#haruka yamada

[yansimstorythatiwillnotworkon]

#13

Wednesday

__

Amise sighed, crossing her arms at Ayano’s request. “You want me to go track down Lorelai?” She asks, lifting an eyebrow at her. Based on her body language, expression and tone of voice it didn’t seem like she wanted to be seeing Ayano at the moment. “Why?”

The two were currently at the outside cafeteria, sitting in one of the spots. This early, no one else was usually in the area, although it tends to be quite crowded during lunch. Thanks to the lack of students for the week, there likely wouldn’t be too many people in the area anyway.

“I’m trying to… resolve or prevent the conflict between him and Frankie.” Ayano explains briefly. “And I need you to locate him in order to do that.” Despite her explanation, Amise’s expression was still nothing outside of suspicious.

Tilting her head to the side, Amise averted her gaze, seemingly thinking. After a moment, she sighed, “I suppose, technically, this is my job..” She muttered underneath her breath as she held her hand to her mouth in thought.

After a brief nod, Amise says. “I’ll see what I can do.” Before Ayano walks away, though, she then adds, “Actually, I need you to do something for me as well.”

Since Ayano still evidently needed time to think of a plan for Lori and Frankie, it wouldn’t really be much of a burden if she did some sort of task while she did so. The only idea Ayano had at the moment was to offer more than what the client was paying or ask Info-Chan what to do about it, which would no-doubt result in another winding task.

“I want you to do some research on Tokuko Kitagawa’s sickness. Her throat virus or whatever it is.” Amise explained, “If she doesn’t find a cure to it soon, she won’t be able to participate in the play, which will cause a lot of conflict by next week.”

“Mm… right. I’ll head to the library and see what I can figure out.” Ayano explains briefly, standing up and tossing her spare soda can into the recycling bin. Amise herself didn’t get up, instead sitting and watching Ayano leave.

__

After Ayano leaves, Amise sighs and leans back in her chair. Since Ayano had made the genius decision to kill Amai, there was now way more conflict in the school than likely needed. If more suspicious things like Amai’s sudden suicide continued happening, students would eventually end up leaving, which would mess up… a lot. Not specifically for what Amise has in mind, but it’d make a lot of futures for her peers crumble, or at least be held off. Especially if with Ayano’s… “events” it caused the school to shut down.

Amise hums to herself. Taro was generally a pretty plain guy, realistically speaking. He’s done nothing out of the ordinary to or for Ayano. Anyone would do the same- help a girl off the floor after bumping into them. In fact, several people in the school have likely done similar, if not nicer things for Ayano already.

“Gosh..” Amise sighs, picking up the sound of slow footsteps approaching her from behind. She casually undoes her hair, flipping it over her shoulder and tying it back into the bun it was previously. As she flips her hair back, she catches a glimpse of the person behind her. “Oh, Horuda. How are you today?” She asks, smiling at her.

Horuda offers a shaky smile back. Her default expression was usually her smiling in an awkward, almost unnatural manner. Oftentimes, she isn’t even feeling happy, and just smiles for the sake of seeming appealing. Frankly, Amise is worried that Horuda’s forgotten the feeling of being happy at this point, and that her face is just used to being shaped like that.

“Alright..” Horuda says in her usual quiet voice. Then, without a change in her expression, she continues, “Actually, I’m not alright. That’s why I came to you.” She giggles a bit, again without a change in her expression and a lack of emphasis in her voice.

Amise tilts her head to the side. “Alright, then… what exact��ly..” She immediately trails off as she catches a glimpse of Horuda’s hair, which, despite seeming to come to Amise because of it, immediately raises her hand up, as if to hide it. Horuda’s hair, where it would usually fall onto her shoulders, had a huge chunk missing just behind her left ear.

From behind, it’s likely that others wouldn’t notice, but if her hair were to fall out of that specific place, anyone would notice it. “Horuda.” Amise stands up with a pitiful frown, walking over to circle around behind Horuda. The girl in question nearly shrinks from Amise’s presence, likely due to her height feeling as though someone was looming behind her. Amise learned that this was where her fear of being approached from behind came in to play.

Thankfully, Horuda had recently gotten out of the habit of apologizing at every minor inconvenience. “My hair doesn’t grow back very fast.” She murmurs under her breath, “I don’t want to cut my hair..”

“You could keep it like this. Hope no one sees. But in the end won’t those girls just bring attention to it anyway?” Amise asked, to which Horuda sadly nodded. “What was their scheme this time?”

Horuda frowns, tapping on her thighs with an exhale before muttering. “...you know how Hoshiko’s ‘afraid of scissors’?”

Amise shakes her head in disappointment. Hoshiko in particular- known by several other victims of hers- enjoys abusing her peers. Or at the very least she likes cutting hair. It was obvious that Hoshiko claimed that she had a fear of scissors so that she would immediately be eliminated in the “who cut Horuda’s hair” question. If Amise were to speak in a full ‘bully conspiracy’ manner, she would accuse Hoshiko of constantly lying and putting up a fake personality in order to get away with her sadistic desires.

Amise knew this was true, a few other students knew it was true, and Horuda certainly knew that it was true. The whole problem in terms of bullying or abuse upon students via other students isn’t seen as that big of a problem in Akademi since nothing ever goes too far. Or, a better way to put it would be that whatever does go too far is kept under the radar from the staff, student council, and a select few students.

The only reason Amise doesn’t do anything about it is because she’s one of the select few students who the victims happen to keep their lips zipped shut around. Thanks to this, a lot of Amise’s free time is spent keeping an eye on the more victim-known students. Kokuma, Hazu, Otohiko…

With a sigh, Amise undoes her hair once more, this time using her own hair tie to tie a bun into Horuda’s hair. With the way she’d placed the bun, it masked the missing chunk of hair pretty well. “...that’ll have to do.” Amise mumbles, stepping back.

Horuda turns around, looking at Amise as if asking how she looked. Rather than waiting for a comment, though, she taps her fingers together with a nervous smile. “You look beautiful with your hair down.” She says, averting her gaze.

Amise smiles, although it’s more so full of pity than flattered. “Thanks, Horuda.” She says, folding her arms lightly. “You should consider different hairstyles. You look nice with your hair down as well, but I think a bob cut or something of the sort would fit you just as well.”

“I’ll think about it, Amise.” Horuda mutters, hanging her head a bit. She pauses for a moment in thought, before swiftly tugging down some strands of hair to hide her face a bit more. “I-I’m going to go…” She trails off, likely not knowing what she was going to do herself. “..walk somewhere. Thank you, Amise.”

Horuda bows her head respectfully before quickly walking off elsewhere. Amise sighs as the shorter girl scurries off. Before she could bring it to her to think, a text message came from her phone. At first she assumed that it would be Info-Chan, but thankfully, luck was on her side.

Haru: Hey, Amise ^^

Haru: I know you’re probably in school too right now buuuuut…

Haru: Can I ask you a favor?

Haru: Pleeeeease?

Amise: Why are you pleading before you even ask the question?

Haru: To increase my luck?

Haru: [Haruka gains +10 Luck]!!

Amise: Sigh… now I have to do it :(

Haru: Correct!

Haru: Ami, can you please check on my brother for me?

Amise: Oh, that’s a lot less fiendish then I was expecting.

Amise: Why do you ask?

Haru: I haven’t had a chance to properly talk to him since his friend passed, and I won’t be able to for a while since I’m at our aunt’s right now.

Haru: How do you think he’s performing at school right now?

Amise: Weeeell…

__

“Sounds like tonsillitis.” Kuu says after Ayano gave her a brief explanation of what Tokuko complained about. When Ayano gives her a semi-shocked look, Kuu adds on. “That’s just an assumption, though.” She shrugs. “She could have gone to a poor clinic- maybe they gave her the wrong antibiotics or something. Just tell her to sleep more, gargle some salt water and live with someone else for a while.”

“That last bit sounds excessive.” Ayano mumbles, folding her arms with a raised eyebrow. Sure, Ayano herself probably couldn’t think of anything better, but it’s not like Tokuko could just up and move somewhere else. And if it were really that simple, wouldn’t she have done so by now?

Kuu simply shrugs at Ayano’s comment. “Well, it sounds better for a singer to leave an environment that ruins their voice.” She claims, handing Ayano a book on common infections in the body. “Just give her that and offer her my advice. If she doesn’t take it then oh well. I’m not going to the play anyway.”

“Hm.” Ayano nods with a quiet hum. “Alright. I’ll tell her that.” She bows her head briefly. “Thanks for your input.”

