DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN SOUL EATER.


"Maka-chaaaaaaan!" Tsuaki cried, with hearts blinking all around her.

"Tsubaki-chaaaaaan!" Maka cried, tears of joy flowing behind her.

They bounced, in slow motion, towards each other, arms outstretched. Their faces looked, if anything, goofy. Very goofy indeed.

"Maka-chaaaaan! I'm so sorry for yelling at you before! Let's be friends againnnn!" Tsubaki begged.

"Me toooo! I just can't live without a friend like you, Tsubaki-chaaaan!" Maka whimpered.

"Yayyyyyyyyyy!" They cried as they hugged each other.

.

.

.

Thump.

.

.

.

Maka awoke with a start.

"GROAN." She groaned, sounding quite like Liz. "The hell?"

Fighting sleep inertia, she swung her legs out of bed, feeling a bit dizzy at the sudden movement. Her head ached at the thought of the day laid out before her and the long list of zeros she saw on the bill she had to pay for the damage of Death Cafe.

But hey, Maka was Maka, and being punctual on her missions was an important thing to her.

.

.

.

Well, maybe with the exception of the Death Cafe mission.

"Fivemoreminutes." She slurred, and hopped back to bed and into Dreamland where Kid really was an asymmetrical zebra blabbing 'symmetrical' and Soul was a stupid shark with a huge shark-like grin.


"Manager-san! Maka-chu's arrived!" Patty announced as Maka stepped into Death Cafe.

"Chu?" Liz raised an eyebrow, half interested.

"It sounded cute!" Patty giggled.

"Oh." Liz sighed, losing interest.

"Welcome, Miss Maka." Kid nodded at her.

Maka's temper worsened by 99% that day.

"Morning." She muttered briefly and prepared to start her first official day at Death Cafe.

"Wear this." Kid tossed her a name tag. The name Maka was printed neatly on to it.

Maka did not reply and pinned the name tag on her little Death Cafe hat.

"Uh, Maka, you're supposed to wear that on your chest." Liz reminded her.

"I like it better this way. Is it okay, manager-san?" She smiled sweetly at Kid, secretly blackmailing him.

"Fine, whatever." Kid shrugged, his spoiled attitude resurfacing.

"EVERYONE'S HERE! LOOKS LIKE YOU FINALLY LEARNED OF MY GREATNESS!" Black*Star barged through the door at that moment.

Maka's mood worsened by one more percent that day.

"Maka chop." She said flatly, bringing an iron palm slicing down on Black*Star's head.

"Sis! What should I wear for Black*Star's funeral?" Patty giggled.

"I assume there isn't even gonna be one. He's not worth it, you know?"

"True..." Patty mused. "Whatever, then!" She skipped off to clean the counters cheerily.


The rest of the day went by pretty fast. It was not until she was dragging herself towards home after dark that she realized a certain meister's scythe had been left at the cafe, all alone.

"Oh no!" Maka whirled around and turned back to the opposite way of her home, glad that she had changed back into her casual clothings.

"Why had I brought it?" Maka mentally cursed herself, not wanting to admit that she felt uneasy and timid without her trusted scythe around, usually minimized and tied on a red string around her neck. She must have forgotten to pick it up after she'd changed.

The night, now a solid dark purple with swirls of black, and along with the eerie laughs of the bloody moon, weighed heavily on Maka as she bolted back to the cafe. As she yanked the door open, she was shocked at how careless Kid was to have left it unlocked.

Kid? Mister Asymmetrical Zebra? A gentlemanly goody-goody? FORGOT TO LOCK THE DOORS OF HIS OWN CAFE WHEN HE LEFT?

Maka's Cheshire-cat smile grew and grew as she ran into the girl's changing room, scanning the small table in the corner.

He's gonna wish he's never been born when I slam the evidence right in his stupid face. Oh, how I look forward to tomorrow! Life is beautiful! Simply gorgeous!

However, her happy mood instantly vanished when she saw nothing on the small table.

"NO! I could've swore I put it there! Where is it?" Maka was sinking into despair at a dangerous speed, and even tears were threatening to spill. She burst out of the changing room and was preparing to crouch under every table and flip over every chair to search for her beloved scythe when she noticed a dim light coming from the second floor. Yes, Death Cafe had a second floor, for the manager's office and goodness know what else. Maka was never interested after she'd gone up once for the interview. Everything was even more perfectly symmetrical than the first floor, if that was even possible.

Panicking, she dashed up the stairs, taking three steps at a time.

Banging open the manager's office, where the source of the light was coming from, Maka was immediately suffocated by the thick calmness and security of the room, yet still gave you a childish feeling somehow.

On Kid's desk, there stood a candle, illuminating the room with a cozy light, and the wax almost burned out. On the desk lay Kid, sound asleep, clutching...

...Maka's minimized scythe.

Torn between immense relief and disgust, Maka didn't know whether to cry or laugh at her stupidity as shadows flickered on the walls of the room like a puppet show.