Koko Goes to Maid Café
A/N: I never really see myself as the one writing cross-overs because I just couldn't imagine for the life of me two worlds clashing together—they're all supposed to be different and apart for a reason. But then, the thrill about writing is that you're free to try new things.
Anna and the gang here recently graduated from the Academy; the story mentions plots in The Yeast I Can Do and The Cabin In The Woods.
Despite this being a crossover, though, Gakuen Alice remains as the domain.
"What are you doing here?" Misaki Ayuzawa mutters in a low tone, careful not to voice anything out loud lest her manager would scold her.
Takumi flashes her a smile. "I missed you."
Misaki's cheeks redden with his flamboyant admittance. "I—I have to go," she stutters, and heads back to the kitchens.
Anna Umenomiya takes notice of her face. She's putting the finishing touches of a roll of caramel fudge. "Why are you red?"
"Takumi's here," another maid says slyly. "I don't know why she bothers hiding from him every time. He's cute and he obviously likes Misaki."
"He doesn't like me," Misaki tells Anna, calming the fast beating of her heart. "He's someone really annoying from school, and he likes getting on my nerves."
"From what I've learned, boys annoy you because they like you."
"That's not true!" Misaki argues. "That's stupid."
"Ah, well, people in love never do things right."
"Misaki," the manager calls from the curtains, "Takumi's requesting you."
"Ooh," Anna swoons, "The boy who's not in love with you is requesting you? I wonder why…"
Misaki blushes and dusts her apron, before going out of the kitchens. Anna is the manager's eighteen-year-old niece. She's recently graduated from a school in Tokyo, and decided to drop by during the summer before she studies in culinary school. Anna's only been around for a week, but Misaki already has become used to her personality. She's sweet and friendly. However, she talks very little of her life before she went to Maid Café. Misaki remembers one time when she asked Anna if she's ever had a boyfriend before.
"I did," she had said, a small smile playing on her lips. "He was nuts about my cooking. He would always drop by whenever I make something."
"Then why aren't you together anymore," Misaki had asked. "From what you've said, he sounds like a real charmer."
"He was—is. But his heart just wasn't for me. He loved another girl, his best friend."
"Wow, that must've hurt."
"No, not really. He had always been happier with her. I bet if I could read his mind, I would've pushed him away."
"How would you read his mind?" Misaki remembered laughing. "That's really weird. But he must've felt something with you."
"Oh, we shared something special, that's for sure. But it wasn't enough to last, you know?"
Misaki spies a look at Takumi. She hasn't come to him yet, because she's sure he'll most likely tease her. But he sits there, with a peaceful look on his face, eating the strawberry cake Anna made. Just this morning, he seemed really troubled when he stayed with her in the Student Council Office.
"Go out, Takumi," she had told him.
"Why?" he slowly lifted his head from his shoulders to look at her, "Am I enchanting you too much?"
"Stop being so obnoxious."
"I'm resting. Everyone's too loud outside."
"You chose the wrong place then, seeing as you often comment on how loud I am when I'm mad."
"You're not mad now. You're too dazzled by my appearance."
"Shut up and go to sleep."
It was a while before Takumi spoke once more. "Will you be there later?"
"Yes," she had answered a little fast.
"Excuse me," a blonde suddenly calls for Misaki's attention. He has warm brown eyes, dressed comfortably in jeans and a collared shirt. He doesn't look like he's in high school, but seems rather too young to be done with college. He's probably in that awkward stage of in-between, Misaki figures.
"Yes?" Misaki bared the biggest and most charming smile she could.
"Is the chef who made this here?" the customer asks. He gestures at the slice of chocolate rum cake on his plate.
Misaki immediately recognizes it; it's Anna's special recipe, and would only be around until Anna goes off. She nods and informs the customer that she'd be back. "Anna, she calls on the kitchen," someone's looking for you.
"Who?" the manager pops in.
"A customer who wants to meet her," Misaki explains. "I think he liked the cake."
Anna dusts her flour-caked hands against the towel and removed her apron, following Misaki out.
And then she stops.
Who would've known, of all people, it'd be Kokoro Yome who'd find her?
"I knew it was you," Koko is the first to speak. He has on the same smile he put in high school, and Anna is just sure that's one thing Koko could and would never get rid of. He sits on a corner table, facing the rest of crowd. On his plate, half-eaten, is a slice of chocolate rum cake—the same cake he's practically vowed forever to. "No one bakes the same food you do."
"I'm surprised you found me," Anna jokes, "I thought I had a force field set around."
"You took off after the trip we had in the creek after graduation," Koko frowns. "Why?"
Anna quirks an eyebrow, and Koko shows her the limiting device on his finger. "Seriously, I have no idea."
While taking photos after their graduation, Mikan Sakura announced an idea that she was adamant to pursue. She got everyone, with Yuu's persuasion, to board a truck and spend one day camping. They got lost on the way to the location, but ended up discovering a creek hidden somewhere near the woods.