Kuu simply nods back and Ayano takes her leave right after. With impeccable timing as ever, as soon as Ayano closes the door to the library, she receives a message from Info-Chan.

Info-Chan: Your best way to get Lori’s interest is by offering him more money than his client, which I’m sure you’re aware of.

Ayano: And if I can’t?

Info-Chan: You could always do a life-lasting favor for me ^^

Info-Chan: Or you could take it up with his client in general.

Info-Chan: But in order to do that you’d have tooooo?

Ayano: Learn who his client is. I’m aware.

Ayano: I’ll ask Frankie about it.

__

Frankie taps her phone against her lips and slowly mutters a reply. “Well… I admit that I could probably just gain evidence and tell the police or something. But.. I mean…” She presses her lips together tightly before sighing. “..okay, so I used to know Lori in middle school. Not like a friend or anything, but he–” She coughs, likely to brush off that she knows his real gender, “--she and I were in a, uh… let’s say a similar situation with grade issues.”

“You and him were both getting bad grades.” Ayano says, sitting on the desk next to Frankie’s. The gyaru presses her lips together, contemplating if she’d let Lori’s real gender slip or if Ayano knew beforehand.

Whichever one she was thinking of at the moment, she ignores it and continues. “Right. So we were both assigned for after-school classes, but he either didn’t show up or was literally forced in by some teacher who caught him before he could leave school.” Frankie twirls a piece of her hair around her finger and continues in a low tone. “I was always kind of concerned because if he wasn’t subtly misbehaving in school, I saw him sitting outside of his house late at night, or just generally being alone.”

“So did you ever talk to him? If you noticed him so often, then I would assume that you did at least once.” Ayano asks, resting her arms on the desk as she leaned her head on her shoulder.

Frankie nods, “Yeah, no, I tried. And- I also… um..” She lifts a fist to her mouth in thought, her eyes shut for a moment. “Ugh… several incidents had me thinking that he needed help at home, and I still do think that. So… I talked to him to ask him about it, but he just got mad at me. He threatened me if I told anyone, but I didn’t listen and I told the police about it.”

It takes Frankie a moment, but she eventually inhales and exhales deeply, ready to continue. “The police looked into it, but apparently nothing was wrong and Lori never admitted to anything. Lori wasn’t in school for a week after that, but when he came back he hunted me down and- believe it or not- beat me up. I..” Her gaze drags down to her lap, “I thought I made it worse, but I didn’t exactly stop trying to help him. Whenever one of my plans didn’t work, my punishment was really just whatever Lori threw at me at the time. And I accepted it.”

Ayano folds her arms. “So… you assumed that something bad was happening to Lori at home- I’m going to guess some sort of abuse..” Frankie nods and Ayano continues. “...so, you tried several times to get him help, but each time it failed. As a result, Lori’s treatment would probably get worse at home, and in turn, Lori would attack you.” She exhales at Frankie’s seconds nod. “That’s a bit much for a middle schooler to deal with, huh?”

Frankie shrugs, her gaze not leaving her lap. “Sure, generally speaking.” After that comment, she continues with her explanation. “Since Lori is now constantly beating me up, I assumed that… I assumed that my nagging might have made Lori’s situation worse than before, so… I stopped trying to get help for myself.” She furrowed her eyebrows and picked at her skirt as she muttered, “Part of me feels like it’s the least I could do- like I deserve it for… possibly making his life worse. I’m willing to do… a lot to make up for what I did, but he just won’t talk to me.”

“But you don’t know if you did anything.” Ayano points out, only receiving a sigh in response from Frankie. “So, hypothetically, what did you expect me to do about your situation?”

Although tempted to just shrug again, Frankie sits up before leaning her elbows onto her desk. “I’m not really sure. My only thought process was ‘It’s not me, so maybe he’ll listen’. But that was just my wishful thinking. I’m not sure what to do, really.” She admits in a quiet voice. “Honestly, I don’t think that I could come up with any plan that didn’t contradict my own feelings. I’m sorry, Ayano, I guess I just wanted someone else to solve the problem for me.”

Ayano pauses for a moment, before saying. “I’m still willing to help. I think I’ll try talking to him just to see his reaction. Lori avoids everyone, but I’m sure I can get his attention… somehow.” She says, lifting a hand to her mouth in thought.

Frankie looked like she wanted to say something else, but in the end just bows her head. “Alright. Be careful, and thanks. Even if you can’t talk to him, any effort is appreciated.”

__

Ayano had just received a message from Amise saying that Lori was behind the auditorium building. A great place to be alone since no one liked dealing with all of the access foliage back there. It was either the Gardening Club’s blind spot or extra work to them since no one was meant to be back there anyway. The time was 8:22, right before classes started. Hopefully this interaction could happen quickly.

As soon as Ayano turned the corner that led to the area behind the auditorium, she nearly collided with Lorelai. He was leaning on the wall right beside the corner of the building with a lollipop in his mouth. He was texting someone, but immediately turned his phone off and pushed himself off the wall to walk away.

“Lorelai. I wanted to speak with you about Frankie.” Ayano started, thankfully somewhat grabbing Lori’s attention by mentioning his full name. Worried that this attention might be fleeting, Ayano quickly continued. “I know that you’re being hired by someone to attack Frankie. What can I do to keep you from doing that?”

“Hospitalize me.” Lorelai immediately muttered, turning to face Ayano with a glare.

Ayano was somewhat surprised at the voice that came from such feminine-looking features, but shook off the feeling. She was somewhat sure that Lorelai wasn’t being serious, but depending on how desperate Lorelai was, it might not be too far from the truth. Realistically, Ayano could by attacking him, but that leaves the problem of him defending himself and also simply telling the police about what she’d done.

Lorelai pulled the candy out of his mouth with a suspicious look. “Where’d you hear about that?” He asked, although his tone of voice sounded as if he were demanding rather than asking. “I know I didn’t tell anyone.”

“..My… informant.” Ayano replied hesitantly. Based on Lorelai’s further disapproving look, he either didn’t believe her or just didn’t like the idea of anyone knowing his business. “Can I pay you to leave Frankie alone?”

“Not likely.” Lorelai said, crossing his arms. “I’m paid 1K a week. Are you saying you have 2K to pay me every week?” He said, holding his hand out.

Ayano didn’t obviously have that kind of money. She looked down to Lorelai’s hand with a confused expression, and he shifted it so that it pointed to the pocket that her phone was in. Reluctantly, Ayano tossed him her phone, and after checking it briefly, he tossed it back. It’s likely that he was checking it for some sort of voice recorder, just in case.

“I… don’t.” Ayano shook her head, not to the surprise of Lorelai. “Could I talk to your… employer? Where would I find them?”

Lorelai raised an eyebrow at her, more surprised at that then her lack of money. “...one of the alleyways in Buraza Town. Around 3 in the morning, he’s usually there.”

Ayano nods. “I’ll speak to him then.”

There was a long pause, as if Lorelai was debating on adding something else to that. Instead, he scoffed, with some hint of a smug grin. “Right.” He began to walk past her, but stopped next to her. “I don’t expect you to say a thing about this.” He says, glaring at her.

After a quick nod on Ayano’s side, Lorelai walked back to the main building. As soon as he was out of sight, Ayano pulled out her phone.

Info-Chan: I know exactly who he’s talking about.

Info-Chan: Great job, Yan-Chan ^^

Info-Chan: You’ve been awarded many, many info points for this lovely information.

Yan-Chan: Who is he talking about?

Info-Chan: I think it’s best if you find out yourself ;D

Yan-Chan: And how many info points would it cost me to have you just tell me?

Info-Chan: All of them.

Yan-Chan: Right. Tell me.

Info-Chan: You were supposed to be opposed to the idea :(

Info-Chan: Regardless, no amount.

Info-Chan: You’ll thank me for saving you from debt later :3

Yan-Chan: Fine.

__

After Ayano finished her general tasks for today, including her business with Tokuko and Frankie, it was just a matter of waiting for the appropriate time to leave for Buraza. Ayano ended up leaving about half an hour early, and looked around, peeking into each alleyway, but obviously not seeing much yet. As she exited one of the alleyways, she heard a familiar voice nearby.

“I’m not letting you cheat me out of this!” Kokona seethed, grabbing her dress in frustration. Tears pricked her eyes as she glared at the man in front of her. “You- You’re not giving me the money you said you would!”

“Listen. I was being generous with that amount.” The man said, although he tried to give some sort of sympathetic look, he really just looked glad to have received whatever he did at whatever price he was ripping her off of. “Girls like you get paid that much for more satisfying services. You can’t get mad that I’m giving you money you deserved. Even the money I gave you isn’t what I’d call money ‘well-spent’.” He claimed.

