After a weekend of cosplaying as the Amazing Digital Circus cast, it was back to work on a Monday. It's the afternoon now. Hoppy is heading off to the gym as a gymnastics teacher, Bobby is at home hiring more artists for her secret shipping shrine, DogDay is heading off to the arcade, CatNap is at home waiting for his sleep therapy clients (though there aren't a lot), Kickin is with some new friends he made during the Amazing Digital Circus cosplay last weekend recording YouTube shorts for a living (it's something to keep him sane), Bubba is at home just reading, Crafty is still drawing commissions (at least that's what she told everyone) and Picky is at home still looking for a job.

While the Smiling Critters were lucky to get jobs after CatNap and DogDay did, Picky still has no luck. She applied for different retail jobs, but found no luck. She then applied for restaurants next. There was one that caught her eye; a maid cafe.

She's no CraftyCorn, but Picky thought being a maid was super cute. She blushed at the thought of even dressing up as one.

Picky looked up the job requirements. Looking back on the cooking she's done for the other critters, that would be perfect for a job. Picky applied for the job; sending in her resume and information required. Now all that's left is to wait.

She took out her phone and texted the news to her friends, then looked up the directions how to get there.

Picky thought to go in and see this maid cafe for herself as a customer; just to get a layout of the place.

Once she got the directions on her phone and booked for a reservation in half an hour, Picky grabbed her wallet and keys and headed out.

Meanwhile in Bubba's house Bubba was reading "A Midsummer Night's Dream" by William Shakespeare. He loved Shakespeare's literature. He was thinking about setting up a play for the valley to participate in based on his favorite Shakespeare story "Romeo and Juliet", but it's more modern. He shared some ideas with a few critters just as interested in theater as he is when his phone rang; dragging the elephant out of his Shakespeare daze. He looked at his phone and saw it was Kickin calling.

Bubba groaned; wondering what Kickin could possibly want. He would ignore the call if he could, but Bubba let curiosity take over. He answered the call.

"Hello?" Bubba asked.

A split screen shows Bubba, Kickin and DogDay on the phone. It seems Kickin and DogDay are on a break if the two are on the call.

"Hey Bubba." Kickin greeted. "I also have DogDay on the call too."

"Hey Bubba." DogDay greeted with a wave.

"Listen guys, have you heard of a maid cafe?" Kickin asked.

DogDay and Bubba both shook their heads. "No, can't say I have." Bubba answered.

"I've been heading in and out of work many times, but have never seen a maid cafe." DogDay answered. "Is this about the text from Picky?"

"It is." Kickin answered. "She apparently applied for a job at some maid cafe," He then gave out a flirty kind of smile. "and you boys know what that means right~"

DogDay and Bubba blushed and blubbered out nonsense; much to Kickin's amusement. The chicken started chuckling.

"Alright settle down you feral freaks." Kickin smirked. "We can see those lovely ladies when we look up that maid cafe. We'll wait until you guys are done with work and head there. Well, see you there gentlemen."

Kickin ended the call, and Bubba and DogDay are still flabbergasted at Kickin's remark about the maids working.

Meanwhile after a bus ride Picky has made it to the maid cafe. It is a pink cafe with the sign above the door in fancy font. Picky looked at her phone, then back up at the cafe.

"Well, this is the place." Picky said to herself. "Might as well check this place out."

Picky entered the cafe and walked over to the receptionist. The receptionist is a panda with a music note necklace with a scent of green leaf. She looked up and saw Picky.

"Ah yes, hello" the receptionist greeted. "My name is Zoe Panda, and welcome to the maid cafe. Do you have your reservations?"

Picky nodded, then took out a screenshot with a QR code. "Right here!" she answered.

"Perfect!" Zoe exclaimed. "I'll just scan this and I'll take you to your table. I'll have a maid serve you whatever you need and entertain you while you're here."

Zoe took out a scanner and scanned the code. It only took a few seconds for that process to finish. She then gestured for Picky to follow her. Picky took in the layout of the cafe. There are lot of people here eating food and there are a few empty tables. The cafe interior isn't too big, but not small enough for everyone to be cramped in. Picky smiled to herself. She may know her way around no problem.

Zoe lead Picky to an empty table close to a window. "Alright, here's your table." she told Picky. "I'll be coming back when a maid tells me you're ready to pay."

Picky nodded. "Thank you very much." she said as the receptionist left to the kitchen.

Picky took her seat. Her ears perked up when she heard the receptionist call out.

"Hey Crafty! You got another customer! Why don't you entertain her for a bit and take her order?" She then walked away back to the front.

