So… This fanfic has two author's notes at the beginning. Why? Well, that's because I actually wrote this story back in December 2016 and now it's June… 2018.

Yeah, you read that right. I finished this fic around a year and a half ago and yet I never got around to proofreading and actually posting this thing. Well, I've finally done it so what follows is the story with the original author's notes and all.

My writing style has changed quite a bit in this past year and a half and so this fic's writing style is a bit different. However, it's not necessarily bad so I didn't try to rewrite the fic or anything.

Also, when I wrote this fanfic, GochiUsa's manga wasn't being updated on the internet. Now, however, the manga does get updated and it's really fun to read. There are a few manga chapters focusing on Cocoa and Chiya's school festival. I just want to say that I wrote my story before those manga chapters were available on the internet so I didn't take any ideas from them. I'm sorry if there are any similarities but seriously, it's not my fault.

And now for the actual fanfic…

Hello, everyone! I'm back with my second GochiUsa fanfic. I really had a blast writing this one. There's no drama; just light-hearted comedy, some romance and me torturing Rize. Rize is normally more or less composed when it comes to Syaro so it was fun to imagine her actually freaking out for once.

I hope you guys enjoy reading the story as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Disclaimer: I do not own GochiUsa. It belongs to Koi.

Caffeine High

"Cocoa-san, please slow down," Chino wearily called out to the girl running ahead of her.

"But I want to get there fast, Chino-chan," Cocoa whined. "Hurry up, you two!"

Chiya giggled. "There's no use tiring ourselves before we get there, Cocoa-chan."

"Fine, I won't run." Cocoa put her hands on her hips. "But you two have to walk a little faster! Or else we won't have enough time to see everything!"

Chino sighed but increased her pace nonetheless. Chiya sped up as well. Cocoa nodded in approval and hurried forward herself. They were headed to Rize and Syaro's school to see their school festival; how could she possibly not be excited?

Rize had been to Cocoa and Chiya's school festival around a month ago and she had to admit that their festival was great. But Rize's school was an elite school and so their school festival was absolutely grand. The entire school had been decorated from top to bottom. There were numerous food stalls serving just about everything and some of the classes had opened up maid cafés and butler cafés with menus that could put restaurants to shame. One class had opened a haunted house and their overly realistic costumes along with the special effects they had planned were sure to scare anyone who dared to enter. The myriad clubs were busy flashing their skills. With all the prodigies in their school, it was no surprise that the art club's paintings were bound to leave everyone mesmerized. The auditorium was fully booked for the day; the music clubs were holding performances, the theatre club was to perform a play and so were some of the classes. A magic show was going to be held as well.

Rize's class was doing a butler café and she had managed to turn into the main attraction. She had her hair tied back in a ponytail and was wearing a black butler uniform which, along with the confidence and charm her aura exuded, resulted in a very handsome Rize who no one could take their eyes off of. Rize was slightly embarrassed but serving customers was something she excelled at and her ridiculously amazing latte art skills never failed to impress the customers.

"Do you want to take a break, Rize-chan?" a classmate of hers asked. "You have to help the theatre club with their play after this, don't you?"

"Yeah," Rize smiled. "I'm in their play. But I don't need a break. I can handle this."

"Ok, Rize-chan. But feel free to take a break when you need one."

Rize nodded. But she had no intention of lazing around; she was actually having a lot of fun. Also, she wanted her friends to see her working when they got there.

I wonder when those three are going to come...

"Welcome!" Syaro greeted with a wide smile.

The blonde showed her customers to their table and took their order. As she walked away to bring their omelette rice, she let out a small sigh. Serving customers seemed to be her destiny. She couldn't really say that it bothered her but she waited on customers every single day. Was it wrong for her to want to do something different for the school festival?

Most of her classmates didn't have any part-time jobs and none of them had ever worked as a waitress. So to them, the idea of running a maid café for the festival seemed extremely exciting and was unanimously accepted. Syaro had enough trouble fitting in and the last thing she wanted to do was to make things worse by objecting to their plan. So she went along with it and now here she was, dressed in a maid uniform and serving customers just like she always did.