There was no one else around, really. Part of Ayano wondered what exactly Kokona would be up to with a man this late at night. Whatever it was she was doing, both the information and helping her out would benefit Ayano greatly.

The two continued going back and forth, with Kokona nearly in tears and the man just seeming to enjoy getting a rise out of her before he inevitably left. “Just face it, babe. I’m not giving you all that money.”

Ayano slipped a knife out of her pocket and jabbed it into the man’s back. “I think you will.” She said, her voice low and threatening. Kokona looked somewhat shocked but immediately changed her face back to anger. She held her hand out expectedly as the man stiffened up at the sharp blade pressed into his back.

“H.. Hey, now. You’re not really gonna help this skank out, are you? She is not worth getting violent over, I promise you.” The man said, attempting to reason Ayano out of this, his hands held up and his heading facing forward.

“You heard what I said, right?” Ayano hissed, pushing the knife further, although of course not enough to seriously harm him. At the jab, the man shakily reached into his wallet. Unable to actually pick out the necessary money he just slipped his cards and ID out and tossed the wallet to the ground.

He kicks the wallet to Kokona’s feet and she picks it up and takes a step back, still glaring at the man. “There’s your money. Okay? Now get off of me!” He says, immediately walking past Kokona and tossing a look back to the two girls. “This is robbery!” He says, but it didn’t look like he actually planned on telling them. “Crazy bitches..”

As the man walks away, Kokona’s face pales and she raises her hands up to her face with a moan of agony. “God, Ayano, we weren’t supposed to rob him! This is more than he said..” She mutters, kneeling down as she sniffed into her hands.

“It wasn’t supposed to be robbery.” Ayano said, kneeling down in front of Kokona. “And it wouldn’t have been if you hadn’t been out here in the first place. So?” She tilted her head to the side as Kokona peeked at her through her hands. “What were you doing with him?”

After a couple minutes had passed, Ayano successfully sat Kokona down and had her explain her situation. “I-I don’t do anything… revolting. Nothing sexual in any way, I mean. No extra requests, none of that.” Kokona mumbles, tears still swelling in the corner of her eyes.

“And what does Riku think of this?” Ayano asked, only making Kokona groan and hang her head again.

“Please don’t remind me… I haven’t told him yet. I… I’m not even sure how I would.” Kokona pulls her knees up to her chest and rests her chin atop them, similar to how she did at the funeral. “I’m sure he’d want me to stop… And I appreciate that, I want to stop too, but… I just… can’t… right now.” She shakes her head.

Ayano crosses her arms. “And why is that? What are you trying to pay for?” She asks, folding one leg over the other. As Kokona steels herself, Ayano briefly checks the time. 2:54AM. It wasn’t long before she’d have to meet with Lori’s mysterious employer.

“...my..” Kokona pauses, before muttering. “...it’s for my father’s debt. Every penny.” She whispers, her gaze low as her eyes glaze over. “That’s the only reason. I realized that people pay a lot just for dates, so… so that’s why. It’s also the reason why I haven’t officially… accepted Riku’s confession, yet.”

Ayano is silent, not emotionally moved, of course, but she figured that Kokona needed it. The purple-haired girl wipes her eyes with a sniff. “Please don’t tell anyone, Ayano. I’m not ready for anyone to know right now.” She said, her voice still quiet and full of shame. “Saki was helping me out with this, but… but she–” Kokona chokes on her words, tears spilling down her cheeks as she hides her face in her knees.

Reluctantly, Ayano raises a hand to pat Kokona on the back. “I understand, Kokona. I won’t tell anyone.”

Kokona mutters several ‘thank yous’ in between sobs. Somehow, only now, Ayano realized just how emotional Kokona was. Sure, in her situation, anyone would cry, but it was still such a foreign feeling to Ayano herself. Just now Ayano is successfully able to piece together why exactly everything affects her so intensely. Now that she understood Kokona’s situation, that is.

After Kokona finished with her second round of crying around Ayano, she noticed the time and panicked a bit. “Gosh… I’m so sorry, I was supposed to be home at 1.” She stands up quickly and wipes her eyes once more.

She bows quickly a couple times. “Thank you so much, Ayano. You’re a really great friend. Please get home safe!” She calls, nearly running down the street in order to get home quicker.

Ayano didn’t really get a chance to say goodbye, you too, or you’re welcome, but that didn’t matter much now. It was just a few minutes past three, so it was about time for her to find this suspicious man in an alleyway.

After 20 minutes of searching, Ayano didn’t find much. She was now walking at a more brisk pace, looking through every alleyway she could find. Eventually, she got to a part of the city that was a tad bit more populated. It was also the side of town that was closer to her house. She ducked into one of the alleyways and turned a corner, immediately running into someone.

It was a man in a suit, although he looked incredibly scruffed up outside of the fancy suit. “Hm?” He lifts an eyebrow, pulling down his shades in order to get a good look at Ayano. “You’ve got a pretty face, don’t you? What’re you doin’ down here?” He asks, standing up straight and turning his body to face her.

“I’m looking for Lorelai’s employer.” Ayano responds immediately, taking a step back but still facing the man, trying to show that she didn’t plan on running away. “Would that happen to be you?” She asks, folding her arms in front of her lap with her usual straight face.

“The crossdresser? No, I’m not but…” The man pulls his shades up. “I don’t recall him getting permission to spout our business out in the air like that.” The man says, crossing his arms, although with a lax smile.

“I didn’t hear it from him. I heard it from my…” Ayano’s gaze catches movement behind the man, somewhere deeper in the shadows. Another man stepped out from the shadows, and Ayano’s face lit up with recognition. “Mr. Y?” She calls, and the man in the back seemed to pause at the name.

The man closer to Ayano looks back. “You know this kid?” He asks, as ‘Mr. Y’ walked up closer to the two. He was quiet as he looked Ayano up and down briefly.

Mr. Y nods. “Yeah. You’re Ryoba’s kid.” He says, tossing out the cigarette he was using and crossing his arms. “Ayano. I haven’t seen you since you were… what, 12?”

Ayano nods. Mr. Y, as Ayano’s mother told her to call him, was a friend of her mom, apparently. She never explained to Ayano much about their relationship, just that he was a good friend from high school. “Yes, sir. I… I came to find Lorelai’s employer. Are you his employer?” She asks, keeping her posture polite, as that was one of the things he specifically had taught her.

Other things were self-defense and use of certain weapons. As a child, Ayano just thought that he was a rich martial artist or something, but hanging around dark alleyways and hiring people to attack others didn’t really seem like a ‘martial artist’ thing. Although, maybe she just thinks that because of her interactions with Budo.

“Lorelai Bier.” Mr. Y says, lifting an eyebrow Ayano’s way. “You know, we’re not exactly supposed to give this kind of information out.” He says, pulling out another cigarette and lighting it. After taking a long drag from it, he exhales and crosses his arms again. “But, your ma did a lot of favors for us. If we were that kind of business, we’d call her a part of the family.” He says, putting the cigarette back into his mouth. “So, I guess I can lend her daughter a hand. Just know that this doesn’t usually come for free.”

Ayano immediately bows her head. “Thank you, sir.” She says, before raising herself back up and straightening her back. “I wanted to find a way to stop Lorelai from attacking the girl you assigned him to? Francesca Komai?”

Mr. Y pauses for a moment, humming briefly in thought. “We could let that link go. We aren’t exactly getting paid much to keep that one going anyway. Not sure the boy would like it, though.” He mutters, but nods. “I can do that. A favor just this once, but if you ever found a way to pay us back, that would be welcome.”

Ayano bows her head again to say thank you, but Mr. Y continues with a question. “Why do you want this boy to stop anyway? Is she your friend?” He asks. “Some would call it stupid to meet up with random people for something like that.”

Frankly, Ayano agreed with that. She wasn’t entirely sure how she would repay them if this particular group wasn’t a past friend. Realistically speaking, something horrible could have happened to Ayano. …she didn’t know why she didn’t think this one through. That might be some sort of… bad habit of hers.

“Um, well…” Ayano thinks about playing a ‘it’s for my friend’ card, but figures that there was no use in lying- or at the very least, it wasn’t necessary, considering the circumstances. “..I’m trying to stay in her good graces.” She claims, folding her arms behind her back. “I want to have a good reputation at Akademi, and doing favors will help that happen.” She explains honestly.

