A/N: Here's the next chapter! I wanted to try and be more consistent with my uploads, so I'm gonna try my best to upload twice a week starting next week. Hopefully I'll be able to keep up with what I've set myself. Not sure how long it will go on for because I'll be starting my studies again soon, but I will try I hope you enjoy the chapter! and don't to leave a review! :D

Disclaimer" I don't Own Free! Only own the characters in the story which I have created.

Chapter 9

"I better not see you slacking."

"Yes, Miss"

Ayame gave a low bow as her manager walked away. Since she had missed her shift the other day and had not called in to give any notice, it was safe to say that her boss was not at all pleased.

She began to brush the cafe floor, making sure she was thorough incase the manager checked up on her. Although she was sorry that she hadn't come in for work, she felt no regret. She worried too much about Haruka to ever leave him alone and she was glad she had the chance to spend that day with him. It felt like they had gotten closer - which she hoped they had.

Her back ached as she wiped down the cafe tables. She'd been working non-stop this week to try to make up for her loss of hours and it was starting to take its toll on her. She sighed as she continued with the monotonous task of making sure the shop was well-presented. It was already the late afternoon and they hadn't had much luck with customers. Although Ayame was very much thankful for the time to rest, she felt like it was pointless being at the cafe at all.

Just as she'd thought her long day would continue on in it's same pattern, the bell to the entrance rang out. She looked up in surprise and a familiar face met her eyes.

James Lathaway entered into the store and strolled over to the front desk. He was dressed in their school's uniform attire - indicating to her that he must have just come from class. Ayame didn't have time to linger around at school. After the last bell had rung and she'd said a quick goodbye to her friends, she'd headed straight off to her job. She didn't even give herself time to catch her own breath.

She continued to watch James as he stopped in front of the glass cabinet, inspecting each item for sale. She quickly scurried over to assist him, plastering on a bright smile and clearing her throat before speaking. "Welcome to Cathy's Cakes! What can I get for you?"

James smiled at her, small dimples showing on his cheeks. "…Hey!" His eyes widened in recognition. "I didn't know you worked here! It's been a while since I last spoke to you, how are you?"

Ayame nodded and returned back a nervous grin. She didn't expect him to remember her, considering they'd only had the chance to speak with one another once. Though, they had seen each other around in the school hallways.

"It has been quite some time. I'm fine, thanks." She looked around at the cafe, before resting her eyes back on him. "Iv'e been working at Cathy's Cakes since the beginning of the year, I must have missed you on your visits here."

"Really? Guess I should try coming more often then. It would be nice getting to see you." He let out a small chuckle.

"I guess so-ah!" A sudden realisation popped itself into her mind. "I almost forgot! I wanted to thank you for helping me back in Mr Hoshiyma's class. I was kind of in a bind with the question. If you hadn't stepped in who knows what trouble I would have gotten into." She shuddered at the thought of getting a detention, nope it definitely was not the place for her.

"Oh, yeah! The question about angles and percentages - that was kinda unfair of Mr Hoshiyma to give you such a difficult question."

Ayame smiled, it seemed he had also remembered the embarrassing moment. Although the fact as to wether the question was actually hard could have been argued, she was happy he'd recalled the occurrence.

James met her eyes. "Speaking of which, we never did manage to set that day up for me to tutor you." He rubbed the back if his neck nervously. "We also got given quite a bit of math homework this week - I could help you, if you wanted to."

He'd mumbled the last part, but she could still make-out what he'd said. She thought over his proposition once more. She was pretty sure if not now, soon she was going to end up falling maths. And she needed to pass if she wanted to get into the third year. However, It was one things asking him to tutor her but another for him to assist her with her homework in addition. She pursed her lips, looking up at James. She noted how slightly disheveled his blonde hair was and the blue hue of his eyes - albeit not dark and mysterious like Haruka's, they were more so light and carefree. Ayame shook her head, why was she suddenly comparing his eyes to Haruka's? There were so many people in the world who had blue coloured eyes, even though a large part of her did find Haruka's orbs to be uniquely beautiful.

She exhaled a small breath and turned back to James."Sure, that would be a great help. Thanks for the offer."

He grinned at her."Great. How about we meet up after school tomorrow? I could see you outside of maths class."

She nodded her head in answer."Sounds good to me - now do you want me to get you anything at all?" She giggled to herself, they'd been chatting for a while now and he still hadn't ordered.

