A/N: I hope you all like this re-edited version of chapter 4! Again, thanks to my amazing betas, Meiko Atsushi and ShiroNekoIsMe!
Disclaimer: I do not own KnB!
Chapter 4: "I'll get a green tea, please."
It may have been a bit too early in their acquaintanceship to ask him such a question, but Miki was prettydesperate. She needed the money as soon as she possibly could get.
"None in particular."
Miki's face fell at the boy's response. That had been everyone else's response as well. She should have expected so, but she had truly believed the green haired boy would have a different answer than the rest. "You really don't know a place that I could work at?"
"Like I said, none in particular." Midorima replied in a flat tone. "Why do you need a job anyway? Shouldn't you be studying instead? Oha Asa did mention that Pisces would be struggling with their education or work life." Yes, it was that Oha Asa again, that creepily accurate zodiac forecast, but Miki really needed a job as soon as possible – it wasn't right to spend her time elsewhere. She already knew her grades were dropping slightly, but getting a job was more important to her at the moment.
"I just feel like it." she answered vaguely. While she had gotten a bit closer to her neighbour, she wasn't nearly comfortable enough to spill her life story to the boy.
Midorima fell silent for a few minutes. "On second thought, I do know a place."
"Really?" Miki immediately cheered up. It looked like there was still hope for her. "Where is it? Is it a good place?" Not like she exactly had a choice, good or bad.
"I know the owner of the place, so it would probably be better to go with me rather than for you to go by yourself. You're more likely to get the job that way." He said, ignoring her questions altogether and getting straight into business.
"Okay!" she smiled excitedly. "But when would we have the time to go?"
"We could go today, but you will have to wait for me. I have basketball practice."
"You play basketball?" Miki gawked disbelievingly at the bespectacled boy. Why was he such a perfect student again? She was like merely dog poop in comparison to him!
"Yes."
She gave a quick glance at the boy. Oh, well, he was super tall. Basketball players were supposed to be tall…right? Wait a minute…
Miki continued staring at her neighbour to see him playing with his lucky item, a baseball, in his hand. He looked completely normal.
Had she really just kept a normal conversation with the boy? It was only their third time speaking to one another and surprisingly she hadn't made a fool out of herself yet.
Miki held back a proud squeal. Though it probably looked like she was holding back a fart – or something worse in other people's eyes.
Midorima glanced sideways at her. "What?"
She turned red in the face as she realized she hadn't been able to hold back her squeal. God, she didn't feel so proud at that instance.
"N-Nothing!" she spastically shook her head, embarrassed that she hadn't been able to completely avoid making a fool out of herself.
Midorima only studied her beet red face for a few seconds longer, making her flush a deeper red, before turning his head back to the baseball in his hand.
Miki should really stop jinxing herself. Or maybe she should start carrying around a lucky item with her as well to stop embarrassing herself in front of her new companion. Midorima never seemed to get himself into ridiculous situations as much as she did.
At lunch, Miki had told Kimiko that she had plans after school. She fervently hoped her best friend wouldn't say anything about the matter and just let things be.
"Is it with your new boyfriend?" Kimiko had teased her as soon as Miki had finished her explanation, much to her chagrin.
After a few futile attempts at making up lies, she eventually told her best friend that she was indeed going somewhere with Midorima.
Kimiko continuously teased her during the rest of their lunchtime, which made it hard for her to look at her neighbour for the remainder of the day without turning bright red.
As Midorima had stated, he had basketball practice after school, so Miki simply told him that she would be waiting for him in the library as she was afraid of meeting the other basketball players.
She still held a grudge against basketballs and boys. Ironically, she didn't hold anything against Midorima for being a basketball player. However, she didn't want to push her luck and get herself into more trouble with anything basketball-related, boys, and possibly basketball players.
"Amuro." A deep voice monotonously called out, snapping her out of her daydreaming state.
"Eep!" Miki shrieked as she nearly fell from her chair.
The librarian glared daggers at her for disrupting the silence in the library.
Miki turned red at the attention she had gathered from her rather loud shriek. Everyone stared at her with either slight annoyance or amusement.
She heard a sigh from above her.
The brunette looked up to see her neighbour standing there looking rather exasperated. He was probably embarrassed himself to have sort of caused such a commotion. "Let's just go."
Miki quickly nodded and bolted up from her seat, nearly colliding into the tall boy.
"Sorry!" she whispered, her voice sounded strained.
Midorima just sighed for the second time and walked out of the library with Miki hurriedly following after his long strides.
Miki had to practically run the entire way to catch up to the tall boy's strides. He didn't seem to notice her struggling or rather didn't care as he had walked forward without looking back at her once. Which she didn't blame him for – she was embarrassingly unfit. Besides, she was more than grateful for this opportunity he provided, so she remained silent and tried her very best to catch up with the boy.
"This is it." Midorima said as he came to an abrupt stop, causing her to run into his back.
"W-What?" she panted. Miki had never run such a far distance in her whole life, she blamed inactive self for that. Honestly, she was sure she looked like a total mess right then.
"This is it." He repeated, a hint of irritation lacing his words.
Miki took a step back from Midorima and faced up to see a small yet cozy looking convenience store with a big sign that read, "Inoue's Convenience and Ice Cream". Around the store was a bunch of students ranging from junior high school to high school eating some ice cream and chatting leisurely with one another.
"A convenience store?"
Midorima nodded. "It has a small ice cream section that the owner makes. I came here a lot with my former junior high school teammates."
Miki tried to picture Midorima casually eating ice cream with a group of boys, but she just couldn't. Obviously, her perspective of the boy was limited as she only viewed him as a fellow classmate who liked to keep to himself in class.
"Let's go in." He said, walking towards the entrance of the store.
