Technically, she was still doing her job.
Technically, she was looking out the window, completely ignoring the reflection of a certain student stuffing his face as she paid intense attention to the happenings outside. Nothing suspicious so far.
Nothing as interesting as the collarbones in her peripheral vision, either…
Damn it. She should've just pretended not to notice him. He hadn't exactly waved her over either, but her mouth had taken action and spoken his name before she could decide whether or not she'd wanted him to hear it. And by the time she had decided, her feet had already started moving towards him.
At least he was sitting by the window.
"Kirihara-san?"
Misaki choked on her water. The whiplash from her hair didn't help either, but she managed to graciously accept the tissues passed over to her from wide, concerned eyes. He was so cute when she was coughing to death.
"I'm—fine," she waved him back down when he got up to get her more napkins, "just got surprised." She coughed a few more times, unwittingly.
Li's eyes were still wide and uncertain, making her feel ironically guilty when she recognized the look of guilt on his face. "Are you sure? I can—"
"No, it's fine." She forced her throat to calm down. Maybe her lie would turn true if she willed it to long enough. "I was just concentrating too hard outside…"
Li's eyes flickered out the window before she realized her mistake. Shit. She'd meant to scope out a haywire contractor that had been reportedly seen coming to this restaurant yesterday—not to eat, but to remunerate by the side alley—at the time around her lunch break, which suited her workaholic tendencies quite well. What she hadn't expected was that Li-kun would be working here, and on his own lunch break. Which she was ruining.
He didn't seem to mind, however; he merely looked at her curiously as he handed her his last backup napkin. "Is there something you're looking for?" His voice was light and unassuming.
And therein lay the real problem; he was so easy to talk to. She remembered how she had been the one stuttering after she'd caught him holding a bra—but surprisingly, things weren't that awkward once she'd calmed her nerves. Even so, she was sprouting out stupid things when nervous, and letting slip important ones when not.
Cue hopefully convincing smile. "Well, the…the sky looks kind of nice today, doesn't it?"
He was just a student, after all. She didn't want a sweet guy like him to have to hear about the horrid case she was working on.
Li looked out the window once again, staring up this time despite how she'd obviously been looking down before. He didn't look like he was just humouring her, though, which deserved some props as there was no way he could've bought her retarded excuse.
Then he turned to her and smiled.
"I guess everything feels a lot nicer when you have someone to share it with." The sunlight fell softly over a grain of rice on his cheek. "Especially when eating together like this."
Damn it, she suddenly thought.
He was so innocent. He so was innocent it was absurd.
And here she was, waiting for a murderer to arrive.
"Y-yeah," she laughed, grabbing a tissue and wiping her mouth for the sake of having something else to do, "this is nice." And she meant it. She looked out the window again, but her eyes were sneaking glances at the sky.
She ended up eating with him until her lunch break was over; just enjoying his company, the window no longer a concern. The culprit probably won't hit the same place twice, and someone would call her if something came up. It'd feel like she was committing a moral offense if she didn't just relax when she was with him.
By the time she got back to the station, she was told that she no longer needed to work on the case anyway. The culprit was dead. Cause unknown.
Li-kun wasn't working there anymore the next time she went back to the restaurant, but she still sat by the window, looking at the sky. It really was bland. It probably was even blander last time, but she didn't have a criminal to look out for now. Cause unknown. BK-201, most likely.
She also didn't have Li-kun in a waiter's uniform, and it was silly how her pre-sleep practice went from trying not to think about murder descriptions to trying not to think about a foreign exchange student, but there was a single thought that shone in her mind:
Li-kun looked really good in all black.
A/N: What I'm going to try to do in this fic is to play up the dramatic irony and tell tidbits of Hei's story through Misaki's cluelessness. Hope you enjoyed this chapter!