A light blush dusted his cheeks and he answered in an awkward tone. "Er, yeah sure, I'll just have one of these pastry's." He pointed to one of their pecan nut pastries and she quickly bagged it up for him.

"Here you go, I hope you enjoy."

"Thanks!" He took out some loose change and handed it to her. "Iv'e got to get going, but It was nice catching up with you, I'll see you tomorrow!"

Ayame waved goodbye as he exited the shop. On both first and second impression, James seemed to be quite a kind person, so she was sure there tutoring session would go well. She couldn't wait to actually understand maths for once. She threw her fist in the air as the joy built up inside of her. However, she was interrupted again by the jingle of the entrance's bell.

"Hey Rei-Chan, I told you I knew where I was going!"

"Nagisa-Kun! Will you please stop pulling me?"

The loud voices cut through the silence, and she looked over to see a small, light blonde haired boy excitedly speaking to a taller boy with bright, neon blue hair.

She quickly got in position as they approached the counter. The blonde haired boy, who she was guessing was Nagisa, looked hungrily at the treats within the cabinet.

"Rei-Chan! Look at all the delicious looking things they're sellin-" His last words were not finished as he smushed his face against the glass, eagerly eyeing all the deserts.

The other boy pushed up the glasses on his nose. They were bright red in colour and contrasted heavily against his electrifying coloured hair. Although, Ayame admitted that they did look somewhat stylish.

He gave out a low sigh."Ah, why must you cause such a scene every where we go?"

"That's mean Rei-Chan! After I took us all this way!"

Ayame laughed to herself, they sure were a funny pair. She straightened herself and continued with her usual routine. "Welcome to Cathy's Cakes! What can I get you?"

The blonde haired boys head shot up, his ruby eyes shining with glee. Seemingly forgetting his discussion with his friend, he began ordering. Five different pastries and cakes were chosen from behind the glass, before he turned to his companion. "Your turn Rei-Chan! What do you want?"

Ayame's eyes widened. Wait, are all these pastries for him? He must have a big appetite! She looked hesitantly at the pair as they started to argue once again. This time over the amount of pastries Nagisa had requested. She wasn't sure if she should interject or not. "U-um…"

Both boys looked at her, the taller of the two looking down in embarrassment, while the other grinned sheepishly. They finally settled on keeping everything, with Rei ordering a cup of barley tea.

Ayame sighed in relief, watching as the pair sat at one of the corner tables. She finished preparing their order, and brought everything carefully over to them. "Here you go, I hope you enjoy!"

"Wow!" Nagisa exclaimed."These look even better than when they were in the cabinet." He stuffed one of the pastries into his mouth. "And they taste amazing!"

Rei nodded his head in agreement, sipping his tea in a polite manner. "I agree, simply put this is the best barley tea I've ever tasted. The blend is exquisite."

Ayame beamed at their compliments, it was nice to hear that they were liking their orders. It made it worth working here when she could see the bright smiles on the customers faces.

"Hey!" Nagisa grinned at her, still nibbling on his plate full of tarts. His eyes squinted, seemingly trying to read her name tag. "Ayame…Aya-chan! Why don't you sit with us?"

The blue haired boy started to chock on his tea. He clutched his throat. "Uh- Nagisa-Kun!"

Nagisa continued to smile. "There should be nothing wrong with that right? We're the only ones here and you look kinda tired. Why don't you take a break, you can have one of my pastries if you want?" He held out the desert in a way to persuade her.

Ayame smiled at the nickname he'd given her and looked around. It was true there wasn't anyone else in the cafe and she was sure no one else would be entering the store anytime soon. Her manager was also not in sight. She looked towards Rei, who was carefully wiping his mouth with a napkin.

"If Miss Ayame would like to join us she may, however." He cleared his throat. "You do not need to feel forced to partake in anything."

They both looked to her for an answer, and she gave them a smile before taking a seat. What have I got to lose? I could use a small break. They both seemed like nice people and she could tell they were around her age from the school uniforms they were wearing. Plus she was getting kind of bored sitting in the cafe all alone, and was glad to have some company. I'll just chat of for a bit and then get back to my work.

Nagisa let out a joyous 'yay' at her action before giving her two of his is pastries. But Ayame protested. "Its fine, their yours. You enjoy them."

Nagisa frowned, insisting that he'd feel sad if she didn't take any, so she ended up munching on half a pastry to ease him.

She gulped down the smooth, dough filled treat. "So, do you guys go to school around here?" She figured she should start a conversation to avoid any awkward silence.