Mr. Y nods. “Just like your mother. Same school, same plans.” He almost looked proud, but didn’t let his face show that too much. “Consider that Lorelai task a favor for Ryoba’s daughter.” He slides a hand into his vest pocket and hands a card to Ayano. “Keep that on you to stay in touch if you ever feel like doing business. And tell Ryoba to get back in contact with us.”

“Yes, sir.” Ayano nods, bowing respectfully. “Thank you.”

“Walk her home.” Mr. Y told the other man, who’d been sitting to the side as they spoke. The man stands up and stretches, before leading Ayano back home. It’s important that he’s the one who led- that definitely made it clear that they knew where she lived. Maybe that’s no too surprising considering Mr. Y and her mother’s relationship.

Tomorrow, Ayano would tell Frankie that the business with Lorelai should be resolved by now. After that, it was just a matter of hoping that Lorelai didn’t take it too badly.

[lgvalenzuela]

Random Doodles and character designs for a book I'm writing

[juniesfairies]

what if one of us had dark hair and had trouble expressing our emotions and frowns about while the other one has lighter hair and trouble expressing their emotions and smiles about it.

[mostlyfate]

Ichika. Will you be my friend? It’s just…

It has nothing to do with my family, I’m here because I want to be here. By his side.

[chemrical]

my pintrest is nothing but baseball poses thanks to these boys

[aupermittymeowmeow]

some random photo edits while scrolling through the wiki

[hairunowa]

Oblivion Battery OP 「Lilac」 by Mrs. GREEN APPLE

[inahochi]

I'm never playing baseball again! Haru-chan, you idiot! Yama-chan, you doo-doohead!

OBLIVION BATTERY ⋆ 忘却バッテリー (2024)

#01. i’ll make you remember ⋆ 思い出させてやるよ

[jdramasource]

Billion x School ビリオン×スクール (2024) 01 | 4%~ 4%~ Stop saying 4% ugly! 「subtitles by: hsjhoshi」

[itagakimizuki]

BILLION X SCHOOL ビリオン×スクール (2024) 1.01

[whosyourfavevoicedby-polls]

[random-gnat]

Og yansim guys my beloveds. I thought kokona and Ayano were super sweet in the tutorial, and she was the first actual rival so I wanted to make them close.

Taro’s genderfluid cause of the gender picking mechanic that’s supposed to be (will never be) in the game

Ayano’s not yandere cause I’m too old to endorse that trope, she’s just very depressed and her mom gives her awful coping mechanisms. She thinks she’s only worth something if she’s loved

Tbh I didn’t know what to do for saki’s outfit. I wanted to make her fun and feminine but still respect kitchen safety rules hehe. Idk if I like the colors on kokona’s but oh well

[belindarimbi13]

Boukyaku Battery Character Popularity Contest Vote Result

The complete result can be accessed here.

[timefospookies]

Yandere simulator except it belongs to me now

[choujinx]

BOUKYAKU BATTERY (2018-?) by mikawa eko

[yansimstorythatiwillnotworkon]

#17

Tuesday

__

“Thank you for the help, Sho.” Ayano says, deciding to look pleasant and showing him a small smile.

Yesterday, Ayano had taken it upon herself to ask Uekiya what brand of fertilizer she usually used. After receiving the answer, decided that this time, she could use a bunch of her allowance in order to buy the fertilizer in order to help with both clubs. That would certainly help with her reputation, although it could also give her the reputation of a rich student… She’d have to see later if that affected her negatively at all.

Anyway, Ayano had placed all of the fertilizer in a wagon and left it just outside her home for her to bring it to school today. After rolling it all the way to the entrance of the Akademi grounds, she realized how exhausting it would be to roll it up the hill that led to the school entrance itself. Sho happened to be entering the school grounds as well, so she ended up asking him for help.

Sho allowed himself to smile a bit, seeming to appreciate the thanks that Ayano had offered him. “Don’t worry about it. I’m glad you asked me.” He says, before chuckling slightly, “Or, I guess I should say I’m glad I popped up before Budo?”

Ayano shrugs a bit, “Perhaps.”

“What’s all this fertilizer for anyway? It looks like a lot- and one of those expensive brands, too. I didn’t think you were in the Gardening Club.” Sho commented curiously, looking at the several bags of heavy fertilizer.

“I’m not. I’m just doing a favor for them, I hope.” Ayano responds, folding her hands together in front of her. “It didn’t cost much. They had a deal where if you buy five then the whole purchase was half-off. So the cost was… in all a bit over $70.” She shrugs briefly. “Better than $120. It’d probably be best to leave that to the school budget for the clubs, after all. I only bought this so that it was more convenient for the gardening club to work with the drama club for this week’s show.”

Sho raises his eyebrows in slight surprise. “That’s awfully generous of you, isn’t it?” He says, although internally he seemed to be contemplating if it was more generous or unnecessary. Ayano was contemplating that, too, frankly.

Ayano simply shrugs again at his comment as they reach the school gates, which is when she stops and takes the handle herself. “I’ll take this the rest of the way.” She says, bowing slightly. “Thank you again.”

“You’re welcome, Ayano.” Sho smiles with a wave before heading inside to get to his club. Once he leaves, Ayano heads to the gardening club. After she delivered this, she planned on looking into those lights that Riku was working so hard on.

When Ayano walked inside of the Gardening Club, she saw that Scilla was the only one inside. In Uekiya’s place, he seemed to be pruning some plants inside of the greenhouse. He turned to tend to another plant, but noticed Ayano walk in with the large wagon behind her. He looked at her curiously, fixing his glasses before placing his scissors in his pocket and walking out of the greenhouse. “Hi.. Hi, Ayano. What brings you here? With..” Scilla looks down to the wagon, leaning over a bit to take a peek of what’s inside. “...that’s a lot of fertilizer.”

Ayano nods. “Yeah. I heard that the gardening club was lacking in a lot of the fertilizer they were supposed to get, so I went ahead and bought it for them. You can set this aside somewhere if you want and tell Uekiya whenever she comes back if you want.” She offered, rolling the wagon up to him.

Scilla raises his eyebrows in surprise. “That must’ve cost a lot. You’ll have to speak to Kizana about paying you back.”

“I didn’t plan on being paid back.” Ayano claims, crossing her arms. “I did it as a favor. There’s no need to worry about me being paid.” She assured him, raising her hands nonchalantly. “I do have some more errands to run, though, so I’ll see you around.”

Scilla either didn’t know what to say or didn’t bother to say anything as he watched her leave. He waved a little, before looking down at the fertilizer. “...that’s a lot of pounds, too.” He sighs, not looking forward to pulling the wagon out of the way.

__

“Now, Taro.” Kizana strides over to him, reaching her hands up to his neck with a fabric ribbon, hanging it around his neck. “An important thing about acting is how you as the actor feel. And the only thing you should be feeling, frankly, is how the character feels.” She pats the fabric ribbon. “Tie that.” And then turns around to grab a separate accessory.

“A great way to feel how the character feels is to look like the character.” Kizana pauses, puckering her lips in thought as she looks at a different colored fabric ribbon. “Well. Sometimes. I tell you, I had bought an original version of Juliet’s dress for reference, but when I tried it on it was a drea–” She turns back around to face Taro and holds up the ribbon in her hand to the ribbon around his neck.

Kizana then pauses as she looks at what Taro’s done with the ribbon. A simple shoelace-tie! No, simpler than that… all he’d done is tie it into a knot! “I…Taro, what is that?”

Taro opened his mouth, but closed it again as his face went red. His face looked like it was mixed with guilt and embarrassment. “...I.. tied it..?”

With a judgemental look, Kizana folds her arms. This further made Taro feel ashamed of his mistake. “...sorry. I.. don’t know how to tie a bowtie like this.”

“Hmph.” Kizana huffs, reaching her hands up to tie it herself. “Well, you should have asked. I say, sometimes you remind me of Shozo with how stubbornly he insists on working alone. How am I meant to correct you lot if you don’t come to me with your doubts?” She sighs, shaking her head and pulling away from the finished bowtie. “And there you are. I suppose we’ll move onto… bow tying etiquette sometime later.”

Taro shows an embarrassed expression and simply looks down as Kizana continues walking around the back of the club room.

“Anyway.” Kizana tosses her ponytail over her shoulder- as she somehow found a way to do with any hairstyle she had. This current hairstyle was a single high ponytail tossed and curled to rest on the left side of her head. Still, of course, she had roses keeping her ponytail in place.

Kizana turns around to pick up a piece of paper from the desk in the back corner. “Here, let’s say you’re… hm… one of these soldiers. Ah, let’s see…” She hums in thought, twirling her finger around the end of her ponytail as she reads the paper a few times over. “Alright.” She sets the sheet of paper down and faces Taro.

“I will give you a situation. You are a knight- not anything spectacular, but anyone to be stepped on either. Your job, generally speaking, is to protect the kingdom- and most importantly- the royalty that rules over the kingdom.” Kizana starts, raising a hand to her chest in a dramatic, animated manner. “The night is the same as any other, outside of rumors of the princess having constant meetings, perhaps even an affair with some… mysterious man outside of her fiance. Of course, it’s not your job to gossip, so what does it matter in this situation?” Taro nods slowly, unsure of where Kizana is going exactly. Suddenly, he’s shocked by Kizana letting out a sharp, ghastly gasp and pointing up to the ceiling. “But, oh goodness! What is that, over there?!”

Bewildered, Taro looks over to where Kizana is pointing, but not seeing anything significant. “Is that some… shadowy figure sneaking into the princess’ room via her large, unlocked and open window with the aesthetically placed vines crawling up to it? Whatever shall you do, Sir Taro?!” The purple-haired girl asked in a very convincing horrified tone, although her sarcasm helps Taro understand that this was all hypothetical.

After a moment of silence, Kizana glares at Taro. This actually helped Taro realize that he was meant to respond outside of watching her dramatic acting. “O-Oh, um. I’ll.. climb after him?”

Kizana nods, thinking for just a moment before continuing. “Alright, you climb after him! But thanks to your loud, clanky, and frankly very unfashionable suit of armor, he anticipates your eventual arrival! Oh no! You’re thrown off instantly, and the unfashionable armor does very little to break your fall. Consider yourself a dead man, Sir Taro!”

“Oh, okay…” Taro holds a hand up to his chin in thought, “That’s a bit underwhelming. Um, okay, so instead of climbing up with my armor, do I take it off? I- I have clothes underneath, right..?” He asks, his face going red a bit as he hoped that Kizana wasn’t too literal about this whole hypothetical situation.

Kizana laughs. “Great idea! Thanks to American 14th century logic, you have armor padding underneath! Congratulations, Sir Taro!” Kizana looks up again, as if actually seeing the tower as she points up. “You scale the tower without your clanky, unfashionable armor on! But stripping the metals off took so long, the princess and whomever snuck into her room had already fled through her open bedroom door! What do you do?!”

“Um, I… chase after them! A-Are there no guards outside her bedroom?” Taro asks, glad at least to not have been dead yet.

“When you walk out of the room, you see your fellow- armored- guards strewn across the floor! The only hint for where they could’ve gone is the trail of bodies leading you down the right side of the hallway. What do you do?!” Kizana asks, putting her hands on her hips with a smile. “Think quick!”

“I-I head to the right- as quickly as possible! Do I catch up to them?” Taro tries his best to copy Kizana’s dramatic speech, but can’t help but shrink back whenever she does due to the sheer force behind her voice.

Kizana nods, “That you do, Sir Taro! Thanks to your quick thinking and lighter feet due to the lack of armor, you catch up to them!”

Taro smiles, glad that this was taking a more positive turn, but his optimism is immediately shot down by Kizana’s next statement. “But, alas! The mysterious man is not only armored, but has the strength and skill to take down several armored and armed knights! And he’s probably better looking, too! Who knew?!” Kizana exclaims, tossing her hand to her forehead dramatically.

Before Taro can comment on Kizana’s last comment, she continues with an expression of faux dread. “The foolish knight that is Sir Taro falls in .5 seconds due to his foolish decision, too-” Kizana raises a hand to her mouth to stifle a laugh and quickly continues, “-to chase after an evident murdering maniac with the strength of a dozen men with nothing but armor padding!”

Kizana lets out a laugh, which proves to be contagious as Taro fails to be upset at the unfortunate turn of events and laughs as well.

“Oh, my, what made you think that that was a good idea?” Kizana asks, her voice still light with laughter.

Taro shrugs a bit, looking embarrassed, but still enjoying the whole scenario. “Um.. plot armor?” He says unsurely.

“Ha! Regular armor would have made that a better idea, Sir Taro. Or alerting guards outside, or turning to go alert the king and queen.” Kizana waves her hand dismissively. “Oh, well. You can always learn from the mistake of death in fiction.”

Their dying laughter was interrupted by Kokona entering the room. “Um, Kizana..?” She calls, peeking around to find her. “..there’s a slight.. Problem.”

Kizana’s hands immediately fly to her hips as she sees Kokona’s hairstyle. “I’ll say! What is that?!” She points an accusatory finger to Kokona.

Kokona decided to try to take Kizana’s advice and came to school with a single drilled ponytail rather than twins. “...um…” Kokona nervously twirls the end of her hair around her finger. “...it’s… a ponytail… like you said.”

“Kokona, I said that yesterday! That’s obviously old news!” Kizana huffs, although Kokona seemed more nervous about whatever problem she was talking about previously rather than Kizana’s outburst.

“...one of the lights fell through the stage.” Kokona blurts out, causing Kizana to shut up for a moment.

“The- one of-” Kizana struggles to find her words before just screeching, “What?!”

__

Riku had allowed Ayano to help with the stage lights, and with just a bit of tweaking from her screwdriver, she’d effectively made it looser when hanging it back up. Unfortunately, it was too loose, because once she’d left to see what Kizana and Taro were up to, she heard Kokona say that one of the stage lights had already fallen. Not just fallen, but through the stage thanks to Riku reinforcing it to not dent the next time it did fall.

She followed the three back to the Auditorium, where there was, in fact, a pretty big hole in the stage. “My- my stage!!” Kizana exclaimed, heading up to look at the damage. “I- who- what happened?!”

Ayano walked onto the stage as well, peering into the hole silently. The light had fallen through the stage completely and into the hollow space beneath it.

“I think since I used tougher material for the stage light, rather than the light breaking… well…” Riku held a hand to the very clear hole in the stage.

Since it would come up eventually, Ayano spoke up. “I- I’m the one who set up the light. It must not have been secure enough, hence why it fell.” She explained, folding her hands together.

Kizana turned to glare at Ayano, gritting her teeth. “Ayano…” She grumbled, looking as if she was going to strangle her if she had the strength to do so.

Tsuruzo walked up behind Ayano and put his hand on her shoulder. “It’s alright, Kizana. We can still practice, and this hole shouldn’t be too hard to fix up. The light fell in the same place twice, so it’s no wonder this particular area collapsed.”

This time, despite Tsuruzo being the one trying to calm her down, Kizana didn’t seem to for some reason. Before she could yell anything else, her phone suddenly rang, and she audibly groaned this time after checking the caller ID. Rather than actually excusing herself, she simply stormed off and out of the Auditorium.

The room was silent after she left, and Ayano quietly mumbled, “I’m sorry.”

Tsuruzo still looked a bit on edge, but smiled at Ayano. “Oh, come now, that could have happened to anyone. You’ve been helping us even before the show week came up, it’s not your fault that one of your many attempts to help just happened to be a failure.” He assures her, rubbing her back comfortingly.

“If you say so.” Ayano mutters, really just not wanting to look up to see Taro looking at her from below the stage.

“If you want to distract yourself, I have a separate favor for you if you want.” Tsuruzo offers, leaning down to smile at her. “I can assure you it doesn’t have anything to do with hardware, if you’re up for it?”

__

“H-Huh?” Hazu flinched, seeming shocked that Ayano entered the room without him noticing. Then again, his nose was in a corner, so there wasn’t much that he could notice by sight anyway. “Hi- Um- Do you, uh… need this area? I can… I can totally leave. I spend most of my time here anyway. I-I could go for a walk, actually..” He rambled quietly, standing up as if to leave as quickly as possible.

Ayano steps in front of him, “No, actually, I don’t need you to leave. Rather…” She holds a hand up to her chin in thought. “Is there anything you need me to do for you?” She asks, but is only met with a skeptical look- or at least that’s what she assumed from his silence considering she can’t see above his nose.

“Wh-Why?” Hazu asked, but something in Ayano’s expression seemed to scare him into rewording. “I mean, I’m- I just- I’m not sure why you would want to… do that. Is all. Ahem. I can totally ask for something, but I don’t actually have, like… anything in mind. It’s… is this so that I owe you something..?”

Ayano debates briefly on how to answer that. She didn’t know if Hazu would react a certain way if she was honest with him, but she did know that Tsuruzo wanted this task done quickly. “...call it my way of having common courtesy. The drama club wants you to do a favor for them, but I figured that it would be more polite to do something for you first, or in return.” She explains, folding her arms.

