Author's note: Thanks to Kalafinn54 for help.
Amidst the crowd of rows of white, round tables of the ever-busy office cafeteria, a white-haired woman with a set of blue horns was intently glaring at her salad. Lu sat alone on the table meant for three people, unbothered by her break time nearing its end. The new suit perfectly fit her slim figure, while her polished black heels reflected the light from the extensive windows that replaced one of the walls with a view for another office building.
Her gaze darted back to a half-open bag sitting on a chair next to her. Inside was a yellow plastic box with a cheesecake and a note that said: Do not eat before lunch. A small sigh escaped her lips as she returned to nibbling on the bland leaves, when a conversation between two girls at the table next to her drew her attention.
"He does it every year, why do you think he wouldn't do it again?" Said a green-haired elf with her hair up in a high ponytail.
"I'm not saying he won't, but last year when he went too far and made Add cry with his silly ghost prank, I beat him up pretty good. If he has anything up there in his head, he won't do it again." Her friend responded, who the demoness recognized as Elesis, the head of security.
"But, given that he does it every year without fail, I wouldn't be surprised if he were to go against you. Besides, not to be rude to your brother, but he doesn't strike me as a bright type."
"Every year? What a weird commitment." The white-haired woman quietly muttered, yet it was enough for the elf's sensitive ears to pick up.
"Oh, hi!" The elf shot the demoness a friendly smile as the redhead became confused. "You're Lu, right? That new foreigner that came from the demon realm's branch?"
"Ah yeah, and you are?"
"I'm Rena and this is Elesis. You guys don't have April fools in your place?"
Lu's cheeks flushed at being caught eavesdropping, Her voice took a less confident tone. "Oh um, a what?"
"April fools. It's a custom of some sort to pull jokes on April 1st."
Lu brought a finger to her chin, pondering for a second with a troubled expression. "No, but we do have a tradition of summoning our ancestors for dinner on April 13th." She looked over to the two women as she regained some of her pride. "However what's the point of having a set date for it? Aren't tricks and such supposed to be unexpected?"
"Well, you're right, my brother's other friends already learned to watch out. It's just Add that keeps forgetting what the date is." Elesis said as she took a big bite out of her hot dog.
"You're looking too much into it. It's just for fun's sake. Although some people do go overboard…" Rena shot a knowing look towards Elesis.
Without a warning, Lu's phone alarm went off signaling the end of her break. She said her goodbye to the newly met pair with Rena suggesting they should meet again. The demoness made her way with the half-eaten salad out of the dining area, which was separated with tall, rectangle flower pots from the buying area and the exit. A guilty look crossed her face as she threw out the lunch made by her butler, his worried face crossed her mind. He's been concerned that moving to the human realm might have depleted her energy.
'Thank the Demon God for my office being so close to the cafeteria.' She strode towards her office, as her shoes were killing her. An office next to her caught her eye before an idea popped into her head. There was another foreigner who came this month and probably didn't know of April Fools. Someone who she worked with a lot ever since coming here and surprisingly found liking his presence. A very handsome Celestial, named Ain.
'Ah, now that I'm here, what should I even say?' Lu stood before the door to Ain's office shifting from one leg to another. It was April 1st and what originally was a silly idea turned into a full-blown scheme with her butler, Ciel involved.
'Hi Ain, I just wanted you to try my butler's- mmm no, that's too suspicious, I don't share my food without a reason and he already knows it.' A plate of cute, bear-shaped cookies rested on her hand, nearly slipping away because of her loose grip. But the normality of it all was just a facade, as the cookies were actually made with salt, not sugar.
Eventually the longer hand of the clock made two circles, and the door in front of Lu opened, not sparing any more time for her to make up her mind.
"Something's wrong?" The devi- Celestial himself stood there with a confused gaze. He was taller than her by a head. His white shirt had the top two buttons unfastened, probably because the AC in his office had broken down recently. Lu cursed under her breath at his good looks, hoping for her facial muscles to not betray her
"Ain! No, I was just about to knock."
" I saw you pacing in front of the door for quite a while and got worried something might have happened."
'Huh!? How!' She panicked. A vertical window on the door right next to the handle caught her eye. She had to hold off the urge to smack her forehead for not noticing it before. At this point it was all or nothing. "I made some cookies and so I wanted to ask if you, you know, wanted to try them." She lied through her teeth.
"Oh? Then come on in." He gave her a warm smile, which only made her feel more guilty.
Lu stepped into the office while mentally reassuring herself. A familiar image of a neat and plain workplace greeted her. Directly from the entrance was a nearly empty desk with two gray tub chairs for customers. It only had a few papers folded around the corner, a bag for documents and a laptop, as Ain never seemed to like wasting money and space for needle decorations. But the place did feel quite empty. Behind the desk stood a shelf for various documents, all of them in yellow, red or blue folders. The only decoration was a flower pot with fake plum branches standing in the corner of the room. A while ago when Lu first transferred to Elrios she had luck to meet him, who was in the same situation. She was relieved there was someone other than her butler she could connect to, yet compared to her Ain didn't seem to mind it as much. He refused her help in decorating his office to make the place feel more homely. She put the plate on his desk, to straighten her stiff fingers. "How's your project going, I heard your customer suddenly changed the theme in the middle of your work."
