reunion. He took the hair from her and threw it in the trash. "Here," he said, handing her the bag so he could get started elsewhere. "Mister Tanaka. Do carry on as per usual." Chêne picked up a burnt scarf she didn't recognize and let it drop into the bag. "Now, everyone," he said, clapping his hands together, getting the others' attention. "Today will be a busy day. Devote yourselves to cleaning up and nothing else..."

—^—^—^—

"Sebastian, it's awful!! There's nothing!! There's nothing left at allll!!" Lizzie cried dramatically as she burst into the front room of Ciel's bedroom, where he was getting changed behind a screen with Sebastian's help. She had wanted to pick out something cute for him, but everything was just gone.

"Excuse us," Sebastian said calmly while Ciel yawned. "Due to the servants' ineptitude, Young Master's dressing room was destroyed as well... and the only suits left are those we had taken to London.

"Eeeeeh!?" Lizzie exclaimed in disappointment. "I was hoping we could get all dressed up today and take a boat ride together..." she said glumly.

"I am so very sorry," Sebastian apologized with a wry smile. She almost looked like Chêne when she pouted like that. "As soon as I have finished repairing the manor..."

"Oh! I know~!" Elizabeth said brightly, suddenly perking up as a marvelous idea occurred to her. "We need only have some made if you haven't any!"

"Y—Yes, so once I am done with the repairs..." Sebastian said, sensing an even larger workload headed his way.

"Easter is at the end of March, so the timing is just right!" Lizzie said moving past him to peek around the screen at a thankfully fully-dressed Ciel. "Ciel, let's do that!" He seemed to be staring off into space. "... Ciel?" she asked, concerned when he didn't answer.

"Eh!?" Ciel said, flinching back to attention when he realized she was talking to him.

"Were you listening to me?" Lizzie asked, getting in his face.

"Ahh... um..." Ciel said lamely, leaning back a little to maintain a more comfortable distance between them. A bead of sweat rolled down the side of his face. She caught him.