Tapping his fingers together a bit, Hazu’s voice comes out quiet, maybe even a bit disappointed as he murmurs, “Oh. That makes sense, I guess..” He becomes just a bit louder for the sake of speaking clearer as he says, “But- I mean- I just don’t… have much I… need. Um… well, I mean, I don’t have much to eat right now. N-Not that I need to eat. Um, I guess water would be more important..? I haven’t drinken anything since this morning at home… is a, uh… like a drink or something okay..?”

A drink probably wouldn’t suffice for the favor that Hazu was supposed to do for the drama club. The entire task was, he was supposed to put together outfits for a few of the extras that would come on stage. Apparently, Kizana was reluctant about spending money on outfits that weren’t meant to look that good anyway. Peasants, knights and such.

Ayano explained just that, and Hazu mumbled something and thought again about what he’d like. “Well… um… i-if you can, I guess I’d… I’d just prefer it if you stayed here with me and helped..? …if that’s possible..”

Technically, Ayano didn’t have much else to do outside of this task at the moment. And maybe she could learn a thing or two by helping him out with these. Maybe like the base to making her own uniform if disaster ever struck? “I can do that.” She replies, nodding to the quieter boy.

After about half an hour of Ayano handing Hazu the necessary tools and fabric, Hazu decides to speak up. He clears his throat a bit. “I, uh, I’ve seen you around.” He starts, but seems to grow more embarrassed at that awkward starting quote. “I mean, um… I’ve heard you do a lot of tasks and stuff. For no reason, I mean, and that’s… that’s kinda cool.”

Ayano pauses, wondering how exactly she should respond to that. All of the shyer students seem to prefer a certain type of company- but Hazu was Amise’s friend from what Ayano knows- maybe Ayano could try acting like her?

In her best attempt, Ayano smiles a bit, looking a bit bashful. “I… guess. I just like staying busy. And helping others is a… generally good thing to do… right? Why not stay busy doing that?” She shrugs a bit, hoping to play a mix of awkward and unnecessarily sweet like Amise.

That way maybe that would explain why she was so “emotionless” when she first approached him. Really, she just assumed that this task would be done quickly, so it didn’t matter how she appeared to him for just a few moments. Now that she was here that clearly wasn’t the case.

For some reason, Hazu only seems to hesitate further when Ayano tries to appear more friendly. “Yeah.. Yeah, I get it.” Hazu pauses for a minute, before slowly speaking up again. “So, um… are you interested in sewing at all? I can… I-I can teach you if you’re interested.”

“Well… I guess it’d be beneficial for me to try. Are you thinking of making a club out of this?” Ayano asks, crossing one leg over the other as she watches Hazu work nervously.

“Um..” Hazu exhales, as if frustrated at himself for not speaking properly. “...w-well, no… I mean, I’ve thought of it… but I’ve never… I don’t think I’d make a good leader… or a member at all.” He shakes his head as he slowly sews together a brown cloth to his desired shape.

Hazu’s gaze remains stuck on the skirt he was making as he mutters, “I-I can’t even look anyone in the eye..” He admits quietly, seeming to sulk a bit at that reminder.

Ayano didn’t exactly know what to say in response to that. Hazu seemed to catch onto this and quickly changed the subject. “A-Anyway, um, there’s actually a little booklet here somewhere that can give you the basics on sewing. And.. and I’ll be here to help if you need anything, so, uh… feel free to ask questions..” Hazu stood up from his seat and motioned for her to take his place.

Although he proved to be a good teacher, Ayano realized that working with him further would mean that she’d have to brace herself for several bad habits that he had. Such as randomly trailing off and sulking about something, going into detail about one thing but not going into enough about another… all things that Ayano was willing to deal with, but also things that she noticed about Hazu.

Eventually, it was time for the first period. “We won’t be able to get all of these done by today, but by tomorrow we should. I-If you want to stick around.” Hazu explained briefly, slowly shuffling to the door as Ayano finished putting a few fabrics up.

“I’ll tell Kizana and Tsuruzo that.” Ayano says, wiping her hands together with an exhale. She turned to Hazu with a small smile. “Thank you for your hard work.”

This time, Hazu smiled a bit and whatever parts of his cheeks that Ayano could see turned a bit pink at the praise. “I-It’s no problem. It feels nice to be acknowledged..” He mumbled, clearly very shy, but not in any sort of bad mood currently. As the two leave the room, Hazu stutters out, “Th-Thanks for letting me talk, Yan-ch– I mean, Ayan– I mean… Yano-Chan. Thanks..”

“Don’t worry about it.” Ayano nods to him, patting him on the back, which seems to surprise him as he flinches. “You… have a nice voice.” She says, deciding to throw a compliment out before they actually parted ways.

“I-I–” Hazu’s face goes red and he’s unable to say anything as Ayano leaves. “Dang it..” He mumbles, disappointed at himself for fumbling at the last second. Still, he couldn’t bring himself to feel too disappointed in himself as Ayano’s compliments circle through his head.

__

The school day seemed to end earlier than usual, and Ayano couldn’t quite place why. Her plan to crush Kizana had failed and really only caused more trouble, she had only just started the process with the dresses, but at the very least she did deliver that fertilizer to the gardening club.

“Oh, Ayano! Hi!” Uekiya suddenly called to Ayano as she was walking past school gates. She had a potted plant in her hands- one that held what looked like a very light purple bunch of small flowers.

The club leader immediately rushed over to Ayano and held out the plant to her. “Hi, I’m so glad I caught you before you left!” She exhaled in relief, seeming a bit flushed, as if she’d been running. Maybe she’d been searching for Ayano for a while?

Ayano slowly took the potted flower, looking down to it before looking up to Uekiya with a slightly confused look. “What’s this for? Do you want me to bring it to someone?” She guessed, holding the pot against her hip as she tilted her head at Uekiya.

“Ha, no! I thought you’d say that, hehe.. Actually, I–” Uekiya exhales once more, seeming incredibly exhausted. She must have been running for a while. “Phew! Sorry.” She lets her voice lower to her usual sweet and soft tone, although it was still quite out of breath. “Okay, Scilla told me that you bought all that fertilizer for us, which is just so sweet of you! I wanted to give you a special gift today, but I was running around doing errands all day, and this was the only plant that was potted by the time I was finished..” Uekiya explained quickly, huffing just a little bit. Her long explanation likely didn’t help her catch her breath.

Before Ayano could continue, Uekiya put her gloved hands together with an apologetic smile. “I’m so sorry I couldn’t put anything nicer together, but I hope you know that I still intend to!” She wiped the dirt off of her gloves briefly and smiled at Ayano. “I’ve obviously been busy with Kizana’s tasks, and all I can really offer are plants, so if you need some sort of plant-related favor or something, then please come to me first! Like… maybe a certain flower you want, or… I-I make a lovely salad if that sounds appetizing? I know not everyone finds use in a plant that could die in a week, but, um…”

Whenever Uekiya got flustered, she had a habit to ramble apologetically, something that Ayano learned about her a week or two before. Ayano listens, but her gaze lowers a bit in disinterest, and she realizes that Taro could have left on his own somewhere. Not to mention, she had somewhere to be at the moment.

“Uekiya.” Ayano smiles, although this particular time it’s quite difficult to do so. “I appreciate the flowers. And I’ll ask if I need some specific one- I’m sure I will eventually.” She puts the pot back into both of her hands. “Which kind is this one?”

“Ah! Well, the scientific name is ‘Valeriana Officinalis’, but commonly it’s known as a ‘valerian’.” Uekiya explains with a smile, casually flexing her knowledge on the plant. “Actually, if used correctly, I heard it has some pretty splendid sedative effects! You’d probably need more, but… if you’re ever grasping at straws during a particular sleep-robbed night then I suggest trying your luck with it!” She suggests, folding her hands together happily, seeming happy just to talk about the plant.

Ayano’s eyes lit up a bit at that information. “A free sedative sounds perfect.” She says, making Uekiya giggle. “I’ll make sure to take good care of this, and I’ll ask you for tips as well. For now, though..” Ayano nods her head to the exit. “I have to head to work.”

“Ooh! Having a job is admirable, Ayano! Good luck!” Uekiya waves happily, rushing back to her club rather than towards the exit as well. She did always like spending as much time with her plants as possible, so that wasn’t surprising.

But, yes, when Info-Chan had suggested Ayano get a job, she did. In a short amount of time, she was accepted and was meant to go in for her first day. Apparently, the reason she was accepted so quickly was because they were dangerously understaffed and their waiting list grew too long.