Also, Syaro being the only one in the entire class who had any actual experience, coupled with the fact that she simply couldn't stand to see work not being done properly resulted in her becoming the unofficial head of their makeshift café. She not only had to serve customers but she also had to supervise her classmates and make sure that everything was running smoothly. As a result, she hadn't been able to take a single break yet. But she was going to leave at two o'clock no matter what; there was no way she was going to miss Rize's play. It was going to be the highlight of her day. She was sure of it.

"Syaro-chan, could you come here for a minute?"

"Yes, I'm coming," Syaro responded, snapping out of her thoughts.

Syaro placed the plates of omelette rice in front of her customers and then walked over to the classmate who was calling her. Her name was Yui and she was in charge of making mocktails for the café.

I wonder what the matter is now, Syaro thought. I hope nothing's wrong.

"Here," Yui said, handing Syaro a tall glass. "It's a new mocktail I made just now. Try it and tell me if you think I should put it on the menu."

Syaro's classmates may not have any work experience but she had to admit that they were extremely talented. Yui knew how to make mocktails and so she had offered to make some for the class' café. So far, the customers were full of praise for the drinks. But to think that the girl could create a new mocktail on the spot; Syaro was impressed. And considering the confident look on her face, Syaro assumed that her new creation would be pretty good as well.

"I don't really know anything about mocktails though," Syaro said. "So my opinion doesn't really matter..."

"I still want your approval. Go on, try it."

Syaro nodded and proceeded to take a sip of the chocolate brown drink. It was as tasty as she had expected it to be. Scratch that. It was way better than she expected.

"You have to put this on the menu," Syaro said with a wide smile. "It's amazing."

The girl in front of her beamed. "Thanks, Syaro-chan."

"There's no need to thank me," Syaro said, handing the glass back to her classmate.

Yui didn't take the glass though. "Oh, you don't have to give that back, Syaro-chan. I made that one for you. Take a short break and finish it."

"Really?" Syaro was unsure about taking a break all of a sudden.

"Of course."

"Ok," Syaro replied after a moment of hesitation. A short break would be nice. Also, she really wanted to finish her mocktail; she rarely got the chance to have something so exquisite after all.

Syaro happily took a sip. Ahh... It's so tasty. I wonder what's in it.

Syaro tried to identify the drink's ingredients but to no avail. There was a hint of a familiar taste but she couldn't quite figure out what it was. The rest of the flavors seemed absolutely foreign to her. Syaro sighed in defeat. She didn't need to know the ingredients. All she needed to do was quickly finish her drink and get back to work.

She had downed almost half of her drink by then. A few seconds later the blonde's eyes widened in horror as she finally recognized the familiar taste.

It's coffee...

"Here's your cappuccino, madam," Rize said.

"Thank you, Rize-senpai," her customer said excitedly.

Rize gave a quick bow and walked away. She was getting pretty exhausted what with their butler café being completely packed at all times. A huge portion of their customers were her kouhais who she suspected came mainly in order to stare at her. She was surprised at the sheer number of her fans.

Why do they like me so much?

"Rize-chan," a voice called.

Rize turned to see Haru, a classmate of hers, enter the café. As far as Rize remembered, Haru's shift was about to start in five minutes.

"Hi, Haru-chan," Rize said. "You left to tour the school festival, didn't you? How is it?"

"It's fantastic," Haru replied. "That's to be expected. But I saw something I thought I should tell you about."

"What?" Rize asked.

"You know that kouhai you're really good friends with?"

"Syaro?"

"She's a blonde and she wears a ribbon in her hair."

"Yeah, you're talking about Syaro. What about her?"

"Well," Haru replied. "Her class is running a maid café and I just walked by it. Your friend is kind of making a big scene over there."

Rize furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"She's really... hyper," Haru answered. "Yeah, that's probably the best way to put it. She's jumping about and dancing around the café for some reason. I heard she was in charge of their café. Maybe the pressure got to her?"

Rize blanched. Syaro wasn't the type of person to crack under pressure. Plus, the girl always juggled multiple part-time jobs and school work. So there was no way she'd find running her class café pressurizing. If Syaro was hyper then there could only be one reason.

