Happy New Year! This Near oneshot is dedicated to my cousin.
Disclamier: I own nothing but the plot. Near is owned by Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata, the OC in this oneshot is based on my cousin (I don't own her either), I am not the founder/owner of Toys "R" Us or Hello Kitty, etc. You catch my drift?
Aiko let out a long sigh as she straightened her body from leaning over the counter. Her brown eyes widened as she checked the time on the cash register.
"YES! Only 30 more minutes till closing!" She yelled and spun around in circle. "Wait," she said as she glanced at the other cash registers. "No one else is here. Great, that means I have to check inventory and lock up." Aiko groaned and ran a hand through her straight, black hair and brushed her blunt bangs out of my face while making a mental note to cut them once she got home. As the young girl pulled out her purple MP3 player and straightened her Hello Kitty t-shirt, she smiled. She was grateful that her manager was sick today forshe forgot to set her alarm clock to wake her up for her shift. This resulted in the 16 year old teenager showing up to work an hour late with her hair unbrushed, stomach empty, and her attire consisting of her uniform pants and Hello Kitty t-shirt. Her manager is a stickler for the rules and regulations who always makes sure all the employees followed them. The raven haired girl knew that if her manager knew that she wasn't wearing the proper employee uniform AND was late to work for the 3rd time that week, she would have been fired without a second thought.
"Pfft. I don't really see the harm in wearing this to work. It's not like my shirt is corrupting the kids' minds or anything. It should be considered as advertisement." Aiko mumbled to herself as she started to make her way down the aisles of Toys "R" Us. After quickly putting her MP3 player on shuffle, she began to place all the toys on the floor to their respective places on the shelves.
After making sure that the current aisle she was on walking down had no toys on the floor, she started to dance onto another while shutting her brown eyes from getting catch up on the music playing in her ears. Unfortunately, this action made her not notice a certain albino detective named Near who was sitting on the floor with his back faced to her. As she danced into Near, Aiko fell onto his back which caused the male to lean forward onto his stomach with a robot blocking his body from making contact with the ground. He groaned as he felt the toy puncturing his stomach. Snapping her eyes open, Aiko let out a gasp as she saw the boy's white hair in front of her.
"Oh my gosh, I am so sorry!" The teenager said as she quickly got up from the young detective's back and helped him to his feet. As she kept blurting out apologies, Near rubbed his stomach in hopes of easing the pain from the contact of the robots.
"It is quite alright, it was an accident." He said as he picked up the robotic toys and wrapped one of his arms around them.
"You're not hurt or bleeding right?" Aiko asked as the feeling of guilt came across her.
"My stomach does hurt from this as I leaned forward, but no, I am not bleeding. I assure you I am fine." Near said as he motioned to the toy under his arm. A wave of relief suddenly came over the young girl as she took in the male holding the robot. He was wearing a white t-shirt and white pants that oddly resembled pajamas. His face appeared to be pale which was made evident from dark shadows underneath his eyes. His hair color was the color of snow as well.
Aiko was obviously staring at him and not making an effort to cover it for Near broke the silence by saying, "It is rude to stare at others." The raven haired girl shook her head and said, "I'm sorry, but is that your natural hair color?" while pointing to his snow colored hair.
The young man brought a finger from his free hand to his head and began to twirl a strand of his white colored hair as he responded, "Yes, this is my natural hair color. I am albino after all." Aiko furrowed her eyebrows in annoyance once noticing how straightforward he was and slowly nodded her head.
"I see. Anyways, sorry for bumping into you. I don't mean to be impolite or anything, but why are you here? I thought this place was empty except for me considering it's almost closing time." The girl said as she checked the time on her MP3 and saw that it was 4 minutes till the store would be officially announced as closed.
"I accept your apology since it was indeed an accident. I am not offended by your question since I didn't intend on staying here for too long. It appears that I lost track of time from playing with this robot. It seems I would have to buy it since I have already taken it out of its box." The white hair man replied as he indictated his head to the open box that once held the robot that was currently in his hands.
"Riiiight. Well, come with me and I'll ring it up for you." Aiko slowly responded as she picked up the box and made her way to the front of the store with Near following her. After quickly scanning the barcode on the bos and opened her mouth to tell him the total, Near already had his money already on the counter. The girl's eyes widened and fell upon the male standing in front of her. He seem occupied with making the metallic toy walk across the counter while making robotic noises.
"I believe the amount of money I have placed on the counter is correct." Near said as he looked up at the shocked Aiko. Shaking her head, she began to count the money.
"How did you know the total without me telling you?" She asked as she stared at the money in her hands before placing it in the cash register.
"It's simple math." The albino responded as he returned his attention to the robot.
"Uh-huh. Well, do you still want the box?" Aiko asked as she ripped the receipt away from the cash register and handed it to Near before tilting her head to the direction of the box. He folded the receipt and put it in the pocket of his white pants before saying, "No, that won't be necessary. I'll just carry it out. I won't be needing a bag as well. Good day, Miss Aiko," and walked towards the door.
Aiko's jaw dropped at the mention of her name, realizing that she never told him what her name was.
"Wait! How do you know my name?" She asked in surprise. The albino stopped at the door, a hand out in front of him ready to open the door.
"Your nametag." He said as his head turned slightly towards her. Aiko blushed as she looked down and saw that she was wearing her nametag with her name on it.
"Oh, right. Well, enjoy your toy and have a nice day, Mister..." the black haired girl paused, noticing that she didn't know his name. Feeling the ends of his lips twitch upwards the detective replied, "Call me Near," and walked out into the breezy summer air.
"Near..." Aiko whispered as a small smile and slight blush appeared on her face.
So, this was harder to write than I thought it would be. Although I already knew what was going to happen, the problem was that I kept switching the point of view between first and third person. It must be because I am coming from a VERY long hiatus of writing, but I'm back and ready to write. Well, I hope my cousin enjoyed her oneshot. If she likes it and I somehow come up with a decent plot, this may become a story. But for now, it will only be a oneshot. I also take requests; so if you have one, message me. Thanks for reading and please review! (: