Just a week ago, Naegi was thoroughly scolded by none other than the Super High School Level Detective for nearly losing her dog. Today, Kirigiri's mind had wandered away from the ongoing lecture to wondering whether Naegi was alright. The detective deduced that she must've been too harsh on him since he hadn't talked to her at all this week. She supposed that she should apologize, but every time she decided to, Naegi would either one, excuse himself and leave, or two, he had already left earlier. Kyouko found it hard to believe that he would be that scared of her. Even though she could come off as cold and intimidating, she was sure that she hadn't caused Naegi any sort of trauma. They were quite close after all, and he was one of the few people who could approach her without much hesitation. He could just be preoccupied with something else.
The detective turned her head to the left to look at Naegi. Just from observing his black-rimmed eyes, his posture, and the way he scratched his head in confusion, she could quickly deduce that he was exhausted and preoccupied. And of course, like the detective she was, Kirigiri would find out what was bothering the boy.
After class, Naegi immediately left the classroom to get to work on time. Everyone knew he worked at a bakery on the weekends, but only one other person knew of his other job. That person was none other than Sayaka Maizono, the girl who suggested he try being a waiter at a maid café, of all places! A week and three days ago, he had just asked the Super High School Level Idol if she knew any part time jobs that paid well and then… that was that. He tried looking around for any other place, but to no avail. The lucky boy thought it was ridiculous at first, but Maizono-san insisted that it wasn't that bad. After the week had passed, he had realized that it was just like being your regular waiter, except you had to call people 'master', memorize a few difficult recipes, and wear a strange uniform, which resulted in a higher pay for the effort of doing so. Regardless of that, everything else was just pretty normal and his co-workers were really nice too. So it wasn't all that bad.
Naegi knew another job besides the one at the bakery would be putting too much on his plate, but he was determined. He was never a workaholic nor a good multitasker, but he had decided to take on two jobs since his because he wanted to get something special to make it up to Kirigiri-san. (And also her birthday was sort of coming up in three weeks—not that he was keeping track of it everyday, okay maybe he was– but Naegi knew how fast three weeks could go by.) The luckster also knew that she wasn't mad at him anymore, but the luckster felt responsible for what happened to Mochi-chan. If someone else other than Pekoyama-san found Mochi-chan, bad things could've happened to her, trained dog or not! Naegi absentmindedly thought while fixing his hair, his ahoge nowhere to be found after applying the strong hairspray his manager had given him. (He had no idea that there was a hair product that could actually keep his ahoge down until just last week. The luckster bought five cans with the money he won from a lottery immediately after discovering it.) Naegi's manager wanted his hair to be less rowdy, as he put it, so that it wouldn't end up in the food to be served. After one last check, the luckster headed out from the changing rooms to the cafe.
"Makoto, great to see you." His co-worker greeted with a nod. At work, they were all on a first name basis, except for the manager, of course.
"Great to see you too, Ikki-san. Heading off early?" Naegi inquired. They usually had the same shift on Mondays and Wednesdays but he seemed to be ready to leave.
"Unfortunately, yes. Something important came up. Sorry to leave you all alone while you're still adjusting. Anyway, one of my regulars is here. Can you attend to her for me? Thanks." With that, his co-worker had immediately left and Naegi changed his attention to the customer he had mentioned.
"Welcome master, what would you like to have today?" Naegi said loudly as he briskly walked towards the customer who had just taken a seat.
"I'll have my usual— Naegi-kun?" Crimson eyes widened in surprise upon seeing the familiar yet unfamiliar classmate.
"Maizono-san, have you seen Naegi-kun?" The detective inquired. Once again, the Super High School Level Lucky student was missing yet again. Kirigiri internally scolded herself for looking away from Naegi's direction a minute before the bell rang. She didn't think he could get out of his seat that quickly.
"Well, he did pass by me a while ago. He looked like he was in a hurry, so I didn't want to bother him." Maizono replied with a knowing look on her face. Although Kirigiri was able to pick that up, she couldn't pinpoint why the idol had such an expression before swiftly concluding that Maizono must know something that she doesn't and it didn't look like the idol was going to tell her what it was anytime soon.
Kyouko then decided that she would just find out some other time as she had other matters to attend to. As she headed her usual way home, she spotted something peculiar from the corner of her eye. Is that... Naegi-kun? She wondered as she slowed her pace. Lavender eyes had scrutinized the figure's back as he was serving none other than Celes-san. The lolita wasn't hard to identify at all, but the rather small figure handing her a cup of tea seemed to have the same body type as Naegi's, but the detective wasn't sure enough to conclude that it was him. After all his ahoge, the most distinctive feature he had, was nowhere to be found. But if he was working there, that could explain him being so busy all the time… But at the same time, she didn't think it was like him to take on that kind of job. Either way, the detective couldn't do much about the matter for now as she was just called to help solve a case.
"I was not aware you worked here, Naegi-kun." Celes nonchalantly stated as she was served her order. Her face, however, did not reveal the surprise she felt when Naegi served her regular order. She was impressed that he knew what to serve her despite it being the first time she had ever encountered him at the cafe.
"Well, I just kind of started this month, and I'm usually on a later shift, my master… But I wasn't aware that you were the regular Ikki-san was talking about." The boy replied, finding it somewhat strange to be calling his classmate 'master.'
