Kiyotaka Ishimaru was not, for once in his life, first to the cafeteria in the morning. Sayaka Maizono sat at a table with breakfast in front of her, humming to herself. She was alone, of course – nobody else was ever up this early – and Ishimaru made a beeline for her.
"You're here before me," he said, unable to keep the shock out of his voice. She looked up at him and smiled.
"Yep!" she said. "I woke up early today and thought, well, why not get a good, early start to the day?"
"That is an admirable attitude," Ishimaru said. He went into the kitchen to grab breakfast, half-expecting someone like Naegi or Kuwata to have taken up her attention by the time he'd gotten back. But, she was still alone, so he sat down across from her. "Perhaps this will be a good time to get to know one of my classmates!"
"That's a nice idea," Maizono said, smiling again, and Ishimaru felt himself flush a little. He cleared his throat.
"S-so, Maizono-kun," he said. She gave him her full attention, and he couldn't help but blush again. "How does your job affect your school?"
She seemed to think about it for a few moments, and then replied. "Well, I do have to work hard at both, of course," she said. "I had a special tutor at my middle school that would catch me up on things that I would occasionally miss in class, but for the most part, it was just a lot of studying!"
"That's good," he said. "It would not do for you to fall behind in your studies."
She shook her head. An expression that he didn't quite like settled over her features. "Of course, with this… situation… it's hard to imagine…"
"I'm sure that your idol group will be perfectly fine," Ishimaru said, leaning forward. "After all, they must be inspired by your hard work. In fact, they're probably working hard to try and get you out right now!"
She gave him a smile that was more sad than hopeful. "Thank you, Ishimaru-kun," she said. "I appreciate it."
"Although, there is no reason to stop studying!" Ishimaru said. She jumped at his sudden intensity. "I am not quite sure of how the idol business works – too busy studying to think about that, ha ha – but I am sure you will not be doing that forever, right?"
She didn't look so happy at the thought of this, but she nodded after a few moments.
"All the more reason to study! Then, your life can go perfectly – you will be rescued, you will continue and then finish your career as an idol, and then you will find a job worthy of your hardworking attitude."
"Being an idol is hard work," Maizono said. Ishimaru waited for her to continue. He did suppose that it could be, though he would like a bit more information on, how, exactly, it was. "I put in long hours, dancing and singing and practicing and performing. I've done a lot of things to get where I am now, some of them that I'm not so proud of. It's just as worthy of my 'hardworking attitude' as something else."
He stared at her.
"Though I didn't mean to mock you," she said, managing a sort of smile. Ishimaru kept staring.
"Maizono-kun," he said after a few minutes. "That was quite the speech."
"Was it… a good speech?"
"It was quite good," Ishimaru said. He paused. "It certainly got the point across."
She gave him a smile, but it was sadder than the first one that she'd given him. "Thanks, I guess," she said, giggling a little. At that moment, Aoi Asahina bounded in, singing something about breakfast and the most important meal of the day. Although Ishimaru didn't disagree with her, the way she was moving could possibly injure herself or others, and while the cafeteria was not technically the hallways, it was too fast. When he stood up to tell her so, Maizono caught his hand.
He looked down at her, surprised.
"Ishimaru-kun?" she said.
"Yes?"
"It was nice talking to you," she said. She stood up. "You're great."
With that, she kissed him on the cheek and was out of the room, and Ishimaru nearly forgot to lecture Asahina about bounding around in the cafeteria.
This was requested by an anon on Tumblr, who wanted an ishisaya! I love writing Ishimaru/Literally Anyone, so it was a lot of fun! :)