As for where she was working…

__

“Good afternoon, sir!” Ayano beams, dressed in a particularly frilly brown and pink maid outfit. Hearts and bows littered the dress, shoes, socks, frill cap, everything. Ayano didn’t have a particular taste when it came to outfits, but this truly was just uncomfortable to wear. It was a miracle that they had a longer skirt option- that way, hopefully her awkward walking in these heels she was wearing wasn’t too noticeable.

Tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear (as she was instructed to for an effect of “extra charm”), she lifted up the pink notepad in her gloved hands, a separate pink pen in her other. “Ah, sirs, I mean.” She nods to the man behind the first. “I take it this is a party for two?”

“Ah, you’re cute. You must be one of the new ladies, right?” The first, older-looking man, maybe in his 40s, smiled as charming as he could considering he looked barely kept together. He motioned to Ayano and turned to the man behind him. “I told you they’d take my advice. The simpler ones look better in the outfits.”

The man behind him simply rolled his eyes, looking much younger and ironically better kept. “If this food isn’t as good as you promise, I’m telling your wife.” He threatens, obviously seeming unhappy to be here. Ayano didn’t blame him, frankly. Being a grown man surrounded by childish-looking girls was not the best image for someone as professional-looking as him.

Despite the older man’s nervous expression, the younger man turns to Ayano with a straight face. “Yes, a table for two.”

Ayano nodded, just barely catching her smile before it fell completely. “I see! We have a perfect table just for you two just this way!” She points just around the corner, and the older man walks forward, as if knowing exactly where he was supposed to be sat. Before Ayano could follow him to lead the way, the younger man grabbed her wrist.

Ayano turned back with a questioning gaze, but her questions were immediately answered when the man whispered. “How much do you make here?”

Lowering her voice as well, Ayano responded, “30 An hour.”

“Damn.” The man lets go of his wrist, frankly no longer looking like he wanted to judge her.

“35 Hours a week.” She continued.

“Damn.” He shook his head, “If I got paid that much I’d wear that get-up, too, god dammit.”

That was all the man seemed to want to know, as he walked past her in order to catch up with his… friend? Co-worker? Regardless, Ayano followed after him exactly to the table where his acquaintance seemed to be already aware of.

Ayano stood in front of them as the two looked at the menu available to them. “Do either of you have an idea of what you want to eat or should I give you both a minute?” She asked politely, lightly tapping the pink notepad as daintily as she could.

“Oh, I already know what I’m getting.” The older man said, pointing to one of the items on the menu. “Get me that Stunningly Sweet Strawberry Shortcake Supreme, sweetheart.” He said confidently, winking at Ayano at the end. Frankly, she was impressed that he could say such a tongue twister- although alternatively that just showed how often he came here, which was… less impressive.

His acquaintance seemed to think the same based on his disgusted and… frankly disappointed expression to which he pointed at his partner. “...right, well. What is the most expensive thing I can purchase here?” He asks.

“The most expensive thing you can purchase would be a massage from one of our experienced employees.” Ayano explained briefly. “With the optional additional fee that you request a specific maid to do so.”

The younger man grimaces, looking as if he was quite ready to leave. “My presence here is a derogatory experience, I hope you know that.” He says to his acquaintance. “I mean the menu, maid. What is the most expensive thing that I can eat?”

“Ah, that would be our special-made fruit-based ice cream right here in our cafe. It’s called the Illuminating Ice-Cold Ice Cream, made with Nakazawa Milk, Yubari King Melon, Ruby Roman Grapes, and Densuke Black Watermelon- amongst other… expensive ingredients.” Ayano explains, reading off of the menu she had in her hand, which explained all of that in further detail. By no means would she be able to speak all of that via memory. “...for $1,000.”

The younger man raises an eyebrow. “That’s awfully cheap for something that includes items that range from $800 to $26,000 at the cheapest.” He points out, looking suspicious of the whole thing. “I’ll take it.” He says.

“As you wish, sirs.” Ayano bows deeply, before turning to head into the kitchen.

“Must you analyze everything, Stephen?” The older man hisses, only receiving an eye roll from the younger man, who’s name was apparently Stephen. It didn’t sound quite Japanese if Ayano cared to analyze.

Ayano didn’t catch Stephen’s response, but she didn’t care to listen too much. She told the order to the girl in the kitchen, who seemed to be in a particularly bad mood. Not that her mood seemed any better when Ayano first met her. The cook rolled her eyes, mumbling something about how ‘at least it was easy’, although Ayano didn’t bother to linger on that either.

Instead, she went to the front door, where the bell attached to the door had rung, signaling that someone had walked in. She looked down to her notepad as she approached the door, flipping the page to an empty one. “Hello, sir…” She looked up, and then paused in surprise. “..Gema?” She tilted her head to the side, shocked but not entirely surprised to see him here. In fact, she wasn’t surprised at all.

“Oh, shit. Ayano?” Gema blinked in shock, looking far more bewildered to see her here. “Wow, I didn’t think any of the girls at school would bother working here.” He says, rummaging through his bag, likely for his wallet. “Mainly because girls like Musume make posts about how it’s derogatory to the feminist movement and… stuff.” He shrugs, not seeming to really care either way. “But it does pay a lot, doesn’t it? If they took guys in skirts I’d work here, too.” He claims.

Ayano nods, “Not the first time I’ve heard that.” She shrugs, peeking behind him to see that no one else was with him.“I’ll take you to your table.” She says, leading him to a single-person booth in the back.

“So, what brings you here?” Ayano asks, figuring that making conversation would make her appear a bit more friendly than she usually was. Not that Gema would ever notice while at school.

“Mm…” Gema lets out a reluctant groan, but looks down to the menu and mumbles, “...well, I mean, girls are paid to be nice to me here.” He shrugs, burying his nose deeper into the menu. “It’s just… I mean, it’s just a breath of fresh air from the honesty I get from the girls at school, is all. At least the girls here are good at acting. Whichever ones are left, I mean.”

Ayano hums in understanding, pulling her notepad to rest on her hip. “To the customers they certainly are. The staff is…” She frowns, trailing off to leave that to Gema’s interpretation. “Anyway, do you have anything in mind? Appetizers or drinks? Uh, sir?”

Admittedly, it felt strange to call her schoolmate anything other than his name, but policy was policy. Frankly, she was lucky that this maid cafe had an 18-and-under rule for leniency on requirements here.

Gema seemed to feel the strangeness as well as he grimaced lightly. “Don’t… just… just stick to Gema. It’s… weird to hear a classmate call me that. In fact, I’d rather you just act how you do at school. You’re nicer than most of the girls there anyway.” He admits, seeming a bit embarrassed to do so as he looks down at the menu.

Ayano nods. “Got it.”

Seeming to already have his order in mind, Gema places the menu down. “Can you get me the chocolate breakfast meal thingy? I don’t know how these people say those long-ass names..” He mumbled.

The meal he was talking about was the “Charmingly Cute Chicky Chocolate Breakfast Bundle’. Complete with a stack of chocolate pancakes with dollops of moose holding it up like a tower. The top was decorated in a fancy, cake-like manner with more moose and plenty of whipped cream, with the middle having a cute baby chicken drawn in the middle in some sort of frosting. It also had a cup of hot cocoa littered with whipped cream, marshmallows, and chocolate sauce towering up, with yet another cute baby chicken drawn atop the whipped cream with the same chocolate sauce.

Humming in response, Ayano swiftly writes down the order onto the notepad with a nod. “Anything else? A glass of water might help balance all of that… sugar.” She recommends.

Gema digs into his bag and pulls out a water bottle. “I come here monthly to treat myself. The desserts are good, but water for five dollars is crazy, Ayano.”

“Agreed.” Ayano sighs, turning to walk to the kitchen. “I’ll put in your order. One sec.”

“Thanks, Ayano.” Gema nods, pulling out a portable gaming device as Ayano walks away.

Once again, Ayano informed the chef about the order, but this time she seemed genuinely irritated. Likely because this meal, despite it being cheaper than the ice cream the other man ordered, required much more effort. Ayano didn’t watch the chef make the ice cream, but she was just doing something on her phone, so she assumed it didn’t take that much effort. She didn’t even know where the man’s order was.

The chef points to a waiting plate- one that she hadn’t bothered notifying Ayano about until she got back. It was the something-something shortcake that the older man ordered. She was surprised that this was ready first, considering how much more complex it seemed than the ice cream.