Picky's eyes widened. Crafty works here?! That can't be possible, right? Isn't she working on commissions? Was she keeping this job a secret? If so, why?

A lot of questions floated in Picky's head and nervously sit still; waiting to see if this was all true.

As if to answer her questions, CraftyCorn herself peeked out of the kitchen with her face turned bright red and sweaty. When she saw Picky, she squeaked and hid back into the kitchen. Picky smiled. That does confirm Crafty works here.

'Man, she looks so nervous.' Picky thought sympathetically. 'Nothing that a little customer encouragement won't fix.'

With slow steps Crafty exit the kitchen and walked over to Picky's table. "Uhh, h-hi Picky." Crafty stutters. "Welcome t-to the m-maid cafe. H-Here is the m-menu." She handed Picky a pamphlet.

Picky took it with a smile. "Thanks Crafty." she said encouragingly. "Yeah, this is my first time here. I applied here earlier that day to work here as well as a maid."

"R-Really?" Crafty asked.

Picky nodded. "Absolutely, and I'll be here for you whenever you feel embarrassed. Besides, I think you look cute in a maid outfit. Don't worry, I won't tell anyone else. My lips are sealed." She motioned a swipe at her mouth with her hoof giving Crafty the reassurance to not say anything. Crafty let out a sigh of relief.

"Thanks Picky. You're the best." Crafty cried out a bit. "I'll...I'll be back to take your order."

Picky nodded. "Absolutely. I'll give you all the time you need." she reassured before Crafty left Picky alone.

Meanwhile outside Bubba, Kickin and his new friends Peggy Penguin and CozyFair Sheep, and DogDay are standing in front of the cafe.

"Is this the place?" CozyFair Sheep asked.

Kickin nodded. "This is the place alright." he answered with a smirk.

Peggy nudged Kickin with his elbow. "Well then gentlemen, shall we enter?" he asked.

"Certainly." Kickin answered as the two entered the cafe.

While Picky is looking at the menu, she heard the cafe door bell ring and turned to see the five critters enter the cafe; about to meet the receptionist. Her eyes widened. If they saw the truth about her job, Crafty might be doomed. Knowing Kickin mostly, he'll go off and tell all of the critters in the friend group Crafty's secret.

Crafty peeked out the staff door again. Her eyes widened in fear again, but this time she saw five critters enter the cafe; three of them she recognized well.

What other critter would have ylang-ylang, vanilla and lemongrass scents?

Crafty closed the door and covered her face with her hooves. This is going to be so embarrassing if the guys find out she's working here as a maid; especially when Kickin's around.

Kickin has already proven that he's a jerk sometimes just because he claims to be the coolest critter around. He did indeed scare CatNap with those cucumbers in his tower house that weekend for crying out loud.

Crafty sighed. She started contemplating on what to do.

"Having troubles Crafty?" a soft edgy voice asked.

Crafty looked up and saw it was CatNap in a delivery uniform. Who else would have a lavender scent?

"CatNap?" Crafty asked in surprise. "What are you doing here? I thought you're the valley's sleep therapist."

"I am," CatNap answered. "but I haven't gotten a lot of clients, so I've been applying for a second job to get by while I can on my finances."

Crafty was further surprised by this. CatNap must've been struggling with finances a bit since there potentially a lot of sleep therapy clients. She decided not to press him further. If CatNap wanted to help, then she might as well take the opportunity.

"Well, I'll be taking up your offer on help for this one." Crafty said. "A few of our friends are in the cafe. I saw Picky, but she isn't the problem. She's great at keeping secrets. DogDay, Kickin, Bubba and two other guys are the problem. If they find out I'm actually working as a maid here, they're going to flip." She then groaned in despair. "They'll never let me hear the end of it."

CatNap thought about Crafty's predicament, then a plan had clicked into the purple cat's head.

"Crafty?" Crafty looked up with a bit of hope in her eyes. "I may have an idea, but I may need you to bear with me on this one." CatNap told her.

"ANYTHING!" Crafty shrieked as she grabbed CatNap's shoulders. "I just don't want to deal with the embarrassment."

"Alright," CatNap took a deep breath and continued. "take off your clothes."

The purple cat felt a punch collide with his face. He fell onto the ground and rubbed his face in shock. CatNap looked up and saw Crafty looking down at him horrified. He figured that Crafty made an attempt to slap him, but with the hooves it ended up as an actual punch.

"You...you pervert!" Crafty shouted. "Why the [NEIGH] would you suggest that?"

CatNap rubbed his cheek and stood up. "I didn't mean it like that." CatNap clarified. "I meant we can trade clothes so you don't have to go out in this outfit."

