The Bookstore Clerk's First Truth
She vaguely recognized the man from M University; she was a literature student, but she was in her first year and only had Kamijou as a teacher so far. Still, Miyagi was pretty high-up in the literature department, and most students at least knew who he was. She had actually been hoping she'd get him instead of Kamijou, given that she had heard of the man's reputation as incredibly short-tempered.
She watched in fascination as Miyagi entered the store, a boy maybe her age trailing behind him. She had only been working in the used bookstore for about a week, so she wasn't familiar with most of the customers and had no idea who the boy was. Maybe his son?
The store was old and didn't usually have more than two or three customers in it at any given time. She was the only one in there while her boss was out doing something, so she decided to go lurk the shelves, maybe rearrange some books that had been put back out-of-order. It wasn't like she was trying to spy on Miyagi and whoever that was with him. They just happened to be over in the section of how-to books, which included a large selection of cookbooks that the boy seemed interested in.
"What, you're finally giving up on cabbage?" Miyagi asked as the boy piled cookbooks indiscriminately in the older man's arms.
"You don't like cabbage?"
"I never said that, Shinobu-chin!" Miyagi said, clearly sounding panicked. The bookstore clerk had the feeling that this Shinobu wasn't that adept at cooking, but Miyagi didn't want to hurt his feelings.
"I told you I'd cook for you and I will!" Shinobu said. He took the cookbooks from Miyagi's arms and sat down on the floor, going through one. "You don't have to stand there staring at me. I'm not a child."
"Hah, if only that were true," Miyagi said. He slouched down and ruffled Shinobu's hair before leaning forward and kissing him, obviously not aware that they had an audience. "You know where to find me when you're done."
Shinobu didn't look impressed, but the bookstore clerk didn't get to see anymore, because she ran for it before she was spotted.
I love used bookstores. They smell as good as libraries (and yes, I do sniff the pages of books; I was writing Hiroki from experience).