"Speaking of which, do you know where he went?" The lolita asked after taking a sip of tea. She hummed shortly after tasting the drink, impressed that Naegi had brewed her drink perfectly. He would definitely make a good servant, the lolita mused.
"An emergency came up so he called me up to take his shift today. Anyway if you have no further inquiries on Ikki-san, may I please take my leave now, master? I must serve my other masters as well." Celes covered her mouth and giggled in amusement seeing how different Naegi looked and acted while he was on the job. With a slight nod and smile, she had dismissed the boy, but not without asking him for his work schedule, which he had so kindly disclosed with her after a few convincing fabrications despite the fact that the cafe disallows employees to disclose their schedule to outsiders. Once Naegi had left, she allowed herself to be immersed in her own thoughts. A small yet playful smile graced her lips when the idea she had thought of not long before Kirigiri had passed by appeared in her mind once more.
"Celes! Do you wanna come with me to the cafe later today?" Maizono asked loudly as she approached the gambler immediately upon entering the classroom.
"A little excited, are we? But, I don't mind." Was her reply. Celes then covered her mouth to giggle in amusement. Her giggle was not directed to the idol, but it was directed to the detective sitting a few seats across her. Only a few would notice, but Kyouko was listening in to their conversation.
"Of course I am! They say that there's this new recruit whose just super cute! I wanna see him!" The idol feigned excitement. She and the gambler had come up with a little plan the other day since the pair had noticed the detective's concern for Naegi. If Kirigiri wanted to know where the luckster went after class, then why not? After all, she might be able to get a reaction from the detective. That would definitely worthwhile, Celes mused. Maizono believed that wasn't very likely, however. But Celes believed, or at least wanted to believe otherwise.
The gambler had noticed that Kirigiri had been paying attention to their conversation as soon as Maizono entered the room. All she had to do now was to get her into the conversation.
"Perhaps you might be interested in joining us, Kirigiri-san?" She smiled as she directed her gaze to the detective. Kyouko had already seen this coming from the way that Celes' gaze fluttered to her every now and then and so she wasn't caught off guard and was able to answer in her usual stoic manner.
"No, I'm not-" Before Kirigiri had a chance to finish her response, the idol butted in.
"Oh come on Kirigiri-san, it's going to be great! I heard their cafe has some of the best coffee- they call it Luwak coffee, I think… But hey, I'll even treat you if you go with us, so come with us Kirigiri-san~!" And simply because of free- not to mention, free luxurious coffee, the detective had been defeated. Kyouko sighed in acceptance. It wasn't like she had anything better to do later anyway.
"Alright, fine." The detective said flatly in response as she wondered about the true intentions of the pair.
"Splendid! Meet with us later by the campus gates. I'm certain that you won't regret it." Celes stated in a mischievous tone. It was unlike her, Kirigiri noted. Her tone usually sounded more... condescending. The two were definitely up to something, but Kyouko would find out what it was that they were scheming. She was the Super High School Level Detective for a reason.
"S-S-sorry!" A loud yet nervous voice had said suddenly. The three girls had turned their heads to see Naegi on the ground in front of a very annoyed Togami.
"You imbecile! Look where you're going!" The heir snapped back as he adjusted his glasses.
"Sorry ma-Togami-kun.." The meek boy said once more and quickly got up then went to his seat. Celes and Maizono smiled mischievously at the same time; it was as if they had their actions planned. Kirigiri raised her brow, intrigued at what Naegi had almost called Togami and at the actions of both Celes and Maizono. The detective then looked over her shoulder to speak to Naegi who sat right behind her.
"Are you alright, Naegi-kun?" She asked.
"I'm fine, Kirigiri-san… I'm just a little.. tired, that's all." The luckster said slowly while he was evidently losing focus. He was evidently paler today as well, Kyouko noted.
"If you need help with anything, don't forget that you can ask me for some assistance." The detective offered. She had told this same sentence to him on multiple occasions and recently, that was how most of their conversations ended due to Naegi dozing off after nodding in response. This time, however, she was mildly surprised to get a response from the boy.
"Yup, I'll keep that in mind.. You're a great friend Kirigiri-san…" He mumbled out before his head loudly slammed onto the desk.
The detective, after a while of observing whether he was still awake or breathing since had simply nodded back in response despite the fact that he wasn't looking and turned her gaze towards the board as the class was about to begin. She opened her notebook and readied her pen, but her thoughts still drifted towards Naegi. Her thoughts were suddenly cut short, however, when she felt something carding through her hair. She slightly turned her head to see what was touching her hair and wasn't very surprised to see that it was the luckster who was playing with her hair. He was the only one who was physically close enough to reach her hair anyway. But before she could ask why he was touching her hair, Naegi started to mumble softly.
"You have very, very soft hair… Can I keep touching it, Kirigiriii-saaan?" The boy yawned as he said the detective's name. The detective reddened slightly at the compliment, but allowed him to continue. She reddened even more when she had seen the joy on the luckster's face. Kyouko quickly turned around to face front so that he wouldn't see her quickly reddening features despite the fact that she knew that he wouldn't be able to remember what happened due to his drowsiness.
AN: If anyone has noticed, this is kind of a slight sequel to Sugar Cookies, but this story can also be read on its own without any problems. This is going to be a two-shot and it'll hopefully be done by October or earlier. Feedback is greatly appreciated and thanks for reading!