"It's going good. It turned out mister Ventus was quite knowledgeable about the Southern tribes and gave me some ideas." He rummaged through his bag.
"Ventus? I'm surprised you managed to have an actual conversation with that massive tease."
"He only teases people who are easy to tease." Ain jokingly stated, earning a pout from the demoness. He took out a candy bar and slipped it towards her. "Here."
"A snickers? Thanks, however I'm on a diet."
"But I always see you eating cake in your office?"
"Point taken…" she slowly took the candy bar out of his hand and averted her gaze. She never failed to amuse him. Ain was used to giving fake smiles out of habit, but Lu was one of the people he found himself smiling genuinely with. "So, mind trying the cookies I made?"
"You made them? Oh so it wasn't a joke…" He looked over to the flawlessly bear-shaped cookies laying on his desk. A look of slight disbelief troubling his face. "Are you sure?"
"Hmph. Of course, why would I lie?" she bit her cheek.
"... If you say so." He took a bite, as his previously nonchalant expression turned into a slight frown. He finished what he already had in his mouth and calmly said. "I believe you now."
Later that day Lu sat motionlessly in her office, silently leaning on the desk with her fingers tangled in a bridge. An unreadable expression hidden behind the gesture. The only sound was from a clock with a navy blue clock face and white numbers. In fact, nearly all of her decorations were in some shade of blue except for the grey carpet. Her white desk was set in the center with a window behind it and light blue curtains. In front there were two wing chairs with cushions that matched the curtains, while on her left was a cupboard with lots of pictures of Lu's family and three cute, ceramic cats on it. The only picture on her desk that the customers couldn't see was taken just after she accidentally stepped on her cousin Stirbargen in their middle school's sports festival. There were also three frameless pictures hanging above the cupboard, all showing one extended panorama of a calm sea, while on the opposing wall were hung her degrees and diplomas. A single flower pot sat on her desk right next to her computer with a recently bought primrose. She sighed, pulling back to lean on her chair.
"Somehow, that reaction of his was annoying." She wasn't sure what reaction exactly she expected, but the one he gave was a blow to her pride. It's true that the demoness never really picked up any kitchen tool, but she wasn't that bad! At least she felt like that was the case. Thanks to that she decided to pull another prank on him that she prepared prior. At first it was something she wanted to use on another co-worker named Ara, but satisfying her pride took the first place. In fact she already put it into motion a couple of minutes ago when she asked one of the practicants to deliver some documents in a portfolio to him. Inside was a fake mouse that was supposed to scare him. The demoness wanted to do it herself, but since she was getting nowhere with her work, she decided against it. Yet, it just couldn't leave her mind and so she was working at the pace of a snail.
Soon after she got back into checking her emails a knock to the door came and after she answered, the celestial in question walked in carrying the same briefcase from before.
"What's up, Ain?"
"Sorry to bother you, Lu."
"I don't mind."
"Thank you for the help, but I don't need it anymore." He said as he gave her the documents back. His apologetic expression jabbed at her heart.
"No worries, I should have expected you won't need it by now with how fast you work." He laughed warmly, playing it off as a joke, which it wasn't. Wait, did he even open it? A sudden urge to ask him build up inside her, but she held it back.
"I'll be going then. I don't want to hinder your work any longer." Ain moved to leave as the white-haired woman closely followed his movement, her hand slowly advanced towards the portfolio. Suddenly he stopped and turned back as Lu quickly retreated her hand. "I nearly forgot,"
He took out some small object from his pocket and lightly threw it her way. A small, greyish thing that in her absent-minded state looked like a small bird took her by surprise and she yelped. The Celestial hadn't been that far so the object swiftly landed on her desk. Her cheeks flushed red, finding her own reaction unexpected. The greyish object being identified as the fake mouse. Upon closer inspection, it was a really cute and small mouse plushie. No wonder since Ciel was the one who bought it. She laughed awkwardly, downplaying her own embarrassment. "Th-That's a gift, haha. You can take it."
"Ah, Is that so-pfft." He quickly covered his mouth, trying his best to stifle his laugh as Lu's blush grew bigger and bigger.
The evening came and the demoness finally decided to call it a day and leave having to stay late because of the unfinished work. The sound of her heels clicking echoed in the empty corridor. She felt bitter. Whoever said April Fools was a fun holiday must have been messing with her. There was nothing more she wanted than a warm bath with some sweet wine and a slice of cake.
"Lu! Wait up!"
"Ain?" jogging her way was the person behind all of her sour mood. Yet it was hard for her to really be upset. She cursed in her head at him for being so good-looking.
"I'm sorry."
"...Huh?"
"Today I was extremely rude to you. After all, I don't know the customs of the demons and have been ignorant to your obvious kindness. I sincerely apologize."
'This person… does he have some weird misunderstanding about demons because of me?'
"That's why, I would be happy if I could buy you lunch as an apology, maybe something fancier if you prefer."
A date. He asked her out on a date. A sudden flare of joy filled her. The April Fools, maybe it wasn't so bad after all. A teasing smirk spread on her face. "If you're willing to pay for my dinner then I'll forgive you, but just this once."