Anna is silent for a while. She savors her tea before she replies. "I spent more than ten years of my life in the Academy. I couldn't have asked for a better school. I met everyone I know who's going to be there the day I open my own pastry shop, be present on my wedding day, meet my future kid, celebrate with me on my fiftieth birthday… But until then, I just want to be in a place where no one knows I'm an Alice." She gives Koko a smile. "It's so refreshing. I know being an Alice has changed my whole life, but meeting new people who have no idea that I'm capable of cooking things that might blow up, or sing, or dance the Macarena, has gotten me so elated. For them, I just love cooking. I'm just a normal girl fresh from graduation, who wants to start her own business… not an Alice born to cook and destined to be someone great, one way or another."
Koko nods. The thing about being in Alice Academy is that, although you are very different from everyone else, you're still more or less the same, somehow in the similar page, cruising in the old ship. There are no favorite kids, but there are smarter kids. There are no loser kids, but there are lonely kids. There are no richer kids, but there are better kids.
There are Alices who have grown to be above anyone else. Those would be the smarter guys like Yuu Tobita. They can be the lonely ones like Natsume Hyuuga. You can see them in the better kids like Hotaru Imai.
For some people else, who don't have triple-digit-IQs with skyscraper confidence or royalty riches, standing out could be achievable by two things: you do something stupid or you have an awesome Alice. Koko could only do the initial.
But like Anna and Koko, whose Alices are as typical as the next, being on the same league with their friends tend to belittle certain feelings and increase particular insecurities. Sure, they're proud of their friends' achievements. They're happy of their successes. After all, their victory is theirs.
When Yuu got admitted as a scholar for a private university, Anna was the one who decided to hold the congratulatory party. When Natsume decided to give Mikan a promise ring, Koko was the one who helped choose the cut. When Hotaru got awarded for her exemplary work in robotics, everyone pitched in for a new watch that they had gotten personalized.
And that was why Anna and Koko clicked in the first place.
"Where are you off to today?" she asks. She sees the body bag sitting on the bench beside Koko. "Anywhere important?"
"I'm sort of looking for gigs," he explains. "Reading criminals' minds in jails and listening in on court rooms isn't exactly a job I'm willing to survive from forever."
"But court rooms are lovely," Anna says.
He gives her a flat look. "People get sentences to death in court rooms, Anna."
"Well, yes, but justice is—"
"Not for me," Koko shakes his head. "Some people there just have the saddest stories. It makes me cry."
Anna snickers. "I've always pegged you as a crybaby."
"What are you doing here?" Koko asks. "Are you trying to test if your Alice is good with non-Alices?"
"I'm working for the summer," Anna explains. "My aunt owns the café, and then I'll study culinary, before I set out my own."
"Would it be a maid café?" Koko grins, his eyes brightening up.
"No, because I don't want my aunt to hate me."
A buzz rings from Koko's side. He answers his phone and speaks in rushed mumbles. After about ten more seconds, he hangs up and gives Anna an apologetic smile. "Sorry, Anna, I have to run."
"Job interview?"
"Nah, real job. I'm helping out in the Pediatrics Center downtown. Kids are much more exciting than lawyers."
"Are you making it a permanent job? Maybe Mikan can help you with that," Anna finds the need to mention, remembering how Mikan told her during a phone call that she's currently helping out in a hospital.
He shakes his head, finishing his coffee. "Kids remind me too much of you. They're sweet, but they can be horrible monsters."
She purses her lips with a smile. "It never did work with us, did it?"
He goes for a jokingly sarcastic response. "Ya think?"
Anna laughs. "For someone who knows everyone's thoughts well, you really need a way to look into your own."
He frowns. "What does that mean?"
"You're good company, Koko," she smiles. "You like eating my food, and you have the best taste buds any cook can ask for. You're honest, kind, and witty. But it's not my company you need, and it's not your trust that I should have." She thinks about a pretty girl, with the classiest attitude and the most dazzling smile. She inwardly wishes Koko could read her thoughts.
He stands up, shouldering his bag, slapping a hefty tip on the table. He'd have to run back by again. If it weren't for this café, he wouldn't have found Anna until much, much later. "I'll see you next week. Mikan's holding a small party because Natsume got a job without finding the need to burn something down to crisp, and now that I know where to find you, you can't run off again."
Anna thinks of her friends. She knows it's not fair to leave without dropping a line. After all, they're her family. "Tell Mikan I'm sorry and I promise I'll be there."
"Good, because I'm picking you up next week." He winks and waves, walking out of the café, his hands pushed on the pocket of his jeans.
Misaki drops by next to Anna, her hands balancing a tray of empty plates, adding Koko's own pile. "Who is he?" She asks curiously, and then remembers Anna's earlier teasing. "Is he some stupid boy who likes to annoy you?"
Anna laughs, watching the blonde try to balance the box with his finger containing the slice of cake he decided to order before he called for Anna. He crosses the street, and then soon cars drive past, and he's gone. "He was," she says simply.
"What happened?"
"He stayed as my friend."