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"That was seven years ago," Kurogane muttered, throwing down his newspaper. "They should just drop the damned case already. It's doing no one any good."

Fay laughed and placed a plate of food down in front of him. "You're the only one I know to take such a careless attitude towards a double homicide, Kuro-chan! So cynical."

"I'm not cynical," he snapped. "I'm practical. The two dead kids are going to remain dead. Finding out who did it won't help us now. We need to concentrate on the fucked up mess that's going on right now--not waste our time in the past."

"And he speaks so bluntly too!" Fay said cheerfully. "Salt or pepper?"

"Neither."

Fay added both.

Kurogane glared.

"Why do you even ask if you're just going to do what you want?!"

"I'm just curious to know." He took up the discarded newspaper with a grin.

Kurogane eyed the restaurant owner as he ate his meal. For the past seven months since he had been transferred here, the guy hadn't listened to a damned thing he said. And though Kurogane hated being ignored so blatantly, he silently admitted that the guy made the best food. And since Kurogane didn't cook himself, he'd come here for every meal. For the food. Definitely not the guy, he reminded himself.

The little diner had been run by Fay for many years now, from what he could tell. The place was usually packed but on a Sunday night it was dead. Kurogane sat at a stool at the counter as usual while Fay sat up onto of the counter near him. Fay usually tried to pry into things that were none of his blond-headed business, mostly about Magic Trappers, but he had given up for the moment and was content to annoy him by whistling.

"Why do you think people want to eat on your ass print?" he muttered after awhile.

"You don't seem put off by it."

"Gah!" Kurogane raised his dish off the counter as Fay laughed and flipped a page in the newspaper. When Kurogane attempted to put his dish down a distance away Fay said "I sat there too. And there. Yep! There too, Kuro-chan!"

"Don't you ever clean your counters?!"

"Me? No."

Kurogane made a face at the counters.

"I don't. The waitresses do," he corrected before calling out "Sakura-chan! Can you get some Windex for these counters?!"

"Coming, Fay-san!"

"You have someone working this late?"

"Sakura-chan is the girl renting the apartment above here so she helps late. You would know that if you came to visit me more often. But you're such a negligent boyfriend!"

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING A BOYFRIEND?!"

Fay laughed and ducked a napkin dispenser just as the waitress came running out of the backroom with a cheerful smile. Wrongly placed so late at night, Kurogane thought. She had a lot of energy too as she quickly and, seemingly happily, cleaned the counter free of prints in seconds flat.

"Done!"

Kurogane placed his food back down and Fay hopped his butt back up on the counter. "You can take off for the night now, Sakura-chan! You've been working hard today. Come join me and Kuro-puu."

"Kuro-puu?" she repeated curiously before glancing at him.

"Kurogane," he emphasized, shoving Fay off the counter.

Sakura smiled "Ah! Fay-san's boyfriend!"

Kurogane chucked another napkin dispenser as he dodged it and went into the backroom. What was that guy saying about them?!

"There is no boyfriend," Kurogane told her.

"You broke up?" Sakura questioned.

"NO!"

She looked utterly confused but Kurogane just rolled his eyes and went back to eating. He thought she had left too until he felt her sit beside him and take up the newspaper. On the front page was a picture of the twin boys that had been murdered seven years ago. Kurogane hadn't lived in this area then, but the damn thing was blasted to every city in the country. The girl seemed about seventeen, so there was a slight chance she remembered it. Probably didn't know them though. From what the paper said, that one boy was a shut-in because he was chronically ill.

For a long time the girl stared at the faces of the smiling brothers before saying "They're not dead, you know."

Kurogane looked up in question but Sakura was already gone.