A/N: The food is explained at the bottom of the chapter.

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Chapter Eleven

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Shiki was not the kind of person whose 'biological clock' understood the concept of weekends. She woke up at the same time every day, summer or winter, thus eliminating the need for an alarm clock. That morning was no exception, and she opened her eyes to blurry darkness.

The budding seamstress yawned, and tried to bring the world into focus without her glasses. The walls were a dark grey, spattered with bold art, and her bed seemed smaller than usual, both narrower and shorter in a toasty sort of way. For a dazed moment, she wondered if pixies had kidnapped her in the night and brought her to their home in a magic hollowed tree, like she always had been warned by her mother would happen if she didn't get to bed when told.

Then at the sound of a giggle, the night's event came rushing back to her, and she sat up quickly, tossing a bleary glance to her left. On the far end of the futon, some large lump seemed to be lying on its stomach and snorting faintly; that would be Beat, she guessed. Closer to her, Joshua and Rhyme were looking at something that glowed, probably his cell phone, and offering whispered commentary as Neku slept on beside her.

Squinting around, she felt about for her glasses until she knocked them off the edge of the futon arm; reaching down, she dusted them off and slid them on, yawning again and smiling to the other two that were awake.

"Did you guys sleep well?"

Rhyme nodded as Joshua flipped his phone shut and smirked, stretching. "Yep, and I don't know about you, but I'm just about ready for breakfast." Nodding, he gestured for her to stand up as he did so as well.

"Let's go start the coffee, at least," he sighed, casting a scornful look as Neku as Shiki tried to remember how to walk. Suddenly, she was thrown off balance and fell awkwardly onto Neku, elbowing him hard in the ribs.

Her student growled and stirred, propping himself up on his elbows as Joshua dragged Rhyme out to the main area, calling out in a far too cheerful singsong as he closed the door behind them, "Neku's awake! Breakfast for all of us!"

Gabbling mindless apologies and excuses, Shiki started to get off only to be grabbed by the shoulder and pulled up to his face as he sat up, leaving her sprawled over his lap as he blinked owlishly at her.

"G-g-good morning, Neku," she stammered as he rubbed his eyes with his free hand, then released her and leaned back onto the heels of his hands.

"...Where am I?"

"Mr. Hanekoma's place."

He blinked again, and then seemed to wake up slightly more. "Oh." Smoky blue eyes flicked up and down her figure, clothed in a rumpled deep red sweater and loose black jeans as she quickly slid off his legs and back onto the bed.

"Oh...?" He tilted his head slightly to the side, like a sleepy and confused kitten. Then Joshua poked his head around the door, catching the attention of both teenagers.

He smirked, in an obvious 'oh am I interrupting something?' way, and vanished back into the light of the cafe. Neku scowled.

"Oh."

At this eloquent remark, he rose and made for the main room as well, slipping through the crack of light carefully so as not to wake Beat, and Shiki was left once more to follow him in silence.

Hanekoma was nowhere to be seen, but one of the coffee machines was already humming a merry tune as Joshua sipped something hot while lounging on a couch. Rhyme started pulling out ingredients from the fridge as Neku splashed water on his face, stretching with a growl as he glared as the other boy.

"Prick."

"Yes, but I'm a hungry prick, so could you make with the cooking already?" He blew fragrant steam at Shiki as she stood uncomfortably in front of the closed door; from the scent, he was drinking some kind of sweetened coffee.

Neku yawned, still scowling as he dried his face and went about his work. "What do you want for breakfast, Rhyme?"

"Poached eggs," piped up Joshua, and was totally ignored by the orange-haired teen. The blonde fidgeted.

"Um... something sweet and traditional. Dango?"

"Fine with me," he murmured as he rooted around in the fridge for the ingredients. Pulling a box out, along with some soy sauce, he transferred his serious gaze to Shiki.

"Sound good to you?"

That snapped her out of her shy reverie. "Dango and poached eggs? Yeah, that's fine with me." She smiled slightly as she polished her glasses on her sleeve. Satisfied, Neku set himself to preparing the rice flour dough as Rhyme set a pan of water on the stove. At this, Beat decided to emerge, yawning and stretching like a sleepy bear.

