Disclaimer: Deka is not mine

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"Hurry up, Ban!" Umeko shouted over her shoulder. "There are still a ton of stores I want to visit!"

"I could if I wasn't carrying all your stuff!" Ban whined back, face almost completely hidden by all the packages he was being force to bear. She rolled her eyes. Honestly, she wasn't making him carry that much. Just her clothes. And books. And a really cute plush bear she knew she had to buy once she saw it. "And why do I always have to go with you, Umeko? Can't you pick on partner? Or Sen-chan? Tetsu, maybe? Just once, for me? Please?"

"Hoji-san always has an excuse, and the other two drop things," Umeko explained as she pretended to be interested in the contents of her purse. She wasn't going to tell Ban, but if she so much as hinted to the other three Deka boys what she wanted to do on her day off, they'd start lecturing her about how she spent most of her time in uniform and therefore didn't really need all those clothes, or how her room was this close to being declared a plushie sanctuary. She knew they'd never be mean to her on purpose, but it still hurt. She worked just as hard as those three, the only difference was that she knew it was important to have fun once in awhile, or else she'd wind up working herself to death like they did. And that was why she'd made Ban her beast of burden. He complained, but he never belittled her or made her feel like a stupid kid.

Suddenly, all thoughts of unintentionally cruel teammates were banished when she saw what could have very well been the prettiest dress in the world displayed in a nearby store window. "Wow!" She rushed up, fingertips against the glass. "Well, Ban? Don't you think it would look nice on me?"

"Can we go home early if I say yes?"

"Man, forget you!" Umeko pushed him aside as hard as she could, ignoring him while he tried to keep his balance and her things safe. Fed up with everyone and everything, she plopped down on a bench, reached into her jacket pocket for the chocolate treat she kept there and began munching.

"Is that chocolate?"

"Yep," Umeko mumbled around a mouthful of her snack. "All this shopping's made me hungry."

"All this shopping's made me hungry, too."

Umeko was fully prepared to tell him no, but he looked at her so pitiably that she couldn't help but break it in two and standing up to feed it to him (since his arms were still full). She watched with mild interest as he inhaled his half, then licked his lips clean except for one spot near the corner of his mouth.

"Hang on, I'll get that for you." She stood up on her tiptoes to wipe it away with her thumb. She was surprised by how soft they were, almost like a girl's...

Umeko pulled away when she felt her face heating up.

"Am I okay now?" Ban asked her, completely oblivious.

"U-uh, yeah. You're fine." Umeko fiddled with the bracelet on her left wrist. She wasn't falling in love with Ban, was she? Of course not! Just because she liked spending time with him more than she did with the others and shared her precious snacks with him and thought he had nice lips--

... Okay, maybe she was. Maybe. She didn't know for sure.

But she did have the rest of her day off to find out.

Determined to find out, she grabbed him by the arm, nearly knocking him down again. "Now that we've eaten our fill, let's go buy some more things!"

"Hold on, I'm still hungry! That's not going to fill me up after lugging all this around today across town! And you're the one doing all the buying!"

Umeko smiled up at him brightly. "Be good and I'll buy you some more chocolate."