"Caffeine..." Rize murmured.

"Did you say something, Rize-chan?" Haru asked.

Rize shook her head. "It's nothing."

"Oh. Well, I just thought I should let you know."

"Thanks for telling me," Rize said. "Uh... Haru-chan, is it okay if I go and see her? I should stop her before she embarrasses herself any further."

"Yeah, sure! You've worked hard enough. You can go; we'll hold down the fort over here. Don't worry about a thing."

"Thanks a lot," Rize said with a smile.

She hurried out of the classroom and headed towards Syaro's class. Rize was worried. Syaro tried so hard to fit in at their school and maintain her image. Getting drunk and creating a scene during the school festival was most certainly not good for her image. And after Syaro sobered up, she'd be mortified. Losing control in front of her close friends was one thing but becoming hyper in front of all her classmates would be horrible.

Rize sped up. When Syaro's classroom came in sight, she realized that the situation was worse than she thought. She couldn't see the door because of the number of people standing there eagerly watching what was happening inside. Rize had to get inside the class.

"Excuse me," she repeatedly said as she pushed through the crowd.

Once she finally got to the front, she saw that Haru hadn't been exaggerating. Syaro really was literally dancing around the class while all the customers and her classmates looked on in confusion. They obviously had absolutely no idea why Syaro was behaving the way that she was.

While Rize was standing still in her place wondering what to do, Yui was standing with a perplexed expression on her face wondering whether something was wrong with her mocktail. She hadn't put any alcohol in the drink. So what exactly had happened?

Yui suddenly noticed Rize standing at the door.

"Rize-senpai? What are you doing here?"

"A friend told me about Syaro," Rize said, walking to Yui. "So I came to see her."

"Oh, you two are good friends, aren't you? I forgot about that."

"Um, since when has Syaro been acting like this?" Rize asked. "Did she drink anything?"

"Yes," Yui replied. "Syaro-chan drank a mocktail I made and she's been acting strange ever since."

"By any chance, was there any coffee in that mocktail?"

Yui blinked. "Yes, there was. How did you know?"

Rize sighed. "Syaro can't handle coffee. She gets drunk on caffeine."

"What? That's actually possible?"

Rize nodded. "It is. Now what should I do about this situation?"

Rize didn't get any time to think though since Syaro had finally noticed her.

"Rize-senpai!" the blonde shouted happily.

Rize turned her head to see Syaro skipping towards her. The blonde stopped right in front of the older girl and beamed at her.

"Rize-senpai, you came to see my class' cafe. I'm so happy!"

Rize opened her mouth to respond but Syaro beat her to it.

"Senpai! You look so handsome!" Syaro exclaimed, noticing Rize's butler uniform.

Rize felt her cheeks heating up. She was sure it was because everyone in the café was staring at them and listening to their conversation. Or maybe it was due to the fact that Syaro's face was barely centimeters away from her own.

"Th-Thank you," Rize stuttered, averting her eyes.

Syaro suddenly jumped back a step. "How do I look?"

"You look cute," Rize answered with a smile, internally sighing in relief that Syaro wasn't so dangerously close to her anymore.

"Really? I'm glad to hear that. This uniform is a lot like the one at Fleur though. Except for the bunny ears. This one has no bunny ears. Do you like me better with bunny ears, senpai?"

"Uh..." How am I supposed to respond to that?! And why is she suddenly fixated on the words ' bunny ears'?

"If you prefer bunny ears I'm sure I could find a pair somewhere at school," Syaro said.

Rize's eyes widened at the mere thought of Syaro running around the entire school trying to find a pair of bunny ears. How can she say that with a straight face?

"You don't have to do that, Syaro," Rize said with a nervous laugh. "Seriously. Don't."

"If you say so, senpai."

Rize figured it was best to take Syaro out of the classroom until she calmed down. Honestly, she was way too hyper. And at the rate that things were going, Syaro wasn't going to embarrass only herself but she'd end up dragging Rize down with her. It was possible that everyone present in the class already thought that Rize had some sort of bunny ear fetish. The purple -haired girl shuddered at the thought.