"Classic movie, yo; I love watchin' old American flicks," he observed as he practically dove into a nearby oversized arm chair. "When's the food gonna be ready?"

Rhyme shrugged. "Fifteen minutes, maybe more. Shiki, help me poach the eggs?" she queried softly, offering a shy grin into the bargain.

Before she could respond, Joshua whistled and coaxed her over with his finger. "No, no, come here and sit with me. Let Neku do the cooking."

At this, the boy at the counter shot the silver-locked smirker a glare to end all glares. "Don't whistle to her like that. She's not your dog."

"Isn't that rather hypocritical of you, dear? Since when have you called our new little flower by name?"

Neku froze, almost dropping the box of rice flour. "That's—I mean—" he stammered, coloring guiltily as he reached up for the headphones that were not there. With a snort, he tossed the flour aside and headed for the back room, studiously avoiding Shiki's eyes.

"Um, Neku?" The 'flower' flinched as he emerged with his precious accessory jammed over his ears, and she followed him. Moments later, the front door was slammed in her face. Wordlessly, Rhyme picked up where Neku had left off, and as Beat was stepping in to help, Shiki clenched her fists and followed her student.

Even at that hour, Shibuya was humming with activity and the air had a bite to it; quickly, Shiki shut the door behind her to keep in the warm cafe air, the obscuring curtain and 'CLOSED' sign clacking against the glass as it slammed behind her.

She winced, then shivered, and hunted the crowd urgently for a tuft of soft, orange spikes. At length, there was a flash of color heading for Miyashita Park, and she took off.

The wind was especially sharp as she ran into it, and while he did not have much of a head start, when she caught his arm her cheeks were flushed and she was panting, wisps of black hair floating around her head as she glared up at him.

"What do you want now?" Smoky blue eyes regarded her with the sort of impatience and distaste one would have when finding out one had been followed by a sickly cat.

Snorting a lock of hair out of her face, she snapped at him without thinking, "Shiki!"

He rolled his eyes. "Neku," he dead panned. "Your turn."

"My name is Shiki and... I want you to call me that. Not 'Stalker', or 'Four Eyes', or 'Crybaby' or... I'm Shiki, ok? Just Shiki." She crossed her arms.

"And you chased me down for that? I'll call you whatever I want," he added, brushing past her as he kept walking.

Too late, she realized that snapping at him was not the way to go. What would Eri do?

"Please?"

But he just hitched up his head phones and ignored her. Once more, her temper flared, and she found herself shouting at him.

"Fine, Neku! You just keep on running! But I'll always chase after you!"

To her astonishment, several people stopped and stared at her as Neku froze. New confidence rising in her, she marched forward, grabbed his arm and pulled him all the way back to WildKat.

Her own astonishment seemed echoed as she knocked on the cafe door and Hanekoma admitted them. Beat blinked owlishly at them as he slid a dango ball off a skewer, Joshua's eyebrow arched as he toyed with his poached eggs; but Rhyme just smiled.

"Nice work, Shiki," the owner chuckled, leaning against the counter and examining the dango in his hand. "I should have you hunt down Phones more often."

"Oh, shut up," Neku snapped halfheartedly, jerking free of Shiki and stalking away with a stick of dango.

Joshua heaved a sigh and leaned forward as Shiki took a seat at the counter beside him. "You're quite the addition to our little group," he noted slyly. "I thought only Mr.H could get our dear little Neku to listen to him. What did you do, anyway?"

She flushed and avoided his eyes. "Oh, um… I just ch-chased him down and yelled at him. Nothing special."

Rhyme pushed a bowl of poached eggs towards Shiki. "Don't say that. You're special; I bet that's why he listened to you."

The seamstress took a moment to study the younger girl as she drizzled soy sauce carefully on a stick of dango. I want to believe you, I really do but…

I'm Shiki. Just Shiki. How can I be special?

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By the way, dango are balls of sweetened sticky rice flour, steamed and put on little wooden sticks, four to a stick and each about the size of a gumball. Unbelievably gooey and chewy; I've had commercial ones, and I want to make my own so I can screw better with the toppings. ^^