"You couldn't phrase it any other way?" Crafty sputtered. "You just had to phrase it in such an inappropriate manner?"

CatNap sighed. "We've been over this with the others, I've only socialized with DogDay and no one else." he recapped. "I don't socialize with others often and you and the other six are new to me. I only know you like The Amazing Digital Circus like I do and that's it."

Crafty sighed dejectedly. CatNap does have a point. "Fine, you are forgiven." she said. "Still though, are you sure about this CatNap?"

"Honestly? No." CatNap answered. "I'd rather not, but if keeping this job a secret is that important to you, then I'll...try my best to keep it that way. From one Digital Circus fan to another."

"Really?" Crafty asked with beady eyes.

CatNap nodded. "Yes, but if we're going to do this; you better decide now because I'm so close to changing my mind."

"Fine. Let's do it." Crafty groaned a bit and the two hurried to the change rooms.

Meanwhile Peggy, CozyFair, Kickin, DogDay and Bubba are seated around a circular couch with a circular table. They observed around the cafe, and actually spotted Picky.

"Is that one of your friends over there?" Peggy asked pointing at the pig.

Bubba nodded. "Yep, that's Picky." The blue elephant then blushed. "Honestly, she looks pretty cute."

"Maybe she's here to check the place out like we are." DogDay pointed out.

Kickin took out his phone and unlocked it. CozyFair noticed. "What's with the phone?" the sheep asked.

"Getting my camera ready~" Kickin answered.

"Hey!" the guys shouted, turning to Kickin in annoyance.

"Hey boys~" the familiar voice of Crafty flirted playfully. The guys looked toward the source of the voice, but Crafty wasn't here. "Wanna see something so kawaii?"

The boys exchanged their "yes" responses while Picky is looking at the staff door nervously; wondering what she was doing.

The door opens and two critters passed by Picky. The pig's worries ceased as she was now staring at the maid followed by a chef.

'Wait, is that...?' she thought with sparkling eyes.

The maid and chef stopped in front of the guys, and the five took a good look at the maid. It however was not what they were expecting.

In front of them is CatNap in a maid outfit looking away blushing like a tsundere with his tail swaying back and forth.

They didn't pay attention to Crafty.

Meanwhile outside the cafe...

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Kickin, CozyFair, Peggy and Bubba ran out of the cafe muttering incoherent cries at seeing CatNap in a maid outfit and asked themselves why he's even in one. Back inside Crafty and Picky laughed while CatNap crossed his arms still with an expression of a tsundere.

"The looks on their faces." Picky laughed.

"I know right?" Crafty asked, then put a hand on CatNap's shoulder. The purple cat turned towards the girls. "CatNap, you're a great friend. I owe you one."

"Thanks." CatNap grumbled. "Now can I have my clothes back please? I'm really starting to regret my decision."

Picky snickered as she noticed something else; pointing. "But what your tail is doing to DogDay says otherwise." she snickered. Crafty and Picky then continued laughing.

CatNap was confused as to what Picky had meant until he looked back and saw to his embarrassment his tail caressing an unmoving DogDay's chin. The purple cat even swore he saw a drop of blood come out of the orange dog's nose and drool running down his mouth.

Safe to say; CatNap now FULLY regrets helping his decision to help Crafty.

THE END

A/N: Alright, I'm halfway through the season now. I hope you're all enjoying these episodes as much as I am with writing them.

I have a feeling I'm getting these episodes done much quicker than my other stories.

Speaking of other stories, I hope you enjoyed that brand new one shot that I scheduled to be posted at 3 in the morning. I tried to explain about that while writing in another artbook, but the picture never appeared from my iPad and iPhone. I tried using my PC using a snipet tool, and that worked well.

Basically that one shot I wrote isn't part of this Smiling Critters book. It's a psychological dark horror one shot about travelling through a new kind of backrooms, and what happens when cartoons meet their bigger body versions of themselves.

It's based off when Pomni entered the Backrooms in the Amazing Digital Circus pilot.

Speaking of that, I hope you guys enjoyed that episode as well. I'd say that's my favourite episode to write so far.

Now then, before I get to the comment hall of fame, there's a few people I gotta thank.

Thank you to Miss_Wanna_Draw96 again.

What I made Kickin say is my full intention. Unfortunately this actually did happen to CatNap. My goal for Kickin is to make him sound more of a jerk just like I did with this episode.

Am I intentionally making Kickin everyone's least favourite character? I don't know.😏

Well, that does it for another episode. The next three episodes I'll be writing will be divided into three parts; just so everyone reading here knows.

Well, I'll see you guys after the first part. Bye. supersader9 out.