Regardless, Ayano grabbed the plate and headed back towards the table with the two men. Thanks to these specific hours, Ayano gets a slow shift. So, her being the only waitress on the job wasn’t too much work.

“Here you are, sir.” Ayano puts the plate on the table in front of the older man and nods to the younger, “Your meal should be ready soon, sir.”

The older man pulls out his wallet and fingers through the dollar bills. “How much does it cost to get you to feed it to me, again?” He asks shamelessly. Another reason for Ayano to be thankful for the minor rule.

“$100, sir.” Ayano replies before quickly adding, “Ah, but, I’m 17. Spoon-feeding you isn’t a requirement until I’m a legal adult.” She reminded him, causing the man to groan and pocket his wallet.

“Damn rules. That didn’t used to be a rule, you know.” The older man huffed to his companion, who really only seemed more offended the more he spoke.

“You’re a disappointment.” The younger man simply said.

Ayano bowed to the two men with a quiet farewell and walked over to the kitchen window to check if anyone else’s order was ready, but didn’t see anything. Ayano assumed that she could go over and talk to Gema for another moment, but halted when she heard the front door bell ring once more.

Rather than waiting, the woman who had entered simply walked in and took a seat. “You, girl. Come.” She ordered, motioning to Ayano.

Doing as she commanded, Ayano walked over to the woman. “Hello, my lady. Might I get your name?” She asks, flipping to another vacant page of her notepad.

The lady lets out an almost familiar offended scoff. “Are you joking with me, girl? Right my name down.” She orders, pointing to the notepad.

When Ayano gave a confused glance, the woman looked up and gave an also familiar glare. Where had Ayano seen her face before.

“God, kids these days have no damn taste. Maybe if you all got off them damn ipads and… whatever the hell that thing is..” The woman pointed to Gema, who slowly lowered his portable device out of her vision when she pointed it out.

The woman brushes off her frustration and holds her hand to her chest with an offended expression. “My name is Ayame Sunobu. I’ve been an actor across Asia for years. You’d do well to remember that, girl.” She hissed, pulling up the menu.

Ayano looked shocked for a moment, but quickly pulled her pen up to her clipboard to write down whatever lengthy-named order the woman told her. It was some sort of simple pancake meal, one of the oldest options on the menu, it seemed. “Yes, ma’am. I’ll be back soon with your order.” She assures her, bowing deeply before heading off to the kitchen once more.

From Ayano’s assumption- and the fact that Kizana has no older sister as far as she’s concerned- this woman, Ayame, was Kizana’s mother. Outside of being surprised of meeting her, she was surprised that she would be at some degenerate-filled maid cafe of all places. It was interesting… Ayano wished that Ayame were in a calmer mood. Maybe then she could actually take some of her time to ask some questions and learn about Kizana..? But not tonight, it seemed.

Ayano told the chef the simple order, but she still complained. At some point she’ll end up running out of things to complain about and just start repeating herself, Ayano thought. Gema’s order was ready, so she brought his order to him. “Here you are.”

Ayano bowed briefly, but before she could leave, Gema grabbed her arm. “Are you serious?” He hissed, coaxing Ayano to raise her eyebrows at him.

“I’ll need more context than that, Gema.” She mutters, lowering her eyebrows in disinterest.

“You just brushed off Kizana’s mom like it was nothing! Do you know how rich they are?” Gema whisper-yelled, hopefully not catching the attention of Ayame.

Ayano frowned. “Does that really matter? I treated her politely, didn’t I?” She asked, giving Gema a confused look.

“Well, yeah, but rich people don’t care about politeness. You’ve seen how Kizana acts around Kokona. She obviously got it from somewhere.” Gema pointed out.

If Ayano didn’t have some sort of interest in Kizana, she truly wouldn’t care, but in her current situation, she had to admit that Gema had a point. Perhaps a way to get on Kizana’s good side was getting on her mother’s good side. Considering that she could possibly be a regular customer, she might have multiple chances to do so. Ayano has seen how Kizana reacts to her mother, after all. She obviously holds the woman in high regard. It’s no wonder she’d mock her idol.

“You have a point..” Ayano mumbles.

Gema seems glad that Ayano admitted that and smiles a little. “Right? Try to be super overly nice. But not too nice! Then you’ll just be annoying. Just don’t be dismissive!” He added indecisively, causing Ayano to frown.

“I enjoy your company, Gema, but you’re really exhausting sometimes.” Ayano sighs.

“You enjoy my company?” Gema repeats, looking bashful at the admission. Ayano was glad that he paid attention to the nicer-sounding part. It’s likely good to stay in his good graces as well, if just for convenience-sake.

Ayano glances back, seeing that the ice cream was ready. “I have to get back to work. When I come back I’ll tell you how many calories that is.” She says in an attempt at a joke as she walks away.

Gema’s smile is immediately wiped off his face. “..please don’t.”

Ayano brings the ice cream over to the younger man and bows her head briefly to him. “Here you are, sir.” She says. Once again, before he could turn to walk away, the man speaks up.

“One moment, maid. I have a few questions.” He says. After taking a few pictures of his ice cream, he sets his phone down and raises his spoon to take a bite of just the ice cream.

The young man pauses, before frowning. “It’s a bit hard on the outside, but soft in the middle. Is it supposed to be like that?” He asks.

Ayano nods. “That’s right. We let it get just a bit soft before adding the toppings and putting it in a blast freezer in order to harden the outside quickly. It adds to the creamy taste and I heard it enriches the flavor of the nakazawa milk.”

The man frowns, looking doubtful. “Is that right… and no freezer burn? Hm..” He doesn’t seem to be looking for an answer as he takes a bite with one of the many fruits littered around the swirl of ice cream.

“I suppose I shouldn’t have expected this to taste any different from cantaloupe and watermelon. I admit, it has no taste at all, so I can’t even say for sure that this tastes enough like any sort of special, thousand dollar fruit.” The young man grumbles, looking at Ayano again. “So, what’s the point of adding the fruit if it makes the fruit too cold to taste?” He asks.

Ayano raises her eyebrows. “I wish I could answer your question, sir. I’ve never had any of the dishes myself, but our chef is in the kitchen if you’d like to ask her.” She offers, receiving a brief nod from the young man.

He takes a few more bites, but ultimately stops half-way, takes out his spoon, and slides it over to his older companion. “Hm. It doesn’t taste any different from basic vanilla ice cream. Even the nakazawa milk doesn’t do much to change the flavor. I could just be in denial, but I’m certainly not relaxed due to it.” He shakes his head with a sigh. “Hifumi, this visit has proven to me that you’re old, delusional, and a pervert.” He says simply.

His older companion, Hifumi, apparently, simply rolls his eyes, as if giving up on trying to impress the younger man. Instead, Hifumi focuses on eating the ice cream he was offered.

“Thank you for your service and questions, young lady.” The young man said, standing up from his seat. “Hifumi will take care of the bill.” He claims, before simply walking out of the cafe.

“Have a nice night, sir!” Ayano calls, waving briefly before turning to the older man. “Is there anything else you need, sir?”

“Eh, don’t worry about it.” Hifumi sighs, putting down the glass his ice cream was in. “That chef is older than you, ain’t she?” He forks out a few extra bills and hands it to Ayano with a wink. “Tell her that her meals are heavenly- even if it’s just regular vanilla ice cream.” He says, trying his best to sound charming. “A-Actually, leave out that last part. On second thought, let me rephrase..”

“Girl!”

Ayano wasn’t sure if she was relieved or exhausted at the fact that Ayame had called for her. The light purple-haired woman pointed to the kitchen window, where her meal was sitting, no doubt getting cold thanks to the incompetence of Ayano’s lovely co-worker.

Quickly grabbing the plate of food, Ayano sped-walked over to Ayame. “Apologies for the wait, my lady. Your food.” She bows her head deeply after giving Ayame the food. Thankfully, Ayame was either too tired to or was genuinely content with the food despite its almost lukewarm nature.

“Hmph. At least you’re quick on your feet.” Ayame huffed, taking a picture of her food before eating it. While she did so Ayano continued working, cleaning after the Hifumi fella, bidding Gema farewell, and eventually doing the same to Ayame.

Unfortunately, she never got the chance to say anything to her, and before Ayano knew it, her shift was over. No updates came from Info-Chan that night, and Ayano enjoyed the next few hours of sleep she got. She had no reason to use Uekiya’s flowers for anything, but did water it before she went off to bed.

Hopefully tomorrow she'll get an actual chance to speak to Ayame. Hopefully that will give her an upper hand over Kizana as well.