Rize opened her mouth but once again, she was unable to say anything. This time however, Syaro hadn't said anything to interrupt her. Instead, the blonde had wrapped her arms around Rize's left arm and was currently snuggling her head against the older girl's shoulder.

"Eh?" Rize exclaimed in surprise. "Sy-Syaro?"

"I think a maid and a butler would make a nice couple," Syaro remarked. "What do you think, Yui-chan?"

"Huh?" Yui hadn't expected to be brought into the conversation. "Um... Yes?"

Syaro giggled in response. "See, Rize-senpai? Yui-chan thinks so too."

Rize wasn't in any position to respond though. She was blushing furiously and she knew it. She tried to will herself to calm down but the words 'a nice couple' kept spinning in her head.

"Do we look good together, Yui-chan?"

Yui looked at Rize's red face and wondered if she should respond. But she had to admit that the two did look pretty nice together. She actually wanted to take a picture of the two. But Syaro was obviously not in her right mind and Rize seemed to be mighty embarrassed so taking a picture would be wrong.

"Yui-chan?"

"Yes," Yui said, snapping out of her thoughts. "You two look good together. Really good."

Yui almost regretted saying what she said when she noticed Rize blushing even harder than before. But the whole situation was actually pretty... amusing.

"Oh!" Syaro exclaimed, pulling away from Rize. "Where are my manners? You came to visit the café so the least I could do is give you some coffee."

Syaro let go of Rize's arm and walked away to grab her coffee.

"That's not necessary," Rize called after her.

"Don't worry. It's my treat," Syaro replied with a bright smile that rendered Rize speechless.

As Syaro disappeared behind the curtains into the café's makeshift kitchen, Rize fell to the floor and grabbed her head with both her hands. She refrained from tearing out her hair in frustration even though she really wanted to.

"Rize-senpai?!" Yui asked in concern and shock. "What's wrong?"

"I can't handle her," Rize answered. "I just can't. She gets drunk in different ways depending on the blend. Somehow, that mocktail made her hyper and bold. Way too bold. She's not normally like this. How am I supposed to handle her? She keeps putting me on the spot and I can't stop getting embarrassed. What do I do? What do I do? What do I do?!"

Yui realized that Rize was talking more to herself than she was to her. She was amazed that the usually elegant and calm Syaro had managed to reduce her cool senpai to such a mess in so little time. Syaro was much more impressive than she had thought.

"Senpai, Syaro-chan is coming this way," Yui informed when she saw Syaro emerge from the kitchen with a steaming cup of coffee in her hand.

Rize immediately stood up and put on a brave face. She would not show any weakness in front of the enemy; she wouldn't be able to win the battle otherwise. Rize knew that she absolutely had to win this battle against Syaro for the sake of both of their reputations. And also for the sake of her own sanity.

"Here's your coffee, senpai. I made it specially for you."

Rize obviously didn't want any coffee but somehow she couldn't bring herself to refuse her kouhai.

"Thank you, Syaro," Rize said, taking the proffered cup. She took one sip and then handed the cup to Yui.

"You're not going to drink any more?" Syaro asked. "Isn't it good?"

"Don't worry," Rize replied. "The coffee is good. But I can't drink it right now. I didn't exactly come to your café to eat or drink."

"You didn't?" Syaro asked, tilting her head to the side.

So cute... Rize's eyes widened when she realized what she was thinking. Ugh! I can't be thinking that right now. I can't afford to get distracted. Though she really does look cute right now... Damn it! Focus, Rize. Focus!

"I'm still in my butler uniform for a reason, you know," Rize said, somehow managing to keep a straight face. "My shift isn't over yet. I actually came here so that I could take you to see my class' café. You work so hard that I just knew that you'd be stuck here all day if I didn't come to take you."

Rize was obviously lying but it was the best excuse she could come up with to get Syaro out of the classroom. Rize didn't actually intend to take Syaro to her class' butler café. She planned to take Syaro to some place with less people around and keep her there until she sobered up. Whether she'd be able to handle Syaro when the two of them were alone was something she wasn't too sure of but she'd worry about that later. First of all, she had to get Syaro to leave with her.

