Title: Trust
Author: Amm (SoulSeeker)
Written for: sparkle_outage
Fandom: The World Ends with You
Characters: Uzuki, Kariya, Konishi
Prompt: "Uzuki/Kariya — Uzuki/Konishi office crush"
Wordcount: 854
Rating: K - suitable for everyone

"Well, well," Konishi said loudly, walking into the Dead God's Pad. "If it isn't my two favorite Reapers: working hard and hardly working."

She motioned to Uzuki and Kariya respectively, who had both turned their heads towards the door upon hearing her voice. Uzuki looked surprised, and stood up immediately at the mere sight of Konishi's wavy, golden hair. She looked alert, while Kariya of course remained sitting—looking completely casual as he popped his favorite flavor of lollipop out of his mouth.

"Howdy, boss," he greeted her, lowering his head a little.

"Hello, ma'am."

Uzuki nudged him angrily, and with a sigh, he finally stood up as well. He attempted to look at least half-respectful, as she listened to the woman speak.

"I have a present for both of you," Konishi announced proudly, once she had their attention. She looked back and forth between the two of them for a while, watching them squirm in curiosity.

"A...a present?"

Kariya could practically see Uzuki's ears perk up at the sound of this. He could hear the hopefulness in her voice as she repeated the words. He doubted, however, that this was the promotion she had been hoping for. The smirk Konishi had on her face when she said it just looked plain suspicious. In fact, he was always suspicious of 'presents' from bosses. They were always either very good or very bad, and he hated trying to foresee which one.

"And is this the part where we try to guess what it is?" Kariya asked in mock-excitement — after the Iron Maiden failed to elaborate.

"Shhhh!" Uzuki nudged him again, glaring. And he simply shrugged, turning away to avoid eye contact. After that, she finally got the nerve to ask. "So like, what is it...er, ma'am?"

Before she had even finished asking, however, they could see Konishi reaching into the pocket of her silky black dress. There were two small objects resting in her hand when she pulled it back out. They were small, circular, and red. And it didn't take long for Kariya to figure out what they were.

"O-Pins?" he asked — almost with disappointment.

"O-Pins." Konishi handed one to each of them, and Kariya studied his, looking unimpressed.

"That's it?"

"They're supposed to enhance a Reaper's power, you know," she explained condescendingly, as if they had forgotten. "And the Conductor is now requiring that everyone wear one for the duration of this Game."

"Since when?" Kariya demanded. He was definitely suspicious now.

"Since this morning. When I spoke to him. And now that I've made my delivery, I'll be on—"

"But...but ma'am!" Uzuki exclaimed, unable to control herself now. He had never seen her protest against the Iron Maiden so eagerly. "These are supposed to have some very harmful side effects! Is this really necessary, for one—?"

"I know," Konishi interrupted, folding her arms. "I said the exact same thing to the Conductor when he first passed the word to me. But orders are orders. If you want to take it up with him, then be my guest—but I've got a Game to run. So, if you'll excuse me."

With her head held high, she walked briskly out of the room without giving them so much as a second glance. They didn't protest. They didn't say anything, for that matter. They could only watch, as she flipped her hair with confidence, and disappeared. Her footsteps had echoed, softer and softer until she was out of sight completely.

"What is up with this Game?" Uzuki growled, once it was certain that Konishi was gone. "The missing Composer, a third week, and now this?"

"So what do you think?" Kariya fiddled with the Red Skull pin in his hand, watching it shine in the dim light of the room. He flipped it like a coin, and watched as it landed back in his hand. "Should we really trust her about this?"

"I don't know," his partner muttered with a sigh. "Maybe. I think I do."

"You do?" he asked. A teasing smirk appeared on his face, and Uzuki didn't like it one bit. "Aww. Well, that's cute."

"Oh shut up, Kariya!"

"But why?" he continued on dismissively, ignoring the outburst. "She might be lying, you know."

"Because! I...I don't know, I just do, okay?!" Uzuki's cheeks flushed red, as she turned away from him in frustration.

"Okay, okay. Fine."

"Fine!"

"Fine."

It took Uzuki a moment to calm down and realize there wasn't even an argument. Kariya had just agreed with her; she could already see him, carefully putting the pin on his parka without hesitation. What choice did they have, after all? If it really had been an order from the Conductor, there really wasn't much they could do.

"W-wait a minute, hold up!" Uzuki cried out suddenly. "You could be right, you know. And you're gonna trust her now, just like that? What if I'm wrong?"

"No." Kariya shook his head. "I still don't trust her. But you do."

"Yeah, so?"

"So," he repeated, matter-of-factly. And he said his next words with such unnerving confidence that it scared her. "I trust you."

A/N: Well, I'm not sure how well I portrayed the little Uzuki/Konishi crush thing. I was supposed to be subtle; I tried, but it may be a little iffy. I really did like writing that exchange between Uzuki and Kariya at the end, though. I hope you guys did too. :)