Almost
She was tired. There was nothing more that could be said about it. She was tired from fighting, tired from working, tired from studying, and more importantly, she was tired from trying so hard to make it all look so effortless.
Today, however, had been relatively easy on her; summer break had started a week ago and she thought ahead for the first time to work on some of her holiday homework, the aliens haven't bothered Earth lately, there were no rogue chimera anima, and her shift at the café had been a rather slow one. It's perfect, that's all right, she thought, wiping down tables toward the end of her shift. I really don't think anything wrong has happened today, not even Shirogane picking fights with me. She smiled at the thought. Throughout her four years working at Café Mew Mew, she had wound up having a very close bond with her coworkers and her employers. They were her family, and she truly didn't like fighting with her blond haired boss.
An hour passed in which she and her fellow heroines had cleaned up the pink café and had closed up shop. Ichigo sat down on one of the chairs. She yawned; the day could have easily been a lazy day, if it weren't for work. She liked it though, as it was a simple and happy day. She almost didn't want it to end, but she also wanted to go home and sleep.
"Oi, Strawberry. You were late the other day, and you've yet to make up for it. I'm thinking maybe a half hour to make sure those tables are clean and to help Keiichiro with cleaning the kitchen." Damn, so close to being the perfect day.
"Shirogane, I was – what? – five minutes late? Really now, does that call for me working another half hour when you could've told me to have no break instead?" the redhead commented back. I could've gone home and rested, too.
"Didn't come to mind at the time. Besides, you know that it builds interest. Get up, the quicker you get done, the quicker you can go home," Ryou answered. He smirked, knowing she wouldn't fight back; she seemed to be too tired. It wasn't fun to pick fights with her anymore, anyways. She had a level head now, and always had a witty comeback to everything he said.
The girl sighed as she stood up. She did as she was told; cleaning the tables, vacuuming, cleaning the kitchen as much as she could, and even managed to quip a few snippy comments at her blue eyed boss. As she finished, he walked up to her. "Good job, Strawberry. Come on, I'll walk you home. It's a nice evening, I might as well go out for a bit." He smiled a true smile as he tweaked her nose. She flushed, even if it was only a little bit.
As he reached the front door, he turned around. She was still rooted to her spot, near the kitchen doors. "Coming or not, Ichigo?" he asked. That seemed to break her out of her trance, and she started heading toward him, her hand covering a lazy, happy yawn.
Today might as well have been a perfect day, she figured.
Almost.