"O-Okay!" she answered, following after him into the small store.
"Ah, Midorima! Long time no see!" an elderly man warmly greeted the tall boy as soon as he caught sight of him.
"Inoue-san." Midorima greeted politely.
"You're not here with the rest?" the man asked as he looked around to see if anyone else had come the basketball player.
"No, I'm here with an acquaintance." Midorima gestured to Miki, who had quietly watched the exchange from behind him.
"Hello, there." The man greeted politely. "The name's Inoue Hiro, I'm the owner of this old convenience store."
"Hello, I'm Amuro Miki. It's a pleasure to meet you." She bowed respectfully.
"Ah, no need to be so formal. You can call me Inoue-san like Midorima and the rest do."
"A-Alright then, Inoue-san." Miki stammered awkwardly.
"Would you like some ice cream?" Inoue asked the two of them with a kind smile. "Actually, please take some. I'm glad to see an old customer and his friend with him, so it's on the house."
"E-Eh?" Miki looked up in shock. "No, it's alright! I – "
"No, no, I insist." Inoue smiled kindly. "Choose whatever you want."
Miki looked up at Midorima to see the tall boy peering down at the ice cream flavours, clearly debating on which flavour to get. He didn't seem to mind the kind favour the older man was doing for the both of them. It dawned on her that he was used to this sort of treatment.
"I'll get the red bean one, please." Midorima told the owner.
"No problem." Inoue nodded as he scooped a rather large scoop onto a cone and gave it to Midorima. Miki cringed at the purple-ish red ice cream – it didn't look all that appetizing.
Miki kept looking and nearly jumped in excitement when she saw that the store had her favourite flavour. "I'll get a green tea, please."
"Alright." The man scooped a large scoop of green tea ice cream onto a cone and gave it to the eagerly waiting Miki.
"So what brings you here after over two months?" Inoue asked Midorima as the two teenagers ate their ice cream in silence.
Midorima glanced over at Miki who was happily eating her taro ice cream, having temporarily forgotten about the reason why she had followed him to the ice cream store. "She's looking for a part-time job."
"A part-timer, huh?" The older man looked surprised. "Aren't you too young to get a job?"
Miki jolted up as Midorima elbowed her. She had been too preoccupied with her ice cream to the point of failing to pay attention to her surroundings. "P-Pardon me?"
"I told him that you were interested in getting a job."
"Oh! Right!" Miki nodded. "I am interested in working, so if I could work at this lovely store, I would be forever grateful and very honoured." She sounded a little awkward and overly formal, but she wanted to make a good impression on the old man.
"Hm," the man hummed, thoughtfully. "I don't see why not. I don't nearly have enough employees, so it doesn't hurt to have more. But aren't you too young to get a job now?"
"Um…" Miki stammered uncomfortably, fidgeting in her spot. The man had clearly pointed out something crucial."Well…" She really didn't want to have to tell anyone the real reason she was looking for a job.
"Ah, it's personal." Inoue nodded in an understanding manner. "That's alright, you don't have to tell me. If you have a good enough reason to work, I have no complaints."
"T-Thank you, Inoue-san!" she bowed to the older man, grateful that the man was kind enough to hire her right on the spot and not press anymore questions on her. Honestly, Miki had expected him to ask her to write a resume or even interview her beforehand.
"If you're going to be working for me, you don't need to be so formal. We need to be comfortable with each other when working together." He said insightfully with the kind smile Miki was starting to get used to.
"I suppose…"
"When are you good to work?" Inoue asked the girl straightaway.
"I'm good any day since I haven't joined any clubs, so nothing really clashes." Miki said in all honestly. "I don't mind if you need me every day, either."
"Just come on Monday and we can discuss your schedule further. How about after you finished school, so at around 4' o clock to 7?" Inoue suggested, to which Miki agreed to. "Lately, the store has been getting more popular because youngsters these days heard that Midorima and his friends came here often."
"Really?" Miki asked, looking taken aback by the sudden revelation. She didn't really get the impression that her desk neighbour was that popular. He was most definitely an introvert like her. It was hard to picture him being well known amongst younger students. Not to mention, even students from other schools as well
"That's a lie." Midorima shook his head, whilst fixing his glasses with his left fingers.
"Oh, that is definitely true." Inoue argued good-naturedly. "All I hear from the boys and girls these days are questions like, 'is it true that the Generation of Miracles ate ice cream here often', 'what are their favourite ice cream flavours?' and many more questions about you lot."
"Generation of Miracles?" Miki questioned. What kind of group was it? Who were the Generation of Miracles again? Midorima was a part of the group? Her interest was suddenly piqued.
"Oh, that is the name Midorima and his friends from middle school earned because of their superb basketball skills." The elder man answered Miki's silent question.
"Wow, you must be really good, Midorima-kun." Miki turned to her tall classmate who didn't really seem interested in the topic at hand. She should have expected such a talent come from her role model neighbour, but she just couldn't picture him as the overly athletic type – more of the nerdy student type.
"Of course, don't be an idiot." Midorima retorted, before he resumed to eating his red bean ice cream. "Well, it was nice meeting you, Inoue-san. However, it is rather late, so we should be heading home now."
"Of course! Sorry to keep you for so long. I will see you next week!" Inoue bid the two teens goodbye.
"Thank you for the kind treat. I will come at 4 next week then." Miki bowed at the elderly man before they exited the store.
"Midorima-kun?" she called out to the tall boy as soon as they walked out of her new work place.
"What?"
"Um, thanks for taking me to the ice cream store."
"Don't be stupid. I follow fate. There's no need to thank me."
"Um, okay…?"
A/N: Hope you all liked the fourth chapter of Divine Will! Thank you all for reading and supporting the story so far!
Happy reading!
