All things considered, Kaede is relatively lucky, especially when compared to her roommates. Shirogane-san is working as a seamstress every other evening and came back to their shared dorm room with her fingertips reddened from the needle pinpricks. And Harukawa-san got a job as a cashier at the 7-11 in the city centre, so Kaede often finds her lying on their ratty sofa and grumbling into the pillow about dumb people who dumbly paid her with a dumb one thousand yen banknote for dumb ninety yen worth of dumb groceries.
And Kaede spends four evenings per week at the coffee shop in the suburbs, twenty minutes by bus away from the campus. She likes it there. The owners, a married couple only a few years her seniors, often gift her a tupperware with whatever pastries that weren't sold on that day and tut at her whenever she's tired after an all-nighter. The shop itself is small, brings little revenue, but the expenses aren't that high, with only a handful of customers dropping by during her shifts. It's peaceful. Quiet. Sometimes she even has the time to pull out her notebooks and study. And if that happens when she's sharing a shift with Naegi-san, he makes sure her cup of tea is always full, while Kirigiri-san helps her with vocabulary if she's working on an essay.
She's doing just that on the day when she meets Saihara-kun.
It's an ugly, rainy evening, so there has been only one customer since she came in. Kirigiri-san is flipping through a book, an awfully thick one with a plain cover, and Kaede has her laptop open on the counter as she's trying to squeeze out five pages for her history class. She's about to open her mouth and ask Kirigiri-san for help — this woman knows everything, from philology to histology — when the door opens to let in a frail-looking boy about her age, shivering and dripping wet. He looks even thinner than he is in a long coat plastered to his body, and the hat he's wearing is also soaked through.
"Good evening, and welcome to Hope's—" Kaede begins as she straightens up and puts on a smile, but Kirigiri-san shushes her with a pointed look and walks to the boy.
"Good evening, Saihara-kun," she says in her usual, low voice. "How were things?"
"G-good evening, Kirigiri-san," the boy — Saihara-kun — bows to her, then repeats that when he turns to Kaede, "Good evening. I did as you asked, and h-here are the results." He hands her a stuffed briefcase he was carrying with himself. Kirigiri-san nods, accepts it with a quiet 'thank you', then opens it and browses the papers inside. She closes it with another nod.
"Good job, Saihara-kun," she says, not unkindly. "Go sit down, Akamatsu-san will prepare you something warm to drink." She glances at her, adds, "On the house," and struts into the backroom. Kaede raises her brows. That was… weird. She meets Saihara-kun's eye and asks,
"Tea or coffee?"
He takes off his coat and drapes it over one seat in a booth, then sits down on another. "Tea, please." He looks… really miserable.
Taking pity on him, Kaede makes him some herbal tea in the biggest mug they've got and, as curiosity crops up inside her, takes the seat in front of him as she sets the cup on the table.
"Thank you," he murmurs. He still has the hat on, and the wet hair sneaking out from underneath it gleams in the ambient light as he moves to take a sip of the tea. "It's really good."
"Glad to hear that," Kaede chirps. "So, if that's not confidential… how did you and Kirigiri-san meet? I've been working here since April and this is the first time I've seen you here."
Saihara-kun looks a bit apprehensive as he answers, "I'm her, uh, assistant? More of an underling, I suppose."
That's… weird to hear. An underling to a barista? When she voices that concern, Saihara-kun gives her a wide-eyed stare.
"Haven't you heard?" he asks. "She's one of those Kirigiris. A detective. She's only helping out her husband with the shop and spends a lion's share of her time working with the police."
That… makes a lot of sense. Like the gloves which she never takes off, or how Naegi-san asks her to stay safe whenever she goes out. Kaede hums to herself, then gives Saihara-kun an once-over.
"So you're a detective too, right?" When he flushes, she chuckles a bit. Such a cute boy. "I'm sorry for prying, but, well, I'm admittedly curious. You don't have to answer if you don't want to, though," she adds hastily.
"No, it's fine," he mutters into the mug. "I'm just— I'm not a very interesting person, Akamatsu-san. Yeah, I'm a detective, but— but not as good as Kirigiri-san." There's still some redness remaining over his cheekbones.
"You've got that wrong." She taps her hand on the wooden table. "I'm just a plain musicology student, so, when compared to you, you're the one who's interesting."
His blush deepens. "You're too kind…" he looks down so the brim of his hat covers his eyes. "Besides, I don't know much about you, but I already find it hard to believe you're boring."
"Thank you," Kaede says simply, then changes the topic, "I think I've seen a towel or two lying somewhere around here, so how about I bring you one and you dry your hair?"
"I— Um—" For a moment, Saihara-kun seems to have a battle with himself, but then he murmurs, "I would be in your debt."
She clicks her tongue as she gets up, "Don't even mention it."
Inside the backroom, Kirigiri-san is pouring over the documents, but, when Kaede enters, she shoots her one of her rare smiles and helps her find the towel. It's in a vibrant shade of green, which means it was Naegi-san to choose it. Kirigiri-san is not a fan of bombastic colors. Kaede thanks her and goes back to Saihara-kun, grabbing her own cup of tea on the way to the booth.
"There you go!" When he takes the towel from here and shucks off his cap, Kaede notices he's also got a lock of hair that will stay stubbornly up, just like hers. He drapes the fabric over his head and smiles at her.
"Thank you, Akamatsu-san."
"Very much welcome." She takes her place and takes a hearty sip of her lukewarm tea. "Also, it's nice to finally meet you, Saihara-kun!"
"Finally? I haven't been working under Kirigiri-san for more than two weeks, you know…" But he smiles back. "It's nice to meet you too, Akamatsu-san."