"Really?" Syaro's eyes gleamed with excitement. "I'm so happy! Thank you, Rize-senpai!"

Rize felt proud of her success but not for long. Her troubles were not over just yet. The normal Syaro would have just said, "Thank you." But not this Syaro. This Syaro wouldn't be satisfied until she wrapped the object of her affection in a bear hug.

And that's exactly what she did. Syaro excitedly wrapped her arms around her senpai and buried her head in the crook of Rize's neck. She squeezed the older girl tight and let out a contented sigh.

"You smell nice, senpai..."

Rize froze completely. Syaro often hugged her when she was drunk so she should have gotten used to it by now. But there was one thing that Rize had recently realized; with each passing day, she was becoming less and less immune to Syaro's hugs. It was unreasonable, really. But since Rize felt her heart constrict rather painfully every time Syaro hugged her, she had spent quite some time trying to figure out the reason behind it. Unable to find any satisfactory answer, she had finally concluded that she just might be in love with her adorable blonde kouhai.

At the current moment, Rize could feel Syaro's body against her own and her breath against her neck. She could smell the sweet scent of Syaro's strawberry shampoo. And she was well aware of the fact that a lot of people were watching. So when Syaro raised her head, placed a soft kiss on her cheek and then snuggled her head against the older girl's chest, Rize basically shut down.

I guess I couldn't win the battle after all... was Rize's last thought before her mind stopped working completely.

"This festival is incredible!" Cocoa gushed happily as she walked through the school hallways.

Chino blankly stared at Cocoa who had some cotton candy in one hand and a crêpe in the other. "Of course you're enjoying yourself, Cocoa-san. You've been eating ever since we got here."

"The food is great! You should try some, Chino-chan."

"Both Syaro-san and Rize-san's classes are doing cafés. I don't want to fill up before we visit their classes."

Chiya was walking a few steps ahead of them and looking from side to side, trying to find Syaro's class. "From what Syaro-chan told me, her classroom should be that one," Chiya said, pointing at a classroom near the end of the hallway.

"There are a lot of people standing at the door," Chino observed. "The café must be really good if so many people are waiting."

"Let's go!"

Chino heaved a sigh as she watched Cocoa run towards Syaro's classroom. Tippy smiled; he knew Chino wasn't nearly as annoyed as she seemed to be. Chino and Chiya followed after Cocoa, albeit at a more normal pace.

The three pushed through the crowd in an attempt to at least let Syaro know that they had arrived. When they finally got to the front, with Cocoa surprisingly managing to keep both her cotton candy and crêpe unharmed, the sight that welcomed them made it as clear as day that the horde of people waiting outside were not waiting for food.

"Oh my..." was all that Chiya could say as she stared at the scene before her.

Syaro was hugging Rize with all her might and she was actually rubbing her head against Rize's chest like a cat. Her eyes were closed but the wide grin on her face made it obvious that Syaro was very happy. Rize, on the other hand, was as stiff and still as a rock, her arms hanging limply to her sides. She was staring up at the ceiling with a blank expression and her face was as red as a tomato. Also, her head seemed to be... steaming?

"Syaro-san must have had some coffee..."

Cocoa blinked. "Yeah, that's probably what happened... Rize-chan doesn't look too good... Is she even breathing?"

Chino looked closely. "Yes, she's breathing. Just barely though."

Once Chiya got over her shock, she smiled. She felt bad for Rize and she knew that Syaro would likely never want to return to school again. But even so, Chiya found the situation to be pretty heartwarming.

Chiya giggled. "Come on, you two. Let's help Rize-chan out. Or else she's never going to be able to perform in that play of hers."

So, did you like the story? Did you think it was funny?

I don't like adding OC's to fanfiction but I had to in this one. Yui and Haru are my OC's so don't try to find them in the manga; you won't find them there.

Also, I've never had any mocktails in my life but coffee can actually be used as an ingredient in mocktails. I checked that so don't worry; the whole premise for this story isn't factually incorrect.

Please tell me what you think about this fic. Read and review! Reviews truly do make my day.