Nagisa grinned at her once more. "Me and Rei-Chan actually go to Iwatobi high school, and…" He pointed at his blue haired friend. "We're members of this really cool swimming club, right Rei-Chan?"

Rei nodded his head in agreement. "That is correct."

"Wow, you guys are in a swimming team? That sounds like fun!" Ayame looked at both boys in awe. She was quite average when it came to sports and didn't know much about swimming but she really admired the hard work and dedication that went into learning the craft. Iwatobi high school was quite a bit away from around this area so she assumed they'd come here by train.

Nagisa leaned forward in eagerness. "It is! I swim breaststroke and Rei-Chan is in charge of butterfly stroke and-" All of a sudden he stopped in the middle of his sentence. His cheerful demeanour faded away, his ruby red eyes losing their bright spark. A forlorn expression etched itself onto his face and he stared into the distance.

Ayame frowned, confused by his sudden change in mood. She slowly reached her hand out to him in worry. "U-um, are you alright?"

Next to her, Rei sighed, his expression also slightly faltering. She stared at the both of them, caught off guard. Was their something wrong?

Nagisa took a deep breath and finally replied. "I-Im okay!" His joyfulness seemed to have been absorbed back into him and he carried on in his glee-filled manner."Yep, everything's fine! A-anyway we haven't introduced ourselves yet! I'm Hazuki Nagisa! Nice to meet you!"

"My name is Ryugazaki Rei, it's nice to formally meet you." They both bowed their heads simultaneously.

"R-right." Ayame straightened her composure. "Nice to meet you, I'm Hirano Ayame." She bowed her head in return. She looked up at both the boys, inspecting them in worry again. But decided not to press the matter any further. They seemed to be fine for the moment. She couldn't deny that they sure were a strange pair of friends.

The three of them continued to chat, mainly about topics such as school and life. Ayame told them about how she was failing at maths and was going to try and get tutored to help.

Nagisa sympathised with her fully, understanding her struggle for the subject. He too found it tricky, which made Ayame glad knowing she wasn't the only one. Rei also offered to help her but she turned him down, explaining that she'd already found someone to help her with the predicament.

The two boys continued to bicker amongst themselves, now on the subject of Rei's swimming technique. Ayame giggled to herself, she could tell that they were close friends. Seeing them chat with each other reminded of her own companions. How to this day Kiyomi and Rika would continue to argue, both slightly stubborn in their own right. How the three of them would stick together through everything. She smiled at the memories flashing in her mind.

Sighing in content, she looked around her once more and noticed the time on the clock. A feeling of Alarm zapped through her. The manager would be back soon! She still needed to clean the dishes and sweep up the kitchen!

In an instant she was up on her feet. "Sorry guys, I'm gonna have to get back to work." Just how long had they been conversing for? She should have been conscious of the time, but she was having too much fun to care.

Rei bowed his head, his purple eyes flashing in understanding. "It is fine, we must be going as well actually."

Nagisa agreed. It was getting late and there parents were going to get worried if they didn't get home soon.

They began to hand her the money for their orders but she refused. "It's on the house, as thanks for keeping me company." She smiled at them.

They looked at her in surprise. Rei spoke up first, clearly protesting the idea. "We couldn't possibly!"

Followed by Nagisa's worried voice. "Aw no, are you really sure Aya-chan? We'll feel bad if we don't pay!"

She nodded her head again, and gave them back their coins. "I am sure. I had so much fun talking with you guys."

Nagisa and Rei looked at each other. Small grins slowly spread on their faces, before turning back to look at her. They replied in unison. "Us too!"

With that, they made their way to the entrance. Nagisa waved in goodbye and promised to visit again soon, and Rei had a small smile on his face, thanking Ayame again for the service.

She smiled and waved her hand in return, hoping she'd be able to see the two of them again. They really were a bundle of fun. As soon as they left the store, she turned to go to the kitchen, when something sudden caught her eye. It couldn't have been? Her brow furrowed as she stepped closer to the cafe window. Was that…Haruka? She squinted, trying to get a better look at the feline across the street. What was he doing out so late? Hadn't she left him at home?

She shook her head, she was probably just tired from all the work she had been doing. That was all. It couldn't have possible have been him.

She hurriedly made her way to the back of the cafe. Her shoulders drooped when she saw the stack of unwashed plates awaiting her. Time to get to work, she thought to herself before rolling up the sleeves of her uniform.