On the days they had shifts that ran all the way up to closing time, Hitsugi and her co-workers would pretend that they were customers too, and would eat their dinner at one of the table in between waiting on the actual customers. Said dinner usually consisted of leftovers or meals that had been returned to the kitchen for whatever reason, and to avoid complaints they had to pick a table that was hidden in a corner most of the time, but it was a fun custom.

Today, there were just four of them working late- Hitsugi, Mitsuyama, Yukiko and the new girl, Hana. Hana was barely 18, and was saving up money for two reasons- so that she could enrol on a catering course when she left high-school, and so that she could marry and move in with her high-school sweetheart once they'd both come of age . As such, the older ones were heaping all their attention on her.

"It's not long until your graduation, right? Are you excited?" Hitsugi asked Hana, who thought about it. Then, she nodded.

"School was fun but really, it'll be good to not have to do P.E anymore. That, and Junji and I can spend more time together."

"Aww, that's so cute." Yukiko squealed . "I wanna be young again!"

"In comparison to me, you are." Hitsugi pointed out. "But Mitsuyama makes you old, unfortunately." Yukiko gave her a mock-glare at that, and Mitsuyama punched the air triumphantly before changing the subject.

"So, have you guys thought about a wedding? You know you can't really get married without a wedding!" Mitsuyama went bug eyed, even as he grinned devilishly. Yukiko rolled her eyes, although she couldn't prevent a small smile

"Technically, you can. At a registry office. Ignore him, Hana-Chan, he just wants to get invited."

"It's okay, I know that already." Hana giggled. Hitsugi shook her head in amusement, and then spotted another group of customers coming in.

"Oh, I'll take care of that!" Hitsugi got up and went to direct the customers-who were clearly new to QUEEN- to a table.

For the rest of the night, they alternated their chatting and meals with serving customers right up until closing time, and then helping to clear away. Since they all lived in different parts of the town, they technically went separate ways, but Mitsuyama walked the three girls to their separate bus stops before heading home himself.

Hitsugi stared out of the window almost dreamily. She was looking forward to going home and getting some sleep. But first, she had something to do. Carefully counting the stops in her head, she got off a few stops before, and walked to the house she had been in front of when she had started getting vivid flashbacks of what had happened over seven years ago. She stood, and looked up at it in the dark, and tried to see if she could remember anything else. But as usual, she couldn't remember anything more than the half-blurred memories she already had. So as usual, with a heavy heart, she went back to the busstop, and took another bus home.

It was dark when she got there-given the late hour, Chitaru would have already eaten and gone to bed. And of course, she had left a clingfilm-wrapped plate on the kitchen counter, despite the fact Hitsugi said she wouldn't need it. It was of little consequence though, as Hitsugi could just take it in for lunch, and so she put it in the fridge, and went upstairs to clean up and change.

When she climbed into bed and snuggled up to Chitaru, she fell asleep almost instantly-a deep, peaceful and dreamless sleep. Exactly the way she liked it.

…

Even though Chitaru didn't have to be in work until later, she woke up anyway. Hitsugi always took forever to wake up, and she'd quickly worked out that being up and awake doing things helped Hitsugi shake off the sleep that clung to her longer than it did to most people.

Like Mami. Clenching her fist, she tried to ignore the thought as she went to the bathroom and brushed her teeth. Instead, while she was in the bathroom, she went through what she would be doing today. A court session, lunch with Hitsugi, four appointments, a consult on an ongoing investigation of Inukai's, and then a quick visit to see Sumireko at the hospital, before a meeting with Kenmochi and two more appointments. A packed, busy and colourful day.

And it still all comes back to this theory of mine, she mused as she went through everything she had secretly been pulling together recently. Observations, hunches, and the few facts she had about both Hitsugi's circumstances, and her daughters' origins. Whenever possible (i.e. when Hitsugi wasn't around to figure out what she was doing), she had put all the information together, and now she needed Kenmochi to look at it. Investigations weren't Chitaru's speciality, after all. She just hoped that Kenmochi wouldn't dismiss her out of hand. But that was later, so she didn't need to now.

When she came out of the bathroom, Hitsugi was just leaving the bedroom, rubbing her eyes and looking slightly wobbly, but definitely awake. The fluffy slippers she wore slapped at the floor, making a sound that straddled the line between annoying and comforting.

"Good morning, Chitaru-san."

"'Morning, Hitsugi." Chitaru couldn't help but grin at her girlfriend. Hitsugi blinked and smiled in return, before disappearing into the bathroom.

20 minutes later, they were sitting downstairs and eating cereal, chatting about everything and nothing. Hitsugi also had a cup of very strong coffee, which she sipped at between mouthfuls of cereal. Chitaru watched in amusement as Hitsugi gradually appeared more awake as the coffee levels in her cup disappeared. It reminded her of a certain female cop who was the protagonist of a very interesting crime novel series. Chitaru smirked just thinking about it.

"What's funny?"

"Oh, nothing really." Chitaru teased.

"Noo, tell me!" Hitsugi pouted, reminding her of a sulking Sachika. Once Chitaru had stopped laughing, she told Hitsugi about the book series, and for some reason, that got them both laughing, even as they went back upstairs to wash their mouths.

"I don't even know why any of that was funny!" Hitsugi managed to say at some point. Chitaru chuckled and nodded. They only calmed down when they were near the door. Hitsugi went to open the door, and then looked down at her feet.

"I'm still wearing my slippers." She said incredulously. "I'm wearing my goddamn slippers. What the actual hell? " Chitaru face-palmed and tried to prevent herself from laughing again as Hitsugi went back to her shoes, and swapped her slippers for them. When her proper shoes were on, Hitsugi came back.

"Okay, and now I'm off." She reached up to kiss Chitaru. "See you later. Keep safe."

"Likewise, Hitsugi."

With a smile and a little twirl, Hitsugi opened the door and left the house, and as was habit, Chitaru watched until she reached the end of the road and went out of sight. Then, she went back inside and headed to her study to pull together the things she would need for the day.

This chapter kinda fell a little flat, I think I'm getting writer's block for this story. But I'll keep the updates coming, don't worry. Anyway, what do you all think of the story so far? What do you think of the AU versions of the characters? Which moments were your favourites? Is there anything you didn't like in the story so far? Any feedback is fine ^^